Long live Funky Winkerbeans (plus Titan's Eve & more)

All photos by Femke van Delft (except Titan's Eve album art and promo shot!). Not to be used without permission! Thanks, Femke - I owe it all to you!

Femke and I used to attend the Cobalt regularly, at one point. The Skinny was functional, I lived in Vancouver, and it felt like we were doing something meaningful to support the scene by going there and documenting whatever interested us. We met there for the first time during a Eugene Chadbourne show with Robots on Fire; we attended several Fake Jazz Wednesdays, checked out the Rebel Spell, the Furies, Chi's version of SNFU, the Subhumans, the Sorrow and the Pity, and others. Bev Davies was oft-seen there, too. I enjoyed going to the Cobalt enough to transform my experiences into a comic strip (part one, part two), about the night a drunk punkette enthusiastically recommended I check out the Golers (whom I still haven't seen perform, but whose CDs I greatly enjoy). It was a great place, even if it smelled pretty rank, and though I was still somewhat more of an outside observer than an actual participant on the scene, it felt more like home than any other bar I've been to.

Pardon the cliche, but - you really can't go home again.

(Funky Winkerbeans food seller by Femke)

The Cobalt still functions as a venue, but I'm not sure who goes there; since wendythirteen got the boot, I have no interest in it - not sure the people who took it over or the landlords who nudged wendy out understand or care what's been damaged. Of course, "damage" is a relative thing: wendy's booking Funky Winkerbeans (AKA Punky Thrasherbalts) now, is there most nights (though on the wrong side of the bar, with a different jacket on; but by her hair you shall know her!) But things really aren't the same - they can't be, and not just because you can't step in the same piece of water twice. It took me awhile to put my finger on it: is it that the walls - relatively bare, painted a deep red, with vintage burlesque images all around - aren't plastered with wendy's art and a billion gig posters? Is it that the metal-to-punk gig ratio is now two-to-one in favour of metal? Is it that the area in front of the stage is actually smaller than the 'balt's, or that the stage and the layout of the pit aren't quite as cool? Is it the weird wooden barrier at the front of the stage - a new addition since my last trip there a few months ago - that protects the monitors and likely impedes stage diving? Is it that you can inhale deeply through your nose without fear?
(Hands above the barrier, by Femke)

Surveying the place the other night, it seemed to me that what really was decisive was the people. For all the familiar faces - wendy, the sound guy, sometimes Chi - there are no doubt a lot of Cobalt regulars who haven't made the transition - including Fem and myself; it was only my second night there since wendy started booking it, and Femke's first. The crowd there now reflects the gentrification ongoing in the city, are more representative of the people that our Olympics-loving city fathers would LIKE entertainment in this city to be for; for every punk or headbanger transplanted from the Cobalt to here, or every crusty DTES local come to check out the music (or just get sauced), there are three or four reasonably presentable, drunken twentysomethings, none too different from what you might see whoopin' it up along the corridors of the Granville Atrocity Exhibition. They can't hold their liquor, they lack any of the tribal accountrements of punk or metal, they mosh like like thugs, and some don't even seem that interested in the music - because several seemed to spend the whole show sitting in the front area of the club, socializing They're altogether too cute for me to feel at home amongst them, too. That's not necessarily a bad thing when you're talking about girls - because there were lots of fetching ones about - but (not counting the girls serving the beer) very few had dyed hair or ripped fishnets or combat boots or such, which used to be visible everywhere in the Cobalt. Come to think of it, I didn't see a single Crass patch the whole goddamn night. Not sure where those people got to - maybe some of them have just gotten older and/or changed their fashion to match the march of progress (trampling over the bones of punk, or at least "growing out of it"). The kids who were there looked, more than anything else, like they had more money to spend than the old stripe. They're still kids, looking for a place to be, and it's great that they'd rather be at a Thrasherbalt's metal show than watching UFC somewhere, but surveying them, it was really, really hard to feel like they were "my" people; they belonged to some other Vancouver, which is slowly being drawn over the one I used to live in.

Would The Cobalt be experiencing the same change, if it were still The Cobalt? Could be. Is Thrasherbalt's still a valuable thing? Definitely. Am I in any position to whine about it, given how much my own life has changed? Nope. There's always the possibility that I'm just experiencing something that happens as you get older - the scene you were most involved in becomes a thing more of memory than of present experience, a high-watermark against which all new things get measured. But you've got to support the scene you HAVE, rather than wax nostalgic, like certain first-gen Vancouver punks, over the scene you HAD. Besides, Funky Winkerbeans has all sorts of its own charms - from the weird wooden boat (the SS Bean Ship) that overhangs the front area ("This must have been a bar for sailors," Femke observed), to the bespectacled, European-lookin' old guy making the rounds, table-to-table, selling some sort of dinner pastry - maybe calzones? If I still lived in Vancouver, I'd probably be going there often, "home" or not. There's nothing to come of whining - get over it, and move on...

(Opening band with mysterious name, by Femke!)

...And focus on the music. Four bands played the other night. Antecede, on the posters and in the listings as giving their debut show, have either changed their name or weren't there, replaced by some other equally new band whose name I couldn't quite catch (but it sounded nothing like "Antecede."). They were, in any case, a band with proggy ambitions, who, between straightforward bursts of pummelling thrash, frequently attempted to break open their song structures and explore them, noodling around artfully. A praiseworthy thing to attempt, but it requires chops they didn't yet have, to pull it off; only their bassist seemed wholly confident in what he was doing in such passages, and occasionally, things fell apart quite wince-inducingly, with missed beats and misplaced notes and a few nasty glances between guitarists. They've got the pummelling thrash part down, anyhow; they markedly improved as their set progressed; and really, there was nothing wrong with them that a whole lot of playing together won't fix. Just as well, for their sake, that I'm not clear on who they were. They should keep workin' at it - all great bands are entitled to at least a few rough early gigs.

(Makaria by Femke)

Two bands from Victoria came next, Makaria and Reaver. Makaria - described on the poster for the show as "progressive metal of death," as if the language of metal needed to be tortured further - were heavy, brutal, and proficient, and like the opening act, boasted a six-stringed bass. They played a dark, angry, technically deft but not particularly hooky metal that is hard to evaluate after one live show, and would perhaps be more accessible on a CD (which is a nice way of saying it didn't really grab me, but it's also true). It happens, in fact, that their new CD release party is tonight, starting pretty much as I write this, with First Reign, Ravensun, and Scythia. (Two ferry trips in one week? Rough.) Reaver were definitely catchier, with song structures and a vocalist that reminded me of a slightly sped-up Lamb of God. The PA didn't seem to be quite cutting it through their set, with some noticeable distortion marring things a bit, but they got a few people dancing, notably a pogoing skinhead - or was he just a bald dude? - with an impressive bounce, and a somewhat drunken longhair in an Overkill shirt that drew heavily in its design on a certain classic punk song penned by a well-respected Vancouverite. I liked the overall tunefulness of what they were doing, and probably would have picked up a CD, if I hadn't bought those beers; no doubt, they can be found in the "local metal" section at Scrape.

(Reaver by Femke)

The nice surprise for the evening was Titan's Eve (see also here). I'd received the CD with a review request a few weeks ago (and hope this suffices in lieu of that). A theme album inspired by either the Book of Genesis, or maybe Milton's Paradise Lost (from which, I believe, the title comes), The Divine Equal is a strong metal album, with one foot in the land of thrash and the other in the tuneful, anthemic 1980's. The choruses are infectiously memorable - in fact, they kind of remind me a bit of Amon Amarth, who I know get described as "melodic death metal" (though I don't really hear a lot of death here, and there's no trace of Ragnarok to be found - their mythology is decidedly Judeo-Christian). The quiet passages - the moody instrumental opener - are not particularly impressive, and I can understand why one friend present for their live show thought their songs were a bit too similar to each other, but the idea is actually pretty inspired, at least as I read it: because, by turning the story of Lucifer's rebellion and fall into a metal album, it highlights a sort of "Oedipal teen rebellion" element that isn't that obvious in the source text, with Lucifer filling in for any teenager who ever told his father to go fuck himself. (There's even a hint that the rebellion involves drugs, alcohol, and "fast living," and that it ends in suffering and regret, rather than any Garden-of-Eden temptation scenarios, since the story stops before we get there). It's thought-provoking enough to make me want to listen to it more than once, and catchy enough in its songcraft that with those repeat listens, I've actually come to like what they're doing a great deal; it's actually a pretty fuckin' cool album, and right up there with, say, the Without Mercy disc as a "recommended local metal experience."

(Titan's Eve by Femke)

Seeing them live augmented the experience in three ways:

1. Once you actually know their songs, it's really a pleasure to hear them performed, because - while there are bands out there who struggle to get their best performances onto the record, and never quite live up to them live - Titan's Eve sure as fuck ain't one of them; they were tight, fast, in perfect synch and live-wire energetic in their delivery, reaffirming that they aren't just able to make a good record, but that they're a goddamn good live act.

2. Lyrically somewhat akin to Bison BC's "Wendigo," their song "Becoming the Demon" changes its meaning when performed live in very satisfying ways. Some songs do that - Nomeansno's "Rags and Bones," for example, is rife with imagery that evokes, when you see it done live, the experience of moshing, of being lost to yourself in the physicality of the pit, so much so that I once asked Rob Wright if that was what he had in mind when he wrote it (it wasn't, but I got a wee giggle out of him). So, too, the lyrical invocation to "replace what's human/ become the demon": on the disc, it relates to the overall story arch, of Satan's rise and fall, but when sung to a crowd of young people going wild, it takes on new life, with more than a few of the moshers going a long way towards becoming demons during the set (so much so that I eventually went to seek refuge by the SS Bean Ship; if the moshpit hadn't been quite as ugly - a lot of shoving, testosterone, and glaring interactions between the brute principals that threatened to descend into fisticuffs - I would have enjoyed the show much more).

3. Somehow, though - it's gotta be said - their new song, "Life Apocalypse" - as gut-punchingly strong as it may be - sure reminded me an awful lot of Dethklok!

Titan's Eve press photo by Shimon Karmel

I didn't last the whole set - I had a girl waiting and it was getting close to 2AM by the time I ducked out - but I'd see Titan's Eve again (especially if they played Maple Ridge!). Outside, making my way to the bus stop, I noticed posters that read "One million low income people live in Chinatown. Condos will push them out." Femke had commented over a beer earlier that artists are always the first wave of gentrification, and I guess to some extent that Funky Winkerbeans itself (or the Rickshaw, or any other performance venue based in the DTES) is part of that wave... but more than that, it seems to me that Thrasherbalt's is a vital community centre, for anyone, wherever they come from (even Yaletown, even Surrey... even Maple Ridge). And there was at least one old guy getting drunk there the other night who was clearly an oldtime DTES resident, a senior citizen who let the music distract him not one whit from his beer.

And sure, it ain't the Cobalt, but neither is the Cobalt, anymore. That was then, this is now. Onwards.

Titan's Eve by Femke

Upcoming Thrashers Listings:

SAT FEB 26 – BRUTAL ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS MAKARIA – FIRST REIGN – RAVENSUN - SCYTHIA

FRI MAR 4 NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS THE JOLTS - SOUND CITY HOOLIGANS - THE BELUSHIS - REAL PROBLEMS

SAT MAR 5 – BRUTAL ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS STRONGER THAN DEATH – SISTER SABBATH – SUICIDE SOLUTION

THURS MAR 10 NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS PUNK ROCK BINGO

FRI MAR 11 -NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS GROSS MISCONDUCT – CARNIVITRIOL - EXCRUCIATING PAIN

SAT MAR 12 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS THE GOLERS – THE EPITOMEES – R.O.C. - A.T.F.

FRI MAR 18 – NO BOLLOCKS AND KILL BOMB PRESENT SHIT FOR BRAINS – BRIDGE BURNER - THE SPREADS

SAT MAR 19 – BRUTAL ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS ENTROPIA – SKULLTHRASHER – EYE OF ODIN -XENOCIDE

FRI MAR 25 NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS TRIBUTES WITH THE MUPPFITS [MISFITS] - INSTITUTIONALIZED [SUICIDAL TENDENCIES]

SAT MAR 26 NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS VON BONES – CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE – GYNOSAURUS X – GLORYWHORE

THURS MAR 31 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS THE RESTARTS – THE REBEL SPELL - THE FIRST DAY

FRI APR 1 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS ENTROPIA – SUBVERSION AD – SENTINEL BEAST

SAT APR 2 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS THE INVASIVES – THE KETTLE BLACK – WAR BABY

THURS APR 7 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS IN CONTRA – PARENTHESIS – BURNING GHATS– SILVERBACK GORILLA

FRI APR 8 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS CURIOUS GEORGE – THE ROTTEN

SAT APR 9 NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS GROSS MISCONDUCT - GALGAMEX - ABRIOSIS - ANTECEDE

THUR APR 14 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS THE DAYGLO ABORTIONS – CIRCLE THE WAGONS

FRI APR 15 - NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS DIRTY AND THE DERELICTS – EAST VAMPS – MOTORAMA – VANCOUVER KILLING SPREE

SAT APR 16 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS OUT OF THE RUINS – ARGENT STRAND – BETWEEN SEAS

THU APR 21 – PUNKROCK BINGO WITH WHISKEYFACE – PLUS PERFECT

FRI APR 22 NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS FALLEN DECADE – SKULLTHRASHER - AUROCH

SAT APR 23 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS MENDOZZA - CURSE OF THE NORTH - STRYKER

THURS APR 28 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS DESECRATE SCRIPTURE – DRUIDUS

FRI APR 29 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS –AGING YOUTH GANG - LIKELY RADS –STRUGGLERS - ROC – BORED OF HEALTH

SAT APR 30 – NO BOLLOCKS AND KILL BOMB PRESENT FUCK THE FACTS – KEN MODE

FRI MAY 6 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS BURN IN HELL – THE VILLAN AVIAN SYMPHONY - HONG KONG BLONDE – SABRAEL

SAT MAY 7
NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS WEAPON [EDM] – RUDRA [SINGAPORE] - MITOCHONDRION - NARAKA

FRI MAY 13 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS - END PROGRAM - CAMBRIDGE


SAT JUNE 18 – NO BOLLOCKS PRESENTS COCAINE MOUSTACHE – BLACKIE AND THE TRIUMPS –

...and so forth! Keep up the good work, wendy!

wendythirteen by Femke van Delft, not to be reused without permission