Trooper Fest 4: the final fest, in memoriam to the most famous punk cat king in Vancouver

 

Trooper Fest is a multi-day, all-ages Vancouver punk festival that organizer, musician, and former Black Lab affiliate Noelle Chaos (previously interviewed here) has been putting on these last few years to help raise funds for the care of her diabetic cat Trooper. She wrote touchingly about her history with Trooper last year, to mark the third annual Trooper Fest. 

This year will be the fourth and final Trooper Fest, which Noelle began organizing in the spring, before Trooper's passing on March 2nd. She's already been hosting events in the buildup to the weekend, but the music starts tonight (Friday, July 24th) at the Russian Hall at 600 Campbell, headlined by Seattle punk band Kids on Fire, before moving to the Red Gate (1965 Main St) for the rest of the weekend. Funds raised by Trooper Fest 2026 will go to help other animals in need, more on which below.

Trooper and Noelle

The lineup for tonight (doors at 6:30, bands at 7; the Russian Hall is near the intersection of Campbell and Keefer) will start with local acts, kicking off with standup from Alex Mo of the band Alien Boys. We have no idea what Alex is going to do but are most intrigued!

Alex Mo by Bob Hanham

This will -- minus whatever announcements or raffles or other shenanigans are planned -- be followed by a set from "Trooper's human's band", Chaos Disorder and Panic, and a set from Vancouver's thrashy, rude, and funny punk band the Fomites (whose bandcamp describes them as being "influenced by skate, horror, pizza, sci-fi and all things rad" and whose band name rivals working from home as one of the best carryovers from COVID). 

The Fomites will be followed by two out-of-town acts, tuneful Calgary punk act Quit It! (formerly the River Jacks), featuring Spencer Jo, whom we first saw performing a solo set at the Black Lab back in 2020 ) and then, as noted, Kids on Fire.

Again, the entire festival, including the Russian Hall and Red Gate chapters, is all ages. Noelle—who notes that she always knew the festival had an expiration date—wrote the following on the occasion of what would have been Trooper's 14th birthday (on Wednesday), saying that she missed her furry best friend and was saddened to celebrate his birthday without him:

Trooper Fest was never like other fests. It was a labor of love born out of necessity to help with the costs of caring for the most important creature in my life. Me and Trooper were a team, we did everything together. As we approach the final Trooper Fest, I’d like to reflect on how what started out as a desperate Hail Mary single show thrown together in about two weeks when Trooper first got sick grew into not just a fundraiser to help me care for my cat, and not just an annual weekend fest but a beautiful celebration that brought out the best in our community.

Trooper, with his light-up-a-room personality, had a way of making everyone who knew him want to be his friend. The fest as it grew brought a lot of people together from many different parts of the punk scene as well as the community at large and it introduced to me to many people who I now call friends and comrades. I’ve also heard a lot of stories people have told me about Trooper Fest being their first show, how attending the fest helped them find a place in the community and lots of different stories of what the fest meant to them. I’ve also heard stories from people who said they mourned Trooper's passing but they will also mourn the end of the end of the fest because of those experiences. It makes me happy and proud to look at how it grew and evolved into something we as a community built together. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank anyone who has ever supported Trooper Fest in any way. The venues, the bands, the volunteers, the labels, the vendors, people who donate to the raffle, make the merch, do important behind the scenes stuff; and you the show going public who throws down at the door and helped make sure Trooper got everything he needed. Thank you for giving me and Trooper three and a half extra years.

 

Day two, on Saturday at Red Gate, will include, Noelle reports, "Skellytune, Matt Earle (of Dead End Drive In and Earmarked), Danger Box from Nanaimo and, headlining the night, local punks Die Job" (who I shot at Red Gate a couple years ago -- fun band!). 

But there will also be a free matinee screening of Trooper's favourite movie, the original 1978 John Carpenter version of Halloween, earlier that day at Red Gate, Noelle explains: "Trooper was a cat with a taste for the classics. Doors at 3pm and movie at 3:30pm: join us for a unique and classic theater experience as we screen the movie on a projector through the venue PA and we all relax on comfy couches. There will be popcorn and concession stand style snacks available and air conditioning. As a way to thank the community for your support this event is free come celebrate with us. Please note although the movie screening is free. The show afterwards does cost $20!"

The final night, Sunday, July 26th at Red Gate, will include Blake Pinder (from Chilliwack the city, not Chilliwack the band; this is true of many of the acts playing day three); Clay (but not Clayton Holmes; this is a different local band called Clay; their bandcamp is eluding me); Assaliant (ditto re: their bandcamp); New World on Fire; JISEI (from Vancouver/ Victoria) and headlining, Emma Goldman, whom Noelle notes have just returned from their European tour.

Emma Goldman at the Rickshaw, 2025, by Allan MacInnis

With the festival now happening in Trooper's memory, Noelle thought about how she wanted to close out the festival, and how to best give Trooper the celebration of life he deserves, she explains. "I wanted him to have the legacy I think he would have wanted. After seeing how little there is available to low income pet parents, especially of older pets with complicated chronic conditions, the profits from this years Trooper Fest will be used to create the King Trooper Memorial low-income vet fund which I hope will break down some of the barriers low income folks face when their baby falls through the cracks. As our way of doing something to support the community that supported us."

Fourteen bands and a comedian, "representing every single kind of punk" will be performing; Noelle notes that the diversity in the line ups is her favourite feature of the festival. "Every single band is Trooper approved. God damn did my cat have good taste in both music and friends. The entire fest is super-stacked front to back and I encourage people to look up all the bands." (We've provided links where we could). Anyone who thinks punks are antisocial can correct this mis-impression starting tonight. (I dug my All Cats Are Beautiful t-shirt out for the occasion -- believe that's Trooper there!).

Thanks for inspiring such a great community event, Trooper (and being such a good cat companion, Noelle!). 

The Odyssey: a Christopher Nolan film for people who do not like Christopher Nolan films

I have not, historically, cared much for Christopher Nolan's films. Before I get to The Odyssey, I want to walk through his filmography, as a refresher for myself as well. 

At the time of its release, I enjoyed Memento, the first of his films I saw, and went back and watched Following, which also seemed very interesting at the time (having only seen it once, over 20 years ago, I cannot really speak to Following now). But sometimes critics can have an impact, and Jonathan Rosenbaum's terse dismissal of Memento did make me think of the film in a different way and feel less impressed by it; if you subtract just being engaged in the game Nolan is playing with form, what do you have, ultimately? (I believe I read a longer-form essay than that in one of his books, in fact, but it touches the same points).

Before I read Rosenbaum, however, when I was still big on Memento, I saw Insomnia first run and was crushingly disappointed, came out of the cinema in 2002 really struggling with how little I had appreciated it, how lame it felt (I was much more demanding of cinema back then). I liked it more the second time I saw it, decades after that theatrical experience, so I think for the most part, my bad reaction the first time round is down to my having a lot of trouble adjusting to late-phase Al Pacino, whose last great performance (that I've seen, at least) was arguably in 1992's Glengarry Glen Ross? Or maybe it was Scarface. If he's done any great work since -- if he's made a film where he doesn't come across as an ill-prepared ham, lacking any trace of subtlety or craft or real engagement with his characters, where he basically isn't playing "Al Pacino acting in a movie" -- I've missed it, but I have missed a lot of his later films, by choice (there are some things he's done post-Glengarry that I've enjoyed, like Michael Mann's Heat, but it's like I've enjoyed the movies in spite of his presence, not because of it. Maybe I should try him doing Shakespeare, or in one of the film's he's directed? I have not felt much desire. I think I watched about five minutes of his Richard III film and turned it off). I think I was still struggling with adjusting my feelings about Pacino (who was so great in the 1970s, of course) that it wrecked Insomnia the first time. As I say, I liked it far better on trying it again a couple of years ago -- it is one of three films on this list that I could see myself watching again for pleasure (if there weren't so many other movies I'd rather see instead). 

I didn't see Batman Begins for some time, but went to see The Dark Knight theatrically, and hated it. I wrote about it at the time. As I say, this was 20 years ago, and I've softened a bit since, in part because I made an effort to do so (I have also come to enjoy the Iron Man movies, including the one I call "idiotic and contemptible" in that very review, but that doesn't necessarily mean I don't still think it's idiotic and contemptible; something can be idiotic and contemptible and still be fun to watch, which Iron Man is, and The Dark Knight is not). I think I have come to think, based on the other two Batmans Nolan made, that he really was just going for a cynical cash-grab with his references to current events (9/11 in the first, the War on Terror/ Abu Ghraib in the second, Occupy in the third), but that's more because I came to realize that most of Nolan's films have been about nothing, or nothing very important. I give him credit, in that review, for a sort of right-wing manipulation of his audience, but I hadn't seen enough of his films at that point to recognize mere cynical nihilism for what it was. I actually gave him *too much* credit! 

Somewhere much later I saw The Prestige. It was kind of entertaining, and though I didn't and still don't really know what to make of it ("Is this film actually worth thinking about? Maybe!"), I had no objection to it. I felt that way the second time I saw it, maybe even moreso. It feels like it might actually be Nolan's most sincere reflection on his own trickery, hubris, and ambition? Nolan is his own drowned Hugh Jackman (or at least that's the premise I'd start with if I were to watch it a third time). And though Bowie isn't particularly good in it -- he was never that good an actor, just good at playing himself, it turns out -- you gotta give Nolan credit for the idea of it alone: Bowie as Tesla? Nice. 

Incidentally, that's the other film on this list I could see re-watching for pleasure, with the the third and final being The Odyssey. 

But I hated Inception. I think it was actually the next Nolan film I saw after The Dark Knight (he made it between Batmans, as with The Prestige). For one thing, I felt like it came very close to being a plagiarism of Neuromancer, though there's a section of The Odyssey ("the lotus flower years" with Calypso) that seems to provide a common source for something that happens in both texts. But that wasn't really why I hated it; I hated it because a) it forces you to think far too hard about far too little, seems a walking embodiment of the old saw that if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit; and b) I had never, on seeing it, had a dream where I held or fired a gun, and didn't buy or understand or enjoy how much gunplay the film puts in the dreamlife of its characters. Finally (c), there's nothing of the flavour of dreams in the film -- just the same cold puzzlebox that Rosenbaum finds in Memento.  I love dreams and dream movies, generally (try Dreamscape sometime -- it's cheese, but great cheese, and the dreams actually feel like dreams!); so I went in hoping for dreams, and got chilly games and a hey-this-is-kinda-similar-to-William-Gibson and the usual squinting headache trying to just keep the plot sorted, nevermind what it amounts to. And all done at great length, with a huge budget and a tremendous amount of cinematic and financial resources rallied in service of... what? 

But maybe I am being unfair. Fact is, Inception is a film I've been meaning to revisit for some time, but I liked it so little the first time around that I have never successfully made myself sit through it again. Most of Nolan's films get more interesting on second viewing, I grudgingly acknowledge, but few of them inspire a second viewing, you know? You kind of have to force yourself. So I may watch this one again someday, but not because I really want to, just to see if maybe I missed something. (Does anyone else do this with films they hated? I mean, I occasionally will do an about-face on second viewing; I really didn't care for Children of Men on first viewing, and now I think it's a masterpiece, so...). 

All that said, Interstellar was an exception to how I usually watch Nolan films, because if memory serves, I loved the first three quarters of it. I was even confused by how deeply I engaged with the story, compared to my usual experience of his cinema. But I had a terrifying glimmer in the first 20 minutes or so that I knew exactly where the film was going, one of those premonitions where you think, "this better not be going where I think it is", where I turned out to my horror and disappointment, when we got to the end, to have been absolutely correct: that weird noise on the shelf would turn out, come the end of the film, to be (spoiler!) the main character, at the other end of his journey, observing himself. I swear, I guessed the twist, not based on any clues in the film (it gives you none) but based on a theory I was forming on what kind of filmmaker Christopher Nolan is. Interstellar was the film where his gamesmanship became demonstrably predictable, where he more or less proved (to me, at least) what kind of filmmaker he was. That didn't stop me from liking the first big chunk of it, however, and being impressed, since usually Nolan's films never emotionally engage me at all. I remember being actually angry at Nolan by the film's end, at the bad joke it makes of itself, which I guess is an improvement over my norm with his cinema. It was a good enough film up to a point that it had the capacity to be wrecked by the ending. 

I skipped Dunkirk, I was so pissed off with Interstellar, and still haven't caught up. Tenet, I went to see in the same socially-distanced COVID delirium as everyone else and thought it the most empty exercise he'd offered yet: a film that requires immense effort to think about, but that transparently has nothing to it worth thinking about. Big-budget formalist masturbation: I can give myself a cheaper headache by simply laying off caffeine for a day, thanks. What a waste of audience faith!   

And then Oppenheimer, which I admit I enjoyed, then read some piece of criticism about that seemed, as with Memento years ago, to force me to reconsider what I'd watched. It wasn't Armond White, but it was as damning. Maybe it was Charles Mudede?). I can only say that I enjoyed the film theatrically, and have no interest in ever revisiting it. 

Suffice to say, if you ask me who the most overrated filmmaker alive is, Christopher Nolan is my go-to. 

I absolutely loved watching The Odyssey yesterday. It's great spectacle, but it also makes the audience work, and for once, there's a reason to DO the work. I'd probably love the film just because of the sheer number of young people coming into the bookstore where I've been working to buy copies of Homer (though maybe not: the number of people who have bought Dune based on the recent films is pretty impressive, too, and I think they're kinda lousy). Saw the film in 70mm -- an actual film projection -- at the Park yesterday. It's pricy ($26!) but the house was 3/4s full, which is impressive as hell on a Monday night. The film makes me want to read The Odyssey as well (I've only read The Iliad). I particularly love that youngsters shopping for the book are even being specific about which translation they want (the Emily Wilson, which was what Nolan used as the basis of his own writing, we gather; we should note that Wilson, who knows her stuff, had mixed feelings about the film. It has been well-received in Greece, however). 

This is all I have to say at the moment about The Odyssey. I may pick up the Wilson translation myself -- I can't really offer meaningful criticism without knowing Homer. But there are ideas about morality and human nature in The Odyssey that elevate it far above most of Nolan's other films. Maybe he's finally made a movie that is thematically worthy of its hugeness? That demands you work with it, but has something worthy of the work underlying it?

That was how I felt after watching the film last night, anyhow. 

Note: comments remain turned off on this blog, since there's a commentor I cannot otherwise block who I do not wish to hear from, but feel free to find my link to this review on Facebook, if you can, and comment there (Facebook, unlike Blogger, allows you to block people effectively). I'd love to know what my friends thought, of this or any other Christopher Nolan movies. 

Gigs: H.Ä.L.T., Code-22, Sue Foley, Billy Hopeless, David M., and one for Saturday night

In which many gigs are discussed (we'll get to Sue presently). 

Bad cat daddy had to leave gig early tonight to feed the cat, who has been alone all day. I am home now, but (now that he has been fed), he is not hanging out with me from his usual perch by the computer. He's a bit "hrumph", I suspect -- is chilling in some other room, which mayhaps he will leave should I enter. I missed the Tranzmitors for this? I could have at least missed them for Digression (see previous post). 

I did get to see H.Ä.L.T.. whom I have promised future press to. I like them, but I have questions, including basic ones, like what does H.Ä.L.T. stand for...? I also wonder, given that the bassist reminds me of Dave Tregunna, if that name means anything to him? (Also: is his look more Melvins or Birthday Party? I am unable to decide). I am now attending gigs by bands so much younger than I am that I can no longer assume common ground. There were, like, 13-year-olds dancing around in the audience, I'm pretty sure! 

I also liked that touring band Cheap Glue (from Minnesota!) did a cover of the Pointed Sticks "Out of Luck." I promptly emailed a couple of Pointed Sticks and let them know it was happening. Fun band,  that Cheap Glue, but I hope they sold a lot of merch, because it's a long way back to Minnesota. 

Shot vid (but not the Pointed Sticks cover).

Turns out the best time I had, though, at the Red Gate tonight, was dancing to "Big Brown Eyes" by Code-22 (who I also mentioned to Nick; I think he'd dig'em). I'd forgotten how much I like that song! It was also my best photo of the night. 

This was my third time seeing Code-22, and I well-documented the first, in the dank environs of Alf House, including a vid of the very song I mentioned above. Someone: this song badly needs to be on a 7". 

Does Pete not look a smidge like...

But as I say, this was my second night out in two days; my wife and I went to see Sue Foley the night prior, as well. Sue was great, though I liked some pieces better than others (particularly was taken with the dark, earthy "Southern Men" and her cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Jack O' Diamonds," which is a revealing song to research if you want to understand the odd lore around that particular playing card, which also appears in Clarence Ashley's "The Coo Coo Bird" (aka "The Cuckoo"). It relates to Conquian, a card game related to rummy that (maybe?) also dates back to an ancient Chinese card game called khanhoo? I was, weirdly, finding more revealing stuff on my phone than I am on my computer, but invite you to dive down your own rabbithole, here. Suffice to say, there is some complexity to playing the Jack O' Diamonds in Conquian, because of how cards get scored, that makes it a risky card, apparently -- but I'm not entirely clear how that works. Some variants of the game remove the 8s 9s and 10s, so the Jack joins runs with the 7, making it, if I understand correctly, the highest-scored "non-face-card", which also makes it a card you can lose points on? Not totally clear! I'll ask Sue Foley about it if I see her again. Just as well that Townes used stud poker for his song, though; rummy wouldn't cut it. See also: Seven Psychopaths. 

...But while we are talking about the meaning of songs that Sue sang, did guest Steve Kozak really lead a song with a chorus of "If the house is a rockin', don't bother-knockin'"?  Did anyone else get confused by that lyric? To me, it brought to mind and cross-pollinated with that classic dare-I-say-'white-trash' bumper sticker,"If the trailer is a rockin', don't come a knockin'", which I think means, "If I'm fucking someone in here, don't bug me"? So if the whole HOUSE is rocking, what is that, a gigantic orgy? ...And in that case you should just come on in and join the fun?

The vibe of the song is far more roadhouse than it is group sex, but still, that was where I initially took that lyric. Erika didn't seem to share my puzzlement, translating for me that it meant if there's a party, come on in. Which is certainly the first of the entendres, but... was there seriously not a second one? Is this all in my dirty little mind? I did not want these thoughts in my head.

Anyhow, great show. I was less fond of the boogie-woogie stuff than the deeper blues of the evening, but Foley's playing was very hot throughout, and her band, including old Yale co-conspirator John Penner, were great; plus she was  gracious through the meet and greet, signing whatever was placed in front of her and patiently listening to everyone's stories (I tried to spare her any of my own, though I did try to tell her that I was getting a poster signed for Rob Frith; she joins Tony Levin in the ranks of musicians I have mentioned that story to who a) had not already heard it and b) did not seem to care! It must be hard to feign polite interest in the stories people tell you at meet and greets (incidentally, Stick Men are coming back in September; Tony DID chat with Rob about a mutual friend, even if he didn't know the Sir Paul story; and Pat and Markus did!). 

...as for Sue Foley, I bought her 2024-Grammy-winning One Guitar Woman, which focuses on her acoustic, fingerpicking side, with a few moments of flamenco, as well as a copy of her book, which has an Ellen McIlwaine interview in it. Besides that, we meet-and-greeters got swagged -- signed posters, bags, and Sue Foley tea towels. To be honest, Erika and I are not sure we need two of those! 

If anyone else is craving a Sue Foley tea towel, hit me up? Also, my wife wanted to know if those were Louboutins, but we never got around to asking! (They had the trademark red inner heel).  

What might else one say to Dr. Foley? Congrats on the PhD in Musicology, and thank you for educating the world about Charo, because for years, I thought she was basically just a joke, a manufactured, cartoonish, somewhat vulgar made-for-TV bimbette. I saw her clowning around on television when I was a kid and even then found her annoying and silly. I am blown away and humbled to learn that she was (and still is?) a flamenco guitarist and I will be reading that chapter in your book as well. 

I don't have much else to say at the moment. Happy for the folk festers (wait, that sounds wrong: the folk festival goers?) that the weather cleared, but I'm sitting this one out (I hafta work). But I do have some fun photos of Billy Hopeless with the Parole Models at Khats last weekend (I shot a clip that includes one full song; hang in there for it): He ended up giving roses to various girls in the crowd afterwards, and when the girls ran out, gave one to me, as well.

Ever the romantic...

I also, somewhere in there, made it to a co-op picnic event where David M. played a short set, including "If I Was a Bat," in which I partook; his wife Danielle also joined him for "Manic Monday," and I took a couple of my favourite-ever photos of M.:

Finally, the Deadcats show -- I didn't get much, but here's RuBarb and Chopper: 

About Chopper: someone explain edamame to him, okay? He came by where Erika and I were sitting (at the Counter at LanaLou's) just as our edamame arrived, and I offered him one, but instead of popping the beans out, I'm pretty sure he just threw the whole thing in his mouth and chewed it up. Probably not the best way to have your first experience of edamame, if that's what that was!

It's been fun getting out to a few shows, though I'm glad to have slowed down a little. But for people who have an interest in such matters, note that Aging Youth Gang will be opening the night at LanaLou's tonight (July 18th), trying out a few new songs, apparently; they'll be followed by Motorama (the present incarnation of both bands involving Orchard Pinkish, incidentally) and then Witchy Sister, which also involves Marcus Lander of Motorama. Deets here, and apologies to Billy Bragg, who I will not be seeing at the festival! 

I am told (by a maybe slightly less-than-reliable Orchard Pinkish, who was chewin' the devil's lettuce when we interacted) that Witchy Sister involves Marcus Lander, of Motorama, and that Orchard will be in two of the bands, playing guitar in Motorama and bass in Aging Youth Gang. Or was that the other way around?

Here's one of their songs! 

But hey, you have options. Hope wherever you end up, dear reader, you have fun! 

Clay Holmes on Eargoggles, Digression and the Cobalt "re-enactment" at the WISE Hall

Digression band photo; that's Clay, second from the left

I am going to state at the outset: I likely won't be at the Cobalt thing at the WISE Hall (sorry, Clay!), unless the show that I am going to ends early enough that I can catch some of Digression's set. It seems unlikely. I've simply got to go to Red Gate, as I'm totally taken with H.Ä.L.T., whom I have never seen before, and who describe themselves as a "traditional goth/post-punk band" on their Bandcamp, who, further, remind me of a Gothier variant of early Lords of the New Church, especially in their basslines.  Plus I have grown to utterly love the night's headliners the Tranzmitors in the last few years. But I gotta be clear about that at the outset, because otherwise, it would seem very weird for me to turn up at Red Gate having NOT GIVEN ANY PRESS AT ALL to that show, while in fact having given press to a different one. Like, what kinda hypocrisy would THAT be? This paragraph lets me off the hook for that accusation, though it may put me on the hook for others. Sorry! 

But people wanting a blast of Vancouver punk and metal that will give you a taste of how great "Vancouver's hardcore bar" the Cobalt was, in its initial incarnation -- or who want to see a stacked bill of bands that regularly played that venue, at an insanely low price ($10 advance, maybe a bit more at the door!) should hit the WISE Hall instead, especially if you've never seen the Golers (a savage thrash band with a sense of evil, confrontational, pitch-dark "humour" in their lyrics) or Mr. Plow (who writes very rude, funny acoustic originals like "Let's Get Fat Together", the studio version of which features Mr. Chi Pig. And how can you not love someone who titles an album Apocalypse Plow?). 

By the by, Dave Plow lives out of town now, so he doesn't perform here very often! 

And speaking of rude humour, the Gnar Gnars will no doubt do their songs about fucking vacuum cleaners and their cat (their cover of the Kinks "Lola" is kind of legendary, too). Have seen all three of these acts multiple times and its kinda genius to put them all together on a Cobalt-themed bill (which, I gather, Dan Scum of former Cobes regulars Powerclown will also be joining, though I am unclear what he will be doing). The whole thing is the brainchild of the WISE Hall's Clayton Holmes, who (besides headlining with his band Digression) shot tons of video of shows at the Cobalt back in the day, circa 2005-2010, which he put out both on EarGoggles anthology DVDs (complete with satirical advertisements and other pop cultural references between songs); and as standalone discs of complete shows (including a Subhumans show I missed because I was neck deep in moving from an apartment that had a bedbug problem, trying to make sure I didn't bring the fuckers with me... that was a tough night, and it hurt to miss that show, though it wasn't really the last one at the Cobalt -- Eugene Chadbourne played a Fake Jazz the next Wednesday, which I did make, and which Clay also shot. Anyhow, cool to have a whole Subhumans performance on DVD!). 

Interview commences about Friday's show! 

Clay Holmes, left, with Johnny Matter of Matterhorn records

Allan (in italics): So what was the first show you saw at the Cobalt, what was the first show you shot footage of at the Cobalt, and what are your high points, either of the venue in general or re: the bands on the bill?

Clay (not in italics!): I can’t remember the first show I saw at the Cobalt but I definitely remember walking through the door for the first time in the early 2000s and realizing that I had found my place. I asked Wendy for a job right away and she just shook her head. I managed to win her over in 2006 which led to me documenting the place with EarGoggles. Her oversight of the place is really what made it special. For certain types of weirdo fringe artists there was nowhere better to do whatever the fuck you wantedG

Will you be doing an old-school Eargoggles video document of the coming night? I still have all my EarGoggles DVDs... will you have any on the merch tables? (besides the compilations, I only have two complete shows you shot, the Rebel Spell and the Subhumans; were there others?)

EarGoggles was made before cellphones had filming capabilities and its lost most of its necessity since then so I don’t really film bands anymore. I think I did a Dayglo DVD at some point but if I did, they’re long gone. I do have a smattering of full length sets (including a full day of sets at Neptoon Records during Record Store Day) at https://www.youtube.com/@clayholmes4561/videos

I gave the last of my EarGoggles away to Johnny at Matterhorn Records when he opened because he’s a good guy.

(my own personal Eargoggles collection; how many am I missing? Also note, I have a feature film by Clay -- which he gave me 15 years ago or so. Guess I should watch it!)

Is the Digression album going to be available at the show? What format?

Digression has never made any physical media and probably never will. It would be nice but I’ve never really cared too much about holding an album in my hands before listening to it.

Who is in Digression, playing what? What's the band's history? Is this going to be a serious, ongoing project (I have your "Clay" album with the And No One Else Wanted to Play spoof on the cover, and that seemed like a one off). By the way, Digression from what?

Digression is myself on guitar, Adrian Marsden on another guitar to make up for my guitar, Ry Somerton on bass and Rodney Riot on drums. It’s been going for about eight years now through various lineups but the lineup right now is peak Digression. The first two albums are actually mostly songs from that old CLAY album. I finally found people to play with me!

 
I’m a pretty sarcastic guy and just thought Digression was a funny name for a punk band because it sounds like Aggression but just means to go off topic for a moment. It would have been even funnier with death metal lettering but Richard Katynski designed us a road sign logo and I love it so we’ve been rolling with that ever since.

Is there an overaching theme to the album? The beginning of the end of what conversation? (Why the end?).

It’s the beginning of the end of conversation in general. People don’t have the patience for meaningful dialogue anymore. It’s far trendier to plug your ears, dig in your heels, and belittle anyone who disagrees with you. I think that’s one of the main reasons why the world is so fucked up right now.
It’s mostly represented in two songs: "The Beginning" and "The End."  "The Beginning" focuses on a conspiracy theorist type who cuts himself off from society completely in favour of an AI bot that perpetually agrees with him. "The End" deals with a more somber character who decides to end a toxic relationship after years of reflection.

About other songs on the album -- who are the "Beautiful Castaways" in "filthy lingerie"?

 
"Beautiful Castaways" is about suicide and the title characters are at the bottom of the ocean.

I think my favourite song on the album is "Hollow" -- I can think of a few businesses I used to frequent that have been replaced with perpetual For Lease signs, but was it written about a specific building or situation, or just the general state of development in Vancouver?

I can’t believe that we have a housing crisis in this city when there are so many empty spaces. What a waste! The fat cats who own them should be forced to lower their asking price or convert them to DIY art spaces.  

Re: "Stop Having Kids", have you actually had a vasectomy, or...?

I have not but I also don’t have any kids. Fun fact: my wife, along with a mother and son combo, sang “no more children” on the chorus.

When was Dave Plow's last show in town? What's your favourite Mr. Plow song? (I am partial to the one about getting fat together...). Do you have favourite Golers or Gnar Gnars songs? Who is going to get the proceeds from this gig, when the door is so cheap?

Plow hasn’t played here for ten years so a lot of people are very excited to see him again. I really hope he plays "Crackhead Momma" which is my favourite Plow song. The Golers are pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to live thrash and the Gnar Gnars are hilarious. I thought it was important to have island representation because the Victoria punk scene was very important to the Cobalt.

 
The bands will get the proceeds from the door if there are any proceeds. I work at the Wise and get a good deal on the rental so I figured it would be nice to do old school punk pricing.

The Cobalt has been kinda rehabilitated as a punk venue, but you're choosing to have this show at the WISE; I realize you have long associations with that venue, but are you happy the Cobalt is up and running as a punk club again?

I would be happier if it burnt to the ground! I know this makes me an asshole because every extra music venue is a good music venue but I can never go back out of respect to Wendy and apparently this means that I have to miss all the First Attack shows. That aside, I know a few of the current Cobalters and wish them well.

Yeah, they're good people, and I think Wendy herself is accepting of them. But I respect your loyalty. Curious, is anything being done to pay respects to Mr. Chi Pig? He really should be busing the tables.

You know, I sent out a mass Facebook invite for the show and had to spend an hour amending it because so many of the people I invited are dead. I’m a pretty emotional person and, when it comes to death, I’m also a bit of a coward so I tend to avoid acknowledging it unless it’s small personal gesture (I will be wearing my Grow Up shirt). Like many people, I loved Chi and I hope he and Jon Card will be heckling us from punk rock heaven.

By the way, I realize it's not on the album, but I like the "All Generaliztions Are Bullshit" idea. But when Noelle did her All Cats Are Beautiful t-shirt, I thought for awhile that she had riffed on an idea of MINE (because I'd come up with that "joke" myself in a Facebook post, or thought I had), then realized when I talked to her that it's been around for awhile, predating even my comment. So is AGAB unique to you, as a riff on ACAB? (I've had very few problems with cops, myself, but I've never been a street punk or tried to run a punk club or such).

I coined AGAB when I realized that some punks actually took ACAB seriously. I guess I’ve always thought that punks were better at seeing through the bullshit than most, so it was disappointing to see how vulnerable some of them were to sloganeering. Kind of like discovering that a large percentage of your scene is made up of anti vaxxers or Trump supporters. I’ve actively criticized cops in videos like "50,000 Volts" and understand that a lot of them are assholes who abuse their power but it’s lazy, bordering on delusional, to say that they’re all bad people. I actually thought that some ACAB punks would say hey, maybe it is more important to reject stereotypes than it is to validate my own personal animosity. But instead, they raked me over the social media coals. I tried to explain that I had no cop connections and that cops weren’t even the point, just a potent example of a generalization. But it’s kinda difficult to defend yourself when you’re getting called a bootlicking fascist.

Sidenote, I actually did meet one of my detractors in person one day and he was surprisingly apologetic about his online behaviour. We even chatted amicably for a while so maybe there is hope after all. We never came to agree on the ACAB thing or whatever but that’s ok because how boring would it be if we all just agreed with each other? And how lame would it be if we agreed with each other just for the sake of it?

By the way, attached are some photos, and the only one that might not speak for itself is the Halloween costume where I dressed up as a cop and changed my nametag to All Clays Are Bastards. Now that I’m looking at it, the name tag is way too small so probably not useable but, hey maybe you’ll get a kick out of it.

All Clays Are Bastards

 
Any comments on Noelle as a punk organizer/ community force? (Only accepting positive ones!).

Re: Noelle, she’s as pure and positive a force as I’ve ever met in the punk scene. We recently had a good laugh about one of her posters for Trooper Fest where a band called Clay is playing. 

[Note: people who have followed the Trooper Fest saga here and on the Straight should note that Trooper passed earlier this year, after the fundraiser for his meds was organized; this year's festival, taking place next weekend, will raise money for other punk cats in need and maybe go towards establishing a fund for them? Not 100% clear, but more to come].

Ha. In fact, when I saw the Clay on the poster, I asked her if that was you! Is there anything else I should say about the gig or the bands?

Ya Dan Scum is on the bill now so come throw some sushi at him!

Event deets here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/dollar10-punk-show

Note: BUY ADVANCE TICKETS, because it will cost more at the door

Deadcats Friday! Plus Mick Tupelo, Mike Dennis, the Bill of Rights and some cool vintage photos by Adam Kates

Adam Kates and I found out the same way, on the same night, that Deadcats guitarist/ bassist/ vocalist Mick Tupelo (in the right rear of the top photo) had passed: we were at LanaLou's, a few years ago, for a show that involved Tequila Bats, one of Orchard Pinkish's many humourous country projects, with another former Deadcat on guitar (Chopper, in the left foreground below). Adam told Chopper that he had some photographs of the Deadcats from 20-odd years back -- which you see below; Kates thinks they were taken at the Pic, maybe circa 2002. That was when we found out that Mick Tupelo had died in 2019. 

Deadcats early 2000s at the Picadilly Pub, by Adam Kates, not to be reused without permission

Left-to-right Chopper, drummer Rob (but not Miner), Scooter, Mick

I had seen the Deadcats at least twice. One, in passing, at the Niagara, which used to be a live music venue with a super-cool neon sign (destroyed by Ramada, but immortalized, if memory serves, in Hard Core Logo). I was going in there for some other reason, and the band were playing, and I stopped and checked them out and was most impressed, particularly remembering Scooter (on the washtub bass above) having a fun, tinted hairstyle that night -- a look that stuck, as did their overall style and vibe. The next time I caught them was at the Rickshaw some years later, in a bill with Swank and the Nervous Fellas in 2009. I covered the story for the Skinny magazine and was a bit of a bitch about it (which I would hear about from Butch of the Fellas later, giving him my mea culpla: I coulda been more respectful! I had more attitude in my writing in those days). 

So based on Chopper's news, it sounded like we'd never see the Deadcats again, which both Adam and I were bummed about, because Look Like Hell!, their final album, from 2009, is actually really fun. It's the disc of theirs you're most likely to find around town, though it isn't plentiful these days (sadly, Gord "Gorehound" Smithers of the band reports that Mick had been the merch guy, so there won't be any vintage merch at the show on Friday).  

Fact is, I didn't really know much about the band: and certainly not that I had seen Mick Tupelo, under his real name, Mike Dennis, had performed at the first-ever punk show I attended, as the founding member of the Bill of Rights. All that same up when researching the Straight feature I wrote about the band's second-ever reunion gig since Tupelo passed, happening this Friday at LanaLou's. I did know that Bev Davies had been an item with Rick Knott of the Bill of Rights, and that she had a photo of them onstage with me in it, back in October of 1984, since I'd previously posted it here.

Anyhow, those details worked their way into the article. I should clarify that Gord Smithers, the Deadcat that I ended up interviewing was only on the band's first and last albums, since that detail gets a bit fudged in my press to one-up John Lucas. 

Also note -- the gig poster says the Petty Larceneers will play, but they had to drop off the bill; Smithers tells me that Alberta band Run the Plank (featuring Kermit Von Munster and Aaron Rose, doing double-duty that night as the Deadcats' rhythm section) will be the only opener (we believe Evil Norton Niels will just be singing with the Deadcats?). Happy to have a chance to see the band again, and to show the world Adam's photos (I interviewed Kates about his punk rock history, and showed a few other of his photos, here). Thanks go to Jess Templeton for pointing me at PhotoScape (freeware that is a bit tricky to download, since every page you find has malware links on them, but the Photoscape X one worked). The photos cleaned up pretty darn good, I thought! 

Also note that Smithers also said (but it didn't make the cut) that if the band continues without Kermit, they'll be doing so under a different name. 

So there's a gig to be at on Friday! More info here...  

Les Goodman Saves Canada (Again) and SKÁLD: shows this week

Photo by Gord McCaw

I have seen a few different projects with Dennis Mills, but I have only ever seen Les Goodman co-hosting an event at the Rickshaw with Tony Lee; have never done the Canada Day show. I am changing that! Apparently one should wear red, or red and white, even, for the photo (I guess I have the perfect use for my new Asian Persuasion All Stars shirt). Is Secret Asian Man doing something? I am not sure--they were doing something somewhere for Canada Day,  and I believe Tony Lee is co-hosting this as well. I am keen. If you have Wednesday afternoon off, the event runs from 3-7, tickets here. 

Also, French Viking folk (-metal?) band SKÁLD is at the Rickshaw on Saturday. They are not the Belgian metal band Skald, so don't be fooled; the right bandcamp is here. But they also have a video on their main webpage, and another on the Rickshaw event page. Didn't know them until yesterday, popped on a video just to see and was immediately interested. Why are the doors at 6? Tickets here, unclear why it is starting so early (doors at 6).