Owlbear, Hyperspace VII, and Record Store Day: a mixed bag all round (but Owlbear rocks, so there's that)

Lots one could say about people lining up overnight to get the first shot at RSD official releases... some of whom are simply capitalists looking to score things to flip, competing with actual fans. 

That does appear to be really a thing (and not just a paranoid hate-fantasy fueled by people who resent not having got the last copy of the thing they crave, wanting to blame flippers and not fellow fans): There are albums people bought yesterday that are now being sold on eBay for multiple times what they cost. Someone has Air's Moon Safari up for $640 today; it's on the list of titles that Neptoon, for instance, got in at $37. There are also people selling it for $40 or $50USD, so I'm not clear who is buying it for $640, but that's true of several sellers: A Grateful Dead box set that cost $155 CAD at Neptoon yesterday is now -- not the same copy, mind you, but still -- selling on eBay for $399 USD (with multiple other listings at lower prices, mostly in the $250 USD range). There's a Chet Baker live in Japan album that some lucky soul bought yesterday for $70 that you can now get for $394.99 (or for $94.98 if you look for a minute). 

The economics of it all are a bit dizzying, and I can see how someone who coveted any of those items for the music might resent people who coveted it for the resale value, if they knew for a fact that the person who bought the album was one such flipper... double the resentment if they lined up at 2am (or earlier) to get their hands on it... luckily for me, I don't care that much! The one time I lined up for RSD, just to have the experience, the item I was keenest to get was the Meat Puppets' Live in Montana, which I'm guessing wasn't an RSD exclusive (you can still buy it today) and which was easy to find the next day, the next week... it's true that there was something I missed out on yesterday, the Ian Dury Live in London double-vinyl, but there were only a couple of copies that made it into town, priced so highly ($74.99, imported from the UK I guess) that I'm just fine on having missed out... 

But the stuff I care about most that came out on RSD is stuff like Deja Voodoo's Cemetery, which no one is bothering to flip on eBay at all, and which, if you want it, you can probably STILL SCORE at Red Cat or Neptoon or such; it likely hasn't sold out of any store it came into. That's usually how it works for me; the coolest releases aren't the ones that people are lining up for! I kind of equally fail to understand the people who stayed up all night to get the Steely Dan RSD release (Alive in America) for $54 CAD or the people who immediately posted it on eBay for $100 USD. I guess my lack of interest in truly popular music insulates me...? 

Anyhow, I can totally understand why some record dealers have gotten disillusioned with the whole limited-edition RSD exclusive feeding frenzy. Johnny Matter at Matterhorn had a big sale yesterday, but brought in none of the exclusive new stock. There's definitely a case to be made for that mode of participation, and I'm pleased to hear he had a successful day doing that. Johnny's right, the whole manufactured-rarity/ capitalist-feeding-frenzy attribute of it is kinda bullshit...

But there WERE a few things I wanted this year, only one of which--the Dury--I could not get. The coolest turns out to be the Neil Young and Crazy Horse one pictured at the top. It is not being widely noted but "Be the Rain" on As Time Explodes was recorded at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, one of two songs off Greendale that the Chrome Hearts did that made me a fan of that album, which I'd previously neglected. I was there both nights, so though it does not say which of the two dates it was recorded at, I was in the audience regardless, so I'm super-happy to have that song represented -- a live recording of a Neil Young song I did not know previously, taken from a show I was actually at, and now in my record collection. That's a pretty fuckin' great souvenir! 

That album was sold out in a couple of places but they had copies at Audiopile last night, so it may not be too late, if you are now coveting it too.

With some work, I also got the too-expensive live XTC album -- which has a great cover, compared to the Dury -- plus Camper Van Beethoven's complete cover album of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, and a Marshall Crenshaw bootish thing for David M. (he's reimbursing me). That's more than enough -- usually there's between 0 and 1 items that I am excited about, so it was actually kind of a rich RSD for me, getting three records for myself. Not bad for a guy who was working the whole day, who lined up nowhere, nohow...

And then there was the Hyperspace VII festival, which I went to (after a pitstop at Audiopile, since they still had that CVB album, which Red Cat and Neptoon did not) after my shift at Carson Books and Records was done. I'd written about Owlbear for the Straight; I'm happy to see (as of writing the first version of this around midnight) the story is the #1 piece on the Straight website (which it still is this morning, which I'm also happy to see). I mean, I'm guessing it's all just tonight's Hyperspace nerds coming home and getting online, but there was only maybe 120 people there, so...?

Anyhow, glad that happened. Sad that Owlbear had hassles at the border and that they couldn't bring up vinyl -- customs must have their due. I had coveted a signed Feather & Claw more than any of the RSD releases, with Yannis' terrific artwork (WITH NO A.I. INVOLVED, though, heh, Owlbear should realize that the person they said "fuck you" to in the interview, for guessing the art was A.I., was among my first invites for my plus one. Alas, his girlfriend was sick and he couldn't make it). 

My friend who couldn't make it requested I shoot vid of people in wizard costumes (one emblazoned with cannabis leaves), who were a,steady presence in the pit, doing that circle-pit thing, waving pool-noodle weaponry, smashing their noodles against their cardboard shields, and even swordfighting.  You get glimpses of it in both Witchkiller's "Day of the Saxons" and Owlbear's "Altar of Earth." (I also shot "As Arrows Hail" from right up front, but did not turn around to capture the action behind me). Pretty hard not to love that kind of thing (not that I'm much tempted to do it myself). I joked with Katy afterwards, "Wizards in the pit are NOT the norm up here, just so you understand." 

I enjoyed Owlbear's set. There's something quirky about Katy -- her comments in the interview about not wanting to be credited for playing guitar, for example, or about being a hater (which I've seen no one ever put forth as a badge of honour before) seemed kinda self-deprecating and cynical, if taken at face value, which is odd for someone fronting a band whose songs have a heroic, uplifting aspect; in my old days being trained in Life Skills counselling, someone would have said she was not "congruent". 

She also waxed a bit cynical, maybe with her tongue-in-cheek, in telling people not to come talk to the band at the merch table (by way of inviting people to do exactly that, of course: it was sort of a "come see us at the merch table but don't talk to us" message). She further instructed the audience especially not to thank her for "representing" them. I guess she's had some unwanted weight on her; I can't really say I know what that's like, actually, but I suspect anyone who takes the stage is going to have SOME stuff projected upon them, and that there are some communities out there that really want and need to have heroes and heroines onstage, for obvious reasons. Suddenly it all starts to seem like material for a fantasy novel... Does Katy fit a "reluctant hero" archetype? Or perhaps she's more of an antiheroine...? 

Mostly it seemed like the people in the audience (or at least the ones who weren't there to dance around in wizard costumes) were just there for Owlbear's music, rather than what Owlbear represents, which was true of me, at least . I'm glad to have focused on that in the Straight piece, and guess I shall continue to do so. I mean, life is complicated, but fuckit, I got to dance a bit to "Crawl from the Carcass," the song Katy wrote about getting the fuck out of Pittsburgh. My own carcass (Maple Ridge) was different but I sure can identify with the sentiment (and yes, I pointed out the Straight piece to Rodney DeCroo, who hails from those parts).  

My dancing was pretty inhibited, in fact, compared to some nights, but it's hard to compete with wizards.

I had already talked guitar in the Straight piece but the other observations I had last night were that a) Leona is a hell of a bassist (playing a hell of a bass!) and that b) she reminds me of a headbanger I know named Allison, who I woulda shared my plus one with if I'd thought of it. 

  

All pics by me

Much as I enjoyed Owlbear, there were other miscues in the night, like full white stage lighting beteen their songs, and repeated technical difficulties with the drum kit. Event organizer Joey also said from the stage at one point (allegedly by way of introducing Owlbear, though he forgot to do that part) that it was probably going to be the last Hyperspace, at least for awhile. I would have maybe bought a T-shirt, to at least have Owlbear's name on something, but neither Hyperspace nor Owlbear had any that fit -- at least Owlbear had the excuse of border hassles. The bands with the best merch were Void Chaser and Witchkiller, but I'm not going to go around in a Witchkiller shirt, and I didn't like Void Chaser's music at all (even less than I liked Artificial Language; the best progressive band in the whole affair that I caught was Phaeton last week, by several miles). 

So it was kind of an odd night all-round, really -- but I hope Owlbear will come back at some point. I didn't enjoy them quite as much as I enjoyed Maiden back in 1983, when I was 15, but I don't regret making the comparison. 

(tho' incidentally, for clarity, I wouldn't describe myself as a "disciple" of Maiden's, which is what it says in the Straight piece; I believe that was my editor's liberty, amping up the religious angle. I see what he was doing, and I don't mind, but if I'm going to be a disciple of any heavy metal band, I'll pick the Blue Oyster Cult, thank you. They're just a bit less front-and-centre about the twin-guitar-wank aspect -- other people in the band play guitar, but with them, it's really all down to Buck, innit?). 

I don't have much else to say. Witchkiller, band name aside, were pretty good, but not entirely my thing, either; but I was still pleased to see how happy Gerald was to scoop their setlist. He's known them for 40 years...! 

And apologies to Sanctuary: I neither wrote about you nor stayed for your set, but y'all sounded good too. I had simply reached capacity. Too bad the Rickshaw hadn't!