Cobra Ramone with Miss Quincy & The Showdown and The Wild Romantics @ The Waldorf -- 03/03/17

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It's been quite a while since the last time I saw live music at the Waldorf. Since the old promoters had a little trouble with the rent a few years ago, I believe they've only been doing DJ/dance party nights. But what a way to return, with three of the city's most badass bands together on one bill. (And, I don't think I can state enough how much I liked the poster)

Starting off the night was The Wild Romantics who kicked things off with a sultry number, then cranked up the rock, living up to both the 'wild' and 'romantic' parts of their name.
The couple of Aleisha Kalina & Evan Miller, splitting vocal duties, have a great chemistry on stage, playing off each other and getting in each others faces all throughout the set. They played a number of new songs, but included some familiar like the chilled out "Memphis TN", and ended off with a great pair, an incendiary new song called "Heart Attack" and the raucous "Fist Fight". 

Next up was Miss Quincy & The Showdown, Jody Peck on guitar joined by Jen Foster on drums & Jessie Robertson on bass. With their blues-tinged rock, Jody's voice went from a raw growl to soaring, sometimes in the same song. Highlights included the sexy bass groove of "Making Money", and a new one, half-jokingly introduced as they first song that is neither a sad song nor a drinking song. 
After the heartbreaking "Remind Me of Myself", they cranked the dial back up with "Wild Fucking West" and the seductive "Bad Love", before their kickass cover of Peaches' "Boys Wanna Be Her" to end things off. They're always an energetic & fun to watch band live, and this night was no different. 

And finally, wrapping up the night was Cobra Ramone (who, along with Evan, was celebrating her birthday that evening). She was joined by Trevor Snakedust on keys and the non-serpentine-named Pat Steward on drums for some straight up, boot-to-the-chest rock songs.
Cobra Ramone has a captivating stage presence, her powerful voice filling the room, with songs about breakup sex, another she introduced as written in prison, the frantic "Bang Bang", and the venomous "She Don't Know". Ramone also teased new material, including one I really liked but didn't catch the name of. 
The set came to a close with "I'm A Mess", starting low and intense before building & erupting into a bonkers climax, the perfect ending for a set. But then, after that, I witnessed one of the rarest things in live music: a legitimate encore. They had left the stage and the house music came back up, but there was still a pocket of people chanting "Cobra! Cobra!" so Ramone & the band came back out and rocked out one more song. 

Each of these three bands can put on a hell of a show, and it was a nice night in East Van to see them all share the stage. 

Miss Quincy & The Showdown with Cobra Romone and Savvie @ The Cobalt -- 01/07/16

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I couldn't think of a better way to start of 2016, concert-wise, than an "East Van badass babe revue". Miss Quincy returned to Vancouver for the first of The Cobalt's Thursday night "Fuck Fridays" in the new year, and bought along some pretty killer rock 'n' roll. 

First up was a bit of self-described "sex rock" from Savvie. Savannah Wellman was joined by a talented bunch of locals as her backing band -- though noted it was the first time that particular combination played together -- to highlight songs from last year's Night Eyes album.
Starting off with "It's Okay", songs ranging from the coy lyrics "Break You In", the grittier "Gravity", and "The Tower" about looking forward, not back. My favourite of the set, "Dreams of Surrender", was an intense heartbreaker with Savannah's voice soaring over the chorus and a wicked guitar solo from Connor John Tkach.
And though the sound seemed a little bit off for the set, it was still enjoyable and a great prelude for what was to come. 

Next up was the bluesy rockin' Cobra Ramone, consisting of Cobra on guitar & vocals, Trevor Snakedust on organs & guitar, and one of my favourite drummers, Pat Steward (who I think needs a serpentine pseudonym when drumming with the band; Python Steward, or something). 
At any rate, they kicked off with some high energy rock and barely slowed down until the end.  A song Cobra introduced as "about breakup sex", the ferocious "Bang Bang" and the slow-burning "I'm A Mess" stood out to me, as the set built towards a frenzied ending. I had only seen Cobra Ramone once before, a couple years ago, but really dug the set and I am looking forward to hearing more in the future. 

And finally, as the lead singer urged everyone to cozy up to someone because it was "just dark enough, and just late enough..." Miss Quincy & The Showdown hit the stage with the appropriately seductive bass groove of "Making Money" to start off the set, which included a bit of the blues standard "Good Morning, School Girl". 
Highlights of the set included the dark and moody "Damn You" which just launched a new video, Miss Quincy telling the "Fuck Friday" crowd to repent in advance with the hymnal "Take It To The Well", and aside from songs from their most recent album Roadside Recovery, the trio slipped in some new ones, including a sexy slow jam which I think was called "You Remind Me Of Myself". 
Near the end of the set they brought a guest on stage, Shawn "The Harpoonist" Hall, to play a little harmonica on the raucous "Wild Fucking West" before the set concluded with a pair of explosive songs. I think they may have blown out a speaker during the badass and sultry "Bad Love", which would have been a great ending, but they somehow managed to top the energy for an all-out rocking cover of "Boys Wanna Be Her" by Peaches.

Miss Quincy w/ Skye Wallace & Chersea @ Biltmore -- 07/16/15

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It's like someone booked this show just for me. Three of my current favourite local acts came together to play a show on a Wednesday at the Biltmore: the "Queen of Dark Folk" Skye Wallace, the "Queen of Blues Rock" Miss Quincy, and the "Princess of Pop" Chersea (as Chersea herself described the three of them).

Starting the night off was the synth-pop looper Chersea. On stage alone with a mountain of instruments -- keys, synth, drum pad, trumpet, & more -- she started off with a very moody, bass-heavy song that gradually built layer upon layer, driven by her powerful voice. 
From there she shifted into more of a pop/dancey mode with upbeat songs that had the crowd moving, and even participating in her loops; during "Mindporn" she drew the audience up to the stage to record & loop some clapping.
I feel like every time I see Chersea, she's debuting or working with new songs, and this time wasn't different as she wrapped up the set with a pair of new songs. One she had recently re-worked, and the other the only song where she used pre-recorded loops, but it was a big, catchy indie-pop song that's bound to be a hit.

Taking the stage next was Skye Wallace and her band, which included a small string section of Devon Kroeger on violin and Michelle Faehrmann on cello. The strings really gave weight to the noirish, alt-folk sound, as heard right off the bat with the spine-tingling "Monster", setting the tone. In fact later on in the set she picked an apt cover for her sound, doing a stirring rendition of Timber Timbre's "Lay Down In The Tall Grass". 
Most of the set focused on her latest album, Living Parts, but one of my favourites of the night was a powerful new one called "The Guiltiest Hymn", which saw Jody "Miss Quincy" Peck jump on stage for some backup vocals. Jody would pop on and off stage a few more times throughout the set to provide vocals, and then once more during another highlight of the set, the haunting "Dead Things pt II" to shred some electric guitar.
She wrapped up the set with "Scarlet Fever", the hidden track from her last album, as I realised that every time I see Skye Wallace perform live, I like her more and more. Her performance, but especially her songs, are so captivating, in both sound and storytelling. They will burrow into your brain to be stuck there for days. 

And last but not least, wrapping up the night was Miss Quincy, joined by her backing band The Showdown, Jessie Robertson on bass, Jen Foster on drums, and Christie Rose on keys. They kicked things right into high gear with some blues rock, before getting the crowd to stomp & clap along with the hymnal "Take It To The Well". 
From there the set just continued to grow in energy, as they played mostly songs off the latest album Roadside Recovery. "Damn You" has Jody's sultry voice promising "This one's gonna hurt", and "Making Money" with a sexy, slow jam breakdown in the middle of the song, where she slipped in a few (gender-swapped) verses from the blues standard "Good Morning, School Girl". They also played a newer song called "You Remind Me Of Myself", which Miss Quincy dedicated to every person in every relationship who not-so-subtly asked her if she wrote songs about "people".
The set drew to a close with two of my favourites, the pounding, badass "Bad Love" and the gritty, unapologetic "Wild Fucking West". They didn't bother with a faux-encore (which was nice, since it was already after midnight), just playing straight through to the end, finishing off with a killer version of Peaches' "Boys Wanna Be Her". It's a cover that you would never expect, but when you think about it, makes all the sense in the world. Which is my favourite kind of cover. 


Unsurprisingly, all three put on strong sets, and I am already itching to see any of the three perform live again.

Photos by Jessica Brodeur