Greetings again, gentle readers.
Apologies for the long delay in posting a review – I have been busy grokking
the Vancouver rock band “The Pack A.D.” in preparation for seeing them live
last night.
But your wait was not in vain!
Below is a review of their latest album and following that a review of their
concert.
Disc 941 is….Positive Thinking
Year of Release: 2016
What’s up with the Cover? This is your brain. This is your
brain on fruit loops. Any questions?
Despite
this being drawn by guitarist (and rock hottie) Becky Black I can’t bring
myself to give this cover a thumbs up. Fortunately, that’s been taken care of.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Nick heard the Pack
A.D. were playing a show in town and was interested in checking them out. I’d
never heard of the Pack A.D. so before I committed to going to see them live I
went on Youtube to check them out. I liked what I heard.
How It Stacks Up: I have bought three Pack A.D. albums in the
three weeks since I found out they existed (what? I like them!). The danger of
getting a bunch of albums by the same artist at once is they tend to blend
together in your mind, but it also lets you appreciate a band’s growth over
time. Both happened with the Pack A.D. I have a hard time picking a favourite,
so for now I’ll leave myself room to change my mind and put the amazing
“Positive Thinking” in second.
Ratings: 4 stars
“Positive
Thinking” shows the continuing evolution of the Pack A.D.’s sound, while not
losing the restless energy that is such a big part of what makes this band
great.
As ever
the band generates a lot of sound and fury despite just having two members:
guitarist/vocalist Becky Black and drummer Maya Miller. Because there is just
two of them there is a heavy temptation to compare them with the White Stripes,
and there are definitely similarities. The Pack A.D. has the same raw lo-fi
crunch and like the Stripes they are heavily influenced by the blues.
However,
on “Positive Thinking” the band continues the evolution of their sound begun on
2014’s “Do Not Engage,” backing away from the blues in favour of a thick guitar
sound and vocals that incorporate a softer vocal style from Black and even a
bit of light harmony. The musical arrangements have a surfer groove that evokes
thoughts of the ocean and later Pearl Jam. “Sorrow”
in particular sounds like it could be added to either “Yield” or “Riot
Act” and fit right in.
All of
this is a good thing. I can get the blues anywhere, but watching a band
incorporate multiple influences and grow into something uniquely their own is
far more rewarding.
The
album starts with the crowd pleaser, “So
What,” which has the band’s signature guitar crunch, with lots of sparse
and stripped down production to let all the carefully structured syncopation
lubricate your lower spine and lizard brain. Black’s vocals on the song nicely
straddle a Patti Smith-like growl and a more ethereal head voice. “Yes I Know” follows this up and digs its
heels in with a stronger blues growl, as if the Pack is reminding you that they
are still badass.
The next
song, “Teenage Crime,” has a bit too
much banging and crashing without purpose but the guitar riff and Black’s vocals
are so awesome you forgive a little excess occurring in the song’s margins.
This is
a good time to note that “Positive Thinking” is more about the sound and melody
than specific lyrics, but underneath all that power and woo-ooo-ooing there are
some thoughtful lines, which is a nice discovery as I dug in more deeply on
repeat listens. “Teenage Crime”
begins:
“I was feeling kinda romantic
It’s hard to explain
Coulda been the Bauhaus
Coulda been the rain.
Burned a dark ritual
A real creepy effigy
Just so I could say
I know what you mean.”
Then the
band takes a hard left with “Anyway,”
which despite all the guitar shows the band’s softer side, with a melody that
floats along like sad eighties Goth and prominent vampire metaphors (the
previous song references Bauhaus so we should not be surprised at this point).
The
strong opening to the album makes it hard for the second half to hold up the
same consistent standard, but the songs that fill the back of the order aren’t
bad; they’re just not as good as the record’s start. Standouts on “side two”
include the aforementioned “Sorrow,”
and “Error” which has a strong vocal
that shows off the sweeter side of Black’s voice.
“Positive
Thinking” is a solid entry in the Pack A.D.’s discography and shows that six
albums and almost ten years into their career they are still developing and
growing as a band. This record is just weeks old, but I’m already excited about
what they are going to do next.
Best
tracks: So What,
Yes I Know, Teenage Crime, Anyway, Sorrow, Error
The
Concert: Friday, November 25 at Sugar Nightclub, Victoria
My concert going experience got off to a strange
start because we had to first bid farewell to a friend moving out of town and
that event was at the Union Club. Trying to find an outfit that would pass the
Union Club’s conservative dress code and still rock sufficiently hard enough
for the show wasn’t easy. As it turns out, I failed – Union Club staff required
that I hang up my jacket because it featured a skull on the back. They were
very nice about the whole thing, though.
After a quick slice of pizza and the undoing of my
dress shirt to reveal one of my Alice Cooper tour shirts (see, Union Club – I was trying) we headed off to the show at
Sugar.
Sugar is a pretty good venue for a show. It has a
great vibe and if you get there early enough, you can snag some pretty cool
balcony seating.
Getting there early also means you get to see all
the opening acts. Last night there were two of them.
The
Malahat
The first band was a local act called The Malahat.
These guys had lots of stage antics, with the lead singer channeling a young Robert
Plant and the guitarist trying out variations on Angus Young. Both were
inexplicably barefoot.
I thought the rhythm section of the band had the
edge in talent, but maybe that’s just because the bass player looked like me at
20.
While my fellow concert-goers liked this band’s
energy I found their performance muddy and artificial. I will give them credit
for getting the crowd going early (opening bands have to play to half-empty
houses, which is never easy). Also, during their set a couple speakers broke
loose from their moorings and spun around from their ceiling mounting. This
caused the roadies to have to temporarily stop the show to fix it. The boys of
Malahat took it all in stride. I later checked out a song of their's called "The Grit" on Youtube and they sound pretty sweet. I think they just need more experience playing live to hone their skills, and that will come over time.
Smash
Boom Pow
The second band was Smash Boom Pow who, like the
Pack A.D., were a two-piece. These guys played hard rock with delightful guitar
riffs. The singer had a beautiful high voice that was clear and powerful even
at the top end of his range. He also understood how to speak into a microphone
so you could understand what he was saying. This is a skill that is
surprisingly absent from most live acts.
I liked Smash Boom Pow a lot; so much so that I went
searching for their merch table to buy their album, but there was nothing to be
found. When I checked today I discovered that both their albums are available
only as electronic downloads. Argh. I will now spend a couple months seeing if
I can work up the nerve to do this, and then burn them on a CD that I can put
on my shelf. Always have merch, SBP! Here’s a song of theirs called "A Girl" showing
that they are also awesome in the studio.
Pack
A.D.
Finally, after three hours of nursing my tall cans
of beer and holding off latecomers determined to horn in on our awesome seating,
the Pack A.D. took the stage with little fanfare.
I’d heard rumours that these guys rocked live and
they did not disappoint. They got right down to it and brought all the
infectious energy of their recorded album and then some.
Singer Becky Black plays a mean rock guitar. The
guitar seems to drag her around the stage with a mind of its own, as she fights
it off with a wide-legged, pigeon-toed stance. Despite all this seemingly
involuntary movement she is always totally in control, and her playing is sharp
and powerful. Her voice is strong enough to soar over the heavy riffs, although
I found that she has a habit of pulling away from the microphone when she goes
for higher notes that makes it sound a bit thin.
Drummer Maya Miller was (surprisingly) in charge of
banter and she did a fine job of sounding disaffected and cool, as a rock star
should be. She plays the drum with power and authority, and she has a nice thudding
style that reminded me of Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward.
The set list was a good mix of older and new stuff,
and they had a good feel for the crowd, throwing in a couple of slower numbers
at just the right time to give the concert a natural ebb and flow.
The crowd was mostly young (under 30) and was a mix
of the super happy and the broodingly aggressive. The mosh pit was one of the
craziest I’ve seen in a while, or maybe it just felt that way from my high
perch over the floor. I played paper-rock-scissors with a guy to determine who
would be next to order drinks at the bar and generally had a good experience. I
also wisely stayed out of the pit, which surged and bucked with an almost
animalistic intensity throughout the whole performance.
The merch table was cool, with groovy t-shirts and
plenty of size M (long-time readers will know my frustration with a merch table
with inadequate size options). I even bought a fourth album there for a mere
$10.
I would definitely go see the Pack A.D. again, and I
wouldn’t be surprised if they become a lot more famous very soon. They have a
great sound, and they own the stage from the moment they take it to the moment
they downed tools and walk off without fanfare or drama.
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