The Vaselines / Rick of the Skins
Lee's Palace. Friday, May 15, 2009.
Admittedly, this was a gig I felt a little apprehensive about. At thirty bones, this was more than I generally prefer to spend, not in the least because paying that price sort of meant admitting that I was willing to pay the Nostalgia Premium, and I was vaguely worried that the Law of Expensive Tickets1 sometimes brings out strange elements. It turned out to be a very good crowd — certainly no shortage of people around my age who discovered The Vaselines back in the day when Nirvana first covered them2 and definitely a more female-friendly draw than some of the gigs I've been to lately.
The whiff of the past was strengthened by openers Rick of the Skins, who said, at one point, almost confessionally, "we're from the nineties". Much to my surprise, I totally missed out on this Halifax band which apparently caused something of a sensation when they emerged in '97 — a time I was paying attention to other things, I suppose. There were certainly some people in the crowd who were excited to be seeing them, greeting several tunes with excited whoops. Dedicated multi-taskers, the band switched up instruments frequently, giving a bit of an impression of "if you don't like this one, just wait five minutes!" But although the sound shifted somewhat as the singers and players rotated (sawtooth analog synths, a hint of no-wave skronk, an homage to Kraftwerk) there was a general underlying unity hearkening back to a time when "Alt.rock" was a part of the common parlance. I reasonably enjoyed their half-hour set, there were three or four very sharp numbers, although also a couple goofs3 that were probably more amusing back in the day. Word is the back are back together and raising up some new material, so best of luck to 'em.
Once the stage was clear, the dancefloor started to fill in quickly, and the crowd's eagerness was apparent. The Vaselines appeared on stage as a five-piece, Frances and Eugene with their guitars flanked by a third guitarist stage left plus a bassist.4 Things started off rough, with the band launching into "Son of a Gun", which sounded out-of-sync and unbalanced, Frances' vox buried and the bass stomping all over the place. At song's end, the soundman stuck his head on the stage to gesture to the bassist to turn his amp down, and things certainly improved after that.
Regardless of sound issues, the crowd was loud and appreciative — perhaps the legendarily screwfaced Toronto crowd was out of town for the long weekend. "This is a bit of a raucous crowd tonight, isn't it?" the infectiously enthusiastic Frances asked the band at the first song's end. "I hear the men in Toronto are sensitive — fuck that, we want a bit of rough!" If nothing else, the band gave good banter, Frances full of mildly saucy declarations and praise for the crowd. "This is noisiest crowd we've had so far," she'd later declare, confessing her new-found love for Canada while Eugene made milking gestures with his hands.5
Fortunately, the banter was backed by a strong musical attack. While still not sounding overly polished, the band was solidly rocking, two guitarists exchanging leads (Frances stuck to rhythm) while the rhythm stayed steadily danceable. A vaguely-countrified new song ("Picked a Cherry"?) followed the classic template of back-and-forth vox, albeit at a slowed-down pace. The band would later add a second new song, Frances expressing surprise at the audience's enthusiasm for the new material.
Working from the same setlist they've been playing throughout their North American jaunt6, the band played for sixty-five minutes, plus a three song encore, including a rockerrific rip through "You Think You're A Man". It was a charming time, and, in the end, I guess I'm glad I ponied up the money. If the band decides to stick with it and keep up with more new stuff, it'll probably take less than twenty years for them to get back to these parts.
A track from this set is posted here.
1 "The frequency a person goes to gigs is in inverse proportion to the average price they pay for them."
2 While I'd like to front that I was cool enough to have heard The Vaselines on some K Records collection before that, I shall tell no lies.
3 Most notably a group chant of "We all come from the horned one / and to him we shall return" that had me looking behind them for the descending six-inch model of Stonehenge.
4 According to an account of their Brooklyn show here, the lineup included Stevie Jackson [guit] and Bobby Kildea [bass] from Belle & Sebastian and Michael McGaughrin [drums] from the 1990's [the band, presumably, not the decade].
5 One dude somewhere behind me thought he could engage the band in one-on-conversation in the middle of the set, loudly informing everyone in the venue that he'd had a beer with Eugene's aunt and uncle. Um, congratulations, I guess.
6 "We're going to have to change the set around," Eugene mused towards the end when someone in the front row correctly called out the next song.
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