Biltmore Cabaret – Dec.29

For me New Years Eve came 2 days early this year and if you missed it, I guess you only celebrated the inaugural 31st of December! We, however, bore witness to an unprecedented mayhem of rock gymnastics.
First up were two of Vancouver’s buzziest names “Gang Violence” and “Twin Crystals”.

Gang Violence, I love. Unfortunately, not realizing it was a Monday and therefore an earlier start, I missed them. Sad, yes, but since catching them on Halloween I’ve been sporting bandanas and holstering knives all in the name of Gang Violence. Keep up the good fight and get behind them at their next rumble.
Twin Crystals was entrancing with hypnotic duelling synth lines, dance drums and panther-like vocals. The crowd seemed mesmerized and spell bound while TC weaved a flawless set thru interwoven sub-synth drones and occasional spastic episodes. I found the songs to be surprisingly ‘riff’ oriented. They’ve mastered the simplicity of their songs down to pure elements where infections are deep and lethal. I love this whole ‘damaged art punk sound’, that’s what I’m calling it and suggest you make your own proclamations.

So, it’s a Monday night and the Biltmore is as busy as any weekend show I’ve witnessed. Surprising. The crowd, having just absorbed two of Vancouver’s best on offer, were in typical Van form, more shoegazey than club going, but that would all change in the swiftest transformation ever. Monotonix; where the hell did they come from?!! Tel Aviv must be experiencing some type of time warp continuum where they re-live 1972 year after year! For a riff driven vox, drum and guitar 3 piece, this was a show of mammoth rock-antic propulsions. Yes, propulsions. Did you not see the tight yellow short shorts lead singer ‘Levi Elvis’ was busting? They set up on the floor, which I initially thought was a bad idea, as how is anyone going to see them?.....but how did I know the majority of their set was spent atop the crowd for all to see.......even the drummer was crowd surfing, on drum stool, playing a floor tom. Crazy! This was never before witnessed shit, at least not by me or anyone else I talked to that night. Pabst cans were flying, a guy got nailed in the head and loved it! This was Vancouver? These were Vancouverites? How did these Tel Avivians transform this typical Van crowd into the set of a mid-80’s heavy metal revival video? I since saw they’ve been named “Most Exciting Live Band in Rock ‘N Roll by Spin Magazine” and I happen to agree. Posted: Jan 7, 2009