Last night was the first night of OLIO festival, a three day independent music, comedy, art and film festival. Venues across Vancouver played host to some of the best independent rock and roll the west coast has to offer. While many music goers were lucky enough to take in the likes of local rockers, The Manvils, and the ever talented gents of Sun Wizard (seriously though, check their Myspace), I was up to my ears in skinny jeans, fashion frames, and pretentious affectations.
Thank god only eight people graced the dance floor at Club 560 as The SSRIs took stage, the fewer casualties, the better. Featuring the enormous percussive skill of Tony Dallas of Boogie Monster (another misguided collaboration), and the musical talent of a badger in heat, the SSRIs are about as subtle as a mack truck and just as painful. They are neither progressive nor psychedelic, and it's amazing to see how four guys with demonstrable skill, have worked so hard to appear as though they haven't got a clue. With songs that have no discernible start or finish, melody or time signature, a self indulgent drummer, and a bass player with as much charisma as his hipster hair and ambiguous side long glances will allow, The SSRIs are the epitome of self-righteous, ego-maniacal scenester dribble and would do better to go back to the drawing board and try to remember what real music sounds like.
As eight people turned into a hundred, The Racoons garnered fans just by being better than the opener. Wads of kleenex were removed from ears as the crowd settled in for some mediocre indie rock. Not much can really be said for the Racoons, who's equally ambiguous attitude and general air of disinterest in their music was contrasted by the chops of guitar player Murray Mckenzie and his Jonas Brothers hair.
Finally two mind numbing hours later, the headliner, Edmonton's Shout Out Out Out Out, took to the stage, played half a song and then was rudely interrupted by the fire alarm. Whether some one pulled it, or it was set off by the fog machine, the band kept playing to the beat of the bell until house lights were brought up and they were asked to stop. Some twenty minutes later as the firemen exited the venue it was apparent that so did most of the crowd. No matter, front man Nik just picked up where the band left off and Shout Out Out Out Out went on and on and on and on. Having two drummers in a band can be a great thing, it can be fun and allow for some wicked rhythms. Having two drummers in the same band, mirroring each other, and playing the exact same thing is just a waste of a kit, and stage space, especially when one abundantly outshines the other as is the case with SO4. Musically this six piece band really only needs to be a four piece, but that depends if we're counting the vocorder as a member. Falling to his knees, and covering his eyes halfway through the set one wonders if singer Nik Kozuk's music might even be too much for himself. The crowd didn't even call for an encore, the music stopped, they slowly filed out of the room and went home, a tell tale sign of an exhausting night.
While the Olio Festival has a number of great acts to look forward to I can't say that last nights show was much of a success, with the terrible opener, poor turn out, mediocre talent and the fire alarm, one thing is for certain, it can only get better from here. Go to http://www.oliofestival.com/ to check out more events happening all over the city this weekend.
