Hana Zara, VT Joy Parade, Super Bonheur, Parmaga, Le Monde Dans Le Feu, And Shark Victim At Radio Bean, Friday August 16, 2013

Words by Tim Lewis.

I just got home from seeing and hearing a ton of music. Hana Zara had a great guitar sound, playing Joe Adler’s card deck guitar. I loved every moment of her set and still have Dropout Generation in my head, though, I think many of the other songs she played were better. Hmmm, Symmetry.

VT Joy Parade followed, and were fun and cheerful. Their songs are too easy to find the groove, but they have such harmony and enthusiasm! There were a couple with some prog edges, and a couple where Anna let her voice roar. At times, they were magnificent, and maybe they were wonderful at the times I could not see. If nothing else, the juggler, and sense of showmanship, were endearingly entertaining.

The duo fest started with Super Bonheur who played a punk set with drums and electric ukulele/vox. The high end was a bit much, but there was fun to be had.

Parmaga followed with some dance grooves played with a real drummer and guitar/keys mixed with pre-recorded passages. Their playing was pretty solid, impressive at times, but something held them back a bit. Maybe it was the structure of the songs. Don’t get me wrong, at times they really rocked. But, still, maybe they are fine, and creating a beautiful structure, and it’s just that I want to rock it away.

A Montreal duo called Le Monde Dans Le Feu followed. It was mostly heavy dance grooves with a bass player and singer. For the most part, it did not grab me, yet, the enthusiasm was intriguing. One or two songs had a metal hint and when the singer turned around and banged on a drum, a couple of times, I caught a bit of an “On vocals, and percussion” sort of vibe

Through sheer force and stamina, I held it together to be sure I heard “Shark! Victim!”  They finally hit the stage and opened with the theme song. They followed with a surf rockish, not quite High Breaks, new song. Next up White Lizard and Hear It Still rocked hard with Michael Clifford’s thundering bass, and J Boom Mateik even more thunderous drumming. Since it was after 2am, they jammed out a bit more Shark! Victim! and called it a morning.

Thanks to everyone for rocking so hard tonight. I’m only a little bit bummed that Linda Bassick didn’t tell Joe to set up another guitar and amp, and join Shark. It would have ruined the duo theme, but only at the end…..

On the walk home, at one point, I was singing or humming Dropout Generation, and clapping along. I looked down and there was a very tense skunk. Tail up, in a way I’ve never seen before, and everything. I figured, in the moment, that if i had not been sprayed, I should keep walking along. I did, I was fine. Presumably the skunk was relieved too, and went on its way.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.