It was a great weekend full of reminiscing, but without the bullshit sadness that goes with a life of emptiness, and people who can only have fun by reliving the past. It was a celebration of Mr.Scott Henderson's 30 years of recording in Victoria, which started in 1982 with the now legendary Neos. Henderson himself has said that nostalgia is bullshit, and he has a rule of only seeing bands when they are in their prime. I couldn't agree more. All of these fucking bands who do these reunion tours and shows because they couldn't get jobs, is for old suckers, and young kids who were too young to have seen them when they were actually doing something new and exciting. All that aside, AK-47 played Friday night with The Role Models and The Poor Choices. The Role Models are a straight-up punk rock band, complete with songs about "the scene", and an anthemic song called "I Suck At Life", which I doubt they actually do. Many of the song structures remind me of Section 46, which is a band I was in in the late '80s 'til the early '90s. The Poor Choices were a fun and catchy pre-punk style of garage rock, chock full of hooks. The whole night was fucking awesome. Great turnout, a wide variety of ages were represented, and Scott Henderson got the tribute he deserved. Saturday night was also great, with Scott playing three fucking sets. (Yes, he is a rock monster). Tool and The Eel and High Arctic were full of Mr.H's trademark weirdness, with T&The E being more of a rootsy inspired thing with David P.Smith, and High Arctic reminding me at times of early NoMeansNo. Anthemic and crazy, and fucking great and heavy. People's War played that night, whcih is a band that I play in with Scott, Scott, Glen, and Brad. We are a reggae type of thing, and have had three practices in the last three years. At times it showed, but I think we pulled it off. It was a great time, but sadly, Johnny Pollard could not make it out. Hopefully next time, as we have no intention of going three years without practicing again.
All in all, it was a fantastic night. Thanks to Hermione, Scott, and everyone who worked so hard to make this happen, and of course everyone who came out to support local music, and someone who has dedicated his life to the local scene, no matter the genre. Thank you, Scott.
All in all, it was a fantastic night. Thanks to Hermione, Scott, and everyone who worked so hard to make this happen, and of course everyone who came out to support local music, and someone who has dedicated his life to the local scene, no matter the genre. Thank you, Scott.
