Getting a little behind in my writing.  Have editors breathing down my neck.  It’s just the way things go for a writer on the road.  Forgetting commitments, while making new ones, and forgetting those too.  So here it is.  Canada Day.  Biltmore.  NoMeansNo.

The show promised to be a good one, the crowd was lined up early for this sold out show at the blast furnace under the HoJo, and looking back at all the shows I’ve seen there I think this was the first truly sold out show I’ve been too.

Opening the evening was a local Vancouver duo Hermetic.  An indie band with strong influences from the college rock sound of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the post-punk of the early 80’s, their influence from Mission of Burma being quite obvious.  Nice staticky, crunchy guitar, post-post punk melodies, and there was even a harmonica, what’s not to love, but the crowd was thin, as it so often is with opening bands, many were in the long line up outside waiting to be searched, and many more were still on their way, but Hermetic had those inside the club well on their way to a great evening.

Following a brief intermission Denver based Slim Cessna’s Auto Club took the stage.  I didn’t know who they were before the evening started, but was a devout follower by the end of the evening.  Falling somewhere between an actual band and a group of traveling old-timey preachers Slim Cessna’s Auto Club are in my opinion one of the best live bands I have ever seen.  They took the stage with a no prisoners attitude, they were going to give Vancouver something it doesn’t see often, if ever.  Like an evangelical preacher they left no opportunity pass to work the crowd into a zealous fervor, and converting those that weren’t already followers of this tremendous band into fanatics.  A musical style that has roots in country, gospel, folk, and rock music, they are hard to nail down, I think the easiest way to describe them would be Americana, because there isn’t really any other place that their style of music could develop. My suggestion, if you haven’t heard Slim Cessna’s Auto Club before, check out there website, have a listen, I’m sure you will all be converts by the end of the day, I know they hadn’t even got off the stage and I was already looking for where they were playing next.  Sled Island.  Damn.  Can’t make it.

The crowd at this point had driven the temperature up in the Biltmore to record levels.  The plastic water cups had melted into a puddle on the table, and the beer glasses weren’t doing much better. The place was packed.  Shooting the show had become nearly impossible.

The last band of the evening.  NoMeansNo.  I had been waiting for this show for the better part of two months, and I was getting sick.  My throat killing me.  Distracting me from not only the job I had to do, but also enjoying much of the show as I would like, but I soldiered on.  I took up position at the side of the stage while the band readied themselves for the fierce looking crowd that was waiting for them.  One fan I knew from Edmonton came back to greet the band.  Asking if they remembered certain shows in Red Deer, and Calgary, and then offered them his basement to come play in.  He did have a big basement.  Another friend I knew that night was seeing them for his seventh or eighth time, and I’m sure they were not alone in their loyalty to this band.  After all this  is a band that has been touring the world for the better part of 30 years, and after trying to see them for years now this was my first NoMeansNo show, and I was sick.

They started their set with one of the songs from the Tour Ep, Old, and that kicked off what was to be a great set.  I think first and foremost NoMeansNo is a live band, punk rock has in my opinion always been meant to be a live style first, and these guys know it.  There is a certain energy that they give out to the crowd, that gets amplified and fed back to the band, they play to that, and they do it well.  I’m sure John and Rob Wright being brothers doesn’t hurt, but they seem to know what each other is thinking, making it difficult to tell what is improvised and what is planned, it’s a solidity that younger bands just don’t have, and it’s something that I think whoever plays with them can learn from, and many of them do I’m sure.  I tried to take as many photos as I could, but the crowd was pushing ever closer to the stage, taking up every inch of space, trying to get closer and closer to the band, it was a little suffocating, but everyone was having a good time.  I stepped back and enjoyed as much of the show as I could.  It was only about a third to half way through there set where I was starting to feel very unwell and knew it was time to go, I was disappointed not being able to stay through the whole set.  I was really enjoying what was going on up on the stage, and despite my illness I was having a great time.  I trudged on home, and passed out, over a week later, I’m in Edmonton, I’m still sick, but I still remember another great show at the Biltmore.

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