the Bloggers

I hate going to see bands around Halloween. You never know if what they are wearing is a costume or not. Last Halloween we were playing with the split singles and my friend from school thought they were dressed up as the Sex Pistols, but it turns out that they always dress up like that when they play; I saw them two months later and they had the same look going on.

Last night I went to night 8 of Shindig at the Railway Club and I was in costume hell! The first band, Car67 was all decked out in cop and nurse outfits and they were so overly dramatic I couldn't tell if I was watching some first year performance art or just a good hearted Halloween bash. The last song they brought out some old dude on a saxophone who made them sound kinda like the U-J3RK5 which was alright, but still kinda awkward.

Next up was a band called Victoria, Victoria! and they were wearing shirts and ties and blazers and sweaters and stuff like that, and they played comfortable wolf-core indie rock that was all fine and good, but I couldn't tell if they wanted to seem cuddly and cute or not, cause about three quarters through the set the guitarist (who only did back up vocals to that point) took off his guitar and they went into a really wild stompy version of 'Money.' The guy screamed and squawked and ended up taking off his shirt and tie and playing the rest of the set topless. It was such a contrast to the rest of the set, but I liked it. So if I go see them again are they gonna be wearing the shirts and sweaters? Or are they gonna bash it out in cut off jeans hairy chests?

I figured Victoria, Victoria! had it in the bag with their cute punctuated name and cozy, if somewhat standard indie rock. Especially since the next band was called the Bloggers. What a bad name. We almost left, but I guess I was curious. It looked like they had a sports theme going until I saw the second guitarist was a frog. The drummer had the 80's giant V Canucks jersey over a full set of pads including gloves and a cage. The lead singer was a baseball player, but the windbreaker and wig he was wearing made him look like a teenage drug dealer that hangs out that the Abbotsford bus exchange. The bassist's costume was kinda ambiguous... he had snowboarding goggles and baggy pants... and some make up on, but I couldn't tell what he was. Anyway, at this point I still sorta thought that they would suck. Ben Lai introduced them and they started and it was amazing! The singer stumbled around the stage and mumbled and screamed totally bizarre lyrics while the band plodded along, one of the guitars picking softly and the other one pretty much just feeding back... and then before you could figure out what was going on, the song sorta just fell apart and stopped. Nobody knew what to do. It was completely silent. But I was sold! Their songs were rambly and short and not predictable and would usually end before you got used to them. The singer kinda reminded me of the guy from Cap't Jazz, but he sounds like he doesn't give a shit like Pavement. Some songs were almost all just feedback, while others were melodic, but still simple. It's not even ironic, they just rule. Despite that, by the time the set was over most of the audience had left and the Bloggers finished last in the contest.

I went home and looked them up on myspace and despite their name they weren't all that internet savvy. Their logo is about as primitive as can be, there was pretty much no info about the band and they had only 4 friends! How punk is that? Plus the songs on there all ruled. So go be their friend or something. You can probably still make it into their top 8.
www.myspace.com/thebloggers