Pointed Sticks play their farewell show and will donate a Christmas single with tickets.
GET HIP
The Fall Down/Get Down weekend promises to be three days of “a beer-fueled dumpster fire of power pop, rock ‘n’ roll and garage punk,” says organizer Tim Horner, whose inspirations are Gonerfest in Memphis, Hozac Blackout in Chicago and Garage Shock in Bellingham.
“I’ve always loved a good weekender, one tethered to a label and a region …. the ones where you stumble on your new favourite band and your new best friend,” says Horner. “There’s little like it anywhere else …. the event is a thanks to all the locals for buying our records and coming to our shows.”
The Bay Area’s Budget Rock announced its “final weekender” last fall, so organizers Horner, Vanessa Dandurand, Corey Poluk and Dale Davies rallied together to do something in Vancouver.
The lineup includes a showcase of the La Ti Da roster plus legends, locals and new faces!
Tiger High from Memphis, TN is a new band featuring a whole lot of Goner Records entourage with members of Reigning Sound, Jack Oblivion’s band, Knaughty Knights, and Compulsive Gamblers. Death, from Detroit, the Michigan ’70s protopunk legends! The Maxines from Olympia WA, a Texan garage through a K Records filter. Powder, OG 6ts Freakbeat legends from California. A Santa Cruz “heartthrobby” four piece, the Wild Ones! Oakland’s Warm Soda from the ashes of The Bare Wires. Vancouver’s favourite adopted party punks, Portland’s Mean Jeans. Canadian punk rock workhorse Fist City from Lethbridge. Vancouver’s own power pop perfectionists Greenback High featuring members of The Jolts and The Vicious Cycles. The cities power pop elder statesmen, Tranzmitors. A new pop-psych outfit The React! Needles//Pins and uppity hot shots (joking) Ballantynes. With members from the latter along with Moby Dicks, Trapdoors and Shitty Neighbours, Nervous Talk are a brand new garage punk outfit. The Evaporators and local city rockers Sex Church will be there. Last but never least, it’s the final show for one of the city’s most ‘enduring and endearing’ groups, Pointed Sticks, who are donating a Christmas single with tickets.
By miracle of modern technology, Twitter united the organizers with proto-punks, Death. The band made a game changing decision by standing their ground with their original 1970 album, sacrificing a recording contract. “[The] three brothers who could’ve signed with Clive Davis at Columbia Records had they only agreed to change their name …. Death came on everyone’s radar when their album, long forgotten save for the nerdiest of record collectors, was reissued by the good folks at Drag City in 2009,” says Horner.
Artist, skater Tim Kerr will be exhibiting work at Antisocial Skate Shop. A producer/musician responsible for some of the most extraordinary albums of recent decades. “I first met Tim at a similar event that Gearhead Records threw in Austin, TX about a decade ago. The band he was [with] at the time, The Total Sound Group Direct Action Committee, played the single greatest set of music I have ever seen in 28 years of concert going,” recalls Horner. “We’ve stayed in touch throughout the years and I have been so inspired by the trajectory he has followed: from playing music with skate rock pioneers. The Big Boys to carving out a career as one of the most relevant artists in modern America. Bringing him up to Vancouver for a showing has been a personal goal of mine for years: so glad it can come to fruition…”
Fall Down/Get Down happens on November 1 at Antisocial, November 2 at Rickshaw Theatre, and November 3 at Neptoon Records.
Words and Pointed Sticks photos by Tiina Liimu
