The Pockets, Palm Pirates, Blue Grey Dots, Dustin and Garrett

Pat?s Pub
Thursday June 1st 2006

Despite the shitty weather and questionable location, Thursday evening's kick off night of Music Waste went off with a collection of keyboard and guitar cacophonies. Pitchers in hand, a disappointingly small crowd of friends witnessed their comrade's bands take the stage. With enough beer consumed to render any musician too drunk to fuck, the first two bands The Pockets and Palm Pirates warmed up the crowd. Following the vein of avant-garde bands with annoying screaming/talking female vocalists, Blue Grey Dots got the crowd dancing with their indie dance repertoire. Despite their catchy blend of keyboards and guitars, the vocalist's extravagent screaming exemplified a wide range of sounds something akin to a horror movie. The Dots defintely had the crowd stamping their feet in hipster excitement. As the last band, local Vancouver darlings Dustin and Garrett, proved to be the crowd favourite with their guileless blend of drums and keyboards. Simple drum beats combined with plonked keyboard notes proved to be what this small crowd needed to forget the rain and enjoy music wasted.

Sticks, 12 Year Old Girl, The Safety Show, Fake Shark Real Zombie, The Winks

Ukrainian Cultural Center
June 3rd 2006


Ahh, the Ukrainian Cultural Center. Aside from discovering a goldmine of Ukrainian cultural artefacts, including a delightful pair of traditional pointed dancing shoes, Saturday night?s Music Waste showcased more developing homegrown talent. After a quick visit to the Astoria for a six-pack of Pilsner (this WAS an all-ages show and we were not about to eat sour keys all night) we situated ourselves near the front of the stage, ready for some live music action while a crowd consisting of devoted fans of the more established bands eagerly anticipated their idols to take the stage.

Sticks and 12 Year Old Girl opened the evening to a small gathering. The final bands of the evening were definitely the most established, each having previously toured the globe, and as such were the crowd favourites. A hit with the young ladies, cute dance avant-garde group Fake-Shark Real-Zombie showed Vancouver what the U.K has already experienced. Having toured with the now defunct Test-Icicles and Whirlwind Heat earlier this year in across the U.K, Fake-Shark Real-Zombie has quickly become an underground sensation. The group joined the Test-Icicles on their farewell tour which included a closing stop at London?s renowned Astoria. Despite their seemingly innocuous and playful name, Fake-Shark is far from a joke band. Influenced by Refused, Mike Patton, Dillinger Escape Plan, UK grime, At the Drive-In, and Siouxise and the Banshees, the group provides a modern framework for blending several disparate musical styles.

Whimsical and fantastical baroque punk band The Winks were the nights finale, providing the audience with a dream-like ending to the warm summer evening. Self-described as a psychedelic folk band, their mixture of an electric mandolin, saxophone and haunting cello is a modern and obscured homage to vintage and classical sounds. Their melange of disparate instruments fuse together in seamless harmony joined together by the vocalist's Bjork-influenced melodies. Caraberet sounds reminiscent of a Parisian holiday lend themselves to make the Winks an naïve, arty, and promising band. Fake-Shark and The Winks are definitely the bands to watch over the summer.