2. Big Announcement!!

Herro People of the Earth,

I felt it was time to fill everyone in on a very crucial website with which I have become recently involved.

It's called earnityourself.com & is dedicated to the time tested art of D.I.Y (do it yourself).E.i.Y is run by many, many dedicated music lovers including Sarah Saturday the original creator of EiY, Ernst Schoen-Rene, care-taker of BYOFL.org (book your own F***ing life), and Wyatt Glodell, a computer guru who colaborated with Sarah, in the creation of the E.i.Y website and the weekend group. These three individuals are the E.i.Y Gods and the people you turn to for the right information.

Oh contraire, this site is not only run by the Gods, it's run by regular people like myself, who simply have a love for the music and want to help support their favourite bands. It's afloat because of the bands who show up, post their music and interact with fans on the website.
My point being that every person who joins E.i.Y and shares their input, makes an impact on the site and the people on it.

With this little tid-bit, I also have a pretty big announcement. (it's really important to me)
After being a regular ol' Scene Supporter, for a little over a month, I have been recognized for what I do by being "crowned" (as Dean and Sarah said) as a Scene Guide!
Myself, along with SammyB, and Stacy have all had our statuses raised, so that we can be out front as examples of "What to do" on the E.i.Y Website.
For me this, is absoloutely amazing and I actually feel really, really flattered to be up there with Stacy and Sammy, because they do so much more then me.

I know in the real world, this means nothing, because it's just the internet.
But this means on oppurtunity to become more involved with what I love.
Music & everything about it.
Having this position will push me to the forefront for helping out kids on the site, welcoming new bands and just being there to be a part of it all.

I would really love for everyone to come check out the website, get involved, get your favourite bands involved and help them out.
We really need more Island bands and more canadian bands, as well as fans, to get involved and show E.i.Y, that Canada has amazing talent too.

Some amazing E.i.Y bands everyone should check out:
A Cassandra Utterance (Ernie Ball & EiY, Esquared band of the month)
New Liberty (SammyB's Favourite)
Say When(New Friends!)
Use as Directed (Wicked Canadian Band!)
The Easy Brothers (Rancid called, they want their sound back!)
Two Degrees Faster (Mark Hoppus wants you to know, that this is not early blink recordings, but they still rip.)
Archie Star (Dope)

That's the news & I'm outta here!
-AmyInertia

Victoria, March 6th 2009

Sometimes fortune becomes misfortune.
Like going to Vic for a show and making the effort to bring my camera and note pad, then having it locked up in Bronson's house, because I thought I would get the chance to come back for it.

SAD!

This Friday was the monthavirsary of me discovering/meeting The band On Call heroes and we celebrated (unintentionally) with a show at the legion in Victoria!

There were 5 bands that played,the first, a group of 5 young boys, with a lot of budding talent. Lost in the Masses are a hardcore/screamo band from Victoria, BC. Keeping in mind that this group is only in its beginning stages, they were impressive but lacking in experience. The crowd response was surprisingly good, but the band seemed to lack the confidence to respond adequately, as they rarely spoke to the crowd.
If Lost in the masses works on the stage presence and crowd interaction then their talent will definitely shine even more.

Second to play was solo artist Danny, with his electronica/rock project D4NG3R R4NG3R. Even with strep throat this kid killed it. It was obvious that Danny has experience on stage, which would have come from previous bands such as "Where infinity Ends" (r.i.p). But D4NG3R R4NG3R allows Danny to take a front seat and it's exactly where he should be. With just a microphone and the beat in the back ground he owns the entire stage, using it all to maximize his presence.
Each original piece was delivered in a fun enthusiastic way and interaction with the crowd was great. A cover "low" originally by Flo-rida was met with singing, screams of appreciation and lots of bad gangstur-inspired dancing.
D4NG3R R4NG3R may not be the kind of music you'd expect at one of these shows, but it has definitely found a home.

Bringing up the middle, Apparatus Theory brought the mood back down a little. Hailing from Victoria, AT is a hardcore band that plays like it has something to prove. By that I mean they F****** rip.
The gut wrenching vocals by lead singer Kenny leave little to be desired, except maybe more. And although not as polished as they could be, this group brings the fire on stage and are not lacking in the energy department.
Each song is delivered with power and feeling and shows just how much they want it. They're almost scary, so I think we should just give them what they want. :)

Second to last, your friends and mine, On Call Heroes! You just can't say anything bad about these guys. Cracking jokes and having fun is what they like to do, ("Daddy is this right?"). Like many of the bands who played on Friday, OCH wasn't pitch perfect but they make up for it with their enthusiasm and happy-go-lucky attitudes.
Bringing out the crowd favourites such as "Epic", "The Mario Song" and "Shiver" which featured a beautiful sing along with the crowd in its closing chorus, they put on a great show.
A few technical difficulties with guitars, as well as their new light (a box with the letters OCH carved into the front) weren't enough to damper the night as the guys rang spirits high with a cover of Blink 182's "The Rock Show".
Always the nice guys, On Call Heroes will go far, as long as they keep thier heads up and pointed towards the horizon.

Closing the night, another popular Victoria band, in the running for Taste of Chaos was Fall In Archaea. Hard and fast is the name of the game with these boys and their Confidence is apparent. F.I.A know how to work the crowd and bring them into the show.
Lead Vocalist, Alex, is one of the few screamers who melts your ears off without destroying your desire to ever listen to hardcore music again. Accompaniying him, the instrumentals in this band come hard and heavy, with power and precision.
The most unfortunate part about F.I.A is their small repertoire. It was disappointing for the band and fans alike when at the end of their set the requests for "ONE MORE SONG" were met by nothing.
Don't fret though; Fall In Archaea, has many more shows and much more hard hitting music to bring to the scene. Who knows, maybe if they're bring it hard enough, they can beat the heart of this dying music scene, back to life.

See you on the flip side,
-Amy Inertia

Lantzville Hall, Feb 27th, 2009

Another day, another show.

This time, a line up that was so mindblowing, I couldn't even take notes.
But seriously, I locked my keys in the car and missed the first two/half bands.
So unfortunately, this time no pictures.

-fail-

The first band that played was Stokes the Mute, a rock/soul group from Nanaimo.
Although the enthusiasm was there, Stokes still has a bit of work to do in the presentation. They looked like an odd mish of several different styles and it reflected in the music.
Luckily the individual talent of each member brought enough to the table to still be entertaining.
The bassist in particular showed an intense connection to his instrument, bringing out some impressive bass lines.
As a whole, I believe with a little more co-ordination and experience, Stokes the Mute has potential and a good outlook in the island scene.

Following Stokes the Mute, were Nanaimo veterans My Broken Hero. Always a crowd favourite, MBH wowed even me with incredible growth in both performance and musicality since the last time I saw them play. The new material is smoother and incredibly engaging.
Lead singer, Dustin Dame sings with such intensity and feeling that it leaves the hairs on the back of your neck standing up.
Don't get me wrong, all of My Broken Hero play with the kind of energy and feeling most bands spend their entire career trying to grasp. It's really beautiful to watch and always enjoyable.

Coming in third, are Vancouver natives, Mass Undergoe. Bringing humour, experience and sometimes pants that are a little too tight to the table, these guys are always a delight.
This evening however, I'm not sure if it was the venue or just the atmosphere but it felt like MU wasn't at their best.
The whole set was not nearly as polished, as previous visits and the although as a band they appeared put together, the singer was sloppy and didn't come across with the same strength I've seen before.
As engaged as some fans were, there were many people standing off to the side and back who only came to life in the last half of the set with the favourites "Middle of the week forever" & "Youth Anthem".
I hope to see MU back in Nanaimo soon and hopefully they'll be out of their funk.

To close up the night, was much anticipated Victoria based band, Theset. A throwback to the Pleasant Valley days (those of you who are old enough to remember those days that is), Theset were poised to impress and certainly did not let us down.
Tristan, Martin, Elliot, Jory and Dean do an incredible job of bringing you into their world. For that 45 minutes, it is as if you are enveloped, as if nothing can touch you.
Down you go into the rabbit hole, and into a world all their own, created by each and every chord, drumbeat and bass line.
The fragile facade is held together by the fine phrases and notes, brought to life by lead singer Martin McPhail's eerie, but comforting vocals.
Theset showed off with new songs such as "Survive" which has an accompanying video now on Much Music, "Red Spider" the final song off the new album, & heartwrencher "little one" a beautiful but melancholy rock-ballad, all from the latest release, Never Odd or Even.
For the old school, Pleasant Valley kids, they brought back two hits "12:34" and the encore song, "Sunshine Dust".

Not soon to be forgotten, the 27th was a night to reminisce, but also to embrace the new, the future of the “scene”. We can only hope that we will soon see a line-up as mighty as this, gracing the Nanaimo Stage in the near future.

All's well, that end's well
-Amy Inertia