Another show at the Waverley Hotel in Cumberland BC. I can't stress how lucky we are to have at least one venue like this around here. This time we showed up to headbang to some metal. Originally there to support Liberatia, the singer/bassist of whom my partner knows personally, I researched the headliner beforehand: Ninjaspy. I was excited to see these guys as well. They are a technical metal band with definite influences of reggae and ska.
This time around I was brave enough to bring my dslr and opted to only mount a 40mm pancake lens. Being as I had shot here before I knew I could get away with a f/2.8 prime and nothing else, and the small design of the lens made the large-ish body of my canon 6d less unwieldy. I had another motivation however, I brought along my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera to shoot video. I have used this camera for video for other live shows, and while the internal microphone actually is quite impressive, I recently purchased a Zoom H1 audio field recorder and was dying to try it out in such an atmosphere. (Video to come at a future date hopefully).
The first band up, was a last minute replacement. Calling themselves Jean Mustard, they were somewhere in between psychedelic rock and grind core. Weird and cacophonous, definitely with a sense of humour, I admired what they were doing, it reminded me of early Butthole Surfers stuff, but I can't really say I rocked out to it. Second up was local band Liberatia. They rocked. Heavy in an old style thrashy way, breakneck fast with great growls and vocals. In a flurry of hair and metal beats, they frenzied the small bar. Quite impressive, I was really enjoying myself by this point. The headliners: Ninjaspy, are three brothers from Vancouver, and while I had listened to some of their tunes in the week or so leading up to the show, I was unprepared for what I was about to see. Highly technical, very tight, their songs ran the gamut from funky reggae to blast beat heavy. Numerous times throughout their set I found myself with mouth agape and no other comments but "wow". Don't miss the opportunity if you ever get the chance to see this band live.
Thanks again to The Waverley Hotel in Cumberland for putting on such shows, it's a outlet that is sorely needed around here, and it's always a good time there no matter what the occasion.
-Cheers, Rev. D