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Victoria rock bands make pilgrimage to Powell River

New wave of touring musicians discover local scene
victoria bands
VICTORIAN INVASION: [From left] David Chenery of Black Valley Gospel, Mihkel Kaup of High Arctic and Mike Isacson of Crashing Into Things are bringing their Victoria rock bands to Powell River. The three bands play a triple bill this weekend. David Houghton photo

For a community the size of Powell River, there is a burgeoning live music scene to boast of, evidenced in a new wave of local bands such as Lukah Bouchard Band, Little Pharmer, Texture & Light and others.

Music, artists and close ties to friends has attracted a growing influx of bands from Victoria and is a testament to the vibrancy of the local scene.

While it is in no way comparable to the British rock and roll invasion of North America in the 1960s and early 1970s, Powell River is a place bands want to play, and those who have performed here spread the word.

“What happens is there are a bunch of us who play there, have a great time and come back to Victoria and say, ‘You have to play Powell River,’” said David Chenery of Black Valley Gospel. Chenery’s group will be joined by fellow Victoria bands High Arctic and Crashing Into Things for a show called Invasion of the Victorians.

According to Chenery, this will be his third trip to play Powell River in the last year.

“I loved it. It’s great and a really neat artistic community,” said Chenery. “It’s exciting to be there and getting to know people, and people whose names I’ve known and never got to meet.”

A big reason bands come to town is because of old and new friends.

“Colin MacRae at Base Camp is an old friend,” said Crashing Into Things’ Mike Isacson. “He was in a great band in Victoria in the day and we shared a practice space. I hadn’t seen him for years. He suggested a few years ago that we come up and play this Heavy Petting Zoo festival that Carlos Williams and Lisa Calder were putting on at their farm; we went up and loved it.”

According to Isacson, for the “older” 35 years of age-plus bands, Powell River is a great place to go.

“There seems to be a good audience in our age bracket, with many having moved up from Victoria,” he said. “I don’t know if the same would apply for younger bands.”

According to High Artic’s Mihkel Kaup, his bassist, Scott Henderson, has friends here from when he was a sound engineer recording for legendary Victoria punk band Nomeansno. Henderson was previously in a band called Show Business Giants with Nomeansno guitarist/vocalist Tom Holliston, who now lives in the area.

“There are a couple of things that make it appealing,” said Kaup, who has also played Powell River three times previously. “There are a lot of Victoria ex-pats there. We know a lot of musicians and artists. It’s a good scene like that. We feel appreciated. It’s kind of cool when you have friends and people who you respect in the arts and music community that will come out to your show and enjoy you being there.”

The audience at the upcoming show will hear music influenced by heavy metal, blues, gospel, pop and punk. Kaup said all the bands have a difficult time describing the genre of music they play.

“Usually I have to say we’re kind of like backward Black Sabbath,” said Kaup. “That was from somebody who came to one of our shows and said, ‘You guys are kind of like a backward Sabbath,’ and I said, ‘Okay, I’ll use that.’ We’re usually loud and Sabbath-type riffs will pop up here and there. There’s a fierce quality to our music.”

Chenery, along with drummer Julie Steemson and bassist Ryan Steele, said Black Valley Gospel is also obsessed by Black Sabbath, but there is another sound in their music.

“I came from writing country stuff,” he said. “I was in a country band before and always wanted to play heavy stuff. I loved heavy music. But, there’s also a spaghetti western thing in our music.”

Meanwhile, Isacson said he does not know quite how to describe Crashing Into Things. “I don’t know, working class art rock, or something like that,” he said.

Invasion of the Victorians takes place at 9 pm on Saturday, November 19, at Red Lion Pub.