Definitely mad. Possibly heroic.
“We are looking for potential, we are hoping for something original,” said Ben Lai, who is returning to host SHiNDiG! for yet another year and regularly graces the airwaves with his show, Live from Thunderbird Radio Hell.
One of the longest running battle of the bands in Vancouver, various records place the first SHiNDiG! in 1983 or 1985. While the search for sonic revolutionaries never wavered, the selection process has marched into modern times.
“We, my colleagues and I, used to lug in bags and bags of CD’s and onesheets,” Lai recalled. “But now we get almost everything over the internet.”
From nearly 100 submissions, 27 were chosen. Lai is content with this year’s batch. “It’s a good cross-section, pretty representative of the local music scene.”
The judges are also representative of music in Vancouver, ranging from CiTR DJs to local musicians and music journalists.
Alex Hudson, the frontman of SHiNDiG competitor Rec Centre, had trepidations about the judging. As a rock critic writing for various publications, the UBC alumnus is used to being the one to pass judgment.
“I started Rec Centre in my bedroom as a kind of home-recording project,” he explained, “and this is the first time other people have been involved.” With a little help from his friends, including Jay Arner of Fine Mist, the project evolved. “The live band side of Rec Centre is very new indeed, it’s embryonic at this stage.”
Occupational hazards are also loom over Honourary MD. While six members of the band are UBC medical school students, one of them, Bronwyn Malloy, is uncertain how many of the nine-person band will be playing at SHiNDiG. “Seven or eight, depending on if one of our members gets called to the hospital or not.”
Not as scientific is Beekeeper’s way of recruiting band members. “We found our bass player through a dating site,” confessed singer Devon Lougheed.
“We created a fake profile and looked for someone who was musical.”
By day, Lougheed is a PhD candidate in political science at UBC, and his fellow band members are a computer scientist and a WestJet flight attendant. “We bring all these experiences into a strange fusion of music.”
Lougheed is looking forward to SHiNDiG!, and said, “We like CiTR even though they won’t play our music, and you can quote me on that.”
At this point in our interview, Beekeeper’s manager Rockin’ Robin grabbed the phone and issued a challenge: “To all the other SHiNDiG! bands, you are going down. And contact me if you want to be famous.”
The bands will be trading riffs and more fighting words at the Railway Club, where SHiNDiG! takes place every Tuesday night until November 8. Lai hopes the event will bring in more than a few musically curious students.
“It’s a good place to hear some fresh music, see something different and maybe go home with a new favourite band,” he said.
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