Bullets In Overdrive
By Jay Schreiber, Arts Editor

itting in an old renovated
S school bus outside of Pub 340
in downtown Vancouver, the
kids from Bullets In Overdrive are
ho stranger to the live music scene
this city has to offer. Moments after
clearing the band’s gear off the stage,
the group sits outside for an interview
with most of them not being able to
get into the bar they just rocked.

“Well, I’m 17,” said Jordan
Armstrong, the group’s singer and
guitarist. “Kelsey [bassist] is 18, my
brother Brandon [drummer] is 18 and
Michelle [lead guitarist] is 19.” Don’t
let them fool you; although the band
is young, they are also experienced,
having played most of the downtown
core’s regular live music venues.

Currently on tour, Bullets are
going to be back on March 11 fora
show at Granville’s famous Roxy
Club, a venue that they’ ve played
many times before. “Usually you
get the Fox crowd there,” Jordan
continued on, but that place fills up
fast with lots of people.

“We started when our dad bought
us instruments when we were young,
and our best friend (Kelsey, who lived
next door) jumped in and wanted to
be part of the action,” Jordan and
Brandon, explained about the origins
of Bullets In Overdrive. Brandon and
Jordan are brothers separated by a
year, or as it was explained they “both
fell out of the same vagina.”

“Our mom came up with the
name and it just stood out, it was
punchy and kind of in your face.”

As far as song writing goes,
the group all contributes to every
song, and often they’ve described
themselves as “picky” having almost
fought to the death over simple
melodies. “We have eight tracks
recorded,” Brandon explained,

“And two more which are still under
construction to make a full ten-track
EPS

Working with Dan Swinimer, the
drummer from popular Vancouver
band Jet Black Stare, they were
approached by him using only their
MySpace as a publicity tool. As many
bands have found, getting your name
outside of Vancouver is not easy, so
while on tour, they hope to achieve
some sort of presence across the

 

Bullets In Overdrive

country.

“Ideally we'd like to play the
opening ceremonies of the Olympics,”
Kelsey mentioned. “I don’t know
why people are still protesting it, it’s
already here, people, and it’s not going
anywhere!” Michelle’s contributions
also went towards the group This
Means Nothing in Mexico, who,
after submitting a track to a CBC
Radio contest, won a spot opening for
Mariana’s Trench at one of the men’s
semi-final hockey games last February.

“If we’re not making music, then
we’d probably be curling,” the group
agreed. “We’re going to start our own
curling squad and wear the Norwegian
team’s pants while we’re playing.”
said Michelle with a chuckle. Their
current goal is to start playing in
front of bigger crowds, but obviously,
frozen sports area suitable backup
plan.

Bullets in Overtime have the drive
and passion to succeed, for the most
part have yet to fail on their many
excursions as a band together. The
only thing that stands in their way
would be unprotected sex with Mozart
and Bach’s love baby. Check out
their MySpace, or head to the Roxy
on March 11 to hear more from the
Bullets.

 

 

We’re gonna need a bigger plane

Kevin Smith goes into plane, plane goes into hissy fit

    

Angela Espinoza

eloved by many as a big, cuddly,
B disgustingly crude teddy bear,

Kevin Smith has built quite
the fan base over the years. Smith’s
production company, View Askew, and
its subsequent “View Askewniverse,”
have provided the world with some of
the smartest, most pointless and silliest
movies in recent time... save for Jersey
Girl. For the handful of you who don’t
know of this brilliant man, just saying
the title of Clerks should be enough to
ring some bells since I don’t feel that
Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a perfect
representation of Smith (although it’s
pretty damn close).

From what I’ve conjured up from
his frequent “SModcasts” and various
Q&A sessions, Smith is one of the most
harmless men in Hollywood. It takes a
lot to get a guy like this riled, and who
better to pull that off then Southwest
Airlines? On February 13, Smith was
removed from a Southwest Airlines
flight for being “too fat to fly.”

There are two directions I could
be taking right now: the “I love you,
but calm down and lose some weight”
approach, or the “I love you and I make
no exceptions” approach. Sorry for those

  

am NOT fat yet!

expecting a reasonable argument, but
as a fangirl, I’m going for the second.
As soon as he arrived home,

Smith was recording a SModcast

under the title “SModcast #106: Go

Fuck Yourself, Southwest Airlines.”

In the recording, Smith states that he’s

used the airlines in the past because

the flights happen to be relatively
cheap. Taking advantage of these
prices, he’s made a habit of purchasing
two seats for himself—not so much
because of his size, but to either keep
some distance between his anti-social
self and some stranger or to have

more room for himself and a friend.

Unbeknownst to Smith, the flight

oversold seats; fast forward over an

extremely tedious process described
in detail by Smith, he had to give up
one of his seats. After allowing him
back on the plane, Smith took his seat
and went to buckle his belt (a feat

Smith takes pride in). Just as the flight

was getting ready to take off, a flight

attendant approached Smith saying he
had to get off the plane because “he
couldn’t put his arm rests down” —
which Smith claims he did just to show
her everything was fine. Despite that,

Smith was removed from the plane full

of onlookers for being “dangerously

overweight.”

Since the incident, Smith has
recorded another SModcast
and numerous YouTube videos
continuing his rant about the
issue. It doesn’t matter who
you are, being kicked off a
flight in front of a few hundred
people because of your size
is humiliating, even more so
for him because he’s not even
qualified as overweight, in his
words, “yet.” Some could say
this is just another celebrity
having their diva moment, but
since we’re talking about Kevin
Smith here, that’s a bit of an
oxymoron; although Smith has
yet to let the issue die.

Ending on a shameless
plug, Smith’s latest film, Cop
Out, was released on February
26. 5