Chloé Bach

arts@theotherpress.ca

™ 54-40 © r =| g ht! cl By Matthew Steinbach

5 4-40’s newest work, Northern Soul, is more like a series of paintings than a musical offering. In each and every song 54-40 attempts to illustrate what life is like to be a Vancouverite.

There is also a sinister side to these songs as the album is almost completely, at one point, blatantly anti-war. Northern Soul is a reminder of what Canadians have lost in the last eight years as the war in Afghanistan rolls along and death tolls rise and how we have gone on about our lives in the face of it.

The Vancouver and anti-war themes tie together well in this album; it illustrates how our society is not caught up in the hype of the war, and we’re instead living our lives “waiting for the next SkyTrain.”

Despite the one-two combination of themes, the album concept unfortunately falls apart towards the end. It’s not really 54-40’s fault though; sure they are the people who wrote the tunes, but the album becomes terribly bleak, and I began to hope for some light as main characters are forced to kill or be killed, and one notable one does in fact die in the war, while his sister works through her grief through protest. Which I suppose is the underlying message: that we should be more active in fighting for peace. But still... it’s a downer.

It’s a noble effort without the tripe that many other anti-war musicians tend to throw into their songs. Unfortunately that leaves the listener with a bleak feeling of sadness afterwards, which makes repeat listens that much more difficult.

What the hell is merch anyway? 3 x:-sz::

Kri S Dace: beer, a weak opening act, ‘ - fists pumping in the air and dancing Watrich with no rhythm; these weave a web “what the hell?” through the tangled memory of concert events that most of us enjoy on a semi- regular basis. The next day, however, our shattered minds go to rehab and we start to have trouble putting the events of the previous night in order. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some tangible piece of music history to help anchor our memories to that unique night we spent swaying with our idols as they rocked and rolled their way across the stage? All your dreams can be realized at a tent selling band merchandise, a.k.a. merch.

Rock stars, or at least managers of rock stars, learned a long time ago that fans want to take a piece of the band home with them. This is generally not in the sweaty-towel-from-Elvis sort of way, but in the something-everyone-can-enjoy way (not just some creep with a towel sniffing fetish). Many, many little tidbits are available at most events.

The concert t-shirt has long been the staple of any true rock band, because it’s basically free advertising for the band; thousands of people will walk around with the band’s logo and tour itinerary. My favorite people are those who wear their shirt from the band’s last tour to the new show, because those people are such hardcore fans that they were here for the last tour. I prefer to switch it up and maybe wear a Motorhead t-shirt to the AC/DC concert; this keeps everyone guessing in much the same way as wearing a Detroit Red Wings Jersey to a Canucks-Flames game.

If you look closely, bands have gotten with the times and started to offer an assortment of different items for sale. Motorhead, for example, offered Strongbow cans, oversized guitar picks and drum heads all signed by the band on their last tour. Awesome. However, Motorhead plays for about a thousand people; Kanye’s wrist y o : would be broken if he had to sign 20,000 items for every show. : eeu

Silkscreen concert posters, once a staple in the 1970s, are available again. j These treats are generally unique to the show or the tour and are created by a graphic design artist who attempts to put a visual to the artist’s words. So, looking at my walls, the Strokes and Eagles of Death Metal are trying to tell us “purple women riding a banana,” whereas Henry Rollins is trying to tell us “heart-shaped piece of bloody beef.”

This December 2", all I want from my friends at Metallica is a flat black shirt with some sort of decomposing body or fiery demon on it. I hope that Lars is checking his list, and checking it twice, and brings his toys for all girls and boys.

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