Music is filling the summer; the City of Victoria has opened their pop-up venues at Ship Point, Cameron Bandshell, and The Fort Commons, and the regular spots still are keeping busy with live music.
Victoria has so many live music events during the warmer season, most of which are free, that it was possible to check out an abundance, but I’m old and can’t party like I used to be able to (although I try). But for this story I went to as many shows as I could in a short period of time.
I kicked off this adventure at Ship Point, which is a cool venue. The stage is a converted shipping container, sensible for the area. One side of the container folds down into a platform—this is where the vocalists stand, whereas the drummers are inside the container. Of course, the downside to this makeshift stage is that larger bands would be unable to play here.
While I believe the installation of artificial turf, lawn chairs, and cornhole games adds to the area, I still find it unnecessary: with various food trucks, including appearances from the Victoria Beer Society truck, sitting and listening to music there felt like a bougie version of friend and family BBQs, as our food isn’t as fancy and we don’t have a stage when bands play.
Over the two nights I was at Ship Point, I visited Poutine66, Naked Dressings, and Vegan Ice Cream by Odd Burger, in addition to the adult beverages. Both nights I ate at Naked Dressings as it was difficult to deny myself their Spirit Bowl, a salad with a delightfully seasoned peanut dressing and vermicelli noodles, greens, and other veggies, and I was curious to find out what their berry dressing tasted like. Spoiler alert: it’s divine! The portions were large, so if you have a smaller appetite, share with a friend; one salad was two meals for me. The third night only Taco Revolution and Ice Cream by Odd Burger were there and I wasn’t in the mood for either; I’m weird that way sometimes.
Blaise Blaise was the first band I saw at Ship Point. It was a snug fit with their drums and keyboards, but they made it work. Blaise Blaise is a blend of jazz, funk, and hip hop. Vocalist Dani Jackson has a beautifully powerful and melodic voice and fun sense of humour, cracking jokes while introducing the band members and in between songs.
The guitar solo in one song was long, with solid riffs that showed off the immense talent of their guitarist. Unfortunately, their keyboardist, who also rapped, had the same cadence throughout the set, which was a stark contrast to Jackson’s vocals.
Richard Garvey was the next performer I saw at Ship Point. His folk-music style, switching between banjo and guitar, was full of melody, with some songs having a slower tempo and others more upbeat. Garvey has a lovely, strong voice, yet it sounds gentle and soothing. He’s adorable, too; he offered hugs when telling the crowd about merch he had available. The price for his album was “whatever seems reasonable.” This hospitality and the way he sang showed he was in this for the love of music, despite his song “Tonight I Sing (For the Drunks)” having had airtime on CBC Radio One.
He has many road-trip-playlist-worthy songs due to their melody and lyrics, such as “I Will Meet You Where You Are,” which is about showing up for your friends. One humourous song called “Beer in the Snow” was a true story, as he told the crowd, of when his friends found a case of beer in the snow. I will definitely see him again, and next time bring cash to “reasonably” purchase his album.
My last visit to Ship Point was for rotating event Inter-Tidal Relations, which happens every other Wednesday throughout the summer—different ethnic groups are featured on different weeks.
When I arrived, tables and a tent were set up for bingo, which was confusing at first, but I stuck around and watched as people with vests from the Victoria Native Friendship Centre were roaming; it seemed like I was in the right place.
Sure enough, there was music after bingo; Jeremy Frederickson played acoustic guitar. He sang covers such as “Pretty Woman,” “Mr. Bojangles,” and “When Doves Cry.” His voice was enchanting, eliciting passersby to step through to stop and listen. There’s a peacefulness to his presence; his demeanour on stage was quiet and reserved but his voice and guitar playing proved he belonged on stage.
After Frederikson was Hill60, a folk/country band with guitar, upright bass, two vocalists, and while they said they normally have a banjo player, they were away that night. The harmony between the vocalists was impeccable and the music was toe tapping and dancey. The upright bass added a unique depth to their sound that a bass guitar can’t; it was a nice break from what I usually see. The lead vocalist was animated in her stage presence in a way that draws an audience in, moving back and forth, and up and down.
Last up on this busy evening of unexpected twists was DJ Nova Jade, host at Ship Point and soundwoman extraordinaire—she’s constantly running around with a tablet checking levels.
At the beginning of her set, she introduced it quietly as “Bad Rabbit Radio.” The house music she played was seamlessly blended together with each song and beat track flowing into the next, and her song selection was on point. She should be working in a club if she isn’t already.
I sat near a guy, who looked more like a biker than a raver, dancing around in his wheelchair; it was awesome.
In between seeing shows at Ship Point I also went to The Coda and Lucky Bar. I had never been to The Coda, in any iteration of that spot. I remember when it was a nightclub, destroyed by a fire, replaced with another nightclub, then a jazz club, and now The Coda.
Starting off the night, the owners came out and introduced themselves. They explained that The Coda is “a genre agnostic” venue and their vision is to fill the place with music every night. From posters on the wall, I can say that they have been doing fairly well at covering the genres.
There are two stages at The Coda, one in a smaller room with a stage in a corner, a few tables in the middle of the room, seating along the wall, and a bar facing windows at the back of the room. The other stage is in a bigger room with two levels of seating and a dance floor.
What impressed me most about the venue I found out while the second band played. I went to get a drink from the bar, and the owners were bussing and wiping down tables in the small room we’d watched the first band in. It’s not often owners of venues are noticeable, let alone seen doing grunt work, but the owners of The Coda did it with smiles on their faces, still ready to help their guests have a great night.
The show was called Rebel Rock Riot and the theme was rebellion in music. The first band was The Hounds of Cuchulain, a Celtic band with a fiddle, Irish whistle, Tenor banjo, harp, and mandolin. The frontman explained the significance behind the various songs, a few of which were by The Pogues. They followed the night’s theme well with their selection of material.
Vocals varied between songs. Sometimes it was the frontman taking the main melody, with the two women taking backup and/or playing instruments, other times the women did duets. Throughout their songs the harmonization was on point. Their voices blended together beautifully into one sound.
The Coda was smart to have The Hounds of Cuchulain play in the smaller room. Being in a room with tables and a bar gave a feeling of being at a kitchen party, a common maritime activity. I also appreciated that the women in the band wore old-style Celtic outfits, adding a sense of time travel, and they at times made me think of fairies (I may have seen Disney’s Brave too many times).
The one issue I had was that the Irish whistle wasn’t properly mic’d, making it very difficult to hear, which was unfortunate. When I could hear it, however, it was magical to the point that I found myself getting annoyed when I couldn’t hear it.
I would definitely see The Hounds of Cuchulain again and listen to their music at home to ensure I hear the Irish whistle in every song.
For the second band we moved to the bigger room which was necessary for the dance floor. Vanilla Riot is a rockabilly band that played covers of Blondie, Veruca Salt, The Bangles, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and Don Henley. It didn’t take long before people were on the dance floor to kick up their heels to the familiar songs.
The guitarist, who was the promoter of the show, is incredibly talented. He played complicated riffs effortlessly and used pedals to manipulate the sound perfectly. As per the vocalists, they had good chemistry and harmonization.
I was impressed with the backup vocalist’s stage presence. Despite long stretches with nothing to sing, she smiled the whole time, grooved to the music, engaged with the lead vocalist when appropriate, and looked like she was enjoying herself. Not all backup vocalists have good stage presence when they have nothing to sing for extended periods of time like she faced; some will begin to look bored after some time.
The person sitting next to me said the band was a good party band. I agree. I’d book them for a wedding or anniversary party, but I wouldn’t book them for a show—I’m not a fan of bands that just do covers unless they’re a tribute band.
Unfortunately for me, the next band, Aston Martini, was also a cover band, playing songs from Rebecca Ferguson, The Kinks, Edwyn Collins, and Iggy Pop. Despite having the same guitarist, they were more bluesy than Vanilla Riot and proved that Baby Boomers can still rock. Dressed in suits, they had a definite Blues Brothers vibe.
They had a lot more energy than Vanilla Riot and more people hit the dance floor during their set.
Aston Martini’s frontman had an intense stage presence, moving around the stage from one floor speaker to the other. He looked like he was going to come off the stage, but he had a wired microphone. His flexibility and movement when at the microphone stand reminded me of Steven Tyler and Axl Rose.
There were two low points in their set, though. During “I Am a Passenger” it was obvious that the vocalist didn’t know the words and was reading them off a device attached to the mic; it also lowered the confidence in his voice compared to other songs. Then during “Personal Jesus” the echo effect on the keyboard muddled the overall sound. It was disappointing, but the band played the rest of the set extremely well.
A music adventure, for me, would not be complete without some punk or metal thrown in. I’ve been to a lot of punk/metal shows; I used to be a punk music promoter in my 20s. By far, the show at Lucky Bar was one of the best metal shows I’ve been to despite one issue I had with the first band that played that night.
Chop Suey played first; they’re a System of a Down tribute band. Listening to them instrumentally, it’d be hard to tell the difference; they’re that good. Of course, the vocalist’s voice is different, but he did have the same power and melodic tones that Serj Tankian does, when the vocalist actually knew the lyrics. Like Aston Martini, I could hear it in his voice when he didn’t know the song; he was amazing and nailed songs he did know, but was quiet when he read the lyrics off a device. System of a Down songs may be slow at points but they’re not timid. I found myself screaming in my head, “Learn the words!”
What made up for Chop Suey’s lyrical issue was Dead Goon from Vancouver, a Mr. Bungle tribute band with a twist. Similar to Mr. Bungle, they switched up genres during songs, rather than having one genre or mashup of genres in a song; it was a musical montage.
However, Dead Goon took it a step further and had some fun with their interpretation of songs and the genres they used. In one song they would flow smoothly through mellow rock, to punk, to ska, and/or to funk. They were mind-blowing.
In addition to the overall sound, the bassist was incredible. He played chords switching from underneath to the top of the fretboard. The keyboardist used various sound effects during and in between songs. He also played two types of saxophones (I don’t know saxophones well, so I’m not sure which is which). The vocalist used a megaphone as a voice changer. Indeed, it was an odyssey of sound.
In the same spirit of Mr. Bungle, the band also had a fun, somewhat challenging, style. The vocalist wore a black leather hood that covered his face; it looked difficult to sing through. The small slit for the mouth and tightness of the hood limited how much he could open his mouth to sing.
Dressed in a rubber Richard Nixon head mask with blue coveralls, the guitarist reminded me of a thief in heist movies; he looked ready to go rob a bank or jewelry store. But the bassist wins the award for Best Costume: he wore a wig that belonged in a Jane Austen movie, a short blue and sparkly spaghetti strap dress that hung off one shoulder, and matching arm sleeves.
Dead Goon is a band I’d go to the lower mainland to see; I’m so sold on them. They didn’t have merch out, but they do have an album. I will get it even if I have to hunt them down in Vancouver.
The Fort Commons had a show I wanted to go to. It’s a cool little courtyard tucked in behind the buildings between Fort Street and Broughton Street with an entrance off Blanshard Street. Unfortunately, I got the time wrong and missed it because I got the showtime mixed up with a show at Cameron Bandshell. You’d think I was a rookie!
I highly recommend checking out the City of Victoria pop-up venues; showtimes at all the venues, plus other events around town, are listed in a guide on the City of Victoria website. Ship Point has its own schedule in addition to the city guide, which lists the shows along with the food trucks at victoria.ca/ourdwtn.
Have some fun this summer and create a musical adventure, and remember to double-check showtimes.
Correction: We originally referred to Aston Martini as Acid Martini in this story. We apologize for the mistake.