IPO Vancouver 2016
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Artists From Vancouver
2 Days & Counting – A melodic rock quartet who wear their collective hearts on their sleeves and pour them into an enticing brew of funky bass lines and powerful vocals. Their recent album, Long Short Story, will appeal to fans of The Dave Mathews Band, Pearl Jam, and Foo Fighters.
Laurie Biagini – After a brief hiatus, Biagini is back, and better than ever! She has four CDs to her credit, filled with her characteristic sunshine harmony pop with some groovy surf and psychedelic undertones. Usually a “DIY” girl recording all the parts herself, her latest disc, Sanctuary of Sound, also features a few guest guitar tracks and vocals from fans as far ranging as The UK and Italy. Fans of The Beach Boys, The Mamas & The Papas, and The Monkees need to check her out!
Cartoon Lizard – A cool mixture of ‘60s influenced psychedelic sunshine pop and intricately arranged baroque pop with ever shifting chord structures, Cartoon Lizard describe their songs as “music for the pop archaeologist.” Fans of The Beach Boys, The Rain Parade, and The Millennium will not want to miss this one!
China Syndrome – A band whose songs will remind you of everything you love about power pop! Filled with catchy hooks, bouncy guitars, upbeat vocals and harmonies reminiscent of such greats as XTC, The Replacements, Badfinger, and Guided By Voices, their latest CD, The Usual Angst, is a “must have” for fans of the genre. You NEED to hear this band!
The Diviners – The band consists of Donald Delano and Janis McKenzie and sometimes also Gord Badanic, Gary Economy, and Tony Lee. Their music features lots of sweet harmonies and not-so-sweet sentiments, and can be described as Nick Lowe meets The Everly Brothers…if one of them was a girl!
Siobhan DuVall – The leader of Duvallstar, and former guitarist for The Bomshells, Bif Naked, and The Widows (with Billy Hopeless), Siobhan is the consummate performer, whether fronting a band or rocking the house solo. Known for her sophisticated sexy power punk, Siobhan has played the main stage at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival and Sony Playstation Skatespace in Whistler BC, and has appeared on VH-1 in New York City! Her stories in between songs are almost as good as the songs themselves!
Danny Echo – With influences drawing from the greats like The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles, Radiohead, Oasis, and U2, Danny Echo reverberates with all that is melodic, all that is catchy, and all that is rock n’ roll on their latest full length release, Rock Bottoms Up, and barely tones it down for their acoustic EP, Unplugged and Unglued. Smoke machines, projectors, smoking guitars, and fire extinguishers (?!!) have become a part of the visual assault of Danny Echo gigs, making the live show an experience not to be missed!
Edmonton Block Heater – Their 2011 CD, Mars, Massachusetts, has all the jangle and spank you’d expect from a power pop trio – big guitars, hooks, harmonies and handclaps – but with a broader palette and bigger ambitions, taking excursions into folk, country, R&B, and even Latin sounds! It’s a mature, confident set of 14 songs guaranteed to rock the house Saturday night and tend to your hangover Sunday morning. Their latest EP, Rover, is similarly diverse, and will appeal to fans of twangy powerpop, folky softpop, and muscular rock!
elle-ectric – Having explored several musical writing styles – from jazz to folk to hip hop to house to top 40 – elle-electric now concerns herself with creating art for art sake. The songs on her recent album, The Queen Of Mars, draw inspiration from her lovers, dirty rock and country guitar riffs, as well as her folk style soul, and combine this with passion and grit to create her own unique cinematic soul meets gritty country rock style. Fans of Lana Del Ray, Metric, and Joni Mitchell will love this stuff!
Eden Fine Day – A long time devotee of the pop hook, Eden Fine Day may be known to some as the singer/songwriter behind the band Vancougar. Her recent Things Get Better CD is suitably uplifting even when dealing with darker subject matter, blending influences from ‘60s folk to ‘70s protest rock to ‘80s college radio. Fans of Joni Mitchell, Cher, and Sheryl Crow should check her out!
Gold Stars Are For Suckers – Glam, power pop, Motown, bubble-punk, indie-rock, and a bit of everything in between – it’s all in there, and it’s all good! With a slightly irreverent sense of humor to their lyrics, and a love for what they do borne of their proud admission of being overgrown children, these four veterans of the Vancouver music scene (including Derek McDonald of The Orchid Highway and The Bad Beats) deliver music for beer ninjas, music nerds, bacon lovers, zombie enthusiasts, career students, the unemployable, alcohol evangelists, and anyone else who enjoys music and not taking one’s self too seriously. Their live show will blow you away – they promise!
The IPO All Stars – As their name suggests, this band features an all star cast of Vancouver music scene luminaries from The Orchid Highway, The Walk-Ins, and other special guests, doing something completely different: a selection of cover tunes, some well known, but also a few obscure and challenging numbers that we can’t wait to see them pull off live!
Cass King & The Next Right Thing – Combining the talents of some of Vancouver’s finest musicians, who have previously played in such bands as The Orchid Highway and The Wet Spots, Cass King & The Next Right Thing mix classic ‘60s R&B swing with scrappy garage-punk energy to create their own brand of sultry garage soul rock ‘n roll that makes you want to shake it till you break it! Fans of artists from The Beatles to The Animals to Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings should check them out now!
Chloe Anne Lloyd – The songs on her debut self-titled CD mix the sincerity of Folk-Americana with the rough edge of blues to create her own unique yet familiar sound. Taking inspiration from artists like Neil Young and Cat Stevens, she mesmerizes audiences with her honest lyrics delivered through a powerhouse vocal, and all the while keeps your foot tapping and your head bopping with her rhythmically driven guitar. Fans of Loretta Lynn, Amy Winehouse, and Katy Perry will also dig her!
NOT Mentally Prepared – A Vancouver quintet who love nothing more than rocking hard and getting the audience to dance their booties off, so who could not love that!? In their original songs, they specialize in writing about a wide range of topics – the reality of life, love, funny things, weird things, obsessions, emotions, people, etc., but they are also know to throw down a few well chosen covers. Fans of artists from The Rolling Stones to AC/DC to The Cure should check them out! The band features Stephen Quinn of The Irises and many others who have played IPO Vancouver!
Pill Squad – Punk and garage rock influenced by the Cramps, Sonics and the Damned, featuring members of the Hip Type, China Syndrome, Full Leather Jacket and the Blow-Up Dolls. We were honored that they made IPO Vancouver 2014 their debut performance, and we’re thrilled to have them back again, but beware: their four-song digital demo album and their live performance will leave you longing for a full length!
Pink Licorice – A truly unique band from Vancouver who are melting faces and breaking hearts with their genre-defying blend of disco, fuzz laden-psychedelia, new wave, and doom-pop! Fans of Blondie, St Vincent, or The Manhattan Love Suicides will dig their recently released album, Punishments!
Preston & Fletcher – If the Avengers were musicians, they would want to be Preston & Fletcher. They share a penchant for hooky melodies, insightful lyrics and British sports cars. Their songs have as many twists and turns as a Rallye Monte Carlo where the drivers are Bacharach, Lennon and McCartney, Aimee Mann and Jon Brion. As you read this they are putting the finishing flourishes on what promises to be an extraordinary debut recording, which we can hardly wait to hear!
Jody Quine – Opening her heart up on topics of letting go, being true to yourself, heartache, depression, love, and hope, with a voice that beds down with the shivers under your skin, the songs on Quine’s newly released album, Stand Up, will reach into your haunts and pull out the light. Her transcendent vocal style expands from silken sweetness to smoldering power. She is also lending send voice to the Live Your Dream Tour as both emcee and performing artist. Benefitting NAfME, VH1 Save The Music, and Little Kids Rock, the purpose of the Live Your Dream Tour is to utilize an interactive and educational concert model to inspire children, young adults and community members to pursue music careers, and is set to hit over 36 cities in 2016. Very cool!
Spaceport Union – The mysterious and eccentric Spaceport Union will whisk you away on a compelling cosmic voyage with their eclectic amalgamation of progressive art rock. Let yourself defy gravity as you are drawn into celestial planes diffused with experimental instrumentation and novel sound ideas, very much in the trail of past greats such as the Alan Parsons Project, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Along with the sheer energy and dynamic force of their live performance, the band effortlessly transcends the mainstream to connect listeners to the realm of the timeless. Watch for their Permanent Frequency CD, due out soon, and available as a pre-order on their Bandcamp now!
Star Collector – IPO is always thrilled to welcome these one-time stalwarts of the Vancouver scene back to IPO, whether it’s been several years since they last played or only one! Their patented blend of decadent hooky Americana, British powerpop and glam influences and powerhouse vocals will knock you off your feet! If you don’t already own them, their Flash Arrows & The Money Shot and Hundred-Bullet-Proof CDs are a “must have” for any true power pop fan, and well-worth seeking out –their IPO show is a rare live performance, which you will not want to miss!
Tayt Modern – Chris Tayt is a visual artist and a songwriter who (as a founding member of the rock n’ roll band Chinatown) has shared the stage with Steal Panther, LA Guns, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Avengers, and more. Visiting the Tate Modern art gallery in London, Chris was inspired to create Tayt Modern both as a signature for his paintings and as a band name for his songwriting. Said songwriting will appeal to fans of ‘80s pop and new wave artists such as Joy Division, David Bowie, and The Cure, as well as fans of classic pop acts such as Roy Orbison and Scott Walker. Check him out!
The Top Boost – To assemble The Top Boost, singer/songwriter Hunter Gogo searched for musicians who shared his love for catchy melodies and vocal harmonies informed by classic ’60s groups like The Beatles, The Byrds and The Zombies. He found drummer Greg Johnston and guitarist Kirill Yurtsev, and together they are the perfect modern psychedelic garage pop power trio! Able to seamlessly incorporate classic sounds into their music without ignoring contemporary influences, they are creating something that is both familiar and distinctive. Their debut EP, Turn Around, recorded and mixed in Vancouver and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, is a kaleidoscopic sound collage driven by jangly guitars, pounding drums and wistful harmonies. We can’t wait for a full length and to see what these guys do live!
D Trevlon – An old time singer/songwriter/storyteller, Trevlon’s songs are inspired by those he meets and through life experience, with romance and travel high on his list of subjects of choice. His 2007 Dance Under The Stars EP was recorded under a bed sheet to help prevent the city sounds from entering the microphone, and perfectly captures the lonesome singing cowboy spirit! His writing comes in spurts, so perhaps a new release is around the corner…but either way, you won’t want to miss catching him live at IPO!
Wrestling Emma – A glam-power-pop-soul-rock n’ roll trio featuring members of Chimpanzeebras, who have been described as “Randy Newman meets Randy Savage!” (Chet “Bible Belt” Shammelhaff) Their debut self-titled EP will also appeal to fans of T Rex, XTC, and They Might Be Giants, and their live show is not to be missed!
International Artists
Ships Have Sailed – Since their inception, LA’s Ships Have Sailed have always struck a balance between exuberant pop and substantial alternative rock, a formula for success that has earned them both a loyal following and numerous accolades from ISC, Unsigned Only and The John Lennon Songwriting Competition. Whether doing it slick and electric, as they do on their debut album, Moodswings, or mellow and acoustic, as exemplified by their EP, Whispers, their soaring melodies and heartfelt delivery will stick with you long after the last note of their songs! IPO is honored to have them as the first band ever that’s scheduled to play all six stops in a row of our West Coast tour!!
