IPO Vancouver 2018

 
Click on artist name to go to their music page
 
CLICK HERE to see IPO Vancouver 2018 Artist Yearbook Photos
 
 

Artists From Vancouver

 
2 Days and 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 album, Long Short Story, will appeal to fans of The Dave Mathews Band, Pearl Jam, and Foo Fighters.
 
The Break – An alt-rock quartet led by guitarist and vocalist brothers Jamie and Rory MacKay, the band mixes hard rock roots with acoustic songwriting prowess and an oozing of creativity and collaboration to create their diverse sound. Their songs have been described as “country-fried rock”, “hard rock opera”, and “rock n’ pop with a bite”.
 
Paolo Brian – A classically trained pianist and Royal Conservatory graduate, Brian traded in his orthodox ivories in order to create his own brand of personal and melody-rich pop music, and we’re mighty glad he did! The melodies and textures on his recent Tunnel Vision EP blend influences from classic bands like the Beach Boys and the Zombies with the contemporary influences of Ben Folds and Andy Shauf. We can’t wait to see him perform this stuff live at IPO!
 
CAUSE4DRAMA – Led by the inimitable Rocky Milino Jr., who is equally at home playing to crowds of six or 60,000, this is one band that clearly remembers that rock n’ roll started as the bastard step-child of the blues! Milino’s blend of confessional lyrics with modern rock attitude and Texas-style electric blues guitar will appeal to fans of artists from George Thorogood or ZZ Top to Prince or Michael Jackson. His chemistry on stage with the band is palpable, leading to an electrifying performance that earned them a vote as “Fan Favorite” for two years in a row at the 99.3 CFOX Seeds Competition!
 
Siobhan DuVall – The leader of Duvallstar, and former guitarist for The Bomshells, Bif Naked, and The Widows (with Billy Hopeless), DuVall is the consummate performer, whether fronting a band or rocking the house solo. Known for her sophisticated sexy power punk, DuVall 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 – Recently featured in Wail Magazine and 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!
 
Paul Gibbons – The lead singer of beloved Vancouver popsters The Rye Catchers (see below) is back with a solo career and a crop of songs well steeped in the Britpop tradition. His latest CD, Out With The Introspect, is chock full of The Beatles’ melodic inspirations, blasting out with the power of Oasis’ stadium thunder, and touched by some ‘80s new-wave grooves and tones. Check it out now!
 
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!
 
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, along with many others who have played IPO Vancouver!
 
Scott Perry – A veteran of Vancouver’s music scene, Perry is known to many an IPO-er for his versatile guitar work and harmony vocals as a member of The Orchid Highway, The Winlaws, and The Top Drawers (see below), but he’s also an accomplished singer/songwriter in his own right! The songs on his recently released album, Songs of Serenity, have a style that follows in the classic tradition of guitar-driven tunesmiths like George Harrison, Jim Croce, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash and Elliott Smith, and his melodic and intimate songs tell stories of home, inspiration, connection, and love. He has a new one coming out in early September!
 
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. The consummate psychedelic pop perfectionists, they’ve spent the last few years putting the finishing flourishes on what promises to be an extraordinary debut recording, which we can hardly wait to hear!
 
The Rye Catchers – Yes, that’s right folks…after 13 long years of going their separate ways and doing their separate things (see Danny Echo and Paul Gibbons, above), one of Vancouver’s most beloved power pop bands from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s are getting together for a special IPO reunion show!! The songs on their self-titled CD are the perfect blend of crunchy power pop with a healthy dose of Britpop and light psychedelic influences, and their harmonies are as smooth as the nougat of a Mars bar! We can’t wait!!
 
Star Collector – IPO is always thrilled to welcome these 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 power pop 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!
 
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. They are so good, we just had to make the single from the EP, “What If She Loves You?,” the lead off track on last year’s IPO Vol. 20 CD compilation! We can’t wait for a full length and to see and hear these guys do their thing live again!
 
The Top Drawers – Everybody knows that the top drawer is where all the best secrets are kept safe, and that is equally true of the 12 songs contained on The Top Drawers’ CD, You’re So Fine. Richly steeped in 1960s Brit-rock flavour, The Top Drawers bring back the joy, the energy, and the fun of rock ‘n roll! We’ve missed them at IPO the past few years while they’ve been on hiatus, and are super excited to welcome them back for a special IPO reunion show!!
 
We Found A Lovebird – An enigmatic, yet highly engaging band, not hard enough to hang with the metal guys, not poppy enough to bop with the indie-folk bands that commercial radio can’t get enough of, and certainly not punk enough to rage with the punks, regardless of the generation. Still there’s no denying that the ‘70s inflected singer-songwriter material borrows from all those genres for their third full-length release, Lobby Fans of Big Star, Television, Wilco, Elvis Costello, and Guided By Voices will all love this bird’s song!
 
 

Canadian Artists From Outside of Vancouver

 
Dave Rave & Hailee Rose – The venerable Mr. Dave Rave began popping very powerfully indeed a near quarter century ago as part of the legendary Canadian bands Teenage Head and The Shakers, has often been referred to as “The Canadian Nick Lowe,” and is now an inductee in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame!! (Congratulations, Dave!!) A recent CD, Live With What You Know, was nominated for a Grammy, as was one of its songs, “Anne Marie,” and he’s recently shown his enduring love for quirky ‘80s-style pop on Indicator, his latest release with The Governors! From 2010 to 2014 he played 50 IPO festivals in a row (yes, you read that right), and he still plays many of them…and we look forward to many more. Miss Hailee Rose has been his protégé and backup singer for the past three years, but is also a gifted songwriter and quite the dynamic performer in her own right. The songs on her debut CD, Introducing Hailee Rose, range in style from power pop to soul to blues and the power of her voice will blow you away! They’ve teamed up for a special combined set at IPO Vancouver that you will not want to miss!
 
 

International Artists

 
Nature Airliner – An acoustic singer-songwriter duo from Tokyo who write songs in the folk pop meets indie meets country pop vein, with a lead singer who sounds a bit like Yoko Ono…on Yoko’s good days! Having toured extensively around Japan, they have recently set their sights on the global pop market and are making a name for themselves with marquis appearances at venues such as The Hard Rock Cafe (US/UK), Zandari Festa (Seoul), The Troubadour (London, England), and – count ‘em! – four showcase performances at the recent 2018 Liverpool Sound City Festival, and their newly released on CD album, Cardinal, was recorded at the former Columbia Studio A, in Nashville, Tennessee. We’re glad to make IPO Vancouver one more stop on their march to worldwide success!
 
Pikal – The blend of classic power pop and bubblegum styles with ‘90s influenced indie pop and engaging boy-girl harmonies on their recent Music For Girls album is sure to strike a chord in the hearts and minds of many a pop fan! They’re The Mamas & The Papas of Anchorage, Alaska! (But fans of REM and The Pixies will also dig ‘em!)
 
Morty Shallman – Creator of the world’s first Novel with Songs, Last of the Zacharys, this dapper, affable Los Angelino is known for his cutting-edge mashups of pop songs and pulp fiction. Fusing elements of disco, dance pop, indie pop, alt-rock and EDM, with soaring melodies, intelligent lyrics and classic pop song craft, Shallman serves up a glowing succession of catchy tunes and infectious beats that will brighten the playlists of listeners, dancers, youtubers and radio programmers alike, and was recently named LA’s #1 Indie Artist (February/March 2018) by Reverbnation! Check out the brand new summer remix of his single, “HALO,” and his IPO showcase, but be forewarned….his song “Young and Stupid” is an ear-worm of insidious catchiness!