IPO Vancouver 2022
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Artists From Vancouver
Cherry Maraschino – The latest incarnation of the “current” band lead by the psychedelic pop stylings of that dynamic duo: Shelley Preston and Scott Fletcher. They share a penchant for hooky melodies, insightful lyrics and British sports cars, and 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 consummate perfectionists in both their recorded media and live performances, they’ve spent the last few years putting the finishing flourishes on what promises to be an extraordinary debut album, and their debut IPO appearance promises to be the icing on your cake, the cream in your coffee, and the whipped cream on your sundae…with a cherry on top, of course!
Danny Echo – He’s been featured in Wail Magazine and draws influences 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!
The Pete Fiend X-Plosion – An explosive late ‘60s and early ‘70s influenced pop rock experience will be had by one and all, courtesy of this quartet, led by Feend on vocals and bass, and featuring Scott Fletcher (also of Cherry Maraschino – see above – and The Judys – see below) and Julien Gripp on guitar and backing vocals with Taylor Little on drums. Think The Monkees meet The Doors meet The 13th Floor Elevators…or better yet, just come to IPO and check them out!
The Furniture – A four-time WHAMMY award winning pop punk trio featuring Johnny Wildkat, the amazing bass player from Mongoose, bringing some kickass guitar; Lana Ryma, previous drummer from ten days late and the No No Spots, and the lovely and talented Aramis Starfish on bass guitar and vocals wrapping it all up with lyrical cynicism and experience. Combining heavy riffs with sweet vocals and a solid back beat, The Furniture are taking the West Coast by storm. Reminiscent of The Pixies, Nirvana, and The Breeders, The Furniture reinvent the ‘90s scene while delivering a truly original sound. Check out their debut LP, It’s People, and their IPO showcase!
Tyler Graham – High school French teacher by day, musician by later the same day, Graham crafts catchy pop songs inspired by a wide array of artists, such as Sloan, Weezer, Joel Plaskett, Sam Roberts, Blue Rodeo, Fountains of Wayne, Wilco and others. Check out his recently released EP, Extended Play. C’est Magnifique!
Hi-Ranger – A delightful trio who deliver psych-pop songs of self-conscious absurdity, science-fiction arrogance, crushing futility, and melodies remembered from dreams the night before. The songs on their latest EP, Tire Town, sparkle and jangle and leave us wishing for a full length!
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 (many of whom you may recognize from some of the other bands playing the festival this year), 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!
The Judys – Featuring the combined talents of Shelley Preston, Scott Fletcher, and Pete Feend (see Cherry Maraschino and The Pete Fiend X-Plosion, above), The Judys originally formed back in 2014, and have three excellent albums to their credit, but are finally making their IPO debut! Think punk pop meets romantic new wave meets psychedelic freakout…with a bit of goth edge. In other words, these veterans can-and do-mix up all kinds of dramatic pop styles into something completely unique and different that you must see and hear!
Koralee – A recognized visual artist, actor, comedian, videographer, as well as singer/songwriter, Koralee’s sound has been compared to the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morrisette, and Marianne Faithfull. She has also been called the Joan Armatrading of the 21st century. Pretty high praise for the girl from Winnipeg who has made the world at large her home…but also pretty well deserved, as she deftly combines world music grooves and distinctive rhythms with pop melodicism and hypnotically captivating vocals with a message of strength. It’s been a few years since her last IPO appearance, and we’re very much looking forward to see and hear her latest material!
Scott Perry & The EastVangelicals – 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! Inspired by classic seventies singer-songwriters such as John Denver, George Harrison, Gram Parsons, but also drawing on the melodic power-pop of the Beatles and all who they influenced, the acoustic guitar remains at the heart of his songs, with more electric guitar and leads found throughout some of them, but still resounding everywhere is a love of vocal harmony, with many lush arrangements building simple songs into a rewarding listening experience. Their IPO showcase will feature songs from their just released fourth album, Folk Songs, which was long-planned, even before the band was formed, as a tribute to Perry’s parents who passed in 2015/16, and promises to be a particularly poignant, yet uplifting, experience.
Jody Quine – A two-time Billboard charting vocalist/actor, Quine has toured the US several times, and recently joined us for IPO LA earlier this summer while working with that most ubiquitous producer of the LA pop scene…you guessed it…Fernando Perdomo! Her vocal haunting style ranges from silken sweetness to smoldering emotional power and will instantly draw you in and hold you captivated. Her most recent album, Stand Up, features some of Canada’s best musicians, and showcases Quine’s depth as a songwriter, with themes of letting go, heartache, depression, love, and being true to yourself. Check it out!
The Rye Catchers – Yes, that’s right folks…after 13 long years of going their separate ways and doing their separate things, Danny Echo (see above) and Paul Gibbons, co-leaders of one of Vancouver’s most beloved power pop bands from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, got the boys back together in 2018 for a special IPO reunion show…and after the past few years of COVID-induced hiatus from performing live music, they’ve decided to do it again!! 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!!
The Shady Shadows – A psychedelic Pop/Folk/Electronic group founded by elusive sonic artists Ray Down and K, both of Psychedelic art/pop bands The R.A.D.I.O. and The Strange Magic, who have released a wealth of digital singles and EPs lusciously layered with sounds that evoke the magic of the British psychedelic folk/pop movement in its heyday. Their live shows consist of playing with rotating lineups to select crowds at private after-hours art clubs, warehouses and nightclubs all around the globe…and we’re thrilled they are making IPO Vancouver one of these!
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 year! 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, and their 2021 triumphant return album, Game Day, shows they’re just as good as ever! Their IPO show is a rare live performance, which you will not want to miss!
The Top Boost – The perfect modern psychedelic garage /power pop band, able to seamlessly incorporate classic sounds into their music without ignoring contemporary influences, they are creating something that is both familiar and distinctive. They combine catchy melodies and vocal harmonies informed by classic ’60s groups like The Beatles, The Byrds and The Zombies. The result is a swirling blend of bubble gum pop sweetness with a wistful lyrical undertone. 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 that earned recognition on several “best of” lists in 2016, and their 2nd EP, Dreaming, the title track of which features Roger Joseph Manning Jr, was named one of the top 45s of 2019 by Shindig! Magazine. On their latest release, Tell Me You’re Mine, they channel the cosmic country rock of Gram Parsons and the The Flying Burrito Brothers, the jangle of the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and the Bakersfield twang of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos. So yeah, these guys are the real deal, and can do more than just hooks and harmony…we’re still eagerly awaiting that full length, but in the meantime are looking forward to seeing and hearing them do their thing again at IPO!
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 recently released (and aptly named!) album, Out Of Sight! Richly steeped in 1960s Brit-rock flavour, “…Vancouver’s unashamed retro-rocking veteran fashionistas the Top Drawers kick out their mod/fab jams with another enjoyable collection of melodically pulsing guitar-driven pop that threatens to rename Granville Street as Carnaby Street…”(Ferdy Belland, The Georgia Straight). The Top Drawers bring back the joy, the energy, and the fun of rock ‘n roll, and we’ve missed them for the past few years while they’ve been on hiatus. We are therefore super excited that bassist/vocalist Patrick Jacobson is making the trip down from his home on the top of the world in the Yukon Territories to make this special IPO reunion show happen!!
Aaron Trory – A fixture on the Vancouver scene from his standing gig fronting the house band at The Blarney Stone in Vancouver, to penning indie gems like “Gastown Girl” and “How Dare You (Do What’s Best for You),” Aaron delivers a crowd pleasing set of covers and alt rock originals. His original music is characterized by syrupy and sinewy guitars, deep-fried in a batter of coming-of-age heartache, served up with a side of ‘80s and ‘90s alternative rock influences. His latest full-length CD, Zombie Sunflowers, is available on Bandcamp.
Underwater Sunshine – IPO is proud to have hosted some magical reunion performances, and this one is no exception! The band once featured in a Surrey/North Delta Leader story called “Fab four: Power Pop Goes Listener Friendly” are back after a 25-year hiatus!! “Underwater Sunshine attracted crowds with harmony-rich songs that appealed to fans of Sloan, the Grapes of Wrath, Treble Charger, the Posies and other bands of the day” (Tom Zillich, Peace Arch News), and are quickly gaining fresh attention from a world-wide audience based on the release of their 2021 Futureman Records album, Sucker Tree, made up of “lost” recordings from the ‘90s, re-produced through modern technology during the pandemic, and made new for today. The album hopped to the top of quite a few year-end “best of” lists, and with good reason, but this will be their first live performance since their internet reunion, and we can hardly wait to see them play these songs live!
The Vanrays – There’s “classic”, Northern, Mississippi Delta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Blue-Eyed Soul…well, The Vanrays are here to introduce you to your favorite new sub-genre…East Van Soul! It’s a Motown beat down in a shark skin suit. It’s wailing like its gospel while they’re laying in the boots. It’s a curb stomping rhythm on the corner of control. It’s a nod in the direction, when all the shoes had leather souls. And to when those shoes were twisting, to Otis and to James, and now will too on their self-titled EP and at their IPO showcase!
Canadian Artists From Outside of Vancouver
Cone of Silence – Edmonton’s Cone of Silence have played past IPO’s in both Vancouver and Liverpool, and main man Mark Sander joined us for a rare solo set at IPO Hamilton last year, but it’s been quite a while since the whole band has come to Vancouver, and we’re excited to see and hear them do their thing again! The band’s critically acclaimed album, Sixty Grit Sandpaper & Other Delights, has been compared to artists such as Cake, The Pursuit of Happiness, and even The Who, and has been hailed by Vue Magazine as “…pure pop genius”!
International Artists
Vanilla – This band made up of Seattle-Tacoma music veterans features Jayson Jarmon and Scott McPherson (also the principal songwriters of Liar’s Club), Sean Gaffney, and Dana Sims (The Jet City Fix), along with a combination of players who make up the “Tiny-Vanillacano Club” family of Tacoma pop bands — members of Vanilla, Tiny Volcano, and Liar’s Club! Their debut self-titled CD has been compared to a variety of pop legends, such as The Association, Wings, and Jellyfish, while their recently released Sideshow adds some cool experimental and angular pop flourishes without losing one bit of the melodicism! Following the same formula of one song per month until, lo and behold, they have an album, that they used to assemble Sideshow, they are now turning their considerable talents to paying homage to the year ’77 with some fab new disco-soul inflected pop confections that we eagerly look forward to seeing and hearing them do live at IPO!