

Doves / Strokes

Vancouver BC. | Richard's On Richard's | March 10, 2001

Text + Photos: Andy Scheffler The much-anticipated Doves show was another typical early-evening affair in Vancouver. Their new album, Lost Souls, didn't make a domestic release until the middle of April, but already in the weeks before (and certainly after!), the British import version of the disc had been flying off the shelves in record stores. How would the touching, lilting music hold up in a live atmosphere? I didn't find out who the openers were until the day before the show. The band was called the Strokes, and I had not heard a thing about them prior to the show. Often, I find myself missing opening bands, just to save myself a few precious minutes of worktime at home, but on this day, I was able to go straight from my job to the show as opposed to trekking home first. Boy, am I ever glad I showed up early. I feel sorry for people who decided to wait until the Doves were about to hit the stage to show up (though many, I'm sure, expected the show to start at 9:30 instead of 8:00). I walked into the club, past the Strokes merchandise booth, which was occupied by a single, mop-topped, brown-suited individual. I was already curious. I took up residence near the back of the floor, opposite the stage, and waited for the music to begin. The club was still pretty vacant as the openers were announced. The Strokes, I now know, are from New York, and are all of 20 years of age. They stomped onto the stage, a vision of confidence, and began a set that quite simply knocked my socks off. This is NOT a band I would envision opening for the Doves. They, as well, have a very 'indie' sound, but a much different one than the Doves. It was very snarly, early Iggy Pop, loud and boisterous and clever. But they've been on tour with the Doves across the US since February, so there's some sort of kinship there, I guess. The band members, a vision of thrift-store 70's rock star, were outfitted in linen suits and worn red converse sneakers, each one capped by a floppy hairdo. And I can't help but smile glowingly when I see a band like this still strapping their guitars up around their chests. Vocalist Julian Casablancas paces the stage, yelping and screeching in true cocky rock n' roll fashion, at one point introducing the next song: "This next song is called who cares? Listen." As more people arrived in the room, more toes started tapping, and pretty quickly, the dance floor started to fill up with grooving people. This is almost unheard of with an unknown opener (save for local acts that bring an army of friends to their opening gigs). Song titles like "The Modern Age" (also the name of their only existing EP) and "New York City Cops" show this band has the balls to stick around and make some sort of statement, whatever it might be I had a chance to talk to a couple of them after their set finished up (to a rage of cheers, I might add), and, I mean, they all have pretty cool rock names (Fabrizio? Albert Hammond Jr.?) and are terribly sociable people. I also managed to score one of the snazzy little EP's and a handful of stickers. The 3-song EP is an exact mini-replica of a record, full of swirly orange-and-yellow patterns and elaborate typefaces. It was released on Britain's Rough Trade label, and the band has already had a pretty lengthy tour in the UK. Not too shabby for such a young bunch of whippersnappers. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture tells me they hope to have a full length released by late this year or early next. Keep a watch out for it! If you want more info on this fantastic quintet, or to order the EP, check their website at www.thestrokes.com. Finally, out come the Doves. The place was now packed, with people cramming themselves as close to the stage as possible. The show was dark (literally!) and smooth. Behind the band was projected almost-but-not-quite-random video images, providing most of the light. It seemed to become, quite opposite to most concerts, that the band members were absolutely unimportant, and instead, the music and the accompanying video was to take the forefront. It worked incredibly well, and after I had finished shooting at stagefront, I found it quite easy to settle in and just wander around the room. It was nice to be able to wander around and occasionally check on the stage to see what was going on, and to be able to converse with people now and then around the room. The music became this gorgeous background noise, ever-present but not intrusive in any way. It was a startling contrast to the Strokes' set, indeed more mellow. The band members didn't move around much at all, and the vocals were murmured and sustained beautifully. If you take a look at the cover of "Lost Souls", that's exactly what the show felt like. Shadowy, barely visible, totally audible. I found myself riveted to the stage during one song however, where the background visuals cast a very eerie mood over the crowd. Projected on the screen behind the band, throughout most of the song, were triumphant images of great old vessels, like the Hindenburg and Titanic. The song meandered along until near the end, where it exploded into a louder, quicker outro. And here, the images turned to disaster. The band still sounded triumphant, but here was the Hindenburg, smashing to the ground and being consumed by flames. It was creepy, to say the least. It left me in chills for the rest of the evening, and remains the most prominent vision from that show that has stayed with me. People in the crowd were either carrying on conversations with their neighbors, closing their eyes and taking it all in, or gazing up at the band with wonderment, singing along to all the words. A sponge, really, a sponge is what that room was then, soaking up all the music and the lyrics and making the club ripe with a quiet spirit. People were swaying in unison. It was unifying, and really quite a delightful atmosphere to take part in. The show was fairly homogenous, which is why it had such a background music' flair to it. While there were certain attention-grabbing moments, such as the Hindenburg-backed song, nothing was so jarring as to sneak up and scare you, or get too loud to hear the person next to you. It was comfortable, cabaret-style music. It was a fine example of two very different bands complementing each other in an interesting way. Overall, I think the Strokes made more of an impression on me, but I don't see how they couldn't make an impression on people. In the end, the Doves stayed true to their album and delivered and touching and gentle show.  Andy Scheffler Talk Back

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