Category: Reviews
By Tony Newton
“Dying is never a party.”
- YSPWSD when asked about their views on the Iraq war.
Dance punk…You can dance - and you can punk. When you’re sick of shaking your ass, you can hawk your hair with vegan friendly gelatin and hit the protest circuit. Maybe our local dancepunk scene isn’t that drastic, but only because the majority of our bands are either out on tour, taking a break, or enduring Montreal’s winter (This is in reference to local bands that move to Montreal, searching for the dream).
Hailing from Abbotsford BC, You say Party We Say Die is one of the rare exceptions where a talented group seems to be trying their best to move into Vancouver, instead of away. I caught them during a practice session and hit Jason Nicholas (Guitar) up for some history lessons. Here’s some info on Abbotsford--it stinks like cow poo.
“I believe at one point me, Steve and Becky all worked at Panago pizza and we decided it would be in our best interest to practice in Becky's parent’s basement. I originally played drums, Steve on bass, Krista Loewen on keys, Becky Ninkovic on Vocals…and that was kinda hectic, cause I'm not a very good drummer. Then one day we came along with Bruce Dyck (Also of Fun100) and he filled in so I switched to guitars. Shout out to Stoge for Letting us use his basement for so long – (That was really funny for some reason). Then we decided a second keyboardist would be appropriate, so we got my girlfriend Carissa in on the gig, and from there we became a six piece. That worked really well, but Carissa quit, I moved to Toronto; which sucks by the way, Toronto blows major ass. So she quit and moved to Toronto with me and uhh, they replaced me with Derek Adams…my doppelganger, and uh…yeah, I don't think they ever replaced Carissa.”
Their first album, entitled Hit the floor, has an early B-52’s/Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound. With energetic hooks and melodic female vocals that bounce in and out of subjects embracing or rejecting love to “It’s the end of the world, what are we waiting for, soon countries will be at war, what are we fighting for?”. Political questioning resides within these dancy walls. The hidden track, Approcramix Meow, is the classic that kids will attempt to procreate to; because dancing and breeding go hand in hand.
Becky puts her two cents in on the new albums creation.
“Shawn Cole pulled things out of us that we had no idea were there. It just kind of took on a life of it's own after awhile. It just became alot more…dramatic…no, Epic? I don't know, it became alot more something than we thought it would. I'm gonna stop talking
now.”
On the subject of parties and death, Bruce Dyck offers a story….what a story.
“At a family Birthday party my Uncle was there and he's a pallbearer. He got a call to pick up a dead body, so I asked if I could come along and help pick up the body. So I helped carry it into the room and you know…rubbing the stuff on his ears and eyelids, that's partying sort of.”
YSPWSD have already received a generous amount of media attention, catching the middle of a genre craze and scoring a healthy 7.5 review at Pitchfork Media, making them…special. Beats dying, dying is never a party.
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