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Pleasure Suit More Ham Than Glam
Vancouver
January 24, 2003
Local glam rockers Pleasure Suit underwhelmed a small - and rapidly dwindling - audience when they played an awkward and self conscious set Friday night at Ms T's Cabaret that had people squirming in their seats.
The evening had got off to a good start with a funny and surprisingly tight set from The Shitties who are as much a product of Canadian culture as Bob and Doug McKenzie or Steve Smith. In fact, the performance felt at times like a musical version of the Red Green show - which is by the way a concept that someone should pitch to the CBC.
The band has a great onstage presence with larger than life personalities and great banter. The frontman looks for all the world like Homer Simpson and their drummer is a full blown mountain man with more than a passing resemblance to Sasquatch as he hunches behind the drum kit.
Between the beer belches, soap opera theatrics and hasty construction of "Shitty Man" capes from orange table cloths the band played some pretty catchy stuff. On this particular evening the bass player was apparently limited to just two strings on his guitar but made up for this deficiency with pure enthusiasm and some mighty fine fret slapping. The lead guitarist, and cape construction artist, played some great riffs but never took himself so seriously that he offset the rest of the band - despite repeated threats to quit.
Beer, hockey, arts and crafts, funny hats and catchy songs about boredom and taking a dump. Pure Canadiana.
Clover Honey, next up, are a real local gem and sounded polished coming off a five month hiatus which saw the girls focus on some other aspects of their lives - like heading back to school and getting married.
Clover Honey's music is lively and spontaineous with beautiful vocal harmonies and something of a B52's flair that works well with the all girl image. The songs have infectious melodies with strong bass lines and lots of rhythm in the lead guitar. Solid drums and interesting fills keep the whole package in order.
They looked comfortable on stage and delivered a steady stream of great music to a small but appreciative audience that got up to dance for the first, and only, time of the evening. Memorable songs included "No Fun City" which could become a local anthem and "Summer Song" which feels like the musical equivalent to a jar full of fireflies.
Back to Pleasure Suit, unfortunately. Things looked bad as they took the stage, a collection of androgynous guys in leather pants, and got worse as they started to play.
The music was fairly tight, mechanically, but had nothing of interest to add to the prefab glam rock package that might as well have been pulled out of some kind of twisted '70s textbook on the subject. It was all there - the Bowie influenced vocals, the double fisted drumming, the aloof guitar solos.
I'd have much rather had Honey Clover and the Shitties come back for another 30 minutes each.
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