It takes a lot for us to leave the house these days.  See, in Vancouver, unless you’re paid to be somewhere it’s almost impossible to justify going out.  With the cost of living so high, you have to keep your budget tight on paid fun times.  Personally, I have a chart on my fridge to keep track of my fun vs cheese ratio.  I measure the cost of living in cheese because it’s so damn expensive for SOME reason, but it’s also quite tasty.  If I have too much fun, then I have to cut back on cheese and if I have too much cheese, well, that NEVER happens.

So when my bud Ruby came through town with the band Cults I ended up with some guest-list action and a photo pass.  That is the kind of deal that gets me out of the house – bands take note.  Here are the best photos from the night:

Cults consists of two main members Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion so my photos aptly reflect this, however they do tour with a full band to fill out their sound.  The night opened with local songstress Jody Glenham who was accompanied by Matthew Barber and then Leeds’ Spectrals took the middle spot.

But what of their connections?  Well here is a convoluted and ultimately personal one: Cults’ Madeline Follin once played in an incarnation of the band Youth Gone Mad.  Youth Gone Mad was originally formed in the early 80s by a guy named Paul “ENA” Kostabi who would eventually end up in White Zombie.  Now Paul has a brother named Mark Kostabi who is an artist who designed the cover of Guns ‘n Roses’ Use Your Illusion records and the last Ramones record Adios Amigos.  Joey and Dee-Dee Ramone were also members of Youth Gone Mad but that’s not the best way I can connect back to this Cults performance this particular evening.  Going through Guns ‘n Roses, you’d have to remember that in our Appetite to Appetite episode we referenced how Sly Stone used to be neighbours with Duff McKagan before G ‘n R broke.  Sly and the Family Stone included his sister Rose Stone who was featured in the Coen Brothers’ flick The Ladykillers which included as always, a cameo by Bruce Campbell who of course has made a career out of cameos.  Another notable cameo was Campbell’s portrayal of the the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills in Escape from L.A. which, on the soundtrack included a song penned by Rob Zombie BUT also included Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.“.  And during the show on Monday, Spectrals’ singer Louis Oliver Jones started off the set alone singing in a way that made my friend Theo turn to me and say “This guy’s voice reminds me of that movie soundtrack singer guy’s voice.”  Yep. He meant Randy Newman.  We did it.

You can listen to 4 new Cults tracks for free here: The Official Cults Website

You can hear Spectrals here: Spectrals Myspace Page

And you can hear Jody Glenham here:  Jody Glenham Music on Myspace

Thanks again for the invite Ruby!  See you next time.

Take care.

Like this? Check out:

• Appetite to Appetite
• The Presidents of the United States of America Podcast
• Hamilton to Hamilton