THE PACK A.D.
w/ Allistar Quazzum, Triple Exposure. Brixx Bar & Grill (10030-102 St). Thu, July 2 (9pm). Tickets: $10 at the door.
With their leather jackets, shaggy Joan Jett hairdos, and stripped-down guitar-and-drums sound reeking of last night’s beer and cigarettes, Vancouver all-girl rock duo The Pack A.D. are the quintessence of badass rock-chick attitude. Maya Miller and Becky Black are their names — and even “Becky Black” is a name so perfect it sounds made up. They play back-to-basics all-girl rock — you could almost nickname them The Ramonas, except they specialize in slow, bluesy garage rock, not sped-up punk.
“Sure, it’s sort of limiting having only two instruments,” says Black over the phone from Whitehorse, just one of dozens of cities they’re hitting this year as they cut a swath through Europe and North America. “But at the same time, you can make songs a lot quicker. If something’s not working, you can just move on to the next idea.”
The Pack A.D. — the initials stand for “After Death” and were tacked on in order to differentiate themselves from a California band named The Pack who’d claimed the corresponding MySpace page before Black and Miller could grab it — is swimming against the Canadian indie-rock current toward lush, pretty melodies played by bands with nine members in the lineup (many of whom, as Miller remarks, are “playing instruments they don’t even know how to play”). But Canada’s a rock ’n’ roll country at heart, Miller argues, and their audiences find it refreshing to see a rock band with two women front and centre, and not stuck playing bass or keyboards.
“I think there’s a subconscious thing with women who get into rock,” Miller says. “They get sucked into thinking they have to do something that appeals to men. We met one guy when we were starting out who said, ‘Oh, I’d love to manage you! And the first thing I’d do is, it’d be great to have you guys wear skirts!’ And we were like, ‘Uh ... no.’ I mean, that’s as ridiculous as wearing a skirt to play sports, you know? I think people’s inherent sexual appeal can come across without putting an outfit on. I think there’s plenty of appeal there anyway, because people are appealing.”
Dammit, is there nothing uncool about The Pack A.D.? The right-on, get-the-job-done feminist attitude ... Black’s former job at a gas station ... the story about passing out drunk before their set at Calgary’s Sled Island music festival ... the list of influences on their MySpace page that includes Kate Bush and Laurie Anderson as well as The Sonics and the MC5 ... the creepy video they made for their single “Making Gestures,” featuring a bunch of kids prowling around their school in animal masks.
And then, completely by accident, I discover the chink in their armour during a softball question about bad habits they’ve picked up on the road. I expect to hear more drinking stories, but that’s not what I got. “We recently started playing Magic: The Gathering,” Miller says. “It’s awesome — it’s a great boredom-breaker.”
Magic: The Gathering? Oh my God, what a pair of total nerds.
Post the first comment: (Login or Register)