#16 Garage Rock demolition duo 'The Pack A.D.'

The Pack After Death, commonly known as the Pack A.D are an explosive band out of Vancouver BC's lower east side. The duo consists of Becky Black (guitar, singer,songwriter) and Maya Miller (drummer, songwriter). These two extremely talented musicians formed the group in 2006 and since then they have been rocking the hell outta the B.C. music scene and are starting to get worldwide attention. It's clear that these two are not going to remain unknown for very long and in my opinion, their work is some of the best stuff I have heard in a long time. They have that pure raw essence of what true garage rock is all about. Becky Black has a voice that rock has been missing for a long time. She sounds part Janis Joplin and part Jack White, with a little Patti Smith thrown in for good measure. You can feel the spirit of punk flowing through her as she howls and moans out the lyrics with such passion that you can tell she could really care less if you were even listening. Maya Miller thrashes the drums with an garage rock intensity we haven't really seen since Dave Grohl in his Nirvana days.

I sort of dug this music right off the bat, but the more I listen to it the more I love it. When I first heard one of their tracks on 'Grooveshark Radio' I thought it was the group 'Black Mountain, also of Vancouver, as both bands share a somewhat Garage/Blues-Rock feel to their music. Black Mountain however, tends to lean more towards Psychedelic Blues-Rock, while The Pack A.D tend to go for a more classic Garage Rock feel with a definite love of Blues and Punk. I really can't say enough about the soulful vocals of Becky Black. Her talent is downright scary for someone so young. It's as if you had a mix of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick and you used that hybrid to replace Jack White in the White Stripes. Her voice can sound as ancient as if she had sung straight blues for the last sixty years while at the drop of a hat she can totally switch it up to feisty garage punk rock with high energy and passion pouring out the microphone like a sonic landslide. This mixture gives their music so much depth that one can't help but become a fan. Very few bands that are out right now can do both harder edge rock and passionate blues at the same time and the fact that The Pack A.D. do it so flawlessly is as scary as it is awesome.

The self released debut CD 'Tintype' (2007), had Vancouverites with their ears to the speakers, begging for more. The record blasts out of the starting gate with the Heavy Blues Rock track 'Gold Rush'. The wild fury of Becky's guitar instantly hooks you and then she opens her mouth and lets loose with vocals powerful enough to really steal your soul. Tintype is a great mix of classic sounding blues like 'Cabin', but even on the most basic songs there is something more there. One listen to killer tracks like All Damn Day Long are enough to sell you on this amazing duo. The follow-up album, 'Funeral Mixtape' (2008), got the group reviews in almost every major music magazine (Uncut gave the album 4 stars). My fave quote was from a music critic down in Texas who said this of the duo "It’s like meeting a cute girl for the first time in junior high mixed with being run over by rusty ‘72 Ford pickup". You can't really disagree with him when you hear an album with such intense blues, punk, grind, thrash and a deep, soulful swagger that pretty much turns your admiration into a deep rooted lust with one listen. The first track 'Blackout', is a powerful bluesy rocker that hits you like a whiskey soaked brick to the face. The sweet guitar intro on 'I don't Have To Like You' sounds very reminiscent of Clapton on 'Ride the River' (off his collaborative album with JJ Cale 'Road to Escondido') is also a fave of mine off the album. I highly recommend this group to anyone who likes blues-rock or anyone who is a fan of bands like The White Stripes, Black Mountain or The Black Keys. Their new album 'We Kill Computers' is released on April 27th, 2010. Until then, stay tuned for more info on this fantastic local duo.


The Facts:
-Becky and Maya met in 2005 at the gas station where Becky was working in East Van, and they hit it off and decided to get some music happening.
- CBC radio announces that apparently they are big fans of soup....
-Sorry not a whole of facts so far they are a very cryptic band and still pretty new! Stay tuned tho!


My Fave Album:
-At this point I would have to go with 'Funeral Mix-Tape'. It is just so damn good I kind of want to listen to it again and again. I just bought it on vinyl so I am stoked to hear them in that format and not just on the computer. Stand out tracks are definitely 'Making Gestures' (the single), Blackout, Dannemora Blues and 'Wolves and Werewolves'. That being said, the entire album is very addictive and easy to listen to from start to finish.


Here is a clip of their video for the Making Gestures song. Dang I really like this track. Her vocals are so good its freaky!

#4 A Long Strange Trip with The Grateful Dead

Behold, the pioneers of psychedelic space cowboy jam-rock!

Seriously though, what could you possibly say to describe the Grateful Dead. They flawlessly combine rock with folk, country, bluegrass, blues, jazz, psychedelia, even a little reggae and they take it all and push it through the meat grinder and beam it out into space. Space is accurate because they really did take music where it had never been before. Their musical influences were so varying between them that their live shows often became monstrous jam sessions. Each of them adding different bits here and there like musical warlocks creating some vast brew to hypnotize their audience.

I won't even get into much of their history because to talk about the history of the dead you have to get into the entire 60's phenomenon that was San Francisco in the mid to late sixties. If you want to know more about them I suggest reading the book "Living with the Dead" by Rock Skully and David Dalton or the book Living With The Dead by Dennis McNally. Or you can always check out their wiki the Grateful Dead. The Dead were part of the force behind it all. Their early music (in the mid 1960s) was part of the process of establishing what 'Psychedelic' was, but theirs was essentially a 'street party' form of it. They developed their new sounds as a result of meeting Ken Kesey in Palo Alto and subsequently becoming the house band for the Acid Tests he staged. This 'Acid Rock' sound began to take shape and by the late 60's had fueled there journey to become the phenomenon that was and is The Grateful Dead.

I first got into the dead as an early teen, but gave up on them mostly because they seemed too country. But after growing up a bit and expanding my musical horizons, not to mention taking more then my share of psychedelics, I began to let go of my old musical prejudices with a little help from some older friends that were into the classics. I also read that book by Rock Skully about them and it was such an awesome story that I had to get into them more. One of the things I love about the Dead is that they can save your life. If you are having a bad time, suffering heart break, feeling alone, or even having a really bad drug trip, The Grateful Dead can quite literally save you. That's one of the reasons they have the sound they have. They learned to play this way at Kesey's Acid Tests and they would play to keep people from going insane, though they would often let you go a little crazy before bringing it all back home.

These guys can play anything and were guided for the majority of the last 40 years by Jerry Garcia, or as he was sometimes known, 'Papa Jerry'. Jerry was one of the greatest 'Gods of Rock' that there has ever been (Ranking 13 on Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Guitarist of all time).
Other reasons to dig the Dead include: They had two drummers playing at once; Terrific base lines that weave beautifully through the songs; some of the most beautiful and ranging vocal performance of songs giving lots of range depending on the mood of the track; Outstanding keyboard work that offers some of the best work I have ever heard in rock and roll; and ENOURMOUS instrumental solos that would often be improvisatory jam sessions live on stage that would sometimes go on for more then a half hour before launching back into the song like they had never left it.

The Facts:

-22 official albums between 1967 and 1990
-A lyricist you never saw. Robert Hunter wrote most of their lyrics often with help from Jerry or one of the others.
-One of the only bands so good they created their own sub-culture (see Dead Heads)
-FREE BOOTLEGS! go to (http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead). I recommend the mid to late 70's thats my fave Dead era. This site is awesome and is testimony to the deadication of the fans

My Fave Album:

-It would have to be American Beauty (1970) which is also usually regarded as their studio masterpiece.
-It was their Fifth album, but really the one where they began exploring the folk rock sounds they had begun with 'Working Man's Dead' the year before.
-Stand out tracks for me include: Box of Rain (A beautiful song by Hunter and Lesh); Friend of the Devil (one of my all time favorite Grateful Dead songs); and Ripple (stunningly beautiful folk song infused with a touch of the glow of the 60's)

-Also, I have to mention for live albums, I really enjoy 'The Closing of Winterland' (1978) its a 3 set show that has some of my favorite versions of songs such as: Scarlet Begonias; Fire on the Mountain; and Playing in the Band.