Henry & The Nightcrawlers @ The Media Club -- 07/01/10

What better way to spend Canada Day than with some Canadian music? After a day of BBQing at the beach (in full defiance of Vancouver's less-than-ideal weather), we headed down to The Media Club for a night of music. Just narrowly missing Teen Daze, we arrived just in time for the band we were there to see.

That band being Henry & The Nightcrawlers, with the eponymous Henry being Henry Alcock-White, formerly of Bend Sinister and currently a member of The Zolas. But even though the band consists of Zach & Tom of The Zolas, as well as sharing the same drummer, they shouldn't be considered a side project, rather an entity of its own. The sound was a bit lighter indie pop rock, with hints of funk that had people dancing (some of them even doing synchronized choreography). Highlists of the set were "Amberly", "Daytime Friend" -- a relatable concept -- and the attention grabbing "The Fucking", which proclaims "it's better to be fucked than to do the fucking".
As much as I liked the set back in January, this time they seemed to be better on every level. Perhaps it's that they've been touring a bunch, as both this band and The Zolas, but Henry sounded great and the band was meshing together quite well, as evidenced both by their playing and the stage banter between Henry and Zach.
They had a five song ep for sale, as a teaser for the album which should be out sometime later this year, and I can't wait to get a hold of.

Saskatoon's We Were Lovers was up next, a more electro-dance-indie duo, consisting of Ash Lamothe on guitar and Elsa Gebremichael on vocals, with some laptop-based dance beats accompanying them. They both had a pretty good energy, and Elsa's voice was a great match for the catchy dance numbers that got the place moving. For the last song she even hopped down into the crowd to join everyone up front, even dancing with a few people individually. I think they mentioned that it was their first time in Vancouver, and I would probably be interested in catching them again next time they roll through town.

The last band of the night was Petroleum By-Product, and maybe just because it was getting late, but the crowd seemed to have thinned out a little by that time. They were not bad, per se, but most of their songs seemed to blend together and have a very similar sound to them, and were somewhat forgettable. Perhaps, though, it was just the toll of the full day setting in, as my companions and I were all feeling pretty exhausted.

A good end to a good day full of good friends and good music.