Garage Bands Gone Wild

Three Vancouver bands prove age doesn’t matter in rock 'n' roll

By Paige Thomas

While Portland may be where all the artists flock in droves, Vancouver is fostering a number of talented young musicians who are ready to take both cities by storm. A trio of up-and-coming bands from the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics are showcasing their Vancouver-bred talents at the Pistol Room on April 12. Often seen as a fleeting high school rite of passage, these young musicians are proving that high school garage bands can make music worth taking seriously.

Love Trucker (myspace.com/lovetruckerband), three students from the VSAA, seem determined to work their way to the top. The guys, Gabe Averre, Matthew Paige and Chris Merrill, won the summertime Rose Festival High School Battle of the Bands, and their MySpace page boasts a long list of upcoming shows in Vancouver and Portland.

Sounding like Jack Johnson, Lenny Kravitz and the White Stripes all rolled into one, the boys definitely have talent. Just by listening to a couple tracks it’s obvious they can play and sing. While they may still be developing and maturing their sound, for now girls will likely flock to them no matter what they sound like. They sing bouncy, likable songs, and if their MySpace pictures are any indication, have good looks on their side too, what with those Jonas Brothers-style shaggy haircuts that are often responsible for making the majority of the younger female population swoon.

The Shivas (theshivas.com) are a throwback to a Doors or Pink Floyd psych-rock sound. One can’t help but think they also own a lot of Black Keys albums, despite their obvious adoration for the retro sounds they emulate. Not quite as tight as Love Trucker, The Shivas still work together to create a solid sound which is sure to only get better with time and experience.

It’s actually fascinating how well The Shivas (and even Love Trucker) are able to grok an older genre of music despite the generation gap. You can tell they probably study and break down the music they like to get a real grasp on how it’s put together.

The 13-year-old who goes by Gunnar Roads (myspace.com/gunnarroadsband) is being hailed as a kind of blues wunderkind. He plays guitar, sings and obviously likes to perform, with dates throughout Oregon and Washington in the coming months. With so much talent at a young age, he’ll no doubt be one to watch in the future. Cliché, maybe, but when you hear him play you’ll get it. He can dip back and forth between slow blues and more intense rock riffs like it’s no big deal.

While I spent many of my high school days standing around at shows for friends’ bands, it was nothing like the kind of raw energy and talent all of these young groups have. While most anyone can bang out a crowd-pleasing three chord cover of "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones, it’s quite another thing to be a viable future talent. These guys have it, and whether or not their bands change and morph as they get older, there’s no doubt you’ll still find them playing music for a long time to come.