Pelt & Dandi Wind - Thursday, September 1 at Elixir!

[skelter]

This Thursday at Elixir (14 Garrett Street), Rock Crew presents Kingston's Pelt and Vancouver's Dandi Wind. Cover is $6 at the door or in advance at www.rockcrew.ca

The following is completely true:

I was conceived in a tent.

My birth name is Dandilion Wind Opaine.

I was born and raised in a cabin without running water, right next to a taxidermy museum housed in a concrete igloo. I lived there for ten years before we drove the 14 hours down to Vancouver. I was impressed by the revolving billboards in the big city because I’d never seen them before.

I met my longtime collaborator Szam Findlay first when we were both 13 at winter camp. I had a crush on him but we didn’t speak or interact for a few years. Then we were cast together in a high school play. Szam introduced me to Alejandro Jodorowsky films and we started our own experimental theatre group in 2000 while I attended Emily Carr art college.

The next year and a half were spent bankrupting ourselves creating a massive solo album/artbook problem for Szam called “Die Hautfabrik†which was licensed in 2002 to Resonant Recordings UK (Acid Mothers Temple / Esmerine etc.) I did some vocals on the mostly instrumental album as well as sculptures for the booklet. The CD sold poorly but garnered favourable press from BBC / The Wire / AMG/ Stylus / and assorted Japanese + Eastern European oddballs… Nonetheless sculpture remains my lifelong passion.

We started the Dandi Wind project in late 2003 as a way to meld our love of theatre/performance with challenging but not inaccessible music. Our songs are about honest incidents that surround us. Since we live in the downtown eastside of Vancouver (the most depressed slum in Canada; the most junkies per capita in North America) our songs are sometimes grim… Currently I live next to the train tracks and the rendering plant where they turn dead pets into glue while pumping cancerous smoke and industrial noise into my mind all day. I’ve escaped to Brazil and Japan on occasion but somehow got stuck in the slums there too.

We make this music because we need to get away from this city and because we have something to offer you don’t find anymore: Charisma and passion. I love to perform and make people FEEL something. We write the lyrics together and Szam does all the music, production and design. We are absolutely independent. This album cost NOTHING to record and was made with a few unpopular decade old synths, a single mic and a monophonic Pentium 2 soundcard. If I can walk offstage unaided then I’ve not delivered a true Dandi Wind performance.

We are currently touring in support of our 6 track EP / CD-ROM “Bait The Traps†(on Bongobeat Records) We called the album this as I used to create small traps to catch rodents and insects in the country and now the tables have turned and I’m caught like one here in city. It is a taster for our forthcoming 12 track cd / full length DVD album “Concrete Igloo†which will be released early in the new year. It will have 7 music videos and other misc. video footage.

www.dandiwind.com

www.myspace.com/peltband

COMING SOON:

Kid Koala - September 15 at Elixir

Drums & Tuba - September 22 at Elixir

Metric - September 26 at Stages

Jimmy Swift Band & The Golden Dogs - September 29 at Elixir

Grant Theft Bus & The Marble Index - October 6 at Elixir

Tricky Woo - October 20 at Elixir

[skelter]

So this our third time having Dandi Wind in town. They've opened for The Hidden Cameras and Final Fantasy, and it's still the weirdest thing we've ever seen. But we can't stop! You really need to see this show to understand, but at the same time you won't understand, but you'll be glad you saw it. Make sense?

As for Pelt, these guys are just great. One of our favourite Kingston bands right now.

Just yesterday we added Mississippi Grover to the bill. He nearly stole the show a couple of weeks ago opening for The Roamers (he had stolen it, but the Roamers squeeked in a stole it back). We've seen many a one-man-band in our day, but this one destroys them all.

Basically, tonight's gonna be a shit hot show. It's $6 at the door, doors at 9 PM, music at 10 PM. See you tonight!

www.theoam.com/mississippigrover