On Friday, March 18th, CVLT Nation marked its 5th year in existence with a rad showcase of three amazing post punk bands – the OG’s Sad Lovers & Giants headlined on their Vancouver stop of their North American west coast tour, alongside local legends Spectres and Flowers & Fire. It all went down at one of Vancouver’s darkest bars, The Hindenburg, and to say we were happy with the lineup is an understatement. Three of our favorite bands absolutely killed it.
Flowers & Fire is a band that needs no introduction to those of you familiar with the healthy post punk revival in North America, and in Vancouver in particular. They were as ethereal and captivating as I expected them to be, having never seen them live but listened to their demo tape countless times. Front woman Izzi Kearns cast her vocal spells on the audience, and left me with the hypnotic assurance that I have to be at all of their future shows.
Spectres urgency was palpable as their set started, and they quickly riled the crowd up. These guys have a dedicated following in this city, and I’m not surprised, because their music is evolving and only getting better from show to show. They are passionate musicians and they are helping to push the new post punk sound out of “revivalist” territory and into its own.
Sad Lovers & Giants showed why they are one of the forerunners of the genre that night. Their musicianship was on point and their performance was masterful. I felt lucky not only to have them on the bill for our anniversary, but to have witnessed a collective of musicians who have been honing their sound for the past 34 years.
Check out some awesome photos of all three bands taken by Cordie of Thought Decay and Alex Stronach below…plus check the flyer for Thought Decay’s Have a Good Laugh Fest happening June 9th to 12th in Vancouver!
FLOWERS & FIRE
SPECTRES
SAD LOVERS & GIANTS