Cord Magazine
This was the website of Cord Magazine. The content below is from the site's archived 2007 pages. Brian Faley, best known as the guru of Helpdesk, provided tech support for The Archive Project. He also provided all of the helpdesk support for the full team of 20 developers as they researched and archived this among 50 other websites representing defunct internet magazines. Funded in part by Elgin College, these sites are required reading for the school's History of the Internet program. Ellen Miliones researched archive.org for the content. A few reviews are shown in their totality as examples of what visitors would have found on the site. This recreated page is an homage to Cord Magazine and its intrepid reviewers.
We see a lot of shows. We enjoy watching music. We all have a different way of looking at concerts. Here's a slice of what we've taken in lately...
Marilyn Manson |
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Marilyn Manson Anyways, after some more delay, on with the show. The space behind the giant MM curtains covering the stage teased the audience, as an array of cathedral-style prayer candles lit up and figures began walking around the stage. Eventually, the curtain dropped, and out came Manson, with a slash of make-up drawn across his eyes (not unlike Michael Stipe’s recent tour make-up blue slash, but more sinister). I notice for the first time that he's wearing a number of sterling silver rings, several on each hand. I know he has a thing for silver, so this is not a huge surprise other than that I never noticed before. One of the rings on the hand holding the mic has a diamond (later told it was a cz crystal) that throws a brilliant flash every now and then. Very impressive addition to his unusual act! I found out from his manager that he buys all his rings from one store - SterlingForever, and they use him in their promotions. I’ve always been quite fond of Marilyn Manson as a person for his intelligence and ideals and boundary-pushing within the realms of what is acceptably popular music. He’s an infinitely interesting man, and to boot, really knows how to work his adoring crowd. People seriously worship him. It’s odd – it’s like the way people would act at a Britney Spears show (well, maybe not so much these days… you know what I mean), only in black instead of… I guess baby pink or whatever. Absolute pop. I know the goth kids would draw and quarter me for saying that, but these people were like fainting and reaching mightily to the point of nearly dislocating shoulders just to touch Manson’s outstretched hand. And he eats it up. The majority of the show was spent crouched at the end of that walkway, just as close he could possibly get to the crowd. |
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The Editors with Hot Hot Heat and Louis XIV at the Commodore I cannot believe it’s been three entire years since I’ve seen two of these three bands play. Some of you may recall my run-in with Louis XIV on their inaugural Vancouver stint with local uber-faves Hot Hot Heat. Well the two of them are back, at a sold-out show headlined by the Editors. The sold-outness is likely a result of Hot Hot Heat’s involvement, but The Editors are picking up speed as well in town. Louis XIV still has a bit of work to do to truly make an impact here, but I suspect they have popularity in other parts of the world enough that it barely matters what we think. So anyhow, Louis XIV was on first. In sharper suits and significantly hairier than their last trip through, they’ve shown changes not only in appearance, but clearly in sound as well. They did jam out the old mainstays, predominantly the slutty ones, from “The Best Little Secrets Are Kept.” They appear a lot calmer, more refined, and largely less make-uppy on stage. I do believe we have entered a new era for this band. The new songs are drifty and flowing, somewhat spacey. Where Jason Hill once flew about the stage in a fit, he now stays pretty close to his mic and sings calmly and saunters elegantly. From where I was, this is a nice progression. I was pleased to see the full turn in sound, and I also know what they are capable of, but unfortunately, general consensus from Louis XIV virgins was that they seemed a bit lackluster. I just think they’ve matured somewhat (and to boot, those polled were largely in a state of Editor-phoria and just wanted everything else over with so they could swoon... but more on that later) and are really finding their niche as a serious band with a cheeky side, rather than a cheeky band that can just sling some guitar when needed. They appear to be working to get away from the 100% sex image that they were semi-mistakenly pigeon-holed into from their earlier work. Good on 'em. The new "Slick Dogs And Ponies" tunes are great. As for Hot Hot Heat – they are playing the same shows they always have. This isn’t to say they aren’t immensely entertaining or delightful musicians, but it’s just to say that I’ve seen them a darn lot of times. Steven Bays’ stylish keyboard still sits front and centre, Paul Hawley’s drum kit still seems way too small for him. There’s boundless energy and the crowd loves it all to pieces. And check ot Hawley's drummer faces! No wonder the planet loves to see these guys. Singer Steve Bays is sick. He claims it, and you can hear it easily. His voice isn’t up to par at all, but he’s making a valiant effort croaking his way through it and limiting his vocal range. Seems like it was a short set, or maybe I’m just in a time warp. It probably was truncated due to the illness. No matter, the audience still loves the locals (sort of locals) and they’re eating it alive. The Editors are clearly the headliners here, even though most of the crowd seems to have been in attendance for Hot Hot Heat’s sake. The Editors were commanding, in spite of an audience that had turned their attention to more important things (…drinking). They get up on stage and showcase consummate performerisms. Vocalist Tom Smith does overshadow the rest of the band significantly. Not that that’s unexpected or anything, but the rift here is huge. This isn’t just spotlight-on-singer because he’s the guy in the middle of the stage. He’s tall, for one thing. Extremely tall. He’s limber and lanky. And he moves like crazy. All tense hands and twittering motions, like the lyrics are strangling him with their significance and taking over his body for him, and as I've mentioned before, he flutters his hands about his face life nervous birds. It’s incredible to watch. This band definitely knows how to perform beautifully, they sound amazing to boot, and it’s only a matter of time before North America catches on that Britrock doesn’t have to be Coldplay. |
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Wilco at Malkin Bowl Wilco is such a feelgood band. I'm pretty sure everyone in attendance was just filled with glee over the show. It was long, it was fun, it was personable, it was cute, it was apt, and it was outdoors. All right, so the summer in Vancouver hasn't been exactly beach weather, and the audience here was covered in sweaters and jackets and blankets. ..more |
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The Cribs with Sean Na Na at Richards Now this was a far more rambunctious show than I'd anticipated. With Sean Na Na opening and nearly done their set when I arrived, I nonetheless was there in time to see them bring out The Cribs for a massive sing along....more |
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Maximo Park with Monsters Are Waiting and the Ooh-La's at Richards Monday is the new Saturday at Richards! I was surprised by the opening bands for Maximo Park tonight. I'm sure in hindsight I'd seen both names in passing, but until they were right in front of me, I forgot that both the Ooh-La's and Monsters Are Waiting were performing.....more |
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Silverchair at the Commodore It's been a long day already even for me. After a mild interview time snafu and a lot of listening to soundchecking crew goofing off on various keyboards and drums, a small pile of fans were herded in - contest winners for a soundcheck party....more |
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Stars of Track and Field with Mother Mother and the Cary Brothers at Richards Ah, how I've waited for this! The chance to see a proper club-ish Stars of Track and Field show. Any of you folks who've kept up with Cord over recent months will know we've become rather fond of this live-bass-free, aura-laden trio....more |
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VirginFest 2007 at Thunderbird Stadium Virgin Festival! Finally, Vancouver gets to be part of a multi-day musicfest. Okay, so it's not quite at the level of camp-out-in-the-boons-with-100,000-people, but it's still cooler than yet-another-Warped Tour or the somewhat strangely-run affair that is Arts County...more |
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Cancer Bats with Bleeding Through and The End at The Plaza Leaving the Arcade Fire show at Deer Lake Park, I could still hear the music even quite far from the venue. After a small stop for some Tim Horton's soup and annoying youth shenanigans at the neighbouring table, I found myself back at the Plaza Club for good old-fashioned hardcore....more |
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Harry Connick Jr. at The Centre Harry Connick Jr. put on the best show I think I have ever seen. HCJ isn't my favourite musician of all time by any means, and while I like vocal jazz, it's most certainly not my top genre choice of music. But this show was top top top notch....more |
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New Music West 2007 - Thursday at various venues New Music West! Another year has come and gone, baby, and I'm still here with all you indie bands trying to find the next few to fixate on. Really, that's the joy of this festival - it's no longer the media/label circus it once was....more |
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New Music West 2007 - Friday at various venues Okay first of all, it's Friday! Weekend! Tonight's surely gonna pick up, right? Right? One thing I must mention - where was the Big Bus in all this? It was there last year, and I heard it was supposed to be there this year, but I didn't see the fancy double-decker bus....more |
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New Music West 2007 - Saturday at various venues Hey, look at that, it's Saturday and the evening's entertainment starts even earlier! Only in Vancouver, folks. The STone Temple was getting things rolling just after 6pm, presumably to have things wrapped up before 10 so they could get the money-making club kids into the room. First up here was Familia....more |
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New Music West 2007 - Sunday featuring Apostle of Hustle and Memphis at The Red Room I wonder on this night (though I wasn't actually clever enough to ask anybody) if the opening band tonight actually played. I didn't think I arrived too late into the evening, but Memphis was just hitting the stage when I got there.....more |
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Electric 6 at Richards Oh my what a night. On the eve that our Vancouver Canucks NHL team scrambled their way into the second round of the playoffs, the city was in sufficient first-round mayhem as I trundled my way down to the bar where Electric 6 was playing....more |
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Mew at Richards Mew gets creepier all the time. Perhaps just because this was their own show instead of an opening slot, we got a chance to see more of the weird and spooky visuals than before.....more |
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Lily Allen and Badly Drawn Boy at the Commodore and Richards Look, people are going to shoot me for this I'm sure. But Lily Allen? Okay, she's adorable. I get that. And I get that she's personable...[more] |
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Moneen with Sparta and Attack In Black at the Commodore Attack in Black is one of my surprise new favourite of the year. I'm pretty sure I have an album or EP of theirs or something kicking about, but I didn't know they were this in-the-flesh neat. Killer, killer drumming...[more] |
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David Usher with NLX at Richards and Ben Sigston with the Parlour Steps and The Painted Birds at The Red Room After a pleasant interview with Natasha Alexandra of NLX, I settled in and hung about for an hour or so while the club doors opened and Alexandra got herself ready for her opening slot on this night. She deftly climbed the stage and settled in behind her piano....more |
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Arts County Fair with Sam Roberts Band at Thunderbird Stadium, UBC and The Frames with Jets Overhead at The Red Room One of these days, I swear I will watch an entire Arts County Fair day. As it stands, the event generally happens on a Thursday, the last day of classes for the University year at UBC.....more |
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HelloGoodbye at The Croatian Cultural Centre Back to high school we go... a show at the CCC is an all-ages affair, and after catching the last 30 seconds of Hush Sound (enough to figure out they have neat haircuts and can be classified as 'popmo'....more |
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Bacardi B-Live Concert Series with The Crystal Method at The Commodore I didn't see much of this gig, and most of the time I was there, I have to be honest, I was consuming white grape juice and rum concoctions...more |
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Pat Watson with Dan Mangan at The Gallery What an unusual venue for a touring gig. The teeny little Gallery bar at UBC was a full house by the time I arrived. I'd like to say that meant a massive crowd, but it really didn't....more |
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120 Days with Ratatat and Despot at Richards Mostly, this one's up as a gallery for 120 Days, but since this was a very highly-anticipated show for me, I will speak about it to a degree....more |
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The Thermals at the Media Club Painfully average. It pains me to say it, but there is no description more apt for the The Thermals first ever Canadian show....more |
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The Luna Riot with Stereobuss and Marble Rye at the Buffalo Club Oh my what a collection of people in this room tonight! It's another one of those nights where it sort of feels like it's 2003, only now everyone's in different bands... nice to see everyone again though.....more |
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Sweetheart with The Sessions, Elias and 7 Year Old Poets at the Media Club Seven Year Old Poets were on stage when I arrived. A smart-looking bunch.....more |
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Ryan McMahon with Cory Woodward and Kerry ODonovan at the Backstage Lounge Clearly, this was meant to be a comedic night. On the tail of leaving the ridiculous Tenacious D concert, I ended up at the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island for a night of pretty acoustic type music.....more |
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Wolfmother at the PNE Forum Even more than the band and whatever it was doing on stage (when they finally got there), the most striking thing about this show was the audience! Am I just this out of touch?....more |
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The Shins with Viva Voce at the Commodore Viva Voce opened this show - the gal in the band would appear later onstage with the Shins, but in the meantime, this loud, boisterous duo from Portland was here to mildly ammend the White Stripes 2-person band configuration....more |
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Gomez with Ben Kweller at the Commodore Ooh boy, here we go! Ben Kweller! Having been absolutely titillated by the guy's last performance in Vancouver, I was really looking forward to this one....more |
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Sparklehorse with Attics and Cellars at Richards Approaching Richards this night, there's a scribbled green sharpie marker sign that states the original openers would not be here for this show, and instead, local openers would be taking their place....more |
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Pete Yorn with Aqualung at the Commodore I'll say right off the bat; I kind of have a little nostalgic love affair with Pete Yorn...more |
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Matt Mays with Museum Pieces at Richards I came into this not knowing what to imagine or expect. In the days preceding the show, I started to get little tidbits of information about it....more |
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Ladytron with CSS at the Commodore Someone told me this show would be boring as hell. That was on second-hand information, but I was inclined to possibly believe him anyhow....more |
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The Tragically Hip at the Commodore Anyone tired of the Hip yet? If you said yes, I'm going to personally come over there and kick your ass. The Tragically Hip, Canada's legendary, nation-defining rock band...[more] |
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The Decemberists at the Commodore Two days of Decemberists! After a disappointing cancellation a month earlier, the Decemberists returned to Vancouver to make up those dates.....more |
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We Are Scientists with Art Brut at the Commodore Oh Art Brut is so ridiculous, I love it. Getting there a bit too late to take photos, they had the audience energized like mad .....more |
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Sasquatch! Festival at the Gorge at George Holy moly moly. So much happened this weekend, I barely remember what I saw or how it went. Every year in George, Washington (yeah, that's George comma Washington), there's a wide-ranging spring/summer cusp festival called Sasquatch!...more |
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The Boy Least Likely To at the Plaza of Nations How can I possibly express how much joy seeing this band play a show brings? There's absolutely no way - you just have to go see them...more |
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The Cult at the Plaza of Nations The Cult have come a long way from white spandex and pirate shirts. A long long way. It's astounding how seeing a show like this can somehow restore your faith in the campy, outrageous world of rock..more |
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New Music West Day 1 coverage at various venues Running all over town....more |
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New Music West Day 2 coverage at various venues Again running all over town....more |
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New Music West Day 3 coverage at various venues Guess what? Running all over town...more |
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New Music West Day 4 coverage at various venues More running all over town....more |
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New Music West Day 5 coverage at various venues Still running all over town....more |
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New Music West Day 6 coverage at various venues Will I ever stop running all over town?....more |
An Aside: It's been almost ten years since I left Cord Magazine. Haven't stayed in touch with anyone. Many of the bands we reviewed have disappeared. Some are still out there playing their music and entertaining the crowds. I feel like an old man saying that those were the good old days.
This site was a nostagic walk back in time to another stage in my life. Where are all you Cord Magazine visitors now? Chillin' I hope and still listening to music.