A busy week began Wednesday, Jan. 12, on the Slice’s brand new stage with two excellent Vancouver based roots/country rock bands.
The Gastown Royals were up first with some upbeat folk-country including a stand -up bass.
They reminded me of a more acoustic White Cowbell Oklahoma, partially because they all sported cowboy hats and alternated lead vocals including the soulful lead singer, who also played some excellent harmonica.
They ended their set with a cover of Bob Dylan/ The Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,” then were called back for an encore of J-Z’s “99 Problems.”
The Matinee were up next with a set of upbeat, foot stomping country-fried Sadies style country rock, which included a couple newer songs from an upcoming records.
They played several of their own songs including a Ryan Adams cover and “one from our older catalogue ” called ‘50 bucks,’ which incorporated a few countrified bars of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In the Wall Part 2,” done Luther Wright and the Wrongs’ bluegrass style, for which the lead singer donned a banjo.
And for a touch of humour added Ween’s “Piss Up A Rope,’ and promised a free CD for the first member of the audience to identify the artist.
Four of the band members then took the opportunity to hammer out a drum solo midway through another one of their older songs and wound down their set just before midnight with “the first song we ever wrote,” then followed that up with an encore of “the second song we ever wrote.”