Warpaint live @ The Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver B.C. March 19, 2011

As I stood in the lineup outside the Biltmore Cabaret in one of the dirtier areas of Vancouver, I casually conversed with other Warpaint fans about music and skanky bar chicks.  The curly haired lanky guy next to me took a drag from his cigarette while some meatheads a short distance ahead of us shotgunned some Luckys (you know you’re in BC when…).  It felt like a pretty casual night out.  Little did I know that I was about to experience one of the best live shows of my young life.

PVT

Sharing the bill with Warpaint were New York’s Family Band, and Australia’s PVT.  Family Band kicked the show off with some droning, hypnotic indie jams.  The music was great, but the lead singer’s demeanor was extremely off-putting.  To be blunt, she looked like a heroin junkie, and acted like one too.  When she spoke to the crowd, it was clear that she wished she was elsewhere, possibly scoring some dope.  Near the end of their set, the sound guy’s voice came on and told them they were out of time.  “Oh,” the lead singer blandly exclaimed, “we only have one more song, it’s like a minute.”  I kind of wish that they had obeyed the sound guy, because what followed could barely be considered a song.  The crowd anxiously shuffled their feet as the boring front woman clicked together two drum sticks and lead guitarist set down his axe and circulated around the club.  It was weird, and not a very good ending to their set.

PVT

Next was PVT who played an interesting hybrid of indie-rock and dance music.  Unlike Family Band, PVT actually looked like they were happy to be playing some music for us all, and their set was all the better for it.  They worked their way through a 30-minute set filled with catchy and danceable tunes that the whole crowd seemed to enjoy.

                                                           

                                    

                                                                                              

Marry me

As PVT finished and began taking apart their gear someone closed a set of curtains to separate the audience from the stage where Warpaint where presumably setting up their gear.  The Biltmore Cabaret is a nice little venue, but it’s no Royal Albert Hall.  The stage is about two feet off the ground and the “V.I.P. area” has no door and is on the way to the men’s bathroom.  But somehow, when the curtains were drawn, there was a palpable sense of big-concert anticipation in the air.  I elbowed my way up to the front in the anonymity of the darkness and peered through the crack in the curtains.  And that’s when I spotted my future wife, the drummer from Warpaint, Stella Mozgawa.  There she was, casually chatting with her bandmates, sipping on a bottle of domestic beer, and checking the volume levels of her snare drum.  As I gawked at her, one of the roadies noticed me and pulled the curtains further together, eliminating my view.

Emily Kokal

About ten minutes later (though it felt more like hours) the curtains dropped and the crowd exploded into cheers and applause as Warpaint took the stage.  Guitarist Emily Kokal strapped on her distinctive white Fender Jaguar and began playing the opening notes of Set Your Arms Down, the lead track from their 2010 debut LP The Fool.  Much to my surprise (I must have underestimated their popularity) the crowd sang every word with the band.  I jumped at the opportunity to share my horrendous voice with the room and as the first verse was coming to an end I was belting it out loudly and horribly: Out on the back porch/ you say tonight/ we bring our pocket/ our pocket knives.

Lindberg and Mozgawa tearing the place down

Mozgawa and guitarist Theresa Wayman then switched places (Wayman was on the drum kit while the love of my life was playing guitar) and almost immediately Mozgawa’s eyes lit up with a sense of passion that communicated how much she loves to play the drums.  As a fellow musician and drummer it was really nice to see someone get that much joy out of their instrument, but more importantly, it was great to see that their long North-American tour wasn’t wearing on them and affecting their performance.  Much to my pleasure, they continued on with their debut LP with their next song.  A delicate snare beat slowly built up as they began playing Warpaint, one of my personal favourites if only for the explosive drum beat.  Just watch this video; the performance was truly fantastic and just watch how Mozgawa just seems so, so….into it.

Following pretty much every song, after the uproar of the crowd had died down, the band spoke to the audience in a very engaging way.  They were charming, witty, and extremely modest; everything about them was likeable.  Sometimes at concerts or shows you find yourself ignoring the performer’s narcissistic personality traits, but I didn’t have to for Warpaint.  They came across as a group of friends having a great time playing together.  Whether cracking jokes about naming their guitars or conversing about the gorgeous Vancouver scenery, the band was engaging. 

With only one LP and one EP released, Warpaint were able to play almost all of their songs.  The crowd favourites were probably Undertow and Bees (with good reason, Undertow was my favourite performance of the night), both from their LP. But the audience still grooved along to lesser known cuts from their debut EP, 2010’s Exquisite Corpse, such as Stars and Elephants.  (Just a little side note here: the drugged out hippie beside me was losing his mind during Elephants. "THIS IS THE BEST SONG EVER!!!")

Again, please marry me

While the music is generally intended to be the focus of a concert, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the genuine personalities that the band displayed.  They exuded confidence and excitement.  There were good times in the air and the crowd loved every minute of it.  And of course, if I hadn’t made it clear already, the show was phenomenal. The gang vocals were harmonized beautifully and on a musical level, each song was executed with the perfect mix of precision and personality.  Just when I thought they were approaching a point in one of their songs that they couldn’t possibly replicate without the use of studio wizardry, one of two things happened: they either a) proved me completely wrong or b) took it in a unique direction that was just as good as, if not better than, the sections on the studio album.

After their final encore ended they introduced us to their crew and told us how gracious they were for the warm reception.  Bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg left us with a prayer for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. 

When it was all over, as I retrieved my recently purchased Warpaint records and T-shirt from the table where I had stashed them, I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear; I had just seen one of the best concerts I could ever hope to see.

Who knew chicks could rock out?