Vancouver Buzz: Thor Devastates While He Musculates
Friday June 23, 2006 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Thor

Proving his might beyond the physical demands of bending iron bars and non-stop rocking, the mighty Thor is set to endure a lengthy five-month tour in support of his latest album, Devastation Of Musculation. Things kick off on June 30 in Kelowna, and he'll play a few B.C. dates before heading to Alberta and then dipping into the U.S.

The all-powerful one was recently kind enough to call me from his castle in a far-off land (North Vancouver) and offer some insight into his latest release.

"The new album is a metaphor for what's going on in the world," Thor explained. "It's really a statement about extremism and radicalism.

"It's also about bigism and anorexia and people who will destroy themselves to be more beautiful. There's a guy I read about who tried to work out and get his arms so big that one day they actually exploded."

Leave it to Thor to tie a variety of concepts into a truly original record.

"I cover a lot of new subject matter on the latest release. I sing about all kinds of things, like who built the pyramids. And what if it was the people from Atlantis? And maybe it was all real."

The album features 10 new tracks with such awesome titles as "Lords Of Steel," "Lies Of Eternity" and "Union Of Power." These ballads of fantasy and adventure have been rocking my iPod mightily all week. Sadly, I don't appear to be any stronger.

In other news, things are looking up on the local venue front. Like a bad rash that won't go away, Cobalt is back in action and once again serving up weekly servings of raunch rock. As if that isn't enough good news, after almost two years of sporadic bookings, the Piccadilly Pub is once again playing host to a regular schedule of shows. In a city bursting with worthy bands, this is good news for live music fans.

The coming weeks are offering up great acts in venues all over town. Here's a sampling of a few great shows on offer:

Mecca Normal are debuting songs from their latest (and 13th) album, The Observer, on Friday at the Lamplighter with Yoko Casionos, The Feminists and either Fun 100 or Neins Circa, depending on who you talk to. There's plenty going on around town on this fine evening, but this is a pretty powerhouse lineup.

You Say Party! We Say Die! are at Pat's Pub on Friday with Run Chico Run and All Purpose Voltage Heroes. It's a bit of a dodgy walk down Hastings to get there, but this lineup also offers the promise of some solid entertainment.

Motion Soundtrack, Winston, Savile Row and Cinderpop are at the Railway Club on Friday.

The Jolts, The Neckers, The Riff Randals and At First Sight rock up the Piccadilly Pub on Saturday.

The legendary NoMeansNo return to a local stage on June 29 at The Commodore Ballroom with Wibutee and Uz.

Bocephus King, who always provides a good time, is at the Railway Club on June 30.

Moka Only is making a rare appearance at the Piccadilly Pub on July 1. The lineup also features Live Manikins, Kid Lithium & Bizzoid, Logical, The Idealists and Lenny Diko.

The Nons are at Pub 340 with The Pets and No Feeling on July 1.

In closing, here's a shout-out and congrats to Vancouver's Grant Lawrence, the host of CBC Radio 3. The podcast edition of the show recently celebrated its two millionth download and one-year anniversary. That's not quite the readership of this column (yeah right), but still pretty damn good. Keep up the good work, Grant, but take a few weeks off and write some new Smugglers songs one of these days. Somehow the scene isn't quite complete without the occasional live performance of that indie-rock classic, "Alan Thicke."

I'm off to read about that guy's arms exploding. See you in two weeks.

—Trevor Hargreaves

Send your Vancouver music news, show info, CDs or Funky Cold Media to vancouverbuzz@hotmail.com, or by snail mail to: Attn: Trevor Hargreaves, #408, 65 1st St., New Westminster, B.C., V3L 5K9.