The rock won out over the sloth yesterday, and I headed out to the 360 for the post-CMW hangover show. I hadn’t been to the 360 in years, since they renovated and decided to target the local hard rock/metal audience, and I have to say – they’ve done a pretty good job. The stage is larger and more professional and the sound is quite good – it used to be awful.

Anyway, despite having Vancouver popsters The Salteens headlining, most of the show was still very appropriate to the 360’s usual demographic. Vancouver’s Billy & The Lost Boys played a short set of very catchy and energetic pop-punk, with just the right amount of hookiness and sneer. They were followed by locals Hostage Life, who pretty much all aggro punk and prompted me to put in earplugs and pull out a book after a couple songs. Dead Letter Dept were mostly more of the same, but with a little more interesting song structures and instrumentation. Still, I was getting a little impatient for the bands I’d come to see to get on.

Australia’s Sekiden has been to Canada a number of times in the past couple years, almost always touring with The Salteens. They trade in high-energy synth-driven new wave pop, and they’re good at it. Sharp tunes combined with lots of jumping around and just all-around good times – think The Rentals on speed. By this point, it had gotten late and they were pressed for time, so The Salteens were forced to play an abbreviated 8-song set – they made the most of it though. I’d last seen them three or four years ago, and there’ve been line-up changes and loads of touring since then, the end result of which is a much tighter and better band. Terrific melodies and vocal harmonies, great songs – worth the wait. Photos of the two last acts here. They’ll be back in June for NXNE, and I’m going to do my best to catch them again. I also picked up their latest album at the show, Let Go Of Your Bad Days. It still features the old four-piece lineup, so it’s a slightly different sound than the live band. I’d say the current incarnation sounds better – new member Erin Jane’s keyboards really help fill out the sound and her vocals are stronger than departed bassist Megan Bradfield’s. Still an enjoyable listen, though I’m more anxious to hear some recordings with the new band.

np – Husker Du / Candy Apple Grey

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