2015-02-06: Bernerland: the Songs of Geoff Berner!

Though our paths have not crossed all that often (usually at the ArtsWells festival!), local accordionic songwriter Geoff Berner nonetheless looms large in our band's history, inviting us to headline his show at the first annual Accordion Noir Festival, after which he sagely proclaimed: "every night some band is the best band in the world for that night, and tonight I think it was you guys." We debated long and hard whether to perform his "Dalloy Polezei" when we performed at the fundraiser for the Police Museum. (The verdict was unanimous: we totally should, and we definitely wouldn't.) In fact, a turn-of-the-century appearance opening for folkie weirdo Dan Bern at the Britannia Elementary auditorium was entirely responsible for Blackbox Squeezebeard being inspired to pick up the accordion in the first place.

So finally we have an opportunity to give back some of what he has given to us: we didn't take the chance to cover any of his numerous amazing original songs on the Festival Man album, but we will be giving up two at the fabulous Bernerland roast / tribute show coming up this Friday night!

The roster is a gallery of big talent including his old friends in the Burnettes, Jeff Andrew, Dave Lang, Demon Squadron, E.S.L., Ford Pier, Carolyn Mark, Rae Spoon, fellow Monster of Accordion Jason Webley... and us! All hosted by Ken Gordon... one night only, 8:30 pm at the WISE Hall (1882 Adanac St. at Victoria), tickets will be $20 at the door (only $15 advance!) and all proceeds will be generously donated to the WISH drop-in centre. It has no option but to be quite a show.

...

January was unexpectedly busy for us -- in addition to the big 10th-anniversary blowout, we performed two more gigs last week you never found out about here. First off was Support Resistance!, a brief but punchy appearance at a fundraiser for the Carnegie Newsletter on Jan 24th (at which Mr. Berner also weighed in!), and then on the 29th we had a fascinating chance to provide ambient and improvisatory instrumental wallpaper for a pecha kucha at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC, where we drifted among cello pedal loops beneath the skeleton of a blue whale.

Here we are living the dream of re-enacting @TheDecemberists Mariner's Revenge Song at @beatymuseum . pic.twitter.com/8tNdtndhla

— Creaking Planks (@creakingplanks) January 30, 2015

Show business! Even after 10 years, it can't help but surprise you!

2011-10-29: Carnival of Shadows II w/ Jeff Andrew and Tarran the Tailor

Because Hallowe'en comes but once a year (but Hallowe'en weekend is three nights long) it's the profound pleasure of the jug band of the damned to present our spooky show for a second night in a row, next up Saturday, October 29th at Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive) from 8-11 pm with our ominous pals Tarran the Tailor and Jeff Andrew, who we did this same gig with this time last year. (This time, though, he'll actually get to play!) $10 for the funnest unofficial Parade of Lost Souls afterparty ever!

(Turn up early and you get to ring in Daisy Jones-Locher's birthday from 6:30 on!)

Bonus! It was a heck of a show, and here's a gallery of photos from it! Thanks to Graham Ballantyne for snapping the shutter again...

2011-03-04: Creaking Planks with Jeff Andrew and Portland's Underscore Orkestra

We missed out on a chance to play with them last August en route to our legendary trip down to California, but the fates have intervened and seen fit to give us another opportunity to share a stage with Portland's Underscore Orkestra, thanks to Jeff Andrew, last seen giving up his own performance spot to allow us to play his double-booked Hallowe'en show at Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive!

Of course, there will be no double-booking there this time. The Underscores straddle all sorts of lively genres from gypsy jazz and swing to Balkan and klezmer music -- with a shot of heady bellydancing thrown in -- and even gruff-voiced Jeff will be having a squeezebox backing him up, qualifying this show to be presented by Accordion Noir, Vancouver's (and, yea, the world's) pre-eminent all-accordion-music weekly broadcast.

Us Planks are still sharpening our alternate set of heady tunes we haven't been coasting on five years of perfection with, so if you missed our anniversary show, we should still have some fresh musical tricks in store for you... and of course, more is yet to come.

Admission is $10!

2010-10-30: Creaking Planks at Cafe Deux Soleils

Hot on the heels of our first costume ball of the season the night before, the jug band of the damned moves up the street (just a couple of blocks) to Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive) to help raise some unruly spirits (from the remnants of the Parade of Lost Souls, no doubt) with the help of our delightfully dark friends Maria in the Shower and Jeff Andrew with his Crows at Midnight. 9 pm, $10.

2010-04-11: Pirate party at the HD Lab with the Planks, Ursula, The Rough Sea and Jeff Andrew!

After a long and eventful absence, our website is back just in time for us to tip you off about a show we're playing tonight! Sometime soon we'll do a bit of looking back to make you netizens want to eat your hat in regret of what you've missed over the past few months, but in the meantime, there's no better time to jump right back in -- we've got plenty of shows in April and May.

We're the home team for tonight's show, with Jeff Andrew, Ursula and (part of) the Rough Sea all having been on the road for some time weaving and wending as the trade winds blew them. These strange currents deliver us all up (after many changes of plans over the past few months) at the HD Lab tonight, Sunday, April 11th, where the old Memelab formerly was: 1814 Pandora Street, upstairs, right by Free Geek. (Take a left at Chicken Death!) We'll be headlining (last), but things are expected to generally get underway around 8 pm.

And now, a poster!