2018-04-01: April Fool's with Aaron J. Shay

Briefly emerging from a long hiatus to revisit the very same venue as our most recent gig, way back last September, some small (that means tight, right?) configuration of the Creaking Planks plans on staying out at least long enough to see its shadow and try to tell it a terrible joke. ("Honestly I think shadow jokes are kind of dark.") It's curious, given our humorous (well, absurd at least) bent why we haven't made more of an annual celebration out of April Fool's -- our "Ship of Fools" cabaret (gulp) nine years ago was great fun but maybe we opted not to dilute the joke in the retelling. (If so, we we have apparently re-evaluated that position, as the gloves are off!)

We'll be at the WISE Lounge from 8-11 pm Sunday, April 1st (don't fear the Monday morning -- it's the Easter long weekend!) supporting a touring folk-punk musician. Suggested donation $10, 19+. Facebook really wants to know that you're attending.

Seattle's Aaron J. Shay (The Mongrel Jews) is a folk-punk singer-songwriter and inter-dimensional traveler, documenting his experiences in story and song while accompanying himself on banjo and ukulele. A longtime enthusiast of both literature and science, he has participated in several quantum-poetic experiments, including Project [REDACTED] and Operation [REDACTED]. Shay's performances are highly interactive, encouraging the civilians in the audience to stomp along and sing along to further study rhythm and melody deviations between universes. Be prepared to smile and ponder!

East Vancouver's "jug band of the damned" the Creaking Planks has made its name as purveyors of musical cognitive dissonance, performing sad songs like they're happy, elevating the profane to the sacred, and playing Nine Inch Nails covers for children. As one does. On this most Puckish of occasions they will be walking the metaphorical tightrope and angling to represent both the most foolish fun and the funniest folly in their repertoire. Now, more damned than ever!

Laugh until you cry or, in contrarian Planks fashion, vice versa! We'll be hooting it up downstairs at the WISE Lounge (1882 Adanac Street at Victoria) from 8 to 11 pm. $10 suggested donation, 19+.

2017-10-28: POLYVOX S3E1 opener

Just in time for Hallowe'en, our gentle folk cover of the Virgin Prunes' song "Sweet Home Under White Clouds" opens the first episode of season 3 of the long-running POLYVOX broadcast out of France. Listen through the whole thing and you'll get to compare and contrast our take with the original, which bookends at the other end! (And don't forget: for Hallowe'en a raven we'll be giving... NEVERMORE!)

2017-09-06: Accordion Noir Fest pre-show with Secret Emchy Society at the WISE Lounge

Longtime fellow traveler in West-Coast alt-accordion circles, the Bay Area's Cindy "Emchy" Emch has long been on our radar due to her activities in Vagabondage and Rhubarb Whiskey, but despite our ties to that sphere, we never managed to quite connect... until now! Upon learning that she's been visiting the area in association with Carolyn Mark, we found that she was going to be nearby juuuuust before the 10th annual Accordion Noir Festival. But when you have a winner's mind, there is no such thing as a loss, so we put our minds together and strategized a festival pre-show featuring the Secret Emchy Society (meaning Emch and her ad-hoc local supporting band) along with yours truly, the jug band of the damned! And, who knows... if the festival brings other surprise characters to town without official festival stage time, maybe we can share a slice of ours with them.

This big fun goes down by donation Wednesday September 6th downstairs at the WISE Lounge, 1882 Adanac! 8-11 pm. Be there, or ... you'll be slightly better rested for the official start of the festival the following day. (But you'll have missed out in so many other ways!)

For those who like to kick off the celebrations a little early, here's a punky little alt-squeezebox warm-up show to kick off the 10th annual Accordion Noir Festival like we used to do it -- by the seat of our pants!

Inspired by 1920s cabaret music, murder ballads and Leonard Cohen, Emchy has been keeping the squeeze dark and alt for over a decade through her projects (list heavily abbreviated) Rhubarb Whiskey, Vagabondage and the Oakland Wine Drinkers Union, Local 88. A great friend to Geoff Berner and Carolyn Mark, you just know you want to join their rarefied ranks also.

http://www.emchy.com/

House band of the Accordion Noir project on and off for the past decade, the jug band of the damned the Creaking Planks continues in their exploration of cognitive dissonance through juxtaposing a contemporary songbook with folk revival arrangements. Your brain tells you "that's just WRONG!" and finds itself utterly incapable of explaining the grin on your face.

At the WISE Lounge. Admission by donation, at the door. Please join us to kick off a Most Eventful series of concerts!

2017-09-02: Creaking Planks busk the Trout Lake Farmer's Market

It's a thing now: two years running, we promote the Accordion Noir Festival by busking at local Farmer's Markets during the lead-up to the festival concert dates. Last year, this curious system brought us downtown with Jet Black Pearl; this year, it takes us to the great grand-dame of them all, the hallowed Trout Lake Farmer's Market (held in the Lakewood & E. 13th parking lot at John Hendry Park) where buskers typically don't even get a chance to apply to play before years of hazing at more marginal markets. The Musical Career Of The Creaking Planks: Years of Hazing? I can't connect those dots with confidence (finger painting abstracts, that's more my speed), but what I can tell you is that a sizable contingent of Planks will be Creaking up a storm there acoustically from 11:30 am through to 2 pm. So come on by, pick up some fresh Chilliwack corn, let us put some roots (music) in your ears and leave some lettuce in our hat. Cheers!

2017-08-26/27: washing up at the Wooden Boat Festival

So here's the thing: we've spent literally a decade being incorrectly introduced as "Vancouver's premiere pirate band, so get ready for some sea shanties!" because, well, we never got around to changing our name... and it was indeed with an eye toward filling that particular hipster niche that we initially formed beneath that banner. But with the exception of our standout Vancouver Public Space Network gig at Pirates of the SeaBus literally a decade ago, a "Lowbrow on the High Seas" art party at the (long-defunct) Marine Club, a couple of pirate parties, a cancelled engagement launching Salesforce.com in Gastown... and of course that Hallowe'en spent at the McBarge... well, suffice it to say that if you thought that our central conceit was an empty one, you'd have been hard pressed to be proven wrong. Our not-so-secret secret identity as a chanty crew sailing the high seas of melody was just a left turn at Albuquerque we'd failed to make.

But now, arguably at our least nautical ever, we've finally been invited to perform at the 30th annual Wooden Boat Festival, presented by the Vancouver Wooden Boat Society. Go figure. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win," right?? OK, actually, that comparison is totally inappropriate, so moving right along...

There's a lot going on there at Granville Island (where we haven't played since our Fringe Festival appearance accompanying Melinda Gidaly's Jew! A Musical at the BBQ pit) over the course of some four days -- music, workshops, and yes, actual boats made of actual wood. (Irish coracles, go take a long walk off a short dock.) Turning you on to the complete schedule of events would... overstep our actual knowledge of the festival proceedings, but we can tell you with authority that we are slated to perform twice across two days, from 3:15-4:15 pm both on Saturday the 26th and Sunday August 27th at the Market Courtyard venue -- which I expect is out back behind the Public Market, so ... don't let the seagulls steal away your hot dog!

Years ago I had no success getting Planks to join me busking (to middling reception) in the environs thereabouts, but this time we will do much better because this time around I do solemnly promise I will refrain from singing Kurt Weill's Alabama Song with my amendment to the lyrics "Show us the way to the next bag of soup", in deference to the nearby "Stock Market" stall, selling prefab soups in little baggies.

You can't reasonably expect us to end on a higher note than that, so... see you at the market! (And thanks to the guests at the Dunbar garden party earlier this month for making the most of our diminished turnout... one accordion still can crank out quite a bit of music!)

2017-08-04: Support the the Transgender Law Center by buying our theme song

We lied. The last time Bandcamp had one of these "our share goes to charity" fire sales, to benefit the ACLU, we said that it would be a one-time-only affair. We were wrong. Those crazy, beautiful purveyors of digital music are doing it again, this time to support the Transgender Law Centre. So if you'd like to support a strong defender of a marginalized group (seemingly soon to be on the receiving end of further marginalization when all they want is a safe place in which to go pee, for crying out loud!) but insist on getting a little something for your money, for one day only (this Friday, that is) pay what you like for a digital recording of our Kishka Anthem, hosted at Bandcamp. If you'd like to give more, go look up your favorite bands -- odds are that many of them are set up there, and purchases from them there tomorrow will also go to benefit this cause.

2017-07-29: Planks at LanaLou's with the Wayward Hearts and Joseph Blood

It's been a slow Spring for the Creaking Planks, but things are picking up for us this summer with an array of private and public engagements ahead of us. Next up is a set at LanaLou's (362 Powell Street) on Saturday, July 29th... a bit over two weeks away!

Though it's been on the table as an alternate venue since the early stages of the decline of the Railway Club, despite tentative arrangements to appear there with eg. the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra, we've never performed at LanaLou's before. Finally a chance to break it in! We're not there with the LFM this time around, but rather another character from our hazy and nebulous past -- Bend Sinister's Joseph Blood, who hosted us at the Penthouse (?!) a decade ago and who we most recently crossed paths with in a jam-packed Jeff Younger Presents evening at the Railway some nine years ago. Plus ça change...

But this time around it isn't JB who invited us up to the stage, but our rootsy fellow travellers (with whom we've never before shared a stage!) in The Wayward Hearts:

Subscribing heavily to the Southern Gothic aesthetic and lauding classic Americana, The Wayward Hearts tell stories about unrequited love, shameless self-destruction and the darker side of common truths. Founded in the fall of 2013, the band recorded its first self titled EP in the spring of 2014. That same year the band played the 100 000 person Khatsalano Music Festival and the legendary Whiskey A-GoGo in Los Angeles. Their first full length album, High Impedance, produced by Vancouver’s Jesse Gander, was released in the spring of 2017.

You can catch them presenting their Holy Roller Revue series at the Fox Cabaret, or of course... you can hear them playing with us at this occasion. Doors at 8:30, show starts at 9:30 -- Joseph Blood opens, we follow from 10:15-11 pm and the Hearts headline. Tickets $10 at the door! Don't miss it!