Who: DJ Swamp
Where: Garfinkels
When: Wednesday, June 9
Tickets: $10
Cross a skilled turntablist with a Jim Rose Circus performer and you may scratch the surface of this thing they call Swamp.
Reknowned for bizarre onstage antics such as busting vinyl and bloodying himself with the shards, scratching razor-sharp needles across his tongue and setting himself on fire, Swamp just may be the DJ of the Apocalypse.
He definitely looks the part shaggy headbanger hair, black wardrobe, black fingernail polish and black scowl. If he was a canned pasta hed be Scary-Os.
Appearances and masochistic tendencies aside, Swamp is at his core a supremely skilled DJ. Winner of the 1996 USA DMC championships he continues to push the envelope of the art form nearly a decade later with innovative scratching techniques that bridge all genres of electronica.
Musicians of all genres arent afraid of Swamp either. He toured with Beck during the artists ground-breaking Odelay era, hes the man behind the Bloodhound Gangs goofy-nu metal anthem Mope. Hes worked with Morcheeba, The Beastie Boys, Papa Roach, Rob Zombie, Soul Wax and so many more.
Swamp is well rounded as an MC as well, with a quirky, unpretentious delivery thats completely winning from the first word.
Dont let that fool you though. Hes still scary as all hell.
DJ Swamp descends on Garfinkels this Wednesday night with Mat the Alien. Tickets are $10 in advance from the Electric Daisy Internet Cafe.
For more information call 604-935-4282.
Stop, collaborate and listen...
Who: Vanilla Ice
Where: Tommy Africas
When: Friday, June 11
Tickets: $20 first 50 people, more afterwards
Admit it, you liked him.
You liked Ice Ice Baby. You listened to it on cassette in your first ghetto blaster all the time.
If you were a girl, you probably even thought he was hot with his tattoos and his blond flat top with the shaved designs on the side.
To the extreme he rocked the mic like a vandal, lit up the stage and waxed the chump like a candle.
He burned bright and fast though. By the mid-90s no one would admit to liking him. It was the Death Row Records death threat thing. It was almost like Suge Knight could somehow kill you from prison using Jedi mind tricks if you uttered Vanillas name.
But with the onset of 90s retro chic, its okay to like Vanilla Ice again.
Seriously.
Theres even more of him to love now with the release of new album Bipolar .
Hell be on the mic at Tommy Africas next Friday, June 11. Tickets available only at the door, $20 for the first 50 and increasing as the night goes on.
For more information call 604-932-6090.