Who: She Stole My Beer
Where: Garibaldi Lift Co. (GLC)
When: Friday, Jan. 7
Tickets: $15
Jam rockers She Stole My Beer are known for having loyal fans all over the West Coast from their heyday in the early 1990s. Shows are as much reunions for fans as they are for the band members who are now scattered throughout Vancouver, Whistler and the Lower Mainland.
But years after they quit the rock ’n’ roll touring life, it seems the band’s appeal is stronger than ever, even inspiring a tribute act in Switzerland.
Three years ago Vancouverites Bruce and Robin Fraser, long-time fans and personal friends of SSMB, moved to Switzerland and started hanging out with a musician named Anthony Durrer who pounded the skins for Swiss band JEAD, an acronym of the first names of the four band members.
The Frasers introduced Durrer and subsequently the other members of JEAD to SSMB. Four instant fans were born and JEAD added a couple SSMB covers to their repertoire.
The songs soon became fan favourites and the band added a few more.
"From there (sic) on we were playing more songs from SSMB and less songs from JEAD," writes Durrer from Switzerland. "From gig to gig more people came and they started singing the songs from SSMB with us… The fans wanted a CD from us. We told them that the songs are not from us but come from a band from Vancouver and we do not know where they can buy one since the songs are 10 years old."
JEAD even had plans to record an SSMB tribute album, until Durrer had, what he calls "a bad accident in spring 2004," which took him out of the band. In the meantime he was replaced with a different drummer who had different ideas for the direction of the band, so the SSMB tribute album project was shelved.
Durrer, however, isn’t letting the dream die.
"The fans still love the songs from SSMB and who knows, maybe someday they will make a small tour of Europe or even put out a new CD. That will be cool."
Definitely cool. If the Germans could revive the lukewarm career of David Hasselhof, maybe the Swiss are just what SSMB needs to kick-start a new era of stratospheric success.
Before the Beer boys become as big as Hasselhof in Europe catch their show at the GLC tomorrow night.
