Who: Chinatown
What: The Punk Night
Where: Boot Pub
When: Sunday, Dec. 21
With their heavy guitar-driven tunes, Vancouvers Chinatown seem to be channeling early "70s Alice Cooper or one of his contemporaries.
"We love that era," confirms singer/guitarist Ben Yardley. "KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper. Id like to think were kind of modern sounding, but our influences are older."
The influences include Thin Lizzy whose Chinatown album lent itself to the new bands name at the suggestion of drummer Chucky a couple years ago.
"Its also because were from Vancouver and weve all spent time in the downtown eastside, the Chinatown area. Its a really crazy place.
"We consider ourselves a pretty sleazy sounding band and thats a pretty sleazy part of town," adds Yardley.
Whistler fans of gritty sleazeball rockers The Black Halos likely remember Chinatowns opening set at their last show back in October. The bands played to a capacity crowd at the Boot Pub and the crazy energy in the room that night has the Chinatown boys stoked to return to Whistler.
But its not just Whistler that has welcomed their twentysomething interpretation of a 30-year-old style of music. Yardley says all across the Pacific Northwest, their home, along with The Halos and other acts like Vancouver metal maniacs 3 Inches of Blood and Seattles Jet City Fix, hes felt a new resurgence for rock. With the contemporary radio and music TV stations for the most part pumping out the latest greatest pop-hop/R&B production, Yardley says hes noticed a new generation of rockers on the rise alongside the older crowd already loyal to the sound.
"Weve been going down to Washington state a lot and playing some all ages shows and the young kids are starting to really go crazy for what we do," he says. "Its cool because some of those kids who were born in the 80s, they havent had any real rock bands. Its all been cookie-cutter pop and stupid boy bands. They missed Guns n Roses, they missed Nirvana, they missed a lot of stuff."
The Punk Nights loyal following wont want to miss Chinatown this Sunday evening at the Boot Pub, with openers The Iotolas. Call 604-932- 3338 for more information.