Aural Holocaust, Fun Times, and Punk Rock Squats

It's the start of a great-looking weekend, music-wise... if your idea of good includes subjecting yourself to skull-crushing noise, a jam-packed night of listening to the funnest bands in town, and checking out punk rock shows in punk rock basements.

Things start off tonight at Pub 340 with a brutal aural assault courtesy of... count 'em... 15 noise acts. I'm only familiar with THE RITA, but if they're any indicator, it's going to be a "wear earplugs or get walk away with tinnitus" sort of night. The last piece I listened to by THE RITA was "Thousands of Dead Gods", a crushing performance with source sounds taken from a great white shark cage diving trip in Guadeloupe. Cool shit. Go here for a complete listing and description of tonight's other 14 acts.

Friday night brings us the first show that the Doers have played in a Vancouver bar in the last... year? Yeah, something like that. Our favourite proponents of good times are taking off for a tour down to California and need help filling the tank of the Doermobile with petrol for the journey. They're playing a show in Hollywood with Mike Watt and the Nels Cline Singers, for fuck's sake, so you'd love to help them out by coming to their send off show at The Railway Club. They'll be joined by Cheerleader Camp, OK Vancouver OK, Ghost House, and Collapsing Opposites, who will be releasing their new CD.

End the weekend in true punk rock fashion by grabbing a six and heading to the Alf House to see the Pink Razors (from Richmond, Virginia), along with Damaged Goods, Out of Order, and my personal favourites, The China Creeps. Be sure to lob your empty cans into the air. It's only right.

Photo courtesy of Crystl.