PINK MOUNTAINTOPS, SEX CHURCH, FORD PIER VENGANCE TRIO

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS - bev davies photo

December 15, 2012 - Waldorf

Cake and Courvoisier was the warm butter and the frosting of a sweet and sold out night at the Waldorf. While Stephen McBean of Pink Mountaintops calmly sets up the stage, an excited new fan shouts out “does he always do his own sound checks?” Grinning, McBean carries on focused checking lines and cables.

With the assembly of boxes, pedals, a fairly compact amp and a vintage black Silvertone hollow-body, a little piece of magic commences. There is beauty to the crazing of dark paint on that old guitar, a webbed little history of rock 'n' roll.

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS - bev davies photo

With a full band or solo, but does it really matter if it's good? McBean dips into this tangled past, song by song, a psychedelic touch and the set builds as revolving door of friends gather and join him on stage. Past members of Pink Mountaintops, Black Mountain and a few more relations connect vocal spots and percussion.

 By the time “Sweet 69” drifts past, an audience was fully intoxicated by the effects only enhanced by the cognac and cake stirring about. Heady in the mix, “Plastic Man”, “Tourist In Your Town” may have made the set. It was a tall and very full glass of many.

The twisted series of cavernous rooms that connect the subterranean floors of this East Van venue, would leave a curious patron wondering what kind of charm could turn up around the next corner. The same would apply with the contrasting and complimentary choice of locals, Sex Church and Ford Pier Vengeance Trio on the bill. An assemblage to keep an audience on their toes and both bands with very recent 2012 releases, Sex Church with an unspoiled three song 12-inch called Somnambulist and the seasoned three piece, Ford Pier Vengeance Trio, came out with an album titled Huzzah!

- More Betty