HPX 2012 in Review: Tuesday, October 16th

Word/Photos & Videos from the 1st night of the Halifax Pop Explosion Madness.

Things started off with Tiff & Dan at the Seahorse tavern, for the HPX launch party and to check out the first ever Scene Builders Award presentation. 
The award was given to 2 recipients, Condon MacLeod & Greg Clark for their amazing work within the Halifax music community.

Following the awards came amazing performances by Meisha & The Spanks, Glory Glory, Camp Radio and The Dudes.

During the sets at the Seahorse we bumped back and forth between the Seahorse & Reflections to capture as many photos and videos as we possible could, including footage of King Tuff, Astral gunk, Long Weekends and Crosss.

Meanwhile - Isaac was all the way up at Gus' Pub to check out PINEO, Catholic Gaydar, Jaguar Knight and HUMANS:

Since I don’t own a camera and my phone is connected to the wall at my house, I unfortunately don’t come bearing photos or videos. It looks like I’ll be forced to paint you a picture the old fashioned way: with words!

Picture this if you will, Gus’ pub on an overcast Tuesday night, the first night of everyone’s beloved Halifax Pop Explosion. If you haven’t been in Gus’ Pub, I’m afraid no explanation can do it justice, but I’ll try.

Inside the dimly lit bar is a sizable crowd of music fans  who are there to see  PINEO, Catholic Gaydar, Jaguar Knight and HUMANS.  The place is adorned with balloons, Pop Explosion Logos and Molson banners. The stage stands in the left-hand corner, behind the stage is a forest wall-paper, creating an illusion that each act is performing deep inside a seemingly endless and magical woodland. The wall-paper is also tattered, ripped and covered with stray pieces of electrical tape. Perhaps this is some kind of statement about the fraying state of the earth’s natural resources. Perhaps not. We’ll probably never know for sure.

PINEO got the crowd moving early with his crazy electronic styling’s.  Speaking as a 30 year old rock and roll fan, this style isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, but I did enjoy his inventiveness and his respect for the all-mighty groove.

Catholic Gaydar was a little more my style. They were a more traditional bass/guitar/vocals/drums band. They also covered Nirvana’s Aneurysm. Speaking as a 30 year old rock and roll fan, this was awesome. They had plenty more to offer besides proving that all the good band names aren’t taken. The lead singer kept the audience engaged with his affable stage presence, even calling his sister on his cell phone and prompting the audience to say hello to her in unison. It was charming. So was their final song which was a Christmas song about cruising Citadel Hill for love.

Jaguar Knight (formerly AV) was also a very interesting act. A one man dance party, he had effects heavy songs about everything from the value of pipes in our society (They bring us things we want, like water, and take away things we don’t want, like sewage.)  to a sassy horse that just loves to get naughty when the sun goes down.  And I think everyone agreed the rubber horse mask he wore during the song was a nice touch.

HUMANS was clearly the act a lot of people wanted to see. By the time they started, the bar was so full that I couldn’t see the stage (so I guess it doesn’t matter that I didn’t have a camera). They totally killed. The brought the house down in a big way. During their set Gus’ seemed to transform into one giant, sweaty, bouncing organism.  It was an insane way to end the night and although their set was great fun I was plenty glad to get out into the fresh air and catch my breath.

If first night’s are any indication, this will be a wild Pop Explosion indeed.

To view all the photos from Halifax Pop Explosion 2013 - CLICK HERE

Here is a playlist of all the videos we shot on the 1st night of HPX 2012. 
Watch the embedded video or click HERE to be taken directly to the playlist.
There are 9 videos in total = 28mins of music! ENJOY!