There is something about Scandinavian music that is spooky, ominous and kind of dreary and slightly dangerous sounding. But Scandinavian bands like Stockhom's the Scrags always put on intense shows.
That was definitely the case as , around midnight on Oct. 9 at the Slice, they started off their short and sweet set with shrieking sound effects and echoey vocals similar to the Raveonettes.
But it was a little more than that.
While there was a lot of spooky, high energy stuff, they also borrowed a lot from ’60s pre punk and garage rock along the lines of the Stooges and more modern acts like the Hives.
Lead singer Antonio Fryk writhed and thrashed around the stage like Iggy Pop, punching at his synthesizer and squeezing shrieking sounds from a couple of guitar effects units.
Bassist Joakim Forsgren stood back and grooved while drummer Fredrik Berglund kept time as guitarist Anton Fors alternated between jangling chords and thrashing, snarling punk riffs.
He played a weird old electric hollowbody guitar marked Art Luthierie, which he picked up at a flea market in Vancouver.
Approximately 20 people stayed to the end of the show which also featured a revamped lineup of the Void featuring new guitarist Branden Hamilton and a new set from the Ruby Plumes.
I hadn’t seen the Ruby Plumes for a while, so was a little surprised to hear they changed their sound slightly from scrappy garage rock along the line of the Stooges into a more experimental sound.
Guitarist Jackson Tiefenbach experimented with more shrieking guitar effects, envelope filters and a wah wah pedal and plenty of noisy, experimental riffs as did bassist Ethan Ganske who added a more funky, jazz tinged flair, which gave the band a sound reminiscent of NoMeansNo's stranger moments. They even delved into straight ahead disco and dance pop influenced music for a couple of songs which had quite a few people in front of the stage.
They played their popular cover of McLusky's “To Hell with Good Intentions” and ended their set with a cover of the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy.”
