What: Punk Night concert and fashion show
When: Sunday, March 26
Where: Boot Pub
A black piece of fabric, a $140 pair of worn-once Buffalo Jeans, a bland white Gap jacket: all items brimming with possibilities that eventually morph from mainstream into something entirely original under the foot of local designer Sarah Peeble’s sewing machine.
The only pattern you’ll find in her sewing basket is a running theme of punk couture where what was old is made new again and, most importantly, fashioned as a one-of-a-kind item.
"My style is based on colouring outside of the lines," said Peebles of her Failed Kindergarten clothing line.
"Nothing is based on a straight line. I never use a pattern. I take a whole bunch of different ideas and create it into something new."
Anti-fashion meets anti-club anthems with this Sunday’s Punk Night at the Boot Pub, showcasing both a fashion show and a three-band lineup of Black Collar Crowd, The Doers and DuvallStar.
A black piece of fabric is fashioned by Peebles into a T-shirt with drum-print silkscreen and a row of twists down the back imitating a mohawk. A barely-worn pair of jeans is angled into a skirt with layered floral rows, and a Gap jacket is cut and sewn into a different shape with studded accessories.
"If you go to any punk rock shows you see fashion is apparent. Everyone has his or her own style. Even if there is a trend like black nails and hair, everyone has their own take on that one style," Peebles said. "At a punk show, everyone is wearing something completely different."
For DuvallStar alias Sioban Duvall of 1990s rockers The Bombshells and Bif Naked, fashion this Sunday is a floor-length pink sequined dress once worn at the 2001 West Coast Music Awards.
"It will be the last time I play at the Boot: I wanted to wear something special," Duvall said. "I love playing there. The drunk Australians – I love them. They buy my records. Those shows are always such a blast."
Duvall is still all about pink – she calls from a pink phone in a pink room no doubt lounging in something velvety pink and plush – but instead of the regular lineup of relationship-driven lyrics most of her fans are familiar with, the pop-punk princess broke out of her writer’s block with a new not-yet-titled album chalk full of mini stories.
"Maybe I should be calling it ‘No Love Stories’," she laughed. "Being able to get over writer’s block, I just needed to write about something else (other than relationships). Writing about relationships is so boring; everybody does it."
A trip to New York later, a too-many-years-long writer’s block was removed with songs about movies on the waterfront and downtown east-side women.
"I am really excited about the album," she said. "It was like making a little story book."
Vincent Jones, keyboardist for Sarah McLachlan, and Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, are producing the album in Los Angeles. Porno for Pyros and Jane’s Addiction bassist Martyn Lenoble also contributes his talents to the tracks.
The album comes after a five-year recording hiatus. Duvall’s last album, Star , was released in 2001. Duvall toured the album, rated four out of five stars by The Province, along the west coast of the U.S. She was nominated for Best Local Female Musician at the Georgia Straight Music Awards, appeared on VH-1’s Twenty Countdown in New York and is no stranger to the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s concert stage.
"What is interesting is that four years after I made the record, I made a lot of money off iTunes," she said. "Last time I looked, I had more than 43,000 downloads. The music industry has really changed. (New technology) has evened the playing field for independents."
Duvall will be joined by drummer Derek Pickles, guitarist Mike Fraser and Star mascot Beaux – a rescued American Eskimo pup Duvall recently adopted.
"He’s very photogenic," bragged the new mom.
Local punk rockers Black Collar Crowd and East Vancouver’s The Doers are also on the stage Sunday at The Boot.
