NO GOLD at the Garrison (1197 Dundas West), Saturday (June 18), 11 pm. Free with NXNE wristband/pass or $15. nxne.com. See listing.
No Gold’s Jack Jutson and Liam Butler met on opposite sides of the tracks – literally. One day, the two men found themselves on a Vancouver Skytrain platform waiting for a train that was never going to come.
“We both looked at each other and were thinking, ‘This guy looks like he knows what he’s doing,'” says Butler.
That chance meeting led to the formation of No Gold, who would become a fixture in the city’s late-night punk scene thanks to their amped-up party jams.
With the addition of percussionist Ian Wyatt, they stretched out their guitar-bass-drums dance rock sound with samplers, synths, melodic textures and laid-back rhythms reminiscent of Can and disco impresario Arthur Russell.
They spent two years floating between recording spaces before securing a bright studio in Vancouver’s Chinatown last summer, where they recorded their self-titled debut (Unfamiliar).
Though the record has a low-key vibe, the three-piece insist their nuanced approach in the studio hasn’t dampened the live show’s energy. When Wyatt first saw No Gold perform, he was overwhelmed by the mass of sweaty punk kids thrashing about.
“It just felt like the whole thing was gonna crash any minute,” he says.
Now that he’s on the inside, how does it feel?
“Like we’re gonna crash.”
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