Death from Above 1979 rebuilt their Wall of Sound and brought it crashing down on Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on November 20 & 21. We survived, did you? Pics by Ashely Tanasiychuk.

Oh look! Another hyped UK band makes the rounds of North American on its first tour! How did WU LYF fare? Pretty good, if you ask me. And you have. Read the epic review, see the video and click on the pics for effect.

Evan Dando and two other guys, collectively known as The Lemonheads, were in Vancouver on November 4 performing “It’s a Shame About Ray.” Woulda been brilliant if Dando had channeled less slack and more charisma.

SubPop noisepop from London, UK’s Male Bonding as they took over the Electric Owl in Vancouver on October 21. Bring on the fuzzy hookiness!

Steve Malkmus from Pavement’s a vampire, right? That’s why he doesn’t age? Alas, my attempt at draining his blood when he played Vancouver’s Biltmore Cabaret on October 12, with his trio, The Jicks, didn’t quite work out…but, whatever, it was a fun night anyway. Check out the pics, and my clever attempt to talk to him via my iPhone.

Brilliantly warm and relaxed gig from Gomez, plus a revival of a ton of those amazing Bring it On tracks. Plus, some really wicked lighting, so marvel at the enormo gallery of pictures from the Vancouver Commodore Ballroom show on September 26.

New Sebadoh tourdates? It’s raining indie rock, hallelujah! Jason, Bob and Lou are touring the US AGAIN. Get the info here, exclusively and first on BackstageRider.com

An epic end to an epic tale…BackstageRider hops into the Sebadoh van to travel from Hamburg, to Köln, via Dortmund in which Lou loses his pants, the guys test out new gear and I wander round a sex emporium. Plus! What Lou would like on his backstagerider!

Canned hummus, soundcheckin’ with Two Years Two Days, snare replacement and hangin’ backstage. THIS is Sebadoh in Hamburg…with pics, video and running commentary. I present: Part 2 of the Great German Sebadoh Tour.