Joey Cape / KJ Jansen / Walt Hamburger – Live in Vancouver (09/17/15)

Joey Cape is a very prolific man. Known most famously for his work leading the punk legends Lagwagon, he has gone off on side projects galore over the two and a half decades of being in a punk band. There was Bad Astronaut and Scoprios, The Bad Louds and Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, he’s collaborated with Jon Snodgrass on countless projects and – like so many punk frontman – he’s produced several solo albums; the most recent of which was this month’s Stitch Puppy.

All this activity keeps him busy and ensure he’s always on the road, playing a wide variety of venue sizes.  Last week saw him take his solo act to Vancouver for the umpteenth time, this time setting up shop at the Cobalt.

For his performance last year, Cape was joined by Chris Cresswell and Brian Walstrom for a One Week Records tour and performed in the same vein as The Revival Tour. All three acts were on stage all night, performing together and helping one another out. This evening was much more structure – guest appearances still happened but the night had four distinct sets, all with their own vibes.

Walstrom, once again, was the opening act and used the keyboard as his instrument of choice rather than the acoustic guitar that has become so prevalent. Due to traffic and general bad planning, I arrived for just the final song and didn’t properly started my evening until Wisconsin new comer Walt Hamburger hit the stage for his first Canadian show ever.

With a jovial attitude and bounce in his step, Hamburger filtered through songs from his One Week debut and wowed the audience with his whistling skills. For some it would be a gimmick, but Hamburger wields it with charm and charisma, forgoing the need for an harmonica and his constant whistling became a running joke from the later performers as well. But the thing was, he was fun and entertaining and even pulled the audience into a sing-along cover of 4 Non Blondes‘ What’s Up?

Plus, he was collecting money to bring home to an animal shelter in Wisconsin, so that’s pretty cool.

Following him was KJ Jansen, a man well accustomed to the Canadian touring circuit with his years in Chixdiggit and it was those songs that filled his thirty minute, rambling set. Without a real direction, Jansen just listened to fans suggestions, stripping down the pop-punk tunes to their bare necessities on tracks like I Remember You, Miso Ramen, Welcome To The Daiso, I Drove The Coquihalla, Chupacabre and Spanish Fever – but it was the short blast of Quit Your Job that really stood out in my mind. He controlled the audience, not really caring about what’s happening but just having fun with nothing to prove anymore.

Joey Cape has a similar attitude and kept his set lighthearted – even playing the entire first song facing away from the audience to serenade Walstrom who played keyboard in the back corner of the stage.  The set was marred by some technical problems causing him to switch guitars multiple times over the course of the evening and there was very little to make the set truly stand out, but his wide selection of songs – from Errands to Moral Compass to Violins and even closing with a cover of No Use For A Name‘s International You Day – were exactly what the fans wanted to hear.

It was a good way to spend a Thursday night.