IN CONCERT
Pink Mountaintops with Ryan Beattie (Himalayan Bear)
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Upstairs Cabaret
Tickets: $17.50 at rmts.bc.ca, Lyle鈥檚 Place and Ditch Records.
Everyone has to start somewhere. For Stephen McBean, who returns Friday to the venue where he cut his teeth as a teenage punk, Victoria was it.
鈥淰ictoria 鈥� it鈥檚 the place,鈥� he says, speaking slowly. 鈥淚 think anyone who鈥檚 lived in Victoria in their teenage years 鈥� it has such a gravitational pull on your heart and your psyche and everything. It鈥檚 always home.鈥�
McBean is spending a lazy day watching the Fat Albert Christmas Special in Vancouver, another home-away-from-current-official-residence Los Angeles, with a week-long gap between shows. Now in his early 40s, McBean makes a living for himself as the head of psychedelic metal group Black Mountain, as well as the more experimental Pink Mountaintops.
But a music career was far from his mind when he was playing with Victoria punk bands like Jerk Ward, Mission of Christ, Gus and Onionhouse.
鈥淚 always wanted to play music from when I was a little kid, but it didn鈥檛 cross anyone鈥檚 mind, really, back then that you could make a living,鈥� he said. It didn鈥檛 seem possible, but it also didn鈥檛 matter to McBean or his friends.
鈥淚 mean, it happened now for me, which is cool, I can鈥檛 complain,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 have a bicycle and a hair dryer.鈥�
McBean began learning about punk music as a kid in suburban Kleinburg, Ont., 鈥� home of Pierre Berton, the McMichael Art Gallery and the Binder Twine Festival, 鈥渨here everyone dresses up like Little House on the Prairie.鈥�
But when he moved to Victoria at age 10 in 1980, he saw the do-it-yourself culture in action 鈥� there were active fan zines and a plethora of punk groups, from Nomeansno to the Dayglo Abortions carving out niches for themselves in the local music scene.
By 13, he was playing. And by 17 or 18, he and his band Mission of Christ graduated from basements, the OAP Hall and the FOE Hall to opening for the Dayglos at Harpo鈥檚 Cabaret, as the Upstairs Cabaret was formerly named.
McBean returns to the space Friday as part of a larger movement to honour the memory of Harpo鈥檚. This is the second concert in the Harpo鈥檚 Redux series, which brings musicians with historical links to the venue back to it. The Grapes of Wrath played a show in April to open the semi-annual series.
鈥淭hat was definitely the first bar I鈥檇 ever played,鈥� McBean said. 鈥淚 played there when I was underage. 鈥� There was a DJ room or a band room up above and I had to wait up there when I wasn鈥檛 playing.鈥�
Things changed at 19.
鈥淚t was the first time that we would get free beer at a show, which seemed like some sort of miracle at the time.鈥�
McBean would become somewhat of a fixture at Harpo鈥檚, playing as frequently as twice a month. And while he has since performed in stadiums, festivals and concert halls around the world (opening for Coldplay in 2006 opened some big doors for Black Mountain), Harpo鈥檚 still holds significance for McBean.
鈥淚t was special,鈥� he said. Not least of all for the way the intimate space hosted bands on the brink of exploding, from Pearl Jam to Red Hot Chili Peppers.
McBean left Victoria for good around 1995, after a period of moving back and forth to Vancouver. But he says Victoria had an influence on his music, especially through the people he met here.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big enough city that it has an influx of outside culture, but it also has a bit of that isolation thing going on,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 know a lot of pretty strange people from Victoria. But strange in a good, creative way.鈥�
The Harpo鈥檚 concert 鈥� a benefit for the Victoria Society for Children with Autism 鈥� is McBean鈥檚 final stop on a short tour as Pink Mountaintops. He sees the experimental project as fun, because he can do whatever he wants.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a big band with six people and it鈥檚 been a few people or a couple of people,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his time it鈥檚 just me with a drum machine.鈥�
On the horizon? 鈥淧robably just going to continue working on our new record. And watch more episodes of Fat Albert.鈥�
