Peach Kelli Pop, The Girlfriends and Voicemail rock out at the Fun-Boy Clubhouse
Peach Kelli Pop headlined one of the craziest and most packed Fun-Boy Clubhouse shows ever on Friday night.
But what is the Fun-Boy Clubhouse? Well, you know you’re there when you see Fun-Boy Clubhouse painted on a couch on the front lawn and the toy horse hanging in front of the balcony. With every room painted a different colour, ranging from pink to green, and a sick mural by local artist Ben Jensen honouring the New Swears in the kitchen, there is no better venue for a rock show. Walking down into the basement you find a low ceilings, one mural depicting The Beatles and super heroes, another with the Fun-Boy Clubhouse logo, a TV behind the bar playing original Scooby-Doo cartoons and a spider man head that lights up with the kick drum…yup doesn’t get much better than this folks.
Beers cans and broken glass littered all over floor, Christmas lights draped all over the ceiling and through a thick wall of cigarette smoke, Peach Kelli Pop hit the stage in the basement of the Fun-Boy Clubhouse on March 29th. The band from Ottawa played a great fun set of dancey upstroke surfer style rock. Heck don’t just take my word for it, the crowd liked them so much they hollered and chanted for “one more song,” when the band finished. They got what they wanted and more as the party kept going with a 2 song encore. Peach Kelli Pop are in the midst of a huge tour, check them out in a city near you, here are the dates.
The Girlfriends played second, and no offense to Peach Kelli Pop who played an awesome set, The Girlfriends stole the show for me. Dressed in lingerie, the boys took over the basement for this extremely special occasion, their reunion show and tape release. The Girlfriends incited the crowd into a near riot. Non stop crowd-surfing beneath the 8 foot ceiling and a pit that never slowed was complemented by some great grooving in your face rock. Topping it off with confetti and silly string, as well as taking requests, The Girlfriend tore it up.
Advertised as 25 minutes of dial tone, Voicemail delivered much more than that as the opener. Using old records to prop up the mic stand this Ottawa four piece brought a great garage punk sound to the crowd. An excellent way to kick off an amazingly rambunctious night.
House shows have always had a very special place in my heart, ever since seeing the likes of The Sickfits and Robot Kill City play Powel house years ago as a young teen. Those who hosted shows at Powell would be very proud of the sheer chaos and epicness of the Fun-Boy Clubhouse.