What’s Your Damage?
story by: Tamara Lee photos by : Tamara Lee previously published : Discorder Magazine
Maybe it’s where society is damaged… Maybe these people are damaging barriers… Maybe it’s remaining damages from a party gone overboard… I don’t know, but I definitely have brain damage after a night of Pilsners and Jaeger, Fire Ball and Tequila. But who could resist only $3.75 per?
“It’s where the poor kids come to drink”, Dustin Bromley jokes, promoter of Damaged Goods, the irregular Friday night at the Astoria. (More like punks meet hipsters meet… vespa owners?) Though not surprising the mandate is cheap drinks, considering the night was envisioned mid bender by Dustin and co-promoters Jake and Jordan. Aside from affordable drinks and $4 cover, D.G. has some interesting substance to it.
Like the odd array of drink specials, D.G. has many different personas. The promoters are resident DJ team Sex Attack!, which share the decks and smooth mixes from a mash up of what I would call the ‘anything/everything’ pile. Tunes range from Boney M, Springsteen, Queen, Little Richard and even Aqua; they definitely don’t lack imagination. Just to put in an extra component of strange, each week also features some independent live bands. They’ve had along Colourbook, Defektors, Junior Major, MT-40, Fake Shark- Real Zombie, and many others.
“Our goal is to promote great Vancouver music.” Dustin explains. “We want to get exposure for unknown bands. A the same time we tie in club music to attract that scene and show people where that music originates from..,live music.”
Some great intentions and a shieza ball of influences, D.G. becomes difficult to define musically. I ask Dustin to try a three word summary, of which he thoughtfully replies “ fun… metal…. aaand…[exploitive deleted]”.
He’s right. Damaged Goods definitely has a good sense of humour with a hard metal edge. And although this night’s “damage” may be a multiple personality disorder, there is something intriguing about never quite knowing what you can expect.