The Pack A.D. are rock n’ roll to the core, with a street-fight intensity reminiscent of Joan Jett and The Ramones
Hailing from the mean streets of East Vancouver, The Pack A.D. are an indie-rock duo comprised of two fiercely independent women, hellbent on delivering rock n’ roll with punk-attitude, blues-swagger, and a resilient energy punching through any lingering pretense that they may not be the real deal.
One can’t help but draw relative comparisons to them and america’s seminal Low-fi duo The White Stripes, although where The Stripes could be viewed as the ‘Mods’ of this particular sub-genre, The Pack are unmistakably the ‘Rockers’. Fittingly, the two bands have a shared connection in the form of Producer Jim Diamond (Ghetto Recorders) who worked on the first two White Stripes albums, and recently collaborated on The Pack A.D.’s fourth album ‘Unpersons‘, released on Mint Records.
The dynamic duo of Drummer Maya Miller and guitarist/vocalist Becky Black have embraced their hardscrabble existence as rock n’ roll’s minimalist road warriors since 2006, eager to bring their Loud and Raucous rock show to an ever-growing and appreciative legion of followers. My first exposure to the band’s sound was their second album ‘Funeral Mixtape’ from 2008, in particular the subdued but grittily melodic “Making Gestures” and the Robert-Johnson-channelled “Wolves and Werewolves”.
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The music is lean yet muscular, and Becky Black’s vocals have an undeniably Jack White-esq tonal quality and texture that is perfectly suited to the primal guitar squalls unleashed with tempered fury, which in unison with Maya’s unrelenting snare-and-cymbal assault becomes a violent musical vortex that sweeps you in and doesn’t let go. Their manic energy and Blues-boogie swagger draws parallels to formidable blues-infused Rockers such as Danko Jones and Radio Moscow, but make no mistake, they have a sound, a soul, and a unique brand that is unequivocally all their own.
It is hard to imagine them playing in any venue other than a small, sweaty, beer-soaked bar or tavern, teeming with boisterous and rowdy fans who are more participant than listener, but at the same they’re perfectly capable of conquering any room and any audience they cross paths with.
Following their Twitter account you can see them steadily garnering an appreciative and faithful following in real-time with every town and city they pass through, and they’re one of the more accessible rock bands around who appear to enjoy the social-media attention and interaction they have with fans and the curious alike.
If fan appreciation is any measure of a band’s success, then by all indications these two rock n’ roll warriors will have a long and illustrious career ahead of them … and nobody could be more deserving.
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