L.A. Beat

Quite a few unusual shows this week began with the Secretaries and  the Hank and Lily Show, tearing up Henotic’s stage, Oct. 29.
Edmonton garage /pop band the Secretaries added a touch of jazz with their horn section “the Brassholes” playing a more prevalent role in the music than the last time I saw them at South Country Fair. At the end they flailed and sprawled all over the stage like a scene from a Marcus Glenn painting.
 They had a lot of energy and played a variety of instruments from guitar to accordion and sang some superb harmonies. Even Lily Fawn,  done up as a green haired zombie with  antlers , joined the Secretaries on stage for the last  few songs, which  had the band rolling all over the stage, grooving to their music as an enthusiastic crowd writhed in front of the stage savouring  the show.
Victoria based Hank and Lily know how to entertain, despite technical difficulties and screeching feedback from Lily’s mic not working at the beginning of the show.
 Smoke cascaded up from the stages while a zombie Michael Jackson sporting a tattered red leather outfit and white makeup and a red leather outfit emerged from behind one of  a handful of headstones set up on stage and lead the duo into a spooky version of “Thriller”  complete with dance moves. Once the technical difficulties  got sorted out, Hank and Lily started in  with their own music and had the audience singing along with their unusual cow-punk original tunes which centred around Hank’s guitar and voice and Lily’s drums, percussion and saw.
They were a lot of fun, really unusual and had the crowd in the palms of their hands.