Hot Panda - Shows I'm looking forward to

KBOO is open to the public! To visit the station, contact your staff person or call 503-231-8032.

Dance-punk band, Hot Panda, puts on an incredible show

I've been seeing live music for 30 years now if you don't count Jeannie C. Riley at the Kentucky State Fair. I've seen a lot of music. A lot of great bands.

But one of the best, most polished, most compelling shows I've seen in Portland was Hot Panda playing at the Woods. Ah, the Woods, we barely knew ya!

Hot Panda was playing for a tiny crowd. There were maybe 25 people in the place.

We've all been to gigs where the band in question decides that there aren't enough people to entertain, and so they phone it in. Hot Panda is not that band. They whipped that crowd into a frenzy.

And that's why I want to be sure that you know about Hot Panda.

Hot Panda are really rather silly. They call themselves Dance Punk, which is not a musical style I would ever think I would like. But it's very hard not to like Hot Panda, especially live, when they are manicly playing their catalog of quirky goofy songs.

They are playing at the Doug Fir on Thursday, April 19.

They have a true punk rock ethic, but they also are just a very tight band live.

Fans of female bassists should note that Catherine Hiltz has a stage presence that is compelling. Though she has competition with Chris Connelly, the vocalist/guitarist who is madly pogoing and contorting himself, and Heath Parsons, who is completely unpredictable. Rounding out the band is drummer Maghan Campbell who plays the straight man in the group. They are from Vancouver, BC via Edmonton, Alberta.

We have no Hot Panda in the station.

Like most Canadians, Hot Panda swear. A lot. Be sure to preview music before playing.