PERFORMANCE

CBC Radio 3 Tour With Bend Sinister

Where: The Lamplighter, 210 Abbott St.

When: Saturday night at 9

Tickets: Free

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Vladimir Nabokov's 11th novel is titled Bend Sinister. The tale of two friends from very different political perspectives so moved Mark E. Smith of the U.K. rock band The Fall that he titled the group's '86 album after the book.

The members of Vancouver's Bend Sinister have never heard the Fall album. Only a few have read the story.

"We were considering sticking with the name we'd used for our first show, which was the ridiculous Halo For Spaceboy," says vocalist Daniel Moxon. "Then Naben said he was reading this really good book in an English course and that it was a better name."

"Frankly, I made it clear that I would quit on the spot if that was the name the band chose to use," says lead guitarist Naben Ruthnum.

Formed in Kelowna in '01, the quintet rounded out by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Jon Bunyan, bassist Dave Buck and drummer Dave Keegan has been burning up stages across Canada and grabbing press for its Radiohead-meets-Queen and Rush style of prog/pop.

Among early supporters is CBC Radio 3, which has included songs from the group's debut Through the Broken City on its popular podcasts. The band plays the Vancouver leg of the broadcaster's 27-group, eight-city, cross-nation tour with Van's Great Aunt Ida, Montreal's Les Breastfeeders and Plaster.

"We've been across Canada twice and I always hear from bands that it takes four to five serious slogs before you start getting the attention," says Ruthnum. "So we're just beginning to pay our dues and now we're getting this exposure."

All the members are similarly humble about their art. The truth is that songs such as the operatic opener "Through the Broken City" and jam band-ish "Under the Ground" stand out from the semi-competent generica that dominates indie rock lately.

"We came from jazz bands in school and the group began as a math-rock instrumental thing playing a lot of metal covers," says Moxon. "Mr. Bungle, Tortoise, etc., influenced us, too."

There is no missing the big arena vibe in the material. These musicians delight in symphonic textures and orchestrating and arranging tunes to "keep it interesting." Some Fall fans disagree.

"When we chose the name, we never knew about that band or its intense fans," says Ruthnum. "After our last show, someone e-mailed us a threatening message telling us to call it quits.

"This was one of the most vitriolic things I've read. He hated us so much."

You can't please all the punters all the time. There are times the combo wonders if being hard to pigeonhole is why it hasn't been able to move up the ranks locally in terms of securing hot opening spots and so on. Many on the scene wonder why the group isn't already signed to a major label.

"There are certainly a lot of them sniffing around expressing interest," says Ruthnum. "But I think they are looking for us to develop our stuff even more, get more impressive gigs under out belts and so on."

"I have a dream to play in the Commodore because I think our sound would work so well in that room with its big, epic-rock feel we try for in our shows," says Moxon.

When that night comes, there is little doubt that Bend Sinister will be ready to bend minds. It heads into the studio to record new material that Ruthnum says is "denser, tighter and far better than Through the Broken City."

Maybe something even a Fall fan could love will turn up on Album 2.

sderdeyn@png.canwest.com