Hollerado Serve Nachos With a Side of Rock on NXNE Rooftop

Who knew broccoli florets would go surprisingly well on top of cheesy nachos? The culinary wizards in Hollerado, that's who.

The discovery was made yesterday afternoon at Hollerado's NXNE Nacho Party at rooftop A.B., which, when it isn't serving as an impromptu concert venue and nacho-making operation, doubles as Audio Blood head honcho Sari Delmar's Chinatown apartment.

And the story behind the broccoli? It was included because it was both colourful and "on sale," according to Hollerado's Menno Versteeg.

Continuing a budding tradition that graced both last year's Pop Montreal and this year's SXSW, Hollerado, the band that put tiny Manotick, ON on the map, decided that what Toronto music fans need more than anything is a bellyful of tasty nachos.

"It started for Pop Montreal -- we knew we wanted to have some sort of party, but just didn't know what kind," bassist Dean Baxter tells Spinner. "I don't think we had narrowed it down to a food party, a food-themed party, but we decided on nachos. It was the best idea we ever had.

"The party, that first Pop Montreal Nacho House, went off so incredibly well that we couldn't let it die there. The opportunity came up to do one in Austin, for South by Southwest, and we jumped all over it. And it was another great success, so now it's just basically pretty much about keeping it alive. We've created a tradition out of doing it twice."

Standout acts at the Nacho House party, it should be said, happened to all be young'uns, befitting Audio Blood's roster of clients, fans and friends.

Molly Rankin pleased the few easily-identifiable oldsters in the crowd with a shiny, good-spirited cover of 'Son of a Gun,' prompting numerous conversations about the Vaselines (and Nirvana's love of the Vaselines and the Meat Puppets).

Burlington, Ontario's Sandman Viper Command, who still look like they should be living with their parents and rehearsing in garages -- and may well still be doing both -- slayed, playing an exuberant, outstanding set that completely belied their age and went hand-in-hand with beers in the sun. Theirs is an uptempo, '80s-ish garage rock style, high on both pace and musicianship.

Toronto's Dinosaur Bones, who sound what Interpol would have if they ever discovered fun, were hampered by some technical difficulties yet managed to fight through it and deliver a strong set.