Five of our favourites share their secrets for scoring sweet deals on hot looks.

Your Cheap Mondays are starting to give in the butt. And now whenever you face the amp for a little feedback crescendo, all fans notice is that you have the same ass as Mr. Burns. Yet another button on your vintage dress shirt is hanging on by a thread. So no stage-diving for you—after all, one wrong move and your well-fed tour paunch is busting out for all the world to see (curse those diners and their delicious cream pies!). And since the soles of your favourite cowboy boots are flipping back at the toe, doing the duck walk is an open invitation for trip-ups and face plants (not to mention the always embarrassing guitar impalement).

Yup, it’s time for some new stage threads. But after gas, food, and lodging, there’s usually not a whole lot left in the band’s tour budget for some fresh rock ’n’ roll garb. Unless, of course, you dip into the van-repair kitty. We don’t recommend that.

What we do recommend to all you out-of-towners visiting for the Junos is checking out some of Vancouver’s finest, and cheapest, clothing shops. Few people know this but, save for Portland, we are the best city on the West Coast for consignment shopping (think Main Street). And save for San Diego, the ’Couve is your best bet for cool, skate-inspired streetwear (think West 4th Avenue). And who would know better where to get the goods than these five stylin’ local musicians? Here, then, are their picks for the sweetest deals on duds.

The Hermit
Armed with the super-cute Red on vocals and an insanely catchy, peachy-sweet sound, the marketing possibilities for this electro-pop five-piece are endless. Once its new album Turn Up (The Stereo) starts getting some serious rotation on local radio, the Hermit will be set for teen-drama domination. Until that day, however, Red still likes to find a good deal on denim.
The outfitter: Front & Company, 3772 Main Street
You'll look wicked in these: “Ginchies from the side store. It has a lot of great lingerie—both vintage and locally designed product, so if you’re looking for something lovely to cover your butt with, it’s a pretty cool place for that.”
Top tip: “Check out the stellar denim selection in the main store. They actually have proper sizing. Most of the time when you check out a consignment store, there’s not a lot of sizes for regular body types. So if you’re taller than five-foot-nothing and smaller than 250 pounds, you can actually find some jeans [in your size] there. The other thing is, it’s a mix of consignment and new, so it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”

Pride Tiger
As both the drummer and singer for this all-star East Van, Thin Lizzy–loving band, Matt Wood is a busy man. But he still found time to teach us the finer points of shopping on a shoestring budget.
The outfitter: Value Village, 1820 East Hastings Street
You'll look wicked in these: “Dress shoes—they have a lot of crazy shoes you wouldn’t find anywhere else. I don’t really go to real suit stores or really nice shoe shops because I like to look nice on the cheap. So the best that I can do is hunt for some cool old shoes that some old man probably had in his closet for years and he finally just got rid of them.”
Top tip: “Lots of times, nice shoes have nasty laces on them, so sometimes you gotta switch the laces [with another pair of shoes]. But don’t get caught because they [Value Village employees] don’t like it when you do that. You gotta be on the sly.”

The Pack A.D.
Why do we love singer-guitarist Becky Black and her partner-in-grime drummer, Maya Miller? Well, together they crank out some of the best punk-inspired blues we’ve ever heard. The fact that they call Vancouver home is just a bonus. After all, if there’s one thing we love doing here in the Lower Mainland, it’s bragging about our homegrown talent—and judging by Miller’s pick, she does too.
The outfitter: PD’s Hot Shop, 2868 West 4th Avenue
You'll look wicked in these: “The Skull Skates hoodie: it’s kind of a must-have for everyone, whether you skate or not. They don’t check your skating creds if you purchase one. And it’s definitely distinctly West Coast. It’s an interesting California element within Vancouver. They’re really good quality, too—they get better the older they get. They fade in and work in really nice. That’s why I like them.”
Top tip: “I find it really useful to look on-line ahead of time to see what they’ve got, because they have such a vast selection. The owners answer within 24 hours and they answer you personally—like, you’ll get an e-mail from PD [Peter Ducommun] himself.”

Rich Hope
He likes his blues dirty, his whiskey straight up, and his ascots reasonably priced. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rich Hope, this city’s finest renegade bluesman. You may remember this singer-songwriter from his days with now-defunct rockers John Ford, but that was over three-and-a-half years and almost two solo albums ago. These days, this lean, mean, slide-pickin’ machine could play most Fat Possum pussies under the table—not that we’re biased or anything.
The outfitter: Used Clothing Store, 831 Granville Street
You'll look wicked in these: “They have a sweet selection of things you didn’t even know you wanted. I always end up buying something other than what I was looking for. The last time I was there, I was looking for a blazer and walked out with two ascots instead. Then, another time, I went in there looking for something—I don’t even know what—and I ended up with a stingy brim hat instead. A lot of consignment stores are picked over. This one isn’t.”
Top tip: “Bring extra money, because you’re going to walk out with more than what you came for.”

Christer
A one-women beat machine, Christer seems to be on a mission to get you on the dance floor with her debut album Techna. Laptop-tronica never sounded so sweet or looked so good.
The outfitter: Happy 3 on Main, 3825 Main Street
You'll look wicked in these: “They have a ton of really cool avant-garde pieces at affordable streetwear prices. I just recently bought a dress there to wear on-stage for Canadian Music Week—it’s a black, tight frock with these crazy frills that pop out on either side of the front. It’s just the kind of piece that architecturally has a lot of punch for on-stage or on the runway—it’s not your typical black dress, that’s for sure.”
Top tip: “Flip through everything, because you just never know what you can find there. I found this boxy tunic there. It has this print of a giant audio cassette that covers the entire front. It’s really, really cool.”