The indie-rock scene in Vancouver can sometimes seem like an insular little world, constantly cannibalizing its bands to make new ones. Lord Beginner is a classic example of this. Though you might not have heard of it (the group has played just three official shows), you’ve almost certainly heard of some other projects the band’s members have been involved in.

Guitarist Jeff Lee is perhaps the most pedigreed, with both Blood Meridian and the now-defunct Black Rice on his résumé, not to mention Hard Drugs, an expandable Vancouver outfit that seemingly includes every Vancouver musician who has ever gotten a mention on Pitchfork. Lord Beginner’s singer-guitarist, Colin McKill, is also in Hard Drugs, and for six years played in the Fine Options with singer-bassist Bryce Janssens, who is also a member of Hard Drugs.

Keyboard player Patrick Beattie is in Victoria-based Chet, and drummer Stefan Levasseur served 13 years in legendary punk band Choke, which broke up in 2007. In a matter of weeks, Lee will move to New York, to be replaced by Pete Dionne, another member of Hard Drugs and a native of Vancouver Island. Lost yet? Don’t pull at the loose threads, or you’ll end up with every musician that’s ever played a note in Strathcona.

Sitting in Pat’s Pub before a recent Friday-night show, McKill and Beattie are happy to chat over Pilsners, as other members of the group buzz about, stopping by for a friendly chat and then wandering off to socialize with the growing crowd.

“You don’t have a choice if you play music in Victoria—you end up playing in bands with almost everyone else,” says the soft-spoken Beattie before dropping the first of several unintentional puns. “And when people move away from Victoria, which they often do as well, you just end up banding together.”

“People in Vancouver do the same thing, I think, where you end up turning your big city into a small town,” adds McKill, a son of Saskatchewan who landed in Victoria with the Fine Options in 2001, before moving to Vancouver in January of this year. “I don’t think Strathcona and East Van are any different than Victoria as a whole, except instead of going to Duncan for some shitty show, you end up going to, like, Abbotsford or something.”

“I don’t think I want to go to Abbotsford, actually,” deadpans Beattie.

Wherever it ends up playing (Lord Beginner formed only four months ago, has only two tracks to offer on its MySpace page, and has recorded a 7-inch debut that’s as-yet unmastered), the band’s shows have already created a buzz. Sonically, the group stands at the exact midpoint between the solitary, straightforward songs of Hank Williams and the droney, trippy rock of Spacemen 3.

“By sheer volume of the numbers, we knew it was going to be something full-sounding,” McKill says. “I played in a three-piece where everything was really tight-framed, bass playing the same thing as the guitar—lots and lots of space. With this, I wanted to do something where basically every frequency was taken up, just see what that sounded like. And it sounded great.”

At this point, Black Mountain drummer Josh Wells has sat down, and the conversation turns to Genesis, Yes, Nickelback, Bob Marley, and various other off-topic topics that make a linear recounting almost impossible. References are made to Lord Beginner being something like “sweater punk”, which is explained as having nothing to do with the punk sound, but everything to do with an absolute reverence for musical form. This banter is enjoyable, but hardly cracks the code of what the band is about.

Fortunately, the group gets up on-stage half an hour later, making everything clear and rendering attempts to describe the group’s sound a bit useless. Lord Beginner is outwardly loose in a way that masks tight and toned musicianship, not unlike another great Canadian outfit, the Band. “Crave Revenge”, a front-runner to become Lord Beginner’s defining first single, is a chugging-yet-haunting number with beautiful, lilting organ and McKill’s surprisingly commanding voice working in gorgeous harmony with Janssens’s tenor.

There’s a connection between the group’s members that seems like a secret language the audience is lucky enough to overhear. The set ends after a mere eight songs, and Lord Beginner ambles off-stage. The band may not have all the elements in place yet, but you can’t help but hope that this latest bit of cannibalism has created a mix-and-match of Vancouver indie-rock regulars that will last.

Lord Beginner opens for Dead Meadow at Richard’s on Richards on Sunday (May 18).