Run, run, run

A great show for the Banditas' CD/LP release party, starting with Run Stop Restore, which features Jim Sproull (guitarist for the Glads), his brother John (last seen hitting the skins for Patrick Shanks in his Merle Knurling incarnation), Joey Vienneau and Chris Cook. Very raucous modern rock, plus a cover of Pere Ubu's Non Alignment Pact ... I ask you, how many bands out there are covering Pere Ubu? And with matching shirts, even.

Jim Sproull prepares to testify!



Keyboardist Chris in a shouty mood.



John Sproull drums emphatically.



Bassist Joey.



Three-quarters of all together!



A different three quarters of all together! (Damn post).



Them Sproulls - an uncanny resemblance.



We're officially in the summer doldrums ... shows seem a little farther inbetween - though there's a bunch of AA punk stuff going on, such as The Flatliners, The Heatskores, Clock Strikes, Fleeba tonight at Mavericks Bar - a "Skanada Day Kick-off Bash." If freakopunk is more your bag, head over to the Avant-Garde Bar (where Sunburned Hand of The Man put on such a swell show with St. Bernard of Love and Akisakila) and see The Skarekrov (all the way from Russia!), dd/mm/yyyy, Panserbjorne and Veloochi play another AA show, also tonight.
Of further interest ...

• The Flaps at Irene's July 2. Along with guest vocalist Jon Bartlett of Greenfield Main, Rhume and Kelp Records they'll be providing a tribute to Canrock classics.
• The Vampire Beach Babes with The Jezebels at Zaphod's, also July 2.
  
• Hi Lo Trons, Daiquiri, The Acorn and Algorhythmz play Babylon July 2.
  
• For the Mathematics, Casey Comeau and The Centretown Wilderness Club, Elvyn, Radiodazed and The Suburban Pop Project play Zaphod's Canada Day.
  

Feel the Lovetart

Jake Lovetart: One half Department of Foreign Affairs, one half Double Pumpers - add Jack Daniels, Old Milwaukee and broken glass to taste. Playing such lost classics as Face Full of Pussy, Hard as a MF, and encoring with mission statement Drinking, Rocking, Fucking. I detect a slight Zodiac Mindwarp influence.

A man and his Jack Daniels. Damien Sawka on the microphone and bottle.



Damien leans on bassist Chris Teasdale (also of The Department of Foreign Affairs) ...



... and gives the Approved-by-Satan sign to Paul "Yogi" Granger's guitar playing.



It was at this point in the proceedings that Jon Bartlett stuck an open bottle of beer down Damien's pants ...



There was some falling down.



They don't need shirts to rock!



Brennan Pilkington and his amazing stripey pants.



More Teasdale!



More Yogi!



More drinking!



Some audience members were invited up to help sing the chorus of Love Machine which goes, as far as I could discern, "Love machine!"



By the end of the night booze and bits of glass had gone everywhere. Not that there's anything wrong with that ...

You don't know what you're missing

... Went the chorus of the song Four'n'Giv'r debuted at the last minute. Mark and John are really coming together as a rhythm section, and this show was particularly hardhitting (except for the bit where John's foot pedal broke).

I was hoping to get one of John's many grimaces, but here he just looks like he ate something disagreeable. Oh well.



Mark on bass, more stationary than usual.



Bob on guitar and vocals.



And the whole crew ...



A fine set. And a brief post because there's not much to say but go see them if you have the chance.

Dazed and confused

Punk rock trio Radiodazed have been punk rocking about town for a few years now - in fact they're celebrating their tenth anniversary as a band in 2005. They needed a couple of songs to really pick up speed for this show opening for Jake Lovetart June 24, but turned out a pretty consistent set when they were really up and running. You certainly can't fault them for not having some lively moves ...

Starting with the band altogether: Brothers Matt and Mark McHale and Nials Everett (which makes this the first of three bands with two brothers in it I saw in the space of two days).



Nials handles most of the singing, Matt handles most of the jumping.



Mark on drums and pointy hair (unfortunately on my one other good picture of him the tom mike is directly in front of his face).



Matt at the Mike ... of course he still relies on Nials for support.



Providing liquid refreshments.



More jumping about. Matt averaged four jumps per song - or 1.3 per chord (I kid).



A mid-song cellphone rendition of Raffi's Bananaphone - truly a song for the ages!



Radiodazed are playing at Zaphod's with a host of other bands, including For the Mathematics, Casey Comeau and The Centretown Wilderness Club, Elvyn and The Suburban Pop Project.

• Show reminder: Caution Press are doing a Fringe Festival-related show at Arts Court; The Setbacks, Kingston Fog, Nicolas Johansen, The Hussies and John Carroll take part in one of Zaphod's Bluesfest Talent Showcases.
  

White noise

Thom D'Arcy, formerly of The Carnations and occasional Another Blue Door whipped up a quick album of electropop, then took it on the road with Andreas Tompros, Steve Krecklo, Shayne Cox and Kevin Hilliard, all off whom have indie rock resumes of their own under the Ladies and Gentlemen name (later changed to Small Sins). I think they should be put on a double bill with The Wooden Stars - I think they have the same tailor.

Thom D'Arcy; came to Ottawa for the corndogs.



Kevin Hilliard and (I think) keyboardist, guitarist and Hi-Hat Recordings chappy Andreas Tompros.



If memory serves, this is Steve Krecklo, who also played with D'arcy in The Carnations.



Shayne Cox. No one rocks like Shayne Cox rocks - or so I hear.



Apparently dry-cleaning is required to keep them in sartorial splendour (that, or $42.50 at Royal Navy).

• Show reminder: I'm off to Irene's for The Banditas' CD/LP release party with The Nymphets and RunStop-Restore, but there's plenty of other stuff, including Servo, Only Forward and Caution Press at Maverick's, Department of Foreign Affairs and The Machine's (which includes some of Cambridge hard rockers The Candidates) at Zaphod's and James McKenty & The Spades at The Pour House.

An 'Arrowing experience

The Red Arrows play guitar-heavy pop music combining 1970s powerpop with some 90s alt-rock. The lyrics have an occasional political subtext. I thought they were good, though some of the rhymes were a little on the obvious side.

Guitarist and vocalist Brahm Gawdan had a somewhat shouty singing style that suited the lyrics quite well.



Bassist Braydon Potter in stage light; I took a bunch of pictures before I realized I didn't have my glasses on - if the pictures look a little out-of-focus, that's why.



Drummer Glenn Zysanski.



The other guitarist and backing vocalist Chris Seiler: "Our CDs used to be $10 ... are now $5 .. will soon be $3 ...."



Some shutter speed fooling about.



And group shot entertainment.



I actually preferred them to the Ladies and Gentlemen, the band they were opening for - not a question of songwriting or musical ability, more a matter of taste.

• Show reminder: Jake Lovetart, Four'N'Giv'r and Radiodazed play Babylon; Red Fey and Casey Comeau and the Centretown Wilderness Club play at Irene's with last-minute addition Mark Ripp.
  

Tonight , tomorrow, the night after

It's been a slow week, but that changes tonight with an appearance by Roll Gypsy Roll at Zaphod's opening up for Superfriendz/Flashing Light mainman Matt Murphy's City Field. Saturday, Red Fey and Casey Comeau and the Centretown Wilderness Club play at Irene's. Saturday night The Banditas hold the CD/LP release party at Irene's with The Nymphets and Run Stop Restore.

Liz of the Banditas (with Colin just behind her).



Casey and Richard of the CWC at Irene's, before they acquired a name (and a couple of other musicians).



And some Rolling Gypsies ...



Other shows of note: On Friday there's Jake Lovetart, Four'N'Giv'r and Radiodazed at Babylon; Saturday Department of Foreign Affairs and The Machines play Zaphod's.

Yummy fur

Malajube completed the Fringe Pop mini-festivities at Club SAW. They reminded me of The Animal Collective and various other weird-pop outfits. I liked their show, but not as much as The Hot Springs' set.

On keyboards, a furry woodland creature - actually, Thomas Tom Thompson. According to his bio on Malajube's website: " ...que l'on a rarement pu apercevoir sans son t-shirt sur lequel il est inscrit : 'Singapoure, The fine city.'" Sure enough, he's wearing it here. The guy must love Singapore. And Tintin.



Julien on guitar and "chante-chante."



Mathieu on bass - looks a bit worried.



Here's another picture of Julien - he frequently went down on his knees. Behind him you can see drummer Joseph Bruno Francis.



More woodland pop ...



The group plays to the assembled head-backs.



You can read my review of the band's CD here.

Hope springs eternal

The Hot Springs are definitely hot, and quite springy too boot: Much bouncing around on stage by this Montreal foursome led by Giselle Weber; accompanied by Remy Nadeau-Aubin on guitar, Karine Lauzon on drums and Fred Sauve on bass she put on a show of desperation rhythm rock. They sounded a bit like a new wave version of The Heartless Bastards.

Giselle dispenses with her switch-laden Hagstrom to concentrate on the microphone and rant at people at the bar.



Karine on drums ... this wasn't a good night for drummer photographs.



Remy, looking much less lively than in actuality.



Bassist Fred - good for leaning against. He's a very big bassist.



Hot rock action!



And all together.



They have a nice little EP dubbed Rock Partouze out; it's good, but of course can't convey the crazy energy of their live show.

The nutty boys

The Acorn opened the Malajube/Hot Springs show at Club SAW; this was a later show than usual for the club (there was an AA punk show scheduled for before it that didn't come together). The two Montreal bands were down as part of an outgrowth of Pop Montreal's Fringe Pop events. The Acorn skipped on the sleeveless Ts, bowties and Daisy Dukes this time around - probably still in the laundry from their show on the previous Friday.

Here Jeff Debutte, Howie Tsui, T. Jeffrey Malecki and Rolf Klausener lounge about before preparing to art-rock the assembled masses.



Tsui and Malecki skip the tie and wig.



Rolf croons ...



Jeff grimaces ...



And more Jeff, Howie and T. percussing away.



An unflattering photo of Malecki.



There's something unsettling about a pulsing pink furry bass drum head, by the way ...

• Show reminder: Sleeping Pilot, Cobra Noir, Expatriates and Chairs play 59 Argyle St. Zaphod's is holding a Bluesfest showcase with Trevor Alguire and The Mercury Pickup Band, The Bella Bombs, The Patsies, Stone Melodies and Quarter Life.
  

Feel the burn

Boston's Sunburned Hand of the Man put on a good long set: Three "songs" (a woefully insufficient word to describe the musical excursions the band partakes in) that stretched out over about 90 minutes, with a few minutes for a break after the first two.
Part One: A slow percussive build, chicken-picking guitar.
Phase Two: An echoing guitar flameout that would have done Comets on Fire proud.
Part Three: Another more meditative piece that started out with an audience clapalong and featured some real silliness from the band (when they broke out the rubber snake, I laughed ... when they broke out the rubber chicken, I began to wonder: Just what kind of band is this anyway?!?).
There was an unexpected treat during this psychedelic strangeness: The Avante Gard's "stage" is in front of the window facing the street. As the show went on, prom nighters and delegates at a local political meeting (some kind of Liberal shindig) could be seen passing by. The looks on their faces as their minds and ears tried to grasp the goings-on were sidesplitting. One young woman passed by three times, with an ever-more-contorted expression of confusion each time.

Outside looking in - and believe me, the air conditioning was most appreciated ...



There was a fair amount of instrument switching in fact they switched over drummers during the second phase of their performance. Here they plan the switch.



Some windwork during the first tune.



Rocking out during the second movement.



The guitarist was feeling it.



The whole crazy bunch.



"I am a psychic vampire ... I predict you will not get hepatitis from smoking blood ... and we will have a very happy Valentine's Day." You heard it here first.



Look everyone, it's Jimi Hendrix!



And yet more group rocking out.



The really strange thing: The Russian channel playing behind us featured a greatest video hits package from Aqua and a Depeche Mode concert ... could anything be more incongruous? Well, perhaps when slapstick movie Rat Race came on.

• Show reminder: Harshey, BlackBall, BlackSheep and Last Voice Heard play Irene's. The Ladies and Gentlemen and The Red Arrows bring arty pop Zaphod's (at least the former do - no hint of what RA sound like). The Empiricals surf it up at The Dominion.
  
• Animal news: Speaking of The Dominion, word has it The Anti-Nowhere League will play there July 4.
  

Taylor made

Akisakila took the middle slot in Friday's festivities with some loud computer-assisted drone, looped vocals and electronically bowed guitar. The group is a duo: Joshua James Bastien and Shub Roy.

As above ... Joshua.



So below: Shub.



Under observation from one of Sunburned Hand of The Man's guitarists.



Hard at work!



They made a very effective opener to Sunburned Hand of The Man, despite their markedly different tools of the trade. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

• Show reminder: Julie Doiron, Snailhouse and Sarah Hallman play Club SAW tonight. Those with stranger tastes can check out Daiquiri, The TunaHelpers (they're from Austin, so they must be weird!) at Zaphod's. I think I'll go see The Golden Dogs, Clothes Make the Man and Iconoclast at Mavericks; I dig what I heard of the Dogs' rootsy pop on their website.
  

Dog days of summer

Michael D. Wieland was one of the people who got the Sunburned Hand of The Man Show together, and his band Saint Bernard of Love opened the show. He was aided by Bill Guerrero and Damien Thompson. This show was at the Avante-Gard Bar on Besserrer St., which has Soviet-era posters admonishing people not to drink, gossip, or give aid to any Trotskyite-Bukharinist factions decorating its walls (only one of these directives was abided by, and then only due to a lack of Trostskyites).

Michael rocks the microphone.



Bill at the Sunburned drum kit.



And Damien makes three.



Bill, Damien and Michael are 3/4 of The Expatriates, along with the other quarter, Chris Landry, they'll be playing a gig with Sleeping Pilot, Cobra Noir and Chairs at 59 Argyle St., June 19.

Get an Eyeful

The Reverend Glasseye rounded out the night's performance at Babylon - hallelujah, brothers and sisters! The Reverend's congregation has undergone alterations ... new standup bass player and a fetching new trombonist. Trumpeter Jon Wobesky didn't tour with them but he came up to Ottawa just to play the showcase.

During the show Adam confessed an aspiration to become a boxer "But just look at me!" So he had to choose a similarly lowly occupation: Musician. But he still gets to throw the odd punch, or at least flail about in a lifelike manner.



Piet Masone and his fingers of fire!



Still too much red, which is why this picture of the Rev pointing out the group's newest member, Cassandra Lomas, is in black and white.



Some sort of preaching was going on, I recall.



That bass player, Paul Z. Dilly, and drummer Tim Maher.



The horn section - Kevin Corzett, Lomas and Wobetsky - extends its range.



Kevin sings along.



Yodelling Piet and fulminating Adam.



Entertaining as always!

• Electrical news: Magnolia Electric Co. will play the same fine establishment August 6, along with Pittsburgh rappers (yes, you did read that correctly) Grand Buffet and local yokels Greenfield Main. Contrary to an earlier report, British rockers The Divine Brown will not be blowing through Barrymore's July 9 - apparently it's just Divine Brown, who is someone completely different.

Red menace

The Golden Famile put on a great but short set opening for the Reverend Glasseye at the Music for Cats showcase. It's a good thing I've taken a bunch of other pictures of them, because these ones were so-so (better than the Weapons and Mono Hum pictures though).

Darrell prepares for a backporch folk rendition of Black Flag's Damaged (I kid).



Richard and Ryan in lovely black and white.



Nate was out of the lights, which is why this picture turned out okay.



Turning this picture of Jennifer Comeau black and white doesn't improve it, so I'll just leave it the way it is.



I only managed one picture of Mike Sheridan in his snazzy duds. I probably should have looked through the viewfinder when I took it ... oh well!



And some more group backporch folk action!



A fine show.

• I yakked about The Hot Springs and (at greater length) Malajube mere hours ago ... now its showtime! The play Club SAW, and as I said earlier, they come with the Gourmet Delice of Le Nombre stamp of approval.

Malajubilation

Montreal's hottest pop quartet, Malajube and The Hot Springs are playing a gig tomorrow night (Tuesday, when it's at home) at Club SAW. As I mentioned earlier, I was tipped to these guys by Gourmet Delice of Le Nombre. He arranged to have their record company, Dare to Care, send me their new CD. It arrived too late for Album of the Week consideration, so with their show imminent, I'll sings its praises right now!

Malajube
Le Compte Complet



Clocking in at a half hour - including a few seconds of dead space before the hidden track kicks in - Malajube's debut is short but tasty. Chirping keyboard opener and tinkling scree comes from the Animal Collective school of twisted pop. I'm not sure I buy the comparisons to Franz Ferdinand and XTC that have been bandied about in its wake. Some juvenile whoops on Le Metronome and songs about Teeth and Lemon Juice (not at the same time), along with its generally bouncy and buoyant feel and fuzzy guitars make me thing of Australia's Sekiden. A sweet confection in any language.

Catty remarks

I had so much fun with slowing down my shutter speed at the Demolition Doll Rods and Broadzilla show that I thought it'd be a kick to do the same thing at the Music For Cats showcase at Babylon June 4. I certainly felt like punting myself a fair distance when I got the pictures back. Every flood was red and the results were way too crimson to make anyone happy. Fact is, the pictures of almost everyone involved looked better in black and white. The first act of the night was Mono Hum.

Richard Jeffrey at the microphone.



And with Jennifer Comeau on organ.



Err, I took some very nice pictures of drummer Tim Matthews a month or so ago - why don't you check out the archives while I feed these negs to the nearest passing crocodile?

The Weapons of Mass Seduction pictures turned out a little bit better, but not by much. Here's Mark lunging at the microphone.



And rocking out with The Duke.



Tune in tomorrow for pictures of The Golden Famile. Or don't - you might be better off.

• Swedish news: The Caesars - formerly Caesar's Palace before a certain Los Vegas gambling establishment sent them a cease-and-desist order - are scheduled to play Zaphod's July 15. They may be best know for the ubiquitous Jerk It Out of iPod commercial fame, but they have a decent line in garage pop.
  

Album of the Week

Sunburned Hand of The Man
No Magic Man



Like so many of Sunburned Hand of The Man's discs, this has a hand-made feel to it because, well, it's hand made (the hand-lettered title in green felt pen on the spine is kind of a giveaway) and is numbered (once again, as far as I can tell) Manhand 14, though it was allegedly released on the Bastet label. It was recorded in Spring of 2004 in the band's loft and at WMBR, a Pennsylvania radio station. It's what passes for hi-fi among SHOTM CDs.
Normally one gets this disc to subscribing to Arthur magazine (Bastet is their music imprint), but I grabbed this CD, (along with CD-Rs of their classic Jaybird and a new set of recordings entitled, as far as I can tell Zample One) at their recent show at the Avante Gard bar (pictures and a writeup for that show will be up in five or six days).
No Magic Man ups the ritz factor a bit - it has three stickers, a gatefold cardboard cover- but the music is the same zoned-out rhythm section, weirdo chants and occasional Comets On Fire-style guitar freakout (particularly on the penultimate track, Twin Gates). Mind-expanding vocal snippets and some oddly funky jams open the album. From there on in it's one long, strange 54-minute trip. Get it from the band itself, via an Arthur subscription or Eclipse Records and allow your brain to be bent.

Motor City demolition

The Demolition Doll Rods show at Mavericks June 3 wasn't as flagrantly sexual as an earlier gig at The Dominion, but that isn't saying much - their costumes were less revealing by a square inch or so (you can get a lot of coverage out of feathers). Danny took on a greater vocal role than I recall from last time (for reasons explained later). The guitar interplay was as incendiary as I remember.

Margaret gets her kicks in.



Danny in boots.



Christine on drums; she didn't get to do her signature tune, Fat Pussy, because the night was getting on, but she did step up to the microphone.



Despite blowing out her vocals cords ("The only thing I've blown in two or three years," she told the audience), Margaret still pulled out a fairly long set.



Christine steps out from behind the kit.



Sing along with Danny ...



Explosive demolition!



Another sin-sational rock-stravaganza from the 'Rods, who ended the set with their version of Amazing Grace.

• Jack Daniels news: Jake Lovetart - one of the bands that made me think "darn, I should be out photographing stuff" - appears with Four'n'Giv'r at Babylon June 24.
  

Broad appeal

Detroit's Broadzilla followed the G-Men with their crushing power trio attack. Singer May has a good singing voice and the songs are good - well, some of the lyrics are a bit daft, but then again, it's rock'n'roll!

Rachel May on guitar and platform shoes.



Kim Essiambre on bass and heavy metal shoes.



Angie Manley on drums and blonde dreads.



Some dual downstroke action.



Them Broads!



A very rocking show - and the photos turned out nice.

• Punk reminder: The Riptides, The Vapids, The Creeps and The PG-13's play an all-ages show at Mavericks.

Nuthin' but a G thang

The G-Men hail from Toronto; straightahead punk rock with a lot of metal tone. Nothing fancy here. Just solid, nourishing punk.

Singer Mopa Dean looks like a heavy from a 50s gangster flick - direct from central casting! His off-stage porkpie hat with the playing cards in the band help the impression.



Bassist Dave Only.



Guitarist Jamie G put a lot of metal in the sound.



Ron - "He's a metal drummer."



Mopa howls while Jamie G. rips it up.



In the pit (of four people). Ken Vermin of four-stroke contributes some guest vocals.



The G-Men and three young Ottawa fans.



This was an all-ages show, and they really meant it: The youngest guy there looked about 12, the oldest about forty years older.

• Show reminder: Cheerleader and RadioDazed play Zaphod's. The Heck are also on the bill. The Suburban Pop Project hold a CD release party at Babylon with the aid of The Acorn and some other folks. Best of all, thanks to the tireless efforts of some cool guys and the good graces of Alexei at the Avant-Garde at 1351/2 Besserer St., Sunburned Hand of The Man will play an all-ages show there ... hooray!
  

Band of Brothers

Brant Bjork and The Bros. - Mike Peffer on drums, Dylan Roche on bass, and Cortez on guitar - rolled into Babylon (and that's not all they're rollin' if you catch my drift) for some lowdown grooviness and the emission of hip vibrations to a decent-sized Monday crowd. No opening act, but who needs 'em when the headliner steps on stage at 10:45 and steps off at 1 a.m. with only a 15-minute break?
Their sound reminds me of a bunch of bands from the Chicano rock scene of the early 1970s: Sapo, Azteca and early Santana. These guys wouldn't have looked out of place at a West Coast free festival circa 1972. Add some of the desert rock vibe of Kyuss and Queens of The Stone Age and Bjork's past in Nebula and you've got some primo stoner rock, of the type we get way too little of in Ottawa.

Bjork. Gee, he doesn't look like he's from Iceland ...



Dylan; not many could get away with this look.



Mike; lots of hair and flashing teeth.



Cortez just grooving away.



None of these guys moved around too much until Bjork started working some feedback by jamming his guitar headstock into his cab, so a few pictures tell the story. It was a show heavy with vibes.

Last but not least, a shout out to the folks who brought Bjork and Co. to town, CKCU and John Westhaver of Birdman Sound.



It seems pretty quiet out there, so I'll just once again mention that The Sunburned Hand of The Man will be playing at the Avant-Garde (about a block away from the Rideau Centre on Besserer St.) with St. Bernard of Love and Akisikala tomorrow.

Eleventh Hour, Part II

Next up for Kelp Records' splendiferous 11th anniversary celebrations were The Flaps. Ottawa's premier instrumental band (no offence to fine outfits like The Empiricals et al. ...) once again put on a super show.

In honour of the occasion, drummer Jamie Gullikson was replaced by a hideous ape-beast!



Martin Newman on bass; this picture came out a little dark; I'm not sure if I didn't use enough flash or it's just his outfit ...



Pat Lawlor concentrates on his footwork.



I don't think I've seen the multitalented John F. Higney Jr. so animated.



Pat and Martin.



Higney and Gullikson.



After their most excellent set, Jon Bartlett came out to help things out. In a dress.



Here's Bartlett at his Bartlettiest.



And playing with Barrymore's big guitar. You can't see it due to the flash, but the strings light up. Cool!



Then it was time for Camp Radio, a new project from Chris Page, Dave Draves of Little Bullhorn fame and the indefatigable Scott Terry.

Chris shakes it all about.



Dave does not shake it all about.



Scott Terry, looking much like he did in the last post.



Some on-stage shenanigans.



And some rock-jumping, mostly to entertain Scott, I think.



There was also lots of pogoing and general athletic activity from Chris. After that power-popping it was time for The Acorn, a band I've managed to avoid seeing through Titanic mischance on my part - every time they played, it seems there was something else demanding my attention. Not on this night, so I got to experience their arty rock for the first time. The clips on the Kelp website don't really do them justice, since Rolf has formed a full band.

Speaking or Rolf Klausener, here he is, this time with his own hair (well, what there is of it).



Howie Tsui missed the Chippendales audition by that much.



Jeff Debutte, of Soft Disaster fame.



T. Jeffrey Malecki on drums. Now we know where that wig went.



Higney chips in some pedal steel.



The Acorn in the spotlight.



Bartlett described them as Ottawa's gayest-looking band, but then again he was wearing a dress, so there may be some projection going on here ...

• Show reminder: Junior Pantherz and four-stroke play Zaphod's tonight.
  
• Rejoicing: The Sunburned Hand of The Man show is a go, thanks to some quick arranging by a few of the folks on the punkottawa.com message board and the good graces of Alexei at the Avant-Garde at 1351/2 Besserer St. It'll be an all ages show this Friday (June 10), with Akisikala (inspired by Cecil Taylor, I presume) and Saint Bernard of Love opening the festivities. So if the No-Neck Blues Band, The Liars, Atman, the local Castor/VEO-related bands and weirdo-forest-drone-psych-folk are your bag, be there!

The Eleventh Hour

Y'see, I'm learning: Knowing that The Banditas were playing, I went earlier than I planned, thus getting there in time to catch their set! The occasion of course, was one of Kelp's 11th anniversary shindig. Kelp kingpin Jon Bartlett likes them and drummer Scott Terry plays in many Kelp bands (he played in two of them at this show besides The Banditas, so why not? This was a really killer show by them - if someone told me that in a year their reputation would be travelling far beyond Ottawa's boundaries I wouldn't be in the least surprised.

I love Liz McDermott's declamatory singing style and strong rhythm parts.



Scott Terry on guitar.



And on Moxy-Fruvous-comparison-inviting drums, Colin Vincent. Actually, he makes me thing of The Strangeloves and I Want Candy.



Here they are again ...



And some rock-jumping from Terry.



They have a record release party June 25 with The Nymphets and Run Stop Restore at Irene's for their new LP on Last Drag Records.

Next up on the bill was Andrew Vincent.



And special guest bassist Andy Swan of Detective Kalita. Bryan Curry was unavailable, so Swan and Rolf Klausener filled in.



Scott Terry, and not for the last time, either.



Here's Rolf on bass and wig, with Andy on guitar (with a very short lead) for the last song.



And more of that other Andrew.



Tune in tomorrow for more of the Kelpy ones with The Flaps, Camp Radio, The Acorn, and Jon Bartlett in a dress ...

• Shameless pleading: Sunburned Hand of The Man pencilled in an Ottawa date for their latest tour. They had hoped to play June 10, but as far as I can tell haven;t found a place to do their acid-burned forest folk psychedelic drone thing. Anyone who can think of an appropriate place for them to play, drop a line at the punkottawa.com message board. And if they do land a gig in town, let me know ...
  

Release the Blackball

Blackball's CD release party, and the week was definitely starting to catch up with me. I stayed for about a dozen songs, snapped a few pictures of the men in mostly black then headed on home.

Kevin Hopkins shows a little leg. I remember him remarking somewhere that he usually had a goofy facial expression in photos; I didn't see any in the last roll, but he was making up for it this time around ...



Ron Lance and guitar. I'm tipping one way, he's tipping the other way, so it all works out.



Dave Faught on drums and vocals.



They return to Irene's with Harshey, BlackSheep and Last Voice Heard June 18. A makeup gig for an April show at The Agora that didn't come together.

• Show reminder: Cancer Bats (who despite their name are not skinny spazz-punk new wavers, but heavy riff rockers who use the word "bro" a lot on their website), Death To Your King, Ignite The Will and Die Nameless play Club SAW.

Album of the Week

Long Timers Dead End



I promised a new "Album of the Week" - here's No. 1. The band used some of the pictures I took of them at various gigs, so to avoid any suggestion of conflict of interest with a review in The Ottawa Sun (not that any money was involved), I'm singing its praises here.
Rock'n'roll veterans Long Timers have done hard rock time in a number of Ottawa outfits (Dead City Rebels and Phantom Shifters, among others) and can currently be seen in other local combos like The Fortunate Sons, Sleeping Pilot and South of 78. Their debut EP is the product of several sessions with Double Pumpers/Ukrainia/Yogi and The Hill People drummer-singer-guitarist Paul "Yogi" Granger. The original foursome - Greg Kerr, guitar; Justin Gobeil, guitar and vocals; J.P. Sadek, drums; Rene LeClair, bass - has just been joined by Johhny Nash on guitar and vocals; he added his stuff after the musical tracks had been laid down. I e-mailed guitarist Greg to ask who did what when. His reply:

The sessions were done separate for this EP after two other attempts with Yogi at his studio.We put down the bass and drums first one Saturday at the end of February. Justin took a night for guitars and I did the same in March - all mostly in one or two takes. The goal was to get a "cleaner" recording so the bass and drum beds have no guitars bleeding in. And the guitars were kept to a minimum (unlike the Shifters or our previous recordings, where two rhythm guitar tracks are mixed hard left and right and the lead guitar is one track in the middle of the stereo spectrum). I was dead set against that for this recording so we used one of Justin's guitars hard left or right and one of mine hard left or right - to minimize the noise and give it a more vintage "MC5" feel -the exception is Solid Roger where my part differed from Justin's so much we actually mixed it the original way with three tracks and mine in the middle. The music was finished before Johnny joined up and Justin did vocals on (in E Major) and Old 96er - which were kept. After Johnny was comfortable with his parts he added back-up vocals to those two Justin songs and did all the lead and backing vocals on the other three.
Yogi did all the recording, mixing and mastering.
We'd recorded Working Man's Woman but had mostly dropped it from the set and it wasn't going to be on the EP, Justin never had any finished lyrics for it - we'd never even shown the song to Johnny, when he did his vocals, he heard the track and we remembered we liked the song, so he whipped up some lyrics and recorded the song before he'd even practiced it once (or even heard it from us play it). I think it's my favourite song on the EP too!

The resulting EP is a mix of early 70s heavy rock (a la Mountain, who they regularly cover in their live show), Stooges style and protopunk and Southern Rock - more of the latter live, thanks to Johnny's caterwaul and third guitar. Pick it up and check them out live (in any order you like) if you haven't already.

Achoo!

Gesundheit! Not just a blessing, but the name of one of Canada's strangest heavy metal bands. You thought those guys with bagpipes were odd? These guys have a trumpet. And it's a trumpet played Brian Cram so you know it's stranger than most. Along with Sarah Montgomery, Jason Clark and his z'Howndz-mate Jimmy P. Lightning, they turn out some shred'n'Sabbath dirges. With lyrics about economics and the lifespan of the bluebottle fly, to name but two subjects, you know we aren't talking about Slipknot here.

Mr. Cram and his heavy-metal appropriate black leather pants.



Jimmy just doing his own thing.



Sarah. Three-pickup SGs must be the epitome of cool.



Jason. B.C. Rich guitar and lots of hair! I believe his metal credentials are in order!




Brian eats the microphone.



Sarah and Jimmy.



Dual guitar action. I probably should have stood further away for this picture, but it's Irene's, so what can you do.



Aaaaaaaaah!



The performance was definitely something out of the ordinary.

• Show reminder: I'm quite enamoured of For The Mathematics' new album. They share the Club SAW stage with Eppiphane, Red Label, For Every Fall, Roni Gellert tonight.

The Outsiders

Expatriates offered a very strong set of originals (and one altered Black Sabbath cover, as is their wont) to start the Blackball CD release hoedown at Irene's on a strong note.

Damien Thompson and a Casio in a suitcase.



There was one good light at Irene's. Fortunately Michael D. Wieland stepped in it.



Bill Guerrero; who incidentally will be playing in Weapons of Mass Seduction tonight at Babylon.



Chris Landry arpeggios.



Chris and Damien play while Kevin Hopkins waits his turn at right.



Four men and a post.



I liked them when I first saw them open for Cerberus Shoal, and they've been better at every show.

• Show reminder: Andrew Vincent and The Pirates, The John Henrys and The Million Dollar Marxists will be playing a show in front of the CBC building at Bank and Sparks which will apparently be broadcast by the CBC;Reverend Glasseye, Golden Famile, Weapons Of Mass Seduction and Mono Hum play a Music for Cats showcase at Babylon; Good2Go, The Grey, Three Legged Man entertain at Irene's Pub.
• Correspondence news: Gourmet Delice of Le Nombre e-mailed me yesterday to say the band would be returning for an Ottawa show at Barrymore's; and I see from the punkottawa.com message board that the gig is set for July 9; Shikasta and Roll Gypsy Roll will also be on the bill. He also told me to look out for a gig by Montreal's Malajube at Club SAW June 14. The band has also gotten props from Jonathan Cummins of Bionic for releasing "a near-perfect pop record." They've gotten a lot of good press in the French-language press; Franz Ferdinand and XTC comparisons abound.

Get religion

Priestess returned to Ottawa just a few weeks after their gig opening for Motorhead and rocked out as usual; it was the same killer combination of the last 30 years of hard rock and heavy metal. As an added bonus, this time there were no idiots whining about long it was taking for the headliner to come on.

Mikey Heppner's vocals are definitely one of the band's strong points; even in a group with two other good singers.



Here's one, drummer Vince Nudo taking his turn at the (or a) mike.



Here's the other, guitarist Dan Watchorn; I failed to get a decent picture of him at the Motorhead show (or a good picture of much else, some might say ...) so here he is now!



And bassist Mike Dyball, active as ever.



More Mikey.



Drum solo! See-through drum solo! It was a little shorter this time around.



Mikey takes a quick foray through the crowd. Looking for hair products no doubt.



And the band (sorry, Dyball is a bit hard to see ... but he was in all the pics last time, so fair's fair).



They said they've had a good time every show they've played in Ottawa, and I'd definitely see them again.

• Show reminder: I'm off to catch the always photogenic Demolition Doll Rods with fellow Detroiters Broadzilla at Mavericks. Ottawa's own Bella Bombs and the Sewer Rats will round out the bill with the aid of Toronto's G-Men - making good on a promise to head north when they couldn't make their last gig at Irene's for medical reasons. The High Dials, Hopewell and Mono Hum play Barrymore's; undoubtedly a fine show as well.
• Stumbling note: Liquor Pig Fest 2005 goes down July 16; with shows by The Stumblers, Mark Ripp, Casey Comeau, Lone Pig and the deaf peds. Start drinking now.

Long night

The Long Timers are keeping a busy schedule of late, it seems; their website is up and running again, they have a new EP (with some of my pictures among the art). I'll be offering a mini-review later since it would a conflict of interest to do it at my day job. It'll be the inaugural "CD of the Week." Onward! Here are some pictures celebrating the release of said CD and opening for Priestess at The Dominion.

I took not one but two half decent pictures of J.P. at this show - must be some kind of record.



You may not have noticed Justin was so much taller than Johnny Nash.



Greg Kerr tips a little.



Rene LeClair. I've taken better pictures ...



And all together ...



Let's see, I've promised a CD review and a Les Allumettes interview. Maybe I should start actually working on that ....

• Show reminder: I can't read for @#$!. That Acid Mother's Temple show I ballyhooed a few posts back is Sept. 16, not Sept. 19. D'oh!
  

Circling the Square

Slowing down the pulse of Iggy to a heroin crawl and slapping some Hawkwind/Spacemen 3 fuzz over the top, Daydream Square have been psyching out hapless Ottawans for quite some time ... head head Michael Caffery has been part of a host of other projects (Unireverse and Beautifuzz to name but two) and was also part of The Happening (as was fellow Square Kerry Campbell).

Michael, shortly before his drum machine tried to leap to its death.



Eric Epsig engages in some footwork.



Andrea twists some delay; last time I saw DS Jennifer Comeau handled the keyboards, but as Michael noted "She has a lot on her plate."



Kerry (a.k.a. DJ Daisy) and her Daisyrock Bass.



More Eric and Andrea.



Riffing as one.



Eric performed a brief reading based on the works of noted poet Mr. I. Pop.



They played two songs (Redrum and Sirens were the titles, if memory serves) but that's enough for a good 45 minutes.

• Show reminder: Flecton performs at the Aloha tonight.