Wednesday, January 31, 2007

They must be mad

Mad Parish has been flitting around the periphery of my musical world for a little while, playing with hard rocking Ottawa bands when they went to Montreal (and possibly when they share a stage here in the capital - although this may be their first show here). I knew I'd see them live sooner or later, and it turned out to be sooner as they dropped into Mavericks in the company of Priestess. The bands have a similar sonic makeup, though Mad Parish has a higher percentage of NWOBHM in their DNA. I've been cranking some Solitude Aeturnus lately, and I definitely hear a few similarities.

Darren! Josh! Bobby! Butch!



Flying V? Check! Scorpions T? Check!



Darren works the frets as Josh munches on the mic.



More Butch!



Shirtless drummer action!



Rhythm section faceoff action!



Parish action!









All pretty cool, and a good opener. Josh definitely has the metal singing voice down to perfection.

Strange picture

There was a sell out crowd at Barrymore's for Camera Obscura. They zipped through their set with charm and verve, but I confess to preferring the openers, The Essex Green, whose country-pop lends itself more to stretching out in concert. Unfortunately things got underway far earlier than expected. I showed up at 9:00, by which time Glenn Nuotio had come and gone.

Two from the Green team - Jeff Baron and Julia Rydholm.



Camera Obscura leader Tracyanne Campbell in a blue mood.



A fine show.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Octoberfest

Octoberman is the nom de musique of Vancouver's Marc Morisette. On record he ropes in a good-sized supporting cast and ends up sounding a bit like Chad Van Gaalen. For this show he was mostly solo, though he did press a few audience members into shaking some eggs and had some of fellow White Whale recording artists Poorfolk on to help him out with a final tune. He also covered Mohawk Lodge, whose album he's guested on.







Jonathan, Scott and Matt help kick out the jams.





Then it was Poorfolk's turn. More of their excellent rootsy rock and a battle to the finish with woven Mexican millinery.

Scott Freeman takes a vocal turn in between shout-outs to the fans.



Second guitarist Dave Clark.



Matt Godin.



Singalong action with Marc!



Them folk! Jonathan swiped the Rainbow's ever-present sombrero.



Some extra active rocking leads to runaway sombrero problems.



This is why you want a second guitarist - to fix the hat.



That's better.



Octoberman is heading up the West Coast of the U.S., back to Vancouver; Poorfolk have a show coming up at Maverick's with Mark Wilson.

Monday, January 29, 2007

A different city

Another day, another band with municipal leanings, this time Design of Cities. They take a slightly poppier turn than The City Above, but they share the other band's love of Swervedriver ... or so I'm guessing from the fact they have a song called Adam Franklin. I'm also guessing they like Edmund N. Bacon.

Soundcheck action! With singer Tarek and Chuck.



Bassist Jon.



Drummer Kev. I've always wondered where that door led to ....



Guitarist Chuck does a bit of e-bowing.



Psych action!



Singalong action!







The whole lot, as seen from the balcony.



They have an upcoming show at Zaphod's Feb. 24 with The Postage Stamps.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Release the bombs

The Bella Bombs pulled out all the stops for their release of Liquid Explosion. Unfortunately they excited the audience so much I couldn't snap a good photo due to moshing punks and break-dancing fedora-wearers. Compared to my Shifters photos, which turned out swell, these are pretty shoddy. At least the show was pleasing to the ear.

Them Bombs!



Honey sings! "Yeah, right!"





There was 100% less finger crunchage at this show, Suspect Device's expression notwithstanding.



Turbo sings!



That crazy crowd!



So to repeat, show and CD: Excellent; pictures: blechh.
  • Show reminder: It's not too late to catch Department of Foreign Affairs at Irene's. Unless you're reading this on Monday, in which case it is.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Gear premiere

The night (of Jan. 13, for those of you who have lost track) was not yet over. My cunning plan was to head over to Babylon and catch The Bella Bombs' CD release show. Unfortunately I arrived too late to see either of the local openers, but I did get to see all of Montreal's Shifters set. They sound just like they look - I half expected them to already be signed to I Used to Fuck People Like You In Prison Records.

Mike E on drums. He kicked off the show solo.



Then the rest of the band got on stage, starting with Eric Bhell on bass.



Marty Marty used to sling an axe, now he's focused on the singing end. And just behind him ...



Next up, two guitarists: Nick Evil! In a Gearhead T-shirt no less!



The band has augmented their guitar firepower with Cobra AC Jay Voorhees.



The ever-popular beer-slide!



Marty and Eric sing!



Nick yells!



It's all about the hugs.



Shifters action!











A real solid rock shootout.