Their number's up

As all regular readers of this blog must know, the doughty nomads at the Rock'N'Roll Pizza Party have once again pulled up stakes and pitched their tents at a new venue, returning to Elgin St. for a residency at Nine. It's an interesting second-storey venue, with a sizable upper floor and a nook just off the entryway. The new venue was recently baptized with a show by The Visitors and Year Zero. For the sophomore night they brought in Grand Trine from Montreal and new Ottawa trio The Middens. The stage is somewhat inconveniently located, since it has a railing surrounding most of it and a door to the balcony right beside it, but the sound is excellent.

The Middens feature Joey Vienneau of The Fucking Machines on drums, Matthew Wells from The Centretown Cripplers and Patrick Shanks from many acts (in fact I saw him on Saturday playing guitar with The Secret Loves). When Joey was telling me about the band at Babylon at The Secret Loves show I thought he said the band's name was The Mittens, which I thought was suspiciously adorable ... fortunately they're actually named after a heap of refuse. Phew! They're going for a New York freak blues sound as practiced by The Honeymoon Killers, and Pussy Galore, whose Right Now! tune Alright! they covered.


The Middens at Nine, May 6, 2010

Compared to their Babylon set, where things got crazy fast, Grand Trine's Nine set was relatively sedate - no swinging from the lighting or disco ball abuse. That said, they really kicked out the jams, starting with a cover of The Bohemians' Say It (b-side to their 1967 45 I Need You, Baby). Bassist Tobias Rochman's dad was a member.


Grand Trine at Nine, May 6, 2010

Cool show and a nice new venue for the RRPP.

• Show reminder: The Luyas and Cotton Mouth are at Raw Sugar; Young Rival, Brothers Chaffey and The Mudplots play Cafe Dekcuf; A Plot Against Me, the Big Muffs and Keyotone rock Zaphod Beeblebrox; Andrew Jr Boy Jones performs at The Rainbow; Chris Kirby and The Marquee are at Irene's; Ray Harris, father of Lefty McRighty, celebrates his birthday at The Elmdale, so music is likely involved.