Monday, October 31, 2011

Ups and downs

You want folk-punk, punk? Then the place to be was Mavericks last night for a trio of killer sets from Into It. Over It., Andrew Jackson Jihad and Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls. There was a ban on professional cameras (i.e. digital SLRs with detachable lenses), and I didn't have my point-and-shoot with me, so this rundown will be photo-free, but I can at least tell you what went down, more or less.
Into It. Over It. is a one-man band, Evan Weiss. Weiss is also quite a raconteur and gave amusing intros to many of his songs (apart from one about hearing that a friend had been killed) and ranged over subjects ranging from retrieving stolen bikes, girlfriends that got away and dangerous neighbourhoods. He had a large and pretty enthusiastic audience right from the get-go - the show was apparently sold-out - and clearly had a great time.
Andrew Jackson Jihad also enjoyed themselves, and also had "spiritual guru" Kepi Ghoulie on hand to help out with some singing and whistling on Sense, Sensibility. The duo of Sean on guitar and Ben on double bass are more acerbic than IIOI, with songs about hating stuff, trying to quit smoking and gerneral snarkiness, though that may just be because they feilded a lot of requests and the audience wanted to hear what Sean dubbed "bummer tunes."
Frank Turner has been through town before, and played the folk festival last year. His Ottawa fanbase has obviously grown since then. There was plenty of singing along from the audience and bouncing about from his band, and by song No. 3 his shirt was pretty well sweated through. About midway through he did an a capella English Curse, about the death of William II in the New Forest (Turner himself comes from what he jokingly referred to as the "mean streets of Hampshire"). He wrapped up his set with a suitably histrionic cover of Queen's Somebody To Love, then encored with Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road, the quite appropriate Ballad of Me and My Friends and finally Photosynthesis with everyone chiming in on the chorus.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Bluesfest: Neon Indian

My travels at Bluesfest took me from an artist representative of the old guard - that is. Jim Suhler and Co. - to one of the new: Texan electronica combo Neon Indian. Neon Indian hail from Austin, and are primarily the work of Alan Palomo, who also works under the VEGA and Ghosthustler names, though neither of them have generated the buzz of his latest project - he even collaborated with The Flaming Lips on an EP earlier this year.

He's joined live by such folks as Leanne Macomber, keyboardist.

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Alan adjusts that dial - that's drummer Jason Faries behind him.

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Keyboard action!

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Guitar action! The band has undergone some member rotation, with Ross Gierhart having left and Denton chap Josh McWhirter coming aboard; this is actually Danny Barria.

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Okay, so this isn't the best place to snap a pic of Macomber from ...

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Alan wrestles the microphone.

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

More guitar!

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Danny sings!

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Leanne sings!

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Twistin' and beepin'

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Jason hits!

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Time to bring in some bass.

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

If you click through this picture of Leanne shaking her maracas, you can see how many photos I tried to get off more of her that didn't have her face obscured (if you don't want to, this answer is too many).

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

And that's all!

Neon Indian at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Then I headed off to check out Library Voices.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Space and time

There was a super show last night at Babylon, with sets from locals Roberta Bondar, possibly Ottawa's best new band, and Halifax's Bad Vibrations.

Roberta Bondar started things off right, garnishing their post-punk thrum with Christmas lights, free cookies and an innovative free EP giveaway - they handed out unique postcards to mail in to get a copy in return. I was super impressed with them when they played a house show back when the weather was warm in May, and even more so this time around.

Roberta Bondar at Babylon

Gary multitasks.

Roberta Bondar at Babylon

I also thought Bad Vibrations sounded great, a real heavy sound that made me think of Eric's Trip with a lot more oomph. I've seen K.C. Spidle before when he was part of Dog Day; in Bad vibrations he's moved up to the guitar position. Evan Cardwell, who also appears in Husband and Knife with Spidle plays bass, while Meg Yoshida drums.

Bad Vibrations at Babylon

More K.C.!

Bad Vibrations at Babylon

A super pre-Shameless crowd also helped things.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Bluesfest: Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat

After catching a few Dropkick Murphys tunes I stepped over to the Subway Stage to see some Texas Blues courtesy of Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat. You want your Stevie Ray fix? Here you go. You may also get a bit of Hendrix and some British blues sounds as a bonus.

This is not Jim. It's Shawn Phares, his keyboardist.

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

this also isn't Suhler; it's his drummer Jimmy Morgan.

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Here's Jim!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

And bassist Carlton Powell.

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Guitar action!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

The whole lot!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Fretful action!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

"Mine's bigger."

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Jim bends!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Bonus Jimmy!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Shawn works the keys!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Extra Carlton!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

The view from below.

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

And so on!

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

He's headed off for Europe next week.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Frenzy on the frets

If you're a fan of well-gnarled guitar frenzy punk then Babylon was definitely the place to be last night, with Brooklyn's Obits in the house. Not to slight the other members of the quartet, I dare say most music lovers are more familiar with the resume of singer-guitarist Rick Froberg, who deserves to go down in the guitar rock history books for Drive Like Jehu's Yank Crime alone.

Pregnancy Scares started the night with a blistering set of their hardcore tuneage. I dare say they turned up the buzz for this one.

Pregnancy Scares at Babylon

Emmanuel got to do double duty ... of course the Scares set clock in around 15 minutes so it's not the most arduous long haul in rock history.

Pregnancy Scares at Babylon

This was also an LP release show for Ottawa's favourite blackened melodic punk quartet, Crusades. This guy looks familiar.

Crusades at Babylon

Dave rocks the mike.

Crusades at Babylon

Obits put a bow on the night with a killer set. I find them less noisy than noted predecessors Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu. They have a cool intensity that makes me think of The Real Kids.Also, I like Babylon's stripey new paint job.

Obits at Babylon

There was also some singalong action from Greg Simpson and Sohrab Habibion.

Obits at Babylon

An ace night all-round, right down to the request for Fake Kinkaid in the encore.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Show me your horns

The Rainbow frequently has a Metal Monday organized by Black Widow productions. Since Decapitated are on tour, Tuesday is the new Monday and The Rainbow was filled with a sweaty metal brotherhood for a sold out show by the Polish death metal titans and their tourmates in Rings of Saturn, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Decrepit Birth. Although I'm not 100% certain the Rainbow's sound system is capable of coping with the might of metal (in fact it flickered a couple of times), I'd say a good time was had by all.

Rings of Saturn must have gotten things started very early indeed since they were heading into their last song as I walked in the door at 7:45 p.m. I can't say much else about them, except they had some exceptionally eye-popping T-shirts.

Rings of Saturn at The Rainbow
Rings of Saturn at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

They were followed by Fleshgod Apocalypse, who dressed up in grubby finery and dirty faces and garnished their thrashy sound with some symphonic samples and keyboards.

Fleshgod Apocalypse at The Rainbow
Fleshgod Apocalypse at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Definitely the most bow-tied band I've seen in a while ...

Fleshgod Apocalypse at The Rainbow
Fleshgod Apocalypse at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Decrepit Birth put on a killer show, with jocular frontman Bill Robinson entertaining the crowd with some between song repartee, despite a bit of laryngitis, and daring audience members to prove Ottawa was as brutal as Toronto by grabbing a couple of CDs from the stage. Much scuffling resulted. Check out those Matt Sotelo riffs!

Decrepit Birth at The Rainbow
Decrepit Birth at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Get those CDs!

Decrepit Birth at The Rainbow
Decrepit Birth at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Metal power!

Decrepit Birth at The Rainbow
Decrepit Birth at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Finally Decapitated destroyed the place with some monster riffs. The moshing really reached a fever pitch and I escaped from my perch near the left-stage speaker for a place upstairs.

Decapitated at The Rainbow
Decapitated at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

It was a very horny set, too.

Decapitated at The Rainbow
Decapitated at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Full props to Vogg for keeping things running.

Decapitated at The Rainbow
Decapitated at The Rainbow, Oct. 25, 2011

Only letdown of the show was that HAARP Machine couldn't make it due to some border issues.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Bluesfest: Dropkick Murphys

I didn't stay too long at The Dropkick Murphys set, partially because I got there late and was too far back to really appreciate the show (or get good photos), but mostly because there was definitely something wonky about the sound setup on the two big stages for a good chunk of the shows I caught there.

Monitor standing action!

Dropkick Murphys at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Singalong action!

Dropkick Murphys at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Need less to say, there was lots of Bruins love in veidence from the Beantown crew.

Dropkick Murphys at Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

And, er, that's it since I was in a plane for most of yesterday and am still in recovery.