Repeat as necessary

Boyhood has just released a new album Bad Mantras, and main brain Caylie got a chance to play some tunes from it (along with older stuff) for a packed crowd at Black Squirrel Books on Aug. 10. Caylie was joined by brother Callum and Philippe from Scattered Clouds. She'll be back in town Nov. 2 for a set at the NAC.



Caylie sings!



Callum hits!



Caylie works the crowd!



Fender action!



The whole lot!



An so on!



A very welcome return.

All in the family

For my second night of Megaphono action, I went to St. Alban's. It was a chance to see Boyhood for the first time in a while, as well as the headliners Mauno. It was my first time seeing Helena Deland, a very accomplished performer in the Laura Marling-Angela Olsen vein. Here she is with guitarist Alexandre!



Bass action with Agathe!



Percussive action with Francis!



Helena sings!



Extra Alexandre!



Singalong action!



More Agathe!



On to Boyhood! Here's Caylie! The last time I saw her perform was actually as a drummer for an early incarnation of Slow Dawn.



Caylie sings!



Bass action!



Callum hits!



Reddish action!



More bass!



Even more Caylie!



And so on!



Last time I saw Mauno was at Mugshots; they were in trio format since bassist Eliza couldn't make it from hometown Halifax. They were back to full strength for this show and sounding great. Here's a well-lit Nick Everett!



Eliza sings! This might have been during the soundcheck.



Adam prepares to hit!



Guitar action with Scott!



More Eliza and Scott!



Nick takes a knee (or two).



A lovely night.

Down the rabbit hole

The K-Hole  house I've often passed en route to shows elsewhere, and the occasional gaggle of folks hanging out outside as I made my return often made me wonder if it was the site for house shows. Well, if it wasn't before it is now; a bunch of past and present Montrealers (and some past and present Ottawans) brough some psychedelic burnout to its front room two Fridays ago. First up, Slow Dawn. If you wanted to know what former Holy Cobras members were up to, here you go. The new combo combines the Cobras' psychedelic punch with a lot of shoegaze. Here's Jesse and Caylie (Boyhood, Blue Angel, etc.).



And here's former Cobras frontman Dan Druff.



Aother Boyhooder, Alex, rounds out the group on guitar.



Caylie hits!



And so on!



Dan asked for a post-gig group shot, so here you go.



On to DeerGod, the only band of the evening who were strangers to me; they hail from Toronto. They were pretty wild!



Percussive action with Chris Scott!



Here's some guitar action with, and Matt on bass.



Evan works the crowd.



Gripping action!



Back to more familiar faces; No Negative features a couple of vets from The Fuzz (not the Ty Segall group), Mark Frags (also of Ultrathin and Holy Cobras) and Matt Oxley of copious psychedelic outfits (Mannequin, New Humans).



And here's Mark, along with his trademark white belt.



I spoke with bassist Carlo after the show; I don't know who the drummer is.



Feedback and drinking action!



There was just a bit of time for Drainolith (who recently opened at the House of Targ for Neil Michael Hagerty) to play a quick set; their material was a bit mellower than their Targ noise.



Trippy Twins action!



The whole lot!



Alex sings!



Fisheye action!

Their other band

It's been a few months since I headed over to Pressed to see a show (the last time was to catch Pharmakon), but last Saturday's show with I Smell Blood, Whoop-Szo, Darlene Shrugg and Blue Angel was not to be missed. Darlene Shrugg in particular have been roiling the waters in Toronto for a little while now (at least a half-dozen people I know wrote or said "I saw them open for Do Make Say Think and they blew me away," or something like it after the show announcement), and I was mightily intrigued by the talk around Whoop-Szo.

Whoop-Szo played first. The group is centred around Kristin Palm (who was up north for the show) and Adam Sturgeon, who is Ojibwe. They have a tangled folk-metal sound that I can imagine appealing to a wide range of open-minded folks - fans of Carlangas and Wayne Omaha would dig their sounds, I suspect. Here's Adam (at right), with drummer Eric (also of I Smell Blood) and bassist Joe (also of London's Wild Domestics).



Keyboard action with Andrew (also of Wild Domestics)!



Joe sings!



Adam bends!



Hair-shaking action!



More guitar!



Eric hits!



Singalong action!



More keyboard!



Adam recommended everyone grab some earplus before I Smell Blood's set, and with good reason, as Zach and Eric really bring the pummel to their bass-and-drums setup.



Eric hits!



Shaggy action!



Zach is under there somewhere.



Hair-shaking action!



More Eric!



The whole lot!



And so on!



Feedback action!



Darlene Shrugg have already got the blogs in a tizzy over their glammed out sound. They have a strong roster of museums, including Slim Twig and his former Tropics-mate Simone, the various members of Ice Cream and U.S. Girls' Meg Remy. Here's Slim, Amanda Jane Crist and Carlyn Bezic!



A.J. sings, Simone hits!



Meg works the crowd.



Slim sings!



Singalong action!



Extra Simone!



Carlyn frets!



Meg adjusts that dial.



Extra Carlyn and Simone!



Amanda Jane wins for best pants.



There was also a fine cover of Some Weird Sin.



Blue Angel wrapped things up with a short, punchy set - then they headed over to Mugshots to DJ. Here's some masked action with Caylie!



Sam sings!



Guitar action with Lidija!



Caylie sings!



The whole lot!



Extra Lidija!



More Sam!



And so on!



An excellent evening.