Make it fast

As November rolled in it was fundraising time at CKCU, and that means fundraising shows. The one I made it out for was Mercury Lounge (which coincidentally was celebrating a big anniversary the same week), and featured a bunch of loud and fast punk bands, starting with Toronto's School Damage; here's some introduction action, plus guitarist Brad!



Rhythm section action with drummer Curtis and bassist Jon!



Brad sings!



Curtis hits!



Jon sings!



Blurry action!



Extra Brad!



Extra rhythm!



Faceoff action!



Outtacontroller were up next; like School Damage their set was broadcast live on CKCU (you can check it out here). Here's some vocal action with James!



Bass action with Jesse (who has also appeared on the blog with Feral Trash)!



Terry sings!



Sean hits!



And so on!



Extra Jesse and Terry!



Bonus James!



The whole lot!



The end!



Average Times provided a bit of relief from the breakneck pace. Here's Todd!



Steph hits!



Seiji sings!


Closeup action with Curtis!



Singalong action!



Extra Curtis!



Neck finished things off with some more hard'n'fast stuff. Here's Kevin!



Jeff sings!



Johnny sings!



Kevin sings!



Singalong action!



Closeup action!



Extra Jeff!



A great evening for a fine cause.

Up above

I took an early-evening stroll over to Birdman Sound last week for some anniversary activity. The Glebe institution is celebrating 25 years of draining my wallet (and also selling music to other people). Victoria transplant and former Band Whose Name Is A Symbol/Cold Coffee and Salty Boots/Four'N'Giv'r/Weapons of Mass Seduction/Solid Senders/Trudels member Mark Alexander McIntyre was back in town for a solo set, and Montreal duo Pachyderm also appeared to pay homage. No worries if you missed it - the whole affair was broadcast live on Steve Kirklands 6 p.m. CKCU show and is available on demand.



Here's some a cappella action with Mark!



Fisheye action!



And so on!



On to some elephantine action with Pachyderm's Tom and Nico!



Tom adjusts!



Vocal action!



And so on!



Tom sings!



Here's to another 25, or until my wallet spontaneously combusts!

Night of the living dead

Friday night I headed over to the Dominion Tavern for some fundraising action, courtesy of CKCU and Neil of The Upstairs Neighbour. On offer were Neck (who are about to go on an extended hiatus), Banditas (who are back for an extended hiatus, at least for one show) and Dead Wrestler, hiatus status uncertain.

Dead Wrestler were on first; frequent blog visitors will recognize Eric Larock of Tricky/Public Animal/The Band Whose Name Is a Symbol/etc. True blog devotees might also recognize guitarist Chris Anderson, who played guitar with The Dead City Rebels. Drummer Chad is apparently a verteran of Toronto combo The Patients.



Here's Eric!



Rhythm section action!



More Chris!



Chad hits!



The whole lot!



Feedback action!



The always nattily dressed Neck followed them. The band is taking a break until June.



Jeff sings!



Kevin hits!



Johnny sings!



The whole lot!



Stick-waving action!



Bonus Jeff!



The view from stage left!



The Banditas were last on stage (to the best of my knowledge) at Raw Sugar in March 2010, and had been in cold storage for a couple of years before that. Fortunately Last Drag proprietor Neal got them back on the boards again. Here's Scott and CiV!



And Liz, rocking her trademark Guild.



CiV hits!



Liz gets turned up.



Scott sings!



More Liz and CiV!



CiV hits!



Fretful action!



And so on!



And finally some extra CiV.



A welcome flashback!