Howling good times

Next up at the last Kepler show was Clark the Band. John Tielli has moved to Toronto and gathered a new supporting cast to back him up, but for this Ottawa gig he performed with Matt Gagnon and Robin Buckley, just like the good-not-so-ol' days.



Matt employs the ever-popular beer bottle slide.





James guests on singing and tambourine.



James says go thataway!



Lookit that masking tape! And lookit Michael Dubue, this time on organ!



Oops, got to go sing some backing vocals!



Made it just in time!



And so on ...







Always lively, those lads.

Out of the attic

Kepler's we-really-mean-it-this-time final show was the capstone on a very pleasant evening. You had Sarah Hallman starting things off in the style of Cat Power, Clark the Band's XTC-inducing art rock as entrees and Kepler's not particularly slowcore to wrap things up.

Sarah Hallman with bandmates Dave Gaudet, Mike Dubue and Adam Fogo.



Clark - John Tielli, Mike Dubue, Robin Buckley and Matt Gagnon.



Kepler - Jon Georgekish Watts sings, while Mike Feuerstack, Samir Khan, Mike Dubue (again!) and Jeremy "Including Members of Arcade Fire" Gara provide the backdrop.



I was surprised to see how late it was when they played their final song with sundry guests pulled from the audience to sing along. You know things have gone well when you lose track of time.

The metal boys

Clark put on another great show at Zaphod's ... unfortunately it was the first real cold day of they year and I suspect a number of music fans decided that the Tuesday night could go on without them until they got their winter coat out of mothballs. Too bad, because John Tielli shone on guitar and vocals, Matt Gagnon was his usual bouncy and sometimes goofy self and new drummer Dan Neil is a very solid presence on the skins.

In fact, here he is!



And here's Tielli in a bounced flash shot.



John: "And on the instrument with four big fat strings, Matt Gagnon."
Matt: "I thought you were going to say four big fat stomachs - because I'm half cow you know."
While you ruminate on that bit of stage banter, here's a photo of Matt:



Jordan Howard of Nathan Coles Outfit guested on keyboard and percussion.



Rock pose action!



Matt Gagnon plays a little keyboard. With his forehead.



And all together.



Another great show.

Flaps up!

The Flaps once again showed why they're one of Ottawa's two premier instrumental bands (I figure it's a toss up with The Empiricals, though I confess to being every-so-slightly partial to Lawlor's crew). A quick set from them due to The Willowz late arrival. And another Clark alumnus! (I guess that's not quite the word I'm looking for, since Matt Gagnon's still in the band, but whatever.)

Pat Lawlor goes for the high frets.



Jamie Gullikson whacked one of his cymbals clean over.



Bassist Matt Gagnon was moderately less bouncy than at his regular gig with Clark the Band.



John F. Higney Jr. does a little two-step.



Fluorescent rock action!



And all together.



They release their debut CD at the Avant-Garde Bar Oct. 15.

• Show reminder: Expatriates, My Dad vs Yours, The Airfields and The Diableros (who put on a great set at Irene's a while back) play the Ecclesiax Church. Ris Paul Ric (featuring veterans of Washington's Q and Not U), Locks, Books On Books and the Curviture play Cafe Dekcuf. Montreal's amazing Nymphets play the Avant-Garde Bar, along with New Yorkers Four Volts.
• Interesting news: Speaking of the Avant-Garde Bar, Damo Suzuki will be gracing it with his presence Oct. 14.

Mystery man

I didn't know who was going to start the festivities at Babylon until a day before the show started ... honours went to Rory Lavelle, who used to be in Clark (now Clark the Band). I kept finding blurbs on Google comparing him to Beck. Beck?!? I'm hoping they mean singer-songwriter Howie Beck and not the Loser guy, in which case the comparison is apt. He did a great job all by his lonesome for the small crowd who turned up for The Willowz. Unfortunately I didn't do quite as good a job taking pictures ... here are the two that worked out.

Rory at the piano.



He joked that "It's always a relief when the accordion portion of the show is over." To humble for his own good, he is.



A brief set, which included a dedication to an art teacher who influenced him and who recently passed on, and a fine one.

• Show reminder: It's probably too late to point out that Ghosts of Modern Man, The Grey, Sleeping Pilot and This Is Rocket Science play Club SAW, since I was too busy to post until 4:30 p.m. PST, and Blogger was down for maintenance until 5:30, but what the heck ...
  

The name of the band is ...

Since John Tielli, the guy who sings, plays guitar and writes the music for Clark the Band (formerly just Clark, but now they're distinguishing themselves from other bands named Clark), sounds a bit like his brother Martin of Rheostatics fame, it's apparently become de rigeuer to mention the connection. Piffle I say. Rheostatics? Never heard of 'em. Wiry pop akin to early middle-period XTC is what I think of. The Barrymore's show - a release gig for their new CD The Woods - was really excellent.



Matt Gagnon; bass, background singing and a heaping sideplate of ham.



Andrew McCormack, also of The Wooden Stars, on drums



Mike Schultz helped out on trumpet, piano.



Most of the keyboards were provided by Mike Dubue of the Hi Lo Trons.



Pure trash!



All together now!



Their next show at Barrymore's is Oct. 7, with The Vanity Press.