Trees and bees

Back in May I was at Pressed to watch Rob Snasdell-Taylor of King Kung fame return to the stage (incidentally, King Kung, The Four Frames and Double Pumpers will be at the House of Targ Sept. 27 for some en masse reunionizing). His performance was sandwiched between sets by Trees of North America (their first) and Dead Bees. Unfortunately, I goofed the night before, drained my camera battery and had to fall back on my iPhone. Fortunately, The Deads Bees and Trees of North America hit the stage again this Thursday at the House of Targ, this time with Saint Clare taking the centre slot. Here's Christine Chesser and Darrel Angus, with Patrick Shanks on bass.



Scott Terry - another King Kung vet - shows the black emtal love.



The whole lot!



Rhythm section action!



More Darrel!



Christine sings!



Darrel sings!



The end!



Saint Clare rocked the place with their brass-backed garage pop.



Nick DiSaverio slides.



Matthew sings!



Rhythm section action with Ryan Shannon and Daniel DeVries!



Casey Comeau handles the keys.



Morgan Grant rocks the tenor sax.



Richard Jeffries frets.



More Matthew!



Saintly action!



Jumping about!



More guitar!



And so on!



Richard sings!



Fretful action!



Grimacing action!



The audience thinned a bit by the time The Dead Bees hit the stage, but as before they put on a great show, really tuneful stuff from these guys as always. Here's Chris!



Here's another Chris.



Kosta sings!



Extra Chris!



Bass action!



More Kosta!



And so on!



Unfortunately I had to split early, but what I saw was top notch.

Trees and Bees

I headed over to Pressed on Friday to catch a few returns to the stage. Rob Snasdell-Taylor, last seen on the blog with The Pop Shove-Its many years ago (November 2005 or thereabouts to be precise) is back in action with his new combo Chops and The Holics, and Christine Chesser of The Johnnies, Secret Lovers and Chickpea has also made a comeback with Treees of North America, featuring a slew of familiar faces.

The actual opener was Slo' Tom, whose set I arrived to late to see; Trees of North America were on stage and you should recognize everyone from other posts - well, maybe not, since I neglected to keep my camera battery charged and was forced to fall back on my iPhone. Anyway, that's Darrel Angus (Golden Famile, Shakey Aches, Desecrators, etc.) on guitar, Patrick Shanks (Glads, Shanker & Romps, Merle Knurling, etc.) on bass and Scott Terry (Klovenhoofs, Camp Radio and a bunch of others) on drums.



Singalong action! Darrel, Christine and Scott all took turns singing lead on a tune while I was there.



On to Chops and The Holics; here's a very blurry Rob.



He's ably assisted by Johnny Nash Neck, And What Army, Fucking Machines, Long Timers and so on)on rhythm guitar, Matt Murdoch on lead, along with a rhythm section of Max McMillan and Joel Lemiuex.



The Dead Bees finished things off; I saw them at Zaphod's in January of 2013, and they're still the same sharp pop cpombo they were then.



Chris sings!



Unfortunately all my other photos were terribly grainy so I'll leave it at that.

Buzz band

Back to Zaphod's in January, back to a trio, indeed, back to The Dead Bees. This combo features Chris Thibedeau and Kosta McKay, once the rhythm section of Department of Foreign Affairs, and Chris Sims (formerly of This Minor Tremble). Their combined work isn't too far off the mark from either band.

Singalong action from Chris and Chris!



Bass action!



More Chris!



More other Chris!



Instrument switching action!



Kosta sings!



Most recent news from the hive is that they opened for Canrock stars The Grapes of Wrath back in June at Mavericks.

Fuzz, buzz and twang

Off to Zaphod Beeblebrox on Saturday, where a trio of local acts put on a great show for the assembled dozens. The Dead Bees, Glorious Moonrockets and Sick Sick Sicks each brought something different to the table.

First up, Glorious Moonrockets, making a fine racket.


Glorious Moonrockets at Zaphod Beeblebrox, January 19, 2013

Rhythm section action!


Glorious Moonrockets at Zaphod Beeblebrox, January 19, 2013

Then on to Sick Sick Sicks. I've never seen them before. They've got some Old Weird Americana, some rockabilly and some ska, plus songs about longboarding, hallucinogens and riding bicycles. There was also some microphone licking from bassist Red. You may also recognize drummer Kosta McKay from his stint with Department of Foreign Affairs (the band, not the ministry).


Sick Sick Sicks at Zaphod Beeblebrox, January 19, 2013

Guitar action!


Sick Sick Sicks at Zaphod Beeblebrox, January 19, 2013

And now on to Dead Bees, who favour a melodic kind of pop, and which also features some DOFA vets, including Kosta, making the night a doubleheader.


Dead Bees at Zaphod Beeblebrox, January 19, 2013

Also hailing from the ranks of DOFA, Chris Thibedeau, who plays both bass and guitar (particularly on their cover of Big Star's September Gurls, a favourite of his). Chris Sims rounds out the trio.


Dead Bees at Zaphod Beeblebrox, January 19, 2013

A well-rounded evening.