Watt goes on

Harvee are a rocking Quebec sextet (from Valley field, to be precise) who have been compared to Belle and Sebastien, Morrisey, and somewhat improbably, Broken Social Scene. The former two I can sort of see, given an evident mutual affection for 1960s British pop in all three acts. The latter I don't get at all (well, maybe a flicker or two in their first instrumental number). Perhaps they are a different beast on record. Live they were very active and covered The Kinks' Davie Watts.I could have sworn I heard Phil say he wanted to sleep with Davie Watts, rather than be like the eponymous protagonist. Perhaps I was discombobulated by hearing a bunch of French Canadians sing about not meeting the Queen in English ...).

Phil Guerin on lead vocal and guitar.



Patrick Caza Moogs along.



Carine Durocher also holds down the keys (when not playing vibraphone or trumpet, that is).



Nicolas Berube on drums.



Marc-Andre Gagnon on borrowed guitar.



Mathieu Dube handles the low end.



Harvee action!










Keyboard sharing action!



Rhythm section faceoff action!



And some final twisting from Phil and Marc.



Great set, alas the audience was rather sparse, for the reasons mentioned below .. but just wait until next time.

Saved for a rainy day

A night off for me usually means a night of music; if I had my druthers (come to think of it, if I even knew what a druther was*) I'd probably have spent Sunday evening at the Interpol show. Unfortunately one of the perils of my job is not always knowing when you're going to be working, and tickets sold out well before I found out I'd have the day to myself. Bummer. Fortunately there was lots of other fine entertainment going on, in the shape of Sadie Hell and Harvee at Zaphod's. Lousy turnout, but a good show.

Those Hellions.



Harvee are sometimes compared to Broken Social Scene. I'm going to have to guess this is because they have more than five members, one of whom plays trumpet. I thought they sounded more like The Wedding Present, which I like.



Then I zipped over to The Rainbow to see if Amos the Transparent were on stage. They had come and gone, if they ever were. This is the headliner, Ragni, who hail from St. Catherines.



They sounded pleasant enough, but not enough to keep me there in my weakened condition (like everyone else in town, the godawful weather has left me feeling low).

• Show reminder: The Robot Ate Me, Run Chico Run, Saint Bernard of Love and Don Charles and the Journalists perform at 59 Argyle Ave. Walls Of Jericho, Secret Honor, No Other Way and Mekhaya get loud at Mavericks; The Superfantastics, The Kent Boys and the inimitable B A Johnston play Zaphod's.

* I speak in jest, and am of course well aware that it is a contraction of "I'd rather."