Back for the first time

You'd think by now I'd be smart enough not to be surprised when a performer I never thought I'd see live breezes through town, but I'll admit my eyebrows bounced when I heard that Lydia Lunch was going to be playing Mavericks. Even better, it would be with her top-notch Retrovirus band. I bought my ticket early, and showed up early too in order to catch most of Doctor MoM's set. The Ottawa trio have a heavy grunge sound - those Soundgarden and Screaming Trees shirts tell no lies. Here's Bud on bass!



Guitar action with Jay!



Jay sings!



More Bud!



Kev hits!



Even more Bud!



Extra Jay and Kev!



Bonus Kev!



Bud sings!



Next up, a punchy punk set from Omerta! Here's Pat (also of Asile and Durs Couers) on drums!



Sierra sings!



Bass action with Aaron from Alcohol Fueled!



Guitar action with Rick from Chloroform!



Even more Sierra!



Even more Rick!



More Aaron!



Rick and Sierra!



Pat hits!



Backlit action!



Feedback action!



The Lindbergh Babies rolled out some more punk sounds. Here's Ken, also of four-stroke!



Guitar action with Greg!



Tara sings!



Buttoned-up action!



More guitar and more Tara!



Even more Tara!



Jon sings!



Extra Greg!



Babied action!



More Jon!



Singalong action!



Extra Tara!



More Kris!



Extra, extra Tara!



Shadowy action!



Lydia Lunch and her Retrovirus band ended the evening with a killer set. It helps that the band itself is an all-star affair, with bassist Tim Dahl, drummer Bob Bert (Sonic Youth, Knoxville Girls, and others) and Weasel Walter (Flying Luttenbachers) on guitar. Hereès Walter, rocking the jodhpurs.



Bob hits!



Lydia sings!



And so on!



More Walter!



More Lydia!



Bonus Bert!



Bass action with Tim!



Even more Lydia!



Retroviral action!



Walter certainly likes jumping around.



"We like all your drugs!"



Wicked sets all around.

Punks' night out

I headed over to Targ on Friday night to check out the latest edition in the Punk Rock Covers series. This was No. 14, with sets featuring the songs of NoMeansNo, Personality Crisis, Avengers, Gun Club and Misfits. The show was also a benefit for Safety and Education for Trans Youth. First up some NoMeansNo with Chris and Mark from No Fuss, Tara from Lindbergh Babies and Joel from Bel Ann-Ana. Here's Mark!



Chris and Tara!



Joel sings!



More Tara!



Extra Joel!



More Chris!



More Tara!



Then I went off to eat some perogies; Winnipeg's Personality Crisis was the next act paid tribute. Here's Ken!



Dave hits!



Bass action with Karen (a.k.a. The Bella-Bombs' Turbo-Bomb).



More shouty Ken!



Guitar action with Devin!



Extra Karen!



More guitar!



More Dave!



Boom Creek did a fabulous job covering The Gun Club - they fit the role to a T.



Bass action!



Adam hits!



Guitar action with Ian!



And so on!



Bonus Neil!



More bass!



Even more Neil!



Clubby action!



Tara was back on stage to front The Avengers cover band, along with some Wire Cuffs folks (who will be back at Targ as a band covering Billy Idol this Friday).



Guitar action with Sarah!



Rhythms section action with Dave again and Janine (last seen playing with Porcelain Forehead) on bass!



Guitar action with Brendan!



Sarah sings!



More Tara!



Brendan sings!



Dave was brought in on drums with only one practice.



Even more Janine!



Blueish action!



Neck rounded the night off with their versions of The Misfits' hits; Kevin did the singing while Wire Cuffs' Callum manned the traps. Here's kevin doing some pre-set flexing!



Eye-shadowed action!



More Kevin!



Callum hits!



Singalong action!



Guitar action with Jeff!



More Johnny!



Another fine fundraising effort.