National Capital Rock: Michael Rault

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Let there be Mega

Megaphono descended on Ottawa last week, bringing with it scores of musical acts and music industry folks for a whole mess of networking and discussion grouping and performing. I went to House of Targ to see Michael Rault perform; the first act on the bill was Toronto's Queen of Swords, a new project from Aerin Fogel of The Bitters.

Keyboard action with Kritty!

Aerin sings!

Regal action!

And so on!

More Kritty!

Thunder Bay/Toronto/wherever groovers Sunshine & The Blue Moon played next; here's frontman Sunshine!

Sunshine & The Blue Moon at House of Targ

Percussive action!

Keyboard action!

Guitar action!

Sunshine sings!

Bass action!

And so on!

More percussion!

More vocals!

Singalong action!

Ottawa's own Expanda Fuzz followed them with some fuzzy stuff of their own. Here's Leila!

Bass action with Chris!

More Leila!

Chris sings!

Guitar action with Leila!

More Chris!

Singalong action!

Michael Rault brought things too a most satisfying conclusion with his classic rock and pop-loving sounds. Here's Michael!

I made a note of who the other musicians in his band were, but my iPhone ate it, so all I can say is there's a two-in-five chance that at least one of these guys is named Matthew.

Guitar action!

More Michael!

Pecussive action!

Michael sings!

More vocals!

Rhythm section action!

And so on!

More guitar!

Keyboard action!

A swell night out.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Heat and street

Back when winter had its icy grip on the Nation's Capital, the folks ate Megaphono held a mini-festival around town to promote the local music industry. I caught a bunch of fine sets at such diverse locales as St. Alban's, the Record Centre and the Dominion Tavern. One of the acts at the Dom was Michael Rault, a popster on the way to releasing a new album on the well-respected Burger Records label (also Peach Kelli Pop's American outlet). Lo, summer has arrived, and so has Living Daylight. Last Thursday he dropped by Babylon to wow the select few (seriously, where was everyone?) with his suitable summery stylings. But first, Street Meat, a band I can't really imagine performing until the pavement has soaked up a certain amount of heat.