What a long, strange trip it's been

I confess: I enjoy the subsequent projects by Julie Doiron and Rick White to the indie-rock fuzz of Eric's Trip, the band that put them on the map. But you have to give props to the East Coast quintet for their invaluable groundwork for the independent music scene Canadians enjoy today (not to say they deserve sole credit, mind you).

Here's Rick White, once again.



Julie Doiron has been growing her bangs for the occasion.



Chris Thompson.



I snapped this shot of Mark Gaudet at the start of the show. His musical roots predate his bandmates by several years - he got his start with Purple Knight in the 1970s.



The whole lot!



And now, trippy action!











Julie takes a spin on Dick Morello's Strat while Chris uses her bass.









And big fuzzy finish!



That's one reunion under the bridge. I wouldn't mind another.

• Show reminder: Shout Out Out Out Out and San Serac play Zaphod's; The Creeps, Bombed Out, Full Blown Whores and Winslow perform at the Bytown Tavern.

Out of the fog

Rick White's kept busy since Eric's Trip splintered. He's got a slew of albums as Elevator Through Hell (and its various descendants), a super album with some Sadies as The Unintended and most recently a couple of LPs as The Rick White Album. He has a particular dreamy psychedelic acoustic sound and probably deserves to be credited as a freak folk artist before folk became freaky (or something like that). Anyway, all we've got here is one man and his amazingly painted acoustic, so no further chatter is necessary.











One audience member had to cop a feel of the guitar of the set.

• Show reminder: Bella, The Love Machine, These Electric Lives and Ennuie play Mavericks; Blue Reverb, The John Cohen Experimental and The Colour Surround play a free showcase at Zaphod's.

Time keeps on trippin'

Eric's Trip played their last show in Moncton in 1996. Well okay, there was that reunion gig in 2001, and apparently they're still not done. Rick White and Julie Doiron have been making reputations for themselves post-Trip, and Mark Gaudet and Chris Thompson have also kept themselves busy, so it was little stretch for the band got back together to play on a trio of songs on Doiron's latest album, Woke Myself Up. They decided a mini-tour was in order, and a handful of dates was the result. They still have a Pop Montreal show on Sunday and a couple of East Coast dates later in October to go. Anyway, they did it up right, and with the exception of the lighting guy overdoing it a tad, it was a fine way to revisit fuzzy indie rock memories of the early 1990s.

First up were Blue Heeler; you may recall Dick Morello performing with Julie in Shotgun and Jaybird at the Rainbow last November. Blue Heeler is the duo's new combo and sounds quite Neil Youngish to me. They'll be playing again tonight at Babylon with The Superfantastics.



Moon Socket is Chris Thompson's solo gig. Normally he plays on acoustic - I think his tunes might have worked out better that way. He reminded me a bit of Chris Page.



Rick White's new act, when he's not leading Elevator, is dubbed The Rick White Album. But really it's just Rick, doing his dreamy acoustic psychedelica.



And finally the main course, Eric's Trip. Here's Julie taking a spin on Dick Morello's guitar while Thompson (just behind her), uses her bass.



That was a lot of fun. I hope they reunite again soon.

• Show reminder: The Two-Minute Miracles, Harmonica, The Barmitzvah Brothers and Ox perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Georgie James perform at Barrymore's; Sick Fits, Garaga, and The Mercy Now rock The Dominion. The O-Town Hoedown hits Irene's with performances by The Polymorphines, The Bible All-Stars and Lefty McRighty.