The first act of Friday night at Ottawa Explosion was to have been Shell Shag but their van had a spot of trouble en route so Mike Krol stepped in to kick things off. Mike recruited well-known local rockers Davey, Steve, Johhny O and Pat and to bring his fuzzed-out tunes to life.
Rhythm section action with Johnny and Pat!
Masked action with Davey!
Adjusting action!
Tongued action!
Extra Pat!
Mike works the crowd!
Steve frets!
Tambourine action!
The whole lot!
More Mike and Pat!
Extra adjusting!
Vacation has made four trips to the Explosion from Ohio and played a couple of sets as well; this was their first. Here's soem guitar action with John!
Last time I saw Vacation at the Explosion in 2013, Jerri was singing and playing the drums. He's moved up front since their last Explosion set.
Closeup action!
Jumping action!
Dylan hits!
Rhythm section action with Evan!
And more jumping!
Dylan sings!
The crowd goes wild!
Vacation action!
Back-to-back action!
Vancouver's The Drearies were on the inside stage; guitarist Penny Clark has played plenty of shows in Ottawa as part of Tough Age and Century Palm, but I'm not sure who else is in the band.
More guitar!
Bass action!
Percussive action!
The whole lot!
Extra Penny!
Rhythm section action!
More drumming!
Closeup action!
Penny jumps around!
Penny works the crowd!
The end!
The music went back outside with Brooklyn's Worriers, which are fronted by Lauren Denitzio, formerly of The Measures and a revolving cast of backing musicians including Mikey Erg. Here's Lauren!
Alex handles the low end.
Singalong action with Lou!
Extra Lou!
More Lauren!
Extra Alex!
Mikey hits!
Closeup action!
Feedback action!
I headed back inside for a quick dose of Strange Attractor.
Mitch hits!
Jeff sings!
Eric frets! Not sure who their bass player is these days!
Rhythm section action!
More Mitch!
Extra Eric!
More Jeff!
The outside sets came to a close with a blistering set from New Jersey's Screaming Females. Here's Marissa Paternoster, absolutely destroying on guitar (as usual).
Heated action with Mike!
Jarrett hits!
Monitor-standing action!
Closeup action!
Guitar action!
More Mike!
More Jarrett!
Extra Marissa!
Faceoff action!
The it was off to the Dominion Tavern for more of the same.
