Stick to it

In January I toddled over to Cinqhole for a diverse lineup of bands: Synthers Klapshmock, indie rockers Sleep Late, Montreal fuzz gang Barnacle and pop rockers The Thrill. Klapshmock were up first. Here's D. Squat!



Keyboard action with Oiseau Sauvage!



Klappian action!



Vocal action!



Tiny keyboard action!



On to Sleep Late; here's former Relief Maps singer Kate!



Bass and guitar action wit James and Jordanna!



Keltie (also of Bonnie Doon) hits!



More James!



Sleepy action!



 Rhythm section action!



The lights got turned down for barnacle so I indulged in some rare flash photography.



Guitar action!



Percussive action!



The whole lot!



Vocal action!



The Thrill finished the night off; they're sounding really sharp these days. Here's Mikey preparing for takeoff.



Drum and guitar action with Kieran and Nigel!



More Kieran!



Mikey sings!



Bass action with Derek!



More hair and more guitar!



Bonus Nigel!



All great stuff.

Because the night

Back in mid-June (yes, I am horribly behind schedule!) I headed over to Babylon to catch some New Swears. The band has just released a new album on Dine Alone, Night Mirror, and were celebrating its release with some help from The Thrill and Cole Sauve, who kicked things off with some hip hop action!



Drinking action!



Guest vocal action with Yashavelli!



More Cole!



And so on!



The Thrill followed with a rocking set. Here's Mikey!



Kieran hits!



Mikey sings!



Thrilling action with Derek and Mikey!



Nigel, of the pre-New Swears unit The Girlfriends was also on hand to play some guitar.



Headbanging action!



More Derek!



Extra Kieran!



New Swears finished the night, and as is usual the case, things went bonkers. To start things off, here's B.J. with special guests Spiderman and Batman!



Singalong action with Sammy!



Swearing action!



Keyboard action!



New action!



Silly string action!



And er, that's it!

SBSW: Night Three, Part One

I skipped on the second day of Side By Side Weekend so I could go and see Mdou Moctar (more on that later), but I managed to hustle over to Ottawa South for at least some of Saturday's fun. First up, Ultra Love downstairs at House of Targ. Here's Pascale!



Eric hits!



More Pascale!



Extra Eric!



Ned sings!



Rhythm section action!



Sleep Late was one next upstairs at Black Squirrel Books. Here's Kate!



Guitar action with Jordanna!



Some bass action with James and more Kate!



Keltie hits!



Jordanna sings!



Gripping action with Katie!



Rhythm section action!



Singalong action!



Crushing duo They Grieve performed at House of Targ shortly after. Here's Gary!



A shouty bit!



Electronic action with Deniz!



More Gary!



More Deniz!



The Thrill always rock the house; they were excellent as usual back at BSB. Here's Kieran!



Mikey sings!



Over-the-shoulder action with Nigel!



More Mikey!



Extra Nigel!



More Kieran!



Guitar action!



Bass action with Derek!



Even more Mikey!



Even more Nigel!



And a bit more Derek.



Botfly played a killer set at Black Squirrel Books a while back, so no wonder Anthony had the Halifax crew back for the fest. They played the Targ basement and killed it, as you'd expect. Here's Keegan!



Sean's a hard man to get an in-focus picture of, he's always jumping around.



Dewayne hits!



And so on!



Closeup action!



More Keegan!



More Sean!



Rhythm section action!



Great stuff all around!