Prodigal sons

Back in July I went to the House of Targ to check out C'mon frontman Ian Blurton's new band, Public Animal, and was duly blown away. When I heard they were returning to town for a show at the Dominion Tavern I naturally decided to go see them again, along with local lights Big Dick and Mass, a band with a bunch of local expats now stationed in Toronto.

Mass took the stage first. The band features local scene vets Mike Laderoute (Robot Kill City, Van Johnson) and Steve Lam (Black Actors). Here he is at right, with bassist Mark.



Ex-Black Actor Steve Lam and Andrew Butko (of Disgruntled, Van Johnson and others - though the only time he's appeared on the blog has been playing guitar in Nick Gaetano's country combo).



Andrew hits!



Mark sings!



Mike sings!



Extra Steve!



Rhythm section action!



More Mike!



The whole lot!



A fine exhibition .. then it was on to some former bandmates, Big Dick ...

Ladies night out, Part I

On Friday, Aug. 12, I went to the Ladyfest Fundraiser at Mavericks. The place was pretty full, which ruled out taking any shots of the first band, Searching For Chin. I missed The Wolfnote, who came and went before I arrived.
SFC sounded pretty good, though it was more of the screaming post-rock influenced punk music that I'm not too fond of.
The Van Johnson came on and had a bit of a mini-disaster when the bass player broke a string. They didn't really pick up momentum, screaming their way through a few more songs before they had to make way for The Million Dollar Marxists. I'll have to see them again before I can pass fair judgment. Here's the limited photographic evidence (not counting a picture of the bassist's feet and the side of somebody's head ...): The band's guitarist and the bassist-singer (not necessarily in that order).





They were pretty active on stage though, which is always nice. I'll have to grab a few shots of the drummer and second guitarist next time they play ...

• Show reminder: Guelph's Barmitzvah Brothers, Low Frequency, Pilot and Saint Bernard of Love play the Avant-Garde Bar.