National Capital Rock: Zaphod's

Showing posts with label Zaphod's. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Heavy and heavenly

On Thursday I headed over to Byward Market for some heavy psychedelic sounds. I wasn't just interested in the bands - I wanted to see what had happened to the space once inhabited by Zaphod's following its takeover by The 27 Club. They've gotten ride of the elevated portions, which means it's just a straight view from back to front, and expanded the stage by a couple of feet - both good improvements.

As for the bands, things started with a standout performance by the Heavy Medicine Band. Here's Keturah!

Robert frets!

Candlelit action with Chris!

More Keturah!

Bass action with Sean!

More guitar!

Heavy action!

More Chris!

More Sean!

Onionface followed them with some heavy sounds of their own. Here's Calvin!

Guitar action with Stefan!

More Calvin!

Stefan sings!

Jon hits!

Hair-tossing action!

More Stefan!

Even more Calvin!

Singalong action!

Bonus Stefan!

The whole hairy lot!

Dead Heavens formed in 2014 out of Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand guitarist Walter Schreifel's live band, and features a bunch of NYC scene players. Here's Nathan, former live bassist for Cults.

Walter sings!

Guitar action with Paul (of White Zombie, among others).

Deadly action!

Heavenly action!

Bendy action!

Drew (formerly of Youth of Today) hits!

Feedback action!

And so on!

Solid sets from everyone, but I confess I found the local combos more entertaining.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Past and Present

It looks like the early week is the new end of the week: After my Monday visit to Targ, on Tuesday I went over to Zaphod's to check out long-running British pop combo The Wedding Present. I didn't pay them much attention back in their early-1990s heyday (I've got an ancient copy of Seamonsters lurking somewhere in a closet), but after Gedges restarted the project in 2004 and I got some review copies I began to check them out more thoroughly. A small and sensibly shod crowd turned out for their set and for a fine performance from Colleen Green, who has gone full band since I saw her last at Ottawa Explosion. (You can check my Flickr stream for photos of those aforementioned band members; for some reason at publication time I can't get them to appear as they should in the post.)

More Colleen, plus some rhythm section action!

Bass action!

Percussive action!

Even more Colleen!

Even more extra Colleen!

On to the Weddoes; they played a fine selection of tunes from their extensive back catalogue as well as stuff from their latest, Going, Going ... Here's David and bassist Danielle!

The Wedding Present at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Guitar action with Marcus!

More David!

Percussive action with Charles!

Wedding action!

Rhythm section action with Danielle!

More guitar!

Danielle sings! And also provides the traditional Wedding Present fact of the day.

Crowded action!

Dual percussive action!

And finally some more gripping action!

Great tunes, new and old.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Swearing up a storm

Last Saturday I headed over to Zaphod's for a sold-out New Swears show. It's been far too long since I caught Ottawa's wildest live act in action - more than three years! - so I was definitely looking forward to it. Opening acts Puffs and NOBRO also definitely rose to the occasion. Here's Puffs bassist Connor, seen just last post performing with Spell.

Percussive action!

Vocal action!

Bass action!

Guitar action!

And so on!

Rhythm section action!

Faceoff action!

NOBRO put on a fantastic ste; judging by post-show chatter they won a lot of new fans with their amped-up 1970s rock sound. They reminded me a bit of late-era Royal Trux, particularly bassist Kathryn's vocals. Here she is with guitarist Marianna, raising a ruckus.

Kathryn sings!

More guitar!

Sarah hits!

The shouty bit!

Impressionistic action!

The whole lot!

Extra Sarah!

Marianna sings!

When The New Swears start playing, the audience usually goes nuts immediately. I got a spot in the front right off the bat and spent most of the evening squashed up against the wall. Here's some guitar action with Sammy!