Think about it

Somewhere, buried in the depths of my collection of photos, is a handful of pictures from the first time I say Do Make Say Think. They played at Babylon with If Then Do and Daydream Square, June 24, 2003. I may dig them out some time, since I don't think they ever made it online. I've seen a few of DMST's expansive membership performing with other bands (notably z'Howndz and, of course, Broken Social Scene) and they've intrigued me for the last few years. Since they were in town on a rare day off for me, I decided to check them out at Mavericks. For some reason they were initially slated to play the Capital Music Hall. That venue strikes me as a bit large for them, while Mavericks is a little small. Since Jetplanes of Abraham were the opening act, you can understand the place was packed when I showed up at 10 p.m. Unfortunately I missed almost all of Jetplanes of Abraham (it's a tradition of mine ....). Here are the remaining photos that worked out:





Not much to go on, is it? Needless to say I decided to use flash for the other photos and invite you to click on the tag below to see the other shows of theirs that I've snapped. Ahem! On to Do Make Say Think. I'm not sure who everyone is, but I can identify most of the regular few.

Here's Ohad Benchentrit.



Julie Penner shows up with an awful lot of bands; she was here with Hylozoists as well. If this keeps up I'm going to give her her own tag. Justin Small is just behind her.



Dave Mitchell on drums. His co-drummer James Payment is just beyond him, while Charles Spearin takes a spin on bass.



(Head-scratching noises here.)



More doing, making, saying and thinking! Not in that order though.









Big tambourine-rattling finish!



That was fun, even if I don't feel a particular need to see them more than once every five years or so.

• Show reminder: Ladymilk, Good2Go and The Bible All Stars rock at Irene's Pub; Farewell to Freeway, Kincaide and Hide Yourself Away perform at End Hits. The Most Serene Republic, Dragonette and Mother Mother play at Zaphod's. The Golden Dogs, Major Grange and The 6ixty 8ights rock at Mavericks.
  

The Morocco connection

Tangiers sounds like the product of many late nights listening to Wire, New Order and Television records. They had a few highly touted records and were the buzz band du jour for a little while in 2003 thanks to their highly tipped Hot New Spirits. They had a solid second album in Never Bring You Pleasure but things went a wee bit sour around the same time they underwent a divisive lineup shift. Still a solid band, featuring Shelton Deverell of Zoundz, along with Josh Reichmann and James Sayce. Jon McCann, who did a stint in Guided By Voices, joined on as drummer.

Here's three-quarters of the band ...



And bassist James Sayce makes four.



Shelton in red.



Some tippy-tappy drumming.



Josh and his tattoo of whatever-the-heck-that-is.



Some singalong action.



I liked them, but I can't say I remember any of their songs a few days after the event..

Achoo!

Gesundheit! Not just a blessing, but the name of one of Canada's strangest heavy metal bands. You thought those guys with bagpipes were odd? These guys have a trumpet. And it's a trumpet played Brian Cram so you know it's stranger than most. Along with Sarah Montgomery, Jason Clark and his z'Howndz-mate Jimmy P. Lightning, they turn out some shred'n'Sabbath dirges. With lyrics about economics and the lifespan of the bluebottle fly, to name but two subjects, you know we aren't talking about Slipknot here.

Mr. Cram and his heavy-metal appropriate black leather pants.



Jimmy just doing his own thing.



Sarah. Three-pickup SGs must be the epitome of cool.



Jason. B.C. Rich guitar and lots of hair! I believe his metal credentials are in order!




Brian eats the microphone.



Sarah and Jimmy.



Dual guitar action. I probably should have stood further away for this picture, but it's Irene's, so what can you do.



Aaaaaaaaah!



The performance was definitely something out of the ordinary.

• Show reminder: I'm quite enamoured of For The Mathematics' new album. They share the Club SAW stage with Eppiphane, Red Label, For Every Fall, Roni Gellert tonight.

z'Howndz of Love

After The Golden Famile warmed things up nicely z'Howndz came out and delivered another superior blast of art-damaged rock'n'roll to an undersized audience. As good as they sounded at Irene's, Zaphod's sound system is a bit more powerful than the Glebe pub's, and it's no insult to say that the band sounded much better on this occasion - particularly if you like a lot of low end.

Guitarist and singer Ryder Graham.



Brian Cram had some fun dedicating songs Jane and Julie to the "girl upstairs ... it's her last night ... she's moving to Vancouver/Montreal ..." (for those of you unfamiliar with the venue, the strip club Bare Fax is above Zaphod's). Here he directs some trumpet at keyboardist Shelton Deverell.



Drummer James Payment.



Guitarist Benjamin Boles slip-slides away.



... and gets a little help from Cram.



Deverell sings The Living Daylights.



In action!



I sincerely hope they're third-time lucky when they come back to Ottawa next, because they haven't had nearly the audience they deserve at either gig (at least in terms of quantity; quality-wise you couldn't ask for a nicer dozen people ...).

• Show reminder: Not much going on. Please return to your homes and stay there quietly until further notice. Okay, there's a show at Club SAW with The Loved Ones, Sack Lunch and The Love Machine, but I'm too old and grumpy for that kind of stuff. Plus I work too late.
  

Release the z'Howndz

Toronto's z'Howndz is composed of members of Tetrezene, a Do Make Say Thinker and someone from Tangiers (the band, not the city ... but why not both?). From the chatter I gather the band is supposed to be a busman's holiday from art rock ... a chance to get down'n'sleazy. Really, they make me think of early 1970s Cleveland band The Mirrors (live, anyway; their disc left me a little chilled).

Ryder Graham, the man with the sparkly Gretsch guitar (and in Tetrezene lap steel).



Benjamin Boles, the man with the less sparkly guitar, until he broke a string and borrowed Ryder's.



The band was joined by Brian Cram (of GUH, Gesundheit, Bug Night, Do Make Say Think, Mike Hopkin's Formula, Justin Small's Someone Is Flying, David Clark's Woodchoppers Association, and probably a zillion other things) on trumpet. He had a lot of fun stalking around the stage with his radio remote unit.



James Payment (Do Make Say Think) keeps the beat.



Shelten Deverell of Tangiers boogies mightily on the keys. No photo can accurately capture his shaking and bobbing.



"Hello, my name is Brian and I'll be your trumpeter for tonight." Richard, two Karens (I believe the lady at back was with the band), Mark - a.k.a. Jake Heartbreak of The Weapons of Mass Seduction - with his recently cropped top, and, reflected in the mirror, my own be-denimed self.



And the semi-obligatory band shot.



A small audience, but everyone agreed it was something a bit different, and good.

• Show reminder: Jesus Mullet, Agriculture Club, The Mighty Eagle Band and Layiterslayit play at Zaphod's tonight - and it's free. Hurray!