The sharp end

Knives for Kids have been around for a while: I've seen their name on many a bill but haven't had a chance to see them live before this September 2011 gig at the Clocktower.

Violin action!



Smokey Matt "Spag" Collins action! Spag is of course also known for playing bass with Big Jeezus Truck.



Blue-ish action!



More bass, with Dave “Snake” de Bruijn!



Chris Seibel hits!



They had their own fiery lightshow going as well.



Extra Spag!



Pointy guitar action!



Rhythm section action!



The whole lot!



The shouty bit!



Extra Snake!



More Chris!



What they're up to next I know not.

• Show reminder: The House of Targ is invaded by The Skip Jensen Group, BrainSize61, DaggerEyes and PartyKnives; The Wooden Sky and Great Bloomers perform at Ritual; Hearts & Mines, The Rikers, Poor Young Things and Arms Of The Girl play Zaphod's; Tim's Myth and The 444's are at the Rainbow; Johnny Mac and Heather lay it down for a live album at Irene's; the Elmdale hosts Jimmy George Jr. (that is, some but not all of Jimmy George) and Hippie Campfire. Social Butterfly flutters into the Avant-Garde.

To the moon!

Next up at the Clocktower were The Glorious Moonrockets. This was my first sighting of the band fronted by Chris landry, also of The Train Jumpers. The Moonrockets are Landry and Co.'s rock outlet, like his previous combo, Harvey Cartel.

Feedback action!



Rhythm section action with Erik and Dave!



Chris sings!



Drumming action!



Faceoff action!



Back-to-back action!



Guitar-raising action!



Grimacing action!



The whole lot!



More faceoff action!



Dave hits!



The band is down to just Dave and Chris now; the band released a self-titled EP which you can obtain at their Facebook home.

• Show reminder: Mark Bragg, The Mnemonics and Chris Page rock Zaphod's; The Creepshow, Machine Gun Dolly, The Reverb Syndicate and Brain Damage play Mavericks; Sadie Hell, Male Nurse and Black Dogs are part of the Doldrums Winter Music Festival Songwriters Circle at Raw Sugar. The Elmdale hosts Blake Walters,  Lauren Mann & The Fairly Odd Folk and Neil Gerster. Northlander holds forth at the Avant-Garde Bar.

Well grounded

Midway through September I went to the Clocktower Pub's downstairs room - conveniently dubbed The Downstairs Club - for a night of power trios. The first band up was On Better Ground, who I would guess like that modern alt-rock sound - Foo Fighters and suchlike.

Jamie Gray handles the low end,  Steve Tozzi rocks the axe.



Steve sings!



The blue mood of Jamie.



Drummer Mike Iskawow makes three.



Extra Steve!



Sorry, no good photos of Mike (apart from the one I used post-show in September).

• Show reminder: Monomyth and Haunted Homes play Raw Sugar Cafe; YACHT and Silken Laumann move your feet at Ritual; Hind Legs, The Johnnies, Special Costello, and Nick Everett & Anybody rock Zaphod's; Hot Jupiter is at the Rainbow; The League of Rock invades the Elmdale.

Think cheerful thoughts

An SSRI is a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors - they're used as antidepressants. As it turns out, SSRIs the oft-touring Vancouver band can also cheer people up. Elliot Langford, Joseph Hirabayashi, Kevin Romain and Aaron McKinney fill out the combo.

Elliot Langford rocks the keyboards.



Rhythm section action with drummer Kevin and bassist Aaron!



Joseph sings!



Headbanging action!



Adjustments are made!



Guitar action!



More bass!



Elliott sings!



The whole lot!



Fisheye action!



And so on.



Kevin hits!



Singalong action!



More keyboard!



Running around!



Aaron sings!




They have a new (well, four weeks old) video for Clay Face, Meat Boots out.

• Show reminder: Monkey Majik play an already sold-out show at Zaphod's; Cinematic, whoever or whatever that may be, is at The Rainbow.

Make it a double

My travellings yesterday took me to Raw Sugar for a double bill featuring local folk artist Landon A.R. Coleman and Dirty Projectors member Nat Baldwin. I'm not sure what kind of crowd was expected on a Sunday night for two performers not on a whole lot of folks' radar screens, but the cafe was pretty well-packed. I got there late and watched most of Coleman's set from near the door. As you can see he was joined by Tobias Meis. He asked if people liked Neil Young, then played Buffalo Springfield's Down To The Wire.


Landon A.R. Coleman at Raw Sugar, February 19, 2012

He also had the sister of his sister-in-law (or something like that "We share a niece" he said by way of explanation) to sing on one of the tunes.


Landon A.R. Coleman at Raw Sugar, February 19, 2012

I didn't get much closer for Nat Baldwin's set, but then conditions weren't going to be improving for photography anyway. As you'd expect from one man and a double bass, it was quite minimalist - so the  cover of Arthur Russell's A Little Lost did not come out of left field.


Nat Baldwin at Raw Sugar, February 19, 2012

"Take off your shirt!" one audience member cried as he adjusted his duds to suit the temperature. "Buy my record!" replied Nat.


Nat Baldwin at Raw Sugar, February 19, 2012

A very nice show and about the most attentive crowd I've ever seen.

• Show reminder: The Johnstones, Mean Tangerine, Hello Beautiful and Freshly Cut play Mavericks; Scally Cap Brats, Soul in Stone and Lost Youth perform at the Rainbow along with some burlesque courtesy of Bourbon & Spice,  and some blues-jazz by Chase & Gregg.

Fur and fuzz

No pictures from today's show, since I went off to the First Baptist Church to see Thee Silver Zion Memorial Orchestra. The church isn't really the sort of place I like taking pictures in (you can check out previous efforts by following the tag to see why). Although they did bring in some lights for this show, so perhaps it was an opportunity missed. Oh well! The band itself played without an opener and did I fine job of entertaining the crowd with both their music and between song question-and-answer sessions. Since this is a photoblog though, we'll just head back to Zaphod's for the furry-vested antics of StillNative back in September 2011.

Here's Patrick Steele, rocking a very 1970s still Ibanez SG clone.



Max Lalonde keeps the beat.



Blues-rocking action!



Max hits!



Patrick bends!



And so on!



Bonus Max!



Patrick sings!



The end!



Their next date in the area is at Gatineau's Le Petit Chicago April 11.

• Show reminder: Nat Baldwin and Landon A.R. Coleman perform Raw Sugar Cafe; metal mayhem descends upon Ritual with sets from Exciter, Joe Thrasher and A Darker Day. Old Stereo and Digmobile make some noise at the Rainbow;