Dog Day afternoon

Next up at the Ottawa Explosion were Dog Day. The first time I saw them they struck me as being more of an "indie" rock band than you'd expect to see at Ottawa Explosion, but stripped down to the husband-and-wife team of Seth Smith and Nancy Urich they fit in just fine.

Nancy sings!



Closeup Seth!



Singalong action!



Extra Nancy!



Further Seth!



Even more Nancy, because how often does one get a chance to take good drummer photos?



Faceoff action!



The other side of Seth.



I took a bunch of other nice shots, but let's just call this one .. the end!



A wicked set; if I didn't already own all their records I would have bought one.

Covering the bases

Back we go to the Ottawa Explosion (and I'm going to try to get a second post up today because I plumb forgot to on Saturday). On deck is First Base, the ace T.O. popsters who impressed me so at the Gaga Weekend in 2010. They're still men of mystery (in fact I keep finding my photos and videos cropping up when I search for them via the Google), but I believe I've sussed out the name of Fraser Wynne, the guitarist whose brainchild the band is.



Closeup action!



Drumming action!



Extra Fraser!



Bassist actiion!



Rhythm section action!



Extra drummer!



Club SAW's grassy sward is a nice place to chill during sets.



The end!



First Base is actually going to be back in town in just a few days time, not only performing with Ukrainia! at the House of Targ on Sept. 28, but recording with Targlord Yogi that weekend.

Waiting for liftoff

I confess, the videos of Apollo 18 I checked out before heading over to Zaphod's to catch their show last night left me a little "meh." Either I watched the wrong vids or they don't translate to Youtube, because they definitely brought the psychedelic post-rock hardcore goods to the stage. Unfortunately only about a dozen people showed up, far fewer than they deserved.

Celery Troff was tagged to open for Apollo 18; they put on a pretty raucous set and sounded very good.


Celery Troff at Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sept. 20, 2012


Celery Troff at Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sept. 20, 2012

On to Apollo 18, who come from Seoul. Although pre-show exposure to their music made me think of Japanese band Mono, I think a better comparison is Norway's Motorpsycho, who also made the hardcore-to-psyche translation. Here's Choi Hyun Seok, who plays guitar and sings,


Apollo 18 at Zaphod Beeblebrox, September 20, 2012

Kim Dae Inn plays the bass and also sings, while Lee Sang Yun drums.


Apollo 18 at Zaphod Beeblebrox, September 20, 2012

An excellent show all-round.

Snow and sand

It looks like we're living in the era of the Beach band. Apart from famous precedent The Beach Boys (and local combo, the sadly defunct Beach Blankets), we've currently got Dirty Beaches, Beach Fossils and Beach House traipsing the globe. You can add to the list Beach Day, a trio from Hollywood, Fla. Opening for them was WinterHunt, a local band with a fondness for the British 1980s music scene. They played an original tune sandwiched between covers of The Cure's A Forest and Love Song, plus Bauhaus' Hollow Hills and Echo & The Bunnymen's Killing Moon.

Unfortunately they were performing under less than optimal circumstances since lead singer Ben Timmins was forced to head back to his native Australia due to a family medical emergency. Here's singer Neige Farmer and guitarist Greg Erickson.



Mogwai enthusiast Jay fills out the low end.



On to Beach Day. Their sound should suit fans of The Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast. Here's drummer Skyler Black.



And Danelectro-loving frontwoman Kimmy Drake (bassist Natalie Smallish rounds out the trio).



A fine set for a small but noisy audience.

Still in Hollywood

So on sunny Saturday, June 16, I leapt from my bed with youthful vigour ... okay, stumbled gamely .. well, would you believe crawled? Suffice to say Friday's Ottawa Exploding did I fine job of sapping my reserves, and Saturday almost knocked me flat. But I persevered! Mostly because there was a few bands rocking out at Club SAW of which I knew nothing. There was also a bunch of cool stuff going on at the House of Targ, but really I needed a venue where I could sit and/or lie down. First band of the day for me was Hollywood, a greasy rock'n'roll combo from Baltimore.

Hitting! Howling! Bassing!



Singalong action!



The whole hairy lot!



More shouting!



More hitting!



Guitar action!



Rhythm section action!



Closeup action!



The end!



They rocked most excellently, so I bought their records! They appear to have a new one, at least on their Bandcamp ...

Nocturnal emissions

Down the stairs again for the last time Friday for the last show of the evening (barring any house-partying, of which I suspect there was some) for a hot set by The Night Birds. This Brooklyn-New Jersey combo come from the short sharp shock school of greased up surf punk. Actually they may be the only graduates. You can hear a bit of West Coast, a la Gears, TSOL and Angry Samoans and a bit of the East Coast, namely The Misfits. (vocals), (bass),

PJ Russo is a relatively new addition on guitar.



The mighty rhythm section features Ryan McHale on drums and Joe Keller on bass.



And on vocals we've got Brian Gorsegner.



Bass action!



Jump around!



McHale hits!



Singalong action with random audience member Davey!



Shadowy action!



The crowd goes wild!



A great capper to the evening.

Nervous reaction

One thing you can say about the Ottawa Explosion, it's good exercise running up and down the stairs between sets. And there was good reason to zip up to Cafe DeKcuf to see The Nervosas. The Columbus crew started around June 2011, apparently as a combo called Witches of Kelso and something like The Marked Men with a bit of early Talking Heads blended in.

Nick Schuld hits! Jeff Kleinman sings!



Mickey Mocnik fills out the trio on guitar and also kicking in some vocals.



Nervous action!



Jeff handles the low end.



 Nick show his love for high-brow cinema.



The whole lot!



Mickey sings!



Fisheyed drumming action!



Rocking action!



The end!



A smashing set too. Their equally cool records are available (name your price style) at Bandcamp.