Male call

Hamilton's own loveable chud, B.A. Johnston, came through town in mid-January for a gig at Pressed. Toledo were also on the bill, but the openign slot fell to Ottawa's Davey Quesnelle, a.k.a. Male Nurse.

Davey sings!



Davey enlightened!



Davey shouts!



Davey, as seen through a window!



And that's probably all the Davey required for now. Most recently he's been busy with big band stuff - that is, the Steve Adamyk Band and Mother's Children.

You said a bad word

I wonder, how big would Fucked Up be if Fucked Up's name weren't, well, Fucked Up? They've got a great frontman and some of the best songwriting and chops in the land. Then again, I suspect if they were much bigger than they are they wouldn't enjoy themselves nearly as much - a packed, good-sized nightclub is just about the right place to enjoy their antics. On with the show!

Damian works the crowd.



Guitar action with Mike Haliechuk!



Sandy sings!



Feedback action!



Extra Pink Eyes!



More guitar with an almost entirely obscured Josh Zucker and Ben "Lil' Bitey" Cook!



Damian doffs some duds.



Damian goes surfing!



Wrasslin' action!



Drumming action with Jonah Falco!



That was mighty fun.



They're headed off to Europe in August.

Due north

Sunday night I headed off to see Groenland and Orienteers at Mavericks. The two outfits made for a nice combination: Atmospheric pop sounds from the local crowd, orchestral tuneage from the Montreal sextet.

It's been almost four years since I last saw Orienteers. In the interim they've acquired a new bass player, Laura Greenberg, whose blurred form can be seen to the left of pedal steelworker Tom Thompson.


Orienteers at Mavericks, July 21, 2013

Ben sings!


Orienteers at Mavericks, July 21, 2013

On to Groenland; who got a great response for a decent-sized crowd. Co-founder Sabrina Halde has an excellent voice.


Groenland at Mavericks, July 21, 2013

Gabrielle Girard-Charest and Fanny C. Laurin provide the orchestral side of the pop equation.


Groenland at Mavericks, July 21, 2013

And here's some singalong action with co-founder Jean-Vivier Levesque and bassist Simon Gosselin.


Groenland at Mavericks, July 21, 2013

They've just wrapped up their Ontario mini-tour, Next stop is Osheaga on August 3.

Hello, moon

The first time I laid eyes on Daniel Woodhead and Maddy Wylde, they were performing in gleeful fuzz-pop combo Spiral Beach. They put on quite a show at Mavericks back in February of 2006, but sadly did not launch into the indie stratosphere - I think they may have come along a year or three too early. Daniel and Maddy now form the core of Moon King, and though they were a somewhat odd opener for Fucked Up, I thought they did a great job.

Daniel gets a grip.



Maddy prepares to amplify.



I believe this is the performer also known as Sexy Merlin.



Daniel shakes it!



Sorry, I didn't get the name of their keyboardist.



More Maddy!



Daniel takes a stand.



Lunar action!



They're embarking on a big North American tour with Magickal Cloudz in August and September.

Unholy ritual

I've already posted a few times about Crusades this year, so there's not much to add about this show opening for Fucked Up at Ritual in mid-January. They also played the Ottawa Explosion (a show I missed; I hear they were a big draw for out-of-towners) and that they were recording a new album in April, and that Dave and Skottie are collaborating in Black Tower (who also played the OXW). Onward!

Ready, set, go!



Jordy hits!



The shouty bit!



Skottie goes green!



Guitar-lifting action!



Headshaking action!



The whole lot!



Only photo of Dave action!



I presume there will be some album releasing going on in the not-too-distant future.

What's in a name?

Back on January 12, famed Toronto avant-punks Fucked Up brought their show to town. In tow were Spiral Beach offshoot Moon King and the more traditionally minded S.H.I.T. - locals Crusades were also on the bill. S.H.I.T. started things off with their noisy hardcore stuff.

And they're off! Brandon handles the bass.



Ryan sings!



S.H.I.T.T.Y. action1



The band has two guitarists, Warren (also of Smart Boys) and Tony - I think this is Tony ....



Jose hits!



And that's it, since I didn't take many photos.

How to get ahead

I departed from my usual musical tastes, which lie a bit off the beaten track, to check out some more mainstream stuff courtesy of a show put on by radio station The Bear 106.9  at Mavericks. Vancouver blues rockers Head of the Herd have been blowing up lately with a No. 1 single and opening for Guns'n'Roses, and their headlining gig attracted a good-sized crowd for a Wednesday night to the Rideau St. club.

First up were Cold Capital. They're a decent enough local quintet who could stand to sharpen their songwriting and stick a few more riffs in their tunes.



Bass action!



Sons of Stone, another local unit did a much better job. Apart from stepping up the presentation in some Hives-like duds, their lone axeman has some tasty fingerwork on the go.



Their vocalist also knows how to work a microphone.



Head of the Heard also put on a very solid set, featuring a few tunes fom their recorded but-not-yet released second album.



They wrapped things up with an encore performance of The Door's Roadhouse Blues, but before that keyboardist Lydia Hol got to step up to the microphone for one of their newest.



I believe they're now headed back west.

Noh wave

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan certainly draw from a diverse range of influences from the  Chinese and Japanese stage to Euro-metal, prog to no-wave. I gather from pre-show grumbings that a previous engagement at Babylon left a lot of people underwhelmed. Oh well, I thought their Zaphod's performance sounded great and was most interesting visually.

Face-painted action!



Photography rule No. 47: Always get the drummer - Alaska B. - before the other performers bring their wooden dragon on stage.



Here it comes!



And here's Ruby Kato Attwood.



I believe this is John Ancheta.



I was not well-positioned for a photo of singer and percussionist Ange Loft.



More Alaska!



Fan action!



Singalong action!



They've just wrapped up work on album No. 2.