Keep running

As is often the case these days, I headed over to House of Targ last Saturday. In addition to headliners Saint Clare, there were a couple of bands I hadn't heard before: Ballad Fiasco and Run Coyote. The former hail from Brockville, the latter from Kingston and London. Like Saint Clare Run Coyote has a lot of old school rock'n'roll in their DNA, while Ballad Fiasco hews closer to a 1990s indie rock sound (think The Wrens and you won't be too far off). They were up first, and brought some appropriately political holler to the stage. First off, here's Brad Sheffield on keys. He's not a regular Balladeer; last time I saw him was at the 2012 edition of Bluesfest, performing with Loon Choir.



Here's guitarist Mark Leblanc and singer Derek Atkinson.



Derek sings! Bassist Peter LeClair is at right.



Adam Running hits!



More Derek!



Extra Peter!



More Mark!



Singalong action!



Bonus Brad!



On to the bolo-tie aficionados of Run Coyote, whose taste in music is located somewhere around Link Wray's Rumble (which they covered). Here's Jake Allen - usually he plays guitar, but he's switched over to bass since their regular fourth is unavailable.



Gripping action with Sam Allen!



The whole lot, with Jeremy Ramos-Foley on drums!



Faceoff action!



Jeremy hits!



More Sam!



Guitar-lifting action!



Jake gets in some guitar time.



Backing vocal action!



Saint Clare have wrapped up their full length Moving On, and had it on hand for this show. Here's mainman Matthew, bassist Daniel and guitarist Richard.



Reedy and brassy action with Morgan and Nick!



Extra Daniel and Richard!



Extra trombone!



Saintly action!



Sunglassed action!



Richard sings one!



Microphone-sharing action!



A very rocking evening.

Metal is a four-letter word

Ottawa grindcore heavyweights Fuck The Facts have a new, self-released album out, Desire Will Rot, and have been touring all over in support (they just wrapped up a quick trip through the east and Quebec Monday night). Also on hand, Quebec's Fistfuck (I'm guessing there wasn't a lot of TV and radio promo for this show) and Ottawa's Cruel Fate, who started things off with some Entombed-style sounds. Other than that, I can't say I know much about the band ....



Growly action!



Guitar action!



Cruel action!



Their drummer seemed like a cheerful fellow.



More rhythm section action!



On to Fistfuck. The Quebec City grinders have seen members come and go (all at once, on one occasion), but have settled down lately. Here's some percussive action from drummer Marcel.



SteveJonk runs about!



Guitar action from Dero (I think)!



Fuzzy bass action with Seb (not Crocko, as an original version of the post stated)!



Extra Marcel!



More Seb and Steve!



Extra Seb!



Fuck The Facts ended the night with a crushing set. Here's bassist Marc singing some (and interviewee supreme Vil on drums).



Mel sings!



Singalong action!



Extra Vil!



Topon frets!



Moshing action!



Extra Topon!



Mo' Mel!



It was loud.

Metal, metal, more metal

There was a doubleheader of heavy metal last weekend at the House of Targ. Friday took the more traditional route, with old schoolers Cauchemar, NWOBHM fans Metalian and local black metallers Black Tower. The Tower gang hit the stage first; they have just released there first album, The Secret Fire. Here's Erin between growls.



Skottie on bass.



Erin sings!



More Skottie!



Skottie sings!



Dave hits!



Extra Erin!



The shouty bit!



Feedback action!



Singalong action!



Extra Dave!



It's been a while since I saw Cauchemar live; they played a set at the old House of Targ back in 2013 while they were recording with Yogi at Meatlocker Studios. They recorded a new album earlier this year, slated for a release in 2016. The Targ crowd got to hear new tunes and also check out their new drummer, Xavier. Here's Annick doing their patented tolling bell intro (no bell required).



Gripping action!



Bass-lifting action with Andres Arango!



Xavier hits!



Francois frets!



Caped action!



Headbanging, smokey action!



Gripping action!



Praise doom!



The crowd goes wild!



Extra Andres!



More smokey action with Xavier!



More keyboard!



It's no longer a surprise (if it ever was) to see Metalian play the House of Targ, and even less surprising this time around since Andres from Cauchemar is also in Metalian. This was another killer set from heavy metal's best kept secret, starting off with some Sabbath.



Percussive action!



Even more Andres!



Metallic action!



Guitar action with Steve!



Ian sings!



Tony hits!



The whole lot!



Smokey action!



Sunglassed action!



Extra Tony!



Icy and fiery action!



The whole lot!



Another dynamite show from Peterborough's finest.