Nevermind

Friday I headed over to House of Targ for some cover band action. Hervana is one of a burgeoning number of cover bands reclaiming rock'n'roll for women. Alongside outfits such as Sheezer, Lez Zeppelin, Vag Halen and Ottawa's own much-missed Misclits, the two-year-old combo is putting a new twist on the work of male artists. It was also a chance to see the new-to-me local outfit Sleepy & The Noise and old pals Trees of North America. Sleepy & The Noise play a sort of prog-inflected indie pop; here's bassist Sarah!



Serious drumming action from Kira!



Fretful action from Christian!



Christian sings!



More Kira!



More Sarah!



Singalong action!



Even more Kira!



More guitar!



On to the rootsy sounds of Trees of North America. Here's Christine singing and playing some guitar!



Guitar action with Darrell!



Patrick handles the low end!



Christine sings some more!



Scott hits!



Darrell sings!



Patrick sings!



Hervana attracted a huge crowd, and they sung along to a lot of the songs. Unfortunately there were some audio issues and as performances go, let's just say it wasn't up to the level of Sheezer. I'd like to see them perform an electric set - I suspect I'd enjoy it a lot more. It wasn't the best (photographic) performance by me, either, since I just managed to snap a few pictures while crouched in front of guitarist Michelle (Pap Smear) Turingan and Carly (Skirt Cobain) Beath. Here's Michelle!



Carly sings!



Erin (Miss Novoselic) handles the low end.



Adrian (Dave Grrl) Pasen hits!



Michelle sings!



Here's a shot of Erin from the crowd.



Extra Adrian!



Extra Erin!



Next time, I guess!

Kind of like that

On Thursday I went over to Pressed to check out a benefit show for Ottawa's Kind Space, which offers a no-pressure space to chill for folks of all types and inclinations and Algonquin College's Syd Ford Emergency Fund. It was an appropriately diverse bill, kicked off by Vow(l)s. The electronic duo were billed as Lunokhod Selector, but decided on a name change prior to their musical debut. Here's Ruth Grader, one half of the combo.



And here's Matthew, the other half.



The whole lot!



Sometimes when you use the wrong film speed you get interesting results.



Extra Ruth!



Vocal action!



Manipulative action!



Next up, the garagey sounds of Creep Wave; here's Brittany!



Kieran hits!



Derek sings!



Brittany sings!



Extra Derek!



A shouty bit!



And so on!



Even more Derek!



Even more Brittany!



Spell was left with only enough time for a couple of songs, but they used it  well.



Kai sings!



Singalong action with Allie!



Tyrin hits!



Bass action with Connor!



Guitar action!



More Marly!



The whole lot!



The benefit raised $400.

Look sharp

Last time I saw doom rockers The Sword, the old Capital was still around and they were on tour with fellow Austinites ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and The Octopus Project (it was a city-focused lineup). I was mighty impressed with them then, and picked up their debut EP. I haven't been as thrilled by their latest output, but was pushed into heading out to Ritual by the presence of Royal Thunder, a band whose music I really enjoy. They put on a high energy performance opening things up. Here's former Zoroaster guitarist Will Fiore bringing some extra beard to the occasion.



Mlny Parsonz sings!



Josh Waever rocks the Yamaha.



Thunderous action!



Evan DiPrima hits!



Fringed action!



Bonus Will!



Rhythm section action!



More Josh!



Extra Evan!



On to The Sword; they played a solid set for a very enthusiastic crowd. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many metal and hard rock fans came out on a Monday night; I suppose it also goes to show that they've become a lot bigger than I thought they had. Here's frontman John Cronise.



Bryan Richie sings!



Bonus John!



Kyle sings!



Guitar action!



Extra Bryan!



Singalong action!



The Sword have gone through a couple of drummers since I saw them, Jimmy Vela is the latest.



Even more guitar action!



More Kyle!



A cool evening out.