Departmental matters

The Department of Foreign Affairs started their set with a very catchy blast of power pop. They hit the ground running - I thought they sounded much better than at their Barrymore's set, but I always did prefer a smaller room (or maybe they're sharp after touring) .

Last time I posted stuff about the Department of Foreign Affairs, I admitted some confusion about who was who guitar-wise (and also flopped Brennan Pilkington's picture). Having consulted with the Department directly, I can now confirm that this is indeed Brennan, and he is indeed the right way 'round.



And this is definitely Rob Skitmore, enjoying the natural light goodness. Also the right way around.



Bassist Chris Teasdale shows his allegiance to the Atlanta Braves (oops, as a comment noted, it's actually the Cleveland Indians). At Barrymore's he was sporting a Buffalo Sabres jersey ... I'm sure there's a rational explanation for his choice of teams, yet I can't think of one ... (post-comment ... nope, I still can't understand it).



Mostly all together ... I failed to get any good pictures of Kosta McKay ... such is the drummer's life. Joe Skuce, centre, on congas.



Their next Ottawa show is June 25 at Zaphod's.

Changelings

The Diableros were the other band who opened for Department of Foreign Affairs April 2 ... I admit, I went to Irene's mostly for the purpose of checking them out. They did not disappoint - apart from playing a regrettably short set. The band has been compared to mid-80s Brit bands like Echo and The Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain and The Wedding Present, all of which I can hear, though the comparisons only go so far. Live I thought they had a bit of a Modern Lovers sound as well.

Pete Carmichael. He also plays guitar in Another Blue Door, who are on the fine Stinky label.



Guitarist Ian Jackson of Airfield, who has replaced Paul Watling.



Michael K. Newton fills in for Tara Huk.



Bassist Tyson Asher, looking less mobile than he actually was.



Drummer Phoebe Lee.



And mostly all together. Darn that Irene's pole.



Thanks to Pete for the Who's Who.

• Show reminder: The Million Dollar Marxists return to Babylon tonight, where they open for the Turbo AC's. Long Timers and Mighty Eagle Band share the bill.

Cautionary tale

The Caution Press opened for The Diableros and Department of Foreign Affairs. They did a pretty good job (and went over well), but weren't really my cup of tea ... well at least the pictures turned out okay, if I do say so myself. These guys don't have much of a web presence yet, so all I know so far is that one of them is named "Ben Mullin."

Maybe it's this guy ...



No, wait ... maybe him?



I suppose it could be either of these guys .... There was fair amount of instrument switching between the guitarist, bassist and keyboardist.



Ben?



Well, isn't there a little Ben Mullin in all of us? Okay, maybe not. Needless to say anyone who wants to put names to faces, drop me a comment ...

• Breaking news: The Telepathic Butterflies will play at Zaphod's April 30. They played a fine show at Irene's last time they were in town - I'm keen to see them again. No word yet on an opening act, but apparently Eugene and Co., are taking suggestions ....
  
• Show reminder: If you're in the mood for punk and in Barrhaven (an unusual combination, I grant you) the Botched Suicides, the Rookers, the Sewer Rats and the Sweet Janes are playing Greenfield's Pub tonight.

Eternal Return

More Black Boot Trio photos, in preparation for their upcoming gig at The Rainbow April 15. These are pictures from their Bluesfest 2004 show.

Steffany Bennett, in one of the few pictures of her when you can see more than a lot of swirling hair and drumsticks ...



Steve Fai models the man in black look.



Geoff "Big Daddy" Taylor walks the walk.



I, for one, feel very prepared.

• Show reminders: Tonight The High Dials, The Glads and The Hitmakers play Zaphods, while BigJeezusTruck has a CD release party with Toronto's Red Light Rippers at Barrymore's. Those with more upscale tastes (and transportation) can go to Wakefield and catch Rock Plaza Central, Nathan Coles Outfit and Mike Feuerstack's Snailhouse at the Black Sheep Inn.

Testify!

Reverend Glasseye returns to Ottawa June 4. Last time they were in town (in early November) was for their CD EP release party. Their Appalachian gypsy music went over a charm as always.

First, let's introduce new (and vaguely new wave) vibraphonist/keyboardist and backing vocalist Wendy Emerson.



Guitarist/keyboardist/yodelist Piet Masone with his B.C. Rich prototype ("this switch is the coil tap, this switch puts the pickups out of phase ... I'm not sure what this switch does ...").



The horn section: On trumpet, Jon Wobesky; on saxophone, Kevin Corzett.



Standup bassist Dennis Maher (his brother Tim is the drummer ... sorry, no good pics of the latter).



Ladies and gentleman, I give you a testimonial! The RG6! With Adam Glasseye at full steam.



Stand back, he's gonna blow.



And The Dominion crowd (hi, Bob W. and Bill G.!).



As mentioned earlier, they'll be in town whooping it up with fellow Music For Cats Records artists Golden Famile, Weapons of Mass Seduction and Mono Hum June 4 at Babylon.

• Show reminder: If you like the Reverend, you'll probably like Elliott Brood who play at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield tonight with The Acorn.
• Dust off the bong: Stoner rock dude Brant Bjork (formerly of Kyuss and Fu Manchu) and his Bros. bring the desert to Babylon May 30.
  

None more black

Since a bunch of brain-churning psych wizards are going to be playing tonight at Babylon, here are some pictures of the brain-churning psych wizards who played there on Monday. Black Mountain put on a wicked synapse-twisting show of their heartbreak moan meets Sabbath dirge modern music.

Stephen McBean lays down the guitar mojo. His tone was awesome.



Stephen and Amber Webber. Everyone in the band sings, which is a major plus for any group.



Amber keeps her eye on the gourd.



Matt Camirand. When I saw him on stage, my first thought was "I recognize those tattoos ... that guy was in the Black Halos!" Seems like a dog's age since they played at Lucky Ron's (or was it the Hi-Fi then?) with the Murder City Devils. He's a local guy: "I have family here tonight ..."



Joshua Wells drums, sings, plays some organ, modulates some frequencies. Sometimes all at once.



The gang's all here! Well, four-fifths of the gang, anyway. Jeremy Schmidt had to stay home, I guess.



All that mind melting goodness brings me too ...

• Show reminders: Gris Gris with the Golden Famile at Babylon. It's a CD release show for the Famile, and Greg Ashley of GG is a Texas-California psych genius, so go see 'em, damn it! If that isn't to your fancy (freak), there's also the eminently entertaining Elliott Brood at Irene's Pub with The Acorn. Also: Raising the Fawn and A Northern Chorus are playing at Zaphod's; Damon and Naomi were supposed to be on the bill, but seem to have slipped off (I could be wrong).

Sigh. Well, Gris Gris came all the way from Oakland, CA, so that's where I'll be ... but I'll travel over the city - in spirit, y'know.

• Good2Go, in addition to playing April 22 at Zaphod's with The Tradeoff, will be doing a show May 7 with The G-Men, four-stroke and The Bella Bombs at Irene's Pub. The G-Men have some Armed and Hammered guys in them. The BBs say they'll be announcing their new drummer "any day now", so perhaps this will be her (I'm guessing) debut. But wait! There's more! G2G also have shows at the Rainbow Bistro May 14, and will return to Irene's June 4.
  

Harshey the Crow

There used to be a few more pictures of Harshey at Irene's in March here (their show with The Setbacks and Four'n'Giv'r. A great rocking time from all three bands). Now there aren't, because they've been replicated a month or so in the future. During the initial post, it also mentioned an upcoming gig at the University of Ottawa's Agora/University Club Lounge with Blacksheep, Last Voice Heard and Blackball April 9. If memory serves, it fell through, but since this is being updated December 1, 2007, I wouldn't depend on it.

• Show reminder: Tonight the Double Pumpers and The Hi Lo Trons play Barrymore's (some kind of Tulip Fest announcement, I gather).
  

Peak experience

Things I learned at the Black Mountain show:

• Howe Gelb will be playing at Babylon April 22 "with friends."
  
• The Banditas always start their set about a half hour earlier than I expect. Yes, I missed them again. Also they have a record coming out sometime.
• Crystal Skulls are not some drugged out West Coast freakanauts, but a less fey Postcard style band - a more muscular Orange Juice, if you will.
• Black Mountain are drugged-out West Coast freakanauts, and rock like nobody's business.
• We are - all of us - hereby ordered by Jon Bartlett and Matt Camirand (ex-Black Haloes, now with Black Mountain) to attend a show by the The Doers April 19 at Babylon. Vaselines, Beat Happening, Minutemen go acoustic is the buzz I hear. Run Chico Run and Golden Seals share the bill.

All in all, it was very instructive. Good turnout for a Monday night, too. Here's a clumsily retouched picture of Howe Gelb on the Birdman Stage at the Ottawa Bluesfest 2003.



Way too many people have scheduled a show April 22. The latest are Weapons of Mass Seduction, who have a gig at Irene's with Brutal Knights, Quebexico and The Sweet Janes at Irene's Pub. Anyone who says "I have nothing to do!" on that Friday will be mercilessly flogged with a sheaf of concert tickets.

Down from the mountain

Castor expanded a few minds in the Aloha room on March 30. A great show from Dave Redford, Charlie Brooks (who, incidentally, has a pair of awesome CD-Rs out under the Carlangas name) and James, who were in rare form as they knocked out the psycho-sabbath sound from the deep dark woods of the hash-pipe mind.

Dave on Jaguar and really big pedal board.



Charlie takes a trip.



James drums, then drums evilly.



Castor and their many fans .. get it, fans? I crack myself up. That's Will Desjardins of V.E.O. modelling the latest in Castor-related hearing loss prevention gear ...



They played two sets, reminding everyone there it's a darn shame their shows come once in a blue moon.

• Show reminder: Black Mountain, The Banditas and The Crystal Skulls play Babylon tonight. Stephen McBean was excellent opening act (under the name Pink Mountaintops) for Frog Eyes and Destroyer, and his new CD as Black Mountain augurs well for tonight.
• Maximum RNR is apparently no longer playing the Cafe DeKcuf gig April 20; instead The Double Pumpers will share the bill with C'mon and Iron Giant.
  

This is Pop!

What, you were expecting Andy Partridge? Mary Pop of The Jezebels sang Louie Louie (in French) with The Weapons of Mass Seduction at the SS Cardiacs/Weapons/We're Marching on triple bill at Mavericks.



"So what are you doing tonight?"
"We're going to get high!"
"Oh, is this a cocaine night?"
"No, we're going to eat mushrooms!"
"I like a good portobello myself ... in butter ..."

Jake Heartbreak of WOMS: Guitarist, singer and buttered mushroom fancier. I have many pictures of Mark, and many of them look remarkably like this one.



The Duke lays down some riffs while Bill Baumshell conceals himself behind a carefully placed cymbal.



More Bill, in his growly phrase.



The Duke works the feedback while JH does his Cousin It impression.



They're scheduled to play with other Music For Cats people in June, but I'm sure they'll play a gig before then ... The Jezebels are on the bill with The Hidden Cameras at Barrymore's April 16. Here's a picture of them from the June 11, 2004, WOMS/Sights show at the Dominion, singing backup for The Weapons.



I don't know if their Barrymore's gig is in a punk exercise or backup singing capacity - or something else entirely ...

• The Sick Fits have emerged from hibernation! You can see them fall over, break things and play music at Zaphod's May 6 with Midnight Tramp.

Cardiac arrest

SS Cardiacs played a great set at Mavericks. They were a kind of artless duo (bassist Mike Small was MIA), but between Leon Taheny's stick-smashing drumming and Jessie Stein's distorto-guitar sounded first rate (unlike my previous grumping about the sound at Mavericks for previous shows, this time the sound was excellent). They were supposed to headline but were in a rush to get to Montreal so The Weapons of Mass Seduction finished the bill.

Jessie Stein does the knees-together move I forever associate with Elvis Costello.



Stein's singing voice is raspy yet girlish, and quite appealing, if a bit of an acquired taste.



A Taheny montage. They were in such a hurry to go he was removing the microphones from his kit as he played the last song.



I'm still fooling around with the old shutter speed, but I think that generally works better with slower film.



I'll be interested to hear what they sound like with their bassist.

• Show reminders: Tonight you can either zip over the border to Quebec and catch The Fiftymen at the Black Sheep, or cross the border into the Glebe and see The Department of Foreign Affairs at Irene's with The Diableros and Caution Press. The Weakerthans and Constantines are playing with Greenfield Main and Andrew Vincent and The Pirates at Barrymore's. If you like your stuff a little more off the beaten track, there's an earlier show at Club SAW: Buried Inside, Zombi, Expatriates, Cancer Bats - music to eat brains to, I'm sure.
  

Good to know

Let's start the day with some Good2Go pictures. I took a bunch of the band at their Irene's show, and only posted two; one of Maureen, one of Gilles. Here are some more, starting with guitarist Christian Lapensee.



Here's one of bassist Reg Allen, with Maureen Hogan adding some extra percussion.



Gilles Mantha and Maureen got rhythm.



Reg sings a song, quite probably one about beer.



And finally, more Maureen, raising the roof.



Enough navel-gazing, it's time for a bunch of new shows, starting with the abovementioned rockers:

• The Hi Lo Trons and The Double Pumpers are playing at Barrymore's April 5.
  
• Speaking of Irene's, Z'howndz from Toronto are playing there April 12 with Mono Hum. Z'howndz features James Payment from Do Make Say Think on drums. Also on board are guitarists Ryder Graham and Ben Boles (tetrezene) and Shelton Deverell (Tangiers) on keyboards. It's like a New Glue showcase band.
• The free Mighty Eagle Band/Jesus Mullet show at Zaphod's April 18 I mentioned earlier now also features appearances by hardhitting cow-rockers The Agriculture Club and Layiterslayit.
• The mighty C'mon will be rattling the floorboards in conjunction with Maximum RNR and Iron Giant at Cafe DeKcuf, April 20.
• Good2Go will play at Zaphod's with The Tradeoff April 22. Come celebrate Earth Day in the peaceful and loving environment of Haslam's club before we blow it to kingdom come - the Earth that is, not Eugene's digs.
• Also on April 22, there's a night of instrumental music with My Dad Vs. Yours, Pawa (from Montreal) and J'Envoie (who played at the Club SAW Happening) at The Roxy.
  
• The aforementioned Z'howndz are playing at Zaphod's May 4 with The Golden Famile (whose CD release show with Gris Gris you are going to on April 6, right?).
  
• Golden Famile are also playing a musically feline show June 4 at Babylon with label-mates Mono Hum, Weapons of Mass Seduction and Reverend Glasseye.
• Looking far, far ahead The Rheostatics are appearing at Babylon June 15.
• Show reminder: Ukrainia, The Empiricals and Nashi play the Black Sheep Inn tonight. Huzzay! You can also catch the Rolling Tundra review with The Weakerthans and Constantines, plus Kelp Records artists Recoilers and South of '78 at Barrymore's.