Mother's milk

As Les Breastfeeders frontman Luc Brien pointed out during their action-packed show at Babylon Friday, it has been three years since the band last played Ottawa. Three freaking years! Considering how many instant fans they made at that show, it's a shame they didn't capitalize with a gig a few months later, but oh well! The years peeled away as the band took the stage and rocked out with the same vigour they demonstrated at that fondly remembered performance.

Here's Luc, early in the show, on his knees.



Sunny Duval, rocking out near the finish line.



Suzie McLeLove sings a funny, and possibly funicular, song.





Johnny Maldoror greets the audience.



Joe on bass. I think he's wearing the same shirt as three years ago.



I didn't quite get Luc's introduction of the drummer, so I'll just presume it's Fred Fortin.



Sunny steps up.



The whole lot!



And now ... rock action!











Johnny Maldoror got a laugh out of Luc's band introduction.



Sunny jumps! As he is wont to do.



Luc Brien gets down! As he is wont to do!





Big finish!





Now that was a real rock'n'roll show.

• Show reminder: Priestess, The Binges and Tokyo Sex Whale rock Babylon; White Cowbell Oklahoma pop back into town for a gig at Mavericks ... how are they going to fit everyone on stage? (Money Money round out the bill.) Sick Puppies, Iconoclast and The Prefect play upstairs at Cafe Dekcuf.

Nuts and bolts

Last Thursday was a good day in Ottawa: The Senators knocked off The Penguins and the weather took a turn for the bearable. And since it was a Thursday, there was Rock'n'Roll Pizza action at Babylon. Montreal's Devil's Eyes were the opener - a guitar-and-drums duo in the Bob Log III vein. I got to the club in time to see them packing up; a few minutes later The Fucking Machines walked or in Johnny Nash's case limped) on stage and tore through a heap of hardcore tunes in about a half-hour.

Nothing says hardcore quite like tie-die.



Memo to self: Turn up flash.



Singalong action with C. Vengeance.



Vino, beer.



Jackson action!



John contemplates how much noise he can make with one drumstick.



Ka-pow!



I believe the sticker on Johnny's shirt reads 2/$5. That seems a bit cheap, even for a slightly damaged bassist.



@#$!ing action!







Blistering as usual.

Urban space

Just back from witnessing three very hot sets from City of 100 Spires, Acres and People for Audio. I've seen all three bands before, Acres and People for Audio seemed much louder this time around. Not surprising in the latter case since Zaphod's sound system is a bit heftier than Irene's.

This performance by City of 100 Spires emphasized restraint on this occasion - perhaps because a new member leaves everyone else less room to run around ...



Acres rocked out - they'll be playing Zaphod's again in a month or so when they release their CD.



Last time around I described People for Audio's sound as cinematic and melancholy. They certainly turned up the volume this time around, although there were a few of meditative sections as well.



A cool show on a balmy night. And once again you'll have to tune in later if you want to see the rest of the band.

• Show reminder: Amos The Transparent, The Ethics and David Gaudet perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Rainy day music

After seeing Harvee and Sadie Hell I popped over to The Rainbow to see what I might see: In this case it was Ragni, a St. Catherines outfit centred on Brenden Fletcher and Jakub Zapotoczny. For their show at The Rainbow they were aided by guitarist Harley Card and drummer Nick Tripe. I can't say much else based on the three songs I stuck around for, though I did note their atmospheric debut EP has about the spiffiest packaging I've seen short of a mint copy of Ogden's Nut Gone Flake.



Jakub.



Brenden.



Guitarist Harley.



Drummer Nick Tripe.









"We've been to Ottawa once before ... it was raining that time too," one of them observed. I was feeling a bit soggy myself, so I decided to head home to someplace warm and dry.

• Show reminder: People For Audio, Acres and City Of A Hundred Spires perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox. The Record and CD Convention gets together at St. Anthony's Hall.
  

Jump shot

There was a tone of stuff going on last night; I elected to spend most of it in the vicinity of Rideau St. First I went to Dalhousie St. to see Elephantoms and xbxrx rip it up in the basement of End Hits. Much screaming and running about.

Someone once told me that the stage performance by the Elephantoms' singer was one of the most alarming they had witnessed. It did look painful on occasion.



xbxrx make up in running about and yelling what they miss in vowels. Plus they know how to accessorize with purple duct tape.



After the brief show (only about an hour in its entirety), I headed to Cafe DeKcuf to see some of the various limbs of the Harshey family tree shake about. The theme of this gig was that each band featured someone in the punk rock trio.

First off was bassist Larry's other band: Elbeejay is a very sharp pop-rock outfit.



Harshey singer-guitarist Jeff Martin was up next with Garaga. An excellent set of heavy rock, somewhat disrupted by a malfunctioning amp.



The Allrights (featuring Harshey drummer Jon) finished things off with some robust barroom rock with the occasional rootsy flourish.



There are a few missing band members to show, so stay tuned.

It came from Quebec

Les Breastfeeders and Xavier Cafeine make a great double bill - who doesn't like milk with their coffee? Unfortunately I missed the opening performance by Cafeine and Co. since I worked to 10:15 and had to make a 45-minute bike ride home. Even more unfortunate the show was $18. This is more than I'm willing to pay for most bands (and to be frank, I've seen bigger name acts play for less). Nonetheless, having seen Les Breastfeeders open for Le Nombre a few years back at The Dominion I figured I would regret missing the show more than I would regret spending $18, and it was indeed a kick ass performance.

Magnifique!



The view from the other side of the stage ...



Plus jumping!



Nice way to kick off a busy weekend!

• Show reminder: xbxrx and Elephantoms perform at End Hits; The Wooden Stars and Tusks play Babylon; Emm Gryner and Royal Wood perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Garaga, The Allr!ghts and Elbeejay do it together at Cafe DeKcuf; Muffler Crunch, Power Farm and Mississippi Grover duke it out at Irene's; and at the NAC' Fourth Stage you'll find more Quebec Scene action with Torngat.