A whole new thing

Modernboys and Moderngirls have undergone a slight sound adjustment since I saw them last, slimming down to a trio and sounding a bit more sharp and spare. It's a good sound for them and I'm a little perplexed that they haven't attracted a good audience in Ottawa yet. That may change since they've shared a stage with The Balconies at Irene's a short while ago. Hopefully they'll pick up a few more fans for their upcoming show in town.

On our right we have rhythm section action with drummer Brett Millius and bouncing bassist Juan Carlos Rivera.



And on our left, mainman Akira Alemany.



Brett looks pensive.



Singalong action!



Bending action!



Brett takes a stand.



More bending!



Running about!



Walking bass action!



Akira sings!



Clapping action! Akira is smiling because this is when all the drunken dancefloor action broke out.



The whole lot!



Riser action!



Bass-tossing action!



They're back in town for an i(heart)music showcase at Cafe DeKcuf with The Allrights and Burn Planetarium on February 6.

• Show reminder: pH and Adam Saikaley perform at the Mercury Lounge; Cold Coffee and Salty Boots are at Babylon. Ray Harris and Jehan Khoorshed and His Problems are at The Rainbow Bistro.

Onward hop!

Later in the day of the Sounds Unlikely in-store appearance by You Say Party! We Say Die!, I went over to Zaphod Beeblebrox to see Sadie Hell and Modernboys Moderngirls. Sadie Hell can be seen in many permutations - indoors or outdoors, standing or sitting, solo or multitudinous. In this case it was Ben Welland solo.

Ben and a knitted backdrop.



Shouty closeup action!



In the interest of fairness, a non-shouty photo of Ben.



More yelling!



Tonsilled action!



Actually most of these photos looked kind of the same ... this one does have a lamp in it though!



Overhead action!



Anyway, not much has changed for Ben in the intervening months (apart from that Club SAW show where he released his debut record and got engaged to his girlfriend after a surprise proposal), but he does have an upcoming show at The Royal Oak (the one on Bank St. near Third Ave) on January 29. It's a benefit for Glebe fire victims along with The Murder Plans and Watters Brothers.

Post-mortem fun

It's not all late nights around here: Sometimes bands venture out into the light of day, even when there isn't a festival around to foot the bill. Here we have You Say Party! We Say Die! at  Sounds Unlikely on October 23. They were just passing through town; they came back later for a show at Babylon. 

Becky Ninkovic claps.



Krista Loewen usually has a keyboard, but sans electricity she just sang back up vocals. Devon Clifford was also relegated to hand percussion.


Becky throws some gang signage.



I decided to try out my new camera's video function. The lack of focus while shooting is a bit of a disadvantage.



The whole lot!



Derek Adam and Stephen O'Shea rock the acoustics.



Becky dance action!



Hand-puppet-mitten action!



More guitars!



Big finish!



I fear Sounds Unlikely is on its last legs, if not actually defunct (they were packing things up last time I walked in), but WSPWSD continue to parlay their electronic dance party sounds hither and yon. They're heading down into the U.S. to take advantage of the February 9 stateside release of XXXX in March.

• Show reminder:  Hearts & Mines, The Toxic Crayons and Fantastic Flow perform at the Zaphod's free showcase; Stoned Sober are at The Rainbow.
  

The sweet spot

There were plenty of options last night, but I elected to pop over to hep coffee-treats-and drinks joint Raw Sugar to see the return of The Banditas and Hot Damn!


Show poster at Raw Sugar, January 22, 2010

Raw Sugar is a nice place with its own lending library. It seems like a good place to see a folky act (which is just what's on offer tonight). And I've certainly been in worse places to see a rock band - but then I saw nice things about any venue with a low, white ceiling suitable for bouncing flash. By the way, can you tell I have a new fisheye lens?


Library and CiV's drums at Raw Sugar, January 22, 2010

Now, Hot Damn! (or is that Hot Dam?) should not be confused with Hot Damn, the Ottawa duo formerly known as At Last before some Cali kids forced them to change it (and who by coincidence played The Rainbow last night). As for Hot Damn!, they've got a jumpy rock sound, lots of nimble changes and acting out. You may recognize Matt Gagnon from Clark and on occasion The Flaps. Bryan Larosse is the other guitarist while Scott Rubino and drummer Grant McNeil fill out the rhythm section. They play once a year, but sound much sharper.


Hot Damn! at Raw Sugar, January 22, 2010

On to the Banditas. It's been going on three years since The Banditas trod the boards - the last time I caught them was July 2007, and that might have been the last time Liz, CiV and Scott played. They've been busy with other things, but finally managed to get it together for a dozen or so songs.


Banditas at Raw Sugar, January 22, 2010

Things finished off with some fret-burning action!


Banditas at Raw Sugar, January 22, 2010

They have another show booked for May with Garaga at The Dominion.

• Show reminder: Deadwalk, Sleep is for the Dead, Rising City States, Think Twice and At the Hands of Death are at Cafe Dekcuf; Del Barber performs at Raw Sugar; Butch Bouchard and Bastien Vaulties; Dig It Up, Prevenge, Year Zero and Dirty Nuns rock Tough Times, the house at 60 James Street.

Night of the living fuzz

I'm going to make this brief, since last night's Dinosaur Jr. show wrapped up around 2 p.m. and getting out of the Capital Music Hall, back home and then unloading my photos turned out to be a slow process. The show brought out a mixed audience - you could definitely tell from the amount of grey hair and young faces that the crowd was divided into the folks who heard them the first time around and their post-breakup fans.

Lou Barlow I've seen before - in fact at the time he discussed his rapprochement with his co-Dino J Mascis. He wasn't as cheerful and jokey this time around. He actually baited the crowd a bit, first breaking off a song, then saying "Sorry if I distracted you from talking ..." Then later yelling "Thanks for coming to the show!" , However, he cheerfully played a request from the audience (this time for Skull), before finishing with "one you haven't heard before."


Lou Barlow at Capital Music Hall, January 22, 2010

Next up were MV & EE. Matt Valentine and Erika Elder have a good new album out, Barn Nova, which is fairly rocking. They played Summer Magic and Get Right Church off of it, the later featuring a guest appearance by Mascis on drums.


MV & EE at Capital Music Hall, January 22, 2010

Dinosaur Jr. naturally rocked the house, or should that be, they pummelled the house flat with a massive hurricane of volume? The kids got moshing (making the security staff grumpy) You'll notice from the photo below that that isn't Murph on drums (too much hair). He was refused entry, so Kyle Spence from The Fog filled in, and did a great job. Lou jokingly thanked the crowd for turning out "after failing to get Tegan and Sara tickets."


Dinosaur Jr. at Capital Music Hall, January 22, 2010

A fine show; my only complaint is that Mascis' amplifier nook includes a case that partially blocked my view.

• Show reminder:It's Day 2 of Tegan and Sara and An Horse's Bronson Centre Theatre stand. Hemi Loco, Junkyard Dogs and The Boxcar Cadavers rock Mavericks; Madison & Fifth, Dollhouse Accessories and Look Toward the Sky play Zaphod Beeblebrox; The Banditas and Hot Damn! play Raw Sugar; Sherri Harding and The Heat perform at The Rainbow; Black Feelings, Tonstartssbandth and some mystery guests play 854 Bronson. Big Tobacco and The Pickers hit Irene's; Brothers Chaffey with opener Brendan Flynn and the Terrible Liars play the Elmdale House.

Big Red

I was weeping and gnashing my teeth Thursday because my work schedule meant I was almost guaranteed to miss Total Crush and Red Mass at the Rock'n'Roll Pizza Party. I really wanted to see Red Mass since I've been enamoured of mainman Choyce's many other projects, Les Sexareenos and The CPC Gangbangs to name but two. My admiration was only increased by the CPC Gangbang's set (even if he was stuck behind the drums) and a listen to one of the band's many, many releases. Fortunately I got a lift downtown so I had time to run over to The Atomic Rooster and check out some Grade A psychedelic monster-throb rama-lama rock and one mesh shirt (unfortunately I still missed Total Crush).


Red Mass at The Atomic Rooster, January 21, 2010

I didn't have a chance to go home and grab my Nikon, so I snapped a few pictures on the FujiFilm EXR point-and-shoot my Mom got me for Christmas. The band is in Toronto for a show today; I believe some members will also be in town as part of Black Feelings on Saturday.

• Show reminder: Doll, Knives for Kids and Blood Scream slice and dice at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Dinosaur Jr., MV & EE and Lou Barlow rock Capital Music Hall; Tegan and Sara and An Horse stage the first part of a two-night stand at the Bronson Centre Theatre; DD/MM/YYYY and Metz rock the architectural crowd at Babylon; The Jack Fiends, The Mob, Hot Sugar and The Riot Police are at Club SAW; Durians and Uprising play The Rainbow; John Allaira and Ken Workman and The Union perform at Irene's.

Great expectations

Great Bloomers are the ideal band to be paired with Kalle Mattson (or vice-versa). Both outfits take a folk-country rock base and add a wide range of college rock influences. Their list of influences on their Myspace site looks like my own record collection, though to be honest I'm not hearing a lot of Royal Trux (nice to see the name-check, though).

Lowell Sostomi, Anthony McKnight and Nate Hindle show off their love for country rock and lumberjack shirts.



Shawn Dell works the keys.

 

Blooming action!



Riser-jumping action!



Lowell frets!



Kyle Watt on drums.



Shawn sings!



Anthony sings!



Nate breaks out the lap steel.



Lowell goes acoustic.



Singalong action!



The whole lot!



Big finish!



They plan to tour out West in February and are in Montreal on Saturday.

• Show reminder: Red Mass (featuring Montreal garage rock great Choyce of Les Sexareenos and CPC Gangbangs) and Total Crush rock Atomic Rooster; illScarlett, To The Rescue and USS play Mavericks.