Scare tactics

It's Halloween, which means lots of wild'n'spooky shows around town.



You can see Boom Creek, pictured above, at Irene's with The Mighty Eagle Band (EDIT: Or not, as it emerges). Also on offer: Babylon rocks to the traditional Halloween Hardcore show with Buried Inside, Million Dollar Marxists, Outnumbered, The Rookers, I Refuse and Last Communion. Friendly Fire, The Sewer Rats, Nummies, Germ Attak! and The Valveenus play Mavericks Bar; Malajube and Julie Doiron perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox.

What's up

I've been busy, so there aren't any photos of recent shows forthcoming: Instead prepare yourself for a deluge of old stuff. I'm just going to throw this picture of Doll performing at Zaphod's up because they're playing there tonight with The Cliks. This snap hails from May 7, when they shared a bill with The Unavowed and The Mighty Eagle Band.



If that doesn't strike your fancy, RadioDazed, Minds of Madness and The Sunshine Project rock the Bytown Tavern; Tungda Browne, Rallycar and The Watters Brothers Rebellion have a gig at Mavericks. Over the river in Hull, The Brains and Oscar B. scare up some rock at Petit Chicago.

Kick the habit

If there's a band out there that deserves to be classed as "dancepunk," it's Shout Out Out Out Out. The crowd was a bit more active than they were at their last Zaphod's show, and generally more on the band's side their fandom is spreading! The Bluesfest gig may be to blame.

This is a Shout out Out Out action, so of course there's a lot of kicking.



Pointing out the rest of your band can be fun!



Look there's another one! Namely Whitey Houston, sans big furry hat.



Dual drumming action!





Knob-twiddling action.



The bass action was particularly thunderous at this gig.



Nik 7 goes down!



Finger-waggling action!



Behind the neck bass action!



Chicken Soup encore action!



A fun and sweaty time as usual.

• Show reminder: Lights Over Arkham, The Second Glance and Riot Service perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Tim Gilbertson (a nifty sounding dream-pop combo from Alberta, apparently), Fire Heats Water and The Merry Monsters play Cafe Dekcuf.

Young American

San Serac is one man, former punk rocker Nat Rabb of Candy Machine and Ink. I wasn't sure what his name meant, but after theorizing that he has no cares I subsequently came across a claim/rumour that it's actually derived from a misheard David Bowie lyric. I'm not sure if this is true or just a byproduct of the vast amount of Bowie comparisons he's accumulated. His suave 1980s electropop owes something to Bryan Ferry as well. His new album Professional was recently released on Nik and Jason of Shout Out Out Out Out's Normals Welcome label, which is one of the reasons he was on the road with them.

Drum pad action!













A good opener for SOOO: In the same vein without sounding similar.

• Show reminder: The Creepshow, The Famous Monsters and Skunch rock at Mavericks. The Rizdales and Lonesome Paul perform at Irene's. Vivek Shraya, Politique and Giant Squid March on Washington play Zaphod's.
  

Think about it

Somewhere, buried in the depths of my collection of photos, is a handful of pictures from the first time I say Do Make Say Think. They played at Babylon with If Then Do and Daydream Square, June 24, 2003. I may dig them out some time, since I don't think they ever made it online. I've seen a few of DMST's expansive membership performing with other bands (notably z'Howndz and, of course, Broken Social Scene) and they've intrigued me for the last few years. Since they were in town on a rare day off for me, I decided to check them out at Mavericks. For some reason they were initially slated to play the Capital Music Hall. That venue strikes me as a bit large for them, while Mavericks is a little small. Since Jetplanes of Abraham were the opening act, you can understand the place was packed when I showed up at 10 p.m. Unfortunately I missed almost all of Jetplanes of Abraham (it's a tradition of mine ....). Here are the remaining photos that worked out:





Not much to go on, is it? Needless to say I decided to use flash for the other photos and invite you to click on the tag below to see the other shows of theirs that I've snapped. Ahem! On to Do Make Say Think. I'm not sure who everyone is, but I can identify most of the regular few.

Here's Ohad Benchentrit.



Julie Penner shows up with an awful lot of bands; she was here with Hylozoists as well. If this keeps up I'm going to give her her own tag. Justin Small is just behind her.



Dave Mitchell on drums. His co-drummer James Payment is just beyond him, while Charles Spearin takes a spin on bass.



(Head-scratching noises here.)



More doing, making, saying and thinking! Not in that order though.









Big tambourine-rattling finish!



That was fun, even if I don't feel a particular need to see them more than once every five years or so.

• Show reminder: Ladymilk, Good2Go and The Bible All Stars rock at Irene's Pub; Farewell to Freeway, Kincaide and Hide Yourself Away perform at End Hits. The Most Serene Republic, Dragonette and Mother Mother play at Zaphod's. The Golden Dogs, Major Grange and The 6ixty 8ights rock at Mavericks.
  

The perfect prescription

Many years ago I read a fulsome review of Chisel's Set You Free in a semi-glossy music magazine. I think it was pre-rubbish AP, and since the album came out in 1997 it stands to reason this would be about a decade ago. Soon after Chisel broke up, but there was soon new that singer and guitarist Ted Leo was soldiering on. His first solo Cd got mixed reviews, but his next, Tyranny of Distance got raves all around. Even better, the man himself came to town, playing a pair of sets at Bumpers. Since then I've seen him at Babylon and just recently at Barrymore's. Ted was his usual witty self, both musically and in-between tunes.

Ted, really concentrating.



French Toast fellow James Canty adds some six-string muscle.



The ever-smiley Chris Wilson.



On previous gigs Ted's been accompanied by bassist, he of the wild mop and dazed expression. He left the band just a few months before this gig, leaving Marty "Violence" Key of The Young Pioneers to pick up the set list with only two practices.



You can't see it, but there's a shot in Ted's hand, the first of several courtesy of a a possibly overfaithful fan. "You know what you are - you're a drinks bully. Not that there's anything wrong with that," he quipped as he accepted shot No. 2 (or was it No. 3?). And if you are the "Drinks Bully", apparently Ted wants you to e-mail him.



More Ted!



Brendan sings along.



And now, some pharmaceutical action!











Lots of feedback action!





Splendid as ever.

• Show reminder: Sightings and Panopticon Eylids perform at End Hits. Swervedriver man Adam Franklin and Tallships play Zaphod Beeblebrox. The County Boys play Irene's.

The James gang

For some reason I keep wanting to call Georgie James "Georgie Fame." Maybe the two aren't so far apart - I imagine a shared interest in The Small Faces. They've attracted frequent Zombies comparisons thanks to the harmonic singing and British mod-pop feel of many of their tunes. Their music was a bit less twee live (as it usually is) and they made a highly suitable opening act for Ted Leo. The band is John Davis, once of Q and Not U, and Laura Burhenn, who has a couple of retro-pop records to her name. They grabbed a few more folks for the road, and here they are.

First, the core duo: John and Laura.





They can't go it alone on stage (well, perhaps they could, but they don't). Paul Michel on guitar. It was very hard to snap a good pic of him because he does move about quite a bit. In addition to plentiful solo work (he has a trio of full-length CDs under his own name), he's played with The Hard Tomorrows and other combos.



Drummer Andrew Black did time in The Explosion.



And last but not least, the only half-decent photo I have with more than bassist Mike Cotterman's arm or leg in it; he also has performed with Kid Dynamite and The Loved Ones.



More Michel!









Singalong action!



More singalong action!



More cowbell!





And something for you maraca lovers.



Good stuff.

• Show reminder: The Fully Down, Shotgun Rules and Red October play Mavericks.