Wednesday, December 31, 2008

After school special

The School Jerks came up from Toronto to dish out some mush-mouthed hardcore, a la Pagans crossbred with The Brutal Knights. The quartet is made up of Luke, Ben, Matt and Ivan, but I'm not sure who does what so here's a bunch of photos.

Feedback action!





The Bayou backdrop makes every drummer photo look better.



Yelling action!



Bending action!



Do the twist!





And one last singer photo.



They have a show coming up at Toronto's Rancho Relaxo on February 7.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Bon voyage

The White Wires released their debut LP at the New Bayou as November rolled up its carpet. Fifth Fist was to have kicked things off with some punchy tunes, but for whatever reason (possibly health-related ... memory is foggy) had to cancel so The Visitors zipped through songs new and not-quite as new of their patented explorer-core.

Those Visitors! Antarctic Cat da Gama, Skottie Magellan and Kevo Polo.



Kevo Polo sings!



Antarctic-Cat! I did not know Chucks came in that colour.



Singalong action!





See-through action!



More drumming!



Crowd approval action!



And so on!







As swell as the last time I saw them ... also at The Bayou, about six months previous.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Point of pride

Living With Lions finished things up with some churning guitar pop-punk. The crowd dug them more than I did; I give 'em credit for an active performance but they aren't really the flavour of punk I prefer.

Ty yells, and you can see guitarist Chase in the background.



Bassist Mark and guitarist Landon provide some backing vocals.



Loren pummels the skins.



The whole lot, with extra Chase.



Ty works the crowd.



Ty works the crowd even more.



Ty really, really works the crowd.



And so on!







Latest news is that the band has signed to Adeline Records.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Night lights

When I first heard Living With Lions was coming to town, I thought "Hey great, I always did like controller.controller." Then my brain resumed working and I realizing I was thinking of Lioness. I went to the show anyway because I'd heard lots of good things about the bands on the bill anyway, and in the case of The Brights, the bands from which they sprung: The Transit and Riot Service. Had I actually caught more than a couple of songs from The Brights I would actually be in a fair position to comment. I'll just have to unfairly comment that i thought they sounded good but my photos were dull. At least there's enough for introductions ...

PJ Catsiyannis sings and plays guitar.



Bassist Ross.



Guitarist Dane.



At least the photo of drummer Chris Catsiyannis is a bit better.



And now we have Detroit's Fireworks, presumably named due to the various members' proclivity to shoot up into the air. We'll just start with airborne guitarist Brett Jones. Chris Mojan is back left - and unfortunately I didn't get a single good photograph of him.



Vocalist Dave Mackinder throws some signs. , Brett Jones. Kyle O'Neil, Chris Mojan,



Tymm Rengers on drums.



Bassist Kyle O'Neil.



Explosive action!



And so on!





And finally: More jumping!



They're lively lads.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Shedding skin

The Holy Cobras have switched around their rhythm section, replacing Sweet Jane Chris Smith and current Beach Blanket Meaty with Sick Fit X-Ray X and Fucking Machine/Long Timer Johnny, since I saw them last. They've also changed their sounda bit, blending some Chrome in with the Gun Club and Cramps.





Shirtlessness impends!





Rich shakes it.



Rhythm section action!



A Beach Blanket flies as Danny Druff tambourines.



Rodd gets on down.



You can also see part of their lightshow.



The whole lot!



A fine set, in honour of their cool new cassette, Make Pyramids. They're playing with AIDS Wolf at Babylon January 9 at Babylon. They're also playing with The Aversions at bar le scanner in Quebec City January 17.