Heart to heart

I didn't think The Details, former Frenetic turned folk-rocker Malcolm Bauld or Allumettes offshoot Hollowtip Hearts would rake in a big audience at Babylon, particularly on a cool Tuesday evening, and I was proved sadly correct. Pity, for the assembled bands all turned in sharp performances of various flavours. First local quartet Hollowtip Hearts - fresh off a gig at The Dominion the previous Saturday with Four'n'Giv'r - wowed the crowd with songs about lasers and moustaches, coordinated tambourining. The main singer in this combo is Christina, formerly of Les Allumettes, but everyone chips in ....


The Hollowtip Hearts - Stina B, Krystal Diamond - Babylon April 29, 2008

They were followed by Malcolm Bauld, who was in excellent form. He's been on the road for a month so he's well-practiced but hasn't yet gotten to the point where he feels his vocal cords have been sandpapered.


Malcolm Bauld, Babylon, April 29, 2008

He was joined on stage for his closing two songs by the rhythm section of The Details, who sound a bit like Sloan, Adorable, and Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, but a bit shinier and not as good - no slam on them, since no one's as good as Ted. They've got a taste for the anthemic in some of their tunes (most notably, err, National Anthem) and I could imagine them becoming much bigger.



It all hit the spot.

• Show reminder: Will Currie and The Country French and Greggy B and The Flats play Zaphod's.

Nashville cats

Hmmm, I thought the folks at 59 Argyle had done terrifying their neighbours ... seems not, since Trouble Vs Glue, The Night Game Cult and Industry Commerce play their tonight (I also see they're hosting a show during the Gaga Weekend in June). There's also a free show at Zaphod's with Beautiful Nothing and The Montelongos.


Nashville Pussy, Babylon, September 23, 2006

But wait! There's more! Monday, As Blood Runs Black, Stick To Your Guns, Winds Of Plague, Belay My Last, Veil of Maya perform at Mavericks; there's another free show at Zaphod's with Dead Eye Daisy, Crash Parallel, Dollhouse Accessories and Arm Your Desires.
Tuesday, The Details, Malcolm Bauld and Hollowtip Hearts rock Babylon; there's also a benefit at the Green Door with Souljazz Orchestra man Philippe Lafreniere, Gianna Lauren, The Rough Sea and speakers from the Shabot Obadijwan Algonquin nation and Tyendinaga Suppport Committee.
Wednesday, Will Currie and The Country French and Greggy B and The Flats play Zaphod's,
Thursday, The Reverend Horton Heat, Nashville Pussy (that's them up top) and Grady rock the Capital Music Hall.
Friday, there's yet more Capital Music Hall rocking with Constantines, Attack In Black, and Castlemusic. You can also check out The Habit, Sadie Hell and Eastborough at The Rainbow. Brock Zeman plays Irene's. Lords and Cloak/Dagger hit the End Hits basement. Knives for Kids, Inire and Special Ops performs at Zaphod's.

That's just Reatarded

Jay Reatard shows apparently have a reputation for swiftly devolving into chaos; Ottawa's show got pretty wild, with the audience moshing and surfing with abandon to the smash hits from his latest, Blood Visions, but there wasn't much excitement during the show itself, unless you count bassist Stephen Pope having to run off to grab a replacement bass head mid-show. Reatard took a few liberties with the setlist (pictured here) while he was off trying to hunt up Tom Kitsos from CPC Gangbangs, first working through a metronomic riff, then declaring "Let's do one without him!" And so he did, for a handful of tunes. It was pretty brief and very energetic.

That Jay Reatard.



Rock!



His Holiness, Stephen Pope.



His fogginess, Billy Hayes.



Reatarded action!











And one last crowd-surf before things come to a crashing halt.



Then they went to Toronto and all hell broke loose.

• Show reminder: The Creeps, Sexhead, The Annoyers, The Visitors, The PG-13s and Murder Ride perform at Cafe Dekcuf. Due to a brain malfunction, I completely forgot this was Kelp Ottawa's 14th anniversary weekend. It continues today with pulled pork and pop tuneage at the Carleton Tavern around 1 p.m. with Jim Bryson, Micarza Camaro, Chris Page and Catriona Sturton; later at the Glue Pot on Queen you can see Camp Radio, The Michael Parks, The Flaps and The Empiricals. The Rizdales play The Elmdale Tavern. Big Jeezus Truck and The Bible All-Stars perform at Barrymore's. Rudeboy returns to Irene's.
  

The gang's all here

Montreal's produced more than its fair share of sleazy trash rock bands, so the emergence of CPC Gangbangs is no surprise (barring Tom Kitsos, who did time in stoner rock combo Grime): Les Sexareenos, Spaceshits, Daylight Lovers; their rap sheet is long and distinguished.

To start things off Roy Vucino donned a red jacket and leather vest - that's gonna get sweaty, I thought, and so it proved to be ...



Choyce and Ricardo (not Tom as I originally said).



Paul Spence, the man formerly known as Lyle Sheraton.



Front line action!



Hair-flinging action!



The ever popular beer bottle slide!



Spence sings one.



Look over there action!



Ricardo (still not Tom as I originally said) goes down. Members of the audience (90% of whom seem to be in bands) were starting to inch onto the stage ....



Fortunately they decided to give him back.



No bottle, so the PA system will have to do.



The end!



A real killer show that the audience went bananas for. And as I said earlier, I liked them more than headliner Jay Reatard.

• Show reminder: Thundrah!, Videotape and We Fled Cairo rock the house at 443 Kent St.; Acres, Poorfolk and The Lost play Cafe Dekcuf. Megan Hamilton & The Volunteer Canola, Deromantic and Lindsay Ferguson perform at Irene's Pub; The Rebel Year and Shawn Tavenier and Silver Creek rock at Zaphod Beeblebrox. Jeff Martin plays Centrepointe Theatre.

Fang you very much

Rising from the ashes of The Sweet Janes, The Holy Cobras worship at the altar of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, The Cramps and all the other unusual trash rock suspects, or something like that. They took a little time deciding they'd open with Stormy Weather and then ripped through their set, stopping only briefly to take off their shirts.

Danny Druff breaks out the harmonica.



Bassist Daniel, pre-shirtlessness.



I didn't get any good Rodd pictures.



Whole lotta tambourine shakin' going on!







Is wanting moose so wrong?!?



Chris shows a little tongue.



Shocking!





The whole partially shirtless lot!



They have a cassette out on the Telephone Explosion label ; they also have a show coming up on May 24 at Cafe DeKcuf with The Suppositories and Savage Crimes.

It's a dirty business

The Dirtbombs' first Ottawa show, on the Birdman Stage at the 2003 Ottawa Bluesfest was awesome - there's nothing like seeing a band you revere put on a killer show for the first time. I still revere The Dirtbombs. Even though they're justly credited as one of the cornerstones of Detroit's garage rock revival, they've always been willing to stretch out, encompassing krautrock, psych, Memphis rock, soul and a whole big bag of whatever else they come across. The band's lineup has been pretty steady for the last two years (the only switch since that first show has been the substitution of Troy Gregory for Jim Diamond on bass). Maybe that's why they's been sounding so tight - well, except when everything went crazy at the end.

Ko looks over there, as she often does.



Is Ben really a college man? Is he looking at the same thing as Ko?



Yes, he is.



Those drummers getting sweaty.



Troy makes a point. I forget about what.



Ko and that new (to me) Jaguar. She's still the mistress of fuzz, though.



Fist-pumping action!



Troy is always thinking, that's why.



Cavorting among the scattered tickets.





More Pantano and more sweat.



Whammy action!



Collins, shortly before jamming his guitar into the ceiling.



Please note that Blackwell is wearing not one but two drums over his head. He's like one of those Russian dolls.



The ol' switcheroo!



Ben Blackwell wants you to dance! Or else you'll disappoint his imaginary twin sisters who flew in just for this show.



The end!



As excellent as always - and this time all of Mick's gear worked!

• Show reminder: Shelter With Thieves, The Mutes and Tele play Zaphod Beeblebrox.