Sunday, January 03, 2010

Surprise ending

Last time I was at Club SAW was September 4, 2007, to see The Rural Alberta Advantage. This time the headliner was Sadie Hell, which released their debut album and also raised some dough for SweatFree Communities, an organization for Third World workers. They got some support from Wuhan Lipfight, a band fronted by Menno Veersteg of Hollerado and Ottawa's own popular favourites The Love Machine.

Connecting Wuhan Lipfight with Hollerado is actually slightly deceptive. I chatted briefly with the members of the quartet after their set while they came up with pseudonyms and drummer El Suponte noted that while they stress all the time about what's going on in Hollerado, Lipfight is about doing everything they don't do in Hollerado. Thus, instead of snappy pop rock tunes you get skronky psych jam versions of Shortnin' Bread. The music is about as fuzzy as this photo.

Wuhan Lipfight at Club SAW
Wuhan Lipfight at Club SAW, January 2, 2010

The Love Machine put on a very sharp performance. They actually gave their first performance at Club SAW about four years ago. "You can see how far we've come," joked guitarist Allan. They have a new album and video en route and played a bunch of new stuff.

The Love Machine at Club SAW
Love Machine at Club SAW, January 2, 2010

The new video is courtesy of Luca Furgiuele, who also did the video for Sadie Hell's new single Pedestrians. The lady at left appears in the Love Machine video, if I understand things correctly.

The Love Machine at Club SAW
Luca and friend at Club SAW, January 2, 2010

Then it was time for Sadie Hell; mainman Ben Welland corralled a bunch of folks to accompany him this time around, among them Peter and Christian Yurt of Hellbros, Mallorie Giles of Politique, new singer and guitarist May-Jun and Big Dick guy Dave Secretary on drums, along with usual suspects Dave Halabisky and Sean Lamframboise. They put on a sensational performance.

Sadie Hell at Club SAW
Sadie Hell at Club SAW, January 2, 2010

Sadie Hell at Club SAW
Sadie Hell at Club SAW, January 2, 2010

But the big surprise came at the end when Mallory ripped away the Sadie Hell banner to reveal behind it a big sign saying ...

Sadie Hell at Club SAW
"Colleen, will you marry me?" at Club SAW, January 2, 2010

Unfortunately it's kind of obscured by lights and microphone stands and a far-too slow shutter speed, but it reads "Colleen will you marry me?" As you can probably guess, she said yes. All together now: "Awwwwwww."

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