They built this city on emo

Up next, Hamilton. Quite often, bands named after cities are terrible ... but maybe these guys are named after the guy Aaron Burr shot? This outfit includes members of the Antennas, Alaskan, The Scheme and New Teeth. I hear echoes of the emo-punk school of Braid (the U.S. one, not the current Canadian crew) and Friction (the American one, not the Japanese weirdo-wonders).

Gary Thibert was most recently seen on this here blog playing guitar with Alaskan.



Matt Gilmour - usually less green - can be seen playing bass in New Teeth.



Ben Courtice also plays in Fire Heats Water and The Scheme, neither of which I've seen.



More Matt! The bassist at right is John Leonard, who also apparently plays in Equalizer and Sirens. I don't know either of them.



Riser-standing action!



More John!



Singalong action!



Assorted rocking about!



And so on!



The whole lot!



Even more shouting from John!



Neck-waggling action!



Well, at least part of this photo - i.e. Ben's retinas - is well lit.



The bendy end!



A short but satisfying set. (Jan. 31 update: They have a show coming up at Zaphod's Feb. 18 with Thrid Place and Remember The Fire.)

Some mother's son

Next up were Toronto's Permanent Bastards. They are a very lively act, with lots of shaking about and a good, rough-hewn sound that's somewhere in the vicinity of Spencer P. Jones, David Picco, Bruce Springsteen, but twisted up with gunk rock.

First, let's start with some real Bastards: Guitarists Sean Cepeda and Simon Paik split lead vocal duties, while Jeff Mota mans the drums.



Regular bassist Duncan Spence had to skip this show for surgical reasons; this is his fill-in Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners.



Sean sings!



Faceoff action!



Chris sings!



The whole lot!



Sean rocks the semi-hollow.



Guitar action!



More faceoff action!



Simon shouts!



I'm depressed to report this is my best photo of Jeff.



Sean shouts!



Simon removes a few more layers of finish from his Telecaster.



More guitar!



More Chris!



Strap assistance action!



The end!



Easy to see why they've been winning raves for their live show.

• Show reminder: As mentioned yesterday, Dead Weights are at Cafe DeKcuf with Currents and Tightrope; Tungda Browne, The Mudplots, Eugene and the Eugenics, Dog Park Radio and The Watters Brothers crowd into The Rainbow. Kim Koren and The Doc Weiss Band are at the Elmdale.

Now that's heavy

Two weeks ago I went off to Cafe DeKcuf to catch of a bunch of guitar-loving acts. It was mighty cold outside! Not cold enough to dissuade me from seeing Centretown Cripplers-succesors The Mnemonics and acts such as Hamilton, Dead Weights and Toronto's Permanent Bastards. Dead Weights were on first, and only had a couple of songs left in them as I arrived. They have a free demo out which strikes me as quite Leatherface-influenced.

The lineup is Jonathan Becker (ex-I Refuse) on guitar, Catch Of The Day man Steve Robillard on drums, Wooka Tribe guy Derek Muldoon, on bass and acoustic punker Jonathan Creeden on guitar.



Jonathan sings!



Damn microphone stand!



Creeden bends.



A shadowy Steve.



Microphone gripping action!



More sweaty Creeden.



And more bass with Derek.



And that's all, because I only had about two minutes to take pictures. If you want to see them'll you'll have to wait until Sunday, when they return to Cafe DeKcuf for a show with Currents and Tightrope; they have another show at the cafe on February 24.

• Show reminder: Pretty Little Death Machine, Celery Troff and Hawt Rawk Robawt bring their peculiar names to the Avant Garde Bar; there's bluegrassy activity at the Clocktower pub with The Unseen Strangers and Cab; monster choir the Big Soul Project and the Bombast Blues Band are at the Rainbow. Sarah Cripps and Go Long! perform at Irene's; Still Winter Hills (used to be The Woodrunners before one guy left), Elvyn and The Ethers are at the Elmdale House.

What year is it?

Year Zero, that's who! Wait - wrong Mike Haddad band. Anyway, Year Zero had a bumper year, what with the release of their fancy CD and vinyl ("We promise this is the last time we repackage the same recordings," someone said), and a swanky do for New Year's Eve at Babylon.

Introduction action with Emmanuel!



This is the least of Brad's tattoos that I've ever seen.



Singalong action with Tim and Dave!



Rhythm section action!



More Brad and more tree!



Shouty Dave action!



Michael hits!



Dave bends!



More singalong action!



Very fisheyed action!



Super-bonus Dave!



Some low-light action.



And so on ...



The f-stop is as low as she goes ...



Extra-special guest action with Davey!



Visitors audience action!



Singalong action!



Another shouty bit!



And finally some laser-shootin' action with Emmanuel.



A fun way to end and begin things.

• Show reminder: Birdie Whyte and Andre Bluteau are at Raw Sugar Cafe; Three Little Birds and Testament are at the University of Ottawa's Bar 1848; The JW Jones Blues Band is at The Rainbow; Washboard Hank and the Corn Pickles join Catfish Willie and the Buckle Busters at Irene's in a heavyweight battle of the band names; Jehan Khoorshed and his Problems and Jack Pelletier and The Battle of Ontario are at the Elmdale House.