Punk press

Hmm, so famed UK punks The Blood come out of retirement after 20 years for a North American tour? Well, only one of the original two core members is still with us - that would be Cardinal Jesus Hate - but a crack band has been collected to return the songs from their classic, False Gestures For A Devious Public, and a band of likely locals has been collected to back them for Day 1 of their sojourn, so on with the show! A mass of black leather jacketed punks was on hand to witness their mighty return.

It was a busy night for Asile bassist Scott, who played drums for both Chloroform and Shackles. I believe guitarist Rick was also on hand for the Iggy and The Stooges cover band at the punk rock covers night a while back.


Chloroform at Pressed, November 29, 2012

Bassist Brendan's been around a bit as well.


Chloroform at Pressed, November 29, 2012

Moshing punks made it hard to get many shots of Shackles, which also feature Wil from Germ Attak, switching from drums to guitar and a lady bassist whose name I don't know.


Shackles at Pressed, November 29, 2012

More bass!


Shackles at Pressed, November 29, 2012
 
On to Hold A Grudge, a bunch of positive thinking Montreal skinheads with a sumpy lead singer and a fondnes for 7 Seconds and Gorilla Biscuits.


Hold A Grudge at Pressed, November 29, 2012

Good drumming, but I confess I wasn't as wild about them as the local combos.


Hold A Grudge at Pressed, November 29, 2012

Things went really and truly nuts for The Bllod's set, which was pretty hot. Even after swapping in a new rhythm section they managed to blow the roof off.


The Blood at Pressed, November 29, 2012

Jesus has risen! Or is at least being lifted.

 
The Blood at Pressed, November 29, 2012

A triumphant return!

Bluesfest: Jim Campilongo

Up next on my Sunday was a set from San Francisco-by-way-of-New York guitarist Jim Campilongo. I'm not sure if anyone went to the festival intending to see Campilongo, since though he's one of those guitarists' guitarist he doesn't have much of a profile up here, but there was a handful of people on hand who seemed to appreciate his 1950s axe update ... fans of his work with the Little willies, maybe?

The man himself.



Rhythm section action!



Quite who they are I know not.



They did dress up for they occasion, though.



Jim frets!



Upright action!



I'm really not sure what's going on with that backdrop.



Bowing action!



The whole lot!



Good enough to make me by the CD.

Bluesfest: Deep Dark Woods

Having finally caught The Petides' well-coiffed set, it was time for something a bit shaggier: Deep Dark Woods. They played the 2009 version of Bluesfest and made quite a good impression. I liked this set quite a bit as well, perhaps because they haven't budged an inch from their rustic rock ways.

I joked about lead singer Ryan Boldt wearing the same shirt three years ago in my earlier post; it's just the same colour scheme.



Lucas' shirt tells no lies.



Guitar action with Burke!



More guitar!



Rhythm section action with Chris on drums!



Geoff mans the keys.



Right now they're making their way through California.

Bluesfest: Peptides

A lot of people are very big on Ottawa's Peptides. They certainly have drawn a lot of attention from the Citizen's art editor Peter Simpson. I enjoyed their debut CD, which combined some precise pop with misanthropic attitude. Although they don't really sound alike, they made me think a bit of Sparks. As evidenced by their Bluesfest set, they're also quite snappy dressers and like their props. Although nominally a duo, they recruit a bunch of folks for their live shows.

I have no idea who most of them actually are ... the guitarist is David Campbell and I believe the drummer Aaron Clark.



They also have many a vocalist (Olexandra Pruchnicky at left, along with DeeDee Butters, Dale Waterman and main brain Claude Marquis).



Keyboard action with Scott Irving.



Singalong action with Rebecca Abbot!



And so on!



Clapping action!



Extra Claude!



Percussive action!



Back-to-back action!



Oh, and I did finally get around to taking a photo with bassist Andrew Burns in it that wasn't hopelessly fuzzy.



They actually played their last show of the year at Irene's on Saturday, and plan to soon release a new album, based on stories from The Vinyl Cafe.

Bluesfest: Iron Maiden

I finished my Saturday with a trip to the main stage to see Iron Maiden. I liked the song lineup a lot more this time around, but unlike their 2010 set I was without my SLR and telephoto and a bit further form the stage to boot, thus:



There seemed to be more pyro as well.



And that's about as good as it got, as far as photography is concerned.

Bluesfest: Bright Light Social Hour

If any band at Bluesfest could be said to possess the ever-elusive "buzz", then Bright Light Social Hour is it. They made a big splash last year at SXSW, and made quite a favourable immpression with their high energy set here in Bytown as well.

Curtis Roush sings!



Jack O'Brien handles the low end.



Keyboardist A.J. is at right, and you can almost make out drummer Joseph Mirasole.



A.J. really works those keys.



More Curtis and Jack!



Singalong action!



Joseph hits!



Gripping action!



They came back to Zaphod's for an October show. They have some December and March touring lined up - mostly southern states.

Bluesfest: Marcia Ball

From watching Alice Cooper's show I had a little time to check out other stuff, so I popped over to see Marcia Ball. Ball is from the old school of Bluesfest, Texas-born and Lousiana-raised, she combines a bit (OK, a lot) of both states' signature sound into her own.

Also, the Texas Horns are part of the deal. The gent on the right is Ball's regular sax man, Thad Scott.



Drummer Damiel Llanes is from a somewhat different generation ...



Bassist Don Bennett, looking stylish.



And let us not forget Ms. Ball, herself.



Closeup action!



Extra Thad.



More Marcia!



Guitarist Mike Schermer likes his pickups varied.



Mike frets!



The sun is going down.



Keyboard action!



Pretty good, though it's a sign of the times that her set wasn't very well attended.