Crying time

I like my country music old school. For a long time my music collection's country section went from Johnny Cash to Hank Williams, with no stops in between. Nowadays there's a lot more variety, helped along by more modern performers, including Daniel Romano. Best known for Attack In Black, he's produced a trio of fine country albums in the past three years, starting with Workin' For The Music Man; his Mavericks show in November was right around the time of his release of Come Cry With Me. 

The cat in the hat.



His band The Trilliums includes brother Ian on drums and Ross Miller on bass.



Aaron Goldstein works the steel.



More Daniel!



Ian hits!



The end!



He's on tour of the States right now, including a stop at Bonnaroo.

Lonesome town

Rey Sabatin Jr. is another performer who I've only seen before with another band, but his solo stuff is in much the same vein as his performance with The John Henrys, who made their first appearance on the blog back in 2005 ...

The man himself!



For this gig he was accompanied by musician-about town Matt Ouimet.



Faceoff action!



Singalong action!



Lap steel action!



And so on!



Not much to report on the music front right now.

Outside Amalgamation

I once heard someone say that punk rock was folk music; this might explain why so many punk rockers take to old-style country and Johnny Cash. Or perhaps The Mekons are to blame for paving the way. It matters not, but it does seem like there's a fair number of musicians more than happy to straddle the two divides. Attack In Black's Daniel Romano has been seen sporting a Stetson and Nudie shirt, and can lay claim to a trio of stellar country albums, so I was more than happy to check him out at Mavericks at the end of November. Opening was Brandon Allan, another musician whose other outfit, Amalgamation, follows another route. But there he was banjo player in tow ...

The man himself!



Percussive action!



More Brandon.



Shadowy bass action!



More banjo!



Trumpet action!



Faceoff action!



What's happening now, I know not. (Flash update: He's performing at The Manx on June 9 as part of their Manx Music series.)

Bloody good show

The Blood closed things out with a very rambunctious performance. When they say the audience is half the show, this is the audience they're talking about. Sure, there's only one original member (and The Cardinal has no hair under the mitre these days), but the reconvened Blood does a hell of a job. The new band is a hot one: Jesus Atheist looks like he'd be quite comfortable touring with Hanoi Rocks or Dogs D’Amour, and slings a mean axe, while Eve of Destruction does a most capable job on keyboards and backing vocals.  They kicked things off with Stark Raving Normal, after which things went stark raving mad.

Victory will be ours!



And they're off!



Every one sings along!



Praise beer!



Shirtless drumming action!



Bloody action!



There goes Jesus!



A dynamite show and a very welcome return.

Still angry

Hold A Grudge were the third band on the bill for The Blood's reunion show at Pressed. They seemed a bit of an odd choice, being a modern hardcore band with a fondness for 7 Seconds, Gorilla Biscuits ... they seem to have an upbeat view of life, so perhaps they're part of that positive hardcore movement I've heard tell of. Anyway, you can't fault their stage skills - they gave quite a bouncy performance.

Here we go!



Jee-P jumps! Matt Oi handles the low end.



Scott drums, Dan 86 plays guitar.



Scott hits!



Jee-P sings!



Dan sings!



Audience participation action!



The whole lot!



They've been back through town recently for a show at Mavericks with Casulaties and The Dayglo Abortions, and will no doubt visit again.

Who's there?

When the first guy on stage says "Hello lady and gentleman," and isn't joking, you're entitled to worry about the attendance at a show. Particularly when that number includes the person watching the door. However, things did fill out a little at Cafe DeKcuf Saturday night, on a bill featuring Callan Furlong, 90 Pounds of Ugly and Dang Guilty.

Callan Furlong says a girlfriend once accused him of being a counterfeit country singer, and he has since taken to calling his tunes "counterfeit country." Judging from his songs, I'd say it was real country. And that he has a lot of girlfriend problems. He kicked things off with Hank Williams' Rambling man, and wrapped it up with a spooky version of You Are My Sunshine (coincidentally the subject of a Salon article today).


Callan Furlong at Cafe DeKcuf, May 25, 2013

On this occasion he was being backed by the guys from 90 Pounds Of Ugly, plus Lefty's dad Ray.


Callan Furlong at Cafe DeKcuf, May 25, 2013

On to the bawdy tuneage and witty banter of 90 Pounds of Ugly. They did a great job as always.


90 Pounds Of Ugly at Cafe DeKcuf, May 25, 2013

Cafe DeKcuf slapped some gels on those lights; a relief for performers but a pain for photographers.


90 Pounds Of Ugly at Cafe DeKcuf, May 25, 2013

As for Dang Guilty, their taste in covers ran to a rockabillified medley of The Ramones' I Wanna Be Sedated and Blitzkreig Bop (there was a snatch of Link Wray's Rumble somewhere in the set too).


Dang Guilty at Cafe DeKcuf, May 25, 2013

Harmonica action!


Dang Guilty at Cafe DeKcuf, May 25, 2013

Good stuff all around.

On the table

Kings Quest are one of those Ottawa bands I've heard tell of, but have yet to see live. They had a show last night with London's Say Domino, so I figured it might be a good time to go check them out (and also finish that Lawrence Block novel I started reading at the Boyhood show). The turnout was low - I believe you can blame a certain playoff game for that - but the bands put on a good effort.

I've sen Kings Quest described as both dancerock and shoegaze ... I thought they had a more indie jangly sound myself; maybe they've changed their tune over the years.


Kings Quest at Pressed, May 24, 2013

They have a lot of harmony vocals, but I think they were having a bit of trouble hearing one another and were a little off.


Kings Quest at Pressed, May 24, 2013

I really enjoyed Say Domino's set. They have an interesting offbeat sound that made me think a little bit of cult fave Sleepers, but like a lot of that London-area art rock scene the don't really invite comparisons.
 

Say Domino at Pressed, May 24, 2013

Their live show is quite intense. 


Say Domino at Pressed, May 24, 2013

Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Off the chain

Shackles were on hand to provide some more 1980s U.K.-style punk rock. As mentioned earlier, Scott from Asile and Chloroform was playing the drums. The band is fronted by Wil, who's appeared on the blog before, drumming for Germ Attak.

Guitar action!



Bass action!



Wil sings, Scott hits!



Extra Scott!



The whole lot!



I believe this was their last show, though you still see the various members out and about on stage and in the crowd. (News Flash! Apparently they haven't broken up, or if they did they reformed, since they're on the bill for Friday, June 28 at Vol. 2 of Ottawa Sucks with Rotten, Sex Face and the like.)

Rain delay

Wednesday night I toodled over to Pressed, Umbrella in hand, to see Nashville exports Fancytramp, local lights Boyhood and Montreal's Each Other. Alas, things did not go according to plan, at least for Fancytramp, who were stopped at the border. Then performances were delayed by amp woes, but what did happen was excellent.

I had neither seen nor heard of Each Other before their Pressed stage debut. They reminded me somewhat of Italian combo Jennifer Gentle.


Each Other at Pressed, May 22, 2013

Their harmony work is really sensational.


Each Other at Pressed, May 22, 2013

Time was running out by the time Boyhood got things up and running, so their set was cut short, but what their was sounded as tight and heavy as anything I've heard from them - must be all that touring ...


Boyhood at Pressed, May 22, 2013

Boyish action!


Boyhood at Pressed, May 22, 2013
 
Needless to say, Boyhood will be at Ottawa Explosion.