A whole new ballgame

Here's another collection of CMW travelers, Bleachers. This lot hail from Calgary, and play a fairly suave variety of garage rock. I thought they sounded like Interpol and The Watchmen.

Here's bassist Logan Juke, guitarists Jourdan Cunningham and Lauchlin Toms, and drummer Andrew Hamill squeezing into the cozy confines of Mugshots' band corner.



Gripping action from Brett Sandford!



Guitar action with Jourdan and Lauchlin!



Rhythm section action with Logan and Andrew!


Bonus Brett!



More Lauchlin!



Extra Jourdan!



Andrew hits!



They've just celebrated their first year as a band, and are working on a new EP.

Start a fire

There's always a sudden burst of touring bands around the middle of march. Folks in Ottawa can thank Canadian Music Week for the appearance of bands from parts distant and unknown. This March 19 show at Mugshots featured a diverse lineup, starting with harmonizing duo Fire/Works.

Jonathan Peters and David Lagace hail from Montreal; Here's David.



... and here's Jonathan.



The whole lot!



Fisheye action!



Multitasking action!



Accordion action!



And so on!



Since then they've been raking in the plaudits far and wide.

Riot on York Street

I made a foray out to the Dominion Tavern Saturday night to check out Raw Raw Riot's CDrelease show. There was a ton of shows happening around the same time, but I was keen to check out BlackBread, having caught them playing with Public Animal at the House of Targ at their monthly shindig in August. Unfortunately I was delayed by computer nonsense and only caught a few songs.

Their 1970s rock style was a bit of a departure from the other acts.



Keyboard action!



Adam hits!



To quote one audience member: "You sure can wail!"



Yogi's keeping busy ... this means BlackBread is now 50% Klovenhoofs.



The whole lot!



Roof-raising action!



Things take a streetpunk turn after the jump ...

Hot wax

It's been a busy, busy week at school, but hurdles have been passed and during this brief respite National Capital Rock might return to something like regular posting. Speaking of which, last night I went over to the House of Targ - yes, it's that time of the month again - to check out some heavy sounds. Klovenhoofs were releasing their new EP at this shindig, and showing off their new bassist: Houes of Targ supremo Yogi. Also on hand, Black Tower, who were showing off their new guitarist, and Drones of North America, who took a completely different tack by having no new members whatsoever.

First up Black Tower, now with more Necroburger (World War 4, Manpower, Hot Piss, etc.)! They also brought candles for extra spookiness.



And here's Skottie of Visitors and Creeps fame (but you knew that).



More Necroburger!



Erin frets!



The whole lot!



Singalong action!



Dave hits!



Extra Skottie!



Blurry leaping action!



The end!



After the leap, some Drones and some Hoofs!

Hard times

Saturday was another night where I could easily have been elsewhere, but I decided to make the trek through the rain to the not-quite-top-secret location that houses Gabba Hey. On offer was Ottawa expat collective The Fuzz, francopunks Asile and local shouters Pregnancy Scares.

This was a projection-enhanced event.



Off we go with Asile!



Bass action with Scott!



Patrick sings!



The shouty bit!



Rhythm section action!



Joel hits!



Grimacing action!



Double hit!



After that, it was time for some fuzz with The Fuzz - after the jump ...

Cloudy with a chance of sun, wolves

There were a couple of places I could have been Friday night, but it's been a while since I was at Zaphod's, so I decided to go and check out We Are Wolves and Suuns, two bands from the Montreal indie scene making a buzz right now. Even if they were both rubbish, it would also be an oportunity to see Scattered Clouds again, one of my new fave combos.

Kronick hits!



Philippe sings!



Pierre-Luc frets!



Scattered action!



The whole lot!



More Jamie!



Pierre-Luc sings!



Some Suuns and We Are Wolves after the jump ...

Secret places

Hidden Towers were touring hither and yon back in March, thus this gig at the Daily Grind. They're one of those bands that make people throw out a bunch of comparisons; others have said grunge and prog. My more narrow view made me thing jazz-fusion greats like John McLaughlin and Voivod. Good for folks who like some technical freak-outs with their guitar noise.

Here's some bassing and bending with thumper Ben Holland and fretter Chris Cantrell.



Jakub Svoboda is the man behind the kit.



Chris sings!



Synchronized action!



More Jakub!



Bonus Ben!



A bit of flash ...



A shouty bit!



The whole fisheyed lot!



They're now chillin' back in Vancouver.