The ruff and the ready

My plan last night was to go to either the House of Targ or Gabba Hey, but my Friday schooling ended up stretching past the 14-hour mark. By the time I was home, fed and watered it was too late to head out. Back to the backlog we go, with a show then in progress - that is, Black Mastiff at Cafe DeKcuf, following on the heels of No SInner.

Here's guitar-man Bobby Yiannkoulias and drummer Allan Harding.



On the other side of the stage, frizzy-froed bassist Clay Shea.



Shadowy Allan action!



Bobby sings!



Bonus Clay!



Extra Allan.



Fisheye action!



Closeup action!



A bevy of local heavies, Collider, finished the show off. Here's Cody showing the Coliseum love.



Active action with Nick St. Jean!



Rhythm section action with bassist Pat and drummer Ethan.



The whole lot!



Pat sings!



Ethan hits!



More Cody!



Rhythm section action!



Riser standing action!



The final bellow!



Great sets from both bands.

Over the moon

Luneta is a Bronson Ave. cafe and bistro that has taken to hosting punk, metal and rock shows. I hadn't had a chance to check it out before Saturday night, so yesterday I wandered over to take a look and a hear.

First band of the evening was Neck, who I saw just a couple of weeks ago doing some fundraising for CKCU at the Clocktower. That wasn't too many posts ago, just let's just jump in. "It's so embarrassing - we all wore the same shirt."



Kevin hits!



More Johnny!



Jeff frets!



Rhythm section action!



Closeup action!



Johnny sings!



On to Guelph's Nasties and Toronto's School Damage after the jump ...

Rough draft

Things are getting chilly outside, but it was all muggy inside Mugshots as Bruised Tongue and Kichesippi took over the hostel bar in order to sell tapes and beer. There were also three bands in town: Ottawa's own Yips, Montrealers Ultrathin and Toronto squallers Soupcans.

The Yips brought their smoke machine. I was stuck up against the wall by one of the speakers so my photos turned out kinda samey ...



Guitar action with Jon and Zach!



More Jon! (And also another Jon!)



Fisheye action!



Crazy lights action!



The only shot of Kurt - the band was squeezed in pretty tight.



Kerri swings some axe.



The end!



More noise with Ultrathin and Soupcans after the jump ...

Just dropping in

I had expected to see a trio of previously unknown-to-me-acts at Pressed Saturday night, but things took a turn for the Norwegian with a surprise appearance by heralded (well, actually, unheralded in this case) Oslo shoegaze combo Dråpe. Apparently their appearance was a surprise to everyone; they showed up at Pressed saying they'd been booked to play.

Dråpe played first; they're in the country to perform at the M For Montreal festival this Friday. From left to right we have Ketil Myhre, a mostly obscured Even Hafnor, Hanne Solem, Lars Boquist and Eirik Kirkmyre.



More Ketil!



Extra Hanne!



I had to scoot around to the entryway to snap Eirik.



Hanne shakes it.



More guitar!



More Lars!



That was a pleasant surprise. More of the evening's acts after the jump ...

One toque over the line

Last night I headed over to Pressed to check out Raleigh. They're from Calgary and have a sound that's a bit prog, a bit post-rock, a bit chamber-pop ... they remind me of Young & Sexy, plus cello, The Luyas and Saturday Looks Good To Me. They have a new album out, Sun Grenades & Grenadine Skies, and are criss-crossing the nation to get the word out.

Here's drummer Matt Doherty and guitarist Brock Geiger I didn't use any flash, so all the photos turned out somewhat shadowy). Brock and Matt also play in The Dudes.



Silhoetted action with Clea Anais.



More Matt!



Singalong action!



Bonus Brock.



Matt hits!



Clea rocks the cello.



Some very sweet sounds; locals Ashleys headlined the gig - after razzing Pizza Shark, source of their evening eats. This was their last show of 2013; they're currently recording a followup to 2012's Land of Fear and Shame (which you can snag at their Bandcamp, BTW). And now here's a shadowy shot of guitarist Michael and bassist Stu in all their toque-wearing glory..



To hell with it, I'm putting the flash on.



Michael sings!



Derrick takes a break.



Guitar action with Jack and Michael!



More Stu!



Bendy action!



More guitar!



And a bit more Jack.



A very solid evening's entertainment.