It's been a few months since I headed over to Pressed to see a show (the last time was to catch Pharmakon), but last Saturday's show with I Smell Blood, Whoop-Szo, Darlene Shrugg and Blue Angel was not to be missed. Darlene Shrugg in particular have been roiling the waters in Toronto for a little while now (at least a half-dozen people I know wrote or said "I saw them open for Do Make Say Think and they blew me away," or something like it after the show announcement), and I was mightily intrigued by the talk around Whoop-Szo.
Whoop-Szo played first. The group is centred around Kristin Palm (who was up north for the show) and Adam Sturgeon, who is Ojibwe. They have a tangled folk-metal sound that I can imagine appealing to a wide range of open-minded folks - fans of Carlangas and Wayne Omaha would dig their sounds, I suspect. Here's Adam (at right), with drummer Eric (also of I Smell Blood) and bassist Joe (also of London's Wild Domestics).
Keyboard action with Andrew (also of Wild Domestics)!
Joe sings!
Adam bends!
Hair-shaking action!
More guitar!
Eric hits!
Singalong action!
More keyboard!
Adam recommended everyone grab some earplus before I Smell Blood's set, and with good reason, as Zach and Eric really bring the pummel to their bass-and-drums setup.
Eric hits!
Shaggy action!
Zach is under there somewhere.
Hair-shaking action!
More Eric!
The whole lot!
And so on!
Feedback action!
Darlene Shrugg have already got the blogs in a tizzy over their glammed out sound. They have a strong roster of museums, including Slim Twig and his former Tropics-mate Simone, the various members of Ice Cream and U.S. Girls' Meg Remy. Here's Slim, Amanda Jane Crist and Carlyn Bezic!
A.J. sings, Simone hits!
Meg works the crowd.
Slim sings!
Singalong action!
Extra Simone!
Carlyn frets!
Meg adjusts that dial.
Extra Carlyn and Simone!
Amanda Jane wins for best pants.
There was also a fine cover of Some Weird Sin.
Blue Angel wrapped things up with a short, punchy set - then they headed over to Mugshots to DJ. Here's some masked action with Caylie!
Sam sings!
Guitar action with Lidija!
Caylie sings!
The whole lot!
Extra Lidija!
More Sam!
And so on!
An excellent evening.
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