The upper crust

Well, my heart was torn in two on Wednesday; should I go to WTCHS and Weed Mom on Gladstone, or Hard Charger, Swarm of Spheres and Slumlord at the House of Targ? I figure odds are slightly better that WTCHS will head back this way before Fredericton's Hard Charger, so I slunk over to Ottawa South for some rock attack. As it happened, this was also the fifth anniversary of Slumlord's inception and singer T.J.'s birthday, which meant there were cupcakes involved. Here's T.J. and his mighty sideburns.



Bassist Sev! Since the band formed more or less to perfor at her and T.J.'s wedding, it was also their fifth anniversary.



Trasha hits!



Sev sings!



T.J. bends!



Extra Trasha!



Guitar-lifting action!



Marital action!



Ponytail-swinging action!



More T.J.



The shouty bit!



And finally a bit more percussive action!



Swarm of Spheres played a really killer, and fairly brisk, set. Here's Mark hitting some stuff.



Flashy action with Andrew!



Jay frets!



Wah-wah action!



Andrew bends!



Everybody's doing it.



More Mark!



Big red action!



The end!



Hard Charger also killed it. The New Brunswick combo make me think of latter-era Darkthrone crossed with Motorhead: A bit crusty, a bit metal, and a whole lot of rock'n'roll.



Percussive action!



Guitar action!



The whole lot! The Yeti! The Wolf! The Hammer! Not necessarily in that order!



The shouty bit!



Singing drummer action!



Rhythm section action!



More bass!



More drums!



Closeup action!



Even more guitar!



Faceoff action!



A very solid night of entertainment.