Flying the fuzz flag

It's Halloween today, but these pictures actually hail from the tail end of last week, and the release of The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol's latest album, Masters of the Molehill. It's the first release they haven't put out themselves; well-respected U.K. head-expanders Cardinal Fuzz did the honours this time around. Raw Sugar was comfortably full for the gig. And now, here's the Pumpkin Whose Carving Is A Symbol.



Ghostly action with Dave, Bill and Flecton!



Shadowy action (Raw Sugar: Not really an ISO 400 venue).



Bendy action!



Flecton slides!



Jason Vaughan was cleverly concealed behind a post and several other band members.



John keeps an eye on those guitars and whatnot.



And then steps out to shake it.



Extra Bill!



Bill takes over on drums for a bit.



Nate handles the low end.



A fine set as always.

Drugs, drag and destruction

Jumping forward to the middle of last week, it was time for some serious outrock as Arizona's Destruction Unit blew through town alongside In The Red scrappers Ukiah Drag. This show was also the first outing of Soft Drugs, formed from the ashes of Weed Mom. They were up first with some appropriately soft sounds. They made me think a bit of Vini Reilly and Durutti Column, which upon reflection is not a terribly apt comparison, but something about their low-key approach struck me as similar. Here's former Mom Sacha and his crew.



Percussive action!



Singalong action!



Guitar action!



Closeup action!



Ukiah Drag was up next. The band features several members of Latishia's Skull Drawing (the group originally slated to perform), and make quite a racket.



Bass action!



Vocal action!



Rhythm section action!



More percussion!



Tapping action!



Destruction Unit really blew the roof off with their Funhouse-style rock. The band also features some Marshstepper folks, including guitarist Nick Nappa; at right is bassist Rusty Rousseau.



Rusty's brother Ryan sings a bit!



Percussive action with Andrew Flores!



Flowery action with Jes Aurelius (another Marshstepper man)!



Even more guitar!



Extra Andrew!



More Nick and Rusty!



Bonus Rusty!



The end!



Mighty fine sounds all around.

Brothers gonna work it out

Do KEN mode ever stop touring?  The Juno-winning experimental metaltallurgists have a new album out, Success, and it seemed the right thing to catch them live after a hard day of voting. They've been on the road with Life In Vacuum and funnyman Garrett Jamieson, and were joined for their House of Targ show by local trio Hamn. Yes, Leigh Newton also plays in Street Meat and World War 4, but I guess he wante to pick up the guitar again.



Percussive action!



Bass action!



Bendy action!



The shouty bit!



More bass!



Rhythm section action!



On to Life in Vaccum, who are ready to start now thank you! Like KEN mode, these guys seem to spend their lives on tour. Here's guitarist Sasha Chornyy.



Rhythm section action with Dylan Bravener and Ross Chornyy!



And so on!



More Ross!



The whole lot!



Singalong action!



More Dylan!


Then it was time for a musical break, with Garrett Jamieson doing a brief bit of standup.



Finally, the crushing sounds of KEN mode steam-rollered the audience. Here's guitarist and singer Jesse!



His brother Shane hits!



Bassist Skot fills out the trio.


More Jesse!



Grimacing action!



Extra Shane!



The whole lot!



The shouty bit!



A great start to the week.