New York style

Punk rock tribute nights always seem to be an easy sell in Ottawa, so no surprise that a huge crowd turned out for a triple bill of Suicide, The Ramones and The Police aficionados. First up were local electro combo Mark ii, showing their love for Alan Vega and Martin Rev's influential duo.



Gripping action with Mark!



Dana was working the Rev-style shades.



More Mark!



Electro action!



Suicidal action!



Steve Adamyk was DJing (and hamming it up for the camera).



Rent-A-Cops were on next, covering the police. Here's bassist Rod and guitarist Nick!



Scott hits!



More Rod!



Fender action!



Extra Scott!



Nick sings!



The Raymonds finished things up with a speedy set. I'm not sure who's who under the wigs, so straight on to the photos!



Bass action!



Gripping action!



Gabba gabba hey action!



Mosrite-alike action!



More percussion!



More bass!



A fun night out!

International affair

On International Women's Day I hopped over to Pressed to check out L CON, the avant electro project of Toronto's Lisa Conway. She was joined by Norway's Synne Sanden and Ottawa's own Merganzer. Merganzer was on first, Playing some violin and a bit of piano.



Piano action!



Then there was some melancholy piano action from Sanden.



And so on!



More piano!



L CON finished the night off.



Lisa sings!



Smokey action!



She ended her set accompanied  a cassette recorder (I had one just like it when I was a teen ... somewhat more than three decades ago).



Great stuff from all three performers!

Think!

On March 4 I toddled over to Black Squirrel Books to check out some punk rock action from Philadelphia's Dark Thoughts; they were joined by local acts Empty Nesters and Liquid Thoughts, a newish quartet featuring Felix from Toxic Thoughts (among others) and Brittany and Kieran from Doxx (among others).



Guitar action with Scott (also of Born Wrong and others)!



Felix sings!



Kieran hits!



Liquid action!



Rhythm action!



Next up, Empty Nesters, with their Sonic Youth-goes-shoegaze squall.



Eric sings!



Rhythm section action with Philip and Robert!



More Robert!



Guitar action!



Finally, Dark Thought, who made me think a bit of Marked Men and Radioactivity. Here's Jim, Daniel and Amy!



Jim sings!



Rhythm section action with Daniel and Amy!



Daniel hits!



Extra Jim!



Extra Amy!



The whole lot!



Good stuff all around.

The boys are back in town

Early in March I trekked over to Black Squirrel Books for some punk'n'roll action courtesy of possibly-from-Welland trio Dboy. Local combo The Thrill kicked things off. Here's Mikey and a big chunk of the PA!



Bass action with Derek!



The whole lot!



Balaclava action!



Kieran hits!



Rhythm section action!



More Derek!



Extra Mikey!



I get a bit of a Turbonegro vibe from the masked-and-hatted men of Dboy, though the sound is a lot more early than late. Here they make their triumphant entrance!



Three fingers good!



Rhythm section action!



The whole lot!



Percussive action!



Bass action!



Dboy sings!



And so on!



Boyish action!



A fun, fast show!