Mothers and sisters

As the New Year began I hobbled over to the House of Targ to check out some ferocious punk action from Montreal powerhouse NOBRO. Combos Custodians, Magic Mommy and Hang Nail stepped up to provide some extra kick to the night. Montrealers Hang Nail were up first, starting with some shouty action with Alex and Hannah!



Hannah sings!



More Hannah!



Fraser hits!



On to Magic Mommy! Here's Aaron!



Sof sings!



Bass and guitar action with Elo and Fi!



Gripping action!



Magical action!



Guitar action with Lix!



New Swears man Sammy J. has done some stuff on the side while his main outfit was rising to fame, Custodian is his new outlet, alongside fellow Swearian Nick.



Bass action with Nick!



Percussive action!



Sammy sings!



Sammy jumps about!



Nick sings!



NOBRO always play a killer set - they'll be back in town for this year's Bluesfest. Here's Kathryn!



Closeup action with Lisandre!



Kathryn sings!



Amused action with Sarah!



Guiar action with Karolane!



Non-brotherly action!



Instrument-switching action!



Sarah rocks the bass!



Microphone-sharing action!



Karolane sings!



Always great!

Axe maniacs

Back on Dec. 16 I gamboled over to Cafe DeKcuf for some heavy rock action. I'll never quite understand why bands from the U.S. decide to tour Canada in the dead of winter, but it's always cool to check out acts like Ruby The Hatchet, alongside a couple of new-to-me local combos. Dead Odyssey kicked things off (they'll also be at the Dominion April 7, sharing the stage with Fotocrime and others). Here's some fuzzy guitar action with Trey!



Gloved action with Isaac!



Bass action with Caine!



More drums!



More bass!



More guitar!



Caine sings!



On to Heights Peak with some gripping action from Mick (and also Dr. Bennett on guitar)!



Vocal action with Steve!



Bass action with Ultimate Smooth Walker!



Atheistic action with J-Bone!



Heightened action!



Peak action!



And so on!



More heightened action!



Ruby The Hatchet played a great set. Here's singer Jillian!



Guitar action with Johnny!



Bass and keyboard action with Lake and Sean!



More Jillian!



Lake shakes!



Owen hits!



Lake sings!



Tambourine action!



More Sean!



Great stuff.