Can you dig it!?!

It's a month of anniversary's at House of Targ. First U.K. Subs come through in their 40th year (and to help celebrate Vertigo Records 13th), last week it was Chixdiggit's turn. The Western pop-punkers have been at it for a quarter-century. They shared the bill with Montreal's Boids and Ottawa's Pistols At Dawn. Last time I saw them perform, Pistols at Dawn were sticking with Sum 41 covers at the House of Targ's Canadian Content bash, so this was a chance for truer estimation of their melodic punk style. Here's some shoutalong action!



Percussive action!



Vocal action!



Guitar action with Cam!



Greenish action!



Bass action!



The whole lot!



More singalong action!



I saw Boids perform with Criticull and BCASA late last year, and they had a tough sound; for this gig they were down to a trio. Here's some singalong action!



Closeup action!



Downstroke action!



More singalong action!



Percussive action!



And so on!



More guitar!



Chixdiggit were celebrating their Targ show with both a new album (the performance was the first chance they had to lay eyes on 2012, their new EP which contains the world's longest punk song) and a limited edition beer named after them, courtesy of Big Rig Brewing. They had a huge set list prepared for the show - not so much what they planned to play, since they mostly took requests, but everything they remembered how to play. There was a lot of banter about parenthood (bassist BJ is slated to be a new dad in the near future), plenty of riffing between songs



B.J. sings!



Guitar action with Mark!



KJ sings!



Tyler hits!



More guitar!



Bonus B.J.!



Extra K.C.!



More Mark and Tyler!



A fun night for a packed house.

Anarchy for never

It's the Christmas season, so the next few posts are going to go with the theme: "Stuff I waited too long to post because I was doing other stuff." A couple of weeks ago BCASA played their last show. I've heard nothing but good things about their live show and figured I should go and check them out before they called it a day. Also on the bill, Montreal's Boids and Bytown funk-metal combo Criticull. As always, Criticull put on a high-energy show and as always, I still don't like my funk and my metal at the same time. Here's some hair-tossing action with saxophonist Mandy!



Jumping about from Cutter!



Guitar action with Reid!



More Mandy!



Funky action!



Percussive action with Owlscar!



Bass action with Jon!



Masked action!



More Cutter!



Singalong action!



Extra bass!



Extra drums!



Extra saxophone!



And so on!



Friendly action!



The Boids (or is that BOIDS?) were on next; they made me think of The Ramones with a hardcore twist. Mike G, Andy, Patrizio and DW form the quartet, but who is who I know not.



Guitar action!



Percussive action!



Vocal action!



More vocal action!



More guitar!



BOIDSian action!



More drumming!



Neck veined action!



And so on!



Extra veins!



The end!



The BCASA (a.k.a. The Bill Cosby ANarchy Society of America) was billing this show as their last Ottawa banger; I'm not sure if the members are off to college, or leaving town, or a little of both. I shot this show almost entirely from the sidelines, as The BCASA's fads are enthusiastic moshers. Maybe too enthusiastic, judging from the ambulance parked outside as I left. On with the show! Here's some rhythm section action with Wes and Tarzan!



Tarzan hits!



Guitar action with Nick!



Nick sings!



Audience participation action!



More Nick!



More bass action with Wes!



More rhythm section action!



Anarchic action!



Lots of fun, apart from the bodily injury.