By the water

I went to Targ last week for a quadruple helping of rock and or roll. Inbstrumental heavyweights Monobrow were headlining their first show in a while, Hatchet Lake travelled from Nova Scotia, Montreal crunchers Tunguska Mammoth dropped in from Montreal, with Buttercotch Palace almost but not quite kicking things off. As it happened the band had a brush with the plague, so the half that weren't stricken (Ian and Todd) showed up with the rest of their other band, Boom Creek, to starts things off. Here's Neil with some microphone-eating action, and Adam!



Rhythm section action with Todd!



Guitar action with Ian!



Adam hits!



More Todd!



Singing and drinking action!



Singalong action!



Feedback action!



Tunguska Mammoth stomp out of Quebec with some heavy stoner sludge. From right to left, it's Mathieu, Maxime, Paolo and Pierre-Hugues.



Maxime sings!



And so on!



More guitar with Mathieu!



Paolo sings!



Pierre-Hugues hits!



Even more guitar!



Hatchet Lake had a more grungy sound - they immediately had me thinking of Slow, Tad and other Northwestern fuzzers; here's singer Craig!



Guitar action with Andy!



Bass action with Stephen!



Watery action with Craig and drummer Adam!



More Craig!



Extra Adam!



And so on!



More guitar!



The whole lot!



Monobrow have emerged from a bit of studio time (they have a new track up at their Bandcamp) and will be playing another show at Targ on Nov. 9 with Mountain Dust and Sierra. Here''s Paul laying down some riffage!



Percussive action with Brian!



Bass action with Sam!



And so on!



The whole lot!



More Brian!



Always a great set!

Get out!

Another trip to Targ, another triple dose from the outer limits of the musical brain. Headliner U.S. Out Of Vietnam is the latest project from national musical treasure Johnathan Cummins of Bionic, with local instrumental heavyweights The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol and new combo Butterscotch Palace starting things off. Of course, when I say "new," I mean a bunch of folks you've seen in other bands going back many years, starting with Ian of Boom Creek, Four Frames and sundry other combos.



Rhythm section action with Albert (of The Four Frames and Capital Grass and The No-Men) and Todd!



Guitar action with Wayne, brother of Albert and veteran of the aforementioned bands!



Buttery action!



Projected action!



Silhouetted action!



The end!



There was more projection going on during The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol's set. Here's drummer John in the kaleidoscopic spotlight!



Adjusting action with Jason!



Sisterly action with Bill (and also Dave and Scott there in the back)!



Bass action with Nate!



John hits!



More Dave and Scott - unfortunately things were a bit darker on stage so most of my photos came out on the grainy side.



Even more Scott!



 U.S.A. Out Of Vietnam finished things off with their heavy rock'n'harmonies sound. Here's onetime Doughboy and Bionic man Jonathan!



Percussive action with El Tigre!



More guitar!



Bass action! The band are a pseudonymous lot, so I'm only guessing when I say this is Rockhard.



More singalong action!



Rockhard sings! They do like their harmonies.



Theremin action!



Extra El Tigre!



The audience had a bit of a sit-down for the last tune.



An excellent show!