Brand new heavies

Let's see, I'm at Pressed, there's a cello, a synthesizer and a violin ... yup, it's a heavy metal show! You have to wonder what a time-travelling headbanger from 1980 would think of the explosion of experimental and avant-garde music being released under the now extraordinarily distended banner of metal. I like to think he or she (or anyone) would be mightily impressed by the sounds on offer from Gates, Volur and The Visit last Saturday. First on the bill were Gates, a largely instrumental outfit centred around guitarist Bryan Bray (the only musician actually wielding a six-string that evening, come to that) which I suspect would be quite comfortable on a bill with, for example, Godspeed You Black Emperor. On this occasion Bryan was backed by Lucas and Laura from Volur and Joel from Jugurtha. Here's Joel, adjusting a device.



Here's Laura and a much-obscured Bryan.



Lucas bends!



Slow-building action!



Extra Joel!



Guitar action!



This was the loud bit.



Bryan shouts!



And a bit more Laura.



Volur's songs were a bit more concise. In addition to Lucas (who also plays bass in Blood Ceremony) and Laura, Jimmy P. Lightning from Do Make Say Think plays drums.



Lucas sings!



Laura again!



Rhythmic action!



Laura sings!



Extra Jimmy!



Extra Laura!



The Visit played a really magical set. I bought their album Through Darkness Into Light on Bandcamp a little while ago; they sounded even better live. Raphael has appeared in Musk Ox, among other combos, while I gather from Herd magazine that Heather has a background in dance. Here's Raphael!



Heather sings! She has a great voice.



More Raphael!



The whole lot!



Extra Heather!



More Raphael!



Even more Raphael!



Bonus Heather!



And so on!



Raphael plucks!



More Heather? Why not!



One for the shows-of-the-year list.

Think about it

Somewhere, buried in the depths of my collection of photos, is a handful of pictures from the first time I say Do Make Say Think. They played at Babylon with If Then Do and Daydream Square, June 24, 2003. I may dig them out some time, since I don't think they ever made it online. I've seen a few of DMST's expansive membership performing with other bands (notably z'Howndz and, of course, Broken Social Scene) and they've intrigued me for the last few years. Since they were in town on a rare day off for me, I decided to check them out at Mavericks. For some reason they were initially slated to play the Capital Music Hall. That venue strikes me as a bit large for them, while Mavericks is a little small. Since Jetplanes of Abraham were the opening act, you can understand the place was packed when I showed up at 10 p.m. Unfortunately I missed almost all of Jetplanes of Abraham (it's a tradition of mine ....). Here are the remaining photos that worked out:





Not much to go on, is it? Needless to say I decided to use flash for the other photos and invite you to click on the tag below to see the other shows of theirs that I've snapped. Ahem! On to Do Make Say Think. I'm not sure who everyone is, but I can identify most of the regular few.

Here's Ohad Benchentrit.



Julie Penner shows up with an awful lot of bands; she was here with Hylozoists as well. If this keeps up I'm going to give her her own tag. Justin Small is just behind her.



Dave Mitchell on drums. His co-drummer James Payment is just beyond him, while Charles Spearin takes a spin on bass.



(Head-scratching noises here.)



More doing, making, saying and thinking! Not in that order though.









Big tambourine-rattling finish!



That was fun, even if I don't feel a particular need to see them more than once every five years or so.

• Show reminder: Ladymilk, Good2Go and The Bible All Stars rock at Irene's Pub; Farewell to Freeway, Kincaide and Hide Yourself Away perform at End Hits. The Most Serene Republic, Dragonette and Mother Mother play at Zaphod's. The Golden Dogs, Major Grange and The 6ixty 8ights rock at Mavericks.
  

What to make of it

Off to Mavericks to see the relocated Do Make Say think show. Originally booked for Capital Music Hall, it had no problem selling out the much smaller venue. I wasn't the last guy to buy tickets - the guy behind me in line at End Hits on Wednesday might have been though, since they were down to two then. Unfortunately I thought things would be starting later than they did and only caught the tail end of Jetplanes of Abraham's set and an appreciative "Woo!" from the audience. That was at a few minutes after 10 p.m. I guess they need the early start time to accommodate all the shifting of gear. I'm no expert but I imagine being the soundman for this gig was a bit of a nightmare.

A quickly snapped picture of a few Abrahamites.



Do Make Say Think began their set with a bit of "technological difficulty banter." For all the grumbling the switch-around wasn't too lengthy and pretty soon they were into their first tune. Fifty minutes later: "And now for our second song."



I thought things took a bit to get interesting, but after they hit their stride all was good.

• Show reminder: Bela Emerson and Parade perform at Sounds Unlikely. Means, Cry of the Afflicted and Letting Go of Yesterday play End Hits. Yael Wand and Chloe Hall perform at Rasputin's. The Flaps and The Empiricals once again battle to the death at Irene's. Contrary to earlier reports triggered by a misplaced "1", Poorfolk, The Mohawk Lodge and Octoberman play at Zaphod Beeblebrox tonight. Andrew Vincent, Royal Wood and Ron Leary perform at the Black Sheep Inn.