Year disappear

As 2018 vanished into the distance, I went to Black Squirrel Books to see a trio of local acts: Future News, Offers and Mushy Gushy, Ive seen them all in the recent pass, and decided I wanted to see them again, starting with Future News. Here's Adam, waiting for the pre-show banter to end!



Guitar action with Jacob!



Bass action with Kurt (the band was paying as a trio, since regular bassist Jonah wasn't available).



More Jacob!



Extra Adam and Kurt!



Futuristic action!



Extra Adam!



On to the Offers, the new Bytown supergroup featuring members of Average Times, Million Dollar Marxists, and all those bands Davey played with (Fucked Corpse, Quebexico, etc.). Here's the Times' Seiji!



Davey sings!



The whole lot, with Tim on drums!



More Davey!



Extra Tim!



And a bit more Seiji!



Mushy Gushy brought the night to a close with a ripping set. Here's Daniel, Cory, and a bit of Jonathan!



More Daniel!



Pat hits!



Singalong action with Jonathan and Daniel!



More Jonathan!



Guitar action!



The whole lot!



A fine way to end the year.

Soft and hard

Black Squirrel Books hosted a diverse bill of indie-rocking and power-popping bands in the middle of July. Ohio combo Good Shade were on tour through Ottawa, and a trio of local acts jumped on the bill, starting with Future News. Here's Kurt on guitar and vocals!



More guitar with Jacob!



Bass action with Jonah!



The whole lot!



Adam hits!



Up next, The Dant Danners, who I caught just a month earlier at Targ (and then forgot to post about until now).Here's Mike (and a blurry Steve and Scott).



The whole lot!



More Scotty!



Keyboard action with Tony!



Steve hits!



Bendy action!



And a bit more Tony!



Good Shade hail from Columbus, and turn out a a chunky pop sound. Here's Patrick and Shane!



More Patrick!



Shane sings!



Chris hits!



Extra Shane!



The whole lot!



Things took a turn for the sludgier for Soft Life's closing set. Here's some guitar action with Marley!



Percussive action with Robbie!



Vocal action!



The whole lot!



Closeup action!



Non-closeup action!



Great sets from everyone!

Whimsy and violence

A week ago I headed off to Pressed for a show promoted by CKCU's The New Local - locals Future News shared a stage with Torontonians Deliluh and WHIMM and Denver's Natural Violence. Future News were on first; you might recognize Kurt from the Young Offenders.



More news with another YO, guitarist Jacob, along with Jonah and Adam!



More Kurt!



Extra Jacob!



More Jonah!



Adam hits!



Futuristic action!



Even more Adam!



The whole lot!



Natural Violence is the solo outlet for Homebody's Michael. While Homebody (who you might have caubht playing at Bar Robo, or at Ottawa Explosion in 2015) sounds to me like Denver's answer to Mac De Marco. Natural Violence is quite different - a dark and doomy synth sound predominates. Here's a masked Michael!



More gripping action!



And so on!



Deliluh play a sort of slacker rock that strikes me as a blend of Bailter Space and Pavement. Here's 12-string guitarist Julius!



Bass action with Adam!



Ami hits (and also plays some violin).



Guitar action with Kyle!



More Kyle and Adam!



Extra Ami!



The whole lot!



I have a sneaking suspicion that the various members of WHIMM own a substantial portion of the back catalogue of This Heat and Gang of Four. Here's frontman Mounir!



Jonathan (also of Hooded Fang) hits!



Rhythm section action with Andrew!



Kyle from Deliluh also kicked in on some saxophone!



Whimsical action!



More Andrew!



Extra Jonathan!



A fine evening out.