Down the rabbit hole

The K-Hole  house I've often passed en route to shows elsewhere, and the occasional gaggle of folks hanging out outside as I made my return often made me wonder if it was the site for house shows. Well, if it wasn't before it is now; a bunch of past and present Montrealers (and some past and present Ottawans) brough some psychedelic burnout to its front room two Fridays ago. First up, Slow Dawn. If you wanted to know what former Holy Cobras members were up to, here you go. The new combo combines the Cobras' psychedelic punch with a lot of shoegaze. Here's Jesse and Caylie (Boyhood, Blue Angel, etc.).



And here's former Cobras frontman Dan Druff.



Aother Boyhooder, Alex, rounds out the group on guitar.



Caylie hits!



And so on!



Dan asked for a post-gig group shot, so here you go.



On to DeerGod, the only band of the evening who were strangers to me; they hail from Toronto. They were pretty wild!



Percussive action with Chris Scott!



Here's some guitar action with, and Matt on bass.



Evan works the crowd.



Gripping action!



Back to more familiar faces; No Negative features a couple of vets from The Fuzz (not the Ty Segall group), Mark Frags (also of Ultrathin and Holy Cobras) and Matt Oxley of copious psychedelic outfits (Mannequin, New Humans).



And here's Mark, along with his trademark white belt.



I spoke with bassist Carlo after the show; I don't know who the drummer is.



Feedback and drinking action!



There was just a bit of time for Drainolith (who recently opened at the House of Targ for Neil Michael Hagerty) to play a quick set; their material was a bit mellower than their Targ noise.



Trippy Twins action!



The whole lot!



Alex sings!



Fisheye action!

Unborn rights

The latest edition of the Ottawa Implosion came to an explosive end with the first set from new combo Sick Nurse (featuring fellow snapper Darryl Reid on vocals), Montreal's Subsistench and the last set from local faves Pregnancy Scares. Unfortunately I was delayed getting out of the house and missed Sailor Jupiter's opening set. Here's Sick Nurse kicking things off with some screamy streetpunk.



Next, a special guest appearance from the late Ronald Reagan, wrestling an audience member.



Guitar action!



Percussive action!



Rolling around action!



On to the rough and ready sound of Subsistench. They manage to be hugely distorted and melodic at the same time. Here's Matt from Thee Nodes and Fuzz!



The whole lot!



Singalong action!



Camouflage action!



Masked action!



Vocal action!



Feedback action!



Well, it's been a good run for Pregnancy Scares - I first caught them at Nine back in June 2010 alongside White Lung (with whom they've performed several times since) and The Blind Shake. They made a good first impression, and made a good last impression as well. On to some microphone testing action with Craig!



Emmanuelle adds smoke.



Let the shouting begin!



David hits!



Hair attack action!



Bendy action!



Davey frets, Craig takes a stand!



Craig gets a little carried away.



It was a touchy-feely occasion.



Extra David!



The bendy bit!



Huuuuuuuuugs!



Doom was on hand to provides some extra noise (and sparks)!



Headbanging action!



More sparks!



A fitting end to both band and weekend.

Hard times

Saturday was another night where I could easily have been elsewhere, but I decided to make the trek through the rain to the not-quite-top-secret location that houses Gabba Hey. On offer was Ottawa expat collective The Fuzz, francopunks Asile and local shouters Pregnancy Scares.

This was a projection-enhanced event.



Off we go with Asile!



Bass action with Scott!



Patrick sings!



The shouty bit!



Rhythm section action!



Joel hits!



Grimacing action!



Double hit!



After that, it was time for some fuzz with The Fuzz - after the jump ...