Egad, is McLeod St. Ottawa's new boulevard of rock?!? Well, there are at least two domiciles willing to open their doors to musical performances. On the only sunny day in May I toodled over to No. 137 in the Golden Triangle to see performances from Roberta Bondar, The Brabazons, Dagger Eyes and Chris Bush. The first time I saw Chris was at another house show, fronting trio Get A Life Losers. The next time was at Gaga Weekend fronting duo Greed Bros. And finally here he is playing solo ...
Socky singing action!
Shadowy action!
The crowd goes wild! (Including Tyler, drummer from Greed Bros., GALL, Fire Heats Water and Roberta Bondar.)
Still nice and sunny outside!
Am I going to waste the opportunity provided by freshly painted ceilings and walls? Hell no.
The end!
What's next I know not.
Show reminder: Sad Guru and The Magnificent Sevens play The Rainbow.
Moving right along, we have The Greed Brothers. I think Get A Life Losers was supposed to play, but for whatever reason the bass player couldn't make it so the Brothers appeared instead to make a right lot of fuzzed out sort-of-blues skronkidelica.
Chris Bush gets a grip.
Tyler Goodman; like Chris, he left his pants offstage.
Audience looking elsewhere action!
Faceoff action!
Chris sings!
Hollering action!
More Tyler!
More faceoff!
The audience goes wild!
Oh yes, I also shot some video, which must watch if only to see Tyler stab his snare to death with his highhat stand.
Luca holds up the victim of wanton drumicide.
What's next for The Greed Brothers? I don't know ... I'm not even sure they know ...
Show reminder: American Dollar, If Then Do and Adam Saikaley bring strange sounds to Club SAW; it's the last of The Grass's Zaphod's residencies, with The Mudplots, Ship Shapes and Woodrunners; The Fed Pennies play The Rainbow; Mavericks goes metal with Darkness Rites, Immersed and Endemise; Dead Zone and Hello Darkness are upstairs at Cafe DeKcuf.
Like several hundred other Ottawans, I've been waiting eagerly for the third edition of the Gaga Weekend, where a bunch of Bytown's best rockers (plus a few ringers from foreign parts) converge on a series of select venues across the city to wreck eardrums and inspire mini-riots. As is traditional, the first night of the three-day affair lands at the Rock'N'Roll Pizza Party, which for the last handful of Thursdays has been at Nine. Five bands strutted their stuff last night, starting with Pregnancy Scares, who were at least on familiar ground since they played there a few nights back opening for The Blind Shake.
But first, the Gagaman homself, Ian Manhire raises a brew and declares the festivities have beguuuuuuuuun!
Ian Manhire at Nine, June 10, 2010
Craig models the Gaga Weekend bracelet ... Pregnancy Scares kicked things off with a speedy and shouty version of The White Wires' Girly Girly Girly, then ripped through a handful of other one-minute shredders.
Pregnancy Scares at Nine, June 10, 2010
A bit of video ... actually this may be a whole song.
Pregnancy Scares at Nine, June 10, 2010
They were followed by Greed Brothers, an underwear-sporting duo that some folks may remember as two-thirds of Get A Life Losers. Kind of skronky and deconstructed compared to that trio's output. What really got deconstructed was the band's snare, which was smashed up in the set's instrument wrecking finale.
Greed Brothers at Nine, June 10, 2010
The Creeps don't need an introduction now, do they? There usual excellent punk-pop was its usually excellent self, and they also played a couple of new tunes slated for an upcoming record. They even had a couple of pals fly in from Winnipeg to see them play (and catch the rest of the weekend).
The Creeps at Nine, June 10, 2010
Uranium Comeback have replaced Seiji (now in Japan) with The Zebrassieres/Beach Blankets' Daniel Collins and continue to knock out their power-pop with aplomb ... I think half of their shows have been at Gaga Weekends. The crowd went crackers when they launched into Walk You Home Tonight.
Uranium Comeback at Nine, June 10, 2010
The Holy Cobras set was even better, with much crowd surfing and crowd-crawling from Danny, while the band's psychedelic punk drone sneer was spot on ... I think this was the best set I've seen them play, which is saying something.
Holy Cobras at Nine, June 10, 2010
The Suppositories really had the crowd moshing as well with their stripped down bootpunk. And since no-one was writing an exam nearby they could turn things up a bit.
The Suppositories at Nine, June 10, 2010
There goes Ian!
Ian Manhire at Nine, June 10, 2010
Tonight the show moves to Ritual, with performances by The Girlfriends, Peach Kelli Pop, First Base, Mother's Children, Strange Attractor and Zebrassieres.
I'm an inveterate show-goer and photographer from Ottawa, Canada, and take copious pictures of live shows, most of which can be seen here on my blog or on Flickr. You can also follow me on Twitter, or on Tumblr. Past show and music reviews can also be found at Penny Black Music.
All contents are copyright Andrew Carver, except for album covers and the work of other photographers. Bands are free to reproduce photos of themselves on their blogs and websites; please don't use them elsewhere without permission. Most photos after April 2006 are linked to a larger version. I can be reached at andcarver "at" hotmail.com.
