Collective action

Harvey Cartel finished the night off. They're a three-piece now with the departure of Andy Ehlers and seem to have headed deeper into rock'n'roll territory.

As you can see, Elie Abdelnour has moved over to bass.



Chris sings!



Elie sings!



Faceoff action with drummer Dave DiMaria.



Fisheye action!



Dave keeps his ears warm.



Guitar-raising action!



Hair-shaking action!



More Elie!



Chris goes down!



Feedback action!



They've got a quick jaunt around Ontario and Quebec coming up, and local dates at Greenfield's on May 7, The Rainbow May 15 and Atomic Rooster June 12.

• Show reminder: Laura Peek and Brent Randall are at Raw Sugar Cafe; Giant Hand, returns from touring with a show at Cafe DeKcuf, accompanied by Buffalo and Kalle Mattson; the Rainbow is obviously where the boys are, since Rudeboy and Take the Boys are going to be hitting its stage tonight; the main reason I'm kicking myself for working is that The Dead City Rebels are reuniting for a show at Yogi's Meatlocker, since Rebel Rene is heading back East - DCR offshoots Loviatar and Boom Creek are also on the bill, and The Longtimers apparently decided to reunite for the occasion as well. Halabisky's Uprising, Dr. Lee Percussion & Electronics and Ritallin perform at Zaphod's. Anders Drerup releases his new solo CD at Irene's; Ray Harris and The BSOBs and Jehan Khoorshed and His Problem play the Elmdale House

Mixed nuts

Harvey Cartel really wowed me when I saw them perform at The Rainbow, so it was an easy decision to pop over to Zaphod Beeblebrox and watch them headline the free Monday showcase with a trio of bands unknown to me.

First up were Monic, a young quartet with a heavy sound. They were covering The Sex Pistols' Submission as I walked in the door. That doesn't make them a bunch of first-wave punk revivalists. They reminded me a bit more of The Screaming Trees, with the addition of a double kick drum and keyboards.


Monic at Zaphod Beeblebrox, March 22, 2010

In Antarctica followed with a set that made me think of outfits like Jetplanes of Abraham, The Acorn or Rock Plaza Central. They said one of their songs was about Jacques Derrida. I'm not sure if they were joking or not.


In Antarctica at Zaphod Beeblebrox, March 22, 2010

If you were going by looks alone you'd say Montreal's The Gospel were a bunch of classic rock revivalists. They do have some catchy riffs, but what really defines their sound is sudden shifts from hard to jazzy and sudden tempo shifts (their 2009 CD City of Glass doesn't emphasize this aspect nearly as much as their live show). They also really know how to work a stage. As an added attraction they were selling nuts at their merch table (insert randy joke here), thanks to their drummer's day job at an organic and vegan food packaging business. They'll be back in town soon with a show at Cafe DeKcuf April 9.


The Gospel at Zaphod Beeblebrox, March 22, 2010

Harvey Cartel wrapped things up with another hot set of jumped-up roots rock; they played as a trio with guitarist Elie switching to bass.


Harvey Cartel at Zaphod Beeblebrox, March 22, 2010

An interesting mix all round.

•  Show reminder: It's not music, but it is Henry Rollins at the Bronson Centre Theatre; Keturah Johnson is at The Rainbow.

Get it together

After some modern metal, it was time for more retro sounds at the Rainbow, starting with Harvey Cartel. They've been pretty busy, and have racked up a fair number of upcoming dates thanks to their ferocious country-rock performance - one which certainly doesn't stint on the "rock" side of the equation.

Frontman Chris - not the Captain Foxy/Expatriate member with the same name — on vocals and guitar.



Rhythm section action with Andy Ehlers on bass and Dave DiMaria on drums.



I'll bet guitarist Elie Abdelnour was at the same Priestess show I was.



Singalong action!



Fret-burning action!



Reflective action!



The whole lot!



More Dave!



Faceoff action!



Elie sings!



Distorted action!



Even more distorted action!



Elongated action!



Sliding action!



Chris goes down!



Chris works the crowd!



Bending action!



Feedback action!



Big finish!



Their next show is at the Cajun Attic February 18; they'll also be at Zaphod Beeblebrox March 22.

• Show reminder: The Sadies, Young Rival and The Property Line are at Mavericks; The Sonic Avenues release their new vinyl LP at Ritual Nightclub; New Teeth release their new EP with an assist from Intensive Care and Face of Jam at Zaphod's; The Girlfriends, The Uncles and Joyride to Doomsday perform at Mike's Place.

Jump aboard

The Train Jumpers finished the night off. As I was looking through my photos a week ago I noticed the lead singer of The Train Jumpers bore an uncommon resemblance to Chris Landry from the Harvey Cartel ... indeed, it is Chris Landry from the Cartel, which just goes to show that my brain has been reduced to tapioca by too much eggnog (or something like that).

From left to right we have Chris, Kato Blaine, Brandon Agnew and Stu Rutherford.



The other side of the train.



Dusty Drifter Stu was also laying down some slide for the Train Jumpers. He may not know whether to jump or drift ...



Landry sings!



Singalong action! With Kato Blaine, whose name I fear I may be misspelling.



Brandon Agnew brushes up. Brandon has his own musical outlet in in rehevoli, and can sometimes be heard with L. Poushinsky as well as Dave Norris and Local Ivan.



And so on.



Perching action!





The suitcase actually travelled a bit more than it should - thus soundman Tom's deployment of the cinder block.



Chris was rather self-deprecatory about the performance, but I though it sounded decent enough, despite a few flubs.

• Show reminder: Skunch and The Botched Suicides terrify the Rainbow Bistro; you can say goodbye to Allie of The White Wires and  Peach Kelli Pop at the Bytown tonight; The Visitors are also on the bill; The Girlfriends, The Barstool Layoffs and Get A Life Losers make for an excellent free triple-bill at Zaphod Beeblebrox (or at least the Girlfriends and GALL do - I can't testify for the Layoffs).

Make it a double

I set off for Zaphod Beeblebrox last night around 8:30, which I figured would be plenty of time to see Did You Just Hex Me? Mekhaya, two local metal combos I wanted to see since this was a year I returned to listening to heavy metal in a big way and it seems silly to ignore the local variety. What I failed to consider was the possibility there was a third band on the bill. I didn't recognize them at first, but as it turned out it it was Biipiigwan - they've undergone a lineup change from a trio to a quartet since I saw them at the Bytown Tavern in May last year, and Musky has also grown his hair. They were starting their last song as I dug my camera out of the bag, so I'll share the handful of decent shots I took right away ...

Mike sings! He's switched to guitar.


Biipiigwan at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 12, 2009

Mike, a shadowy Scotty of Alaskan on drums, Denis on bass and Musky.


Biipiigwan at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 12, 2009

I didn't even recognize the guitar.


Biipiigwan at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 12, 2009

Big finish!


Biipiigwan at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 12, 2009

Then it was on to Did You Just Hex Me? a screamy hardcore metal quartet. Singer Brandon and guitarist Mat are seen below. Brandon dedicated one of the songs to "a little orange cat who got me through Saturday morning cartoons" - namely Garfield. They did however reject a request to cover Miley Cyrus.


Did You Just Hex Me? at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 12, 2009

Mekhaya's metal took a proggier, jazzier turn, though the vocals were just as growly as those of Hex Me? Let's just say it's no coincidence guitarist Sebastien is wearing a Dillinger Escape Plan T-shirt.


Mekhaya at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 12, 2009

The night wasn't over yet: It was just a few blocks to the Rainbow where Harvey Cartel were holding their CD release show. To think I almost headed home to watch the rest of World of Drunken Master. Gah! I missed the opener, Three Pillars of Rock, but witnessed a ferocious set by Harvey Cartel. The band plays some first-rate roots-rock, and frontman Chris Landry can really burn up the frets.


Harvey Cartel at the Rainbow, December 12, 2009

I've been seeing the Polymorphines' name a lot in the last year or two without realizing - once again! - that I had already seen a couple of the members perform. And yes, once again this was due to a lot of hair-growing (and thw passage of a couple of years). Frontman Jeremy Brisebois and drummer Jordan Potechin are, of course, veterans of the more country-oriented outfit Crowded Skies. The Polymorphines are a more raucous outfit, and bluesier to boot. They covered The White Stripes Hotel Yorba and have a full time tambourine shaker, backup vocalist and harmonica player in Jefferson Airship.


Polymorphines at the Rainbow, December 12, 2009

They'll also be playing Zaphod's New Year's show.