Hold that pose

The Statues finished the night off; as mentioned earlier the brothers Houle have been frequent visitors, not just as the band's rhythm section but as members of The Havocs and Varge - in fact I recently posted some photos from the latter's show at the Montgomery Legion in 2006 to my Flickr photostream. Singer Rob Seaton's also shown up as a member of The Joliettes at Gaga Weekend.



Rob sings!



Jeff undergoes scrutiny.



Singalong action with Davey!



Singalong action with Emmanuel and Mitch!



More Mitch!



The whole lot!



Wrasslin' for the microphone.



Dave gets carried away!



And that's it, until the next time they roll through town, probably with another single or two under their belt.

• Show reminder: There's more garage goodness at Bablyon tonight with King Khan And The BBQ Show, Bloodshot Bill and The Holy Cobras. The Habit, Whale Tooth and The Property Line play Mavericks. The Bushpilots hold their own Christmas Party at The Rainbow with Good2go, Ken Workman, The John Henrys and Slo Tom all doing their bit for the Ottawa Food Bank. Lefty McRighty and the Shameless Bastards play the Elmdale House; Tony D performs at Irene's.

Cry havoc!

Here are The Havocs from Sudbury. They were the first band I saw after 10 days away in British Columbia. Their activity could be described as intermittent, which is a shame since they rock hard on stage.

Paul Lowenberg sings as Mitch and Jeff Houle play.



Singalong action!



Percussive action! I have a T-shirt with the same design, but for The Regulations.



Jeff contemplates.



I took some no-flash pictures with my macro lens. They did not really work.






And so on!





No sign of Havoc on the horizon, but Mitch and Jeff will be in town at The Bytown Tavern for a show with Malcolm Bauld, The Felines and Vancougar October 21 as part of Statues.

• Show reminder: audio/rocketry, Use Every Part of the Deer, Dylan Taylor, Kyle Lawler and Rusty perform at the Exile Infoshop; L.Poushinsky, Matthew de Zoete and Shannon Rose play the Avant-Garde Bar; The Dead Zone and Tones for Twilight rock Zaphod's; Vancouver's Arctic go pop at the Elmdale House Tavern. Revival Dear and The Woodrunners perform at The Rainbow.
  

Back to the future

I've just been away in Nelson, B.C., visiting family while an army of robot slaves update the blog in my absence. Fortunately there was a bevy of show opportunities awaiting my return because the Nelson nightlife, while pleasant in its own way, doesn't exactly offer the diversity of Ottawa. I walked over to The Rainbow after a full day of attending to neglected chores to see Gunsmoke and The Reverb Syndicate. The former is just back from tour, while the latter is readying itself for a trip overseas. The band on stage when I walked in the door was neither the former nor the latter: Sudbury's The Havocs. I hadn't heard of them before, but did recognize drummer Mitch as Varge bassist "Mike Fang"; guitarist Jeff Houle also served in Varge (as drummer). Bassist Paul Lowenberg rounds out the trio. Mitch and Jeff - who are brothers, I hear - also play in Statues (who came through town on August 9). Anyway, the family tree aside, these guys rock a heavy mod influence with covers of The Who and The Jam's In The City, and also covered MC5's High School.


The Havocs, The Rainbow, August 30, 2008

Gunsmoke sounded really sharp. So sharp Adam Freeborn sliced open a finger, leading to much blood on the bass strings and a premature end to the set.


Gunsmoke, The Rainbow, August 30, 2008

Finally the Reverb Syndicate capped the evening with their spyadelic instro-sounda, plus dancing girls. This was their first Ottawa show in a while - sort of a warmup for an upcoming Euro-tour.


The Reverb Syndicate, The Rainbow, August 30, 2008

They had a big enthusiastic crowd of dancers - hopefully a sign of future success on their overseas trip.

• Show reminder: The Stolen Minks, The Guest Bedroom and the Weathermakers perform at Irene's; Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah, the Bella Bombs and Zerg rock Zaphod's.