Shock treatment

The Jolts came a fair distance - all the way from Vancouver, to be precise - to favour we Easterners with their hard-edge punk rock. As one might guess from the Hellacopters and Turbonegro insignia covering front man Joey Blitzkrieg's duds, the band has a bit of a thing for Scandinavian hard rock.

Joey sings!



Back in 1976 the kids tweaked their elders' noses with swastikas and Iron Crosses ... the Jolts annoy the hippies with U.S. military insignia, such as bassist Lector Kurrentz's Marine Corps T-shirt.



Matt Von Dander drums.



Dr. Dylan Danger - I presume he's a doctor of rock ... either that or comparative military theory since he has a USS Alabama patch on his right soldier and a Commonwealth style sergeant's rank on his left.



Singalong action!



The whole lot, with auxiliary and roadie Mikey Screwdriver.



Faceoff action!



And so on!







A hot set by general consensus.

• Show reminder: Speaking of hot sets at The Bytown, Jesus Mullet, knifehammer and The Suicide Pilots play there tonight! Teenage Bottlerocket, The Riptides, The Sidekicks, Clock Strikes Music dish up more rock at Mavericks. The Brothers, The Brothers Chaffey, The Flaps and Shipshapes perform at Barrymore's. J+E Grocery and Todo Uso perform at Irene's. Lucas Stagg and Tanya Philipovich perform at the Avant-Garde Bar.

On a wire

After leaving Bluesfest I made a quick stop at home to drop off my telephoto and get my 14-45mm lens, then headed down to the Bytown Tavern for the Rock'n'Roll Pizza Party. It wasn't long before the first combo - London, Ontario's Stiff Wires - hit the stage.


Stiff Wires, Bytown Tavern, July 10, 2008

They're a shouty young quintet in the vein of such Canuck Punk combos as The Ugly who introduced themselves as "... usually fucked up.". They did a cover of The Forgotten Rebels' Surfin' on Heroin.


The Creeps, Bytown Tavern, July 10, 2008

Next up, The Creeps. They played a set at scorching speed including one so new it isn't on their new, widely acclaimed CD.


The Jolts, Bytown Tavern, July 10, 2008

The Jolts finished things off with a hard-rocking set ... I see a Turbonegro T-shirt and Hellacopters patch on lead singer and guitarist Joey Blitzkreig, and remember thinking that they reminded me of another V-town outfit, The Spitfires. Now I see they cite them as an influence on their Myspace page.

• Show reminder: Snatchback, The Valveenus, and Gusto Fiasco play The Bayou; Joe Brownrigg and The Guilty Minds, Alex R. Newman perform at Cafe Dekcuf. Recon, xAFBx, Thick As Blood, The Miles Between and King of Kings perform at Mavericks. The Von Drats, The Midways with Shanker and Romps rock Irene's.