Fatal attraction

Bloomington, Indiana combo Murder by Death finished the night off in excellent form. They played show No. 1,000 a little while ago, so you can say they're experienced. Their music is an unusual stew of gothic Americana, punk, rockabilly and Tex-Mex instrumental sounds – a band whose taste runs along an axis stretching from Joy Division to Calexico, ending in a series of vaguely apocalyptic concept albums. I also get a strong Nick Cave vibe off them, which I suspect is due to Adam Turla's religious studies. They're one of the few bands out there that, while you can say you hear their inspirations and antecedents, there's not a whole lot else that sounds similar.

Piano attack!



Then Sarah Balliet switched over to cello.



Ducking and weaving action!



Adam leans in ... this may also be my best photo of bassist Matt Armstrong.



Drummer Dagan Thogersen eschewed the cloth cap this time around. Can you tell this photo actually hails from later in the set?



Adam works the neck veins.



What're you lookin' at?



More leaning. And dig that crazy Minarik guitar.



Prepare for extreme clapping!





They went off briefly, then Adam came back for a solo turn at Shiola.



Big crazy instrumental finish!



Darn fine, but it seemed to me that by the time I turned around at 1:30 a.m. or so a good chunk of the audience had sneaked away - to get up early for church, I guess.

• Show reminder: Greeley Estates, Farewell To Freeway, Kingdoms and Fact play Mavericks; Upstairs at Cafe DeKcuf you can see City of a Hundred Spires, Loon Choir and In Antarctica; Meadowlark Five, The Balconies and The Weathermakers perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Tonk and the Honkys, Jehan Khoorshed and Bob's Newhartthrobs play the Elmdale House. Goodnight Loving return to the Rock'Roll Pizza Party (now at the Dirty Oak, across from Babylon) for a show that will also feature a new Ottawa supergroup featuring three folks from "Mother's Children, Million Dollar Marxists, Beach Blankets, Sick Fits" and one of the Pizza guys. Winslow and Greater Than Giants play The Bayou.

No one gets out alive

I had a fun time at Mavericks last night - or, as it seems to have renamed itself, Maverick - watching local feral folkies Sadie Hell, The Murder Plans and Murder by Death.

Ben Welland bolstered his forces for this show with saxophonist Dave Halabisky and guitarist Sam Welland along with drummer Sean Laframboise. Ben was sounding in very good voice - they kept it to a short set of five songs, ending with popular howlalong The Wolf Can.


Sadie Hell, Mavericks, April 18, 2009

The Murder Plans were also sounding pretty tight, rocking out a healthy helping of new tunes from their 5/8ths finished album and sounding even more like The Wedding Present to me than usual.


Murder Plans, Mavericks, April 18, 2009

Finally. Murder by Death. When they last played town, opening for the Reverend Horton Heat, they didn't make much of an impression - not surprising since I only heard three songs. On this occasion they really impressed, both with their doomladen songs about puking, survivalists, drinking, bad brothers and the apocalypse - or, as lead singer Adam Turla put it "The fun stuff." They certainly seemed a lot more energetic on stage this time around, and were buoyed quite a bit by a large, enthusiastic audience. I could hear a lot of singing along. Turla's voice was in excellent shape, and it's a nice, resonant instrument.


Murder by Death, Mavericks, April 18, 2009

They also left an impression of being generally swell folks, performing The Big Sleep by request for a soon-to-be married couple. Turla encored alone with Shiola then had the band back for an instrumental workout.

• Show reminder: DD/MM/YYYY, METZ, Fucked Corpse and Army Of St. Joan were supposed to rock Mavericks tonight, but one of the DD/MM/YYYY guys got banged up on his bicycle (he'll recover) so the band had to cancel ... not sure what that does to the rest of the gig, so I'll update the post as soon as I find out (Update: Alas, the whole show's cancelled); Ridley Bent, Dustin Bentall (son of Barney) and Steve Stacey perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Jane Ehrhardt, Bette et Wallet and LPoushinsky folk around at the Rainbow.

Homicidal intent

Back in May 2007 when I saw Murder By Death perform at Barrymore's I got the impression that they sounded a bit like local performers Sadie Hell, if Ben Welland rounded up a few more members. Lo and behold, almost two years later the latter is opening for the former at Mavericks. The Murder Plans are also on the bill. Yay murder!


Murder by Death, Barrymore's, May 15, 2007

But let us suppose you don't like bloodshed. There is much else to do tonight, in fact there is some stuff I might have done myself if only I had known about it before buying my MBD ticket (I've got to stop doing that kind of thing months in advance). If you aren't the sort of person to peruse the comment section, you might not have noted that Cold Coffee and Salty Boots are performing at The Clocktower tonight with Merle Knurling and the Silent K and ukulele goddess Krista Muir (who also warns their may be unpredictable lederhosen sightings ...). Bell Orchestre return to the First Baptist Church along with Colin Stetson & Little Scream for some unpredictable orchestration. Six Shooter folk Justin Rutledge and Mellissa McClelland descend upon Zaphod's to play some rootsy singer-songwriter stuff. The BushPilots and The Cutmen are playing the Rainbow. Over at Irene's you can see the ever-entertaining B.A. Johnston, Manpower and Horses. Finally, Fiftymen perform the second of two sold out shows at The Elmdale House. Anyway, there's tons of stuff to do if you're not completely tired after spending the entire day celebrating Record Store Day.

Murder was the case

Murder by Death struck me as a somewhat gothic punkabilly band with a slight overlay of Calexico atmospherics. I may have imagined the last bit: I only had the chance to lend an ear to three songs before they made way for the headliner. Pictures turned out nicely though, didn't they?

Adam Turla likes black.



The ever-pretty Sarah Balliet was playing keyboard when I entered, shortly after she switched to cello.



Dagan Thogerson rocks the corduroy cap.



A shadowy Matt Armstrong.



Turla sneers, Armstrong mulls.



Murderous action!





A pleasant enough opening act.

• Show reminder: Million Dollar Marxists, Hostage Life, Knucklehead, Last Communion and Healing Power punk it up at Babylon; Mile Over Mecca and Jimi Haze perform at the Avant-Garde Bar.

Dead heat

Off to another night at Barrymore's. I figured I'd get there in time for the opening act, Murder By Death, if I walked in the front doors at 9:30 p.m. or so ... not the case, I only caught the last couple of songs. If Sadie Hell had an extra member or two, they might sound like MBD (or the other way around).



I'm guessing they were on and off early to make way for a good long set by The Reverend Horton Heat - and a super set it was. Unfortunately they didn't allow any photography without prior permission, so you're going to have to get by on my scribblings if you weren't there yourself. Pity, there were certainly a few things worth viewing and capturing for posterity's sake: The Rev's orange Nudie suit and similarly orange Gretsch guitar (his signature model, no doubt); bassist Jimbo Wallace balancing on his bass and tossing it in the air at the finale; The Rev himself riding the bass as Jimbo played.
A lively set, though the Reverend doesn't race about stage - he ambles, and with his somewhat pinched expression and plastered-down hair looks a bit like a dyspeptic older uncle. Well, his fingers are still mighty nimble, his voice is good ... that's what matters.
Musically it was a super-tight set, with many popular favourites (or at least those Heat could remember - he's written a bunch that he admitted he's forgotten. He did play Bales of Cocaine and Marijuana, and fulfilled a written request for Big Little Baby. The biggest crowd reaction came during The Jimbo Song; Loco Gringos Like A Party, 400 Bucks, Sue Jack Daniels and Psychobilly Freakout also made the setlist. The band zipped through a passel of covers, including Bill Haley and The Comets (Rock The Joint, I think - it was just an hour ago and already my memory's getting foggy too), Booker T and The MG's Time Is Tight, Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues and an out-of-left field version of Black Sabbath's Paranoid sung by drummer Paul Simmons (who also turned in a thunderous drum solo, complete with stick toss-and-catch). A must-see at least once.