Down the rabbit hole

The K-Hole  house I've often passed en route to shows elsewhere, and the occasional gaggle of folks hanging out outside as I made my return often made me wonder if it was the site for house shows. Well, if it wasn't before it is now; a bunch of past and present Montrealers (and some past and present Ottawans) brough some psychedelic burnout to its front room two Fridays ago. First up, Slow Dawn. If you wanted to know what former Holy Cobras members were up to, here you go. The new combo combines the Cobras' psychedelic punch with a lot of shoegaze. Here's Jesse and Caylie (Boyhood, Blue Angel, etc.).



And here's former Cobras frontman Dan Druff.



Aother Boyhooder, Alex, rounds out the group on guitar.



Caylie hits!



And so on!



Dan asked for a post-gig group shot, so here you go.



On to DeerGod, the only band of the evening who were strangers to me; they hail from Toronto. They were pretty wild!



Percussive action with Chris Scott!



Here's some guitar action with, and Matt on bass.



Evan works the crowd.



Gripping action!



Back to more familiar faces; No Negative features a couple of vets from The Fuzz (not the Ty Segall group), Mark Frags (also of Ultrathin and Holy Cobras) and Matt Oxley of copious psychedelic outfits (Mannequin, New Humans).



And here's Mark, along with his trademark white belt.



I spoke with bassist Carlo after the show; I don't know who the drummer is.



Feedback and drinking action!



There was just a bit of time for Drainolith (who recently opened at the House of Targ for Neil Michael Hagerty) to play a quick set; their material was a bit mellower than their Targ noise.



Trippy Twins action!



The whole lot!



Alex sings!



Fisheye action!

Hard times

Saturday was another night where I could easily have been elsewhere, but I decided to make the trek through the rain to the not-quite-top-secret location that houses Gabba Hey. On offer was Ottawa expat collective The Fuzz, francopunks Asile and local shouters Pregnancy Scares.

This was a projection-enhanced event.



Off we go with Asile!



Bass action with Scott!



Patrick sings!



The shouty bit!



Rhythm section action!



Joel hits!



Grimacing action!



Double hit!



After that, it was time for some fuzz with The Fuzz - after the jump ...

Temple of buzz

It was a swell time at the Dominion Tavern Saturday night with Montreal's The Fuzz headlining, Dagger Eyes rocking out and new Ottawa trio Neck making their on-stage debut.

If you've been following the blog for a while you'll know everyone involved in Neck: Jeff from Garaga and Harshey plays guitar, while Kevin and Bevans from The Visitors and The Creeps handle rhythm section duties.


Neck at The Dominion Tavern, April 6, 2013

And they sound just like you'd think a combination of those bands would!


Neck at The Dominion Tavern, April 6, 2013

Last time I saw Dagger Eyes was at The Dominion, back in December. They're sticking to their guns.


Dagger Eyes at The Dominion Tavern, April 6, 2013

Oh, and Ilona has a big new tattoo on her right arm, which I failed to properly document.


Dagger Eyes at The Dominion Tavern, April 6, 2013

Montreal combo The Fuzz seems to be entirely composed of  Ottawa expats: You've got a couple of Matts (from Mannequin and Thee Nodes), and of course Rodney from The Holy Cobras on drums. They make a very Stooges-esque sound.


The Fuzz at The Dominion Tavern, April 6, 2013

Oxley frets!


The Fuzz at The Dominion Tavern, April 6, 2013

A super set; I can hardly wait for a record.