Showing posts with label Orange Alabaster Mushroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orange Alabaster Mushroom. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 01, 2017

Of Miss and men

On Friday I popped over to Pressed for a bit of roots rock. On the bill, Kingston one-man band Mississippi Grover (aka Grog of The Desecrators, Fiends and Orange Alabaster Mushroom) and local combo Life-Size Men. Here's a man whose tonic is sonic.

Mississippi Grover at Pressed

Harmonica action!

Mississippi Grover at Pressed

Greg sings!

Mississippi Grover at Pressed

And so on!

Mississippi Grover at Pressed

Percussive action!

Mississippi Grover at Pressed

Life-Size Men also played a lively set. Here's some rhythm section action with Kevin and Jeb!

Life Size Men at Pressed

Sparkly action with Jeff!

Life Size Men at Pressed

Extra Kevin!

Life Size Men at Pressed

Jeb hits!

Life Size Men at Pressed

R.W. sings!

Life Size Men at Pressed

Frontline action!

Life Size Men at Pressed

Extra Jeb!

Life Size Men at Pressed

More R.W. and Kevin!

Life Size Men at Pressed

And so on!

Life Size Men at Pressed

Plenty of fun.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Get lost!

If you've been following the blog enough, you'll recall the occasional appearances by Greg Watson. The veteran of many garage combos played in several local bands before going the solo root as one-man band Mississippi Grover. Well, for this March show down in the Clocktower's basement he returned to the group sound, along with frequent collaborator Gordon Mylks and Owl Farmer Christopher Lyons.

Causative action!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Gordon frets!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Shadowy action!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower
 
Christopher hits!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Gordon sings!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Greg works the keys!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Hair-flinging action!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

A little instrument switching.

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Bass action!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Bonus Greg!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

The feedback-lovin' end!

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower

Since March they've added a bassist, and plan to return to Ottawa in November for the Surf & Turf festival.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Lost and found

Off to the cozy confines of the Clocktower's basement to see a bunch of familiar faces.I occasionally go through phases of devouring one particular kind of music, and garage rock was one of them. I still love all that 1960s stuff, and Ottawa was once a hotbed for the sound, with folks like Patrick Shanks and Greg Watson involved in several combos weened on the Crypt comps sound. Having already served in The Fiends, The Desecrators and done his own thing with The Orange Alabaster Mushroom and as Mississippi Grover, he brought his Ace Tone organ, a bunch of classic stompers (such as The Haunted's 1-2-5 and How Is The Air Up There?) and some fuzzy originals with his cohorts in The Lost Cause.

Greg sings! That's a blurry Christopher Lyon of Owl Farm in the back.

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower
Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower, March 9, 2013

Gordon Mylks takes a spin on bass.

Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower
Thee Lost Cause at The Clocktower, March 9, 2013

This was also the first live show for The Mere Humans, a rock'n'roll combo born from Evil Farm Children and Boom Creek (or Four Frames/Mouthpiece, if you can remember that far back). They sound exactly like what you'd expect from that combination, with a tough sounding Motor City vibe, along with a cover of Radio Birdman's Murder City Nights. Here's EFC's Janice and Boom Creeker Ian.

The Mere Humans at The Clocktower
The Mere Humans at The Clocktower, March 9, 2013

And a shadowy Dave.

The Mere Humans at The Clocktower
The Mere Humans at The Clocktower, March 9, 2013

They wrapped things up with a cover of The 13th Floor Elevators Levitation - fine debut!


Thursday, December 27, 2007

Dig!

A couple of years ago - just prior to starting the blog up, in fact - I went to Irene's to see The Orange Alabaster Mushroom perform. Here's Greg Watson, a.k.a. Grog of The Fiends, at right. I'd seen him many a time before performing with The Desecrators, which also featured Darrell Angus, who later formed Golden Famile. Now of course he's doing solo stuff as Mississippi Grover.



They were actually opening for Nassau. At the time I had no idea who Nassau were and couldn't dig up much useful from the Internet because as I observed at the time of my post, when your band is named after a city it can be hard to dig through the other stuff. Well, times change, Nassau is getting more press and has an easy-to-find website and Myspace address. As it turns out, guitarist Jon McCann is/was in another municipally monikered outfit, Tangiers. He also played drums with Guided by Voices and 13 Engines.



The Warlocks T-shirt is kid of a giveaway regarding Nassau's sound.



Latest word is that they're off "writing songs."

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Spell it!

Mississippi Grover should be familiar to Ottawa music fans as Grog from The Knurlings (and before that The Fiends) ... or perhaps Greg from The Descrators ... or maybe Watson Traps, who once drummed for Flecton Bigsky ... does Greg Watson of The Orange Alabaster Mushroom ring a bell? Anyway, he's been around. Here he does the one-man band thing at The Manx, undoubtedly Ottawa's cosiest bar, opening for Merle Knurling. He opened things up with Link Wray's Rumble and went all swamp rock from there. Leave My Kitten Alone also featured.

A man and his cow skulls.



Harmonica solo!



Not many different pictures you can post of one guy wedged in a corner at The Manx; unfortunately I failed to capture the kazoo solo ...