The mountain of madness

Local lights New Swears announced a short while ago that their next show, last Friday at Babylon, was going to be their last for "a long while." I was keen to go since my photos from their last show turned out a bit rubbish, and Sammy J. was kind enough to invite me, so off I went to see them, Wine Lips and Remi Royale, with Buddy Smiles handling the introduction action. Here's Smiles!



"The Earth is flat!"



And here's Remi!



Remi works the crowd!



Shirtless action!



Toronto's Wine Lips played a cracking set. Here's drummer Aurora!



Guitar action with Cam!



Bass action with Richard!



Track-suited action!



Richard sings!



Lippy action!



Singalong action!



On to New Swears. As usual, the audience went completely nuts, too nuts to huddle down in the front row like I usually do (it was fatal if you were an inflatable whale). Anyway, here's Sammy!



Guitar action with B.J.!



See-thru action with S-Mike!



Confetti-launching action!



Singalong action!



Stoney hits!



S-Mike sings!



More B.J.!



I finally managed to creep around to the stacks beside the other side of the stage to get a shot of Nick!



So what happens next?

From the ashes of the 1980s

I gre up in the 1980s, and synth pop was one of the dominant forces on the radio. I must have absorbed more of it via osmosis than I thought because I've taken a cotton to checking out the various modern interpreters of the genre. I seem to have plenty of company because last week's Switched On Synths at House of Targ was pretty packed. Hard Science kicked things off. Here's Arturo!



The other side of Arturo!



Growly Targ perogie announcer, 80s dance night host and World War 4 singer Josh kicked in some vocals.



And so on!



Next, all the way from Glasgow, Michael Oakley!



Greenish action!



Michael emotes!



He's quite an engaging performer!



He certainly knows how to work a crowd.



Dana Jean Phoenix went the extra mile with a keytar and a bevy of lights.



And let us not forget the light-up tiara.



Somewhere  there's a naked Christmas tree.



Keyboard action!



Keytar action!



And so on!



Dana jumps about!



There's going to be more synth-pop at Targ with Parallels and Mecha Maiko, plus local bouncy techno chap pH May 11.

Night of the living Lemmy

After Legendary Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister died at the tail end of 2015, it didn't take long for local headbangers to whip up a tribute show featuring tunes from his most famous band. Chris Landy, who organized the last go-around, decided it was time for another tribute/fundraiser, and a bunch of local folks jumped on board to help raise $1,450 for the cancer ward at CHEO. Up first, punk trio Pisser with a run through some of my faves, Killed By Death and Leaving Here, along with I'm So Bad (Baby, I Don't Care). Here's some guitar action with John!



Tammy sings!



Ryan hits!



More Tammy!



More John!



Even more Ryan!



Microphone-sharing action!



And so on!



The Hot Snake Handlers, as you might expect from a rockabilly band, leaned a bit more toward Lemmy's HedCat output. Here's frontman Greg!



Standup action with Timmy!



Tom hits!



More Timmy!



Greg sings!



The shouty bit!



Serpentine action!



Loviatar provided the high-point of the evening, even if you're not a raving Hawkwind fan (like I am). They turned the reverb up to "Grand Canyon" and tore through The Watcher, Golden Void and Silver Machine. Here's Justin and J.P.!



Bass action with Mike!



Shane sings!



Justin sings!



Golden action!



Feedback action!



More Mike!



J.P. hits!



Guest vocal action with Chris!



Snuggly action!



Bass-lifting action!



Extra J.P.



Chris was back for the next set, fronting Motormouth with Liam on drums and Jordan on bass for renditions of Bomber, Iron Fist and Speed Freak!



Rythm section action!



More Liam!



Guitar action!



Extra Liam!



Like Motormouth and Hot Snake Handlers, In Heat made a return appearance (and are also playing at Zaphod's this Saturday); Here's Lexxi!



Guitar action with Tony!



Guitar action with Brent!



Bass action with the Handlers' Greg!



Extra Lexxi!



And so on!



Some 50/50 action, accompanied by a few words from Liam, a former patient of CHEO's cancer ward.



It wouldn't be a Lemmy tribute without a cover of Ace Of Spades, would it? Here's bar staffers Josh (aka Remi Royale) and Val doing their karaoke version!



Closeup action!



Lycanthro finished the evening off with some appropriate millinery. They'll also be playing this Saturday at Cafe DeKcuf.



Bass action with Ben!



Guitar action with David and James!



Extra David!



More James!



Nathan hits!



Gripping action!



A great night out for a great cause.