The dead zone

On Thursday I headed off to Bar Robo to catch some rock'n'roll action. It was a killer bill with Boom Creek, Montreal's Dead Messenger and Toronto's Mad Ones that unfortunately didn't draw the crowd it deserved. Here's Neil from Boom Creek revving things up!



And so on!



Adam hits!



Bass action with Todd!



Guitar action with Ian!



Bendy action!



Extra Ian and Adam!



Ian sings!



More Todd!



Rhythm section action!



On to Dead Messenger - they've been around for a good dozen years at least, but this was the first time I had a chance to catch them live. Here's lead singer Roger!



Guitar action with Ted!



Ted sings!



Tim hits!



More Roger!



More Tim!



Bass action with Alex!



Deadly action!



Roger shakes it!



Even more Ted!



Ted takes lead vocals!



Roger works the floor!



Mad Ones brought things to a close with an energetic set. Here's Andy!



Rhythm section action with Adam and Russ!



More Russ!



Adam hits!



Extra Andy!



Photographic action (with Aidan from Ottawa Showbox)!



The whole lot!



And emotes!



Bendy Russ action!



A great night!

Mad, bad and dangerous to know

As July kicked off I headed over to House of Targ for a quadruple helping of rock'n'roll. Locals Nightshades and sort-of Locals Vile Bodies were joined by Toronto crew Mad Ones and Quebec combo Rebelle. I'd seen the other three bands on the bill before, but the Vile Bodies were new to me. I was mighty impressed by their high energy stage antics and their lo-fi Memphis rock sound. They'll be at Pressed with Fuzzy Undertones and Possum Sept. 1. Here's some guitar action!



Singalong action!



These bodies have a strong shirt game.



Percussive action!



Vocal action!



Vile action!



Microphone-sharing action!



And so on!



Bodily action!



On to the sharp sounds of the Mad Ones ... they played a great set and were kind enough to lay a free copy of their latest record on me. here's Russ (ex-Mercy Now, Shikasta)!



Guitar action with Andy!



Singalong action!



Closeup action!



Adam sings!



Adam hits!



Extra Andy!



Faceoff action!



Nightshades played a quick, punchy set. Here's Mallory!



Bass action with Dean!



Percussive action with Geoff!



Guitar action!



More Dean!



Mallory sings!



I first twigged to Rebelle at a Gabba Hey show in September 2016; once again I was mighty impressed by the Wakefield combo. Here's guitar action with David!



Rhythm section action with drummer Joey and bassist Ryan!



David sings!



Ryan sings!



Camouflage action with Rylee!



More David!



Joey hits!



Even more Ryan!



Rylee claps!



Headbanging history!



And so on!