Let's get heavy

At the start of February I went over to a super triple bill, headlined by Toronto's Humanities, with support from Ultra Love and the always top-notch Dark Plains, who kicked things off. Here's Chuck!



Andy hits!



Extra Chuck!



Matt sings!



Feedback action!



Rhythm section action!



More Matt!



On to Ultra Love, who played a really tight set. Here's part of Eric and Ted!



Pascale frets!



A shouty bit with Eric!



Pascale sings!



More Ted!



Loving action!



Between the books action!



Humanities also played a blistering set, they released a new EP, Unnatural Histories, late in 2018, so this was the first chance for the locals to hear it live. Here's Tashi and Scott on the mic.



Rhythm section action with Adam and Miranda!



Adam hits!



Singalong action!



The whole lot!



More Miranda!



Humane action!



More Tashi!



Great stuff all around.

The single life

On Tuesday I toddled over to House of Targ to check out some Single Mothers (the nice people at Hive Mind PR got me on the guest list), alongside local combos Curl and Mushy Gushy. Curl kicked things off with some shouty bedroom sounds. Here's Brandon!



Man of many bands (Holy Christopher, Celery Troff, etc.) Andrew hits!



Neo-Tokyo action with Brandon!



The whole lot!



Extra Andrew!



Microphone devouring action!



Mushy Gushy were on next; they've been crafting some new tunes for an upcoming release and premiered them for the crowd. Here's Daniel, and Pat (also of Steve Adamyk Band and many more), on drums!



Jonathan sings!



More Pat!



Kneeling action with Cory!



Mushy action!



More Daniel!



Rhythm section action!



Guitar action!



Single Mothers finished the night off with an active set. They've been around awhile and apparently go through band members at a cracking pace. Here's singer Drew, preparing to jump about!



Bass action with Riley!



Rhythm section action with Ross of Life In Vacuum!



Single action with Peter on guitar!



Riley sings!



Extra Drew and Peter!



Bendy Peter action!



More Peter and Ross!



Closeup action!



Most entertaining!

Pilot era

A week or so ago I went over to the Dominion to see and hear some loud music being played. It was Loviatar and Black Tower's first show of the year, and also the Ottawa debut of Humanities, a new post-rock combo from Toronto that features a trio of local expatriates. Black Tower kicked things off and sounded really excellent. Here's some rhythm section action with Dave and Skotty.



Guitar action with Erin!



Erin sings!



Dave hits!



Skotty sings!



Humanities played next, Singer Scott Birdwise and bassist Alex Cairncross are veterans of Sleeping Pilot (as are Loviatar's Justin and Mike; they could have staged a band reunion). Guitarist Tashi also comes from Ottawa and sang for I Refuse (I can remember them opening for Leatherface back in 2010). Here's a blurry Birdwise.



Hair-tossing action!



Feedback action!



More Birdwise!



Phil hits!



More Alex and Tashi!



Extra Scott and Phil!



Singalong action!



And so on!



Loviatar also played a killer set. They were also heading back into the studio as January came to a close. Here's Mike and Shane!



J.P. hits, cannot unseen what he has seen.



Justin frets!



More Mike!



Justin sings!



Extra J.P.!



And finally a bit more Shane!



A good start to 2016 for all three bands!