Sweet and sour

I've had the pleasure of seeing Jeans Boots a couple of times at Raw Sugar, so when I heard that one of her bands, Slow Down Molasses, was coming to town last Thursday I figured I'd head over to Mugshots to check them out, along with Her Harbour and Saint Clare, another band I don't really need any excuses to see.

Her Harbour usually performs with others, but Gabrielle Giguere's been woodshedding some songs and wanted to try them out solo, accompanying herself on autoharp. It turned out to be an entrancing set.



Extra Harbour!



Saint Clare was down a trombonist but still played a punchy set on and slightly off Mugshot's tiny stage.



Here's the on-stage portion.



Guitar action!



Ryan hits!



Saxophonic action!



Jeff sings one!



Extra Casey and Matthew!



Faceoff action!



Slow Down Molasses played a killer set - they should have toured with Swervedriver - but you'll notice that isn't Jenatte Stewart working the keys. Turns out Ms. Boots was getting her education on back home and couldn't make it out. Thus, their drummer filled in on keyboards and they glommed a substitute for behind the kit.



Vocal action!



Percussive and elbow action!



Guitar action!



Faceoff action!



The whole lot!



Keyboard action!



Spotty action!



Guitar-lifting action!



More faceoff action!



The end!



A swell evening.

Rum show

Back we go to Raw Sugar for the final band of the night, Slow Down, Molasses. Because were else would a band of that name play? They have a new album, Walk Into The Sea, which offers a shoe-gaze-influenced twist on the ever popular Canadian rock collective format (they've actually been dubbed "The Broken Social Scene of the Prairies" by Exclaim!). I confess to being totally unsurprised it was mixed by one of the folks from Ohbijou.

And they have a cellist, Paterson Hodgson, who can also be seen in Olenka and the Autumn Lovers.



Tyson McShane makes his triumphant return to the stage.



Singalong action!



Ryan Drabble was also back on drums; Patrick Schmidt plays guitar and sings some.



Chris Morin rejoined to play bass for this tour.



Jeans boots handles the keys.



Much singing along!



Patrick sings!



The whole lot!



Paterson breaks out the tambourine.



More Tyson, Jeans 'n' Chris!



The end!



A good way to end the night, but my fuzz-lovin' heart really belongs to Jeans Boots' opening set ...

• Show reminder: After The Fall, Brixton Robbers, Nummies, Gusto Fiasco and Rawrawriot play Cafe Dekcuf; Alex Maltby will be playing some electric guitar at the Avant-Garde Bar. There will also be some kind of theatrical presentation by Danger Project - all this prior to the Richard Page Quartet's regular 9 p.m. set.

Sugar and molasses

My musical plans last night were made at the last minute. Initially I had thought about going to see Born Ruffians at Ritual, but I left my ticket-buying to the last moment, and needless to say didn't manage to get one. Instead I popped over to Raw Sugar. Previous shows there have been pretty jammed, but this time around the turnout was commendable but not wall-to-wall like it was for the Kelp showcase. On hand were a couple of Saskatoon combos Jeans Boots and Slow Down Molasses, and local quintet The Ethics.

Jeans Boots is fronted by Jeanette Stewart and a cast of thousands (okay, two: her bandmates from Slow Down Molasses, Ryan Drabble and Tyson Brooks). Slow Down Molasses has already professed their love for Julie Doiron, and I'd say that goes for Jeans Boots too. JB comes in two flavours, electric and acoustic. This was the electric, "get kicked out of the folk festival" version. It was super-fuzzy, with the bass used more to build up a wall of fuzz than keep time. I liked it very much indeed, and picked up one of her two CDs the moment she cleared the stage.


Jeans Boots at Raw Sugar, March 30, 2011

They really did rock out.


Jeans Boots at Raw Sugar, March 30, 2011

Next up were The Ethics, a band I have heard much of but have yet to see live. I'm glad to have done so since they put on a very sharp pop performance, entirely composed of songs they'll soon be laying down in the studio. The pictures I took unfortunately don't do justice to the whole band - the layout of Raw Sugar isn't friendly to those musicians not up front.


The Ethics at Raw Sugar, March 30, 2011

Finally Slow Down Molasses hit the stage. They stretch the indie rock gamut from shoegaze to roots rock to pop. They've recorded with Julie Doiron and pulled off a cover of My Bloody Valentines' When You Sleep with aplomb.


Slow Down Molasses at Raw Sugar, March 30, 2011

Also, everyone wished Rolk Klausener happy birthday. Yay!

• Show reminder: The Brains, Evil Farm Children, The Krap Skraps, The Mudplots and The Grave Mistakes are at Mavericks; The Withering Pines, J.J. Ispen and The Paper Crown perform at the Elmdale. Eamon McGrath and The Goodnight Webcams play Zaphod's.