Familiar faces

Friday night I paid a visit to Raw Sugar. I was looking to enjoy something a bit different, and since I hadn't heard of either Sunfields or Fire Antlers before, I figured they fit the bill. As is often the case, it turns out I had encountered key members of both acts in other settings.

First up, Fire Antlers, the solo outlet for Chero Chavo's Travis Kinnear. It's lo-fi pop.



Extra Travis!



Sunfields hail from Montreal and have a new album, Habitat,  out. They're fronted by Jason Kent, who's made a couple of appearances on the blog, playing in the Sonny Best Band on the Birdman Stage many years back, and in Soft Canyon at Zaphod's.



Christopher Roberts handles the low end.



Phillip Burns plays keyboard and guitar, and does a lot of backup vocalizing.



Sorry, no good photos of drummer Michael Wright, the blue to the left of Jason.



Phillip works the keys.



Stringed action!



Singalong action!



Phillip goes SG.



A pleasant evening.

Lads of the Canyon

On to The Jason Kent Band. As mentioned before the combo posts a lineup of veterans, Kent himself has been through Soft Canyon, Sonny Best Band and Bodega. Kent and Co. produce a sound that crosses Beatle-ific psych (like Rainbow Ffolly, say) and Neil Young (to whom I see he's been oft-compared). And like so many Canuck country outfits, he's got a song about (and called) California.

Kent takes a turn at the keys ... I think that must be his favourite shirt, because as far as I can tell he's been wearing it at every show I've seen him at.



Last time I saw Phil Burns, at left, he had a bit more hair.



Chris Wise is the band's newish drummer, and seems like a very lively fellow.



Rhythm section action! With James Watkins on bass.



Twisting action!



Faceoff action!





Butt-bumping action!



And so on!







That was pretty snazzy; pity the audience was so tiny. He's off to Britain and Bordeau for a few October gigs.

• Show reminder: Akron/Family, Ohbijou, Greg Davis and Megafaun perform at Barrymore's. The Recoilers, Double Pumpers, Greenfield Main, Ukrainia and some other folks bid Steve Vardy adieu at Babylon.

Absent friends

Blame the weather, blame the short notice, blame other shows, the turnout for The Jason Kent Band's show at Irene's was meager. It was a "family and friends" affair, and the family decided to stay home. Too bad, the sets from both bands were quite enjoyable.

Four'n'Giv'r's new album is imminent. They played a couple songs from it as well a version of You Don't Know dedicated to all the folks who weren't there.



Jason Kent (with the Telecaster) has been through town as a member of Soft Canyon and The Sonny Best Band. His own combo is a psychedelic country outfit, a bit like what The Sadies have been doing lately.



I also snapped a quick photo of Irene's upcoming shows.



Dang, The Pack and Mississippi Grover are here Sept. 29, same day as The Fucking Machines' CD release show at The Dominion and Teenage Head at Barrymore's.

• Show reminder: Like the sign says, Books on Books, Flotilla and Pillar of Fire play Irene's; Evil Farm Children, Muffler Crunch and Manpower play louder at Mavericks; F!ghtF!ghtF!ght, Bocce and Fire Heats Water perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Quebexico play their last show alongside DD/MM/YYYY and Psychic Hotline (which appears to be some Robot Kill City, Sleeping Pilot and Allumettes folks) at End Hits.