Frozen farewell

One of the highlights of the local music scene a few years ago was heavy post-rockers Alaskan. The last time I caught them live was back in 2013 at the Dominion Tavern; they released an album earlier in 2014 (Despair, Erosion, Loss) and that was the last I heard of them until they decided to call it a day. They played a trio of shows, starting in Toronto, heading to Montreal then back to Ottawa for one final hurrah, sharing a stage with Swarm of Spheres, Biipiigwan and New York's Black Table. Swarm of Spheres started things up just as I was sitting down to an order of perogies, so I only got to shoot for their last couple of songs. Here's Mark on drums!



Guitar action with Jay!



Bass action with Andrew!



Extra Jay!



Mark confronts his snare drum!


This was my first encounter with Black Table; they fit in quite well with Alaskan's esthetic, bringing some blackened touches, post rock and experimental metal sounds to the stage. Here's guitarist DJ Scully (and a fuzzy drummer Mike Kadnar in the background).



Mike hits!



Since bassist DJ Scully was in constant motion, most of my photos of him look like this:



Guitar action with vocalist Mers Sumida!



Extra Scully!



More Mers!



Mike hits some more!



Mers sings!



DJ sings!



Extra Ryan!



Tapping shirtless action!



Last time I saw Biipiigwan was at the late, lamented Daily Grind; as always there's been a bit of a lineup switch since then. Here's mainstay Musky shouting a bit - he's switched over to bass.



Guitar action with Matt!



Mark hits!



Close-up action!



Mark sings!



Sean sings!



And so on!



Alaskan played a fine set; it wasn't the classic lineup; Deniz, Gary's partner in They Grieve, manned the kit. Here's Cory, filling out the trio on bass.



Gary sings!



Shirtless action with Deniz!



Extra Gary!



A shouty bit!



Deniz hits!



And so on!



The show was also a benefit for The Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women and raised $500 for the cause.

The upper crust

Well, my heart was torn in two on Wednesday; should I go to WTCHS and Weed Mom on Gladstone, or Hard Charger, Swarm of Spheres and Slumlord at the House of Targ? I figure odds are slightly better that WTCHS will head back this way before Fredericton's Hard Charger, so I slunk over to Ottawa South for some rock attack. As it happened, this was also the fifth anniversary of Slumlord's inception and singer T.J.'s birthday, which meant there were cupcakes involved. Here's T.J. and his mighty sideburns.



Bassist Sev! Since the band formed more or less to perfor at her and T.J.'s wedding, it was also their fifth anniversary.



Trasha hits!



Sev sings!



T.J. bends!



Extra Trasha!



Guitar-lifting action!



Marital action!



Ponytail-swinging action!



More T.J.



The shouty bit!



And finally a bit more percussive action!



Swarm of Spheres played a really killer, and fairly brisk, set. Here's Mark hitting some stuff.



Flashy action with Andrew!



Jay frets!



Wah-wah action!



Andrew bends!



Everybody's doing it.



More Mark!



Big red action!



The end!



Hard Charger also killed it. The New Brunswick combo make me think of latter-era Darkthrone crossed with Motorhead: A bit crusty, a bit metal, and a whole lot of rock'n'roll.



Percussive action!



Guitar action!



The whole lot! The Yeti! The Wolf! The Hammer! Not necessarily in that order!



The shouty bit!



Singing drummer action!



Rhythm section action!



More bass!



More drums!



Closeup action!



Even more guitar!



Faceoff action!



A very solid night of entertainment.