Return of the heavy

Last Saturday I made another trip to House of Targ for some birthday celebrating. Targ co-owner and heavy music standby Paul "Yogi" Granger is another year older and he reunited with his old Tokyosexwhale bandmates for one more gig. Boom Creek did the opening honours - here's bassist Wayne (also of the No-Men and Four Frames).



Guitar action with Ian!



Adam (of BlackBread) hits!



Former Dead City Rebel Neil works the floor!



And so on!



Extra Ian!



Ian sings!



Unbuttoned action!



Singalong action!



Extra Adam!



The whole lot!



Stucco-scraping action!



Creeky action!



Public Animal also played a killer set; I think Ian Blurton's tone gets better every time I see hime play live. Here he is with Eric on bass!



Keyboard action with Caitlyn!



Ryan hits!



Caitlyn sings!



Extra Eric!



More Ryan!



And so on!



Look over there action!



Bearded action!



Even more Caitlyn!



Animal action!



It was cool to see Tokyosexwhale again after six years; Julia has moved to Toronto and is drawing up a storm, J.P. is drumming with Loviatar and Paul is of course helping to run the show at Targ and playing in BlackBread. Here he is working the frets with his old trio!



Bass action with Julia!



J.P. hits!



Extra Paul!



Julia sings!



And so on!



Rhythm section action!



Even more J.P.!



A great night for fans of heavy guitar music.

Bread and water

As I walked through the rain Friday night, I comforted myself with the thought that when I reached the House of Targ, things might be dry. Not really: The big crowd meant things were pretty sweaty. Since I arrived late I was also afraid I'd be watching the show from the back of the room. Fortunately some nice people let me squeeze through so I could crouch at the front and take some shots of House of Targ proprietor Paul "Yogi" Granger's newest outfit, Black Bread.

It's a heavy quartet with Ian Vance from The Mere Humans (et al), Adam Fraser of Klovenhoofs and Megan Dean on keyboards and vocals. Think Mongrels and Public Animal and you've got the idea.


BlackBread at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

Yogi and Adam bring the thunder and lightning!


BlackBread at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

Next on the bill were PUP. They're an offshoot of energetic Toronto rockers Topanga. They pledged to finish off a 26 oz. bottle of Jagermeister during their 26-minute set. And they're off!


PUP at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

Puppish action!


PUP at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

They finished things off with a cover of The Dead Kennedy's Too Drunk to Fuck.


PUP at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

The Dirty Nil also rocked out in fine style, kicking things off with Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town.


The Dirty Nil at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

Rhythm section action!


The Dirty Nil at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

The crowd goes wild!


The Dirty Nil at the House of Targ, August 30, 2013

They wrapped things up with some Replacements.

Beached

Okay, so I was going to finally post some Jimmyriggers photos, but sad news has reached me of the demise of Tokyo Sex Whale, one of Ottawa's finest power trios. So here's a few photos of them in action at the Dominion November 5, 2010 that I didn't post last time around.

J.P. and Julia!



Yogi at his most fiery.



We're all quite shocked.



And here's one from their Gaga Weekend set, June 12, 2010.



I don't suppose that vinyl record release show is out of the question?

• Show reminder: Dave Hause, Grey Kingdom and Jonathan Becker perform at Raw Sugar Cafe; top German troubador Daniel Benjamin and Glenn Nuotio are at Zaphod's; the Elmdale hosts Rob Moir and James Struthers.

Grand slam

When it comes to heavy-duty rock, it's hard to beat Ottawa's Tokyo Sex Whale. I've been listening to a lot of metal lately, and I have to say I think their new album Slammer rocks harder than a lot of 2010's hotly touted metal fare (Kylesa, I'm looking at you ...). I picked up a copy on CD at their Gaga Weekend set and am eagerly awaiting the vinyl. Of course, seeing them lives is best of all.

Yogi signals it is time to begin! Or where the merch booth is. One of the two.



J.P. hits!



Julia handles the low end!



Rhythm section action!



More Yogi!



More J.P.!



The whole lot!



Fisheye action!



The view from the other sid eof the stage ...



Singalong action!



Yogi stretches the pinky.



Yogi stands on something.



Hair-shaking action!



More Julia!



I'm hoping there will be a vinyl release show sometime soon.

• Show reminder: Jeff Andrew and The Rough Sea perform at The Rainbow; Lynne Hanson, Lisa Poushinsky, Ray Harris and Lefty McRighty take part in the Elmdale House's regular songwriters' circle.