Solo or trio

On Thursday I made the short walk from my home to Live! On Elgin to check out The Copper Altar, Chris Landry and The Seasick Mommas, and Ty Hall. Unfortunately between the show's announcement and the actual day Copper Altar decided to call it quits. Mike Mitani, one half of the acoustic duo, played a solo set instead. I missed all but the last two songs, but heard fulsome praise in the aftermath. Here's Mike!



And so on!



Night Science was drafted at the last moment to fill out the bill. This was their debut performance (they play again at House of Targ May 9 with Flowshine and Jumpin' Joel Flash & The Magic Machine). I got a slight Talking Heads buzz from their set, which included a cover of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' Red Right Hand. Here's some guitar action with Dan!



Bass action with Ted!



Eric hits!



Singalong action!



More guitar!



Eric sings!



Ted sings!



Ty Hall was on next. I first (and last) saw Ty perform at Zaphods' way back in 2008 alongside the EZ3 (unfortunately my former image hoster, Photobucket, have had a parting of the ways and I haven't migrated the photos from that show yet). I liked him much more this time around. Here's Ty!



Bass action with Andrew!



Vocal action!



More Ty!



Rhythm section action!



Percussive action with Brian!



Singalong action!



And so on!



Chris Landry wrapped things up with a short set; he's be playing at Irene's on May 19.



And so on!



No Mommas action!



A fine evening out.

It ain't easy

Ty Hall and The EZ3 break with current indie band naming trends by actually containing a member whose name is Ty Hall and having three other people with him. For the chunk of the show I witnessed, Hall and his accompanying trio played an amalgam of urban R&B and nu reggae with a cover of Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff. I'm not thrilled by either form; despite being a big fan of rhythm and blues and appreciating old school reggae (Culture, The Congos, Heptones, The Abyssinians, Peter Tosh, etc.) and not so thrilled by their modern offspring. Thus THEZ3 weren't really scratching my musical itch on Monday last week. A lyrical fixation on the ladies wasn't helping either (the fixation part, that is, not the ladies part). I'll give them credit for being a sharp combo. Their audience won't be embarrassed to say they like 'em, but I'm not part of it.

Ty Hall sings!



Rob Kent shows off his moves.



Trevor Grey keeps the beat.



Nick Beaton burns up the frets.



And so on!









They've got several shows lines up; including a CKCU appearance May 1 and a show at the Bass Line Station the following day - then they head west.

• Show reminder: The Dirtbombs and Kelley Stoltz play Babylon.

Mix and match

My one day off this week was last night, and since the only show I could find was at Zaphod's (I learned about the Sadie Hell/Eastborough gig at The Manx just minutes ago, alas) I decide to swing by and check out some bands of which I knew nothing. The show was a third birthday bash for local promo thingermajig Kimmy Rocks. The opener was Paul Hinger, about whom I still know very little since I was too late to catch his set.

I did catch all of Clepto, who played jammy punk-ska. I don't know if that's their regular sound - the band's lead guitarist is off in Montreal. The started things off with a rendition of Fuck the Police. Apparently rhythm guitarist Alex had a close encounter of the legal kind a couple of weeks ago.



Next up were Electronic and Western, who bill them selves as a duo who combine country-folk sounds with electronica. They did have a drum machine, some piano sounds and as you can see from the photo below, a few guests, including Hinger on didjeridoo. It's an offshoot (or something like that) of the Art Burn Project.



Finally there was Ty Hall and the EZ3. Pysiedius couldn't make it, I guess. Hall and Co. play blues-funk-reggae stuff - not really my cup of tea, but they're a pretty together unit. As far as I can tell from the band's songs, their interests break down to 95% romancing the ladies and 5% shooting sheriffs (but not deputies).



I'll post more (and frankly better) photos later on when time allows and I'm less sleepy.