Opposition party

Those hep youngsters keep evolving, from the Yardbirds-loving Ride Theory to the Who-enjoying crowd I saw at Barrymore's to their current Simply Saucer-covering iteration. They bring it live (and are pretty snappy on record), so I regretted missing the earlier chunk of their set. On the bright side, they have trophies and letters.

John Smith rocks the bolt.



Shadowy Aron D'Alesio and Noah Fralick ... they're a long way from their besuited days.



Kyle Kuchmey ditches his Tele for some tambourine-smacking action.



What was the name of this band again?



Young action!



Rival action!



The whole lot!



Young Rival is about to embark on a cross-Canada tour and will be returning to Zaphod's with lovable Toronto pop combo The Bicycles Oct. 23.

• Show reminder: Krum Bums, Hands Of The Few, The Zero Hours, Acid Overdose and the charmingly named Knives and Forks for Freedom play The Bayou; The Soiree, release their new CD alongside The Ethics and Gianna Lauren at Babylon; Misters of the Universe, Tonk and the Honkys and Jehan Khoorshed rock Mavericks; The Lymbyc Systym, This Will Destroy You and City Of A Hundred Spires play Zaphod Beeblebrox; The Brothers Chaffey perform at The Rainbow; The County Boys release their new CD at Irene's.

The first cut

Cool times all around last night - at least in the figurative sense. First stop of the evening was Zaphod's for the King Kang & The Shrines show. I tarried over my chicken chow mien and a DVD of Mario Bava's Black Sunday a little too long and missed the start of Young Rival's set, but liked what I heard.


Young Rival, Zaphod Beeblebrox, July 26, 2008

First time I saw Young Rival, they were operating under the name Ride Theory and sounded like an early Yardbirds knockoff ... they've progressed a bit then and are now a noisier combo, complete with a Simply Saucer cover - well, they are from Hamilton after all.


The Magnificent Butchers, Zaphod Beeblebrox, July 26, 2008

Next up, local combo The Magnificent Butchers, who are indeed magnificent. The band features Dave Martindale, Ryan Kerr, Julia Loan, Scott Terry and Toby (whose last name I didn't catch). As you'd expect of a band with a resume that includes The Phantom Shifters, Double Pumpers, Tokyo Sex Whale, Banditas and Mighty Eagle Band, they kept things heavy, though with plenty of melody as well.


King Khan & His Sensational Shrines, Zaphod Beeblebrox, July 26, 2008

Things ere getting pretty packed and sweaty on Zaphod's dance floor by the time King Khan and His Sensational Shrines got on stage. With all the sound checking for three brass players and a keyboardist, along with the usual drums-bass-guitar, they only had time for a 50-minute set, but they kicked it out hard, finishing with a cover of The Saints' Know Your Product. It was warm enough for Khan to strip down to his skivvies (or maybe he does that all the time). Khan said they were heading over to the Elmdale Tavern so he could have sex with his wife in the bathroom and hang out with Bloodshot Bill, so no doubt the party kept on going.


Three Jaw Puller, Zaphod Beeblebrox, July 26, 2008

I ducked over to The Dominion for Muffler Crunch's CD release party (I'm listening to their new one as I type, and it's mighty fine). Three Jaw Puller were closing their set as I entered the door, so I snapped a few pictures as they did their shouty, slightly metallic thing. I believe this was their first show outside a radio station studio.


Muffler Crunch, Zaphod Beeblebrox, July 26, 2008

As usual Muffler Crunch brung it, and finished things off with some serious drim kit destruction and Luc standing on top of Angie The Barbarian. Great turnout for this show and an excellent sounding set.

• Show reminder: Wax Mannequin, Richard Laviolette and Dave Snider Sings perform at the Avant Garde Bar.

10 more songs!

Another Sadies show, another 40-song set. I barely made it into the packed Barrymore's gig. When I went by the Aloha Room around 2:30 they were out of tickets, so I raced off to End Hits to by one of a remaining dozen. When I got through the front door around 9:30 opener C.R. Avery was on stage wearing a brown leather car coat, beatboxing his way through a tale which was, as far as I could tell, about boxing of the pugilistic variety. He got a pretty good reception from the audience - certainly better than most keytar-wielding storytellers might expect from the audience for what is, in essence, a country rock band. I enjoyed his set, but didn't think it had nearly the punch of a full-band set I witnessed two years ago at Bluesfest.
He was swiftly followed by Young Rival. The band seems to have shed their suits along with their previous name, Ride Theory, but their mod-rock-loving sound remains. They got up to speed after the first couple of songs and put on a really energetic show.
As for the Sadies, they've put in so many hours on stage they could probably play their set in their sleep. They have a new album to draw on (as well as recent soundtrack work for the Big Daddy Roth bio), and played plenty of old favourites like Rat Creek as well.
As usual they larded their performance with an excellent selection of covers, most of them familiar from previous shows in time, ranging from the old-time murder tune Pretty Polly, through The Byrds' Wasn't Born To Follow and The Flat Duo jets' Lucky Eye, with Travis turned in a serviceable imitation of Dexter Romweber's surly bark.
They finished their main set with C.R. Avery returning to play harmonica on Tiger Tiger from Stories Often Told - train songs always go better with harmonica, don't they?
And as sagely predicted in many quarters they returned for"10 more songs!" Flamin' Groovies' Shake Some Action and the appropriate and oft-covered Holland-Dozier Holland number Leaving Here (I've always thought they learned of it from the Motorhead version, for some reason).
My only regret is that my camera is in the shop, so there won't be any photos out of this show - sorry.

• Show reminder: Symphony In The Stairwell, Gun Metal Grey and Wise, Young and King perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Stop motion

Man, I hope the guys who warrantied my camera get off their duffs, because waiting for them to decide what to do is getting old fast - and I'm sure these updates aren't quite the thrill off my usual voluminous show posting. At least there's a bunch of potential shows on tonight to take my mind off things.



First up, a post rock show at End Hits with City of a Hundred Spires, Tunturia, and Danger Danger Mammoth Hunter (depicted above at a show in October 2006 with CCS and a bunch of other folks). Pilot Light, Synastry, The Mistress, Malice, Arising Roots and Kill Baseline perform at Cafe Dekcuf. The Russian Futurists and The Cansecos play Zaphods.



The Sadies and Young Rival perform at Barrymore's Music Hall - you may recall the Youngsters' gig at Babylon in June 2006 under their former name Ride Theory (that's them up top). C.R. Avery is also on the bill. There's further twanging at Irene's with The Reverb Syndicate, Evil Farm Children and The Bible All-Stars.

That's the theory

I wish I'd popped around to Babylon a bit earlier than I did last Friday. Granted, I was feeling pretty rough, but after catching the good part of The Ride Theory's set, I didn't want to miss even one song. For some reason I was under the impression the RT was a Britpop or shoegazer style band (don't ask me where I get these odd ideas). Well, maybe they are a sort of Britpop band, but that's the pop of the 1960s, since the Hamilton quartet boasts a sizeable modbeat influence. Were they to gaze at their shoes, they would see pointy Cuban toes. They covered the theme from Batman ... need I say more?

Lead guitarist and singer Aron D'Alesio.



Drummer Noah Fralick.



Rhythm guitarist Kyle Kuchmey.



Bassist John Smith - there's a name you don't see everyday - works the floor.



Faceoff action!



Not facing-off action!



Rider action!



Singalong action!



Possibly influenced by The Action action!









Feedback time!



In a few weeks time they're touring with the reconstituted Yardbirds for a few Canadian dates. Should be a perfect fit. (Update: They've since changed their name to Young Rival).

Modern and mechanical

Ah, the healing power of music. This week I've managed to breath in fresh paint fumes, bake myself a little too much biking into work and contract a mild case of food poisoning, but I was still feeling much better after listening to The Ride Theory's modbeat-influenced, Stiff Records' style sound and new wave goodness from The Immaculate Machine.





I expected a few more folks out on account of the inevitably mentioned New Pornographers' connection, but the few dozen who showed were definitely enthusiastic.