On the wing

Things were pretty heavy last week as Ottawa went through one of its frequent "there's a festival happening somewhere else, so bands are playing a show here as well" phases. In this case Bytown was the beneficiary of Montreal's Wings of Metal. Englan'ds Amulet were playing there on the Friday, so the day before they rolled through town with Manacle and Barrow Wight. Various members of Amulet, Manacle and Calgary's Gatekrashor also played a set as Metal Hell SOS,  but I arrived too late at Targ to catch that - Manacle was in mid-set when I arrived. I've seen them before at a Gladstone Ave. house show; since then the combo has switched up its lineup a bit, with Phil moving to bass and Inti focussing on guitar while Kevin sings.



Guitar action!



Phil is really going above the call of duty with his authentic 1980s getup.



Extra Phil!



Extra Kevin and Inti!



Unfortunately I completely failed to get any photos of their new drummer Struan; on to Barrow Wight (who I also saw at that Gladstone basement show). They've got an album in the works, Kings In Sauron's Service, out imminently.



Akiva frets!



Jo hits!



Andy sings!



Fretboard action!



Jo takes a stand.



On to England's Amulet; these guys like their metal in the style of the old school as it was just shading into NWOBHM, and look the part. Here's singer Jamie Elton.



"Nip" Blackford frets!



More guitar with Heathen Steven!



Bass action with Bill Dozer!



Tongue action with Dave Sherewood!



Occult action!



Even more guitar!



An excellent night.

Zex and booze

This Saturday I made the familiar pilgrimage to the house that perogies and pinball built down in Ottawa South. Zex and Alcohol Fueled were gracing the House of Targ stage. Also a lot of coloured balls.

If you've been to a street punk show in the last year or so, you've likely seen various members of Alcohol Fueled either on stage or in the audience. Here's Cody and Will (of Shackles and others)!



Lanky action with Tim Lennon!



Studded action with Cody!



Aaron sings!



Will hits!



More Cody!



Extra Will!



Alcoholic action!



Singalong action!



The shouty bit!



Silly string attack!



They finished things up with a cover of Menace's GLC, then it was time for Zex. Prolific punk mainstay Jo Capitalcide of Germ Attak and Iron Dogs fame always seems to have a few projects on the go, but this latest combo with Gab, Tasha and Gretchen seems to be his main thing right now.Here's Gretchen!



Rhythm section action with Gab and Tasha!



Extra Gretchen!



Silhouetted action with Jo!



Tasha hits!



The whole lot!



Jumping Jo!



More Tasha!



Singalong action!



A bag of balls was unleashed upon the audience part way through the show; and the crowd being who it was, decided to launch said balls at the band and each other. Here's Gab warning off one tosser.



Gretchen and balls!



Gab sings!



Singing and staring action!



Zexy action!



More guitar!



More Gretchen!



Gab gets stuffed!



Great sets from all!