It's a dirty business

The Dirty Nil come from Dundas, just outside Hamilton ... and what more excuse to start a band do you need? Their somewhat fuzzy sound owes a great deal to 1990s grunge combos like Nirvana, Fluid and more modern buzzers like The White Stripes. They were even more stripped down than usual for this set thanks to an MIA bassist.

Luke Bentham sings and plays guitar, Kyle Fisher drums, and Dave Nardi plays bass and stays home because it's a school night. As you can tell, The Nil are a young band and Dave still has Grade 12 on his plate.



Luke bends.



Kyle applies directly to forehead.



Luke's an active chap.



Two-thirds of the whole lot!



Luke sings!



Big finish!



New material is allegedly on the way for this summer.

• Show reminder: Newfoundland rockers The Novaks, French Brit-poppers (?) Film Noir, Alberta country-rockers The Wheat Pool and local rock-popper ... I mean pop-rocker Kris Ward get together for another varied and quite intriguing Zaphod Beeblebrox free showcase. Aggressor, Endemise, Violated Rot and Axiom destroy your puny mortal ears at The Rainbow.
  

What's my line?

Back at the end of May I slunk off to The Rainbow to see what the young 'uns were up to in a trio of bands I had not seen before because two were out-of-towners on their first big road trip and a reasonably fresh local sextet. I'm not sure why the rootsy music of The Property Line got put on a bill with The Dirty Nil and We Were Heads, but it sounded nice in The Rainbows folksy environs.

If their Myspace account is to be trusted, this is Joel Soucy (of The Brights and Anchors, I hear tell), Elizabeth Foster, Joey Brunner and a shadowy Jordan Allen on guitar at right.



Madelyn Piehl claps, Ted Hall is scrunched away in the back and once again, Joel.



Even more Joel! In black and white, even.



Joey and Jordan.



Elizabeth fiddles about.



They're pretty active on stage.



Drummer Jamie Kronick has a fairly extensive resume, including Paramedics, Becky Abbot, The Spark, Amos The Transparent and Travel by Owl. He's also quite a good photographer.



Folkie action!



And so on!



Really, I didn't have my flash turned up high enough.



A shot from the stairs.



Big bendy finish!





There next show is at Babylon, July 31.

• Show reminder: Men, Sexual Overtones, Sir Clement and Mikiki perform at Babylon on behalf of sex workers' group POWER.

Meat is murder

Garaga was followed by (norman) Shanks. The (norman) is apparently a nod to some other acts who have already grabbed the Shanks name. The band hails from the Soverign Township of Mono, which may explain their single-minded dedication to low end. Despite the brutalist appearance, there's something very 80s indie about the vocals ... and you've got songs with names like Napoleonic Dread, Hadrian, Bridge of Sighs and English Dream of Murder I suspect a buried strain of intellectualism. That may be why they end up sounding like the bastard offspring of Melvins and Morrisey. They're also the third band I've seen bring meat products on stage, though unlike Hot Piss they didn't wear them, and unlike Manpower they didn't decorate a tree with them.

On bass guitar and vocals, Pistolwhip Von Shankenstein. On drums, Furious Homecooked. I'm not sure his last name is really Homecooked.



Furious action!



They travel with a coterie of apron-wearing fans, sound guys, an MC and



Nothing like a little duct tape makeover for that authentic Tomisaburo Wakayama look.



Pistolwhipped likes a big backline.



Furious prepares to smash.



Behind the back action!



Big finish!



They also have a new album out, Welcome to the Camp of the Dark Meat Fantasy.

• Show reminder: The Vibrators kicked ass when they played The Dominion, so don't be foolish enough to think "Eh, they're old and past it" instead of heading out to catch them at Mavericks with Farleys Fury, The PG-13s, Sedatives and H.O.P.E. The Reason, Amos The Transparent and New Teeth play Zaphod Beeblebrox; Fucked Corpse and Team Robespierre perform at Leaky Pipes at 636 Somerset St. The Bible Allstars, Von Drats and Little Foot Long Foot perform at Irene's; J.J. Ispen, Andy Swan and The Withering Pines hit The Elmdale House.

The safety dance

There's a bunch of great shows coming up in Ottawa in the next few weeks - unfortunately I won't be there for them because my work schedule is neatly circumnavigating them all. I got the Gaga Weekend off, and now I must suffer for it. That was part of the reason that sent me off to Mavericks last night. Another was that I have a new camera, a Nikon D90, and wanted to test its capabilities. The third reason was that despite my lukewarm reaction to In-Flight Safety's performance at Bluesfest last year, they've attracted a lot of plaudits of late. Matthew Pollesel at i(heart)music, for one, praised their latest album We Are An Empire, My Dear? effusively. And even if they were dull, openers Acres are guaranteed to entertain.

Acres have just returned from a recording venture in a lodge, and previewed a bunch of material from their next CD and possible LP.


Acres, Mavericks, June 18, 2009

In-Flight Safety also sounded excellent, and favoured the crowd with a chugging version of Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning. They were a melodic powerhouse throughout their set.


In-Flight Safety, Mavericks, June 18, 2009

Best of all, the new camera worked like a charm. It may not be obvious from these reduced sized versions (they're five feet across normally), but my Nikon's autofocus is miles sharper than the one on my Olympus - what a difference three years in technology makes!

• Show reminder: Great Lake Swimmers and Timber Timbre perform at the First Baptist Church; Rise Against, Rancid and Riverboat Gamblers (now there's a band I really want to see live) rock the Ottawa Civic Centre; Misery Signals, Dead and Divine and Sights and Sounds play Babylon (early); BA Johnston, Stolen Minks and The Allrights entertain at Irene's; Joe Taylor performs for a second night at Zaphod's; The Tony D Band are at The Rainbow; Lonesome Paul is at the Elmdale House.
  

Down the street

I was in such a good mood after dancing around to Think About Life that I danced down to Irene's to see Garaga and (Norman) Shanks. I would add Mississippi Grover to the list but by the time I got there the only trace of him was a box of his mini-CDs on the step leading up to what passes for a stage at the Glebe pub. First up, Garaga with a heavyset set of girthly rock.

The whole lot: Jeff, John, and Colin and Shawn getting cozy on the left.



Rocking action!



Grimacing action!



Black and white action! I took a couple of shots like this, then decidied that they weren't really working. In hindsight this one isn't half-bad. More in the 40-45% bad range.



Johnny prepares to hit!



Shawn frets!



Jeff sings!



Everybody sings along! Yes, the lights were up quite a bit.





Some very emphatic singing from Colin.



And finally some more rocking action.



There next show is planned for sometime, and they may or may not have a second LP on the way. Or something.

• Show reminder: In-Flight Safety and Acres perform at Mavericks. Hoodlum and Red April perform at the Elmdale House. Soft rocker Joe Taylor performs at Zaphod's.
  

This is the life

Think About Life have carved out a hard-won reputation as one of Montreal's most fun live bands. They're the brainchild of Miracle Fortress dweller Graham Van Pelt. I prefer the Fortress for its California pop leanings, but certainly don't mind TAL's non-stop dance fun.

Graham bends!



Martin Cesar is a bundle of energy and the group's MC; Matt Shane on drums.



Singalong action! I think that's Owen's bouquet from the previous night's Token blowout.



Martin made frequent trips to the keyboard to adjust this and that.



Caila Thompson-Hannant - also of Shapes + Sizes - provides some extra vocal power and handled bass duties.



Martin works the crowd.



A shadowy Shane.



Caila really is a good vocalist; I wish I'd seen Shapes + Sizes years ago when they were slated to play Zaphod's with The Castanets; unfortunately a band member fell sick so all I got was the shirt.



Hi there!



Audience, we salute you.



High-tenning action!



Shake it all about!



Caila sings some more!



Big finish ... actually there may have been a couple of encores to go.



That was a heck of a way to end the night ... if you were someone other than me. After this show I popped over to Irene's for more music.

• Show reminder: Labasheeda, The Rough Sea and The PG-13s sail into Zaphod Beeblebrox; Wise, Young & King rock The Rainbow; Grand Theft Bus and Share hit Mavericks.