This one time at band camp

Back to the Kelp birthday shindig at Raw Sugar. Camp Radio is one of those Ottawa bands I see far too little of ... I figure I've caught them live perhaps twice since they performed at Kelp's 11th anniversary show at Barrymore's. In the hot and sweaty confines of Raw Sugar they were even more rocking than usual - of course they had some help ...

Chris Page! Dave Draves! Scott "Mad Stare" Terry!



Scott and the wall of turquoise.



Firebird action!



Chris sings!



Scott sings!



Dave sings!



Camping action!



Gripping action!



Singalong action!



More Dave!



Camp Radio, now with extra Jim Bryson!



Faceoff action! And completely obscured by the microphone stand, Mystic Zealot Jeff Kainz.



Singalong action!



Best rock-jumping photo ever? Just possibly.



More Jeff!



Back to back action!



And that's more or less all she wrote ... though of course Chris would be back to sling axe in Rhume later that evening. He'll also be heading west for solo shows with Jill Zmud. Scott has plenty of his own bands (including Klovenhooves, whose show last night I totally forgot to mention). Dave naturally is keeping busy with his production stuff, which is really just an excuse for me to mention how killer Jack Pelletier and The Battle of Ontario's Friends and Lovers is.

• Show reminder: Misery Signals, Structures, Beheading Of A King, Sleep Is For The Dead and Sirens and Serenades are at Mavericks; Old Crowns, Bret Caswell and the Marquee Rose are at Zaphod's. The Panama, The Amalgamation and Still Life Still grace Cafe DeKcuf. Chrysalis emerges at the Elmdale House; the Avant-Garde hosts Sweet Mother Logic.

Make 'em sweat

I popped over to Zaphod's last night to check out Kalle Mattson, The Darcys and Life In 2D last night and was quite surprised to find a big crowd there. Did the two better-known bands suddenly become big enough to attract 100 people to Zaphod's on a Tuesday? Is Zaphod's air-conditioning that good?!? Was it because of Towel Day? Well, no and no and no. Not to slight the bands, the AC, or the inflatable dolphins, it turns out that Life In 2D has a lot of friends and they apparently all turned out to watch. There was noticeable audience shrinkage as the night progressed. I actually missed about 97% of LI2D's set, so I won't comment on them ... let's just go straight to The Darcys.

The Darcys are just returning from a big tour out west ... and if you've been following along at home you know they were here just last month. Once again, they were energetic and shoegazy. Also they had vests.


The Darcys at Zaphod Beeblebrox, May 25, 2010

Kalle Mattson finished things off. The audience was down to a couple dozen, but they were quite enthusiastic about the set. I think the band may have invested in a few more effects pedals since I saw them last - they were certainly more raucous. Maybe it's all the touring they've been doing.


Kalle Mattson at Zaphod Beeblebrox, May 25, 2010

A pleasant way to spend a few hours - definitely a lot more pleasant than my un-cooled apartment.

• Show reminder: Everlea and The Autumn are at Zaphod's; Mama Cat, Rottaway and Monic rock The Rainbow; Howard Rent A Car is at the Elmdale House.

Gone to the park

The second half of Kelp's 16th anniversary Saturday shindig was held at Raw Sugar, the coffee, deserts and beer place on Somerset St. that's a hit with all the kids, and site of the quite-jammed Banditas reunion show from two months previous. This show was also quite jammed - I got my ticket in a hurry, I can tell you. First act of the night was The Michael Parks, the somewhat more rocking side of Andy Swan's musical personality.

And here's Andy rocking the Gibson SG with special guest Jenny Omnichord.



Bassist Greg Smith is also in The Weakerthans, guitarist John Higney is another guest.



Drummer Shayne Cox in a moment of repose.



The whole lot!



Andy sings! (And you can see Chris Page and Jim Bryson chit-chatting in the background, along with Jon Bartlett.)



Higney takes it all sitting down.



Bartlett rocks the tambourine.



More Greg!



More Shayne!



And that's it, until Swan makes his next foray from Breadalbane, P.E.I. Andy is offering up his albums free/pay-what-can at his website, so you have to check that out as well.

• Show reminder: pH, Adam Saikaley, OokPikk are at Mercury Lounge; The Darcys, Kalle Matson and Life In 2D; Despite All This and RedD Monkey are at The Rainbow; Wassabi Collective play Mavericks.

Tavern twang

You know it's been a long time since you saw a band when the last venue you laid eyes on them was Barrymore's.  So it is with The Flaps, who finished off the Carleton Tavern portion of Kelp's 16th anniversary shows. They still have the kung-fu kitsch instrumental music down pat, so after an introduction and heartfelt plea from Jon Bartlett to try out the coleslaw, it was off to a well-reverberated sonic trip to the mysterious east.

Martin Newman and Pat Lawlor do things with strings.



John Higney and the silhouette of Jamie Gulliksen.



Martin and Pat look thataway.



The whole lot!



Martin rocks the low end.



Whammy bar action!



John rocks the baritone.



Jamie and some serious redeye.



Dancing action!



Then I biked off home to prepare for that evening's Raw Sugar show.

• Show reminder: The Girlfriends and The Toughtones rock Zaphod Beeblebrox; Andrea Ramolo is at The Rainbow.

Feathered friends

The first time I saw Andy Swan was five years ago. I know this because it was at a show for Kelp's 11th anniversary at Barrymore's, where he filled in for an absent bassist in Andrew Vincent's backing band. Back then Andy was performing under the Detective Kalita name. In the intervening years he's changed the name to The Michael Parks after an album. He also does some solo stuff ... I guess The Michael Parks stuff has greater electric tendencies, but they are more metres than miles apart.I've aways thought he was an excellent guitarist and songwriter, and here he was at the Carleton Tavern for Kelp's 16th demonstrating it once again.

Smiley action with Shayne Cox!



Ready, everyone?



The band: John Higney, Jon Bartlett, and Cox.



Andy sings!



Telecaster action! Hmm ... I believe that guitar has been modified ...



The whole lot!



John forgot his slide, thus the lighter.



Bartlett hits!



And there you go. All these folks would, of course, reappear at raw Sugar later that night - or in Higney's case even earlier for The Flaps set.

• Show reminder:Speaking or Raw Sugar, if you go there tonight you can catch Myles Deck and The Fuzz, The Sleepless Nights and Brainhunter; Barn Burner, Mountanaka and HellBros! rock Mavericks.

The impossible dream

We're still at the Carleton Tavern celebrating Kelp Records turning 16, but we'll leapfrog over Andy Swan to Miche Jette - a.k.a. Flecton Big Sky - since he's performing tonight. Miche has been around with bands like Jehovah's Wetness (where I saw him first at a show at Bumper's if I recall correctly) and Werbo. Usually he's been accompanied by several musicians - dubbed either his Big Sky Orchestra or The Dreamcatchers - but this time it was Dreamcatcher solo, Scott Terry, playing an acoustic guitar with much digital delay.

Lord of the Kelpy realm Jon Bartlett makes the introductions.



Lyric consultation action! "Kelp Records is 16. We're growing hair where there was no hair before. We have to come over to your house to shave your records."



Miche sings!



"The controversial issue: Are this year's pulled pork sandwiches the best ever?" (A hush descends upon the room.)



Scot wiggles a string.



Parlour guitar action!



Big action!



Hollering action!



The end!



As mentioned earlier, he'll be performing at Raw Sugar tonight, along with The Brothers Doob.

• Show reminder: The Racoon Wedding, Graven and Dave Norris play Zaphod's; a reunited SugarBush and The Really are at The Elmdale Tavern; The Living Sound System, The Mob, The Pocket Trio and Love Buffalo and the Pineapple Initiative perform at Club SAW, the mighty Loudlove are at The Rainbow; Victor Nesrallah rolls into Irene's; Loon Choir lands at the Avant-Garde.