Something in the water

Ottawa has a long and healthy history of instrumental and garage rock groups, and it's no surprise that someone combined them to make a Surf and Turf two-nighter. It's also not a surprise that person is Patrick Shanks of The Glads, Knurlings, and too many other combos to name. It all went down at the House of Targ starting on Friday with sets from Kingston's Huaraches, Evil Streaks (who went instrumental for the surf evening) and Bytown's own Reverb Syndicate.

Here's some rhythm section action with Aidan and Steve!



Guitar and dancing action!



Faceoff action!



More dancing!



Extra Aidan!



Shakin' action!



Extra Scott!



More Adam!



If the shoe fits action!



More Scott'n'Chris.



Bonus Aidan!



Hand-clapping action!



Masked action!



And so on!



The end!



On to the cool cats of The Evil Streaks. The Massachusetts outfit are garage rockers at heart, but apparently they made a big impression with a vocals-free outing last year in New York, and were invited up for a repeat. Here's Myra and The Rev.



Mosritely action with Jim Kozik!



Rhythm section action with Too Fast Jim and The Rev!



Guitar action!



Extra Jim!



Even more Myra!



Evil action!



The whole lot!



The Reverb Syndicate tied a bow on the night with a really good-sounding set.



Syndicated action!



Bass action!



More guitar!



Reverberating action!



Rhythm section action!



Crowded action!



More Mike!



Disco ball action!



Stay tuned for turf!

Deja voodoo

Back in February I caught a Weird Canada and Debaser-curated show at Mugshots, featuring Wicked Witches, Dirty Frigs and The Yips. It was a swell show, and apparently everyone thought it would be a good idea to do it again, this time at Pressed. Only the slot arrangement changed, with wicked Witches starting things off.



I've still no idea of who any of the Witches are, but that's Cameron from The Dirty Frigs filling in on bass.



Slowly sinking microphone action!



Adaptability is the hallmark of a quality performer.



Audience fixing action!



More saxophone!



Guitar action!



Singing drummer action!



Keyboard action!



Rhythm section action!



The whole lot!



The Yips followed with a typically hot set.



Fretful action with Jon!



Yippy action with Zach and Kurt!



Kerri sings!



Synchronized action!



Jon hits!



Extra Kerri!



More Zach!



Hair-tossing action!



On to the Dirty Frigs, who got to be headliners this time. They've been working on an EP, which is getting its release show today. Here's Bri!



Rhythm section with Cameron and Edan!



Duncan beats up his Silvertone a bit more.



Dirty action!



Edan hits!



Closeup action!



Feedback action!



Gripping action!



And so on!



Back to the Danelectro!



A fine redux.