End to end

All good things must come to an end, so perhaps The Suppositories days were numbered. This show at Ritual was the last. They went out with a bang, too.

Sad audience is sad.



Ilona turns things up.



Ian prepares to sing something.



Overhead action!



The whole lot!



Ilona frets.



Billy hits!



More Ian, plus Mark.



Ian sings!



More Mark!



More Billy!



More Ilona!



Blurry action!



Ian from below!



Transparent action!



Audience encouragemnt.



The view from the soundboard.



The end!



And unless I'm very much mistaken, the chap on the right is David, the third man in Ilona and Ian's new combo, Dagger Eyes. They're going to make their debut at The White Wires record release show Dec. 23.

Below the belt

After the experimental psychedelic tour-de-what of Butterflies & Zebras and Mahogany Frog at Club SAW it was a short walk to Ritual to see the final set from brutish minimalists The Suppositories, with support from Montreal combo Genital Hospital. The band is apparently composed of a quartet of Cirque de Soleil trampoline trainers who go by the names of Pierre, Brian, Stiff and Fusil. I think Pierre plays the Danelectro and Brian or Fisul plays the drums, but I won't swear to it. I will however say they feature members of The Confusers and Demon's Claws, and sound like it.

In this corner ... three-fourths of the band! I seem to recall B-Man Le Duke manning the traps in the Claws, but here he is on bass. I fmy deductions are correct, that would make the guitarist Stiff (or Stef, as he's called in The Confusers) and Brian the drummer. Don't quote me.



Pierre Pressure rocks the Danelectro.



More Pierre!



Singing drummer action!



Low-down action!



Stiff action!



The whole lot!



The crowd goes wild!



See-through action!



Singalong action!



Bendy action!



Dan-o action!



More lowdown stuff!



More drumming!



A lot of fun; hopefully they'll be back to rock the town soonish.

• Show reminder: The Riot Police hit the Rainbow; ABACABB, Legend, Wretched, Monsters and In Alcatraz 1962 do it for the kids at Mavericks.

Might as well jump

On to Mahogany Frog ... I will just guess there name is a tribute to Canadian rock greats Mahogany Rush, but who knows, maybe they just like amphibians and wood. I do feel fairly safe in saying they like the various Canterbury Scene bands, particularly The Soft Machine.

Graham Epp and Scott Ellenberger massage some keys.



Drummer Jean Paul Peron tippy-taps.



Guitar action with Jess Warkentin!



Feedback action!



The whole lot!



Trumpet action with Graham and Scott!



And that's it! Not much I know, but I didn't take many and frankly in terms of the ratio of good-to-bad, perhaps the worst ever. Oh well - the music was good.

• Show reminder: The soothing sounds of Kataklysm, Insurrection, Paretic Dementia, My Fatality and Accursed Spawn can be heard at Mavericks; Gatineau Streamers and Quinton Gibson perform at the Rainbow; the Elmdale House hosts The Haunted Hearts and The Sure Things.

Taking wing

I don't get around to Club SAW all that often ... there shows seem fairly far apart, and publicity is sometimes less than stellar. Fortunately I heard about this gig, headlined by Mahogany Frog, far enough ahead of time to book the day off. Better yet, local psychedelic act Butterflies and Zebras were opening things. I'd taken a listen to their stuff online and purchased their CD at Birdman Sound and wanted to see them live. Since their CD is recorded "live and organic" it's a good representation of their wiggy improv set. They had a light show, which I avoided disrupting with flash. On the downside Club SAW is not brightly lit (even with their light show), so some of these shots turned out a tad murky.

Steve Northover on acoustic guitar.



And over on the other side of the tiny stage, electric guitarist Norm Howard and percussionist Ken Walker.



Illuminated action!



The whole lot!



Ken works the iPad.



Well, at least the photo of their title screen turned out nicely!



Anyway, I arrived a bit late and it was a sitdown affair , so there were few photos to be taken. What comes next I know not.

• Show reminder: GOOD2GO, releas their latest recording at Irene's with The Bible All-Stars; The Acorn, come home for a show at Capital Music Hall with Jim Guthrie and Pat Jordache; The Love Machine, These Electric Lives and Hungry Hearts perform at Zaphod's; Ross Neilsen & The Suffrin' Bastards and Papa Shango rock the Rainbow; Famous Underground, Hooked on Karma and The Weeds play Mavericks; Rock Snake has The Atomic Rooster covered; Train Jumpers and Andre Bluteau roll into Raw Sugar; Old Whiskey Road makes tracks for the Avant-Garde Bar.

Comeback kids

I'm trying to remember where I was when Resin Scraper released Her Mentality back in way-back-when (a.k.a. 1996). Not at the Dominion, anyway, where Dead City Rebels made their noisy, rugby-player toppling debut. I can at least recall where I first saw Dirty Donny's artwork - at the bottom of the stairs at The Dominion on the way to the bathroom. Dirty Donny has of course gone onto intergalactic fame as the artist of twisted creeps, guitar freaks and motor fiends. I believe the first time I saw his art on a record sleeve for Man's Ruin. Coincidentally the label that completely failed to give the Dead City Rebels their big break when Frank Kozik's label expired, leaving the release of their Electromagnetic Feel stillborn. Since packing it in more-or-less officially several years back they've staged the occasional reunion ... the only one I'd caught to date was for a CKCU anniversary show. Whether I wasn't shooting back then or my camera was in the shop I can't say, but until now I hadn't managed to capture one of Ottawa's finest rock'n'roll bands in action.

But first, heeeeeere's Donny, airbrushing a Frankenstein's Monster stencil on my freshly purchased copy of Monster Revolt!


Dirty Donny at Babylon, December 2, 2010

There was also punk rock karaoke, hosted by Remi Royale, which ws intermittently amusing. Here Sedative/Crusades/Year Zero Man Dave Williams takes a turn at the microphone.


Punk rock karaoke at Babylon, December 2, 2010

And finally, The Dead City Rebels, rocking out with mighty power.


The Dead City Rebels at Babylon, December 2, 2010

Members have of course been seen performing in The Golden Famile, Fortunate Sons, Four Frames/Mouthpiece, Death March Volunteers, Long Timers, The Glads, TokyoSexwhale and Loviatar (and possibly a few others), but whether well see them together again in one place is a big if.

• Show reminder: Jeffree Star, Dev, It Boys! and Strayotic are at Mavericks; Trevor Alguire and Ninety Pounds of Ugly perform at the Elmdale Tavern; Matthew Hornell and The Diamond Minds, The Mnemonics, and Capital Grass and the No Men play Cafe DeKcuf; Jeremy Fisher, Greg Laswell and Miss Emily Brown roll into Zaphod's; Barrelhouse are at the Rainbow.

Hairs apparent

There goes November ... sorry, Movember, when many a young man grows a mustache for a good cause, then shaves it off. I don't know about this whole shaving business, but Zaphod's decided to throw a gig to celebrate the hirsute event. Unfortunately not many people came, perhaps because the onset of December also featured the sort of weather that keeps folks indoors with a hot drink in one hand. That didn't stop either of the evening's performers from rocking out.

First came instrumental trio Monobrow. And when I say instrumental, I'm not talking surf-daddies. These guys are more like 35007 (a.k.a. Loose) or Gore, as befits a band who record at Meatlocker Studios. Brian Ahopelto of Acres mans the drums, while Paul Slater and Sam Beydoun round things out on guitar and bass.


Monobrow at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 1, 2010

Big Jeezus Truck finished things off. How ong has it been since I've seen the long serving psychobilly-country-hard rock quartet? Last time was at Barrymore's, and bassist Spag had spiky blue hair. And I was shooting on film. I posted the pictures from that gig in April 2005, but may have been taken well before. They've still got that smoke machine, though!


Big Jeezus Truck at Zaphod Beeblebrox, December 1, 2010

All good unclean hairy fun.

• Show reminder: Local boy done bad Dirty Donny comes back to Babylon, and the Dead City Rebels resurrect for the occasion. Yay! Miss May I, Sleeping With Sirens, Bury Tomorrow, The Crimson Armada and After The Vendetta are at Mavericks; In Antarctica, First Rate People, We Fled Cairo, Shannon Rose and Kildear play Avant Garde Bar; the Elmdale House hosts Doc Weiss Band and Five Pounds of Pants.

It's a mystery

My next show was a bi of a mystery ... the band name on the bill for this Sept. 5 show was Hoodlum, but that band has apparently either undergone a near-total transformation or their was some substitution going on since the only member on stage was ringleader Jan Lis. An other information has been hard to find and inquiries have gone unanswered.

Here's one of Lis's new recruits, in baritone mandolin. Just behind him you can see one of two percussionists.



In the centre we have Lis, flamked by another violinist and drummer No. 2.



More Jan!



Jan breaks out the guitar.



Violin action!



The whole lot!



Faceoff action!



Mandolin and tambourine action!



More violins!



The drummer multitasks.



More violinist!



Jan sings!



The scene from the stairs.



Guitar action!



Rhythm section action!



And that's that. As for who, what, why, when and where, I know even less than usual.

• Show reminder: Big Jeezus Truck and Monobrow combine mustaches and rock for a good cause at Zaphod Beeblebrox. Jenny MacDonald and The Joint perform at the Rainbow; Gerry Wall, Matt Chaffey, Ray Harris, Lefty McRighty at the Elmdale's monthly singer-songwriter shindig.Regulars River City Junction play the Avant-Garde.