Head games

And now for the Canadian content at Punk Rock Covers; Hamilton's Teenage Head, brought to life by members of four-stroke and elbeejay.

Ken sings!



Kris trums!



Larry rocks the Pretty Bad wear.



More guitar!



Jon hits!



Ken works the knees!



Bonus Larry!



Jon sings!



Ken works the crowd.



The end!



A fine recreation!

The Ramones of the day

I'm surprised that The Ramones hadn't received the treatment at Punk Rock Covers ... perhaps some were reluctant to tackle arguably the first punk rock band. Fortunately the folks from Asile felt no such fear and gave a pretty solid rendition of the old wun-two-three-faw.

Wiggy action!



More wiggy action!



Gripping action!



Leather-jacketed action!



Rhythm section action!



As the show went along the band kept getting pushed back by the raging crowd.



The whole lot!



Singalong and audience-participation action!



The end!



A swell set.

• Show reminder: There's more dragonboating at Mooney's Bay, plus performances by David Usher, Said the Whale, PS I Love You, Craig Cardiff, The Claytones and Alexander Fairchild; Feverfest also continues, with shows at Irene's (Brock Zeman, Jack Spinks) and the Clocktower (Peptides, Steve Adamyk Band, Murder Plans, Fevers among others). The Elmdale hosts The Divorcees and 90 Pounds of Ugly; Soul In Stone and Static Revolt perform at Zaphod's; The Hammerheads are at the Rainbow; Julie Corrigan and Pia Ashley play the Avant-Garde.

Westway to Centretown

Up next on our slate of punk rock covers: The Clash! As portrayed by various members of The Mudplots and suchlike. Here they all are in their be-quiffed glory!

Phoney Beatlemaniacs? Possibly!



They want a riot - a riot of their own.



Well-suspended drumming action!



Rhythm section action!



Strumming action!



The crowd goes wild!



A less-flashy version of the improper Topper.



Brand new Cadillaaaaaaac!



Thomas goes down!



The end!



The MudPlots will be playing all the big festivals: Finish What You Started at Mavericks Aug. 20, Slave To The Semen Fest at 279 Flora a week later, The O-Town Hoedown Sept. 29 and Halloween Horror back at the Legion on Oct. 28.

• Show reminder: Whale Tooth, Spirit of the West and Paper Lions perform at the Ottawa Dragonboat Festival; Feverfest also brings a too-many-to-mention slate to the Clocktower and Irene's (you'll find Silver Creek and The Fiftymen at the latter). Diemonds, Black Stone Hearts and Eagleson bring the sleaze-rock to Ritual; Astral Gunk, Plaster Babies and Swollen Eyes lurk in the basement at 443 Kent; Thought Project, Grand Theft Ottawa and Celery Troff roll into the Avant Garde; you can catch Tony D at the Rainbow; the Elmdale hosts Claude Munson and the Storm Outside, Stillnative and Heather Sita Black.

Under and over

It is that time of year when bands from strange places make unexpected stops in Ottawa. Yes, NXNE has come and gone and there are still a few bands justifying the cost of their plane tickets with add-on shows in the general vicinity. That's how you get a band from Adelaide, Australia cruising through town.

But first, here's Toronto's Revolvers, a band that to my ear has a marked affection for The Verve - not that there's anything wrong with that. And now, some singing drummer action!


Revolvers at Zaphod Beeblebrox, June 20, 2012

The quartet was down a member, which may explain why drummer Lee Lavien switched from guitar to drums after the first song, and John McKinnon (I think?) hopped in on bass.


Revolvers at Zaphod Beeblebrox, June 20, 2012

Then it was time for The Aves (as in birds - there's already another Australian band called The Avenues, anyway). They like their Velvets and their Beatles and are quite an active lot on stage.


The Aves at Zaphod Beeblebrox, June 20, 2012

The jumpy end!


The Aves at Zaphod Beeblebrox, June 20, 2012

A fine evening - the air-conditioning was nice, too.

• Show reminder: MF Doom performs at Ritual; The Band Whose Name is a Symbol and Pachyderm perform outside the National Gallery of Canada; the Elmdale hosts Ryan Cook, Brendan Flynn & The Terrible Liars and Kelly Sloan.

You can be replaced

I have a shocking secret to reveal - some members of The Centretown Recording Alliance cicrcle which has produced such bands as The Centretown Cripplers, Finders Keepers, The Mnemonics and The Allrights are fans of The Replacements. Incredible, eh? Anyway, here we are, back for Punk Rock Covers night No. 5 at the Montgomery Legion Hall with Chris Cook, Matthew Banoub, John Sproull and Hidden Cameras bassist John Hynes, performing some of the Twin Cities' finest slabs of rock.

John and David!



John hits!



Bass action with John!



Chris sings!



Replacement action!



More David!



Extra Chris and John!



Double the hits!



The whole flashy lot!



Faceoff action!



I missed The Mnemonics' Ottawa Explosion gig, but if you're in Toronto you can catch them at 3030 Dundas West this Friday for some Craft Beer Week-related (and likely heavily influenced, if you know what I mean) music.

• Show Reminder; The Aves and Revolver rock Zaphod's; Brasstronaut, Utidur and Phantom Shores perform at Mavericks; the Elmdale hosts Belle Plaine and Bobby Dove.

Ottawa Explosion, Day 5

The final day of Ottawa Explosion is a chance for everyone to see who didn't survive the previous four days. Fortunately I only felt half-dead by Sunday, and actually managed to drag myself out of bed to see some bands melt off the pounds.

When I arrived Average Times were just finishing their last song. You've got Tim Ostler, Todd Faux ... is that Stabatron from Hellbros? and a lady drummer I don't know (or was perhaps too blitzed to recognize).


Average Times at Club SAW, June 17, 2012

New Swears is another new band I haven't seen before, but filled with folks from The Polymorphines and The Girlfriends/Rat Tales massive. Drums were abused, shoes were destroyed, misbehaviour was misbehaved ... as you'd expect from this collection of miscreants! They also had a strobe light going in broad daylight - so they're bad for the environment too!


New Swears at Club SAW, June 17, 2012

Roberta Bondar also performed a tight set. My brain was no longer working at this point, which is why I forgot to get a copy of their new tape from them.


Roberta Bondar at Club SAW, June 17, 2012

Montreal's Solids (no "The", thank you!) are a hard-hitting duo with a loud fuzz sound that made me think a bit of a two-man Dinosaur Jr. at their droniest.


Solids at Club SAW, June 17, 2012

While that was going on, New Swears were causing havoc, or maybe having group sex.


New Swears fooling around at Club SAW, June 17, 2012

Then I went over to the grass for a quick nap. While I was reclining, the couple near me were watching what the News Swears guys were up to and giving a play-by-play ("They tried to stand on each other's shoulders ... they just fell over.") - but soon enough it was time to arise and watch Owen from Party Knives beat up vegetables and run around shirtless.


Party Knives at Club SAW, June 17, 2012

See all the survivors next year!

• Show reminder: Sadia Afreen, Sad Guru, Static Revolt and Funk Jammersters 2012 perform at The Rainbow.

Ottawa Explosion, Day 4, Part II

I dragged myself over to #Mavericks where the door guys were inspecting Swiss passports - folks are coming from afar again! - then went upstairs for a bit to see  Grime Kings do some sound-checking. However, the first show was downstairs ...

Yes, it was time for Uranium Comeback's anuual show! They even had a new song this time.


Uranium Comeback at Mavericks, June 16, 2012

Grime Kings are a youthful trio - they all sported "no drinking allowed" Xs on their hands. They come from Belleville and deal in distorted indie rock with a few funky bits thrown in.


Grime Kings at Cafe DeCkuf, June 16, 2012

Back downstairs for the mighty rumble of Dagger Eyes.


Dagger Eyes at Mavericks, June 16, 2012

Upstairs, there was a whole lotta harmonizing with Philadelphia's Eeries.


Eeries at Cafe DeKcuf, June 16, 2012

Once again, Strange Attractor's Brit-style '77-themedrock had the crowd jumping about.


Strange Attractor at Mavericks, June 16, 2012

There were a couple of Bay area bands in the house as well. San Francisco's Dreamdate were probably the prettiest band at the festival, at least musically, with more harmonizing.


Dreamdate at Cafe DeKcuf, June 16, 2012

Last time I saw Needles//Pins was in the basement of the Kent St. Legion. They were great then, and were great again on Saturday, with plenty of good-natured heckling for the Ottawa expatriates.


Needles//Pins at Mavericks, June 16, 2012

Spencey Dude and The Doodles were, as their name suggested, kind of goofy. They're actually part of Greg Ashley's circle - he produced their album and bassist Oscar has also served in his band (meanwhile, Dreamdate bassist Anna Hillburg switches over to drums).



Spencey Dude & The Doodles at Cafe DeKcuf, June 16, 2012

Finally, the festival's grand finale, Portland's Mean Jeans rocked Mavericks but good. Things started a littler later than expected and had to be cut short, but still enough time for a bunch of dynamite Ramones-style rockers and some surprise wedding proposing.


Mean Jeans at Mavericks, June 16, 2012

I was feeling so bagged I was almost relieved when they had to call it quits.