CATL has the most talent!

Big ups to my brethren in Toronto blues mavericks CATL, for yesterday against all odds they won the Toronto Blues Society's Talent Search Finals, held at Nathan Philips Square.

This must have been especially nice as it followed a trip down to Detroit to do some recording (their first as a trio) for the follow-up to their debut "¿Adónde Vas? A Ningún Lado" LP. 2009 is shaping up to be the year of the CATL.

Congratulations.

Poster Show IV poster!

Another great poster by Fort Polio, this time for Poster Show IV (which No No Zero is playing of course) -- not just a great bill, but a wicked poster exhibition and a fundraiser in honour of the late great Mr. Majewski himself (that's him on the poster, in case you couldn't figure it out).

I can tell you that we will *not* be a trio at this show after all, and should have some 'special guests' joining us onstage... aaaaaaaannnd the Michal Majewski fundraisers just don't stop! September 18th will see No No Zero return to the super-sleazy Atria in Beautiful Downtown Oshawa, to raise money for a Majewski trust fund, along with The Diplomats and The Ancestors.

Please note also the new-fangled Upcoming Shows sidebar - which hopefully will be around for awhile.

Gravitar - Live at the Gold Dollar, Detroit 1999

I was lucky enough to see Michigan magicians Gravitar play live one time - this very gig in fact*, a release show for their then-new "You Must First Learn To Draw The Real" CD on Monotremata. Me was so crazy about Gravitar's colossal racket, I drove all the way from Oshawa (about a four hour trip one way) to see them - and the band were every bit as good as I'd hoped they'd be and then some.

I was shocked at how small-scale it all seemed initially: Geoff Walker on vocals (and occasionally guitar), sitting in an ordinary chair like some old bluesman, surrounded by effects pedals; his brother Mike on guitar; Eric Cook on drums. They looked like normal enough guys, nice guys.


This didn't visually promise anything like what erupted from the speakers when they actually started playing - immense sheets of gnarly GRIT noise and tripped-out vocal ECHO assault, HUGE psychedelic godhead RIFFS, caterwauling free jazz FILLS coming faster & harder than could be mentally absorbed.

Forget the room, these guys rocked the universe. I bought everything they had for sale and babbled like a goon to them afterwards about how great they were. Eric even mentioned my driving all that way on his website.

So yeah, I was a big fanboy of Gravitar. As far as I was concerned, they were the last word in heaviness at the time. I even bought their box set 'Ten Years of Tears' (from Enterruption) when it came out - this went through four editions, each slightly different, of which I think I have No. 2.


One of the discs in this box was an exclusive called 'Live 1999-2000' -- featuring two sets from the band; the Detroit 1999 set, and another the following year in San Francisco. I have struggled mightily to upload this second set, but the second half of it is stubbornly resisting all my efforts so you'll have to make do with just the one, sorry.

If you'd like to know more, including what became of Gravitar, here is a wonderful recent interview with Geoff Walker and Eric Cook.

Gravitar - Live at the Gold Dollar, Detroit 1999 (@ 320 kbps)



*based on info at the Gold Dollar's archived historical schedule, it was their only show in 1999.

Blind Alley - The Ruby Kennel Club

Blind Alley is a project of guitarist Gary Mundy, perhaps best known as a member of (recently reactivated) British noise-rock legends Ramleh. The style is fried psychedelic guitar workouts with occasional percussion, culminating in a brain-melting 22 minute raga called "Until The Light Returns". Very underrated record, this.

"The Ruby Kennel Club" was originally issued in 1996 by now-defunct Freek Records; if you want a hard copy, your best bet would be to contact the man himself through his MySpace page.

And, speaking of re-activation, Mundy's label Broken Flag is back putting out records as well! Happy days are here again.

Blind Alley - Ruby Kennel Club (@ 320 kbps!)

No No Zero Back! Majewski! Poster Show!

I didn’t want to prematurely announce that No No Zero were back before we had a show booked, just in case everything fell through and I looked like an overexcited moron. Now that we do have a show (of which more below), I am happy to announce that the band is back in gear & have been working up a blistering new set for the last month or so.

Perhaps the first thing you should know is that No No Zero is greatly reduced in personnel, at least for the time being – aside from yours truly, we have Zak Hanna on the guitar & Mark Jarrett on the drums. And that’s it! Maximum ARGH, minimum membership.

Alumni Josh Bauman (also of Quest For Fire) joined us for one jam while he was in town, and Greg 'Sweets' Sweetland has tried to make it back too, but is simply in too many bands right now for that to work. Jamie & Johnny meanwhile are still happily rocking away with Catl.

Will we be three at our first show back? Only time will tell. As to the show –- it is Poster Show IV, the last in a very successful series of events in which bands mingle happily with band posters, and both the eyes and the ears are left well satisfied. This year is supposedly the last ever, and is taking place Friday, September 4th at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall Branch 344, 1395 Lakeshore Blvd. W., Toronto (near the Palais Royale).


This is a special edition of an already special show, not only because it may be the last, but because it's honouring one of the best poster artists on the scene, as well as a hell of a great guy, the recently-deceased Michal Majewski. Proceeds are to go to Mike's family & loved ones. They'll be a display of his posters at the show, in addition to the usual amazing cornucopia of poster artists and their posters.

Mike was a musician as well as a visual artist, playing bass in the heavy, heavy FATO, and the musical bill at Poster Show IV is what has me most excited of all. The line-up is: The Ancestors, Sun RaRaRa, No No Zero, Quest For Fire, and finally those fabulous funky kings from Oshawa named Anagram.

This is a great, great bill, and I am really looking forward to seeing everybody play. If I weren't expected to actually, you know, perform, I know what I'd be putting under my tongue beforehand, and it wouldn't be a breathmint.

7PM
SEPT 4 2009
LEGION HALL
1395 LAKESHORE W

Total - Exploded Star Sad Servant

Another ripper from Mr. Bower.