Surinam Tape Release Moved To Soybomb!

If you didn't know, the next PANIC show is next Friday, June the 29th (with PAST CRIMES and SURINAM). It was originally supposed to be at Johnny Jackson's, but they have closed. So. The lucky new venue is Soybomb, and the occasion marks the release of SURINAM's first album cassette. Be there or die a thousand deaths.

Bonus! TOWN SHIP has been added to the bill.

Live Photos / Review.

PANIC photos by Nic Pouliot for Now Magazine.

More PANIC Shows!

 

PANIC continues to do shows, having recently played in Oshawa at Wasted Space (along with PAST CRIMES and HOLY MOUNT) and at 3030 in Toronto (with MILK LINES). Next up, on April 17, we play with BIBLICAL and OVERNIGHT at the Horseshoe Tavern, and then on May 29, we reunite with PAST CRIMES and SURINAM at Johnny Jackson.

Two Animalistic (Sets)!

Our first PANIC show of the year - and our first show with drummer Sean Dignan (SUCKERPUNCH, DODGE FIASCO) - went down in the middle of a blizzard on Sunday night. We played the Dakota Tavern with Ian Blurton's PUBLIC ANIMAL, the inaugural night of a month-long residency for them there.

PUBLIC ANIMAL began the evening with a set premiering new songs, and lordy, lordy, it was loud and awesome. The band was ferocious and I encourage anyone reading this to check them out forthwith. After that, PANIC played our debut LP "Bad Fantasies" track-for-track for what may be the last time (we have new songs now). That went down swimmingly with those who had ventured out in the weather, and we had a great time. PUBLIC ANIMAL were then back to play a rocking set of older songs, covers and the like, culminating in a huge freak-out ending that left everybody reeling.

Again, see PUBLIC ANIMAL at the Dakota every Sunday this month. PANIC has a couple of shows in March, starting with an appearance at the Long Winter Festival (at the Great Hall). Hope to see you there!

Upcoming PANIC Shows!

A couple of upcoming shows to announce --

February 1 - with PUBLIC ANIMAL (Ian Blurton's latest band) at The Dakota Tavern.

March 13 - as part of the LONG WINTER Festival at The Great Hall.

Possibly more live dates soon.

Taste of Little Italy Festival Show!

 

Last Saturday night, we played a set on a sidewalk in Little Italy, in front of the wonderful June Records. It was about an hour after Italy beat England 2-1 in the World Cup, and College Street was filled with people walking about and celebrating. Even our music couldn't dampen the atmosphere. There were grandparents and children smiling along to "Creepy Dom". Quite surreal. Special thanks to Ian from June for sound.

 

Top pic by Karim Romero / Bottom pic by Derek Westerholm

"Bad Fantasies" Release Show!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Smiling Buddha last Friday and helped PANIC celebrate the release of our "Bad Fantasies" album. It was a great turnout and a good time appeared to be had by all. Thanks to DJ Chico for providing great tunes and Wyrd Visions for a mesmerizing set.

 

Pics by J. Martin / Video by Winona

 

Evidence of Rocking!

We've played a couple of shows in the last few weeks and since then some live video has been posted online. First of all, Mr. Halpenny's footage of No No Zero playing "Amputate" at Ghost Hole III appeared on Vimeo; I was later able to put the entire four song block he'd shot up on Youtube. The photo above is from the same show and was also supplied by Mr. Halpenny. Here's another one he took the same night of The (sexy and splendifferous) Soupcans --


Big thanks to Xenia for having us out to play this very fun show - on what was almost certainly the coolest stage I've ever played on. You can't tell from the video exactly, but there was a massive metal dragon head sculpture above us and it actually breathed smoke while the bands were playing (during our set, I was able to control the smoke with a foot pedal). So cool! I enclose pictures of the awesome artwork at Ghost Hole III, taken from X Blog and The White House Studio Project --







Oddly enough, the same night we played Ghost Hole III, GaragePunkToronto posted video of us playing "Closet Case" at our Silver Dollar show last May. Thank you, GaragePunkToronto!


Our most recent show was last weekend at the Press Club. The night was a blast - but of course it was dark so I have no real photos of the evening unfortunately (other than the sign out front and one of Jordan behind the drums). Thanks to Planet Creature and Bruised Knees for super sets!


Next up, we are *finally* going to make up for our missed show in Montreal some years ago, December 10th at Casa del Popolo! Details on that to follow soon.

Panzram's Ghost & Zine Dream 4!

This past weekend was the rare one in which I actually went out and did something worth writing about here - to wit, as you may have ascertained from the title, attending the Panzram's Ghost (and Metz and Holy Mount) show at Oshawa's venerable Atria Saturday night; also, the fourth Zine Dream festival of zines, art, and music the following afternoon at Toronto's Tranzac club.


I can be a remarkably lazy person.

One way in which this vice of mine manifests itself is by often waiting to go to a show until three or more bands I'm interested in are all playing on the same bill. Tonight was just such a lucky occasion: 1. infectious slow'n'low trio Holy Mount, whose new "We Fell From The Sky" record has been on frequent rotation in my place of residence; 2. the mighty Metz, who I've wanted to see for a long time, and whose stellar reputation precedes them (people whose tastes I respect had told me they were one of the best bands around); and finally, 3. the one and only Panzram's Ghost, a band with whom I have a 'special relationship', and who I'm always happy to see. 


I had to drive a fair ways to get to the Atria, and opener Holy Mount had already started when I came in. Drat. I did see most of their set though, I think, including the title track off the new record, which is my current fave. These are songs that would sound great with just a voice and acoustic guitar alone - actual good tunes IOW - but, played heavy as hell by Holy Mount, they rock in extended fashion with solid head-bobbing grooves, sweet solos, and psychedelic FX.



Speaking of FX, how many effects pedals do Metz have? And how bad a segueway was that?

Another LOUD & heavy trio, Metz blew me away with apparent ease. They earned every bit of the praise I've been hearing, having genuinely created their own kind of heavy sound and putting it across as powerfully as can be imagined. In my personal musical pyramid of greatness, Jimi Hendrix is pretty much at the tip top, and Metz evoke a sensation I can only compare to the Master himself; their music is actually transcendental (not said lightly). I really look forward to seeing Metz again soon, and to hearing their debut full-length (coming fairly soonish).




Panzram's Ghost are a long-running cover band made up of Clayton, Willie and Matt from Anagram, as well as Andrew from Quest For Fire; they mostly play songs from the 1993 Starkweather tape "This Band Has Seconds To Live", but their repertoire has expanded to include tunes by GG Allin, The Pack, and The Dicks. This was their first show since the last time they played the Atria two years ago.


I have to be perfectly honest and confess I get a kick out of seeing Panzram's Ghost play songs I used to do. I would imagine that gratification can't be too surprising? What might surprise you though is the unique vantage point I have while hearing these songs now that I don't have to be facing the audience onstage singing them; in other words, I can sit back and relax, revel in my anonymity, and ogle women's butts in tight summer shorts, watching them bounce around to stuff I wrote! A point of view I never had before. So nice.

I can surreptitiously dig that scrub sitting at the bar, slowly getting into "Aluminum Baseball Bat". Check out people nodding their heads to "I've Got Fangs" or see them moshing to the band's titular theme. It's fun. It feeds my poor, starving ego, and feels more than a bit perverse (or, as Matt put it to me at the Dirt Picnic, "awkward"). And I get to be so lazy while it's all going on, almost like being a ghost at your own funeral! I hope PG never stop playing shows, I really do…

I asked the guys to pose onstage for a quick pic, seeing as how they'd played in near-darkness. To my surprise, they happily acquiesced. So here are perhaps the only 'band pictures' you'll ever see of Panzram's Ghost --



When the show was over, it was about 1:30am. I waked down King Street, past Oshawa's most outsized dance club The Big Sexy - with its usual stretch limo out front, drunken couples arguing, and young ladies in tight dresses huddled together with cellphones in hand. Just past the club, I was amused to see a wig (or part of a wig, anyways) lying on the street corner. Yes, somebody actually left their weave out on the sidewalk in the rain.


A catfight? A ménage à trois gone wrong? Saturday night in downtown Oshawa.


The next day I got up earlier than I'd have liked (ears still ringing from the night before) to attend Zine Dream 4 at Toronto's Tranzac. I was so overwhelmed by all the cool stuff on display that I forget to take any crappy pictures - you'll just have to imagine lots of awesome zines, prints, records, shirts, and comics…


I ran into a bunch of folks I hadn't seen in awhile, including my very good friend Davis Weir, there selling his excellent anthology Everything Elevator, a new zine of prints, and a new line of limited-edition cassettes under the label name of Trouble Door. I mention these because, well… I'm on two of them.

My own Sleazy Meanz has its first honest-to-goodness release - "Pornography God Man" (a plunderphonic loops-type thing put together last year); and Shar Pei, a longtime musical collaboration between Davis & I, also has its first actual release - 1997's "Urusai Kusai". The other two Trouble Door cassettes are: "Juntök", the latest effort by Davis' solo project Skulleraser, and "Space Waste", a 2001 record by Dumbodian (another Davis collaboration, this time with Erik from Whitby's The Cleavers).


I grabbed all four tapes, plus Davis' new zine, as well as other stuff from Lorenz Peters, Marc Bell, and Ayal Senior (two CDs from Kevin Hainey's Inyrdisk). That hot new BBW-themed zine Thickness? Grabbed one of those -- and a really excellent triple 3" CD comp called "Songs of Toronto" put out by Kevin Crump's Wintage Records. I had hoped to see elusive Dream Zine organizer Jesjit Gill (previously mentioned here on the blog) but he remained elusive so… Hi, Jesjit!

Is it OK to reveal here that Jesjit did the awesome artwork for No No Zero's forthcoming record? I hope so.

Getting Down & Dirty At The Dirt Picnic!

Last Saturday at the Dirt Picnic, my plan had been to take pictures of all the bands (Anagram, Holy Cobras, The Ultimatemost High, Teenanger, us, and Ell V Gore) and then comment on their sets individually, as I have sometimes done before when the bill has been similarly rich. Unfortunately, the photos that I have of the show are by and large far too dark to use.

In fact, I really only got two decent photos the whole time: one of the boatyard beneath the patio, and another of Ell V Gore on the patio (displaying their saxophone player's fabulous gams):



After this, we go indoors and it gets dark. If you're interested in seeing some really good B&W shots of the show, get thee to Ivy Lovell's blog post haste. Here's a couple of shots she took of your hosts No No Zero in action:



Inside, it was hot, hot, hot. A light sprinkling of rain went down well between sweaty sets. It was Jordan's first show drumming with No No Zero so that was extra special for the band, and he delivered with a heavy hand (I mean that in the best possible way).

It was also our first time playing with (only) two of the other acts on the six-act bill - Ell V Gore and Holy Cobras. That was a thrill, and they both put on excellent high energy sets. I am a huge fan of Simone TB's drumming in particular, wow. And Holy Cobras played my favourite song of theirs, "He's Rubber, I'm Real" (I'd been hoping they would for weeks, but I didn't dare get too excited in case it didn't happen...).

And now, a couple of crappy iphone pictures to break up all this text:



For my part, I had a bunch of technical crap go wrong, which is always frustrating - first, the adapter for my theremin (debut with the band) was missing once I got to the venue so I couldn't play that. Then the Cheeseman-Miszczyk telephone microphone I was using, so dependable at practise, crapped out halfway through our set.

Oh well. The guys played fiercely, the night was a lot of fun, I got to see five great bands, some old friends, and drink a whole bunch of $3.50 screwdrivers because I didn't have to drive home afterwards. Thanks to Erin Hagen and James Ryan Halpenny for putting it all together. Finally, here's a pic Ivy took of Jon from Teenanger wearing one of our setlists:


Addendum: I forgot to add that I finally met Joe from Mechanical Forest Sound at the Dirt Picnic, and had a nice chat with him. He's got tunes up by Teenanger and Holy Cobras recorded live that night, and told me to expect an actual review proper some time next year maybe... (he works at a similar pace to myself)

What A Night!

Thanks to everyone who out to the Silver Dollar last night for what proved IMHO to be a very good show indeed. Punters trickled in slowly but there was a healthy crowd by the time super fresh trio Prosimii began their most excellent aural assault. I was really impressed and look forward to seeing them again soon, hopefully on a bill with us. The 50 free copies of their EP vanished in no time, and it is now available online here.

Nick Flanagan took the stage next (following perhaps the world's worst introduction, courtesy of moi) and people started heckling -- which is kind of strange since I'd just read a thread last week all about heckling (tons of excellent related video links) -- so I decided to get some fresh air in lieu of letting a growing tsunami of anxiety wash over me.


When I came back in, Pow Wows had started playing what turned out to be a pretty thorough set; I was pleased to hear they can pull their sound off live, and they do the whole three-part harmony thing with aplomb. They told me they haven't been at it very long, but they certainly play like seasoned pros, and I was very wowed indeed.

This time I stuck around for Nick's comedy and enjoyed it as I always do; special thanks to him for coming out and doing the show. I've known Nick a long time now and he's a great guy, a real class act, and of course very funny too. Get his new record "I'm Here All Weak" if you haven't already...



By the time we got on, it was pretty late and most folks had left for whatever came next. The flipside of that is that those remaining were hardcore freaks and drunks. Even though I'm now well into my Fat Elvis period, I was giving it 110%*, and the band played beautifully, and fun was definitely had.

This was an especially special show for No No Zero because it was our first one with the very sweet styles of 'Sweets' Sweetland (now on baritone guitar) in a few years, and our last one with Gideon Steinberg of the spectacular Soupcans. Don't expect to see us out for a bit as we mix our forthcoming record, and hopefully work on some new songs.

Thanks to all the bands, Nick Flanagan, Dan Burke, my wife for working the door, and Ireek Sofakia for uploading some footage from the show!





Bonus: Live video by Ireek of new song "Bite Me"

*even after falling backwards off the stage and onto a riser, as seen halfway though the first video at the top of the post. And yes, I am feeling that today, thanks...

Video at The Academy of Sciences!

A video recording of three songs early on in our set at The Academy of Sciences last Saturday; they are "Five Seconds", "Humans Are Bovine", and "Closet Case". You may note that about 2:30, Chris Thief gets into it with somebody in the crowd and briefly loses his guitar.

I was singing with my eyes closed for a bit at this point. When I opened them, I was surprised to see Chris being dragged across the floor upsidedown by his legs, his guitar trailing behind him. A couple of women with small brooms were hurriedly sweeping broken glass from the area in front of the stage. I wanted to ask them to sweep me up too.

Thanks to Ireek Sofakia for shooting this and uploading it. She also has The People of Canada, Deutsche Banks and The Get Nuns from the same night.

Live At The Academy of Sciences!

The show last night was lots of fun, thanks to Bo at the Academy of Sciences - a pleasantly psychedelic venue - and the other bands who played (The Get Nuns, Deutsche Banks, La Casa Muerte, The People of Canada).

Photos by GB may capture something of the technicolour vibe if you couldn't make it out...

Deutsche Banks



No No Zero