Last Night's Gig: Pit Props, Night Court, Invasives, and Rong

Okay, so it isn't Rampage Over O'Hara's but Byron sure can catch air when he wants to. Sometimes the content saves a shitty picture (thank God). All photos by Allan MacInnis

So I went to a gig last night. It was great! I shot vid of Night Court and of Invasives but had neither storage nor battery to do everyone. Favourite moments of the night:

1. Pit Props -- Calgary folk-punks with a pinch of street punk to their sound and a gift for the anthemic, doing an Indigenous land-back revision of "This Land Is Your Land" (given as "This land ain't your land" with a final choral line of "This land was stole for you and me"), as one of their many politically-minded crowd-pleasers in their set. They also did a song about punching transphobes in the face ("Devils in the Bathroom:" great title), a queer pride tune (title now forgotten but fun at the time), and another that I didn't catch the name of about the toxic drug crisis. They know their audience! They had some tuning challenges early on but the longer they played the faster and defter they got and people who I'm sure did not know them at all before last night could be seen singing along with their choruses. Nice to know such a band can come out of Alberta (whose culture I suspect is better repped, generally, by Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, say -- a sort of Randian rockabilly/ surf gospel... who I also love, mind you, but like the man says, I contain multitudes.)

2. Night Court saving me a 3XL t-shirt that was apparently partially inspired by my interview with Emilor for the Straight about her busted finger; the X-ray imagery plainly depicts her injury -- zoom in if you dare and examine her pinky! -- as well as Jiffy's busted tooth (which was the victim of both a microphone and a skateboard fall, and is now apparently under repair). It was nice to see Emilor dancing in the pit, too, doing high-kicks to Invasives songs (none of which did I document).

3. Invasives -- who I have not seen in far too long -- doing "Animal Skin," my second favourite song off Desk Job at Castle Dracula, as well as a deep cut off Robot Stink that I obviously have to get to know better. Got some great photos of the Slack brothers and fished a bit in Byron's pond for deets about Dead Bob plans (I got no actual bites but I saw a big fish moving under the surface, if you see what I mean. Not quite sure what sort of fish or if I'll ever catch it but it looked sizeable). 

Damn I hope the rising tide of Dead Bob lifts the boat for Invasives, Rong, Ford Pier and -- well, Pigment Vehicle aren't exactly active but who else would like to see a vinyl reissue of that stuff? (Start here? They probably have played a bigger role than any other band in my descent into prog). 

4. Rong, restored to their full line-up (= without Emilor on bass), doing a toughened cover of Lisa Lougheed's "Run With Us," which I probably knew in the 1980s and never would have imagined myself loving quite so much as I did last night --- to say nothing of their sludgy "The Ships," which somehow I hadn't paid as much attention to on the record. Fun to note that they apparently have some sort of "Hollow Weenie Pee" (say it for the double meaning) coming out this October, and played a song about being a monster for us ("No Humans Allowed" might be the title; I wonder if they're also fans of Nightbreed?).

It was fun being greeted at the gate by Kristy-Lee, too! 

Also fun chatting with James of Bison, Brock of the SLIP~ons, Jeffrey of Tranzmitors (playing an Oi! show at the Waldorf tomorrow), and Ford Pier (who has been providing some guidance on my tentative forays into the music of Rush). I also really liked some of the graffiti on the Green Auto bathroom wall, but my favourite scrawled slogan ("Be Gay Do Crimes") was not as photogenic as some of the other scribbles and stickers: 

Tomorrow it's a peek into see Shearing Pinx at the Cobalt, an early show that seems like it will let me get to said Oi! show. In fact, it's early enough (= a real smart move) that you could probably see most of Tamaryn's set and still make it to the Waldorf in time for at least the Tranzmitors. That's the plan, anyhow. 

Lots of stuff going on this weekend (Accordion Noir festival on Sunday, too, admission by donation). I don't know if any of it will top Thursday, though (that was a pretty great Thursday).