The Yips, Kings Quest and F Hood at SAW Galley Saturday April 13
With her floral headband on and a ghost sporting shades at the front of the stage, Kerri Carisse lead The Yips through another stellar set Saturday night.
The Yips deliver a wonderful combination of dark and dancey rock, not an easy pairing to pull off. They make it look easy and a lot of fun. Kerri has an awesome voice and the band’s great chemistry on stage creates an amazing atmosphere.
They played great tunes from their new EP, including one of my favourites “PGLM“. The band’s enthusiasm and the dancing ghost made for quite a contagious mix, it even got the stiffs in the crowd moving.
The band tried to finish with “Blood Meridian”, but after they finished the song the crowd would not let them leave, demanding an encore even as The Yips were putting away their instruments. They pulled them back out and closed with “Sans Nom” with Kerri going down to dance with the crowd a little.
Before The Yips, was Ottawa’s Kings Quest. This was the first time I saw this noisy dance rock five piece and am I ever happy I finally did.
Kings Quest offer a wonderful dynamic that has been missing from Ottawa, dual female vocalists that complement each other extremely well. Pair that with two male voices, that of the guitarist and bass player, while the drummer lays down the rhythm and you have a band you can’t miss. Kings Quest seemed to get stronger as the set went on and had a very cool visual element with an over head projector displaying the crowd on a screen behind the band.
These are two of Ottawa’s hidden gems, but they won’t stay hidden for long. If you want to be able to say you knew them when, get out to their next shows and dance the night away with them.
Opening the night was the mysterious and spacey guitar playing of Toronto’s F Hood. This solo act’s backing band is a cassette player and he plays guitar that will carry you away to a far-away land. F Hood sat down and never said a word. He took us on a journey, nodded to say thank you and walked off the stage.
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