Ottawa Explosion Weekend Day 2: Stand GT, Tropical Dripps, ZEX, Tweens and more
Ottawa Explosion Weekend, day two–saw many great bands rock Club SAW once again.
Tropical Dripps got us started with their surf rock and beach party atmosphere. There were beach balls, Jean-Sebastien crowdsurfing on an inflatable beach mattress, a bunch of people dancing while wearing tropical shirts, and great tunes. Oh yeah, there was also the first “nudity” of the festival (not the last of the day) thanks to shirtless bass player Kurt.
Ketamines were up next with their old school punk rock vibe. They reminded me of the kind of stuff you would have heard New York in the 80’s, it was great. Kind of a New York Dolls feel, but with the bonus of someone on keys. The lead singer was a great showman, which is always a plus.
Looking rather exhausted but without any signs of fatigue Pretty Pretty from Ohio came on. They were a super fun pop punk act with dual vocals. The crowd was loving it and dancing up a storm. What was really cool is that the drummer Jerry is not normally in the band but was filling in and did a kick ass job. Songs “Talking to the Walls” and “Family Matters” really stuck out for me.
Jerry returned to the stage to play with Tweens, who blew me away. They had me hooked from the very first song. I just loved their energy and really enjoyed their new song “Serotonin.” Tweens also had us all laughing as they introduced one of their sad songs by saying “get out your rain coats, here come the tears.”
The most surreal moment of the night was getting to see The Stand GT. Never thought I would ever get to see them play as there last show was 13 years ago in 2001. They were excellent and you could have sworn they never took a break. They looked like they were having so much fun getting back on stage which is great to see from a band whose first release was in the late 80’s.
It was now time to move inside to get ZEX-ed. One of Ottawa’s newest acts ZEX were most excellent. This was my first time seeing the band and I was quite excited. I missed the beginning but walked in to see the lead singer in a white leather bondage gear which did not cover very much (not something you see every day, well maybe some of you do.) I really dig the band’s sound, energy and stage presence. And I could not help but yell the lyrics to their great tune “Savage City” at the top of my lungs.
The last band of the evening for me was Vacation, as I had to head out and go see some friends. This was the third band Jerry drummed for in the night and he once again killed it. As I have mentioned in several other posts, it always blows my mind to watch a drummer also be lead vocals. I don’t know what is in the water in Ohio but the state certainly produces awesome punk rock between Pretty Pretty, Tweens and Vacation.
Well day two is in the books which means the actual weekend portion is about to begin! I am so ridiculously stocked for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Let’s keep the Explosion rolling.