Ottawa Explosion Day 1: Scattered Clouds, The Yips, Old and Weird, Heaven is Real and many more
Punk rock Christmas in June, better known as Ottawa Explosion Weekend, is a five-day of great music with even better people kicked off with a bang Wednesday night at SAW Gallery.
The first band of the festival was Expanda Fuzz playing outside in the courtyard. The band was playing its first set ever, but they aren’t rookies at all. The group is comprised of veterans of the Ottawa scene headed by Chris Page (Stand GT, Camp Radio). The band is riding high off their debut Bleuets. I cannot get enough of their track, “Flavour: Zombie,” it was a great way to get the ball rolling at explosion.
Next up was Towanda, which I learned means “A word used to express extreme excitement while doing something crazy” thanks to the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. This heavy, distorted and fuzzy all girl 3 piece from Montreal was a definite change of pace. I really liked lead singer Rosie Gripton’s voice as it rang through over the booming drums and heavy riffs.
Quaker Parents were the first band to play inside the Gallery. The band that is “from Halifax kind of,” were a lot of fun. Their song “Improbable Friendship 1999,” was the most memorable song of the night. The second guitarist grabbed a drum stick and played on the same kit as the drummer while the guitarist picked away and sang/talked. The song had elements of Ought and I absolutely loved it. I also thought it was great they dug deep and played a song from 6 years ago, “Layer Me Down.” The band is on tour and working its way to California, look for them on their way. Funny enough they closed with “No Travel.”
Crystal Eyes took to the stage as the sun began to tuck away behind the skyscrapers. The band from Calgary had a very summer vibe to them. If I closed my eyes I imagined myself riding my bike down by the canal and a hot sunny day and as they got progressively heavier just like the humidity in the city. Erin Jenkins voice has a dreamy shoegaze sound to it that is just perfect. Jenkins told us how the band did yoga on Parliament hill with “1000 people and dinosaurs… very cool thank Justin Trudeau.” It was great to see the three-piece all gathered together on the drum riser for the entire set also.
Heaven for Real is the primary band of the members of Quaker Parents with the drummer and a guitarist changing place and the addition of another percussionist. The band just looked like they were having so much fun, all smiles all the time. Their latest single “Subliminal” off their upcoming album Kill Your Memory is a great track and delighted the packed SAW Gallery. There is certainly a lot of great talent coming out of Halifax that is for sure.
After all those traveling bands, it was time for some local flare at the hands of The Yips. With the ghost rocking shades in full effect The Yips took us into the night. The Ouija-rockers mostly played new track which will appear on their upcoming LP scheduled for a fall release, very exciting. The band has been playing one of those tracks, “Bedlam” live for a while now, but played a very different slowed down version of it on this night. I really got into to, as the lowered tempo added to the eeriness. Lead singer Kerri Carisse was as playful as ever pushing around her band mates and taking bass player Kurt Rafuse’s ball cap. The crowd was loving it as you could hear loud high pitch cheers of “yip, yip, yip” between every song. The band closed out the outdoor stage with “Repeater” and “Wytch Elm” off their 2014 release Air Loom.
I discovered Old and Weird when they played Ottawa Explosion in 2014. Back then they had an afternoon slot, this time around they played to a jam packed SAW as the second last band. Back then I fell in love with the lead singers voice, especially how she makes it spike up on certain words. There is just something about it that is magic to my ears. The band also has a very summer friendly sound to them which is always so much fun. They played us some great songs off of their latest release O It’s You…Through The Door…Coolness of One…Square Shape of Another’s which came out Tuesday. Old and Weird capped off the Halifax explosion on day one in Ottawa.
The final band to grace the stage was Scattered Clouds. They closed out the first night like no one else could, with their strong elements of drone and atmospheric rock that is unparalleled. Philippe Charbonneau’s singing will haunt your dreams in the best way possible, while Mike Dubue creates sounds most people can’t even think of as Jamie Kronick puts on a display behind the drums. The dark, frenetic yet somehow dancy industrial sounds were the perfect end to a wonderful first day.