7 ways to get heavy this weekend

A stack of solid local bands and one stellar touring act to pierce your eardrums this Friday and Saturday.

facebook (379x464)The ongoing deep freeze means few tour buses are willing to steer their wheels towards our frozen tundra. There are a couple of brave touring bands breezing by this week, but in typical end of January fashion, the local haunts are still being ruled by the locals. Don’t be a chump — head out to these sweet gigs, as the bands would surely appreciate it and the bars and their staffs could certainly use your beer money during these lean times.

Here ‘tis:

Friday: My local pick of the week is the power pop/rawk of Dead Messenger, who have improved by leaps and bounds. Check out their great clip for “Toothcomb” here. Helping these dashing lads put asses in seats at l’Esco are the Von Rebels – let me guess, rawk?! 4467 St-Denis, 10:10 p.m., $6 

Not to be outdone Friday night are ex-Starvin’ Hungry and Barfly regulars Half Measures, who will keep it steady giggin’ with Road Runner at their home away from home (i.e. Barfly), Bistro de Paris. 4536 St-Denis, 9:30 p.m., $ 

The big pick for touring band of the week is definitely Zola Jesus, who’ll be putting in a bit of doom and gloom at the Phi Centre with Deradoorian. Check out Cult MTL‘s interview with Zola Jesus here, and get all hot under the collar by checking the amazing video for “Vessels” here. 407 St-Pierre, 9 p.m., $21.25

Saturday: Hugo Mudie and the fine furry folks at the Pouzza fest continue to batten down their hatches at TRH with Frank Nicolay (ex-Hold Steady), Po Lazarus and Noel Talbot. 3699 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $10

For those of you who take comfort in the sounds of bumps in the night, you can check out Crash Course in Science at la Vitrola with Cinema Vengeance, Void Republic with DJ Personne getting the room in a trance. 4602 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $10 

Up at le Ritz, you can catch Pelada, the synth punk of Perverted Justice, the debut of dance beat sensations Motorkiller (awesome name btw) with DJs Essaie Pas and Tobias Rochman manning the wheels of steel. 179 Jean-Talon W., 10 p.m., $5

For those of you who enjoy all shades of dark and enjoy doing a good ol’ “lost my contact lenses on the dancefloor” sweep dance, check out goth/cold wave/minimal synth night Nevermore with DJ Faith and a performance from Alex Robshaw at Katacombes. 1635 St-Laurent, 9:30 p.m., $6/$8

 

Current Obsession: The Pop Group, Citizen Zombie
Jonathan.cummins@gmail.com