Miscellaneous - Babylon, Ottawa, 12/5/2006

  by Andrew Carver

published: 25 / 5 / 2006

intro

Heavy Trash is the new band of Pussy Galore and the Blues Explosion's much acclaimed Jon Spencer. At a Heavy Trash show in Ottawa, Andrew Carver, however, feels a weary sense of predictability and deja vu at Spencer's Elvis-inspired stage mannerisms

Jon Spencer has had a fruitful career in popular music, twisting and turning the rock and blues of the 1950's and 1960's this way and that, not only in his own bands Pussy Galore and the Blues Explosion, but in outfits like Boss Hog, the Gibson Bros., Honeymoon Killers and working with bluesman R.L. Burnside. With his Elvis-inspired stage mannerisms, it was almost predictable that sooner or later he’d put rockabilly through the wringer. Accompanied by Matthew Verta-Ray of Speedball Baby and surf-country wizards the Sadies he brought his latest band Heavy Trash to Ottawa’s Babylon to do just that. First up were Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Winnipeg’s D’Rangers – the band has dubbed themselves “Bluegrass Madmen.” Unlike many self-endowed sobriquets, in this case it may be deserved - if you tour the nation to play bluegrass in nightclubs, you're definitely at least a little bit wacky. They made quite a picture with their matching shirts and a two-string bass constructed from a plastic washbucket and some hardware store castoffs. Their performance was very energetic but low on amplification. It was the first gig in some time that I've witnessed from the front row where I didn't feel the need to use earplugs. I have my doubts that everyone in the club could hear what was going on, but certainly enough people picked up on what was going down for some vigorous applause and very genuine demands for an encore. They covered Neil Young’s 'Dangerbird' and the Good Brothers’ 'Uncle Billy’s Breakdown' - dedicated to songwriter Larry Good's nephews in the Sadies - alongside a slew of strong originals. The Sadies then played a brief – for them – 12 song set before segueing directly into Heavy Trash’s set, one heavily influenced by such early rock cats as Gene Vincent, Johnny Burnett and Hasil Adkins. Spencer and Verta-Ray whooped their way through the lion’s share of their self-titled debut, pulling such riff-heavy tunes as ‘The Hump’ and ‘My Time Is Now’ out as long as they could go. Having already served as the backing band for blues shouter Andrew Williams and country crooner Neko Case, the Sadies were the ideal choice to round out the duo’s sound. After  a decently long set they briefly withdrew, then came back for a sweaty encore that lasted for more than half an hour – at its denouement Spencer sashayed into the audience to have everyone sit down and - apart from one audience member who kept on doing what looked like the twist - they did. The fact that Spencer seemed to be doing the same Elvis shtick from a previous, superior Blues Explosion show at Babylon dampened the entertainment value of the set for me, but most of the audience was in rapture, and as a band Heavy Trash definitely went above and beyond the call of duty.

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