Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine.
KERRANG!
That’s the sound of bluesy, punky chords, thick, wailing lines and oozing grooves and it sounds so fine coming out of a new lil’ Ottawa quartet called The Shakey Aches. The band has baby-faced Matt Clare taking the mike with his vintage yell. He stirs up the thick sounds with the help of bass player Brian Maxwell, lead guitarist Darrell Angus and drummer Tim Matthews. Their music is the stoner’s delight with a mix of songs that either make your hips shake or mess with the depths of your melon.
The band just released two songs on a 45 RPM piece of wax, which you can find wrapped in a paper-bag sleeve and stamped with the name Pretty Bad Records.
Matt and Tim of The Shakey Aches started the label in 2010. They wanted to create an old-school look for the sleeve packaging — something that would recall early Sun Records. (It’s not the only reference to musical legends. The band name Shakey Aches recalls another musical icon with its misspelling.)
The label will release only seven-inch vinyl records, all packaged in the same paper sleeves with the same album stickers. (The differentiation is in the band name and song names). Kind of like how it used to be, when those of us of a certain age would buy singles.
Start (or revive) your collection with the first single from The Shakey Aches. The band is selling it for $5 at the launch of Pretty Bad Records. (With the new label comes an unintended side effect, a hyper local rebrand of the initials PBR.) With all-girl group, The Johnnies and The Middens, a trio. Saturday, May 7. 10 p.m. $8. Dominion Tavern, 33 York St.
FOR THE MOMS — AND THE KIDS
Mike Essoudry and his klang-klang marching band The Mash Potato Mashers celebrate Mother’s Day with an all ages show. Sunday, May 8. 3 p.m. $10, minors $5. Elmdale Tavern, 1084 Wellington West. www.elmdaletavern.com
SEND A KID TO CAMP
The Send a Kid to Music Camp show, a benefit for the Boys & Girls Club of Ottawa, features the bluesy, barroom tunes of the Brothers Chaffey, the Robert Farrell Band, and Gerry Wall & the East End. Saturday, May 7. 10 p.m., $10. Rainbow Bistro, 76 Murray St. www.therainbow.ca
KELP WEEKEND
Kelp Records hosts a showcase over three nights this weekend as part of its annual fete. Organizers are rewinding to the mid-‘90s by having Kelp’s better known artists play their early albums. On Saturday hear Andrew Vincent & the Pirates perform I Love the Modern Way in its entirety at the Dom Polski centre on Waverly Street. 8 p.m., $12 adv. On Friday, May 6 hear The Recoilers perform 2 Years End, also at Dom Polski. The Recoilers was the band where Rolf Klausener honed his songwriting, pre-Acorn days. Full Kelp lineup here. Tickets at Compact Music and Record Shaap.