Don't Spoil the Surprise!

Originally published on Couch Assassin.

Summer has arrived, and Ottawa, I hope you're ready to party! Mugshots is a great spot to check out shows in the summer months, because you get to spend time outdoors and see awesome live acts rock out. This Sunday night is no exception! Surprise Party will be taking over Mugshots and it's going to be a blast.

Surprise Party is a 4 piece band from Winnipeg who describe their sound as rock goth metal pop. That should appeal to lots of people in Ottawa with various musical tastes! The guys of Surprise Party have been playing together for almost two years, and they have just embarked on their second Eastern Canadian tour. I recently spoke to Mischa Decter, lead guitarist and singer of Surprise Party about their tour and what it's like being a band from Winnipeg.

The band name is pretty catchy. Surprise Party. According to Decter, the name represents many things, including "pain, ultimate suffering and the eternal quest for oxygen when you're fucking impaled on a stake in the middle of a field with 40 000 other people". If you've heard of Vladimir the Impaler, this should be self explanatory.

You can check out the band's full-length album online. Featuring songs like "Jealousy", "I Hate Girls" and "Second Hand Girlfriend", it's safe to say that Heart of Love has something for everyone! The inspiration behind the album comes from many elements, including "anger, sexual frustration, persecution, intergalactic sodomy and other things". Stuff we can all relate to!

Surprise Party is definitely a band to catch live. According to Decter, people should expect "a fuzzed out super saturated explosion of highly comradic doom". Based on that alone, you know you can't miss this show! The band's tour includes stops in Sudbury, Kingston, London, Windsor, Guelph, two shows in Montreal and two shows in Toronto.

There are lots of perks to touring. Some of the perks that Decter enjoys are "free beer, free food, playing music, driving to shows, hanging out, meeting people and intergalactic sodomy". Every band has at least one live show that stand out for them. When asked about his most memorable live performance, Decter shared: "We just played in Saskatoon at MosoFest at the same time as Timber Timbre was playing across the street, so the only people that watched us were our friends from Winnipeg, and the venue flooded with people immediately after they finished [...] That was memorable." And was there puking involved? You bet! "I puked later that night because I ate 3 taquitos from 7-11."

We don't often hear of bands coming out of Winnipeg, not to say that there aren't any. "The worst part about being a band from Winnipeg is the lack of good bands to play with and the lack of people who enjoy live music," explained Decter. "Most kids there are club rats."

And the best thing about being a band from Winnipeg? "Sharing the homeland of the great Tal Bachman, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings. It's a shame that Tom Cochrane wasn't born in Winnipeg, but coming from the same province as him is quite breathtaking."

Surprise Party will be joined by Ottawa's Swollen Eyes and Montreal's Small Teeth at Mugshots Sunday night. The show is presented by DEBASER. You can tune in to DEBASER every Tuesdays from 2-3 pm on CKCU93.1 FM.

Sunday night, don't stay home! Enjoy this gorgeous (yet sometimes disgusting) weather and go check out this show! There's sure to be fun shenanigans, great tunes and some weird shit painted on people's face. And don't worry about puking; you'll be outdoors anyways!

Surprise Party // Swollen Eyes // Small Teeth
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Mugshots (Ottawa Jail Hostel) @ 8PM
$8

We Are Wolves @ Le Petit Chicago

I rarely cross the bridge from Ottawa to Gatineau but Saturday night, I made an exception. To celebrate my best girlfriend Elly's birthday, I headed over to Le Petit Chicago to check out Montreal indie rock group group We Are Wolves.

I had already seen this group open for SUUNS at Zaphod's last October and they left quite an impression on me. Even my dad loved them! (Yes, I brought my dad to Zaphod's). The group is really fun to witness live. These guys are outrageous and insanely energetic!

Such an amazing show! And overall, a really fun night. I highly recommend you check out We Are Wolves, especially if they are playing a live show in your area. You will not be disappointed!

Mehdi Cayenne Club @ Mercury Lounge

Thursday night, my friends and I headed to Mercury Lounge to check out Mehdi Cayenne Club. I had seen the group play at Bluesfest a few years back, and I also had the chance to see frontman Mehdi Hamdad play a solo show at Pressed last Fall.

Hamdad is quite the entertainer. I always enjoy seeing him perform live because he is truly an artist. He is very expressive and you can tell that he genuinely love to perform. Here are a few images:

Overall, a really fun evening! You can check out Mehdi Cayenne Club's latest release "Na Na Boo Boo" here.

Photos: Craig Cardiff, Carolina Hum and co.

Tuesday night, I went to a free show at uOttawa, featuring Craig Cardiff along with Carolina Hum, Shawna Caspi and Giscar. I had heard of Cardiff for many years, and heard really great things about him as a musician. I was excited to finally see him live!

The evening started with a songwriting workshop, followed by a songwriters' circle. The Hugette Labelle Hall (in the Tabaret building) was absolutely stunning and the acoustics were great.

Here are a few pictures:

The show was great. All the performances were great, yet very different.  The thing that stood out the most for me was when Cardiff passed around his "Book of Truth". During his shows, he passes around a notebook and asked audience members to contribute to it by sharing their truths. He'll ask questions that audience members can answer in the book. I really like that idea. And I was really happy to contribute my truth.

Julie Takes Over the Airwaves

Last week, I had the opportunity to do something I had never done before, something that really scared me, but something I had always wanted to do: I was on a radio show.

My friend and fellow Couch Assassin Andrew is the current host of Indie City Madness at CKCU, Carleton's community radio station and he was asked to replace a fellow radio host Tonya Price for her bi-weekly show Friends with Benefits. He asked me to join him, and I jumped at the opportunity.

I was really excited about this opportunity because it's something I always wanted to try. I worked really hard on the programming of the show, and I think it paid off. I played all Canadian content, and played lots of great artists and bands, including:

SaxSynDrum
Groenland
Sound of Lions
Leif Vollebekk
Amanda Cottreau
Josef Mieto
Ben Caplan
The Yips

I've gotten really good feedback, so I am very pleased. You can check out my attempt at co-hosting a radio show right here.

Photos: Death Angel @ Mavericks

Thursday night, I headed over to Mavericks to check out Death Angel. The band was joined by TYR and Signs of Chaos, a local metal band.

What an amazing show!

 

My partner wrote a piece on the show for Couch Assassin. Check it out here.