Yawning Man Wednesday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m. Mavericks, 221 Rideau St., Ottawa $15 @ tickets.spiff.space yawningman.com Influential desert rock pioneers Yawning Man visit Ottawa’s Mavericks on Wednesday, October 4. It is the only stop in the band’s first-ever jaunt through Ontario, despite having been together for more than thirty years. Heralded in Southern California for […]
Festival season is on the way, and that means Ottawa Explosion Weekend is right around the corner. As both a primer and a retrospective, I’m counting down the top five Ottawa-area punk bands over the last ten years. David Haddad, a new contributor with Spotlight Ottawa, reviewed the legendary Ottawa Gaga Comp recently. The comp was […]
Since Jonathan Pearce’s indie-rock band Poorfolk called it quits, the singer/songwriter has kept busy with the more subtle indie-folk act Winchester Warm. Now, Pearce is taking a week off from the new band to reunite with his old pals at House of Targ on Saturday, where they will do their first gig in over half a decade—and […]
I closed out this year’s Bluesfest schedule on Sunday, July 19 with Renée Landry, a local musician and vocal coach who studied music at Carleton University. I’ve never reviewed a jazz group for Spotlight Ottawa before, so I left Weird Al Yankovic early to make it on time. Jazz has always been a secret pleasure of […]
On Friday, July 17th, beloved local garage-rockers The Yips opened Bluesfest’s Canadian Stage to steady rainfall and a moderate-sized six o’clock crowd. Of course, no local music festival is complete without an appearance from the band—they’ve also played in Ottawa Explosion Weekend and Arboretum Festival in the past year. While both of those events unite […]
Ottawa folk-rockers Winchester Warm put on an intimate show for Bluesfest-goers in the Canadian War Museum’s Barney Danson Theatre on Wednesday, July 15th. I have actually been meaning to review the band for a year now. I’ve been unlucky— whenever they have a show booked, something always seems to come up that I can’t duck […]
RBC Bluesfest continued on Tuesday, July 15th with an amazing set on its Canadian Stage, featuring local garage-punkers New Swears. Among others, the band shared the stage with Black Lips, a garage-rock band that has to be an influence for them. New Swears don’t give a %&#$ Almost a year removed from the release of […]
The 10th Anniversary of Amnesia Rockfest, continues today, featuring one of the most epic schedules in the history of the festival. While Less Than Jake, Rancid, and System of a Down will make the main Loto Quebec stage a worthwhile visit, the real party is at the Jagermeister Stage, where the beloved bands Thrice, Refused, Tenacious […]
The 10th Anniversary of Amnesia Rockfest continues today, and Linkin Park is headlining on the main stage. For people who listen to punk rock primarily, there are several more reasons why today’s lineup is incredible. 90’s punkers Offspring, Bad Religion and Goldfinger are all here, as well as the Ataris, Bouncing Souls and No Fun […]
The 10th Anniversary of Amnesia Rockfest gets underway today, and for the first time, the gates are open for Thursday performances. Festival-goers have been harassing organizers to bring prairie-punks Propagandhi to the festival for years, and it’s finally happening. The politically aware band headlines their own “Fuck Sponsors” night, and they’re bringing frequent tour buddies […]