Looks like GEG are bringing Modest Mouse to The Metropolis this August 19th. Tickets for the show go on sale this Saturday June 20th @ noon. More details over at GEG.

The last time Modest Mouse played The Metropo Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner joined in on “Dramaine” which you can check out below:

CBC Radio3 just broke some stellar news regarding the initial lineup for this years Pop Montreal.
From CBC Radio3:

Pop Montreal has just announced the first headliners for this year’s music fest, and they run the gamut of musical styles.

Included on the bill for the fest - happening September 30-October 4 - are “left field pop genius” Fever Ray; a once in a lifetime bill that includes the Butthole Surfers, Dinosaur Jr. and Lou Barlow + The Missingmen; the richly dark Diamanda Galas; Brazilian Tropicalia psych rock legends Os Mutantes; hip-hop’s Roxanne Shante; the mythical inventors of Krautrock Faust; and Order of Canada recipient and Sesame Street alumnus Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Other early confirmations include Mono, DJ /Rupture, Tobacco, Lemonade, (Ghislain) Poirier, Chairlift, Matt & Kim, Iris Dement, Loudon Wainwright III, Wovenhand, Destroyer, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Thee Oh Sees, The Intelligence, The Homosexuals, Bajofondo, tUnE-YaRdS, Zombie Disco Squad, Mike Simonetti and Amy Millan.

The Pop Montreal symposium will feature workshops and talks by Roxanne Shante, Diamanda Galas, Faust and Buffy Sainte-Marie and more. Also returning this year are the Film POP, Art Pop, parties, BBQs, bike rentals and the favourite craft fair Puces POP.

Pop Montreal is also supporting the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Bell Centre on October 3, for a talk called Educating the Heart: The Power of Compassion.

Hundreds more artists will be announced in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned!

If they could get Hüsker Dü back together this festival could be your life! (rimshot).

We’ve waited and waited and waited, and now the GaGa Weekend is finally here! Ottawa’s annual garage trashcan rock festival kicked off last night at the new home of the Rock and Roll Pizza Party - The Atomic Rooster.

Sedatives kicked off the night with Organist/GAGAman Ian Manhire’s Uncle on Bagpipes playing them into a wild rendition of “Cannot Calm Down”. From there on it was all new material (except for “Superstitious Minds”) and it was all insanely awesome. I don’t know the names of many of the new songs, but “Powerlines” and “Backlash” are both on their myspace page and are incredible. Word on the street is that the LP should be ready for August.

A terrible phone photo:

I post the photo not because you need to see what Sedatives look like (though you can make out Drummer Dave Williams, and Bassist Steve Adamyk) but to show the crowd of people that stuck around and watched a large majority of the show from the sidewalk outside the bar. The place filled up fast and the crowd really didn’t thin out much during the night. A damn good turnout for a local show - proving Ottawa isn’t as devoid of life as some may like to think.

Mother’s Children played second with what seemed like a louder, dirtier set then the last time I saw them (though it may just have been the makeshift stage setup). They do powerpop pretty well and have been managing to make a name for themselves over the last six months (opening for Paul Collins in Montreal!). A fun (but probably a little long) set.

The Visitors played last in support of their new 7″. I mentioned the new album a little while ago so I won’t rave about how good the new songs are again, but as expected they sounded great live.

All the bands had awesome new merch, so contact them if you are looking for anything. I didn’t pick up a Visitors 7′, but I will track one down this weekend - I did however manage to get an awesome Sedatives shirt.

Andrew Carver was there taking some great pictures as usual - you can see some of his initial photos at his blog. Also, Ben from Standard Issue put together a GAGA edition of the magazine with a full rundown of the bands, venues, reasons you should get off your ass and go, etc. It is only available in physical form at the GAGA shows, or you can read it online here.

Tonight is the house show with Nervous System, Holy Cobras, Savage Crimes, Uranium Comeback and The Beach Blankets. Grab a bag of beer and come out and have a time.

I just got some most excellent news in my email! The guys over at Teenbeat Takeover are putting together a garage rock, power pop, rock and roll extravaganza weekend this August called Wooly Weekend. Here are all the details:

Wooly Weekend Festival is a three-day celebration of rock and roll, film, fashion and the teen pop culture movement of the 1960’s; Featuring a myriad of international performers and feature film documentaries showcased over the course of the event. We have artists flying in from as far as the UK (London) and West Coast U.S.A. (California), as well as the Midwestern states and from all across Canada: from Calgary throughout Ontario!

Our full line-up:

THE ELECTRIC PRUNES

Original line-up w/ singer James Lowe, bassist Mark Tulin and guitarist Ken Williams!

LOVE

feat. Original lead guitarist and backing vocalist Johnny from the classic 1966-1968 {S/T - Da Capo - Forever Changes} line-up! Backed by Baby Lemonade, the veteran L.A. band that accompanied Love founding member Arthur Lee for over a decade until his death!

SKY ‘SUNLIGHT’ SAXON

THE SEEDS!

QUESTION MARK AND THE MYSTERIANS

96 Tears, Keep on cryin’ baybee!

THE FLAKES

feat. Russell Quan of The Mummies in their FIRST and possibly LAST East Coast performance EVER!

THE GRUESOMES

Montreal’s hometown Tyrants of Teen Trash!

THE ALARM CLOCKS

Back From The Grave legends!

THE HYPSTRZ

Twin Cities unsung rock’n'roll savages!

THE MORLOCKS

California’s creatures of neo garage punk!

THE HIGHER STATE

Elevate your mind!

FORTUNE & MALTESE AND THE PHABULOUS PALLBEARERS

Motor City mavens of fuzz and farfisa!

THE A-BONES

The World’s Greatest Sinners!

NAGG

Junkshop Jivin’

MUCK AND THE MIRES

Mid-Sixties Beat Shakers and Hit Makers!

THE SAFFRON SECT

Toured with Bob Bryden of Canadian Psych legends Christmas!

THE SUNDAY SINNERS

ex-members of Les Sexareenos!
In addition to the live music portion of our festivities, we will also be hosting several Canadian film premiers for newly produced feature-length productions. Documentaries such as “America’s Lost Band”, “Teen A-Go-Go” and “The Lost Souls”, take you back in time to rediscover the tremendous forgotten wealth of outstanding, obscure music recorded by hapless high school teen combos from all around the world!

During the afternoon of Saturday, August  8th, we will be hosting a day-long trade fair where vendors will offer tables topped with records, magazines, books, vintage clothing and articles of the past. During this daytime event, we will be coordinating several panel discussions and interviews hosted by noted music and film historians. We will also be presenting rare promotional film reel footage and video clips focusing on 1960’s music and fashion culture. Following the thrift fair and multimedia presentations, will be a concert performed by local and non-local artists, in the style of our weekend celebrating the years 1964 - 1967 (the “teen beat” generation).

More details can be found at our new website: www.teenbeattakeover.com