Yellow Jacket Avenger / Heavy Meadows / Jeff Gay and Special Blends
Gus’ Pub, Halifax NS June 4

By Alison Lang

You know it's a special night out in Halifax when you can look around tiny Gus's Pub and pick out Joel Plaskett, Mike O'Neill and at least one member of Wintersleep swilling mini pints of draft in the crowd. These local legends, like everyone else in the packed bar, were beckoned by a rare reunion and seven-inch release show from the much-adored trio Yellow Jacket Avenger (pictured), helmed by former Haligonian Geoffrey Pye.

Jeff Gay and Special Blends kicked off the show with an endearingly ramshackle set of good-time bar rock. Gay grinned ruefully at the still-sober crowd as he bashed out tuneful, twang-y solos, shuffling back and forth in a grunged-out version of the electric slide. They kicked up the pace a notch with a couple of Band-style rippers and the kids at the merch table were soon nodding approvingly to the beat.

The second act, Heavy Meadows, drew a sizeable crowd to the front of the room, making the young ladies sway with their good looks and dreamy jam-rock. The music was pretty enough but after Gay's chugging, bouncy set, the atmosphere felt a bit anesthetized. Less ardent fans took the time to duck out for a smoke or grab an Oland's.

Pye, drummer Nathan Elliot-Doucet and bassist Chris Pennell took the stage a little after midnight. In a live setting, Pye is a compelling presence — he stood unobtrusively to the side of the stage for most of the set, but his warm, world-weary tenor bled through the room like an elixir. On record, Yellow Jacket Avenger's songs can sound gently, weirdly sparse, but when the trio gets a hold of numbers like "Seeds" or "Hiding Out," the songs become newly intense and propulsive. Gay joined the group on keyboards and soon the gang sing-alongs began. "I don't want it," the crowd shouted with Pye, but it's clear that this was, in fact, very much what they wanted — a brief and lovely memory of a musician who should hold rank with Plaskett and all the rest in the annals of Halifax legend.
Annotations of an Autopsy - The Reign of Darkness
Blessure Grave - Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Magnetic Fields / Laura Barrett
Hillside Inside Featuring Owen Pallett, Ani Di Franco, Basia Bulat, Bahamas, Hawksley Workman
The Golden Filter / LA Riots / Junior Boys
Hollerado - Record in a Bag
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Watson Twins - Talking To You, Talking To Me
Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen / Love Bites / A Different Kind Of Tension
Sade - Soldier Of Love
Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde
Steve Kaldestad - Blow-Up
Galactic - Ya-Ka-May
Gil Scott-Heron - I’m New Here
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Janine Stoll - Melancholia
Stygian - Fury Rising
Shining - VI — Klagopsalmer
The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered
Troll - Neo-Satanic Supremacy
Meshuggah - Alive
Dark Fortress - Ylem
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Reckless Kelly - Somewhere In Time
Arsis - Starve For The Devil
DevilDriver / Suffocation / Thy Will Be Done / Goatwhore
Asobi Seksu
James Blackshaw / Gary Higgins
Lil Wayne - Rebirth
Light This City - The Hero Cycle
Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
Georgia Anne Muldrow - King’s Ballad
Droids Attack - Must Destroy
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Ellen Allien / Various - Watergate O5
Through The Eyes Of The Dead - Skepsis
Pierced Arrows - Descending Shadows
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool
Pawel - Pawel
Children Of Celebrities - Stereo Bang Bang
Midlake - The Courage Of Others
Guns N’ Roses
Julie Doiron / Attack in Black
Tegan and Sara / An Horse
Nouvelle Vague
Arch Enemy / Exodus
Between the Buried and Me / Cynic / Devin Townsend Project / Scale the Summit
Fucked Up - Couple Tracks
Magnetic Fields - Realism
Strong Arm Steady - In Search of Stoney Jackson
Harvey Milk - Harvey Milk
Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own
Ihsahn - After
Living Sacrifice - The Infinite Order
Ihsahn - After
Steve Earle / Joel Plaskett
Scuba / Various - Sub:Stance
Make Me Young - Make Me Young
Taking Dawn - Time To Burn
Postdata - Postdata
Woodhands - Remorsecapade
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Beach House - Teen Dream
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
Various - Born Again Funk
Wetdog - Frauhaus!
Coolzey - The Honey
Rel!G!Ion - Revelations 1
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
Cars & Trains - The Roots, the Leaves
Morton Feldman / Milton Babbitt / Phoenix Ensemble - Clarinet Quintets
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