Egg hunt

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Seeing as most people will have Good Friday off from work, a good place to soak up some serious suds tonight, April 9, would be with Angry

Parrots and French Connexion at Barfly. The Parrots promise a night of acid-tinged visuals including strobes and smoke-strobes and smoke, I tells ya!

Good Friday is guaranteed to live up to its name with five hoppin' shows. You can check out the retro pop psychedelia of le Kid with the monophonic sounds of one-man racket Bloodshot Bill at Divan Orange, or make it down to Club Lambi for the beat-driven no wave sounds of Swamp Sex Robots and Fear Eat Soul. For some searing psychobilly, you can get your short back and sides cropped before the Hellhounds, Matchless and

Gunsmoke leave an oily slick at Katacombes. Il Motore will be the place to be to catch Mount Eerie, the new joint of indie singer/songwriter Phil Elverum, formerly of the Microphones, with psych-folkies Wyrd Visions opening.

Personally, Ill be sticking my furry mug into three shows this week, starting Friday when the red-haired stranger himself, Willie Nelson, parks his fossil-fuel-free tour bus outside the comfy confines of Place des Arts and joins Ray fucking Price (!) and

Billy Bob Thornton's honky-tonkin Boxmasters. The only way to see the living legend Nelson at this point would be paying through the nose for scalper tickets, but with Willie now pushing 75 years old, this could be your last chance to see him.

Saturday proves to be no slouch with the recently trimmed-down Starvin' Hungry (who were great at the Green Room a week and a half ago) at Barfly with Devil Eyes offshoots

Merles Gitar Band and Leamers. I have seen Starvin' Hungry all over town, more times than I can count, and the best shows they've done have consistently been at the Fly, so definitely don't miss. My apologies to Starvin' Hungry, but that night, Ill be lacing up my giant white trainers and dusting off the ol' bullet belt for legendary thrashers Kreator and Exodus, the blackened death metal of Belphegor, the downtrodden riffs of Warbringer and Epicurean at the Medley.

Wednesday turns out to be one of the busiest nights of the week, with indie rock stalwart Damien Jurado playing at Il Motore with Laura Gibson while Vancouver buzz band Hey Ocean! play a show at Lambi. Before Hey Ocean! load their gear up Lambi's treacherous steps, they'll be busking out front of one of the best independent record stores in the city, Sound Central (4486 Coloniale), at 4 p.m. All proceeds from the street busk will go to Oxfam, who fight global poverty and injustice. One of Montreal's busiest bands, Devil Eyes, will lay down their ramshackle rock 'n' roll at Bar St-Laurent 2 on Wednesday night with the awesome Desert Owls and Shyny Dieminds. If Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Kreator and Exodus weren't mind-blowing enough, the Punkus week ends perfectly with the return of one of the best live bands I have ever seen, Japans Acid Mothers Temple at la Sala Rossa. Expect serious hard-psych jams that are just unbeatable. Two words: drop acid.

WILLIE, WAYLON AND ME…
JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM