Tarantuela brought a little bit of the blues and a lot of John Cougar Mellencamp roots rock to the Slice, Nov. 1.

Unfortunately only a half dozen people were there to see it, though they were wildly enthusiastic about every song they played.

I caught their second set, which sounded like a more laid back Ross Neilsen with a touch of ’60s rock.

They played a little bit of country music, some laid back blues and had a whole lot of fun.

It was the last day of the Owl Acoustic Lounge’s zombie art show, Nov. 1. In addition to an auction of the pieces, they had three bands performing. While I missed local band Open Channels, I caught much of Winnipeg shoegaze/post punk band Departures.

They were all right with plenty of layered guitars and ghostly vocals from guitarist Allanah Walker.

They had some interesting chords and a solid ambient sound and didn’t depart much from that formula.

Unfortunately, due to running spotlights for Evil Dead, I only caught a little bit of Nick Gilder and Sweeney Todd’s show at Average Joes, Nov. 1.

He was winding up his set with a hot version of  their big ’70s hit “Hot Child In The City.”

He still had an impressive voice and beamed at the audience dancing in front of the stage.

 Hey Ocean and the Alvarez Kings helped a sold-out Slice celebrate Halloween, Oct. 31.
I arrived in the middle a sweet set from United Kingdom band the Alvarez Kings.

While they were dressed as ’80s cock rockers, complete with socks stuffed in spandex pants, their sound was Brit rock straight out of the’90s and early 2000s. They put on an energetic set of ambient, delay drenched rock reminiscent of bands like Blur with a touch of Oasis.

They had some catchy riffs a few nice vocal harmonies, some catchy riffs and were a lot of fun.

 Most of the audience was there to hear  the violent contrast— Hey Ocean. As usual, they had their feet firmly planted in the realms of pop music. They were dressed as circus characters, with lead singer Ashleigh Ball dressed as the ringmaster.

They had a plethora of catchy pop infused melodies, Ball concentrated on vocals rather than hiding behind keyboards as she usually does, but pulled out the flute for a couple songs as she chatted with the crowd clustered in front of the stage, shook a lot of hands and sang beautifully like No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani.

They added a touch of reggae as Ball talked about taking 12 hours to drive across Saskatchewan.