Video Of The Week: Desert Owls

My legendary friend Allan Lento has found yet another new talent to spend his time honing: video director. You might recall that a year ago - almost to the day - my Video Of The Week was for Montréal indie rock band Desert Owls. This time around, the Owls and Lento have joined forces for their brand-spanking new video for the song God After Nine, a song that will satisfy your craving for Nirvana-type grunge better than a whole box set or Incesticide ever could.

In this song, singer Sebastian Freeman's passion shines through more clearly than on any other recording I've heard, and the rythm section of Luca Fantigrossi (bass) and Tomas Matthews (drums) is fast becoming one of the city's tightest and most dependable.

A year ago, these guys were GOOD, a show you had to see; nowadays, they're a show you can't afford to miss. It's a fine line, but they overstepped it with flair and balls. And they were ahead of the Foo Fighters in bringing back the ''band playing the song in a closed room'' video style, seeing as the Foos' record won't be out for another 2 weeks.

Video Of The Week: Desert Owls

Animals rule; they inspire us to reach taller heights, run faster on longer distances, reproduce whenever we can, and to eat our young. One act who can take care of themselves in this dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest world is Montréal's own Desert Owls.

Desert Owls was formed in late 2008 when drummer JP Aubin joined co-songwriters Freedom Sebastian and Luca Fantigrossi to rock and roll our butts back to grooveland, like a Lennon/McCartney for Generation Y. Aubin left after a few months, and when a succession of fill-in drummers worthy of quoting Spinal Tap weren't deemed enough to push their sound forward, the pair enlisted Tomas Matthews to beat the skins to a suitable tempo.

This song (and video), ''Who?'', lead-off title track to the EP released just last week, fully captures The Spirit Of Rock In Montréal, fast-paced, dark as the night but lit by bright flashy colours, claustrophobic and voyeuristic - okay, I might have just added that last one in myself. Either way, you decide. The song was recorded at current ''it'' studio, Digital Bird Studios (where Nightwood recorded theirs, and Tasha Cyr is about to for hers), and the video was directed by J-P Lamarche (more credits precede the video).