Montreal Buzz: The Lovely Feathers Shake A Leg

The Lovely Feathers have come a long way, baby. The indie pop quintet hit the music scene running in 2004, winning a pair of battle of the bands contests, scoring a Pop Montreal gig and releasing their debut album, My Best Friend Daniel.

Last year, singer-guitarists Mark Kupfert and Richard Yanofsky, bassist Noah Bernamoff, drummer Ted Suss and keyboardist Daniel Suss tagged along on a 48-date North American tour with Metric and hit music industry festivals in Toronto, where they'll return this Saturday for a Canadian Music Week slot at Lee's Palace.

They're also a late addition to the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, where they'll play a month before the April 18 Canadian release of their Hind Hind Legs album on the new Equator Records label.

Hind Hind Legs will feature five re-recorded songs from My Best Friend Daniel and eight newer tracks. One recent song, available on the band's New Music Canada site, pays tribute to a certain late Catholic pontiff.

"We knew someone was eventually going to ask about 'Pope John Paul,'" says Bernamoff. "Funny thing is, all five of us are Jewish."

Watching the world mourn for "PJP" sparked sentimentality more than judgment.

"Singing in response to his death is about the joy and comfort that he delivered to the minds of disadvantaged people across the globe," says Bernamoff, "not being happy that he's dead."

As for Benedict XVI (disrespectfully dubbed "Pope Ratzinger" by some), Bernamoff believes that "personal empowerment ought to be the goal of the new Vatican instead of preaching obedience to its teachings. In that sense, the new pope could actually affect those in the greatest need, the millions of impoverished and unrepresented South Americans and Africans that live under the tyrannies of warlords and western-backed corporate barons. Oh shit, I'm getting all mouthy and militant."

Catch the Lovely Feathers at Toronto's Lee's Palace on Saturday night as part of Canadian Music Week and on March 11 at Montreal's La Sala Rossa, with opening act Dorian Hatchet.

There's a lot on the table this weekend, but connoisseurs of leather, spy-chic and silly rock songs have but one choice. This month's edition of Main Hall's Decade Dance on Saturday stars foul-mouthed rockers Launie Anderssohn in The Big Awesome James Bondage Party. Dress up and bring a water gun — anyone in a "sexy" costume gets half off the $10 ticket at the door — or buy some Dollarama crap at the merch table. Before you're blown away by the headliners' "elaborate costumes, provocative props and professional precision playing," expect entertainment gold from Tony Ezzy, Shout Out Out Out Out and Men, Women And Children.