LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, And Album Updates!!

Let's end the work week strong with a new news post combined with this weekend's hard rock concert previews! Slow weekend for heavier shows (barring any really late notice gigs), but there's some notable ones going down (including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS), and some info on new local albums at the end, so read on below for what you need to know!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's weekly concert arrangement at The Harp Pub & Grill will continue through this entire month, and for more than just Fridays, as his weekly appearances have doubled to Friday AND Saturday night concerts! He hasn't said why they're expanded, but it has to be a good sign for both how well recieved his Harp gigs are, and for how well his temporary Saturday show two weeks ago went, so congratulations are in order for the continued success! That said, his website's calendar still lists the constant weekly dates through 2028 (yes, including the new Saturday bookings), but whether they're extremely optimistic or accidental is not clear yet. Also, note that while the Friday shows are still the weekly jam nights that Tym hosts and performs at, the Saturday shows appear to be traditional solo concerts a'la his shows at other venues, if the descriptions on his calendar are correct.

Given the immense length of the calendar's apparent bookings, we'll still take them one month at a time, so look for Tym at The Harp TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, next Friday & Saturday, and on April 18th, 19th, 25th, and 26th! All dates have 10:00 PM start times, no announced cover charges, and 19+ age limits. For more details, click here and visit the above links! If you're up for some entertaining hard rock covers in an acoustic setting, be at the former Madison's Pub this weekend or later this month, and for a preview, here's Tym live at Mill Square!



Moving to previously announced gigs, Toronto's own joint Ramones/Joan Jett tribute band The Merves will return to Sault Ontario for a full weekend at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Featuring prolific local punk musician & ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon on guitar & Ramones cover vocals, you may remember seeing The Merves in January at the same venue (they've played a local date that month for a few years now), but it must have went well for them to come back so soon! Remember, their set has included Joan Jett & Runaways covers since adding singer Amy Zucchetto to their lineup last year, lending a hard rock kick to their entertaining live repertoire, so if you missed their January show, keep that in mind! The Merves will be rocking The Rockstar Bar tonight and tomorrow at 10:30 PM, there are $5 cover charges likely for both nights, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

It's great to see Mikey back in town with one of his current bands, so if you love The Ramones and/or Joan Jett, don't miss The Merves' return for some punk and rock tribute action! For a preview, here's The Merves covering Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You" in Sudbury in January!



Next up, I finally have a recent local hard rock album in my possession, so what should you know? It's the "Rotten EP" released by local musician Chris Shoust's lo-fi/grunge solo project Telephone & Address, that you may remember from it's launch show on December 28th at The Algonquin Pub (when he opened for Tim Day.) Things sadly couldn't work out for me to make the show, and Chris hasn't played a public concert that I'm aware of since, but he was kind enough to mail me a copy this week, so now I can talk about it here! Registered with SOCAN, this was part of a limited pressing of just 50 physical copies (which were on sale for $10), and it's credited to have been released through Harmisntus Productions. Packaged in cardboard, this is the cover art, with the inside just saying "Consume" repeatedly, while liner materials include a business card promoting Chris' book "The Beggar", a card that just says "I Am With You", and track listing information. The included songs (in order) are "Get Ready To Run", "Bought & Sold", "Broken Head", "Fucked From Birth", "Fight", "Drunk & Disorderly", and "We're All Fucked".

Save for "Broken Head" & "Fight", the songs are streamable on Telephone & Address' Soundcloud page, while the total disc runs about 17 minutes. Now that I have the "Rotten EP", when might a review of it be coming? Perhaps this month, but given talks of Jack Spades, Shit Liver, Mike Haggith, and Rotopsy all releasing paid discs this month, there could be quite a glut to manage, but I fully expect Telephone & Address' first album review on the SMS to take place soon! Stay tuned for updates, thanks to Chris again for sending me a copy, and message him above to see if you can get your own!

Also today, here's the latest from local solo hard rock artist Mike Haggith and related projects! For one, his solo Facebook page confirms that the current lineup of his reunited acid jam band Mike Haggith & The Din does indeed feature Rotopsy bassist Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson as an official member, after replacing Curtis McKenzie on an interim basis for their January return at The Oddfellows Hall. Nice to see, hopefully The Din play live again soon! As previously covered in Wednesday's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, Mike has also announced plans to release a new compilation album of top songs from his last 4 solo albums, with it's own artwork pictured on your right. The title isn't known yet, but "The Best of Mike Haggith: Volume 3" would make sense, given the similar title of his preceding compilations. You can view the track listing at this link, and it confirms that it will have 14 songs, including 3 from 2011's "Suspended Animation", 4 from 2012's "Neighbourhood Watch", 2 from last year's "The Present Din", and 5 from his latest "Neighbourhood Watch II: Where It Ends".

Also note that he changed the name of his song "The Issue (Resurfaced)" to just "Resurfaced" for unannounced reasons. Mike's hoping to independently release this compilation through Galactic Records in the next few weeks, though it's not clear yet whether it will be on Reverbnation and/or Bandcamp, and he's open to pressing physical copies pending demand. Now, a review of this isn't imminent, as priority on the site goes to albums with new content (not counting vocals he may be re-recording), but Mike's upcoming album "A Place Of Our Own" is definitely likely soon, so stay tuned for updates on both fronts!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes over the weekend! Thanks everyone!