LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Long Shot), New Drum Cover Videos, And More!!

Continuing our steady recent pace on this Friday morning, we have some assorted recent updates, new drum cover videos from two veterans of the local scene, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for early next month, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet Long Shot will return to the stage for two concerts that are both taking place on Friday, May 1st! After an almost two month break following their runner-up finish at the Speak Easy Battle of the Bands, Long Shot will make up for lost time with a set at this year's ninth annual Passport To Unity festival, which will reportedly be during that day's Downtown Diversity events outside on a shut down block of Queen Street East between March & Spring between 11:45 AM & 1:15 PM. Readers may remember that The Pixo Control were scheduled for this event last year, but rain forced a postponement and move indoors to The Essar Centre, so hopefully there's no hang-ups this time! This will obviously be an ALL AGES event, there's no announced cover, and see above for more details! The other Long Shot event on May 1st will see them make their Canadian Nightclub debut that night when they headline a party held by the Sault Ultimate Players' Association!

If you don't know, that's a local league for players of ultimate frisbee and related disc sports, and if this seems random, remember that Long Shot members Evan & Adam Dawe both are SUPA members, and the band has played at least one SUPA function in the past. The event at The Canadian will be a party and deadline to sign up for their summer leagues, and it will take place at 7:00 PM with no announced age limits or cover. Sounds fun, so see that show's Facebook event page & the above links for complete details on both events, and it's great to see Long Shot back on stage finally!

Next up, here's new drum cover videos from two veteran local musicians, including this video of Fairmounts frontman and prolific local drummer Mikey Hawdon covering The Descendents' "All". Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Tuesday, this is a change from his usual solo covers there, which tend to be of him singing and playing guitar, but without giving anything away to readers who aren't familiar with "All", I'll just say that it's perfectly covered! Give it a look below, and also check out his recent out-of-town band videos too!



Also is this cover of Audioslave's "Original Fire" by Flat Stanley/Peace Vibe drummer Glen Thomas, which compared to his recent classic rock uploads and band work, is a bit of a throwback to his older hard rock/metal days! Posted to his YouTube channel on Tuesday, this is a solid rendition of one of Audislave's bigger hits, albeit not my favourite of their tracks, but give it a listen below, and check out his other recent uploads if you like 1960s rock!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by event, series, or artist name:

• Local classic metal quartet Project 421 have been added to the lineup for the announced Menstural Munchies concert at a venue to be announced on June 25th, as per the Facebook event page. They're honestly not a perfect fit given that they're not a death or grind band, but their talent speaks for itself, so look for them then, and let promoters know if you can help find a venue or in other ways for this concert!
• The fifth annual Swampstravaganza at The Canadian Nightclub on May 9th will indeed see a return of the open mic block that kicked off last year's Swampfest at The Oddfellows Hall, as per a recent update to the Facebook event page. It's way too early to guess on who might play during it, given that it is "open mic", but it will open the day's events at 4:00 PM before the 10 scheduled bands hit the stage at 5:00. Great to see it return, and hopefully there's a solid turnout!
• The newest episode of Local2's music webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper went online last week, and it's 100% devoted to The Boot Hill Crooners' CD release party at LopLops Lounge last month, including an interview with frontman/Rising Tide member Sheldon Jaaskelainen. Fans of the Crooners and Sheldon's band work should definitely check it out, so do so above! Note however that there's no footage of the opening bands.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days, plus this month's poll and last month's poll results TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!