LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lopstock II & Id Iota), Plus New Videos!!

Before we begin this news post, I wanted to acknowledge that SooToday's "Soo-To-Do List" last week mentioned that Havadder were apparently playing at The Rednecks Saloon this past Saturday in place of Stiffler's Mom. As far as we can tell, Havadder never confirmed this online, but if we did miss a band change, our apologies!  Now, today's news post features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next month and some new videos, so read on below for what you should know!

Two debuting bands and a recently returned band will join for a concert at The Algonquin Pub on Friday, June 5th! The newest (and last?) confirmed show for J.D. Pearce & Tidal Records' Gonqshow concert series, the event's announced headlining act is Id Iota, the newest local project from Habitat Shuffle/ex-Free Beer frontman Christian Lemay, who you may have seen teasing the project on Facebook & Instagram via recent recording sessions at Tidal Records' own Mission Control Studios. Other than that, we have nothing 100% verifiable on them, but will Id Iota bear resemblances to Free Beer and/or Habitat Shuffle, or be something completely different? Also scheduled are local hard rock quartet Skeyes of Seven in their fourth ever concert and their debut at The Algonquin Pub, and after a successful return on Saturday, look for the guys to keep the momentum going on June 5th!

The other scheduled band is Caroline Divine (not to be confused with Stillbroke's late-era name Borderline Divine), and they're apparently a new band from the members of defunct local pop rock band The Frasiers, sans frontman Charlie Derrer. This may be the same band that drummer Devin Williamson was searching for a guitarist for on the Musicians Wanted group, and if that's the case, they're influenced by everyone from Van Halen to The Arctic Monkeys. If still true, it's intriguing! Like most other Gonqshow events, this has a 19+ age limit, a $5 cover, and a 10:00 PM start time, so check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more on the new bands!

Also in new June concerts, fans can see the aforementioned Caroline Divine at LopLops Lounge the very next day when they take part in Lopstock II! After a successful first go-around last year, this Woodstock-inspired "bohemian conclave" will return for a sequel on Saturday, June 6th, though this year, the show is visibly being promoted by Gnaeus' Brendan Garlick rather than Ears & Eyes Online. Featuring out of town bands for the first time as well as 5 returning bands, Lopstock will be headlined by local alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control at midnight, with folk/garage quintet Honest Job on at 11:00 PM, and and Burlington folk rock project Kirby (I think) playing at 10:00 PM. Oddly, there's a 3 hour gap on the schedule from 7:00-10:00 PM, which will apparently serve as an intermission given the ticket price options. The 6:00 PM band will be another out of town band, Guelph blues/garage rock band The Galacticats. Both are solid bands in their genres, so give them a listen!

The current lineup is rounded out by Brendan's own garage punk band Gnaeus at 5:00 PM, plus acoustic trio K.I.C.K. at 4:00 PM, Caroline Divine at 3:00 PM, and local indie solo act Aldous at 2:00 PM, with the 1:00 PM slot open at present. Lopstock II will have $15 ticket prices ($10 for just the three post-break bands), and while not stated on the event page, last year's Lopstock was an all ages event. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Great to see a new Lopstock next month, and with many of the same acts to boot, so keep it in mind for next month, and thanks to Brendan for the Caroline Divine info!

Next, here's some new videos from new Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Ten Kings... thirteen of them, in fact! Attendee Tamara Spencer attended their gigs this past weekend at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino, and posted her videos onto the band's Facebook page earlier this week, though only one surpasses a minute in length. The videos include Ten Kings covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man", The Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows", Live's "I Alone", Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind of Wonderful", The Black Keys' "Gold on the Ceiling", Nirvana's "About A Girl", Florida Georgia Line's "Stay", Velvet Revolver's "Slither", four short instrumental clips that I can't place (here, here, here, and here), and as embedded below, Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite", so how do Ten Kings sound?

While all abbreviated and filmed vertically, Ten Kings sound good and show the members' skilled background well, but I do concede that Brandon Carr's voice isn't a perfect fit on some songs (his range isn't a problem, but his vocal tone doesn't mesh with some of these covers.) Kudos to Tamara for getting all of these videos, so check them all out above and below!



Finally for today, here's a 15 second video shot by Id Iota's Christian Lemay that he posted onto Instagram on May 1st, courtesy of the Biipiigwan show at 180 Projects last month! Specifically of local doom metal openers AlgomA, this appears to be of the guys playing "Tertiary Syphillis", but it's only 15 seconds long, and the lighting isn't too hot, despite showing a clearer quality that gives us a better look at the projected backdrop. Check out Christian's brief AlgomA video below!

A video posted by Christian Lemay (@lemaychristian) on Apr 30, 2015 at 9:50pm PDT

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!