Lopstock II Video Showcase, Plus Our First Look At Two New Bands!!

Before we head off to TODAY'S Go Skateboarding Day concert at the skatepark at the John Rhodes Centre, here's an all-video post now that this weekend's concert previews are cleared out, all courtesy of the Lopstock II "bohemian conclave" concert on June 6th at LopLops Lounge! With one unembeddable exception, these are courtesy of promoter and Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick's YouTube channel in recent days, but unlike his single song videos from last year's Lopstock, he filmed full sets of every performer, save for Id Iota for unannounced reasons, but we do have a video of them to touch on in a bit. Brendan's videos include footage of the full sets of Burlington folk rock artist Kirby, Guelph blues rockers The Galacticats, local folk/garage quintet Honest Job, acoustic rock trio K.I.C.K., and indie rock solo project Aldous, so click their names to see their videos! The audio quality is very good on these videos, but the strong attendance in front of the staationary camera limits our viewpoint on most of them.

First from Brendan's channel is headlining local alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control, whose hour-long set can be seen below, or more accurately, heard below, given the crowd of fans in front of the camera, and the often blurry view of the band itself given that the camera focuses on what's closer. The (I believe) 13 song set had it's titles mostly unannounced by the band, but familiar tracks like "Sixty Extra Chances Called Minutes", "Quick Little Quarter", and "Tall Ships" can be heard, plus their set-ending "Twist & Shout" cover. You can't see much, but The Pixo Control sound great, so give their Lopstock II video a look below!



Next up, here's Brendan's own band Gnaeus, who headlined the afternoon portion of Lopstock II before the unusual three hour break. The 45 minute set from the rising post-punk quartet can be seen below, and while it is easier to see the guys, an attendee's head is near constantly right in front of the camera. Songs like "Fire", "The Edge", and a cover of The Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Up To Dry" can be seen, and Gnaeus demonstrated their considerable talent once again throughout their Lopstock II set, so give their video a look below as well!



The last of Brendan's Lopstock II videos is of new local glam rock/power pop trio Caroline Divine (successors to The Frasiers), which gives us our first look at their sound, so what can be detected from their 40 minute set? Musically, they remind me a little bit of what would happen if Dirty Virgin and Gnaeus were blended together, thanks to their mix of 1980s glam rock with indie punk, and while I won't get a chance to see them live until tomorrow afternoon, I do prefer them to The Frasiers musically! Don't miss them and The Pixo Control tomorrow at Tidal Records' Go Skateboarding Day, and here's their Lopstock set!



Finally, we'll touch on the opening band at Lopstock II, new local rock band Id Iota, as while Brendan didn't apparently film them, Local2 did for the newest episode of Tuned with Donna Hopper! Focusing entirely on Id Iota's set, we get our first video look at the new band from Free Beer and Dirty Few alumni, and if you were curious about their sound, I can confirm that Id Iota more or less carry on the sound that 3/4ths of the band played in their short lived predecessor band Habitat Shuffle, so they play alternative rock with a punk/grunge tinge, rather than the ska-punk of the Free Beer days. Frontman Christian Lemay and guitarist Dustin Goodall are interviewed by Donna in the video concerning topics like how they formed and their upcoming plans, so what kinds of new info do we get? The guys revealed that the Id Iota name is inspired by Freudian psychology, the two of them share vocals live, and they've been doing behind-the-scenes work at Tidal Records beyond recording material.

I'm sure there's more from Id Iota to come, but this is a nice introduction to this new yet familiar band, and Christian & Dustin also give some nice compliments and props to how the local music scene is developing and some of the newer and younger talent! Check out Id Iota's new Tuned episode at this link, and remember that we can't embed Local2 videos here, as their video host doesn't allow external embedding. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more this week, and we'll see you guys at the skatepark this afternoon! Thanks everyone!