LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Punk Rock Bingo) & More Toystock Fallout!!

Here's a new news post on this Saturday evening, so what lies within? Mostly extra fallout from Toystock IV, including new videos and news coverage, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a special Christmas season event! (Updated at 7:47 PM)

Th next installment of Six Two Oh's punk rock bingo has been announced, and unlike before, it'll have live bands! To be held at The New American Pub on Wednesday, December 23rd (presumably not at month's end like before due to New Year's holiday commitments), the expected bingo with irreverent punk-themed prizes will be on with Brent Ellis again calling, but this time, there's some live music to take in over the holidays, with local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver returning to the Soo for the first time since August as headliners! Great to see them back home, and hopefully they tear up The New A in a few weeks! Local doom metal favourites AlgomA will also return to the stage as openers, fittingly given their Six Two Oh ties, so don't miss their low and slow blend of metal either! For the record, advertising credits this as "Punk Rock Bingo II" despite this being the third that has been promoted locally, as last month's was reportedly cancelled quietly for unannounced reasons (thanks to Rihkee Strap for the confirmation!)

Admission is free for this 19+ event at 9:00 PM on the 23rd, though bingo cards will presumably cost again, and look for prizes ranging from CDs to art to food, and more, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details! Though the band choice indicates more of a "metal bingo" night, this should be a fun attraction for the Christmas holidays, so get your devil horns and/or bingo dabbers ready come the 23rd!

Next up, here's some more fallout and videos from the fourth annual Toystock charity concert event at The Grand Gardens from this past Sunday! SooToday's Donna Hopper was on hand for part of the evening's festivities, posting this article on SooToday on Wednesday, where she confirmed an attendance of hundreds for this year, helping raise $1,400 for Christmas Cheer. Interview remarks are included from promoter/performer Greg Simpson, where he notes the inspiration behind Toystock, it's growth (to the point where they're turning down bands that want to play), and how the local music community comes together for it. Nice and well written to be sure, and it's also worth mentioning that Greg hopes that Toystock grows to a point where it could be hosted at The Essar Center in the future (ambitious, but it'd be interesting to see!) Donna wasn't there all day, but she did 10 solid photos, including three from classic/hard rockers Havadder's set, one of Greg, and six of attendees, so give them all a look above!

And for the record, we will not be addressing or covering the reported incident from that night involving a car vandalism and related conflict between performers. We are not in the market to promote such negative personal matters, and I just hope everyone can settle things if possible & move forward, especially given the charitable nature of Toystock.

Closing with videos from Toystock, let's touch on the videos of the last three bands from Sault Online's Mike Caruso's YouTube channel! The headliners, local country cover quartet Bone Yard, were filmed covering Gary Allan's "Get Off On The Pain", which is well done and fun for the genre, so check that out if you want! The other two videos that we have from Toystock include this video of one-off punk tribute band The Rude-Offs covering the Christmas carol "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", with the aforementioned Greg Simpson on vocals. This union of Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Stiffler's Mom alumni looks like they had fun, and while the video's edits and quality jumps from post-production are noticeable, this should sate your punk Christmas desites! Note that there are other videos from The Rude-Offs' set on personal Facebook accounts, but as best as I can tell, they're not available for public view. Check it out below, and hopefully The Rude-Offs play again down the road!



And lastly, here's the co-headliners from this past Sunday, local post-punk/garage rock quartet Gnaeus, who were filmed playing their original song "Lovers". Aaron's vocals are a little muffled, but they do a strong job on one of their more familiar tracks (sure to be on their upcoming "Loomings" CD), so check it out below, and see more from this year's Toystock at the above links!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for assorted news and notes in the coming week! Thanks everyone!