LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Mourning Wood), And New Video Postings!!

On this Saturday afternoon, we're mostly touching on some new video uploads from a selection of local bands, both alive and defunct, and both from Ontario and Michigan! To start, though, we have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related apology, so here's what you need to know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Mourning Wood will return to The Esquire Club TONIGHT, after having played there last night as well! Apologies for the short notice (and for missing last night's concerts on here), we only heard about the shows late last night via drummer Glen Thomas' personal Facebook page, as the band never promoted these shows publically. Making their first concert appearances since last week's well received turn as backing musicians for Mark Tarantini's Garth Brooks tribute, yesterday and TONIGHT's shows mark Mourning Wood's first Esquire Club stops in over a month. Their varied and often heavy blend of covers should attract a good crowd to the west end venue TONIGHT, as I'm sure it did last night, so make sure to have some requests in mind! Expect a 10:00 PM-ish start time, no announced cover charge, and a 19+ age limit.

Despite the lack of public notice (lately, they've only done that for Reggie's Place gigs), Mourning Wood put on a solid live show, so don't miss out TONIGHT, and apologies again for missing yesterday's concert on here, we'd have covered it in our weekend concert previews had we known about it beforehand! At least we touched on it on our Facebook page. Check the above links for more details, and here's Mourning Wood live!



Next up, here's the latest "Cover of the Month" from local alternative/hard rock trio The Din! After a two month hiatus for the series while The Din launched their debut studio album, the newest cover video was uploaded to their YouTube channel on Tuesday, and it's their rendition of The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends". Rather than an in-studio recording, this actually comes from a private concert that The Din played at the Quattro Hotel & Conference Center (formerly the Ramada Hotel & Best Western on Great Northern Road), though the band didn't offer public details on the event's purpose. Featuring guitarist Tammy Hill on acoustic guitar and drummer Brandan Glew on what appears to be a cajon (a box shaped percussion instrument that's often sat on), this is a fun cover that plays to the band's unplugged side well, and you can see more of that when The Din (sans Brandan) open for Mulligrub on Friday! Check it out below!



Also today, here's a surprise new archive video posting from defunct local alt-punk quintet Brain Tuel! Though inactive since 2009, the band has sporadically updated their Facebook page since, and on Thursday, they shared an Oddfellows Hall concert video there in their first posting since April of last year. Great timing, if ironically so, considering that we're profiling them in our next Defunct Local Band Profile on Monday! The video is only dated to the summer of 2006, so I can't verify which show this came from, but it features Brain Tuel playing their song "Black & White", which was the closing & title track of their second CD from the following year. Filmed on a stationary camera mounted on stage, it gives a unique angle of the guys in action, albeit without capturing drummer Marc-Andre Parent in view at all. This is a solid performance of one of Brain Tuel's more progressive originals, which even inserts some screamed backing vocals into the mix, and it should be a nice flashback to fans from their 2000s heyday!

Guitarist Zach Reid apparently has more videos from this concert, so hopefully he shares them and/or gives some more details on this event, but regardless, it's nice to see a defunct local band sharing some posthumous media! More bands should do that, it sure beats when bands delete their online pages and media after dissolving. Check out Brain Tuel's "new" video below, and stay tuned for our Defunct Local Band Profile on them on Monday!



Finally, here's a short new video from Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63! We didn't feature this when we previewed their shows at The Rapids Lounge (including TONIGHT'S) in Thursday's second post, as it actually doesn't have audio. Shared to their Facebook page via bassist Chris Leask last month, this is a 2 minute slideshow of band photos with the meme photo-esque caption "Rockin' with Highway 63". It's well put together, but the lack of even one live song is unfortunate, and only 7 pictures are used, with the photos snaking forwards and backwards until it ends. Still a fun clip for fans, so check it out below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and our Brain Tuel profile soon! Thanks everyone!