LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), A New Din Video, And Much More!!

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, let's get a new news post up on the SMS on this Monday afternoon! Below, you'll find some assorted recent updates, a new concert video, and a nice archival discovery, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local acoustic hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will play a special Valentine's Day matinee concert TOMORROW at Gliss Steak & Seafood! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced on Thursday night via it's Facebook event page. This is unusual for Tym's long-term arrangement at The Quality Inn's house restaurant, as it's not on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, and Tym didn't play February 14th last year, but his unplugged covers and classics should provide a nice soundtrack for attendees TOMORROW, and given the Valentine's Day theme, can we expect a higher amount of romance songs and/or ballads? Despite the seasonal theme, this show is otherwise formatted similarly to his regular Gliss dates (he'll be back there on FRIDAY & SATURDAY), so expect no cover charge, a 6:00 PM start time, and no age limit, but again, this is a sit-down restaurant. Check the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!



Next up, here's another new video from local alternative/hard rock trio The Din's YouTube channel, also from their LopLops Lounge headlining show last month! No word yet on the rest of the extensive footage that The Din have teased, but this video is of their newer original "High Park", which sounds good and lively, but I'm still not a fan of the "ooooooh" choruses (they still feel like a placeholder for lyrics not yet written.) Well filmed and performed as usual, so give The Din's newest video a look below!

Also today, here's a surprise find from a crawl of old Angelfire pages with local music ties: The website for former local punk concert promoters Friendly Giant Productions! Ran by David Hugill, F.G.P. was active primarily in 1999 & 2000, making this one of the oldest surviving local music pages that I've ever seen. Their website notes that Friendly Giant promoted shows at the turn of the millennium with bands like Bankshot, Choke, The Mad Caddies, SNFU, and Strung Out (among others), with the July 2000 show featuring AFI, Choke, and AlgomA predecessors BeefFMoutH at Club Princess being their final listed concert there. At the label's peak, they had their own affiliated radio show on WLSO 90.1 FM at Lake State too, which would have been interesting to hear at the time! Surviving links on the Angelfire page include news updates for shows and planned events in early-mid 2000, photos from Oddfellows Hall concerts, tons of links and touring band write-ups, select concert flyers, and even the remnants of a dating service(?!)

Friendly Giant Productions predates the Sault Metal Scene's launch by 8 or so years, but this is a nice time capsule of the scene as it was 17 years ago, back when The Knights of Columbus Hall and Club Princess were viable and frequent sights for punk concerts, and back when AFI still played punk! David Hugill has since moved on to bigger and better things out of town as a researcher and journalist, but if you recall his days in local concert promotion, this will be a fun flashback, so check out more from Friendly Giant Productions at the above links, and they're now linked on the SMS!

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

• Local rap/metal project The Apocalypse Afterparty are holding a contest where you could win $50 or the first release USB drive copy of their debut EP "Bufflesnort", but what's involved?  To enter, you must invite Facebook friends to like the band, and with the band able to tell who invited whom, the person that invites the most new fans will either desired prize (the money can be available as an e-mail transfer too.) No word yet on when to expect the actual paid release of "Bufflesnort", but if you want the EP (or $50), click "Invite Friends to Like this Page" above!
• Sudbury-based promoters CS International Ontario are planning a "big concert announcement" this coming Sunday for a concert on March 30th at The Machine Shop at Mill Square. There are teases on the Facebook event page that this will feature a "rock and roll" headliner, and while there are no bigger hints that yet, Din frontman Mike Haggith seems optimistic in postings, for what that's worth. If this show indeed fits for SMS coverage, we'll let you know, but see above to check if you can decipher any clues beforehand!
• Local musician Jason Morbin is looking for a bassist for his new local band project, who play "a lot of rock" with "some blues & punk influence", and aspire to play covers & originals on stage. For what it's worth, Jason had been linked to a band project last year where the bassist would have been ex-Haggith frontman Curtis McKenzie, but it's not clear if this is the same intended band. If you're interested in trying out, message Jason at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last week!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the coming days! Thanks everyone!