Sunday, July 9, 2017

A New A Dire Setback Video, Plus Lots Of Assorted News & Notes!!

Media is now up from Friday night's Vaultry/Coach Bombay concert at The Canadian, courtesy of our Facebook page, but with a lot of backlogged recent stories to touch on, I thought I'd slide in one more post before our review makes the site. Leading off today, we actually have a videos to share from one of the local bands that played on Friday night, as publically shared to that concert's Facebook event page in the lead-up to the show, so what should you know? The clip is of local alt-punk quartet A Dire Setback playing their song "Forget This Memory" at The Asylum in Sudbury last month, which was another personal upload from frontman Larry Babic's wife Karen's personal Facebook page, but it was later publically featured by the band on the event page. Much like their earlier "Everlasting Despair" video from this show and camera, the guys sound good and are framed nicely in the clip, but the blue/green lighting remains unfortunate. Give this "new" A Dire Setback video a look below, and see more from Friday night at the above links!



Finally for today, here's nine assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

  • Sudbury country musician Andrew Hyatt is replacing The James Barker Band as the opening act for the FREE Tea Party concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on July 16th (one week from today), as per the official Facebook event page last month. A reason for the change wasn't publically announced, but The James Barker Band are still affiliated with the Ontario Government's ONTour concert series, having been moved to the Kenora show on August 10th as that event's headliners (source here.) I'm not familiar with Andrew, but country fans will still have something to look out for on the 16th!
  • This is admittedly a very late acknowledgement (apologies for letting this slip through the cracks), but local alt-hard rock quartet Bizotic played a pair of shows in Wawa over the June 9th weekend at the Lakeview Hotel, opening for former New American Pub headliners The OM Sound and a joint set featuring former Bizotic drummer Kevin Overton and local pianist extraordinaire Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda. Hearing about an SMS-fitting show in Wawa is rare, but hopefully everyone had a blast, and that more big shows head north in the near future!
  • Gates of Winter are alive! Though they still haven't posted a Facebook page update since January of last year, bassist Steve Furgiuele noted in a post on his Instagram page on Thursday that he is currently writing for the local progressive death metal band as well as working with an Edmonton-area folk artist, and while he acknowledged that "the love (of music) faded" recently, it is back, and he has been exploring music theory and jazz bass as of late. Very encouraging to hear, and hopefully "Perihelion" will finally come out in the coming months! And yes, Gates of Winter are back in our active band links too!
  • Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades have revealed in recent Facebook page postings that they're soon announcing plans to work with "a rad local company" called the "Wolves from the North" on some sort of project involving regional punk rock and "one of our favourite things". I have no idea what this is referencing, but stay tuned to band pages and the SMS when updates roll in, apparently this week! For what it's worth, a personal Facebook re-post of this cryptic status tagged Jack Spades band members as well as former Essar Center events manager Trevor Zachary.
  • Veteran local guitarist Mark Bajona is looking for "good creative musicians" in the 30-60 years old range for a new symphonic rock band that he's working on, ideally including a keyboardist. Mark cited Deep Purple, Genesis, and Yes among his influences, but also wants the band and musicians in it to "sound new with your own identity." The band he has in mind would specialize in original material, and he doesn't want to play covers. If you're interested in more details, message Mark via his wife Brenda at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last month!
  • It's official: Local death metal trio Pillory are working on their second CD! After studio Unsalted Audio teased in March that their sophomore effort was in pre-production, the band proper began quietly posting about recording sessions on their Facebook page back in May, with plans appearing to be for a nine song album. Bret Shuttleworth's drum tracking was completed as of Friday, and after editing, guitars and bass are coming next. It's great to see that Pillory are finally recording a new CD, and look for them (and Gates of Winter) in next month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post!
  • Local guitarist Shane Bromfield is looking for musicians to jam and songwrite with, perhaps towards a band, with Tool listed among his diverse influences, such as Mac DeMarco, Oasis, and Radiohead, while he also cited Dimebag Darrell as a guitar influence in a prior Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from 2014 (source here.) If you're interested in jamming with Shane, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted group post from last month, and click here to see him cover Jeff Beck at a CASS Cafe event two years ago!
  • Toronto-based drummer Terrance Pettitt is looking for work locally next month, November, and/or December, and can play anything from metal to hip hop. Local fans may recognize him as the drummer for Toronto hardcore band Liferuiner, who opened for Dead & Divine here in August 2012. If you'd be interested in working with Terrance in the given months, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last month, and give his solo drumming videos a look at this link!
  • If you've noticed a listing on LopLops Lounge's website's concert calendar for a Treble Charger concert there on Thursday, July 27th, you're not crazy, as I saw it also. However, for a show of the scope teased there (full band, upcoming tour and CD, $25 tickets), it is very odd that there hasn't been any extra public advertising for it yet, unless the lack of promotion is by design. As a result, I'm waiting for further public acknowledgement before covering it here, so stay tuned when/if that comes in!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Vaultry concert review next on the SMS! Thanks everyone!

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