Ripcordz Concert Preview, New Stegadeth Video Finds, And Much More!!

As promised, our Ripcordz concert preview is headlining today's SMS post, but to round things out, we have some new video finds from one of that show's opening bands, and lots of assorted recent shorter stories, so here's what you should know on this Friday afternoon!

TOMORROW NIGHT will see what has become an annual tradition in the Soo, that being a headlining concert from Montreal hardcore punk legends The Ripcordz at The Algonquin Pub! As they have done annually from August-October dating back to 2013, Paul Gott and company will roar back through our neck of the woods for another highly anticipated local headlining concert, returning to the site of their April 2013 and October 2015 shows for good measure. A Ripcordz show is always a great time for hardcore punk fans, so prepare for a ferocious night of familiar classics tomorrow! Notably, this will be their first local show since 2007 with drummer Francois Demers back in the fold, replacing Alex Roy. Local support will include punk/metal quintet (and "Fed Up!" split-mates) Jack Spades in their fifth straight time opening for The Ripcordz, as well as local punk trio Stegadeth in their first public concert appearance in almost four months.

The T-Rex Manning successors have spent much of the summer songwriting, and it'll be great to see them back out there on familiar territory! Promoted by Jack Spades frontman J.D. Pearce once again, tomorrow's show is sadly a 19+ event (unlike last year's Canadian Nightclub headliner) with a 9:00 PM start time and $10 cover charge in effect, with advance tickets available online at this link, and possibly through the opening bands and The Algonquin Hotel's front desk. As J.D. said on the Facebook event page, "Ripmas comes but once a year", so don't miss out on all of the action tomorrow night, and here's The Ripcordz live earlier this year!



Next up, here's a pair of new-ish videos from the aforementioned Stegadeth's Facebook page that I'm surprised we've never featured on here! These come from the Guy Thiffault tribute concert upstairs at The Rockstar Bar in December 2016, completely slipping our radar at the time (apologies for that, blame the holidays!) The videos include Stegadeth playing GG Allin's "Bite It You Scum", but due to it's extremely fuzzy video quality, I've instead embedded them covering T-Rex Manning's "She Banged The Mayor" below. The vertical camera angle on each is unfortunate, but it matches the clearer video quality on this one, and they sound pretty good, so give them a look!



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

• Local hardcore punk veterans Destroilet have welcomed back Slumshine's Brenton Ellis as their co-lead singer, as per their Facebook page yesterday! Brent originally came on in late 2014 to share vocal duties with Mike Hull, but left the sextet by the fall of 2015, and did not feature on the "Fed Up!" split. Destroilet have only played twice publically since Brent's departure, so he should fit right back in for more chaotic intensity when they scratch their itch & end their current stage hiatus!
• I have belatedly updated our listing for The Emergency Festival in our listing of Sault Ontario concert festivals, as the event has not been held since 2015. A spiritual successor to the LopLops Lounge-curated version of Rotaryfest's Second Stage, The Emergency Festival launched in 2014 during Stage 2's one year hiatus, and brought more indie, folk, country, and alternative acts from here and abroad to Queen Street East & Rocky DiPietro Field in it's two installments, with no public word surfacing about why it didn't return for a third year. Stay tuned to events at LopLops for more similar high quality live entertainment!
• Local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary has confirmed that his debut EP will be entitled "Weight of the Truth", after a song planned for it that was posted on his Soundcloud page in August. Instrumentally, the song reminds me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the name works pretty well, so stay tuned for more on the EP via his Facebook page, our original source for the announcement!
• Former Brad Example & The Role Models drummer Phil Greco (Philly Gee on Facebook) is looking for a bass player to songwrite with towards his current band project, which already has a guitarist enlisted, though they're open to a second guitarist also. The band is "more interested in the heavier side of music", so if you're interested in writing and/or jamming with Phil and crew, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Wednesday!
• In their latest Facebook post thanking fans for the success of the "Trading Faces" release tour, local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver revealed that thanks to the tour's financial success, the band can now afford to press their second full length album "Hitting The Fan" on vinyl records. No word on if recording sessions for their sophomore effort have even begun yet, or if it will see a CD printing too, but I doubt fans will be opposed to another vinyl throwback, so stay tuned for updates from their camp!
• Though we're still waiting for their new album "Monster", local punk solo project Telephone & Address posted their first new songs of the year onto their Soundcloud page in August! Entitled "So Long" and "Mother & Father", both tracks feature local indie rock musician Jackson Reed on guest drums. Both are mid-tempo numbers that won't set any speed records, but they have a good deliberate sound, and it's nice to hear some electric instruments and a fuller sound on these, so give them a listen above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site over the weekend! Thanks everyone!