LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Stage 2), Plus Mike McCleary's New Albums!!

Here's a new news post for your Saturday afternoon, and while we have some new album releases to take note of, most of this post is devoted to a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT reflecting the second half of our local summer festival's concert lineup for this year! Here's what you should know!

The full lineup for this year's Rotaryfest Stage 2 has been announced, so what should you know for this year's 13th installment of the all-original stage? While this year's lineup is not following Stage 1 with a "Rewind" theme for the 100th anniversary of the local Rotary Club, this year will actually be a bit of a throwback to Second Stage lineups of the old 2005-2013 era in some respects. Stage 2 will occur on Saturday, July 21st as expected, but it'll also take place on Friday the 20th for the first Friday lineup of the "redirected" era, and there will be Stage 2 bands playing on Thursday the 19th, marking the first time that day has hosted the event since 2006! As announced on Rotaryfest's website earlier this week, 15 acts will be playing on Stage 2 this year (returning once again to the outdoor Clergue Park stage beside the Art Gallery), including an out of town band for the first time since the 2014 hiatus, so who should you look for next month?

The five act lineup on Thursday, July 19th is basically an all-folk lineup, with no hard rock or punk acts in sight (mirroring Stage 1's Thursday bills in that respect.) The 9:00 PM headliner is veteran folk musician M.D. Dunn in his third Stage 2 set and first since 2013, though he'll be backed up by a new backing band named The Innocent Weapon Ensemble. The remainder of that day's lineup is made up of folk/indie acts in their Stage 2 debuts, including Telephone & Address drummer Jackson Reed's solo project at 8:00 PM, Hannah Lindsay at 7:30 PM, Shae Tull at 7:00 PM, and The Autumn Roots (which may now be a solo project) returning at 6:00 PM.

Friday, July 20th's lineup will likely be of the most interest to SMS readers, as it's the only night this year with heavier acts. That night's 8:30 PM headliners are Toronto electro-pop trio Parallels, becoming the first out of town band to play Stage 2 since The House of David Gang closed out the Saturday bill in 2013. Parallels' creative, upbeat electronic sound should find an audience at Clergue Park on the 20th! Local hard/alt-rock quartet Id Iota will co-headline at 7:30 PM, making them just the third band to play the Second Stage in three consecutive years (joining Kalle Mattson and Porter), while alt-punk band A Dire Setback will play their second straight year at this stage at 6:30 PM, and first as a trio. The opener that day will be Christian rapper Tristan "Bold Noize" Goslow in his Rotaryfest debut, and he should give a positive, inspirational performance to kick things off with! Like with Thursday's lineup, this is a FREE and ALL AGES concert event, so don't miss out!

Saturday, July 21st's lineup (while lacking in heavier and punk acts) is the largest of all, and it will be headlined by local/Toronto indie rocker Jesse Merineau and his solo band at 7:30 PM in his second straight Stage 2 set, in advance of his CD release concert on the July 26th. Soft prog rock favourites The Wild Iris will play Stage 2 for the third time in four years at 6:30 PM, while drone/noise rock trio Pointless will make their festival debut at 5:30 PM. Progressive rock quintet Machines Dream will make a rare live appearance at 4:30 PM in their record-tying fifth Second Stage booking (if you count their early run as The Craig West Band, at least), while indie pop duo All Us Others will also return from last year at 3:30 PM, and country/blues outfit The Barn Board Trio will make their festival debut at 2:30 PM. Again, all three days of Rotaryfest's stages are FREE and ALL AGES, so visit the above links for complete details!

And no, The Din's Facebook page teaser of "July 21, 2018" does not appear to reflect a Rotaryfest reunion, unless there's a massive secret being kept, and no one's advertising a special guest timeslot anyway. Of course, we'll let you know what that date entails when announced. This year's 3 day expansion of Stage 2 is more than welcomed, and hopefully this year's lineups get a great reception to encourage the local summer festival to keep it a multi-day event in the future! See above for more on this year's band lineup, and stay tuned for potential updates if they roll in!

We'll close today's post with a couple of surprise album releases, as local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary has two new albums on sale on his Bandcamp page! One is Mike's previously announced "The Party Album", which was quietly released on May 25th, and while I apologize for the delay in acknowledging it on the site, Mike didn't announce it's release on his Facebook page as it was. Loosely inspired by the Ontario provincial election earlier this month, "The Party Album" features 9 songs, some of which being familiar from prior postings, with Mike sharing it's song 'This Is The Funk To Believe In" via this Facebook video last month. The other new album is a complete surprise, as Mike put out "What You've Done To Me" on Wednesday, which he describes as "a personal and politically charged album" that has "a much different sound than any of my others." Specifically, this album has 7 songs, and this brings his solo discography to five original albums in a year's time, which is an impressive production rate, to be sure!

Both new albums are available on Bandcamp at the above links on a "name your price" model, but consider paying for each album to support Mike's work and talents! In terms of when we might review either album, one could come as soon as August, but with four albums newly released since the spring (not counting "Weight of the World"), I couldn't begin to predict which one we'll review next.  In any event, Mike's talents and increasingly prolific nature are shining nicely, so pick up his new and old albums above, and here's the title track of the latter album via his YouTube channel!



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