LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (A Dire Setback), Treble Charger Updates, And New Videos!!

Let's tackle some big recent news and updates on this Saturday night post, so what's on tap? An unexpected live cover video from a recent private event, a teaser for an upcoming music video, a very prominent local band's long awaited album confirmation, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month! Here's what you should know!

A special fundraiser concert named "Arts Against Homelessness" will hit The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, October 6th featuring a number of familiar faces! Presented by Live705 in association with Suzie Deplonty and Celeste's Art & Photography (who you may recall from 2017's Guy Thiffault tribute concert), this event is being put on to raise money for St. Vincent Place, the men's shelter on Albert Street East. Very worthy cause that I'm surprised hasn't had more concerts held in it's name, hopefully this is a smash hit! As you can see on the poster, the performing acts aren't laid out in a way where I could state the lineup order, but here's who to look for. Naturally for Live705's non-death metal concerts, their resident alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play this event, as well as power rock quartet Re:Born in their first show in almost three months. The rest of the lineup is of the hip-hop/DJ oeuvre, including DJ Seith and his duo project Planet Rock in separate sets, plus Christian rapper Bold Noize and deep house DJ Bobby Lawn.

A $10 admission fee is set for Arts Against Homelessness, either at the door or at this link, while canned food donations will net you raffle tickets, with multiple prizes promised. Yes, this is a 19+ event, and it starts at 9:00 PM. Live705 haven't put on an all-local concert with no touring acts since 2017, so this concert is welcomed on that note alone, but with a great charitable cause and a diverse lineup of rock and rap music to take in, I am hopeful this is a huge success for St. Vincent Place! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and Celeste's Photography is belatedly now linked on the SMS! She does great work, check out her page for lots more!

Next up, here's the latest from local/Toronto indie/punk standouts Treble Charger, who we haven't heard anything from publically since Rotaryfest last year, so what are they up to? Well, according to this new Sault Star article from Brian Kelly last month, they are indeed working on a new studio album! This had been teased in prior shows and interviews for a while, but the article confirms that they began work on the follow-up to 2002's "Detox" about six months ago. Four or five demos are recorded, though the sessions are on hold until the new recording studio at the Algoma Conservatory of Music (that frontman Greig Nori is managing) is completed, with Greig wanting the album proper to be recorded there. The article also notes that Bill Priddle's Pointless bandmate Dustin Goodall is recording bass for the album, which is a huge feather in his cap to be sure, but it's not firmly stated whether he's just a session musician or if he is their first full-time bassist since their original breakup.

No sign there regarding who's drumming on the album, but recent candidates may include their most recent live drummer Ian McKay, Richard Mulligan (who Wikipedia still lists as their drummer without credited sources), or Bill & Dustin's Pointless bandmate David Peredun. I will be honest, I had briefly moved Treble Charger to our inactive band links early last month due to their year+ wait for public updates, but it's a good thing I didn't write anything about that before this broke! It's great to see Treble Charger hard at work on a new CD, so stay tuned for updates as they trickle in!

We'll close today with new videos, starting by going back to the aforementioned A Dire Setback, who released a teaser for their first ever music video to their YouTube channel on Thursday! The song in question is "Kicking & Screaming", and this was shot by rising local filmmakers Poindexter Productions with editing by the aforementioned Celeste Maurer. This just a one minute teaser for the full video, which will apparently be released in two weeks on September 21st. Curiously, it's just a 6x repeated clip of frontman Chris Nielsen throwing a toilet out of the second floor of a building for yet-unknown reasons, as set to the opening/chorus of the song. As such, if you've seen the first 10 seconds, you've seen the whole thing, but getting to hear a brief snippet of the final studio copy of the song is cool! Note that the video description says that A Dire Setback's debut album "will be released at the end of 2019." Will that hold? Time will tell, but give the teaser a look below, and watch for the full video in two weeks!

Finally, here's a surprise cover that just popped up on Facebook on Tuesday. Some readers may recall The Freshwater Sirens, a mid-2010s alternative/indie rock duo featuring ex-Danger Cats frontwoman Kate Hatherley (nee Drew) and her old Apocrytha bandmate Cody Gagnon. The Sirens weren't a hard rock band, so we didn't actively cover them in their heyday, but they had talent & chemistry, and are worth a look for genre fans. I bring them up here because their Facebook page is still used for updates on members' solo pursuits, and their newest update comes from Cody's recent wedding, where the band hired for the occasion were local pop rock cover quartet The Killer Hooks. For at least one song, Cody (still in her wedding dress, mind you) joined the band to cover The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", and the solid quality video captures everyone firing on all cylinders!

Cody's got a nice voice that hits all the high notes on this glam rock throwback hit, and Killer Hooks fans know they have the heavier chops when need be, and it's great to see this guest spot come together on a huge night! Give the full video a look below, and congratulations to Cody on the nuptials!



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