LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Hellbent), Local Promoter Updates, And Much More News & Notes!!

Before we dive into another round of weekend concert previews, here's a new news post for your Wednesday morning! This covers some some big updates from two local punk-influenced bands, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related promoter changes to keep note of. Now, with all of that said, here's what you should know!

Hamilton hardcore punk trio Hellbent will make their local concert debut when they headline at The Rockstar Bar on Sunday, October 13th!  A late addition to their 2019 Canadian tour, Hellbent are touring in support of their new EP "Dead on the Floor", and with their brutal, fast-paced, and no-nonsense original attack, they should make lots of new fans in this Thanksgiving weekend bash! Local openers are to be announced, we'll let you know when they are confirmed. Notably, this is the first punk/metal concert to be promoted by the newly-renamed Oh!No Co. following the retirement of the Six, Two, Oh. name earlier this week. Obviously taking the new moniker from the yearly festival in Leeburn, staff are citing having "great ideas" that they think will "fit better under the Oh!No banner" as the reason for the change, though note that the Six, Two, Oh. name at least partially came from inactive filmmaking company 62nd Chamber Productions, as ran by AlgomA guitarist Boyd Rendell, who hasn't visibly been involved with recent company events.

Oh!No Co.'s Facebook page is effectively the Oh!No festival page with slightly new branding (Six, Two, Oh.'s is still up, thankfully), and it gives their launch date as 2017 with the festival's inception, without crediting Six, Two, Oh.'s 2015-2016 run, or prior work as Oh! Right Arm! Productions. There, the company's current staff are given as AlgomA drummer Jamie Vincent still, now alongside Oosik Records owner/DJ Al Bjornaa, Slumshine founder/veteran punk musician Brenton Ellis, and Alex Moore. The new name will take some adjusting, but for synergy reasons and to tie in with the festival, I understand the move! The first show promoted under the Oh!No Co. name will be a psychedelic concert at The Whiskey Barrel next week headlined by Poly Trap Super Six, while a gumbo night (a'la the prior "punk rock ramen" event) will be held at the Feeding Your Soul Cafe on White Oak Drive East on October 18th, presumably as the first fundraiser for Oh!No IV.

As for the Hellbent concert (which is definitely advertised to take place upstairs at The Rockstar Bar), expect a 19+ age limit, 10:00 PM start time, and a 9:00 PM start time. With the holiday long weekend, there's all the more reason for hardcore punk fans to make it to this show next month, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and see above for more on Oh!No Co., which is now linked on the SMS, as is the festival proper in that section!

Next up, here's the latest from reunited local ska/hard rock band Tripod the Dog, who still don't have a newly updated online page to promote activity with (their Facebook group was manned by the departed Greg Beharriel), so what's new from their camp? Well, as it turns out, the Mark Oliverio-led band actually played their first advertised concert in five months this past Friday when they made their apparent debut at The Esquire Club. The venue plugged the show the day prior, and Mark himself had posted a Facebook event page on his personal account, but none of this crossed our radar last week. I profusely apologize for missing it on here, but hopefully it was a huge hit, and that we hear more in advance from Tripod the Dog in the future! Based on photos floating around personal accounts, it looks like Mark has enlisted ex-Cherry Crush/Soo Fighters bandmates John & Jonny Amendola as their new bassist and drummer, ostensibly replacing Sean Berlinguette and Brian Egglesfield.

Reasons for the lineup changes haven't been publically announced, but remember that Sean & Brian were only advertised for 2018's Rotaryfest Stage 1 set and never turned up in an online public form regarding their April show at The Rockstar Bar. Father and son Amendola always have good chemistry, and hopefully they fit in well with Tripod the Dog! Personal postings imply that their show on Friday was a hit, but when will we see this veteran band back out there? Stay tuned for more when/if it rolls in!

Finally for today, here's some new updates from local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback from earlier this month, starting with the reveal on their Facebook page that they have made official band t-shirts that are now on sale for $25 in all sizes! Designed by Celeste's Art & Photography (Celeste and bassist Matt Quinn pictured), the primary artwork takes more inspiration from tarot cards than traditional punk imagery, though you can easily make a tie to their song "Everlasting Despair", and it's a cool design! As well, A Dire Setback shared this new teaser clip for the studio version of "Kicking & Screaming" to their Facebook page and YouTube channel around that same time, which only runs for 25 seconds, but it shows us more of the song and music video than their prior teaser! The nicely put together video features a longer sample of the song, plus small preview images of the video, seemingly informing us that building vandalism is a running theme and expands beyond hurling a toilet off of the second floor.

We will know very soon how the video and full song have came out, as the final video will apparently be posted online this Saturday, so keep that date in mind. In the interim, t-shirts can be ordered through band members at the links above, and all proceeds will go towards physical printing costs for the CD. Give the video teaser a look below, and stay tuned for updates!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!