New Videos From Two Local Solo Acts, Plus Lots Of Recent Updates!!

Things have been painfully slow as of late, but I have scraped together enough content for a post on this Sunday afternoon! This is half devoted to assorted short items, but leading off, we do have some videos from a pair of very different local solo artists. Here's what you should know!

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison hosted his 27th live-streamed concert on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, so what is there to see here? Nothing on the SMS directly, unfortunately, as Tym has quietly disabled external embedding on his last few YouTube uploads for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing bad happened, and hopefully I didn't do anything wrong by embedding prior live-streams on the site! Of course, you can still watch on YouTube proper, and Tuesday's show begins about 11 minutes in with renditions of Supertramp's "The Logical Song" and Tears For Fears' "Mad World", before Tym acknowledges the dreaded return of video lag, which has been an issue on a number of his prior live-streams. Afterwards, he tackles Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud", an instrumental composition and some banter, Prince & The Revolution's "When Doves Cry", Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", and Toto's "Love Isn't Always On Time".

Tym ended the show early after that due to the video lag issues, and that was it for his live-streams last week, as he did not do a public at-home concert at all on Thursday. I have not seen an announcement as to why online, but between his internet problems & last week's immense heat, they both could have been factors. Tuesday's show was entertaining while it lasted, and the choppy video wasn't as bad as it has been, but it was still noticeable late, and he did just do the Berlin & Toto covers the previous Thursday. Again, this live-stream does not work for external embedding at the moment, but watch it above, and look for more on Tuesday, one assumes!

Next up, here's a video that I can embed, courtesy of local death/trance metal solo project Black Cloud's YouTube channel! Peytan has recently been overhauling his content there, deleting all old videos (including the "Abstract Sounds" demo again), and re-uploading his original songs "Ghost Stomp" & "Bloodbaiting". Embedded below is the only brand new upload, the self-titled song "Black Cloud", which has a nice driving riff, but the structure and intensity of the harsh vocals need some refinement. Hopefully Black Cloud keeps at it, and give their new-ish songs a listen above and below!



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

• In their first Facebook page updates in over two months, local extreme metal solo project Awokest announced that they have finished tracking for two new albums, a guitar-heavy release named "The Majestic Seagulls of Satan's Army", and an electronic-based album named "Beyonder", though they await a final mix and master. Cover artwork was shared for both as well. Time will tell if these will receive a paid release or be like Chase's prolific round of past free albums, but stay tuned for updates as they roll in!
• While there was no Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers made due with a live-streamed concert on July 2nd featuring Calgary/Toronto indie rock band The Fast Romantics and local musicians Jesse Merineau & Frank Deresti, all festival veterans. No punk or hard rock on this reduced bill, but it's great to see organizers turning lemons into lemonade in a tough year, so click here or visit the Music & Film In Motion Facebook page to see the whole show!
• New local acoustic hard rock band The Isolation Sessions are looking for a second guitarist, bassist, and drummer to round out their lineup, and are "looking to have some fun." It'd be great to see this band have a fuller profile when they can finally play live, so message guitarist Arthur Lacasse at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on June 28th for more details!
• Kewadin Casino has quietly announced that their normal live entertainment schedule at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Michigan and The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace will "tentatively" resume after August 1st, implying that live bands will be back at both locations starting with the weekend of August 7th-8th. Hopefully there are no further setbacks this month, and that Kewadin puts all possible social distancing measures into effect! For reference, Paradise Excuse frontman Mark Bowen has already announced return dates there and elsewhere on his Facebook page.
• Sault Ontario/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith has announced that episode #14 of his live-streamed #LockdownLive concerts will take place tomorrow on his Facebook page. The unusual scheduling for his first monthly episode is due to "a pretty crazy month ahead", and I believe fans were consulted on possible dates on his private fans-only Facebook group. No word on a theme, but keep watch on Mike's Facebook page tomorrow night for all of the action, with an SMS recap to follow!
• Veteran local musician Richard Overton is "looking for a drummer who loves classic rock", specifically one with "a heavy foot (and) lots of bottom end". There is already some interest, but just in case this apparent band project crosses the hard rock line, I thought I'd mention it here. Message Richard at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from June 29th for more details!

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