New Videos And More Recent News & Notes!!

Before we dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, here's a new news post to check out on this stormy Wednesday night, which wraps up with some assorted recent updates, but let's lead off with a batch of new videos, starting another new video from local/Barrie punk/metal quartet Spades GT! This comes from Toronto filmmaker Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group, who filmed and edited this seven minute clip for the band, and be advised that while the YouTube video is unlisted there, Spades' Facebook page shared the clip publically earlier today. The video was shot at their set opening for Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, and it features the absolute best quality video footage I've seen of Spades (Jack or GT), but it's not just about that, as Aidan also filmed new band members Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner prepping for the show and driving to the venue (meeting up with J.D. and Dan there).

You also see the guys setting up for their gear & some one-on-one remarks outside The Rockpile before we get soundcheck and performance footage taking up most of the last 2½ minutes. Nice little "Inside Baseball" look at Spades GT getting ready for a concert in their current era, and again, the video quality is excellent for the performance clips, as brief as they are! It'd be awesome if Aidan could post the whole unedited set, but if you want to watch the whole thing from another attendee, check back on the SMS by the weekend. Check things out below, and look for a couple of cameos by Anvil drummer Robb Reiner (Tyler's dad!)

Next up, here's another new video of new local acoustic hard rock (and online page-less) duo Short & Sweet from the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as per frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel once again! Why he's staggering uploads like this, I'm not sure, but it does mean that we're covering Short & Sweet more frequently! This time out, you will see him and Kyle covering another Seether song, namely "Wasteland" (definitely not the same named song by 10 Years). Another strongly handled cover that's effectively pared down to an acoustic duo format, in spite of some jittery camera work, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's the latest from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown, who revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that their second show with their current lineup will take place on July 13th.... in Chesterfield Township, outside of Detroit. Alas, no local dates yet, hopefully at some point soon! Specifically, they'll be opening for Nonpoint (of "Bullet With A Name" and "Left For You" fame) that night at the Diesel Concert Lounge, so click here for details on that show if you're so inclined. In the video proper, singer Brandon West (who randomly loses his shirt midway through) and guitarist Ted Olson are bantering with someone off camera while allegedly signing their contract to open for this concert, before plugging the show proper. They also have tickets to sell for $20 a piece (message them for details), so this may be one of those "openers pay to perform and sell tickets to offset the cost" situations that you see more of in larger markets.

Still a huge deal for H.L.T.C. to open for a name band like this, let alone in their second show with this lineup (this will be huge for Jaxon especially), so give the announcement video at this link! I cannot embed the video here due to Facebook content matching the music in the video, even though it is from Heavy Lies The Crown's own album.

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

• I have moved Sault Ontario alternative/grunge solo project Kush Wood to our inactive band links, having not updated their Facebook page since sharing a meme in May of last year. Project leader Kristien Woodcock had been active recording original content since 2015, and he had a good thing going despite us only discovering his work last summer, so hopefully he picks things back up for Kush Wood in due course!
• As per their Facebook page last month, local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp has left Bandcamp (at least for now) to devote more resources to uploading new material on a perceived overlooked platform, namely Soundcloud, while also introducing a Patreon account for paid backers to get exclusive content. As such, their prior paid virtual singles can now be heard for free on Soundcloud, albeit without the paid buyer-exclusive bonus tracks. Sounds like Boyd's thinking outside the box a little for his imminent music work, but we'll see how things ahead go for Molten Imp!
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will hit the road for DeTour Village (70 minutes southeast of the Soo) this Saturday for a free outdoor concert at their marina as part of DeTour Village's summer concert series! Now, DeTour Village is just outside of our coverage range (it and Drummond Island are really the only parts of Chippewa County that are more than hour's drive away), but if you're up for a drive or live near the southeast tip of the county, you'll see Rhythm & Brews at DeTour's marina on Saturday at 6:00 PM, and hopefully things go well!
   

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