Tym Morrison Concert Preview, Plus News From Vanity First & Raincourt/Sylo!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert in this weekend's concert previews, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck played a normal concert at Reggie's West on Friday night. The show was not announced on the band's Facebook page, though singer/guitarist Terry Eaton did launch a Facebook event page on his personal account (albeit on the day of the gig), and it notably featured guest bassist Cory Valentine (who previously filled in with Soundcheck in 2019) in place of Paul Belair. I profusely apologize for missing this show, I'd have covered it had it got any kind of public advance notice, but hopefully it was a hit! Soundcheck played a private event in Echo Bay last night.

Now, let's dive into today's post, starting with a concert preview, as local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for his third Sunday matinee gig there TODAY! Tym previously played there on July 24th and 31st before ceding way to Leslie Cook for two weeks, and after Shooters skipped this past Sunday for a matinee performer, Tym is back for a third go-around this afternoon! If you like his unplugged classic and hard rock covers, let alone while beating the heat as we bring August to a close, don't miss out on today's action on Dennis Street if you can help it! He should be back at The Mike Case Memorial Stage to end the month on Wednesday, and at Shooters next Sunday, for the record. This show has a 3:00 PM start time, a 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

Today's post covers otherwise has recent updates and/or videos from two different local bands, and we'll start with the apparent demise of a young local hard rock band as we knew them, namely Raincourt. In a post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Thursday, guitarist/namesake Raine Rancourt posted looking to join local bands in need of a lead guitarist, and while he plays hard rock & heavy metal, he's open to alternative, punk, and other genres. In the comments, he confirmed that he not still in the band Raincourt, and given that they're named for him, that's very surprising! Raincourt last posted on their Facebook page on June 16th to hype the imminent release of their second single "War Times", and never even promoted their set at Go Skateboarding Day later that month. Raincourt only launched in August of last year, and were primarily seen at events held on campus at White Pines Collegiate & Vocational School.

My first thought was that the band may have ended due to the end of the school year (young local bands going out with their Grade 12 year has happened), but that doesn't appear to be the case. If you look up Raincourt's singles "Penny Arcade" & "War Times" on YouTube or streaming services, they are no longer listed under that band name, rather Sylo, which is the name you may recall being used by a mystery band who opened for Vanity First during the Harmony Beach clean-up gig from last month. Based on personal Facebook posts, it looks like Sylo are basically Raincourt minus Rancourt, and Elijah, Owen, and Jakob reportedly played together at Reggie's Place on August 13th (apologies again for missing that, I still didn't know who Sylo were then). From what I've seen, a reason for Raine's departure from the band was not publically announced. At this juncture, they have not rebranded Raincourt's Facebook page or visibly launched a new one.

Given how big Raine hyped up Raincourt in his Boar's Nest interview in April, this didn't seem like an option so soon, and while it looks like the rest of the band stuck together, a name change was necessary if Raine left. Hopefully Raine gets a new band going soon, he's a very talented guitarist with a lot of upside, and we'll keep you posted when more comes out on Sylo! For now, I have renamed the band to Sylo in our active band links.

Finally, here's the latest from the aforementioned local punk trio Vanity First, who have advertised two more concerts on their Facebook page this month, both at private residences (including the locale of one of their gigs last month). I'm hesitant to cover shows at locations like this, but hopefully the Harmony Beach gig yesterday was successful, as well as their show next month! Their other big new update is that they released a new single named "Get Out" to major streaming services and their YouTube channel on August 16th! Do not listen to it on Facebook though, as it was, believe it or not, partially muted due to a copyright claim, meaning that Facebook flagged their own upload of the song for matching itself on other services! Amazing. The song proper feels very reminiscent of Pennywise musically (if not lyrically), and while Andrew's vocals don't always mesh on the chorus, it's a solid modern punk track! Give it a listen below!

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