Handsome Sandwich News & Updates, Plus A New Drum Cover Video!!

To try and get some of the news backlog cleared out, here's another full news post on this Tuesday morning, including a new drum cover video, and leading off, lots of updates from a prominent local band in the midst of quite a big week, so here's what you should know!

Here's some more recent news and updates from local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, in advance of their CD release concert at The Loft this Saturday night! Our preview of that is coming later in the week, but there is more to talk about in the interim, starting with the confirmation on their Facebook page on April 14th that they will return to the Northern Vibe Festival in nearby Ophir in late August! The band debuted their new lineup twice over at the last two installments of this event, so it makes sense for them to return, but of course, it may be a while before we hear what day they're playing on. Organizers never released daily schedules in the past two years, and didn't do so for the DJ centric River Stage's lineup reveal last month. For the record, the full band lineup for the Forest Stage is expected to be announced soon, and we'll keep you posted when they announce everything, with or without dates.

To promote their recent activity, SooToday contributor/musician Chris Belsito spotlighted them in another article on April 27th, which features interview remarks from all five band members, including guitarist "Jessie Cooks" (odd typos there!). The article features talk of the positive response to the band's first two music videos (an unidentified friend of the band in Great Britain apparently covered "Better Off" in some form), technical details on their video shoots, saxophonist Josh Norling's contribution to "No Entry" (if not the video for it), and hype for Saturday night's release concert. The biggest scoop in the SooToday article is that they're planning to return to the studio to record a five song EP with Treble Charger frontman Greig Nori at the Algoma Conservatory of Music this fall, with a single planned to be recorded first "within the next couple of weeks". Remember also that they teased recording the release show in some form.

Informative and positive article that hypes up Handsome Sandwich's upward momentum towards the release show on Saturday, so give it a read above! While there were a few vague teasers about the release plans for their debut album "Deconstructed", the band confirmed on their Facebook page on Friday that the album will be released on CDs and not just via digital downloads and streaming services, and they're going the DIY route here rather than getting them packaged and sent back from afar. The album cover proper was unveiled on Saturday, and can be seen on the right. Kind of shows the titular sandwich in progress, as it takes some effort to get it to be handsome! Finally from the Sandwich crew, they posted a new video interview conducted by the aforementioned Greig Nori with drummer Johnny Belanger and release concert openers Man Feelings' guitarist Paul Gabrylewicz yesterday, so what do you learn here?

In the video, Greig promotes the release concert proper, and asks Johnny about the recording of and release plans for "Deconstructed", while asking Paul (a.k.a. Gabby) about his vision for "collaborative creativity" and Man Feelings' existing studio output, plus both Johnny & Paul's support for fellow local musicians and their past shows together. Not a deep expose or anything, but good promotion and it's interesting seeing Greig front and center here (gives me old disBand vibes!). Check out much more from Handsome Sandwich above and below, and look for our preview of the release show proper on Thursday or Friday!

Finally for today, let's hop across to St. Ignace, Michigan for a new cover video from Heavy Lies The Crown drummer Jaxon Massaway's YouTube channel!  In the description for the video below on March 31st, Jaxon revealed that he had a full drum setup at home again, and plans to begin posting drum covers there, starting with this one of Breaking Benjamin's "Sooner Or Later". Playing in a well lit room, the cover (along with the original studio track) is solidly done, but I'd move the camera next time, as Jaxon's head is right behind a cymbal at this camera angle. Give it a look below, and if you like country, give his guitar covers of country songs from last month a look as well, as he has musical range!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!