Single topic second post today, featuring the latest from local/Barrie alt-hard rock solo musician
Mike Haggith (last month's live-stream aside, though it is coming), so what's new to report from him? As you may recall, Mike returns to Sault Ste. Marie for the first time this year on Friday, May 26th when he shares the stage with local musician, photographer, and radio host
Brian Tremblay for
Face To Face, a VH1 Storytellers-esque evening of music and stories about their music at
The Art Hub on Spring.
Mike's website confirms that not only is this event being recorded for a planned live album (it's not 100% clear if it will feature Brian's songs too or not), but it will be available on vinyl records through Mike's Morningstar Records label! The implication is that you might hear your own voice on vinyl if you attend, though whether this is purely via audience cheering or further crowd involvement (questions for the artists?!) is not yet known.
Mike also confirmed on
his Facebook page that video cameras will be rolling throughout the night. The planned complimentary food/beverages are still on the table, along with a "top-secret special prize" for one lucky winner, presumably as a door prize draw. It'll be an interesting & informative evening based on what we've heard so far, so
click here to get your tickets! Regarding the aforementioned
MorningStar Records, Mike has finally launched the label proper beyond teasers and as a solo imprint, and you can visit
its website for complete details. In short, Mike calls this "a different kind of label" and a "label minus the label" where artists produce their own material at their own pace and in their own environment, then "affiliate" (not sign) with MorningStar to host the material and have physical copies printed through Kunaki, while still retaining ownership of your own music.
Affiliated artists are hosted on MorningStar's website for digital sales and artist biographies, and won't go bankrupt for the privilege, just paying some small overhead/labour fees so it is as artist friendly as humanly possible. If this interests you,
click here for Mike's lengthy write-up on MorningStar, and e-mail
contact@morningstarrecords.com for any extra questions. Though Mike moved from the Soo in 2017, MorningStar Records has absolutely been promoted to local musicians as well as Mike's contacts in Manitoba, Southern Ontario, and afar via connections made from Your Music Live and You Rock!, so ideally it will have a wide reach. Alongside Mike himself & his old local power pop/hard rock trio
The Din, industrial metal solo project
Molten Imp, jam rock veterans
Odd Man Out, and the aforementioned
Brian Tremblay have all affiliated with MorningStar so far, among other non-local acts.
If you're curious in an SMS-covered sense,
Molten Imp's biography is purely hype and teasers along with relevant links, so there's nothing broken in terms of news yet re: Morningstar output, but I am admittedly behind on recent Molten Imp news from their own social media accounts. Lastly from Mike's recent activity (the live-stream aside) is that he unveiled a
lot about his upcoming studio album "All The Best In All You Do" via
this lengthy write-up on the MorningStar website, so what do we learn about it there? Within the deep elaboration on the concepts and themes of the album/lyrics, we know that the album's ten songs in order are "All You Do", "Twist Of Fate", "Hot & Cold", "If Only You Could Hear Me", "Carousel", "I've Seen It Before", "Love Will Light The Way", "The Start Of Something Real", "To Be With You", and "All The Best". The first half will be darker and themed around grief, before going optimistic.
While the album will be available on "all streaming platforms", those who buy it on Bandcamp will get bonus songs under the name "All The Rest To Get You Through" which will include originals not yet heard publically as well as a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City". In terms of guests, the only one listed by name is
Hetriani, a Southern Ontario-based metal guitarist who Mike likely discovered via being featured in episodes of
Your Music Live With Pete Johns, and who will feature with solos on "Hot & Cold". Also worth noting that there will be a flute solo on "The Start Of Something Real", though if Mike isn't channeling Lizzo there, I don't know who is. Mike gives a lot more details on the songs as compositions and for the themes they embody, but if you want to be more surprised, you may want to hold off on reading all of the write-up. In any event, when is "All The Best In All You Do" coming out?
Mike says that it is "targeted for release this summer", which basically implies any point between June and August, whereupon it'll join our monthly album review backlog (it'd be reviewed in the fall at this rate). There's a lot of excitement ahead for Mike as a musician and now as a record label owner, and fans should be excited at a busy mid-late 2023 to come, so visit the above links for much more on Mike & MorningStar, and weekend concert previews are on the way next! Thanks everyone!
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