LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Curtis McKenzie), New Videos, And Much More!!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far! Today's post features new videos, updates from a prominent local hard rock musician, some assorted recent notes, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this summer, so here's what you should know!

Former Haggith/Project 421 frontman Curtis McKenzie will bring his revived solo act back to The Dive Gastro Pub for a third time on Thursday, August 8th! Unlike his two shows there earlier this month, Curt's show in August will be indoors as part of the former Low & Slow's "Think It Over Thursday" series of acoustic musicians inside the 648 Queen Street East nightclub. Hopefully Curtis' brand of hard rock and grunge covers go over just as well the third time out, so keep this show in mind, especially if you can swing coming out on a work night! Note that Curt has shared his setlist from his two Saturday patio gigs at The Dive onto his Facebook page, where he has played three sets a night of 11 or 14 songs apiece. No originals from his past bands, but fans of them won't be alienated by what he's covering! This is a 6:00 PM event with a 19+ age limit and no cover. See above for more details!

Next up, let's stay at The Dive for one of the first videos on their Facebook page from one of their acoustic concerts, specifically from their "Patio Play" outdoor show on Saturday, June 15th headlined by former Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer! Of course, Jason has resumed playing solo shows this year after a four year hiatus, last seen unplugged at The Rockstar Bar in 2020. The Dive's live-streamed video is of him covering Shinedown's "Symptom Of Being Human", a song that I'm honestly not a fan of, but the 29 second clip is well shot with good quality, and it's nice to see video of him performing again! Is this indicative of a hard rock-leaning set in this day and age? Not yet sure, but check it out below!

Also today, let's look at Curtis McKenzie's old bandmate Mike Haggith, so what has he been up to from Barrie as of late? Along with sharing this picture of the Barrie-based musicians' jam space Just Some Noise (no word on if he's working on full band shows down south or not), Mike confirmed that his local live backing band for summer festivals (Northern Vibe among them) in this photo, and while the instrumentalists were already confirmed via jam videos earlier in the year, Mike will 100% welcome back ex-Re:Born singer and 2023 Soo's Got Talent finalist Elly McWatters as a backing vocalist too! Note that in his recent full band shows here, Elly has only sung on select tracks later in the set. Barring an interim announcement, you'll next see Mike and crew at Rotaryfest next month, and hopefully his knee cooperates this time! We do have a new video to share, but it's not what you may be thinking!

On June 13th, Mike (a known baseball fan) was asked to sing "O Canada" before an Intercounty Baseball League game between his adopted hometown Barrie Baycats and the Brantford Red Sox, and Baycats games are live-streamed for free on their YouTube channel! Now, that game was postponed early on due to rain, but Mike's anthem performance made it into the stream beforehand (he walks out at 4:48, and is introduced at 5:30). Mike sings well here, and his deep voice does translate nicely to the anthem, so it's an interesting watch, even if they only got to play ball for a few minutes! 100 copies of his CDs were also to be given out to fans in the stadium. Check out Mike singing "O Canada" below!

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

 

• In promotional images for Saturday's It's The Pits festival in Leeburn on the Facebook event page, the one for local crossover thrash/punk trio Hails features individual photos of four members, the extra one being guitarist Mikhal Muto's brother Carmen, who guested with Ha!ls at The Distraction last month and with Mikhal & Keeghan's other band Vanity First in April. That image aside, Hails have not confirmed Carmen's status with the band on their own social media accounts, but if he's only involved part time like with Vanity First, they could always list him on their Facebook bio with "Rip It Sometimes"! We'll let you know if we get clarification!
• SooToday contributor Chris Belsito interviewed Saultite metal guitarist Matt Hanchuck for this article late last month! There, Matt talked about his local upbringing before moving to Thunder Bay in the early 2000s, leading to discussion of his day jobs since and his more recent work as the guitarist in the higher profile metal bands Wreck-Defy and Gutter Creek (oddly, his show with Gutter Creek at Soo Blaster in September 2022 was not mentioned). Good article that fills in what Matt has been up to in the past decade musically, and it's be great to see him play another show here!
• Minnesota hair metal band Vixen (who are among the openers for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 20th) have announced the addition of Rosa Laricchiuta as their new lead singer, replacing Lorraine Lewis (click here for details). A native of Montreal, Rosa finished in third place on Quebec's version of The Voice (La Voix) in 2015, and later had stints as a vocalist with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and The Headpins, so she definitely has the chops! Lineup changes for touring bands with announced dates here are not common, but hopefully Rosa will add to the experience for Vixen fans in St. Ignace, Michigan next month!

 

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