Let's spend this Saturday night catching up on what local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT have been up to in the past month+! As you may recall, the guys played their first show of 2025 in Toronto on January 4th, where they joined twenty-three other bands to pay tribute to beloved Toronto metalhead Walter Froebrich in the third annual Walterstock charity concert at The Rockpile, an event that they have never missed. A series of (mostly) black & white photos from the event can be seen on the band's Facebook page, and after forgoing a recap video from their fall gigs, they did put one together at Walterstock III! Unfortunately, it is a "Reel", so I can't embed it here, and you'll have to deal with the vertical resolution. This recap video (complete with bizarrely jazzy backing music) was primarily shot by guitarist Daniel Horton, and largely focuses on events before and after their set, including lots of mingling with other attendees and performers, clearly in "selfie mode", as it were.
While it looked like everyone had a great time to support live metal music and Walter's memory (look at who was crowd surfing!), fans hoping to see/hear actual live performances won't get much of that here, from the former Jack Spades or anyone else. However, if you want to see Spades rock out, they did share this proper Facebook video as well, but I won't embed it here because it took me down a rabbit hole to a much longer and more substantial Walterstock video from the same filmer! Dave Galante of the Toronto alt-rock band ZigSeven was in attendance, and posted a 3+ hour GoPro video of every single band that played at The Rockpile that night to the band's YouTube channel, so if you want a slice of the Southern Ontario metal cacophony that Spades are now a part of, don't bypass it! Each band gets varying lengths of time on camera, but Spades GT (who were the 21st of 24 bands) got just over 6 minutes of screen time, so what do you see here?
Technically, the camera was rolling for seven minutes of their set, but the first minute is spent with Dave checking out that night's charity auction (which ZigSeven was involved with), so depending on if you want to hear as much as possible or not, you'll want to hop in at 2:23:30 or 2:24:44. During the charity auction part, the guys launch into "Succubus", which we see the second half of once Dave walks over to the stage, and he kept his camera rolling for their set-closer "Final Girl" as well. Regarding their still-vacant bassist position, the guys recruited Daniel's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorhouse for Walterstock, and given that and his prior fill-in sets with Spades, he was a solid choice! Dave got some great footage of Spades GT once he made it to the stage, and kudos to him for filming what he did on what was surely a long night for both him and his GoPro's battery! Check out his full video (and his glowing sunglasses) below!
The guys have since began pre-production on their new studio album, which they will record with producer Kyle Marchant at Room 21 in Toronto once again starting on February 17th. In their Facebook post on January 22nd plugging the plans, they noted that it "feels like (it) is going to be a different year, and we are OK with that", so make of that what you will. Their post on February 2nd confirmed that the album will have 8 songs, same as "Sewer City Radio", and the attached photo featured the band's current four official members, though it remains to be seen who will play bass (note that Daniel and Matthew both can). After recording sessions wrap up, Spades GT will play two shows in March, with the first seeing them and two other bands open for guitarist Matthew Voros' psychobilly band The House Of Haunt at The Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on March 7th. The following night, they'll play their first show in their adopted hometown of Barrie for 2025.
Specifically, they're sharing the stage at "Death Till We Party" at The Queens Nightclub with the aforementioned Fast Life, Cornwall metal band Hellrager (featuring ex-Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin) and fellow Cornwall hard rockers Don't Tell Sarah. While The Fast Life have yet to play in the Soo, both Hellrager and Don't Tell Sarah have played at installments of the Northern Vibe Festival, so keep that in mind if you're in the area. Sounds like an eventful first quarter of 2025 for J.D., Dan, Matt, and Tyler, so stay tuned to the SMS for more updates from Spades GT in the future, and more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!
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