It's been a busy two weeks for local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, with both live concerts and hype for their upcoming studio album "United" to address, so what have the guys been up to since we last left off with them on June 3rd? The following day, the band announced details for their album release party at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto in July 5th, confirming there that the opening bands will be York Region punk band G.F.U. and guitarist Daniel Horton's other band The Fast Life, both of which have played with Spades on numerous occasions since their 2021 relaunch. The rest of the concert updates will primarily interest fans in the G.T.A., but keep it in mind if you'll be down south then! On June 6th, the former Jack Spades revealed the cover artwork for "United" on their Facebook page, which features a black spade-shaped jigsaw puzzle with four pieces, one not in place. Shouldn't it be completely "united" like the album name?
Are the four puzzle pieces a reference to the band's then-four members who recorded the album (they were in between bassists during the recording sessions), and if so, does the ajar piece represent one of them specifically? Liner notes for the album were also shared, hinting that the album will have at least some level of a CD pressing. As seen in this image shared from the liner photos, the band thanked a number of names, including producer Kyle Marchant (who produced both of the Spades GT-era albums at Room 21 in Toronto) and graphic designer Brandon Ross of BJR Graphics (who made the album artwork), but the other names may hint at the album's guest performers. One is former Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin, who was shown in a teaser video from the recording sessions, and another is Fast Life frontman Andrew Moorehouse, who (like Jay) also guested on 2023's "Sewer City Radio".
Spades had said on their Facebook page in February that the last day of recording sessions would feature "gang vocals", but never posted a teaser video from that day, so is that a hint as to Andrew's contributions here? Also credited is Julien Dos Santos, a.k.a. Mersinary, a rapper from the G.T.A., confirming the band's tease in April to have "a wicked feature" from the hip hop label Reel Wolf Productions. Should be an interesting styles clash there! Current Spades GT bassist Sean MacNab is thanked as well, and is included in the band photography in the liner notes, but he joined the band a few weeks after the sessions wrapped up. If we hear that he will be included musically on the final product in some form, we'll let you know! In their first of three concerts this month, Spades returned to their Barrie homebase on Wednesday to open for drummer Tyler Reiner's old band Selias at The Queens Nightclub, so what should you know from that night?
Frequently teased as "the last one (in Barrie) for a while" in the lead-up, their usual vertical recap video from the proceedings was posted to their Facebook page on Friday the 13th. The first half is focused on the guys mingling outside of the venue with locals while hyping up the concert proper, and what appears to be a studio track from the new album can be previewed underneath the video itself. In the second half, we see the guys setting up for and playing at The Queens, though why the jazzy instrumental track, I couldn't tell you. Why not have the raw concert audio in the recaps? It's still recapping the show just as well, moreso if we can actually hear pieces of the set! Still well edited, so give it a watch below!
Also on Friday the 13th, Spades GT revealed the official track listing for "United" on their Facebook page, with all eight songs confirmed in this image (likely the back cover of CD copies), though we don't yet know which songs have guest performers, let alone if Daniel will be on bass for all songs on offer. The advance single postings still await (the title track drops first on Saturday), but the second advance single is spelled "Demons", so the prior reference to the song having an A in the title was obviously a typo. Lastly for this post, the guys rocked Windsor for the first time that night when they opened for Devilz By Definition at The Cherry Rock Lounge. As plugged beforehand with this video of the full band hyping the show outside, the Windsor recap video made it to Facebook yesterday, this time with over 6 minutes of vertical action! The first 2½ minutes captures the band's commute to Windsor.
A lot of references are made to the guys being very close to Detroit and the American border, which is old hat for J.D. and Dan given their years in the Soo! For a change, we do get some raw live audio from Spades' set, as we see the guys playing "Sewer City Radio" at the 3:42 mark, albeit for just 19 seconds. The video ends with the guys remarking on their set, hyping their next show in Toronto, playing arcade games and even arm wrestling inside the venue, and heading home, but not before a stop at Tim Hortons. I'd still prefer full songs to heavily edited recap videos, let alone vertical ones, but this is an improvement on the Barrie recap video in every way for what I like from local artist videos, so give it a watch below!
We're caught up anew for Spades GT updates, but with two Toronto shows ahead and a new album release, fans will soon be "united" in anticipation for their new studio material and more big happenings, so it'll be interesting to hear what J.D., Daniel, Matthew, Sean, and Tyler have in store in the coming weeks! Visit the above links for more from Spades' camp, raise 'em up and cause a scene, and stay tuned for more news this week! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment