In today's news post, we're looking at some relatively overdue live concert videos from bands on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!
Let's lead off with a new video from local progressive metal band Convergence, as I surprisingly haven't talked about them in a while on here! As fans may be aware, Convergence didn't post any audio or video content from their live debut at The Pit at Soo Blaster in April, only posting teaser clips and "Reels" in the lead-up, so you had to actually be at that event to hear how they sounded as a live band, let alone with Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio on vocals (they haven't let anything with him singing from their recent studio sessions slip either). For their sophomore gig at The Upheaval at Soo Blaster three weeks ago, they did finally post a public video of the current lineup in action, so what is there to see? Just a disclaimer up front that the video has rapidly strobing red lights on the stage at Soo Blaster, so if you have any history with epileptic seizures, approach with caution. This was uploaded to their Facebook page on July 1st and is 72 seconds long.
Thankfully shot horizontally, this features the guys playing an original song, and if you were curious about Stephen's singing in this band, he does do harsh metal screaming primarily, so don't go into this expecting a reprise of The Saturday Nights or his stage musical work. Obviously not a full song, but the brutal technicality is well sampled here, and hopefully things went in their Rotaryfest Stage 2 debut today, rain acknowledged! Check out this new video below, and look for more from Convergence soon!
Next up, here's new videos from a band that played at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Friday (albeit from a prior gig), namely local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations! On July 1st, they headlined the Canada Day festivities at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn had her camera rolling, filming ten videos from their sets that evening that made their way into a batch post (along with photos) on their Facebook group the following morning. Dawn filmed Generations doing songs with all four band members on lead vocals, with frontwoman Valerie Powley fronting covers of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69", Nazareth's "Turn On Your Reciever", and Nick Gilder's "Roxy Roller". Tony S. handled lead vocals on covers of Trooper's "We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time)", The Sheepdogs' "Take Me For A Ride", Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind Of Wonderful", ...
...and Stealers Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle With You". Bassist Pierre Anthony did the honours on David Wilcox's "Do The Bearcat", while guitarist Tony Kajnar sung lead on Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle". At least as far as what was filmed, Generations' set looked to be at least half Cancon, which is great for July 1st, and above & beyond what the CRTC wants for radio stations! While Dawn did get some horizontal photos, all of her videos here were shot vertically, which is never ideal (why accentuate the low crowd levels on the floor like this). That aside, these are solid and lively performances, and props for the custom Canada Day shirts! Do give Generations' July 1st videos from under the tent above, and in a nod to Canada Day, here's "Summer Of '69"!
Now let's head to Sault Michigan for some new videos from bands across the river, starting with local hard rock quintet Exit 808, whose next gig after their Walloon Lake debut last month saw them return to Republic (3½ hours west of here) on June 20th where they took part in the third annual Drewpalooza, a birthday/charity fundraiser concert at The Pine Grove Bar there. Exit 808 have made the drive there each year that it's been held, and five videos from this year made their way to their Facebook page. The first was actually a brief clip of Marquette alt-rock band Jasno's set that afternoon, with Exit 808 co-headlining the night #2 lineup before Marquette notables Spun headlined. Exit 808's set saw the return of guitarist Alex Zimmerman after he was on vacation during the Walloon Lake concert. while former guitarist Nathan Webber made the trip for this one once again.
Attendee Angie Hood is to thank for the other four videos, with her personal Facebook videos being shared onto Exit 808's page after the fact. The videos see them covering Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" with No Expectations singer Drew Collister on guest lead vocals (Amy & Dillion backed him), Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild" and Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" with Dillion Semasky on lead vocals, but embedded below is their cover of Volbeat's new single "By A Monster's Hand", which has Amy singing more than on the other clips. Alas, all of Angie's videos were shot vertically, and the audio can be quite scratchy, but the performances are sound, so check them out for yourselves above & below!
Let's close with a long overdue piece about newer local punk/hard rock trio About:Blank, who I completely forgot to address re: their Musicians Unite fundraiser concert set at Bird's Eye Outfitters in March. I think that was partly because, in John Bullman's official media from the Mary Jo Jenkins benefit concert, his video from About:Blank's set was just of set-up prior to it. I don't think any proper videos of their set were publically uploaded on social media after the fact, but let's make up for lost time for Parker, Nathan (as seen above with Exit 808) and Cade via their set opening for Dick Texas and Violet Scum at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in May. Uploaded to their Facebook page on May 6th, this has About:Blank playing an original song named "Tweak". Filmed from a good close angle, this is an energetic performance with strong pointed vocals from Parker, so check out About:Blank's Pickles video below!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
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