We'll take a pause from news and video posts today to close up last month's poll and launch our last of our "favourite _____ of 2019" polls! As you may recall, I posed this question to you guys last month:
"What was your favourite local metal, hard rock, or punk concert of 2019?" Sadly, we only got 6 votes (down from the first half of 2019 poll), but despite that, there is a clear winner, so here are the final results from the past month!
Michale Graves at The Canadian Nightclub on September 28th (2 votes, 33%)
Dany Laj & B.A. Johnston at The New A on November 9th (1 vote, 16.75%)
Oh!No III (night #2) in Leeburn on September 7th (1 vote, 16.75%)
Random Killing at The Rockstar Bar on July 5th (1 vote, 16.75%)
Other (1 vote, 16.75%)
The Inner City Surfers at LopLops Lounge on August 3rd (0 votes)
Black Crown Initiate at The Rockstar Bar on August 3rd (0 votes)
Mike Haggith at Outspoken Brewing on August 10th (0 votes)
Oh!No III (night #1) in Leeburn on September 6th (0 votes)
The Cancer Bats at Soo Blaster on September 12th (0 votes)
Late & Loud at The Rockstar Bar on October 10th (0 votes)
Parabol at Soo Blaster on October 12th (0 votes)
Halloween Party at The Rockstar Bar on November 1st (0 votes)
The Ripcordz at The Rockstar Bar on November 9th (0 votes)
The Offspring at GFL Memorial Gardens on November 19th (0 votes)
Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide at LopLops on December 21st (0 votes)
What do you guys think? The lack of votes meant that popular and notable shows were liable to not get represented, and that was certainly the case here. Between The Offspring & Sum 41 at the Gardens, the latest Ripcordz concert, the return of The Cancer Bats, and the well-received Inner City Surfers and Lion Ride show, imagine how this poll would look if a different group of 6 people voted! Of the single-voted shows ("Other" aside), I'm not surprised at all that Random Killing and the most substantial night of the Oh!No festival got in, but I was surprised that the Dany Laj & The Looks/B.A. Johnston show got a vote over certain ones that didn't. The winner, and only concert with multiple votes, was the Michale Graves-headlined concert at The Canadian in September, and that was definitely a fun and well-anticipated concert for Misfits and/or punk fans alike, and hopefully we'll get more shows of a similar scope at some point down the road! Thanks to everyone who voted!
As for this month's poll, we are uniting the four shows with votes this month and the six that got votes in our first half of 2019 poll last year for this final summative question:
What was your favourite local metal, hard rock, or punk concert of 2019? Now we can see what you guys thought was your favourite show in this entire 12 month span, back when concerts could actually happen (what a concept!) Concerts that did not get a vote in either half-year poll are
not included, but as always, "Other" is here if you need it. Now, here are the concerts you can vote on!
Bands: The Cover-Up,
Destroilet,
Jack Spades,
members of Northwest,
Coral Fang,
The Elements, and
Stegadeth
Venue: Both floors of The Algonquin Hotel
Date: March 2nd
Info: Following
Joni Radford's death in January 2019 after a lengthy cancer battle, her
friends in the music community banded together to host a memorial
concert in her memory at The Algonquin Hotel, with seven punk bands
playing across
both floors of the venue. A huge crowd come out to
honour Joni and rock out with this stacked lineup, including a rare
Cover-Up headlining set and Destroilet's only show in the last 3 years, but
would you vote for it in this poll?
Bands: Parabol & The Elements (as "Scar Tissue")
Venue: The Rockstar Bar
Date: March 23rd
Info: While
Ozzy fans flocked to The Canadian that same night, Tool fans instead headed to The
Rockstar Bar, as local Tool tribute Parabol continued
their early promise with another well recieved local concert date! This
talented group knows Tool hits inside and out, and fans got more than
their fill on this night, with The Elements playing an all-Red Hot Chili
Peppers cover set to kick off the night! Was this tribute show your
favourite of 2019?
Bands: The Tea Party &
The Proud Sons
Venue: The Machine Shop
Date: March 27th
Info: After
previously rocking the Soo in July 2017 after a lengthy local absence,
Windsor hard rock veterans The Tea Party returned for another headlining
concert, this time at The Machine Shop (and with paid, 19+ admission.)
Fans ate up their familiar rock radio hits, with Winnipeg
southern rock band The Proud Sons impressing with their own rising
originals to kick off the night. Would you vote for this concert over
all others listed here?
Bands: The Killer Dwarfs &
Re:Born
Venue: Soo Blaster
Date: April 27th
Info: 1980s
and early 1990s hair metal fans flocked to Soo Blaster in April to see
Oshawa hair metal legends The Killer Dwarfs and their amusing stage show
back in town after a lengthy absence, as put on and well advertised by Wawa-News & Rock Talk columnist Ernest Skinner. While a battle of
the bands to find openers never panned out, power rock quartet
Re:Born's new lineup delivered a fitting opening set! Would you vote for
this concert?
Bands: Dopethrone,
AlgomA, and
Shit Liver
Venue: The New American Pub
Date: May 20th
Info: The former Six,
Two, Oh. brought another hard hitting night of doom and death metal to
The New A last year, with Montreal "slutch metal" band
Dopethrone making their local concert debut with a suitably slow and
crushing set! Also featuring local death metal standouts (and "Trading
Faces" splitmates) AlgomA & Shit Liver in their only local concert
appearances in the past 2 years, was this brutal concert your top pick of
these twelve months?
Bands: Anvil,
Striker, Jack Spades, and Re:Born
Venue: Soo Blaster
Date: June 9th
Info: What
originally was announced as just a Striker concert with Re:Born opening
soon doubled in size and scope when Toronto metal legends Anvil and
fellow locals Jack Spades were added on, making this one of the early
highlights of the summer concert season! Anvil's very familiar metal on
metal and Striker's old school NWOBHM-influenced sound paired well with
the attending crowd, but were you there to vouch for it here?
Bands: Random Killing, Jack Spades, and
The Sick Sons
Venue: The Rockstar Bar
Date: July 5th
Info: Well over five years after the well received Hardcore Homecoming concert at the same venue,
Toronto hardcore punk legends Random Killing (and Saultite frontman
Andrew Kiteley) returned for another hard hitting night of old school
punk action in July, with support from Jack Spades and the debuting Sick
Sons to get things started on the right foot. This was another hit for
punk fans, but was it your favourite local concert of last year?
Bands: Pisser,
Cross Dog,
Lightmares,
Femur,
Wrecker,
Pointless,
Garbageface,
Lord Hidetora,
The Franquilizers,
Forest City Aurora,
The Dynowaves,
Telephone & Address, The Elements,
Conika,
The Angry Spells,
Hannah
Lindsay,
The Speed Humps,
Shae Tull, and
Malignant Neoplasm
Venue: Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn
Date: September 7th
Info: A whopping
19 of
the scheduled 25 acts for Oh!No III were booked for the Saturday lineup
last year, including all but one of the touring acts, such as
headliners Pisser, the return of Mark Rand's Cross Dog, and sets from
festival regulars like Lightmares, The Franquilizers, and Forest City
Aurora, plus select local acts, including the reunion of indie/punk
project Telephone & Address. Was night 2 of Oh!No III worthy of the
piano bonfire?
Bands: Michale Graves, Frightlight, and A Dire Setback
Venue: The Canadian Nightclub
Date: September 28th
Info: A
year and a day removed from the former Misfits' frontman's scuttled
first try at a local concert, Michale Graves fans got a windstorm-free
night of classic Misfits songs last fall, as both of his albums with
them were played from start to finish! The receptive crowd also got to
enjoy the latest return of local horror punk favourites Frightlight,
plus a solid opening set from A Dire Setback, but was it your favourite
concert here?
Bands: Dany Laj & The Looks and
B.A. Johnston
Venue: The New American Pub
Date: November 9th
Info: If
you weren't seeing The Ripcordz that same night, you may have
been at The New A on November 9th instead, where Girl Friday Productions
brought Hamilton comedy/folk punk musician B.A. Johnston back to town
for another set of irreverent and polarizing originals, as well as
headlining Montreal
power pop band Dany Laj & The Looks in their (at least) fifth Soo
appearance. The musical talent was here, but were you?
Other: Did we miss your preferred concert in early 2019? For reference, artists like The Apocalypse Afterparty, Awokest, The Bear Hunters, Black Cloud, Black Crown Initiate, Black Mastiff, Body Lens, Bon Jovi Forever, The Cancer Bats, Chase Wigmore, Crucify The Whore, Dave Evans, Dave Smasher, Destroyer, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Doreen, Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, Expain, The Faps, Fluid 5ive, Forever Dead, The Fortunate Losers, Griphook, The Guitar Gangsters, Hells Bells, Inferi, The Inner City Surfers, The John Barber Band, Just Leppard, K-Man & The 45s, Life Like Fire, Late & Loud, The Long Nines, Love & Rehab, Mike Haggith, Monster Truck, The Offspring, OZbourne, Pillory, Poison Girl, Redundant, The Ripcordz, The River Jacks, Rotopsy, Sailor's Tongue, Seax, Sharptooth, The Single Mothers, Slumshine, The Soo Fighters, Soundcheck, Stoned To Deaf, The Strange Coyotes, Sum 41, The Therapists, The Thirties, Tripod the Dog, Tym Morrison, The Uncanny Valley, Warforged, Warsenal, West of Hell, White Cowbell Oklahoma, Who Made Who, Whoop-Szo, The Wyld Stallyns, and Zoon all played public local concerts in 2019, along with shows not included involving some of the above acts otherwise listed. Maybe you preferred a Sault Michigan-area show instead? If, for whatever reason, your favourite local metal/hard rock/punk concert of 2019 isn't listed above, vote for "Other"!
VOTE TODAY! You have until June 18th to cast your votes in this poll, and it will definitely be interesting to see what comes out on top! Will The Killer Dwarfs or Michale Graves win out again, or will another show pull off the upset? Time will tell, but it's at least nice to reminisce on when concerts actually could take place! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
The other two are punk songs, including an original song (a rarity for this series) named "I Did It All For The Dookie", and despite the Limp Bizkit allusion, it's a tribute to Green Day and their "Dookie" album. It's no secret that Mikey is a huge fan of theirs, as anyone who's seen him front the tribute band The Dookies knows, and this solo performance is fun and fits in the right spirit of the band! Comparatively speaking, it's a long video too, as Mikey's quarantunes don't generally exceed 3 minutes like this one. Embedded below is yesterday's video of Mikey & his uke, only here, his one is stacked with guest musicians! Mikey aside, this cover of Operation Ivy's "Unity" features members of Goldfinger, Less Than Jake, The Anti-Queens, Fishbone, Big D & The Kids Table, and No Big Deal. Fittingly, the acoustic ukelele pretense is dropped early for a full band performance, albeit remotely filmed.
