Tarnished's Article In The Sault Evening News, Treble Charger On MuchMusic In 1997, And More!!

News remains slow as of late, thanks in large part to the ongoing Ontario lockdown, but I have cobbled together enough material for a proper news post on this Sunday morning! Below, you'll find lots of assorted topics from the last while, plus a 24 year old MuchMusic clip featuring a familiar local band, and leading off, a rising local hard rock group's recent attention in a major local news outlet! Here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished got a nice article from The Sault Evening News on Thursday, so what should you know from it? Actual newspaper copies aside, the online version of the article is officially behind a paywall (open to online subscribers only), but if you switch to newspaper mode on your browser quick enough upon opening, you can freely read the article, which explores how they launched and got their name, their musical influences both before & since joining Tarnished, their fan interaction and keeping a public profile during the pandemic, and their future plans & aspirations. The article is informative and a fun read for fans, and it's great to see an active hard rock band in the E.U.P. getting some local press attention! Scoops include a likely return to outdoor acoustic gigs on Portage Avenue this summer, a show in Grand Rapids in two weeks, and more at undisclosed locations in late June.

Note that bassist Donald Alexander is not featured in the article whatsoever, while Josh Fair is credited as being their bassist again rather than drummer, so did Donald leave the band? As "Donny Wayne", he was credited on bass in this Facebook event page for their Royal Oak show last month, but the venue wrote that up, and Tarnished themselves last acknowledged him via Facebook videos from their Hulbert gigs in March. If Donald is gone, it's a shame, as he seemed to fit in well with Tarnished, but we will let you know if that is inaccurate or if they announce a new drummer or bassist. In any event, read Tarnished's full Sault Evening News article at this link or above!

Next up, here's a newly discovered TV interview with inactive Sault Ontario/Toronto indie punk quartet Treble Charger! Uploaded by YouTube user Uncool Dispatch last month, this aired on the long-running MuchMusic show Much West, where host/former VJ Terry David Mulligan spotlighted music from and in Canada's west coast. Treble Charger were on tour in Vancouver at the time, and the interview was conducted outdoors (in the rain!) in the Yaletown district there. The interview appears to be circa November 1997, as per the scrolling on-screen text beforehand, and it features singer/guitarist Greig Nori and then-new drummer Trevor McGregor. Here, Terry asks Greig & Trevor about their recent work with Smokin' Worm Records, the search for rising new musicians to tour with, issues in working with major labels, and how their music was evolving in a changing landscape. As well, a dog gives his valued input!

The video also includes a clip of Treble Charger playing "How She Died" at the University of British Columbia, and it ends with the full video for the version of "Red" from their third album, 1997's "Maybe It's Me". I feel like there's missing context in this interview that would have been cleared up in prior segments of this Much West episode, but it's a fun look back at Treble Charger in their transitory phase before going punk, and the discussion's loose but professional! It is a shame that Bill wasn't part of the interview though, given that he was still their primary singer then, including on "Red". Give Treble Charger's 1997 Much West interview a look below!

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

 

• I have moved local acoustic punk solo project Ashoka At The Show to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. Darren has updated their Facebook page frequently in the past year to promote his e-gaming exploits with NHL 21, but he has not promoted Ashoka At The Show as an active musical act since May 9th of last year, ironically noting his plans to work on more songs. Hopefully we hear from Darren musically again in the future, he's a multi-talented guy!
• Former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison posted a new original song named "Love's Countryside" onto his YouTube channel last week! The song was originally written for his grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, and he added instruments to it for this new version as a gift for his mom on Mother's Day. Due to the hyper-personal nature of the song and attached slideshow, I opted not to embed it here, but Cory put solid emotion into this well composed track, which you can hear above!
• New local noise/industrial metal project Molten Imp now have their own Facebook page, where they revealed that they will have a new single to unveil on May 25th (one week from Tuesday), and are also planning to release a full length album on CD this fall. Promising early news to be sure, and see above to hear what Boyd's up to!
  
• The annual CBC Searchlight competition is back for 2021 as CBC Music looks for the next great undiscovered Canadian talent, so click here for full details on this year's competition and if you want to throw a late hat in the ring! As best as I can tell, the only locally based band of any genre to enter so far is indie rock quartet Man Feelings, but this year's Searchlight interface is not fun to navigate, especially when you can only narrow down bands by province or territory. The top 100 voted bands move on as of Thursday with huge prizes on the line, so see above for full details!
• As you may have noticed, the annual Sky's The Limit fundraiser concert for Children's Mental Health Week did not take place (virtually or otherwise) this month, and I could not find a public statement from Algoma Family Services about why it was cancelled in 2021. Held at the auditoriums at The Tech and later Korah Collegiate from 2016-2019 before going virtual due to the pandemic last year, The Sky's The Limit sought to raise awareness for mental health among local youth, with artists like Mike Haggith & Electric Church among the lineups. Hopefully The Sky's The Limit comes back next year, as it served an important purpose!
• Defunct local black/doom metal band Woods of Ypres were ranked #1 in Metal Hammer magazine's list of the 50 greatest cult metal bands, as seen in the current May 2021 issue! They even got a full page write-up that you can (partially) read at this link via the Woods of Ypres fan club Facebook group, though parts are out of frame. It's amazing to think about how big Woods of Ypres have gotten in the decade since losing David, and hopefully getting this kind of press in a major metal magazine will only help expose them to a wider audience! If you have this issue, give it a read!
  

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new post of some kind on the site by Wednesday! Thanks everyone!

More New At-Home Performance Videos & Some Assorted Recent News Items!!

Another video heavy post today, but we do have some assorted news and notes to get to at the end, which does include a couple of concert cancellations. Let's start in video-land though with the first new videos from prolific local punk/metal guitarist Tiffany Stocco's YouTube channel in over a year! Not long after helping her Guitar Gangsters bandmate Buzz out with his recent live-stream, the Jack Spades/Stegadeth/et al. guitarist posted play-along covers of The Distillers' "The Young Crazed Peeling" (which will definitely please Coral Fang fans) and, as embedded below, Bad Religion's "American Jesus". The backing songs can drown out her playing a little, but she knows these songs well, and the videos are nice quality, so fans of her local band work and prior cover videos will definitely want to check these ones out above and below!



Next up, let's head to the U.S.A. for some new videos from former Bad Side guitarist and The Bear/Yes FM DJ Jason Mapes! We haven't heard much locally from Jason since 2010, when he was let go from his radio gigs in the wake of the Sovereign/Northern Star buyout, with Bad Side dissolving that summer. Jason has since moved to Nashville and has continued recording as a solo musician, releasing his star-studded debut album "The Devil Plays Guitar" in July. Bad Side fans will like that it features drummer Jonah Brockman on each track, while fellow Bad Side alumni Dan Furmanik, Rob Johnson, and Paxton Olney all feature as guest musicians. The songs resemble Bad Side's 1980s-influenced bluesy hard rock stylistically, obviously differed by having Jason on vocals, and while his solo project isn't locally based, don't bypass his strong recent output! In terms of videos, Jason does have two new performance clips to check out on his YouTube channel!

Credited to a series named "Songs From The Squeaky Floor" (I think I can tell why they're called that), these are new at-home covers of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" and, as embedded below, Bon Jovi's "Superman Tonight". The motion blur effect doesn't feel necessary, but these covers (on a double-necked guitar!) are effective and make good use of his higher but edgy vocal range, and it's great to see that Jason is staying busy with quality solo music in the past decade! Give his new covers a look below, and buy/stream "The Devil Plays Guitar" at the above links!



Let's head back to Ontario for a new cover of Fall Out Boy's "Thriller" by local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, as uploaded to the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today! I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but Darren matches it nicely to an unplugged form factor, and the recording quality is as great as ever, so give it a watch below!



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

• The fourth annual Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as per their Facebook page, and tickets are refundable at point of purchase. Had the festival take place, it would have expanded to a two night format over the July 10th weekend, and some of the scheduled touring bands were tagged in the post about the cancellation, though no word on if The Rising Tide or other punk/hard rock acts would have played too. Very disappointing, but look for the festival's expected return in July 2021!
• I have removed next week's Numbing-headlined concert at The New American Pub from our concert calendar due to the extension of Ontario's emergency order until May 19th, which means that non-essential businesses like nightclubs will be closed until at least that date. Click here for details on the emergency order. For full disclosure, this concert has not been publically called off by Numbing, The New A, or promoters Dryer Fire, but it's status was on thin ice at best given what's going on in the world.
• Reports of local Tool tribute band Parabol's demise are premature! While their Facebook page was indeed taken down over the winter, it was due to Facebook flagging the page for copyright violations, as per Facebook comment replies. In other words, their Tool covers were too close to the real thing! That said, Parabol still haven't played a public concert since headlining at Soo Blaster in October, and I don't think they have replaced that page yet, but in the coronavirus era, that may be of secondary concern. We'll let you know when they publically resurface!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From Tidal Records & Local Punk Musicians!!

Ending a surprisingly busy month at the SMS with a post every day in April 2020, we have some new videos to look at today, with a heavy emphasis on Tidal Records-affiliated artists, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with a huge collaborative cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" featuring numerous local musicians to help support the fight against COVID-19! Sort of an epilogue to SooToday's Come Together YouTube concert last week, this at-home cover features many of the same musicians that took part in that event. 3/5ths of Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide take part from afar here, with only Liam and Marshall absent, and other familar faces on the roster include Jay Case (who leads off vocally), Frank Deresti, Tracey Hilderley, and Huckster alum Sean Halliday, among many others. The recording quality is uneven, but seeing all of these talented musicians working together like this is great to see, and donations to the Algoma COVID-19 Response Fund & the Sault Area Hospital Emergency Fund are more than welcomed. Check out the full cover below!



Next up, if you're a friend of veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon on Facebook, you may recall seeing his (more or less) daily series of "Quarantunes", where the Fairmounts frontman & Inner City Surfers drummer covers songs on vocals & ukelele in videos on his personal Facebook page. As best as I can tell, these have not been shared publically on his band pages, hence why I haven't featured them until now, but last night, local promoters Live705 shared Mikey's 46th "quarantune" video on their Facebook page, so I feel comfortable sharing that one. This is an 82 second cover of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian, which is a great message at this confusing time, and Mikey projects a nice optimistic feeling with this cover too! Give it a look below, and if you're his friend on Facebook, go see his other 45 "quarantunes", including a number of collaborations with friends!

We'll next go from a former Rising Tide member to a current one, and while he didn't take part in the "Hey Jude" cover above, guitarist Liam Seymour does have a new at-home concert set to check out! This was live-streamed on his personal Facebook page on Sunday, and almost simultaneously shared on Tidal Records' own Facebook page, so it's good to go in the public sense. Liam did warn viewers about issues with the stream, so expect frequent audio drop-outs. After an initial instrumental jam, Liam's set (which is shorter than his April 5th live-stream) includes renditions of The Barn Board Trio's "This Big City", Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses", Junior Brown's "Highway Patrol", Marty Stuart's "Branded", David Wilcox's "Downtown Came Uptown", Johnny Bush's "Whiskey River", The Weeknd's "Earned It", another instrumental, and Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road". The surprise Weeknd cover aside, blues & country renditions seemed to be the theme of the evening.

The constant audio drop-outs are very unfortunate, as the streaming quality is otherwise fine and comprable to his April 5th show, but this eclectic selection of songs you don't hear covered every day should be of interest to many readers and fans! Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more updates from him and The Tide as they roll in!



We'll close today outside of the Tidal umbrella with the latest video from local/Elliot Lake alternative/punk solo project Ashoka At The Show (courtesy of the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today), and it's an acoustic cover of Pennywise's "Alien". The camera's obviously mirrored (the Blackhawks logo on his shirt gives it away), but the cover's solid, and he does this Pennywise classic justice in this form, so give it a watch below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post to kick off the month of May tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith's Fourth Live-Streamed Concert, Plus A New Cover Video!!

We've now passed six straight weeks of consecutive daily posts on the SMS during the pandemic, and hopefully we can stretch this into May! Today's post is largely devoted to a lengthy live-streamed concert from this weekend, but I do have a new cover from a separate solo artist to get to as well. There's a lot of ground to cover, so here's what you should know!

Local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's fourth live-streamed #LockdownLive concert took place on his Facebook page on Saturday night, and this time, the focus of the first half of this 2½ hour video is on his other upcoming studio album "Bridges"! Before that, Mike did note in the introduction that he now as a PayPal "tip jar", so if you want to give Mike a few bucks for the performance or to help out while everyone's off work, keep that in mind! The set proper kicked off with a cover of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", before he began discussing the events surrounding the songwriting and recording of "Bridges" in 2018 and early 2019, which is largely about mental health advocacy. Of course, that album was postponed indefinitely due to mixing delays and the personal events that led to his next CD (and the focus of #LockdownLive II), "If Ever Comes The Day", which will still be released on May 15th.

Mike noted that "Bridges" is "still on a mixing board somewhere", but he does hope to release that album by the end of the year. As you might expect from the theme, Mike performs the entire album in order here, with discussions about the songs in between, and some of these are making their public Facebook debut in the process! In order, Mike starts the "Bridges" portion by performing "From The 55th Parallel", "Over Indecision", "The Nature of The Times" (which was the first single & had an official music video), and "An Act of Strength", before reiterating "Bridges" release plans and confirming that he will be doing a live-streamed release concert (a'la A Dire Setback) for "If Ever Comes The Day" on Friday, May 15th. Sounds like a logical move, so look for that in a few weeks! The set continues afterwards with "The Catalyst", "Dangerous Town", "Come on Home", "Blue Highway", "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost", and the title track, closing the "Bridges" portion of the evening.

Before moving on to non-album tracks, Mike revealed that #LockdownLive V this coming Saturday will be focused around cover songs that had a personal impact on Mike's life and songwriting, so look for that then! We also get to meet Mike's cat Luna, and that alone should get this video a ton of thumbs up and heart reactions on Facebook, and he also gave plans for a Letterkenny-style super soft birthday (look it up) during the postponed release concert on November 6th at LopLops. The set resumes with a cover of "Closure" by Auxillary Disconnect, a local alternative solo project led by Mike's friend Don Ibbitson (who is frequently seen in the comments.) I'm not familiar with Auxillary Disconnect, but Don's distinctively deep vocals add an extra layer to the three acoustic songs on offer! That's followed by a cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers In A Dangerous Time", as interrupted by Luna, leading to more talk about his cats, though Artemis does not make an appearance.

The live-stream closes with covers of The Din's "High Park" and his very jokey version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", before calling his cats one more time (even finding Artemis!) There was a lot to take in here, especially thanks to the irreverent back-and-forth with commenters, but the music was on point as usual, and if you like your live-streams peppered with debates on The Wiggles and the merits of Sault Ste. Marie, strap in! In this early stripped-down acoustic form, it's hard to comment on "Bridges" as a whole, but I can't wait to eventually hear the final product, so check it all out below!



We'll close today with another new cover video from local/Elliot Lake indie/punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, seen here covering Propagandhi's "Dear Coach's Corner" in yesterday's upload on the 184Films YouTube channel. I saw them live at The Oddfellows Hall, and an old friend used to be a huge fan of theirs (hope you're doing well, Kirsten), so I approve of this cover on principle! Darren does a solid job here with nice vocals, even if his guitar strings seem to be going wild, so give it a watch below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for part 6 of our WLS0 9O.1 FM retrospective series on the site next! Thanks everyone!

New Live-Streamed Concerts And More New Videos!!

Tonight on the SMS, we have even more new videos from the last couple of days to check out, including a punk cover, some new original work from the E.U.P., and leading off, here's the latest live-streamed concerts from two prolific local acts that fans have seen a lot from this month!

Local hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison's sixth live-streamed home concert took place last night on his YouTube channel, so if you want another 2 hours of hard and classic rock covers, this is worth checking out! The concert proper begins about 10 minutes into the video embedded below, and in performance order, Tym can be heard covering Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", A-ha's "Take On Me", Chicago's "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", 10cc's "I'm Not In Love", Phil Collins' "One More Night", Radiohead's "Karma Police", Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle", Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love", Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise", Supertramp's "Breakfast In America", Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive", Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", AC/DC's "If You Want Blood (You Got It)", Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me", Kiss' "Rock And Roll All Nite", Toto's "Africa", ...

Amanda Marshall's "Trust Me (This Is Love)", Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love", Richard Marx's "Hold On To The Nights", The Eagles' "Hotel Califirnia", Mr. Big's "To Be With You", The Beatles' "Blackbird", Abba's "The Winner Takes It All", The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun", and Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road". Not too much is brand new here compared to past live-streams (there's not even an original song), but Tym's vocal and guitar abilities are ever present, and there weren't any major hang-ups or breaks! Give it a watch below, and look for his next live-streamed concert tomorrow night!



Next up, Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished (minus Nathan) live-streamed their fifth at-home acoustic concert on their Facebook page yesterday afternoon! The guys did promise to fix the audio quality after the first four live-streamed sets, and while I still had to crank the volume to the maximum, frontman Alex Traynor's vocal mic is louder, so I didn't have to rip and manipulate the audio track to make out what he says between songs. Unfortunately, the pops and cracks in the audio are still present, but one step at a time. In performance order, Alex and Josh Fair cover Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box", The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Fishin' In The Dark", Audioslave's "Show Me How To Live", Darius Rucker's "Wagon Wheel", Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water", Billy Idol's "White Wedding", The Animals' "House of The Rising Sun", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising", Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing at All", Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", ...

...Alex's solo song "What Everything Is Like (High Life)", and AC/DC's "TNT". The audio quality still isn't ideal, but the guys handle these covers well, especially with Josh present for each song, and fans should get a kick out of this array of mostly new renditions! Tarnished have more live-streamed sets scheduled for tomorrow at 4:00 PM and Friday at 6:00 PM, so watch out for those then, and give yesterday's a watch below!

Also today, here's the latest from local classical metal band Theatre of Night's Facebook page, so what have they been up to during the pandemic? Well, on Tuesday, the band posted two minute-long videos showing original song tracking on a computer monitor, with the first one noting that they are "composing for a soundtrack contract", and the second one reportedly contains part of a chorus. Honestly, the two clips sound very similar, and very ominous, but what kind of soundtrack are they working on, and will this have a wide release when it's officially ready? Embedded below is a black and white clip of guitarist Steve Giles performing a "doggie lullaby", and while the second word definitely fits better for the description at first, you know why it's called that by the end. This is a very spare and emotional performance while it lasts, so give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Theatre of Night!



Finally for today, let's head north to Sault Ontario (well, Elliot Lake) for the latest cover from alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, courtesy of the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today. A somewhat slowed down acoustic cover of NOFX's "Linoleum", Darren handles this rendition nicely, so fans will want to give his latest song to quarantine to a listen below!



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

Mike Haggith's Third Live-Streamed Concert, A New Cover Video, And Much More!!

Day #36 of our daily streak of posts on the SMS brings us a recent news article about the impact of the ongoing pandemic on the local music scene, and some new videos, including a cover performance and lots of details on a recent live-streamed set. Here's what you should know!

The third installment of local/Thompson, Manitoba solo musician Mike Haggith's live-streamed "#LockdownLive" home concerts took place on his Facebook page on Saturday night, and for the occasion, the video is devoted to his old local alt-hard rock band The Din! More specifically, this relates to their 2015-2017 run, not their prior life as an acid-jam collective. With two exceptions, this live-stream features Mike playing songs from The Din's two studio albums (originals & carry-overs from Mike's prior projects alike) and telling stories about them and the band in between, so what songs will you be able to hear? Mike starts off by performing acoustic renditions of "75", "Weekend Delivery", "Missing", and "The Rose", before taking a call from drummer Brandan Glew, who sticks around for 45 minutes or so to reminisce on The Din and the songs. "Alleyways & Apartments" is next, followed by a peculiar viewer poll about which of two diseases you'd rather have (seriously.)

The set proper continues with "Remember" & "Up In The Air" (both of which Brandan has writing credits on), and while he hangs up before the next song, Brandan does pop up in the comments before & afterwards. Mike next performs "In The Moonlight" and "Out Of My League", before tackling "I Love You Anyways", which Mike wrote when he was six years old, and had previously appeared on two of Mike's solo albums from not long after he moved to the Soo ("Laps In A Lake Of Fire" & "Suspended Animation"). The Din never recorded that song in studio, but they did play it live at concerts in 2015. That's followed by Mike's song "The Snake" from his last solo studio album (for now) "The Warinside", which also wasn't a Din album track, but their 2015 lineup did cover it at that CD's release concert. The live-stream set ends with the song The Din renamed as "Potato (Should've Known Better)", plus more reminiscing on the band and where he, Tammy, and Brandan have went since then, and teasing that there will be a fourth #LockdownLive set soon.

Solidly informative and entertaining live-stream once again, especially with all of the local context from The Din's highs and lows in the mid-2010s, and it's nice to see Mike acknowledge his pre-Din music work, which doesn't get a lot of contemporary attention locally. It would have been nice to hear from Tammy, but maybe she'll pop up in the comments in a future live-stream. Fingers crossed that "#Lockdown Live" returns this Saturday or next, but for now, give the third installment a watch below!

 
Next up, here's a new cover from local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, courtesy of the 184Films YouTube channel yesterday, and it's an acoustic cover of Streetlight Manifesto's "Somewhere In The Between". Solid rendition of this ska punk classic, which is one of Darren's personal favourite songs, so fans will want to give it a watch below!



I wanted to end today's post with a SooToday article by contributor/musician Chris Belsito from this weekend, featuring interview remarks by Dorian Gray guitarist Paul Leclair, who is the secretary-treasurer of Sault Ontario's musicians union, The American Federation of Musicians, Local 276. The article is very much focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shut-down order on local musicians, with Paul noting that "it is hurting every musician I can think of", and while music isn't a full-time career for many artists locally, "part of their livelihood is gone", and full-time musicians won't qualify for Employment Insurance unless they're claiming income from gigs in their taxes.  Conversely, he expressed concern about venues, recording studios, and small businesses that are unable to stay open and earn profits , and that the current trend of online concerts from local musicians isn't usually a money-making option.

Paul also notes that "we are looking at the possibility of no concerts at all this year" and said that local musicians should talk to their Member of Parliament to ask for extra support at this time. I won't get into the typically divisive comment section on SooToday, but this is a tough time for local musicians of any age or genre, and I'm hearing from friends and contacts daily about their response, feelings, and wishes. Paul raises a lot of real points that should not be discounted, but everyone is in a different personal boat here, and I hope everyone's finding the right way to adjust until some sense of normalcy returns. Give this article a loo at the above links!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for part 5 of our WLS0 9O.1 FM retrospective series on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Tarnished's First Facebook Live-Stream Concerts, Plus A New Cover!!

For a 32nd straight day, we have a new daily news post on the SMS, and hopefully this is helping keep things reliable and entertaining just a little as we continue dealing with everything going on right now! Fingers crossed we won't have to miss a day for a while yet. Today's post is mostly devoted to new live-streamed performances from a familiar local band, but we do have a new cover video to round things out as well. Here's what you should know!

With their weekly arrangement at Biggby Coffee (and other concerts) on hold due to Michigan's stay at home order, local hard rock band Tarnished have jumped into the live-streamed concert arena with a pair of hour-long concert sets streamed on their Facebook page! The implied schedule has them playing daily concerts, including twice tomorrow at 12:00 & 6:00 PM, though as of this writing, there have only been the two. In both cases, they feature singer/guitarist Alex Traynor and bassist Josh Fair also on guitar (no sign of Nathan), and I'll leave any discussion about social distancing for someone more qualified, though I trust they're using common sense. In lieu of their usual "tips and coffee" format at Biggby, you can leave them a "virtual tip" on Paypal at this link, so consider helping them out when they can't play a proper show. The first live-stream begins about 5 minutes in, but audio quality issues are always present, and I could only hear the performance with my computer's speakers at the absolute maximum.

Alex & Josh start by covering of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary", with a section of Stealers Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle With You" appropriately stuck in the middle, before Alex covered Warrant's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" solo while Josh tried to fix the audio. He returned in time for renditions of Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me", C.C.R.'s "Who Will Stop The Rain", and ZZ Top's "Tush", before playing their original song "Shortcut", marking the first time that a song from Tarnished's upcoming debut EP has been featured in a public Facebook video. That's followed by covers of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love", Everlast's "What It's Like", Bob Seger's "Turn The Page", Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Last Dance of Mary Jane", Cameo's "Word Up", Sublime's "What I Got", and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long". The audio quality is a severe detriment to this video, despite what appears to be a solid performance, so be warned going in that you may not hear anything without maximum volume, headphones, or personal intervention.

The second live-stream has slightly improved audio, so I have embedded it below, but there are clearly still quirks to work out. In order, Tarnished can be seen covering Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black", Incubus' "Drive", Three Doors Down's "Kryptonite", AC/DC's "Highway To Hell", Stone Sour's "Through Glass", Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", Alex's own solo original "Crazy World", Alice In Chains' "Rooster", Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World", Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Now, not all viewers of the live-stream had major problems listening in, but even with my computer hooked up to external speakers, I could barely hear anything in these videos. To even make out the guys talking between songs, I had to rip the files, convert them to audio, import them into Audacity, and severely amplify them. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Tarnished are new to the live-stream arena, but given their teased regular schedule of Facebook concerts, I hope they work on the audio quality in time for their planned streams tomorrow. Even if you can't eliminate the pops & clipping in the background, at least boost the volume! From what I can hear, Alex & Josh have a strong handle on these covers, both familiar and surprising alike, so give both a watch above and below!



We'll close today with the latest videos from local/Elliot Lake, Ontario alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show (courtesy of their 184Films YouTube channel) over the last couple of days! Today's video features frontman Darren MacDonald apologizing for not posting a new musical performance video in the last couple of days, despite promising to post a new song a day, though he did admittedly hold a video back out of not being personally satisfied with the quality. At least he's honest and forthcoming! Darren also asked fans to tell him what they're doing to stay busy while on lockdown, so drop him a comment there if you are so inclined. However, Darren did post a new cover on Monday that we haven't talked about yet, namely an acoustic cover of Tony Sly's "Toaster In The Bathtub", and it's well performed with strong vocals, so No Use For A Name fans should definitely like this one! Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Ashoka At The Show!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more recent performance videos on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

A New Solo Project Discovery, New Videos, And Much More!!

Today's post is almost going to run us dry for new content on the site, so good thing tomorrow's post has been ready to go for a bit, as we have some time to build up material for Wednesday! Below, you will find some assorted shorter stories, some new-ish solo content from a former local frontman, and a couple of videos, so let's get things rolling!

We have a new-ish solo project to add to our band links on the site, and this is The Dann Pichette Multi-Track Recording Extravaganza! Launched by the former No Arrow/SBD frontman back in 2012, this project isn't active anymore, but he linked me to his old solo material for something to cover on the site, and goodness knows, we sure need that right now! Ten songs are posted there, though only four exceed a minute in length, and there are (censored) expletives in many of the longer song names. The music on offer here is definitely more experimental compared to his old local bands, but if you miss No Arrow, "Always Tryin' To F*** With Me" will be the closest in spirit for grunge fans, and "Shut Up, You Stupid B***" will also have similarities there, albeit with sleepier vocals. Beyond that, "Wanna Be Like Dann" has more of a 1980s pop rock sound, and "Swass" sounds like a Primus demo, among other tracks. No song sounds like the others, which is good!

These don't have clean, professional recording quality, but they definitely showcase Dann's irreverent musical sensibilities, though given the solo angle, I'm surprised he didn't pay as much homage to early Pink Floyd as you may remember him doing in the SBD era. Dann moved out of town a few years ago, but if you were a fan of his local music work in the 2000s and early 2010s like I was, his Multi-Track Recording Extravaganza is worth a listen, which you can do above! Hopefully we hear more new music from him down the road!

Next up, here' the latest from prolific local folk punk/extreme metal solo musician Chase Wigmore, who has uploaded his entire discography to Google Drive for you to stream for free! This is totally official, Chase put this up all 22 albums for fans to have something to listen to during the pandemic, and it includes material released under his own name, plus Awokest, This Is Your Band On Drugs, The Black Lodge Masters, his splits with C.T.W., and any other project name you can think of. Not all of his back catalog is on Bandcamp and YouTube, so if you love Chase's diverse original music, you'll want to take advantage at the above links! As well, he did do a live-streamed performance on his Facebook page yesterday, which sees him cover a section of "Viral Counterpoint of the Coronavirus Spike Protein", an experimental classical piece by musician Markus J. Buehler, which attempts to turn the amino acid sequence of COVID-19 into a rather lengthy musical composition.

The video quality itself is oddly choppy for a live-stream, which may or not be helped by the filtered monochrome visuals, but musically, it's definitely something different! Very intricate playing, this as an oddly soothing essence, albeit one far from his usual sounds, so give it a watch below!



Also, here's one more new video from local/Elliot Lake punk solo project Ashoka at the Show, as uploaded on the 184Films YouTube channel yesterday, where frontman Darren MacDonald discusses what he's been up to since his originally lost access to this channel, how he got back into using this channel, and he promised to continue uploading "songs to quarantine to" daily while all of this is going on. You don't see too many videos like this where a YouTube channel owner apologizes for a hiatus, but it's good to keep fans updated, and hopefully we hear more of Ashoka at the Show soon!



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:

• If you are wondering why we never covered local rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty's announced set at The Borderline's SMAC-19 live-streamed benefit concert earlier this month, it's because they quietly withdrew from the lineup for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing bad happened, but visit the Mike's Lunch Music Facebook group to see the other performances by a wide array of talented local musicians! You may have to dig for them, as they've been sharing a lot of Facebook performance videos there since.
• Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s "Songs & A Six-Pack" live-streamed concert series on Fridays did return last week, but it's actually not intended to be a one-artist showcase, so Greg Callaghan did not host the second installment (I apologize, wording from that week was ambiguous.) Instead, Rising Tide fiddle player Sheldon Jaaskelainen hosted, and you can see his episode, complete with Northern Superior plugs, at this link. Sheldon's vocal/acoustic guitar set contains no punk songs, but his talent is fully on display, including Boot Hill Crooners and Wild Turkeys renditions!
• In their first post since the cancellation of their March concerts, local folk-punk solo project Slumshine revealed on their Facebook page that they were helping pass the time by making up a run of CD copies of their debut album "SLMSHN", which was originally exclusive to cassette tapes in it's initial physical release last summer. The sleeves are perfectly in line with Brent's art style, but given social distancing, when and how will these be available to buy? Stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for part 4 of our WLS0 9O.1 FM retrospective series on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith's Second Live-Stream Concert, A Band Reunion, And More!!

Happy Easter, everyone! I know these aren't the ideal circumstances for anyone this year, but hopefully the Easter Bunny made it to everyone's place with some treats, and if nothing else, our regular posting streak during the pandemic continues today! This post includes a new cover video, a band reunion, and leading off, another lengthy live-streamed concert set, so here's what you should know!

Local/Thompson, Manitoba hard/alternative rock musician Mike Haggith live-streamed his second "#LockdownLive" concert on his Facebook page last night, and there's a lot to take in here, in more ways than one! Not only is this double the length of his first live-stream (open your schedule for 2 hours!), but his set here contains acoustic renditions of every* song from his upcoming studio album "If Ever Comes The Day"! Before then, Mike did formally confirm the postponement of his CD release concert at LopLops on May 15th to a later date to be announced (we have removed it from our calendar), while the album is still planned to be released on schedule on that date, and Apple Music pre-orders will be available on May 1st. As for his live-stream set, Mike warms up by covering Tears For Fears' "Shout", breaking his usual tradition of not opening with a cover. The live album play-through begins about 11 minutes in, complete with VH1 Storytellers-esque commentary in between.

You may have seen the track listing on Mike's personal Facebook page, but this is the first public reveal of it. In order, he starts with "The Best You Never Had", "MorningStar", the title track, "Into The Setting Sun", and "Communique" (tracks 3 & 4 are new to Facebook), before discussing "This Page Intentionally Left Blank", which is a 1 minute string composition by ex-RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski. Mike obviously couldn't play it, but on the album, it leads right into his performance of "Back Away Slowly". Mike continues with two more newly unveiled songs, "Take Back The Moon" & "Visual, Descending For The Field", before opting to go off-script with non-album tracks, including The Din's "Alleyways & Apartments", a highly facetious troll cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers In A Dangerous Time", "This Potato May Be Used As A Flotation Device", "Out Of My League", and his unreleased original "If Only You Could Hear Me".

Mike closes with the final song on "If Ever Comes The Day", namely "2145", which is broken up from the rest of the album by 18 seconds of silent tracks on the CD copies, and he wraps up #LockdownLive by talking to viewers, including mentioning plans to do a third live-stream like this on Saturday the 18th. This isn't representative of the studio copies you'll hear next month, but they are promising teasers, and Mike's candor and humour is always welcomed! Fans of his prolific solo output will definitely want to give this live-stream a watch below, and stay tuned for more!

Next up, here's a surprise, as local progressive metal band Kraken Mara quietly returned to activity last fall! Led by ex-Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie, readers may recall this band from their original active run from 2015-2017, and as their September website post reveals, they took "a little break" due to Brendan's second overseas work stint, spending a year in South Korea, though it had been almost 2 years between real band updates. That said, he is back home now, and as such, Kraken Mara are back in action, with work on their self-titled debut EP also resuming! Their only Facebook page post since returning mentions that there is a new track available on their website, which appears to be the 9+ minutes long "Dark Passenger". I'll hold comment for now, presuming that the EP is released as planned, but if you like technical djent metal, you'll definitely want to hear all five posted songs. It's great to see Brendan & Jake back at it, and stay tuned for more updates!

Finally for today, here's another "song to quarantine to" from local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka at the Show, courtesy of the resurrected 184Films YouTube channel, and it's a cover of the Alkaline Trio's "Sorry About That". This is a solid cover for fans of Darren's punk side, and it matches well in an acoustic format, so give it a watch below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Tym Morrison's Third Live-Streamed Concert, Plus Covers From Relocated Local Musicians!!

Lately, most of the news and updates to hit our news desk have been in the form of solo performance videos, which is definitely a by-product of social distancing, but there's enough of that to keep regular posts going, and that continues today! We'll start with the third "Live Guitar & Singing Of All Mightyness 7th Show" from local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison, as live-streamed on his Twitch page on Thursday! For this first non-Tuesday installment, Tym reverted to including the entire set in one 2+ hour video, and the wait for the actual stream was only 13 minutes this time. In performance order, Tym covers Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed", The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun", Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", Bryan Adams' "Summer of 69", Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed", the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", Journey's "Open Arms", The Bangles' "Eternal Flame", ...

...Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke", Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman", Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny", Abba's "The Winner Takes It All", Toto's "Africa", a Spanish guitar instrumental, Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", brief snippets of his new originals "Angels of Light" & "Number of the Beast", Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love", Aerosmith's "Dream On", Kim Mitchell's "Patio Lanterns", Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane", Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time", and Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me". Tym noted early that he was using a different lyric book for this live-stream than the previous two, so only "Here Comes The Sun" & the instrumental repeat from the prior shows. As usual, Tym's strong guitar work and nicely ranged vocal fit these covers nicely, including a slightly heavier array this time, so give his newest live-stream a watch below!

Next up, let's move over to YouTube for some new solo performance videos, starting with two vocal covers from former Time of Ruin frontman & local concert promoter Rich Moreland! As you may remember, Rich and his promotion agency Dismembertainment moved to Edmonton in 2012, where he has since found success as a concert photographer. These covers were posted on the Dismembertainment YouTube channel earlier this week, where he covered Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and, as embedded below, The Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris". Compared to Rich's death metal band work locally in the 2000s, this is a massive departure, but he does have a nice melodic voice that fits these covers pretty well, and it's nice to see him staying busy out west, so give these a look above and below! Rich hasn't been as active in promoting concerts in recent years, but do check out his concert photography at this link, as he's seen some huge shows (metal or otherwise) in the past two years, and he routinely gets some excellent pictures there!



Finally for today, here's a new cover from local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka at the Show, planned to be the first installment of a series of "songs to quarantine to". This is the first video uploaded to project leader Darren MacDonald's 184Films YouTube channel in 3 years, now that he has regained access to it, and it features him covering Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Going Down" on vocals & acoustic guitar. I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but Darren's cover has a nice melodic base and it flows together nicely, so give this one a watch below as well, and stay tuned for more!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lycanthro & Whoop-Szo), Plus New Solo Videos!!

The last week of the month is upon us, so let's kick things off with a new news post on the SMS, and it includes some new videos from familiar solo musicians, but first, we have two interesting LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for two months from now, so here's what you should know!

London sludge/post-metal quintet Whoop-Szo will rock Sault Ste. Marie for the third time on Thursday, April 16th when they play at.... The Sault Ste. Marie Museum!? Not too long ago, this would have been even more surprising, but just last week, the 690 Queen Street East museum opened it's doors to a concert from Brantford folk musician Benjamin Dakota Rogers that was well received, so click here for more on the museum's debut as a live music venue and how things may look for their second go-around. Of course, our city's museum has a lot of historic and cultural importance that adds to the appeal, and don't forget, Bone Yard/ex-That's Chester drummer Ric Datson is their assistant curator. Regarding Whoop-Szo proper, fans may recall seeing them at LopLops in 2018 and at the Dryer Fire pop-up venue in September. Known for their hybrid of everything from metal & grunge to folk & pop, Whoop-Szo should leave another big impression in April!

No opening acts are advertised, though both of Whoop-Szo's prior local dates had extra touring bands. Promoted by the aforementioned Dryer Fire's regular concert arm, this concert will take place inside the Museum's Discovery Gallery, and an early 6:00 PM start time is advertised for this presumably all ages concert. Like last week, local vendors will be on hand, and while an admission fee wasn't advertised, Benjamin's concert there ran for $15, and paid attendees will be able to actually tour the museum with their admission. Very intriguing show in all facets, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, a more traditional metal concert will hit The Rockstar Bar five days later, as Ottawa power/thrash metal quartet Lycanthro will make their local concert debut on Tuesday, April 21st! Delivering a decidedly old school brand of NWOBHM-influenced speed metal, this late stop on their Tour of the Wolf should provide a hard hitting metal blast for fans in two months time, so if you can swing coming out on a school/work night, Lycanthro should deliver the goods! Local openers will include an increasingly rare set from local death metal veterans The Bear Hunters, in their first concert of 2020, just their third in the past two years, and their first Rockstar Bar appearance since their Amon Amarth tribute set on Halloween weekend in 2017. Bear Hunters sets are getting rarer and rarer, but they have survived into a new decade and still have a new CD in the pipeline, so don't miss their latest long-awaited return in April to see what they have in store!

Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades are also advertised to open in their own first concert set of the year, and first of two announced dates for the spring after laying low through the winter. It'll be great to see Jack Spades back themselves, so don't be late! Seemingly self promoted through The Bear Hunters, this 19+ concert has an early-ish 8:00 PM start time advertised (given the date, hopefully that sticks), and an admission fee has not yet been announced. This should be a brutal night for metal fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details as they roll in!

We'll close today with some new videos, starting with the latest original song from former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel, as posted there earlier this month. Entitled "Breaking Free", Cory says that this is about "breaking out of old habits and freeing ourselves from society's hold", and if you missed his heavier regular sound after his surprise "Love Yourself" cover, you'll be more at home here! Very bass-heavy, but it's a solid hard rocker that would have fit in one of his local bands, and watch for liberal usage of Facebook or Snapchat video filters while he sings to the camera. Unique touch, so give everything a look below!

Lastly, here's some new acoustic cover videos from local/Elliot Lake punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, as uploaded to project leader Darren MacDonald's YouTube channel last week! After a four month hiatus from new music (partially due to his wife's surgery), Darren has resumed uploading new videos on YouTube, largely reflecting his own gameplay of NHL 20 and his create-a-team, the Halifax Buccaneers, so if that interests you, he's got a lot of that to see! Musically, the two covers are a sped up rendition of Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" (a favourite of his daughter's), and as embedded below, John Denver's "Leavin' On A Jet Plane". These are far removed from his original punk base, especially if you recall the band's live era locally, but Darren's a good singer with clear guitar ability, and he adds a frank honesty on these covers! Give them a look above and below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Fluid 5ive), New Videos, Solo Project Revivals, And More!!

Let's get one more post on the site before the weekend wraps up, and it includes some assorted recent updates, a returning solo project or two, new videos, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the end of next month! Here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quintet Fluid 5ive will apparently be playing a special matinee concert at The New American Pub on Saturday, November 30th! Surprisingly announced with almost two months notice yesterday via the venue's Facebook event page, this will be Fluid 5ive's second publically advertised concert of the fall, after rocking The Water Tower Pub this past Friday, though like that show, we have not seen any public advertising by the band proper. As best as I can tell, Fluid 5ive have not played a public concert at The New A before, so if you're eager to see this veteran hard rock act at a popular downtown concert venue, keep next month's show in mind! This one-nighter has a special 4:00 PM start time, seemingly hinting that they're booking two bands that day, though I'm not immediately certain who's playing in the regular 9:00 PM slot. There is no cover charge, and visit the above links for more information as it rolls in!

Next up, here's another new video from prolific local/Thompson, Manitoba solo artist Mike Haggith's Facebook page! Alongside a handful of new solo concert announcements in Thompson this fall, Mike posted this video from a new jam space (unclear if it's his or shared) that he christened on September 28th, alongside his Between The Ditches bandmate Justin Fuciarelli and fellow area musician Tony Whalen. The video features Mike and company playing the third unveiled song from his upcoming album "If Ever Comes The Day", entitled "MorningStar"(it's subtitled "Acoustic", perhaps hinting that the studio copy isn't.) Mike hinted in the description that the song has "never been more relevant than right now", so read into that all you want if you choose. I'll hold full comment pending our review of the full CD, but the guys sound good together, which you can see for yourself below!

Also today, we have a surprise band revival to note on here, as local/Elliot Lake punk solo project Ashoka At The Show is back! When the former Mayadevi said that "something new is coming soon", who knew they meant 15 months?! On September 16th, project leader Darren MacDonald announced on their Facebook page that he was starting a new YouTube channel to succeed his prior 184Films channel that he couldn't re-log into. In his introductory video, Darren promised new videos daily, including both musical performances and a video gaming series, so if you're interested in seeing him play NHL 20 with the Halifax Buccaneers, you know where to go! Regarding Ashoka At The Show proper, these mark Darren's first music postings credited to the band since February 2017, and include unplugged covers of Rise Against's "Hero Of War", Tony Sly's "Therapy", and No Use For A Name's "Sleeping Between Trucks", plus his new original song "Fault."

All seemingly home recordings, the recording quality is nice given the solo nature, and it's good to see that his singing and guitar talents are still present after the layoff! The covers and "Fault" work out well all around, and while his promise for "daily" videos hasn't been true since Wednesday, hopefully he has more in the pipeline. Give Darren's new videos a look above & below, and Ashoka At The Show are back in our active band links!



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

• Also resurfacing for the first time since June 2018 are Sault Michigan hard rock solo project Hubbard, who ended their own hiatus earlier today with a couple of Facebook photos of their gear-in studio, along with a caption simply reading "Something's happening..." The 415E side project barely seemed to get off the ground for public updates last summer, so hopefully their apparent return will yield more content in 2019 & beyond! See above for updates, and Hubbard are also back in our active band links!
• After a six year hiatus, LemmaFest will apparently return in 2020! The annual Michael Lemma tribute concert festival ran each June from 2011-2014 outside of Dondee Lanes, and while details are not plentiful yet, their Facebook page indicates that LemmaFest V will be held as a downtown battle of the bands, hopefully on June 27th. If things hold up, it'll be very interesting to see how things shake down, so follow above for continuing updates!
• A special "industry night" gala at The Water Tower Pub in Sault Ontario will be held on Thursday, October 17th at 5:00 PM, entitled "The Mastering of a Music City". The event will help launch Music City Sault Ste. Marie (details forthcoming), and will feature keynote speakers & a panel discussion with music industry executives and local arts & culture sector representatives. This poster also credits Treble Charger's Greig Nori as hosting the event. If you're interested in attending or learning more about Music City Sault Ste. Marie, click here to register for limited complimentary tickets!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates as the week rolls along! Thanks everyone!