I hope all of our Canadian readers are having a good Victoria Day! Ironically, most of this post reflects the E.U.P. (whose Memorial Day holiday isn't for another week), but we are leading off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT on this side of the border, so here's what you should know!
Local punk trio Vanity First and rap/party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty will join forces for a concert at Soo Blaster on Saturday, June 17th! While neither are strangers to playing at Soo Blaster as support bands (the former for Gutter Creek and Leash, the latter at multiple rap concerts), the idea of an all-local show with just the two of them is unique in and of itself, especially on such a big stage, so it will be interesting to see how this concert goes! Vanity are fresh off of their solo gigs at Shooters this weekend, while The A.A. were last seen opening for Madchild at Soo Blaster last month. Both bands' energetic covers and diverse originals should pull a strong audience, so don't miss out on the 17th! Sponsored by Sessions Cannabis, this concert has a 19+ age limit, door opening at 7:00 PM, and admission prices at $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Advance tickets will be on sale on Eventbrite, though the link is not out yet. See the above links for continuing details on this concert!
Next up, let's continue getting caught up on the latest updates from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown's Facebook page from the past 3+ weeks, starting with their April 30th reveal that their recent music video is for a song named "Jell-O", and while complete & uploaded to their YouTube channel, it was still private at that time. Singer Brandon West posted this video later that day to reveal that the video proper would go public two days later, and also thank fans for their support and tease their new run of official band hoodies. On May 1st, Brandon teased in this video that H.L.T.C. were working on a fast new song, tentatively named "Sound Check" (no relation) that would also get its own music video, so stay tuned in that regard! After one more teaser clip from Brandon about the "Jell-O" premiere that night, the video went live, so what should you know about it?
Directed by Robin Chargo, it features the band playing in white hazmat suits in a sealed room drenched in blood (perhaps Jell-O that didn't set in the fridge?!). The blood got all over the band too, especially Brandon, who is the only band member not wearing a face mask (a logistical necessity given that he is screaming the lyrics). I'll hold comment on the song proper, pending our eventual review of the album in progress, but the video is well suited to the track, and it was well shot, so give it a watch below!
Conspicuous by his absence from the video is rhythm guitarist Christian Thanasiu, and that's because he quietly left Heavy Lies The Crown earlier this year, as revealed in a post on May 2nd before "Jell-O" went live. A reason for Christian's departure was not announced, but the band left the door open on playing with him again in the future, and it definitely sounds like he left on amicable terms. The music video was shot in March, and based on the band's usage of photos with their most recent full lineup, he must have left between late February and early March (videos from their recent concerts haven't been plentiful to be any more specific). Christian replaced Nathan Switzer on rhythm guitar early last year during the band's lineup overhaul, and his beard, toque, & Flying V guitar were always a welcome sight on stage. Hopefully things are going well for him no matter what, and that we see Christian back out there soon!
Remember that H.L.T.C.'s bassist is also named Christian (Bailey/Cook), so that confusion will now be alleviated, for what that's worth. No word on when/if they'll find a new second guitarist, but we will keep you posted if anything comes out in that regard! Continuing with their May Facebook updates, Brandon posted this video on May 5th of him attempting to sing in a glam metal style, and while a little strained, I have heard far worse! On May 7th, Brandon uploaded this video from his garage to tease their upcoming "Sound Check" music video, which will apparently feature some type of toy guns (pixellated to likely avoid any content issues about guns, but the colouring implies that they are toys). On May 11th, Brandon was back with another video, this time to hype up their next concert, which went down on Saturday at the 2 Wheel Tavern in Wolverine, outside of Cheboygan. For H.L.T.C.'s standards, that's as close to "local" as I've seen from them, so hopefully some Yoopers came out!
The show (held on an outdoor stage) saw Heavy Lies The Crown open for three bands, including headlining Indiana thrash metal band Wraith, but H.L.T.C. were not filmed for the venue's Facebook page like other bands were. Brandon did note that all but one song in their set on Saturday was new, so keep that in mind. They'll also return to Alpena (not as far on the grand scheme of things for them) on July 22nd when they open for Katharsys Theory at the Michigan Brown Trout Festival, so see those links for more details if you're up for a road trip in two months! We are now officially caught up on Heavy Lies The Crown, so see above and their music video teaser clip below for more from them!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
As promised, we'll close our weekend concert previews with the last of the currently known and advertised hard rock shows taking place in the Soo area, but to round things out, we're dipping into the Sault Michigan scene for some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and new videos, plus some assorted recent notes from the Ontario side of the border! Here's what you need to know!
Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for a pair of shows on Friday, September 23rd & Saturday, September 24th! Though the band hasn't addressed them online yet, Kewadin Casino's entertainment page has been newly updated to reflect Rapids Lounge dates through year's end, which confirmed these and one new concert weekend from another band (coming up next.) Believe it or not, these are Jeff, Adam, and Brooks' first announced shows in Sault Ste. Marie this year, last playing in the E.U.P. last fall, though we have seen their sister band Scarkazm often in the interim. Peril have been missed in recent months, and hopefully their familiar classic metal and hard rock renditions will pull in another big crowd this fall! As usual for their regional dates, there are 9:00 PM start times in effect, no announced cover charges, and 21+ age limits. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more from Peril and related bands!
Just as an aside, the aforementioned Kewadin Casino entertainment page also lists future Rapids Lounge dates for Banned & Highway 63 through the end of the year, but both of those local classic/hard rock bands have already confirmed all of them via their own Facebook pages, so there's nothing new there to report. However, there is one more weekend that was confirmed for a hard rock band, as you'll find below!
Next up, here's our likely final concert previews of the weekend, as Sault
Michigan hard rock quartet 415E will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Soo's Kewadin Casino branch for headlining concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, and they too have some new shows to announce for The Rapids Lounge on Friday, September 30th & Saturday, October 1st! This union of Nixxon Dixxon, Splitshot, and Highest of Fives alumni are fresh off of last week's St. Ignace Kewadin stops, and they should be in fine form for another high impact weekend of Van Halen-inspired rock n' roll both this weekend and this fall! Again, we await a schedule release for the St. Ignace Kewadin, so if they have more dates coming there, we haven't heard about them yet. Tonight's, tomorrow's, and the September & October 415E shows are also 9:00 PM events with no announced cover charges and 21+ age limits. Check the above links for more details, and here's 415E live!
Also today, here's the latest from local hard rock/blues quartet Project 906, who have shared a bunch of new videos to their Facebook page in the last few days! We'll cover the new jam session videos separately in an upcoming post to give them proper emphasis given that they're not from concerts, but we do have two concert videos to address on here! Both apparently coming from their Pickles Bar & Grill stop in Brimley last week, one video is a slideshow of photos from the concert, running for just 15 seconds and sans audio of any kind. It is what it is, but the photos aren't bad! The other video (embedded below) was shared from guitarist Joe Jenkins' personal Facebook page, and it features Project 906 covering ZZ Top's "Tush". The guys do a solid job on this bluesy classic, with Billy Bernier's vocals fitting nicely, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Project 906! For reference, they're playing a Highland Clan Motorcycle Rally event of some kind tomorrow, but we can't confirm it's location or if it's a public event, hence why we didn't cover it here. Hopefully it goes well!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last
while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Due to URL changes following layout and design overhauls on CBC Music, we have updated the links for the four Sault Ontario bands (Burn The Past, Glunk!, Sue Inside, and The 12 Gauge Ready)
whose linked page in our band links is via CBC. Coincidentally, all are
defunct, as we generally link bands to their most substantial (or only)
online page, and CBC Music happens to be these four's primary online
presence nowadays. I wanted our links to be accurate and work, so just a
heads up!
We don't generally discuss personal matters of local musicians on here,
but I thought I'd mention this to help a musician in need. Destroilet
guitarist Christian Foisy and his family recently suffered major fire
damages at their home, destroying their garage in the process.
Thankfully, he and his family (including his five week old daughter) are
safe and sound, and to help raise money for repairs, bandmate Matt
Waples has launched this GoFundMe campaign
for the cause, with $1,785 raised as of this writing. Best of luck to
the Foisys at this difficult time, and see above for info on how
to help!
SooToday's Jeff Klassen
interviewed relocated local musicians, brothers, and Rotaryfest Stage 1
headliners Kyle & Dean McKey for this SooToday article on Sunday about their music work locally & in Southern Ontario, and it does reference their old hard rock band Sailor's Tongue!
That band's beginnings as Pix n' Stix & Edge City were
referenced, as well as their original dissolution after Dean moved out
of town in 2007, and while their early 2010s reunion wasn't covered, the
McKey brothers did note that they still send music files back & forth towards planned new Sailor's Tongue originals. Very solid read,
so give it a look above!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this weekend! Thanks everyone!
It's been far too long since our last one of these, so let's finally get a new local punk video showcase up on the site, our fifth in total! Like before, this will take a look at four punk videos from local artists and concerts, and though we're sticking with similar bands from past installments to balance things out, there's some very solid videos to share today! Including live concert footage, studio material, and a jam session clip, read on below for this newest showcase!
We'll start with a trio of videos from veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon's YouTube channel, specifically of his very successful punk quartet The Inner City Surfers! Though two of them (both uploaded in August 2006) are credited to this band, they're just of Mikey jokingly singing along with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air's theme song and Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al", and they're a fun light view from this channel's early days! Featured below though is (surprisingly) the only Surfers concert video that I could find on Mikey's channel, which comes from their last headlining gig at Foggy Notions (now Coch's Corner) on March 15th, 2008. The show was notable as one of the last concerts held at Foggy's during it's original run (then-owner Patrick Casey closed shop at month's end), and though the venue returned the next year under it's first of three new owners, the Surfers never returned for a show there to my knowledge.
The video itself is of The Inner City Surfers playing their song "Never Ender Bender" as filmed on a tape camcorder from a high side-stage angle, and though the video quality isn't fantastic, it does capture a great crowd and a nice energetic rendition of one of their classic originals! The Surfers were a frequent band at Foggy's on both Bay & Queen Street through 2008, and though I was 2 months away from legal drinking age when the original era ended, you can feel the energy of the old run even here, and I bet fans miss those days! Give this video a look below!
Next for this all-video post, we'll take a look at Mikey and Surfers bandmate Dustin Jones' current band, the Celtic punk favourites Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide! Uploaded by YouTube user KelFable on November 3rd, 2011, these are presumably from the Maritimes leg of their tour dates that fall (if these were uploaded shortly after the show), though I can't verify the exact location. Her videos are mostly of covers, including The Tide putting their own spin on The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" & House of Pain's "Jump Around", plus a snippet of their own self-titled original "Rising Tide", though all of these videos are incomplete (the latter running at just 23 seconds.) Embedded below though is Kel's longest video, a cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me", and while these covers are all against type for their genres, they're well done and effectively converted to their existing sound without much issue!
Aside from being mostly incomplete, these videos suffer most visually, as the lighting is poor and honestly makes it hard to make out the guys at points, but it's definitely Dustin and The Tide. The audio's solid though, so give these D.J.R.T. videos a look above and below, and remember not to miss their local return next month! Third for this video showcase is a jam session clip from YouTube user Jamie Penno's channel, and this will be of particular note for fans of the defunct local punk band Bankshot, as it features that band's guitarists Christian Pasiak & Lucas Schmiedendorf! Uploaded in January 2007 and apparently filmed in a church, this features the guys jamming an acoustic punk song that appears to be an original song about a girlfriend always on one's mind, but I can't place the name or original band. The lighting is awful, but the audio quality is good, if you can get past the background talking, so give this solid jam clip from Bankshot's guitarists a look below!
We'll close this post with local/Toronto indie punk favourites Treble Charger, and I knew when we started these punk showcases that we'd have to at least address YouTube copies of their studio albums. I won't ignite any debates about buying music here, but fans should know that all of Treble Charger's albums are easily available online, and pretty much all of their studio albums can be streamed on YouTube, so if you're on the free side of the issue, you're covered! If you actively stream songs there, the best channel for Treble Charger albums is that of Fletcher Holland, who has uploaded four of their five studio albums (1995's "Self Title", 1997's "Maybe It's Me", 2000's "Wide Awake Bored", and 2002's "Detox") there, though their 1994 debut "nc17" isn't featured, and none of the albums there are grouped into playlists. I highly encourage buying these albums to support Treble Charger's work, but give YouTube a whirl if you want a free stream, and here's the first song from "Self Title", that being "Morale"!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Let's get some more news going on the site today, and it's a mix of things from changes to band links and profiles on the SMS to a new video from a local project to two very cool Garden of Bedlam-releated stories from the last little while, so let's get this post going!
If you're still anxiously awaiting the release of Garden of Bedlam's full length album "Everything Will Die", maybe this image will build some more anticipation! It was posted onto their Facebook page last night, and though not a lot is said, it seems self-explanatory. I'd assume that the image either is the album's cover or contains elements of it, and the date of December 26th seems to imply what you're probably thinking it implies. That said, if "Everything Will Die" does indeed come out on Boxing Day, what are the specifics? That, I don't know. I'd assume that the album will come out on CD format with a likely mp3 release on iTunes or similar stores around the same time, and it should have at least 9 songs. The Rad Zone would be a likely local retail outlet to sell it, and a CD release show tied in would make sense, but all we have publically available is this image and the date upon it as of right now. I'm definitely excited to finally have Garden of Bedlam's first full length album in my possession after over a year of waiting, but there's still details to come, so stay tuned for the SMS as soon as more official word on it's release comes out, but circle Boxing Day on your calendars!
Also in Garden of Bedlam related news, the band (save for Josh Belleau) are featured in a new Shaw TV interview piece by Christian Lemay (who previously did pieces on As It Stands & Dismembertainment), and this time, it focuses on local music/collectibles store The Rad Zone in the Wellington Square Mall! The bulk of the interview focuses on Rad Zone owner Paul Muncaster, who talked in detail about The Rad Zone's beginnings, it's connections with the local community, and yes, their support of local music and what they do and offer to local bands, and it's great to see him show this much support so well over the years! He seemed friendly and humble, and the Shaw TV crew got some great interior shots of The Rad Zone, along with comments from local photographer Rob Majury (who's done photography work for them) and members of Garden of Bedlam (including bassist & Rad Zone employee Evan Belleau.) They outlined their support and praise of Paul and The Rad Zone for what they've done for the band and the local music scene, along with some news relating to what Garden of Bedlam merchandise you can buy in-store. It's a very nice and complementary interview with all parties, so definitely check it out wherever you can!
So when can you see this interview? As of today, it's running about once every 24 minutes, so it's not rigidly placed enough to give a real time to see it. For reference, it comes on after a piece on a local 102 year old woman and a Shaw TV commercial, and it's about 5 minutes long. Apparently, it's been running on channel 10 (Shaw cable users only) since Monday, but I only just heard about the interview the other day, and I sincerely apologize for being late to get the word out on the SMS. It's a great video on an awesome store that gives 110% to the local music community, and definitely check it out while it's still on rotation! I believe it will be off air by Monday, but it should be posted on Shaw TV's website early next week for about a week, and hopefully for the Christmas season, I'll have a copy to post on YouTube for a present! Stay tuned, and check out the Rad Zone/Garden of Bedlam interview video on channel 10 A.S.A.P., and kudos to Christian for another quality piece!
Next up, ApocalyptiCDistroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh uploaded another solo performance video onto the band's YouTube channel yesterday, and it's basically a more refined version of his acoustic song "You Mean The World To Me" that he posted last month. The lyrics are still a bit repetitive, and Jesse's tone is grittier than the song probably needs, but it's not a bad softer track, if atypical from much of ApocalyptiCDistroyeR's past output. Give it a look below, along with much more solo and band material at the above links!
And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories related to site changes and band link adjustments, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:
I've removed the defunct Sault Ontario hardcore band BeeFMoutH from our Inactive Local Band Links because the page I linked them with (a YouTube channel under the BeeFMoutH name) isn't really a "band page", so to speak. They were entertaining with a unique edge though, so check out some of their posted videos at the above link!
I'll likely be moving Sault Michigan solo metal project BlisteringBane to our Inactive Local Band Links tomorrow due to a year's inactivity. Bandleader Jordon Jones hasn't updated the project's MySpace page since a year ago tomorrow, when he implied a hiatus for the project anyway due to losing "the stuff" to make more music. Disappointing, but hopefully Jordon reemerges musically down the road!
I've edited our Defunct Local Band Profile on local hardcore quartet Detroit to reflect the fact that guitarist Curtis Faux has since joined frontman Brenton Ellis in the active Toronto hardcore punk band Maximum RNR, a fact I alluded to on the site last month as well. Not a huge change, but I thought I'd mention it, and check out Maximum RNR at the above links for an extension of the Detroit sound!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for our next Defunct Local Band Profiles on Garage Inc. & Savage Roar tomorrow, and more news this weekend hopefully! Thanks everyone!
