Got a new post on this Monday evening to check out, and it is devoted to some recent videos from hard rock and punk bands playing and/or from here, so let's get things rolling!
Let's start with videos from Hamilton-based Pearl Jam tribute band Leash's headlining concert at Soo Blaster on March 4th, as Christopher Paci's YouTube channel has us covered with videos from that night! Apologies for the three week delay in these making the site, I didn't notice he posted videos from it until after I found his Pop Evil videos. Chris filmed eleven videos at this concert, including eight of the headliners, who he filmed tackling the Pearl Jam hits "Given To Fly", "Even Flow", "State Of Love & Trust", "Jeremy", "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town", "Daughter", "Corduroy", and as embedded below, "Alive". More of a musical tribute than visual, but at least in these videos, they are closer to Pearl Jam in total sound than some of their videos implied. Interesting how he holds the whole microphone stand up over the crowd to let fans sing along!
Visually, the stage lighting can mess with the clarity a bit, especially on more rapid flickering (watch and you'll see what I mean), but the quality is more than serviceable, and the audio is less tinny than how things came across at the Pop Evil concert. Good stuff for grunge fans, so give Chris' Leash videos a watch above & below!
Chris also filmed/uploaded three videos of opening local punk trio Vanity First, who can be seen here covering Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name", Weezer's "Say It Ain't So", and as embedded below, most of their original "Playboy Magazine". While definitely filmed from further away, Chris zoomed in well to capture Andrew, Mikhal, and Keeghan's set, and their clear talent and lively set looks like it got the evening off on the right foot, so check their videos out above & below also!
Now let's head four hours east to Sudbury, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard ventured this past weekend for rare out-of-town gigs at The Coulson Entertainment Centre! Delayed a couple of weeks, Bone Yard made the most of their road trip for media on their Facebook page, starting with this "Reel" where the guys hyped that they were coming to The Coulson and encouraged Sudburians to be there. In another "Reel" on Wednesday, they teased making new shirts with new designs that would go on sale at these gigs. Photos from the Friday nighter were posted to Facebook, and four videos that aren't "Reels" (despite all being vertical) were posted between the two shows that can be embedded on external websites like this. One features bassist Warren Reville showing off a "magic trick", so to speak, but the other three are proper concert videos, with the one from the Friday nighter seeing Bone Yard covering The Rolling Stones' "Miss You", but the filmer oddly focuses on the floor of the stage for most of it.
Two videos were uploaded from their Saturday concert, including covers of ZZ Top's "La Grange" and, as embedded below, Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" (yes, the band is in frame for the duration on these). Entertaining covers from Greg, Alex, and Warren across the board, and while more fans on the floor would have been nice, southern and classic rock fans were in good hands, so check out their Sudbury videos above & below!
Let's close with a mild bit of unfinished business from yesterday's review of local pop punk project Forever Will Be's debut album "Dead and Dishonest", as I mentioned there that they also recorded an acoustic version of the closing track "Downsides" that isn't on the album, but was posted to their YouTube channel in December. This is also a good time to state in a normal post that the vocalist heard on Forever Will Be's studio material is not project leader Ryan McLaughlin, rather session vocalist Billy Douglas, who fronts the British punk band Colosseums, a fact that wasn't overly prevalent in all of the band's social media marketing initially. Ryan found a strong vocalist to bring his lyrics to life, but you'll already know that if you've heard the album, and don't sleep on Colosseums either! "Dead & Dishonest" didn't have a traditional ballad, but of what was included, "Downsides" is one of the better fits to an unplugged format.
The minimal screaming and less varied structure adapt fairly well, though I will say that the guitar work can be a little repetitive at points as Ryan plays a punk song meant for electric instruments in this way. Interesting change of pace, so do give this a listen below, and hopefully we hear more material and updates from Forever Will Be in 2023!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Before we preview tomorrow's Black Mastiff concert and cover some more recent updates, here's our long awaited fallout/results post from the finale of a major local entertainment competition (and ARCH fundraiser) that wrapped up over a week ago, so here's what you should know!
After four weeks of exciting performances, the second annual Soo's Got Talent competition ended at Soo Blaster on Friday, October 11th, with singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan being named as the winner! Apologies for the delay, we were waiting for video from the finals to turn up online before making a full wrte-up. As outlined in this SooToday article by Darren Taylor, Adrian narrowly edged out vocalist Juliana Regan for the top spot, as determined by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, Lesley Walsh Tibben, and guest Tim Murphy. Adrian picked up $1,000 for the top prize, and judges actually announced everyone's final ranking publically, including a strong third place showing for resurgent rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, which is supremely encouraging given their long layoff and outlier status! Their finish was better than at the VM Radio Battle finals run in 2015, if you want to compare the events.
Also, kudos to Coulson Perri (a wild card finalist, mind you) placing in fourth! Adrian is briefly interviewed in the above article (which includes photos of all seven finalist acts), where he notes that he has solo music on Soundcloud, he's currently in an up & coming local band named The Uncanny Valley, and he is primarily inspired by classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin & The Who. We didn't see Adrian tackle any heavier bands in his covers during The Soo's Got Talent, but he is a very talented musician with a bright future ahead of him, and it'll be very interesting to see what he has in store down the line! As for the final round video, SaultOnline and ONNtv outdid themselves to cover the last round, as partly due to each finalist playing two songs, the last episode runs for over two and a half hours! As aired on ONNtv on Wednesday and posted on their YouTube channel on Friday, what all can you see in the final round?
The video starts with Tim Murphy covering "This Is The Moment" from the Jekyll & Hyde musical, before moving into the finalists, who are each starting with a song picked by the judges. Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet (5th place) opens with an interpolation of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which includes pre-recorded vocals of his and live beatboxing. Interesting approach, and he worked with what he was given, but I think his regular repertoire suits him better. Other "judges pick" covers include Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (7th place) singing Alessia Cara's "Scars To Your Beautiful" & The Dancing Divas (6th place) performing Jessie J's "Price Tag", followed by the impeccably dressed Apocalypse Afterparty covering R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", and the rapid fire vocals and lyrical content suits their sound really well! Coulson Perri is next singing Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed", and he plays the part nicely, complete with Alice-esque costuming and makeup!
Juliana Regan is next doing Sinead O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", with Adrian Sullivan rounding out the first half by covering George Michael's "Faith". In between halves, the "surprise celebrity tribute artist" was actually local Elvis Presley impersonator Jimmy Fiore covering "Burning Love" & "Can't Help Falling In Love". I'm not a big Elvis fan, so judge for yourselves how he compares! The second half performance order is identical to the first, and it features Killabeatz doing a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin leading into a beatboxing performance, Bethany covering Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel", and The Dancing Divas covering Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", before The Apocalypse Afterparty played a laid back yet hard-edged original song that suits their approach! We also get Coulson (sans makeup) covering Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" and Juliana tackling Postmodern Jukebox's jazz cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army".
Adrian closed the competition with his own original song "Something To Believe In", before 2018 Soo's Got Talent winner Daniella Brewer returned to update everyone on what she's done in the past year, and to sing her cover of Lewis Capaldi's "Bruises". Afterwards, we got an unadvertised guest song from the rapper who performed with Killabeatz in earlier rounds, accompanied by Apocalypse Afterparty frontman Paul Stanghetta on drums. The video ends with the judges announcing the winners and their closing remarks. I will say, the video proper started going out of sync with the audio track after a while, but there's a lot to take in here, hence why this post is only devoted to the finals. A lot of promising young talent took the stage for year #2 of The Soo's Got Talent, and it will be very interesting to see how everyone's careers progress as a result, but congratulations again to Adrian on his big win, and be sure to watch the video below and the above links for much more from this event!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Black Mastiff preview and more next! Thanks everyone!
