Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family & friends of veteran Toronto punk bassist Phil Page, who passed away earlier this week, as per numerous personal Facebook postings. While not a local musician, Phil was known to many in the local punk scene via his friend and long-time bandmate Mikey Hawdon, with the two collaborating musically for the past 15 or so years during Mikey's time living in Southern Ontario. SMS readers will best recognize Phil as the bassist in Mikey's first Ramones tribute band The Merves, who played five concerts in the Soo from 2010-2015 before reuniting at Soo Blaster in November during Mikey's pre-wedding concert. Original music-wise, Phil played with Mikey in The Fairmounts, who came here for a single show at The Algonquin Pub in 2012. Mikey also drummed in Phil's band Teenage X, who I don't believe ever played up here.
Phil was also known from GTA bands like The Outbred Inlaws and The Downbelows, and was also an avid skateboarder. My interactions with Phil during his local concerts were limited, but he was a good man and a proud father, and my thoughts are absolutely with his wife Hollie and their kids at this difficult time. If you're a fan of modern skate punk and/or The Ramones, do check out Phil's back catalog to hear some very solid performances both on stage and in studio. R.I.P. Phil!
Today's post otherwise focuses on new videos, and we'll actually start with another ex-bandmate of Mikey Hawdon's, namely his old Lion Ride/Detroit cohort Mark Rand & his emo/punk band Fuller, who reunited after an 18-ish year hiatus for a one-off concert at LopLops Lounge in December! As I noted in our post last week about Jimmy Polnick's live-streams from that night, the Facebook event page saw an abnormal usage as a bulletin board for videos from the event (remember, the bands that night either don't have a Facebook page or barely post on theirs), with two more attendees posting videos there from the show! Ashley Lace also filmed Fuller's entire set for the event page, posting her footage on January 2nd. Now, her videos were split in two chunks (the second video begins with their Moneen cover with guest vocalists), but thankfully, hers were shot horizontally!
It's always more ideal to shoot a band in landscape orientation, so kudos to Ashley for going widescreen for her footage! Even beyond that, I'd say that her videos are better quality for visuals and audio than Jimmy's, but of course, thanks to both for filming everything that they did! I won't do another blow by blow of the set, as I covered that ground last week, but definitely give Ashley's Fuller videos a watch above & below!
The other video was posted by Mark on New Year's Eve, but was shot by his wife & Cross Dog bandmate Tracy Ashenden. It features their last song (whose name was obscured in the setlist picture from his personal Facebook page), which was more of an extended jam compared to what came before it. Tracy got more of a central angle than what Ashley filmed concurrently, and while the audio is a little muffled by comparison, you can't go wrong with the crystal clear visuals and horizontal orientation! It does feel like there was a stabilization setting added to it, based on how some of the motion looks, but it's another solid video, so throw back to Fuller's long awaited return concert again below!
We'll close with a new video from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's Facebook page! Filmed at one of their Rockstar Bar fundraiser gigs from late last year (they did not specify which one), the video features guitarist Ryan Robb playing 19 seconds of the guitar solo from their cover of Metallica's cover of Thin Lizzy's "Whiskey In The Jar". Note the fan laying on his back giving "moral support", which hopefully was sent accurately! The drums are a little loud given the camera setup and focus on the guitarist, but what we see is well performed, so give it a look for yourselves below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Merry Christmas, everyone! With post counts down due to the pandemic and holiday commitments, let's revive an old chestnut of the site, where I'd share some seasonal videos and covers from local musicians on Christmas Day, just as a present to you guys. We're gonna lean heavily into the recent catalog of prolific local punk frontman & dtummer Mikey Hawdon, who has achieved a new level of recognition with his Mikey & His Uke series of collaborative covers during the pandemic! We only really talk about the covers on the SMS when he enlists more local talent or makes the local news, as I believe he still lives in Southern Ontario, but it's the holidays, and earlier this week, he finally tackled a Christmas song in the series! In this case, it's The Vandals' "Oi To The World" from their punk Christmas album of the same name, and Mikey enlisted another talented band for this one!
Alongside him on guitar (and initially, ukelele), he's joined by vocalists Sirae Richardson, Erin MacKenzie, and Brianne McWane from twelve-piece Boston band The Doped Up Dollies, plus ex-Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George, Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Platfoot, and Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfeiffer (a frequent guest on his own). Fun cover for punk fans with lots of upbeat performances, and given the high number of punk Christmas albums, it was only natural for something from those to get the Mikey & His Uke treatment finally! Give it a watch below!
Next up, this was an album that I already mentioned on the SMS seven years ago today, but let's shine a spotlight on Mikey's most recent non-uke band with him on vocals & guitar, namely Toronto punk quartet The Fairmounts, who were featured on the 2011 compilation album "Christmas with The Salads & Friends"! Yes, The Salads (the Newmarket ska punk band of "Get Loose" fame) curated a 15 song compilation CD of Christmas carols and seasonal songs from 14 different Canadian bands, with The Salads themselves playing the first two. Readers may recognize illScarlett, The Killing Time Band, and The Johnstones among the performer lineup, with The Fairmounts offering up what appears to be an original song named "Christmas Tradition". This one is a straight-forward song about fondly remembered Christmas traditions, and it's not tongue in cheek at all beyond being played by a punk band.
Fans of Mikey's vocal/guitar exploits post-Lion Ride will be right at home with The Fairmounts' offering here, so give Mikey, Phil, Simon, and Andrew's own punk carol a listen below, and hopefully we'll hear more from them in one form or another when the pandemic eases up!
And yes, Mikey pulled double duty on "Christmas with The Salads & Friends" via his then-role as drummer with local Celtic punk band Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide! As you may recall us mentioning on the site in 2014, Dustin, the Jaaskelainens, and Mikey recorded their own skewed take on "The 12 Daze of Christmas" (sic), with all of the gifts being changed from birds and rings and such to alcohol (starting with Dustin getting a straight shot of warm whiskey). Aside from the boozy lyrics, this is a fun cover that is played straight in regards to their genre, so fans will definitely take to it! Hopefully we hear more from The Tide in the new year!
If you want to hear studio versions of Christmas songs from local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands, there are a few other options out there. The original crash band Sykotyk Rampage included a medley of Christmas songs as only they can play them (entitled "Christmas Melody") at the end of their 2012 album "The Cross", which is largely a concept album about religious skepticism. More recently, Late & Loud included two Christmas songs ("Green Slays" & "Dirge of the Bells") way out of season in their podcast score album "Late & Legends 1" from April 2021. But of course, the titans of Christmas metal in this area are Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night, who have their 2010 instrumental album "Christmas Night", later carols with far-flung vocalists Gaby Koss & Ida Elena, their Christmas tours from 2017-2019 with ex-I.S.O.M. vocalist Rachel Mender, and most recently, two studio re-recordings with their current lineup towards a second Christmas album, complete with official music videos.
Visit Theatre of Night's YouTube channel and Reverbnation page to see and hear everything seasonal they have to offer so far! Their two newest music videos teased that they were recording a second Christmas album, this time with Craig & Steve joined by Rachel, Erik, and their still-unrevealed new bassist, but if the aim is to put that out in time for Christmas, then I wouldn't expect it until late 2022. Rather than re-post something I just covered this year, why not re-watch their full Christmas concert in Holland from 2019? If you want a TSO-style brand of metallized carols, this should do the trick, but there's way more where that came from in Theatre of Night's online pages!
That's all for today, but have a Merry Christmas, and stay tuned next for this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Thanks everyone!
Back on April 8th, Mike "Sev Micron" Severin from local internet radio station The Borderline interviewed prolific local punk musician Mikey Hawdon for an episode of his interview series Sev's Cellar, which you can hear on demand at this link, so what should you know here? Like the Mike Haggith episode we last talked about, this is a 2+ hour interview broken up into two halves, but here, the first half is in the first (higher) file on the website. After briefly talking about his old local band Old Hat (a.k.a. The Roll-Ons) and playing a song of theirs, he plays the cover of The Replacements' "Favourite Things" from the Mikey & His Uke series, so if you actually want to skip ahead to just the interview, that starts about 6:30 into the first 78 minute file. In order, Sev talks with Mikey about how he's managing in Toronto during the pandemic, his local upbringing (The Fairmounts' band name actually comes from the street he grew up on) ...
...how he grew to love music, his fandom of Back To The Future, his beginnings in actually playing music, his inspirations, how he acquired and started playing the ukelele, and how the Mikey & His Uke series began and evolved into it's current form, before playing the cover of The Ramones' "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" from that series. Afterwards, Mikey discusses songs he loves, some of the concerts he's played that Sev has seen both locally and in Toronto, Mikey's plans to move back home, some of the trademark personal/free-form questions that Sev asks in every episode, and the best concert Mikey ever played, which segues into audio of his defunct Toronto-based Green Day tribute band The Dookies covering Green Day's "Welcome To Paradise" at the Montebello Rockfest in 2015, before Mikey talks about the two people he'd love to have dinner with.
After playing the Mikey & His Uke cover of The Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love", Sev told an anecdote about discovering The Sex Pistols thanks to Monk from The Rad Zone, before diving back into some of the personal (and sometimes silly) questions, and his front line work in his day job, before playing "American Jesus" from the Mikey & His Uke series. Next, they talk about Mikey's appearance on Global News last year, plus more of Sev's trademark questions, and then play The Fairmounts' "Kicked Off Queen" (which Mikey explains the backstory of, and it references Toronto's Queen Street, not ours). The first half concludes with how Mikey got Harry Waters Jr. (Marvin Berry from Back To The Future) to sing his rendition of "Earth Angel" from the movie for an early installment of Mikey & His Uke, which is played in full. Now, what should you know about the interview's 57 minutes-long second half?
Part two also begins with another Sev's Vault feature about his old Toronto punk band The Throbbin' Hoods, before segueing into "Send You Back To Lithuania" from The Fairmounts' newest album. There is a longer wait for the continuation of the interview proper, which picks back up around 17:30 with a lot more of the fun personal questions, his hockey fandom and celebrity autograph collection, and a Rising Tide song even gets played to reference the topic of discussion at one point! The proper musical discussion picks back up with the inspiration behind the name of The Fairmounts' new album "Eik Namo" and the experiences he had drumming with The Inner City Surfers, before playing the Mikey & His Uke cover of The Pogues' "Streams of Whiskey" (this is the one from St. Patrick's Day that his Surfers bandmate Dustin Jones appears on). After thanking Mikey for coming on and plugging his upcoming plans, ...
...Sev plays Mikey & His Uke's version of Joan Jett & The Black Hearts' "Bad Reputation", before suggesting future plans for the series and playing The Fairmounts' "Never Gonna Be Me". With a musician like Mikey, there is a lot of ground to cover, so bands like Lion Ride and Detroit don't get mentioned, and only The Fairmounts and Mikey & His Uke get played on air in full, but this is a great interview featuring fun topics of discussion from a local musician who has seen and done so much here and in Toronto over the years! This is a long listen, but click here or above to hear this Sev's Cellar episode in full, and stay tuned for a new news post of some kind by Sunday! Thanks everyone!
Like last Wednesday, it's a good time to get our second local punk video showcase post up on the site, as we continue to get up to speed regarding archive punk videos from local bands and concerts! As was the case last week, we're focusing on videos from channels without a 50% majority of local punk videos, in order to save those for our monthly YouTube Channel Profile series. You'll notice a similar trend from last week too via the selected bands, but due to the amount from some bands and channels, spacing them like this will avoid a future glut until some new openings appear.
We'll start this week with local punk/indie rock notables Treble Charger, who as you may know, were inducted into the Independent Music Awards' Hall of Fame during that year's Indies ceremony in Toronto during Canadian Music Week in March 2012. In fact, this was their reunion show, marking the first time Treble Charger had played a public concert in around 8 years, so fans in attendance were in for a treat on that level! Southern Ontario metal band management company Echelons Above Entertainment were in attendance and shot 3 videos from Treble Charger's portion of the event. One is of the actual induction ceremony (and the end of a song) where Greig Nori & Bill Priddle hypothesized a solution to how they'd split their plaque, while the other two are of the guys playing their classic songs "American Psycho" and, as embedded below, "Red", so how'd they sound in their grand return to the stage? About as good as fans would expect, and they covered both their early indie days and later punk era at a good standard! Check out "Red" below, and more above!
Next is another video from prolific local punk musician Mikey Hawdon's huge YouTube channel (which has over 200 videos), and this time, we'll take a look at his current original punk quartet The Fairmounts' only local concert appearance to date, specifically the annual Halloween Party from J.D. Pearce at The Algonquin Pub in October 2012! Decked out in their best Village People costumes, this is a short video of them humorously doing the "YMCA" dance and bantering about their costumes at the set's beginning, but it cuts out just as their first song begins. Still fun, and increasingly timely given the approach of October, so give it a look below!
Also today is this video of local Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide playing their song "Gypsy Wagons" at Dauphin's Countryfest in Manitoba last June, as originally uploaded by Mikey's Fairmounts bandmate Andrew McMullen on his YouTube channel a few days later! Humorously featuring fiddler Sheldon Jaaskelainen in a unicorn mask, this is a solid instrumental performance that lends itself well to their Celtic influences, but punk fans may be left hanging a bit. Note that the band played with a guest mandolin player on this song, and I don't believe Mikey's drumming in the clip, but names aren't given in the description. Well done and energetic as expected, so give this DJRT video a look below, and stay tuned for some concert news from their camp!
Finally, here's a local punk band's song from another 1990s compilation CD, as per Algoma bassist Kevin Campbell's YouTube channel! Like with their appearance on the "Punk: The Next Generation" compilation from 1995, this song is from defunct local punk quartet The Spigots, who supplied "Beer Goggles" to the 1993 compilation CD "Dead On The Road", which also featured songs from notable bands like Random Killing, The Ripcordz, and The Bunchofuckingoofs. Starting in a bluesy tone before transitioning to a fast skate punk style, this is better and more natural sounding than "Change To Hate", and it has a nice hardcore spirit, so check it out below, and check the above links for more from this compilation!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
It's now time for this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, and in this ongoing monthly profile series on out of town bands with past or present Saultites in their lineup(s), we've finally added punk bands into our full selections in this series, via our addition of punk genres to our full coverage on the SMS last month! To kick off the new era of sorts, we're looking at a recently prominent Southern Ontario punk band featuring a very familiar face up front, so read on below for what you need to know! (Updated on November 27th)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Fairmounts (Toronto, Ontario)
Lineup: (Saultites in RED) Mikey Hawdon (vocals/guitar)
Simon Head (guitar)
Phil Page (bass)
Andrew McMullen (drums)
Local Info: Fairmounts frontman Mikey Hawdon is extremely well known in local punk circles for his extensive and skilled band work here and in Toronto! Best known locally as a drummer with The Inner City Surfers and as a singer with local metal standouts Lion Ride, Mikey has also lent his talents to Bin Hawdon & the Taliband, Detroit, The Bombed Squad, and various other older local projects. Since moving to Toronto, Mikey has established himself in various bands there, including local/Toronto celtic punk rockers Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, Green Day tribute The Dookies, and Ramones/Joan Jett tribute The Merves, who share all but one member of the current active original band that he fronts, The Fairmounts!
Band Bio: Launched by Mikey Hawdon and Simon Head in 2010, the pair recorded and released the first Fairmounts EP "Unfinished Business" that year, before adding Mikey's Merves bandmates Phil Page and Andrew McMullen for a full live lineup that began playing concerts in early 2011. The Fairmounts kept up a solid presence in concerts from Southern Ontario to Illinois since then via both headlining concerts and sets opening for the likes of SNFU, C.J. Ramone, and Face to Face. Mikey brought The Fairmounts home to the Soo in October 2012 as part of J.D. Pearce's annual Halloween party at The Algonquin Pub, while the band shot their music video for "I Don't Wanna Go To The Hospital" locally during that trip as well. The Fairmounts released their first full length CD "Kiddo" in February 2013, and followed that up with a split single and an appearance on a Methadones compilation album that same year. Recently jamming towards new originals, look for more from The Fairmounts in the coming months!
The Fairmounts will appeal to any ardent pop punk fans with their high energy originals and fun live shows, and if you like Mikey's other local bands, The Fairmounts won't deviate from what you're already a fan of! Mikey proves to be a solid frontman with nice gritty vocals that Lion Ride fans will appreciate, and I honestly find that his singing fits originals better than on his tribute band work, while he has great chemistry and songwriting with the rest of the Fairmounts! Phil Page's bass work standing out especially, and Simon and Mikey are a nice compliment on guitar. Recent songs like "AA Oh No!" and "Behind My Back" have a fun catchiness that improves on their original EP, and it's easy to see why The Fairmounts have attained a solid following since their debut! For reference, if you've ever wanted to hear The Merves play original songs, this would be the band you'd want to check out. Keep following The Fairmounts for more solid originals, and hopefully Mikey brings the band to the Soo in the near future!
There's plenty of media online from The Fairmounts via their website's store, where you can buy physical copies of all of their CDs (not counting The Methadones tribute compilation), while you can also buy "Kiddo" and their split single with Plan 37 on iTunes. Soundcloud offers "Kiddo" as a free stream, while numerous videos and songs can be seen and heard on assorted YouTube channels, including Mikey and Andrew's own personal channels, among others. Here's The Fairmounts' video for their song "I Don't Wann Go To The Hospital", as filmed here and directed by Tidal Records' Dan Nystedt!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month in this series, we're staying punk with a band who will make their long awaited homecoming in a few weeks, that being Toronto punk quartet Random Killing, featuring the Soo's own Andrew "Drool" Kiteley on lead vocals! Watch out for that on or around September 26th, and stay tuned for more news soon (and don't miss Random Killing's local return on the 13th!) Thanks everyone!
Hey everyone, it's time for another concert review, as I was in attendance for local promoter J.D. Pearce's 7th annual Halloween Party! After 6 years at the old Coch's Corner, the party moved to The Algonquin Pub (downstairs from The Rockstar Bar) last night, and to start, what'd I think of the new location as a concert venue? If I had to compare, I'd say it reminded me of a combination of the former Foggy Notions and the old GLOW on Gore Street, maintaining the sectioned layout and casual feel of the former while featuring the mirrored walls and fancier gloss of the latter. You also couldn't hear what went on upstairs at The Rockstar Bar easily, which helps to separate the two venues. For size, the Algonquin seemed smaller than the old Coch's Corner overall, but the standing area for concerts was bigger (especially given the smaller amount of tables in the band area), so the size is a wash to me. Overall though, The Algonquin worked well for a venue, and I hope this gets utilized more often for local concerts! Now, how about the bands?
Opening was the masters of the crash themselves, Sykotyk Rampage, fresh off of their set at the Zombie Walk afterparty last weekend! Their set was largely similar to their previous concert, just with their original lyrics restored to the non-drinking tunes, including tracks like "Sky", "Acreage", and "Bucket of Ham". Those and their drinking songs (like "Drinking on the Weekend" and "Roll A Doobie") seemed to get a positive response, and with better lighting and sound quality, they stood out more as well! The band sounded about as good as you'd expect if you're a fan of Sykotyk Rampage's creative alternative sound, especially with Paul Becker's aggressive bluesy bark and live bassist Tony Briglio's improvingly commanding presence, but there were intermittent issues with the vocals, which had stretches where they weren't audible over the music. Still, Sykotyk Rampage's set last night was a definite improvement, and hopefully they'll be back for a longer show in the near future!
Following them were local punk trio Redundant in their best NOFX attire, though unlike the event advertising, they didn't even call themselves The Brews on stage that I heard. Their NOFX covers were fun, but they also played some original material and some covers of other bands, including some amusing takes on TLC, Eminem, and B.O.B. material that always draw some attention! As always, their self-deprecating banter was in full swing, and they seemed to have fun rocking their punk hits and originals, and both frontman Justin Langlois and the White brothers were playing about as well as I expected, but they could have been tighter on the whole, and like Sykotyk Rampage, there were issues hearing the singing. Fun set though for their second straight appearance at this event, and make sure to see them at the Creepshow-headlined psychobilly concert at The Rosie on the 5th!
Third were Toronto punk quartet The Fairmounts in their own local debut, and in the Halloween spirit, they came dressed up as The Village People, though guitarist Simon Head did amusingly dress up as the wrong type of Indian! Their set was full of what appeared to be mostly original songs like "I Don't Wanna Go To The Hospital", and the increasing turnout of fans was eating up their pop punk onslaught, even starting some brief moshpits! Though not as heavy as his older original singing work in Lion Ride, Mikey Hawdon's singing was controlled and aggressive when need be, and the whole band seemed enthusiastic and ready to roll through the night, including for some Ramones & Misfits covers! Andrew McMullen's drumming was really good as well, he stood out through their set! I'm curious to hear more from The Fairmounts, so hopefully Mikey brings them home more to compliment his cover bands' recent local stops!
The night's last band was horror punk quintet Frightlight, in their fourth straight appearance at this Halloween Party and their first show since opening for The Misfits in Toronto a couple of days ago! Compared to their Zombie Walk afterparty set from last weekend, they mostly played the same material, though fittingly starting with a cover of "Halloween", and they sounded better than at the Zombie Walk and a bit cleaner on the whole! Originals like "Dead Town Everywhere", "Fright Night", and "C.H.U.D." sounded as good as I would expect, and the members collectively shown their talents well, from Rick Styles' ripping guitar solos to Eddie Fright's solid low bass work, and the fans on the floor engaged in some dancing and moshing to follow suit! It was also during their set that a sweet skeleton trophy and a sash went to the best costumes, and while a formal presentation to highlight a number of attendees' costumes would have been neat, the winners looked deserving! All in all, Frightlight built on their recent streak of high profile concerts well last night, and hopefully we'll see them back on stage soon!
Overall, this was another fun installment of this yearly Halloween tradition, and a successful first impression for the series at this new home, and hopefully there's more heavier concerts to come at The Algonquin Pub in the near future! I got a bunch of photos, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook page, which also has this concert's "Tag Yourself" crowd shot! And yes, I did get a few videos of heavier songs that bands played, so here's Sykotyk Rampage playing their song "Sicked", The Fairmounts covering The Misfits' "Attitude" (followed by their original "Kiddo"), and Frightlight playing "They All Float"!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post tomorrow and our review of Haggith's "Dragon Joy Ride" by Halloween! Thanks everyone!
