Merry Christmas to all readers who celebrate! I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday and got lots of presents! On this holiday, I wanted to open a present of sorts, namely a disc that I found at Value Village a few weeks ago called "Lo-Fi Video Fanzine No. 1", credited on the spine as "a lo-fi film by Christopher Shoust". Long-time readers may recognize Chris Shoust as the frontman of the inactive indie/punk solo project Telephone & Address, from his work in bands like The Red & Black and Orange, and from his artistic pursuits as a painter and filmmaker, but I had no idea that he once worked on a video magazine project! Two DIY installments of this zine were made up in late 2012 (the first one is dated to September of that year), but I couldn't tell you how they were distributed at the time, as I don't remember him or performers openly plugging this on social media at all.
Interestingly, the disc is not a DVD, rather a data disc containing the 30 minutes of video in one file, so if you have either disc, your mileage will vary on if it will even play on certain devices. Given that I have only seen one of these in the wild in the past 11 years, I'd hazard a guess that their print runs were quite limited, but never fear, as Chris quietly uploaded both Lo-Fi Video Fanzines to his YouTube channel in April of last year. We'll focus on the first one today, which was largely shot across two dates in August & September 2012 inside the old Royal Canadian Legion building on Great Northern Road, aside from one performer, who was partially filmed playing on Queen Street East outside of Reggie's Place. It is worth noting that Chris said that the video is "deliberately low quality" to focus on documenting what happened rather than making the footage "look pretty". I don't necessarily agree, as our eyes see better than the camera was set up to, but Chris always liked lo-fi recordings.
I have no clue whether the Legion performances here were taken from public concerts or private events intended specifically for the zine, but if I had heard about them being public events, I would have at least covered them on the SMS at the time. The 30 minute video opens with defunct local hard rock duo Sounds From The Green Room, an online page-less precursor to singer/guitarist Brad Griffith & drummer B.J. Swire's later band Bizotic. S.F.T.G.R. even played a show in Ottawa in 2011, but their public dates in the Soo were very limited, and I didn't know they were still playing anywhere in 2012! Their song (which ended their set at the fuller Legion concert) was introduced by name, but I couldn't make out the title due to the lo-fi recording quality, though it sounded like Brad said "Fudgel". Very Sykotyk Rampage-esque sound to this song, but with more traditional melodic vocals, and it's definitely heavier than Bizotic were!
Second on the zine are two spoken word poems by Denis Robillard, though only the second ("Many Phones Sleep Here, Under The Earth") has its title introduced on camera. I'd have left in the applause after he finished, but Denis did write good thematic poems here! Next is the first appearance of fan favourite local pianist & street performer Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, who performs some original music for 3 minutes or so, and his skill on the keys is as prevalent as ever! More spoken word follows when Cody Rydall reads a well written poem named "Like Flight", while his brother Jake (who we have covered here via the old Swampstravaganza open mic block) gets an almost six minute stretch of the zine next, where he does two original songs on vocals & acoustic guitar. Neither one has its title given on camera, but they may be called "Eye To Eye" and "Broken Guitar Strings".
Jake sings well here and has a knack for good compositions! As the second half of the zine begins, we leave the Legion for the first time to catch Spider Fingerz playing outside on Queen Street (at 3:00 AM, no less!). One wonders what nighthawks must have thought of this, but as always, Damjan's abilities as a pianist are clear as day even if the video isn't! Cody Rydall returns for a second poem next, which isn't titled on camera but only runs for about 30 seconds. Once you're done snapping your fingers to it, you can check out the return of Sounds From The Green Room's Brad Griffith, who is otherwise best known on bass with No Arrow and SBD, and for his more recent solo pursuits under the Gortium85 handle. Brad's solo section is the longest in the zine, and the only one to feature two distinct camera angles. As seen here, Brad is sticking closer to his grunge/hard rock work of the 2000s and early 2010s than what we saw later from him.
His two songs include one possibly named "Black Shadow", but I couldn't catch a candidate name for the second song, which has a livelier classic rock flair, and was filmed beside Brad rather than in front of him. Strong stuff for fans of Brad's pre-Bizotic music in particular, especially his first song! Denis Robillard returns for one more poem next, whose title sounds "Woke Flow Aerodrome" but I may be slightly incorrect with it. That ends the Legion content of the zine, and after a break with Damjan skateboarding downtown, we end with him and Chris joining forces like they did in The Red & Black, but here, it is specifically credited as an improvised joint performance between Telephone & Address and Spider Fingerz. Also filmed outside of Reggie's in the middle of the night, this is basically what happens if you let two guys play piano simultaneously, with Chris playing the high keys and Damjan handling the low keys.
Rather than play side by side, Damjan is playing from behind the keyboard while standing up, and they do pair well together to create music that one pianist shouldn't be able to do alone! While I would have filmed these with better quality cameras/settings, this was a fun watch to capture this chunk of the local music scene from a bygone era, with some good poetry to break it up, and it's a shame that this didn't have a wider release or publicity at the time, as I'd have happily covered it 11 years ago! Give Lo-Fi Video Fanzine No. 1 a watch below, and click here to watch No. 2, which is more focused on the local arts community and does not feature hard rock or punk-leaning musical acts. Thanks everyone, and Merry Christmas!
Single-artist post on this Friday morning, as local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's third and final live-streamed concert of 2021 aired on his Facebook page last night, and is now available for on-demand viewing! This episode immediately differs from last month's, as it is much shorter (well, only 93 minutes in length), and it was curiously filmed in vertical portrait orientation due to some sort of Facebook quirk last night. After introducing the episode and checking in with live viewers, Mike starts by playing his new original song "Twist of Fate" (3:20), as previously heard in October's live-stream. For the first time in his live-stream/#LockdownLive catalog, Mike interviews someone that he did not play in a band or record an album with, specifically former Bizotic frontman Brad Griffith, who has been more recently active with his retro video gaming and VHS collecting pursuits on YouTube and Instagram as Gortium85.
Brad starts by outlines his local music career (albeit without naming bands). After reminiscing on Pink Floyd and mutual interests, Mike tackles five acoustic covers of songs of Brad's, starting with "Hurry Up" (20:05), an old solo song of his recorded at the former Stereo Soul Studios that you can hear on his Soundcloud page. Next, Brad discusses his run with the 2016-2018 alternative rock band Bizotic, from which Mike plays two songs of theirs back to back, namely "Psychic Vampire" (31:20) and "Subway Delay" (40:10), with Mike confirming that the share contest to determine a mandatory cover is on, but personal commitments have forced him to delay his planned cover for yesterday's episode to next month. The second half of the episode begins with Brad discussing what he's been doing artistically since Bizotic dissolved, why his eclectic solo music is put out under different monikers, and the music he's recorded while living & working out of town.
The next song Mike plays is Brad's 2020 solo blues number "Cold Canned Beer" (56:30), which is also on Soundcloud, and after discussing Brad's recent focus on electronic synthwave music, Mike closes his suite of Brad covers with his "Demon Moves" (1:08:00), which Brad put out on Soundcloud under the handle Coax Chrome. The final song of the show was next, namely a new unreleased song of Mike's named "I've Seen It Before" (1:14:20), before Mike and Brad wrap up their conversation, even talking about paranormal shows, plus possible plans to improve Mike's live-stream format in 2022. Mike finishes the live-stream by giving some details about some medical concerns he had been going through lately, complete with a Dairy Queen cake congratulating him for a reason you may not expect. His finacee Tianna appears at the end, I believe this is her first appearance in one of these live-streams.
Entertaining episode, especially if you like Brad's local music career, though I was surprised he never directly brought up No Arrow or SBD at all. Mike's renditions of Brad's songs were solidly done in a stripped down acoustic format, and could Mike interview/cover other local musicians in live-streams next year? Give the whole live-stream a watch below, and stay tuned for updates on January's live-stream when they roll in!
We'll close today by sticking with videos involving Mike Haggith, who has been plugging a lot of reviews of his new album "Bridges" as of late, which I plan to get to shortly, but let's start with spotlights of individual tracks on the YouTube series You Rock! hosted by Thomas Christ, who features a bunch of home-recorded independent rock music and reviews them live on air, hearing the song in question with all of us. "Over Indecision" is featured in episode #12 from November 27th at 52:43, embedded below, while "The Catalyst" was similarly reviewed earlier this month in episode #13 at 47:28, and both episodes also feature songs by local indie rockers Man Feelings. Thomas strongly praises "Over Indecision" and is a little more measured in his praise for "The Catalyst", but he gives good in-the-moment comments on both songs, and I like that Thomas is giving so many rising musicians a platform like this! Give these a watch above & below, there's a lot of strong out-of-town talent to check out!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!
Second on the zine are two spoken word poems by Denis Robillard, though only the second ("Many Phones Sleep Here, Under The Earth") has its title introduced on camera. I'd have left in the applause after he finished, but Denis did write good thematic poems here! Next is the first appearance of fan favourite local pianist & street performer Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, who performs some original music for 3 minutes or so, and his skill on the keys is as prevalent as ever! More spoken word follows when Cody Rydall reads a well written poem named "Like Flight", while his brother Jake (who we have covered here via the old Swampstravaganza open mic block) gets an almost six minute stretch of the zine next, where he does two original songs on vocals & acoustic guitar. Neither one has its title given on camera, but they may be called "Eye To Eye" and "Broken Guitar Strings".
