Before we get into this post, just a heads-up that the Hellbent concert at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday appears to have been cancelled, as per the quiet deletion of it's Facebook event page by promoters Oh!No Collective at some point in recent weeks. A reason for the cancellation was not announced, but Hellbent themselves have not posted on their Facebook page in three weeks. Hopefully nothing bad happened! Now, let's dive into this weekend's remaining hard rock concert previews, plus a new video! The finals of the second edition of The Soo's Got Talent go down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! After a few weeks of strong local competition from local musical entertainers here and at The Verdi Hall, plus a two-week layoff from the semifinals, the final 7 acts will return to the Queen Street East establishment to see who will take home the top prize! Oddly, what the champion will win isn't advertised yet online, we'll let you know when we hear something. The five automatic semifinalists will include revived rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, beatboxer Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet, singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan, and pop singers Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf & Juliana Regan, while vocalist Coulson Perri and young pop trio The Dancing Divas were also advanced as this year's two wild cards. It's hard to predict what way the judges will vote, but for reference, Bethany was a Soo's Got Talent finalist last year, Juliana won the Soo Youth Songwriters Contest in 2017, and The Apocalypse Afterparty were finalists in 2015's VM Radio Battle of the Bands.
Alongside the seven finalists, tomorrow's festivities will see guest performances by 2018 Soo's Got Talent champion Daniella Brewer and guest judge Tim Murphy, a veteran of the local arts community who you may recognize from ONNtv's morning show. As well, "a surprise celebrity tribute artist" will also perform, identity not yet known, but remember that Tim's impersonation of Joan Rivers is a popular sight locally. This should be a fun night of diverse local entertainment, but who will take home the top honours in 2019? You can find out tomorrow at Soo Blaster! Like in preceding rounds, admission for this ALL AGES event is $10 (or $5 for kids), and the show starts at 7:00 PM. I'll refrain from showing a preview video of any one act here to avoid showing favouritism, but visit SaultOnline's YouTube channel for video interviews with all of the finalists (except The Apocalypse Afterparty, oddly enough.) Good luck to everyone tomorrow night, and stay tuned for fallout!
We'll wrap up this weekend's publically announced concert previews by staying at Soo Blaster, where local Tool tribute band Parabol will headline a special solo headlining concert there THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! It's not every day were a local band plays alone at a venue of this size with no openers, chartiable aims, or special frills, but Parabol's faithful tribute to Tool's prog-metal stylings should be enough to fill the room with sound, and hopefully fans! With Tool's long awaited new album "Fear Inoculum" now out, what are the odds that John, Steve, Al, and Anthony have learned any songs from it? A self-promoted event with 705Live (not Live705) handling sound, this 19+ concert has a 10:00 PM start time, and admission is $5 in advance or $8 at the door. Tickets are on sale at Soo Blaster, through the band, at Case's Music, and in two atypical Great Northern Road locales, namely Myers Chiropractic Clinic & Fratelli's Kitchen.
If you've seen Parabol at all since their debut last year, you'll know how well the guys handle Tool's classic songs, and this could be their biggest headline appearance in scope yet (their road trip to Sudbury next month acknowledged), so if you're up for a couple of hours of prog metal brilliance, you know where to be! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Parabol live last year!
Finally for today, here's a new video from local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's ongoing album recording sessions! This was posted to label Tidal Records' Facebook page earlier today, though it's share on the band's Facebook page marks their first public update there in almost four months. The video featured fiddler Sheldon Jaaskelainen playing for a few seconds at Mission Control Studios while frontman/label head Dustin Jones does a bit of an Irish jig, before saying "Tide tracking" to the camera. Fun while it lasts, and hopefully the album's on schedule, so give the video a look!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Before we dive into another round of weekend concert previews, here's a new news post for your Wednesday morning! This covers some some big updates from two local punk-influenced bands, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related promoter changes to keep note of. Now, with all of that said, here's what you should know!
Hamilton hardcore punk trio Hellbent will make their local concert debut when they headline at The Rockstar Bar on Sunday, October 13th! A late addition to their 2019 Canadian tour, Hellbent are touring in support of their new EP "Dead on the Floor", and with their brutal, fast-paced, and no-nonsense original attack, they should make lots of new fans in this Thanksgiving weekend bash! Local openers are to be announced, we'll let you know when they are confirmed. Notably, this is the first punk/metal concert to be promoted by the newly-renamed Oh!No Co. following the retirement of the Six, Two, Oh. name earlier this week. Obviously taking the new moniker from the yearly festival in Leeburn, staff are citing having "great ideas" that they think will "fit better under the Oh!No banner" as the reason for the change, though note that the Six, Two, Oh. name at least partially came from inactive filmmaking company 62nd Chamber Productions, as ran by AlgomA guitarist Boyd Rendell, who hasn't visibly been involved with recent company events.
Oh!No Co.'s Facebook page is effectively the Oh!No festival page with slightly new branding (Six, Two, Oh.'s is still up, thankfully), and it gives their launch date as 2017 with the festival's inception, without crediting Six, Two, Oh.'s 2015-2016 run, or prior work as Oh! Right Arm! Productions. There, the company's current staff are given as AlgomA drummer Jamie Vincent still, now alongside Oosik Records owner/DJ Al Bjornaa, Slumshine founder/veteran punk musician Brenton Ellis, and Alex Moore. The new name will take some adjusting, but for synergy reasons and to tie in with the festival, I understand the move! The first show promoted under the Oh!No Co. name will be a psychedelic concert at The Whiskey Barrel next week headlined by Poly Trap Super Six, while a gumbo night (a'la the prior "punk rock ramen" event) will be held at the Feeding Your Soul Cafe on White Oak Drive East on October 18th, presumably as the first fundraiser for Oh!No IV.
As for the Hellbent concert (which is definitely advertised to take place upstairs at The Rockstar Bar), expect a 19+ age limit, 10:00 PM start time, and a 9:00 PM start time. With the holiday long weekend, there's all the more reason for hardcore punk fans to make it to this show next month, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and see above for more on Oh!No Co., which is now linked on the SMS, as is the festival proper in that section!
Next up, here's the latest from reunited local ska/hard rock band Tripod the Dog, who still don't have a newly updated online page to promote activity with (their Facebook group was manned by the departed Greg Beharriel), so what's new from their camp? Well, as it turns out, the Mark Oliverio-led band actually played their first advertised concert in five months this past Friday when they made their apparent debut at The Esquire Club. The venue plugged the show the day prior, and Mark himself had posted a Facebook event page on his personal account, but none of this crossed our radar last week. I profusely apologize for missing it on here, but hopefully it was a huge hit, and that we hear more in advance from Tripod the Dog in the future! Based on photos floating around personal accounts, it looks like Mark has enlisted ex-Cherry Crush/Soo Fighters bandmates John & Jonny Amendola as their new bassist and drummer, ostensibly replacing Sean Berlinguette and Brian Egglesfield.
Reasons for the lineup changes haven't been publically announced, but remember that Sean & Brian were only advertised for 2018's Rotaryfest Stage 1 set and never turned up in an online public form regarding their April show at The Rockstar Bar. Father and son Amendola always have good chemistry, and hopefully they fit in well with Tripod the Dog! Personal postings imply that their show on Friday was a hit, but when will we see this veteran band back out there? Stay tuned for more when/if it rolls in!
Finally for today, here's some new updates from local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback from earlier this month, starting with the reveal on their Facebook page that they have made official band t-shirts that are now on sale for $25 in all sizes! Designed by Celeste's Art & Photography (Celeste and bassist Matt Quinn pictured), the primary artwork takes more inspiration from tarot cards than traditional punk imagery, though you can easily make a tie to their song "Everlasting Despair", and it's a cool design! As well, A Dire Setback shared this new teaser clip for the studio version of "Kicking & Screaming" to their Facebook page and YouTube channel around that same time, which only runs for 25 seconds, but it shows us more of the song and music video than their prior teaser! The nicely put together video features a longer sample of the song, plus small preview images of the video, seemingly informing us that building vandalism is a running theme and expands beyond hurling a toilet off of the second floor.
We will know very soon how the video and full song have came out, as the final video will apparently be posted online this Saturday, so keep that date in mind. In the interim, t-shirts can be ordered through band members at the links above, and all proceeds will go towards physical printing costs for the CD. Give the video teaser a look below, and stay tuned for updates!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
The finals of the second edition of The Soo's Got Talent go down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! After a few weeks of strong local competition from local musical entertainers here and at The Verdi Hall, plus a two-week layoff from the semifinals, the final 7 acts will return to the Queen Street East establishment to see who will take home the top prize! Oddly, what the champion will win isn't advertised yet online, we'll let you know when we hear something. The five automatic semifinalists will include revived rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, beatboxer Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet, singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan, and pop singers Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf & Juliana Regan, while vocalist Coulson Perri and young pop trio The Dancing Divas were also advanced as this year's two wild cards. It's hard to predict what way the judges will vote, but for reference, Bethany was a Soo's Got Talent finalist last year, Juliana won the Soo Youth Songwriters Contest in 2017, and The Apocalypse Afterparty were finalists in 2015's VM Radio Battle of the Bands.
