Our Recap Of Mike Haggith & Red Jettison's 2+ Hour Video Interview From Last Month!!

Apologies for the three week delay in this making the SMS, but local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and HeadF1rst frontman Red Jettison took part in a 2+ hour long video interview on June 16th! This was for The Community Pulse, a series out of Scarborough hosted by musician Frank Terzo, and while his name would seem very appropriate for a local musician to have, this is one of those "do-it-yourself indie musician" feature programs that Mike has gravitated to in his modern day solo era. If you've followed his interviews and appearances in this realm since 2018, you'll recognize names among prior episode guests that have either worked with, interviewed, or spotlighted Mike. This episode of The Community Pulse actually begins with a Frank Terzo music video (he promotes his own music in this series as well as via guests and collaborators), before the introduction, which includes specifics on the format.

While interviews are definitely most of the story, The Community Pulse features artist spotlights, song premieres, indie music news, and more, so it's a good catch-all if you're in this oeuvre of DIY indie rock artists helping out other DIY indie rock artists! The actual show begins 7:34 into the 2:28:23 episode, with Frank setting things up, acknowledging Father's Day, and plugging some independent musicians and hosts featured in the introductions. We finally see Mike and Red on camera at the 13:50 mark, but I want to preface things by noting that Red is also referred to by his real name Carson Hiltz in the episode, by Mike, Frank, and in text (the Red Jettison stage name is exclusively used in the band's own promotion though). Also, Red is referred to as the "co-host" rather than a guest, which goes along with prior episodes of The Community Pulse, in that Frank always has a remote musician credited thusly, even if they don't ask many questions themselves.

After Frank asks how Mike and Red met, he promotes Mike's own indie label MorningStar Records (more on the No Arrow mention soon) and does some plugs and shoutouts, before he played "Tour Bus Fantasy" from HeadF1rst's new album "Road Trippin'" at the 27 minute mark. Once it concludes, Frank highly praised the song's retro rock vibe, and Red discussed the songwriting process for it, heavily crediting guitarist Rainey Rancourt's contributions there. After discussing the deadlines and time crunch for getting physical copies of "Road Trippin'" pressed and shipped, Red noted that HeadF1rst are already working on new original songs, before Frank does some more shoutouts. We next transition to talk about Mike's music, where he plugs his Frequent Flier fan club/newsletter program, and how you can get his new studio album "Frequent Flier" for free (eventually), while also explaining his thought process beyond releasing it for sale.

Basically, Mike wants to keep the album special for Frequent Fliers, hence why only three songs are posted to stream for free, but he also wanted to offer the whole thing to people who buy physical media and/or non-subcribers interested in buying the songs. The lead single "Brand New Day" is played at 47:57, and when we come back to the interview, Frank immediately calls it a "killer track", again complimenting the retro classic rock vibes of it (I'll hold comment until our review of "Frequent Flier" later this month). Mike next outlines the recording process for this song, particularly the backing vocals. Following more shout-outs, Frank asked how Mike first got into music, leading into Mike discussing his extensive discography, noting that "Frequent Flier" is not one of his "mainline" solo albums, and is one of nine in his back catalogue that is "off to the side". He next outlines his aims for MorningStar Records and promoting other independent acts there.

Red jumps back in next to discuss his feelings on MorningStar and his hope to do a concert featuring just MorningStar-affiliated acts. Frank next sets up Mike's original song "Hot & Cold" from 2023's "All The Best In All You Do", as prefaced by Mike's songwriting process for it and the inclusion of Southern Ontario-based metal guitarist Hetriani (another indie musician who pops up on The Community Pulse and similar shows) as a guest. The song proper (via its lyric video) is played at 1:08:19, capping off the first half of the episode. After strong praise from Red and Frank, another guest pops in on the livestream, namely Laurie Pepi Igo, a pianist out of Massachusetts who also frequents this indie music sphere via her channel Laurie's Mishmosh. After more shout-outs from Frank, Laurie (a Frequent Flier cardholder, no less), praises Mike's program and its offerings, while Red elaborates more on HeadF1rst's lineup and plans for the future.

Laurie gets the spotlight next, with a short song by pianist Donna Mitchell played at 1:31:40 (I guess Laurie features regularly to showcase an independent pianist). After Laurie signs out, Red asked how soon Mike knows what will make his albums (especially given his extensive discography), before we transition to talking about the next song played on air, namely Mike's song "All The Best" from his 2023 album, and you can hear it at the 1:40:55 mark. More discussion about art and songwriting follows, before Frank asks Mike about the freak accident at Rotaryfest 2023 when Mike dislocated his knee while playing "Hot & Cold" on Stage 1, and played on while laying on his back until the ambulance arrived (read our initial coverage of that at this link). At least at this point, Mike can look back and laugh about everything, but he was a trooper for getting through all that two years ago! Frank next asks Mike about how he devised the Frequent Flier program.

The last song played on air in this mammoth episode is the namesake for Mike's label, namely "MorningStar" from his 2020 album "If Ever Comes The Day", as prefaced by Mike elaborating on the song's inspiration and recording process, especially as he started using GarageBand for iOS with that album. You can hear that song at 2:08:19, with 15 minutes to spare. This Community Pulse episode continues with Frank asking about Mike's live music plans, with Mike noting that he and The Big Finish Band were hoping to return to Rotaryfest, but they weren't selected for 2025, though he is hopeful that they might be picked for next year. He did promote their return to the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir next month, while a pro-shot, multi-cam, full concert video of Mike & crew's set at HeadF1rst's album release party in May is planned to be posted on YouTube soon, along with a live album of that entire concert!

Not all of Mike's announced/teased live album plans have seen their intended conclusion ("Face To Face", for one), so that will be neat if it does come out thusly! Red also plugs upcoming HeadF1rst gigs, including a short notice show to be previewed on the SMS tomorrow, a teased return to the Loud & Proud family fun day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion (we await confirmation on that event), and their Rotaryfest and Northern Vibe sets ahead this summer. After final words and plugs from everyone, Frank closes by playing "Family" by Liz Aday over the end credits. Entertaining and casual interview/hangout that painted Mike and Red in strong lights! Red was less "co-host" and more "co-interviewee", with Frank asking way more questions, but this is Red's first real toe in the water to this community (unless I missed something). It's always neat to see all of the live-stream commenters and interactions in videos like these too, including many repeat names!

There's a lot to take in, but check out the full Community Pulse episode for yourselves below, and we'll have more from HeadF1rst and Mike Haggith on the SMS this month, starting with a short notice show preview from the former tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's Newest Podcast Interview With Brian Tremblay!!

Remember when local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith was interviewed by local folk/country musician Brian Tremblay for an episode of Rock 'N Roll Heaven on The Borderline back in March 2023? Well, the two have united for another podcast interview almost two years later! However, this one isn't affiliated with The Borderline, rather The Lonesome Cowboy Podcast, Brian's own independent series that you can check out episodes of via Substack. This podcast debuted in November of last year, and you read more about its raison d'etre at this link, and while an allusion is made as to why he seemingly left The Borderline, new Rock N' Roll Heaven episodes were still being released this month, so who is to say what's going on. Regardless, this new interview with Mike is exclusive to The Lonesome Cowboy Podcast, and it is much shorter (37 minutes as opposed to the almost 2 hour long interview from 2023).

If you want to hear their Rock N' Roll Heaven interview from 2023, click here, but one plus to the February 2025 interview is that it was uploaded in video format with Mike interviewed via Zoom! To that end, Brian hosts in front of a green screen of a western sunset, but the chroma-keying isn't perfect, and often blends with his shoulders. The interview here differs from 2023 beyond length and visuals by focusing mostly on Mike's work as a do-it-yourself independent musician and owner of MorningStar Records (which was still in the works during his last interview with Brian), with Mike first discussing how MorningStar fully came to be and why he decided to start his own artist-friendly label, with information about the label operations and amenities being given on air. Mike even has copies of Brian's output with MorningStar to show on camera, so there's your proof as to the label's success with releasing physical albums for affiliate artists!

This leads into Brian drawing comparisons between Mike's music career and the discipline of his day job as a pilot, as well as the pilot/flying references made in Mike's Frequent Flyer newsletter program, including a rare public reference to Mike's "Frequent Flyer" studio album that is being released piece by piece to newsletter subscribers (I'll mention it on the SMS when unequivocally completed in its release there). At the midpoint of this interview, Brian asks about Mike's lack of pushiness when promoting his artistic endeavours, before asking about Mike's plans for future concerts, with Mike explaining why most of his modern concerts are in the Soo and not elsewhere, but he does hope to play solo dates in other markets, possibly in conjunction with where he travels as a pilot. Brian then asked how the pandemic affected Mike's live concerts and the audience turnout after things re-opened and shows resumed in earnest.

After talking about Mike's live concert experiences and feedback, Mike spends the last few minutes by promoting his music directly, particularly his post-2011 output and his Din albums, and where you can hear/buy everything. While much shorter than 2023's interview and completely lacking in songs of Mike's, this is an informative watch that covers lots of ground in a nice casual manner, and it's good to see Mike & Brian talking about music again like this! No word on if we'll ever see the teased "Face To Face" live album from the two of them though. Unfortunately, I'm unable to directly embed the video proper on the SMS, just as a shared link from Substack, but click here to watch the 2025 interview, and if Mike does have new content to tease, it doesn't sound like another interview with Brian will be far off! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

One More Weekend Concert Preview, Plus A New Spades GT Interview Video!!

In this post, we're wrapping up this weekend's concert previews with a special event featuring a band reunion, but the rest of this post references one of the performers' current group, so here's what you should know!

Here's one more weekend concert preview for TONIGHT, as a bunch of familiar faces will join forces at The Dive Gastro Pub! Advertised by the venue as the "jam night for Joy" (the Facebook event page treats it as a normal concert), this special event is the culmination of today's celebration of life for Joy MacMillan, the late mother of Spades GT/ex-Haggith guitarist Daniel Horton, whose support was clear and instrumental throughout her son's local band work in the 2010s, as his friends and bandmates will be well aware of. Joy passed away in late November, but after a GoFundMe campaign, her celebration of life proper takes place today at the Holiday Inn Express (the former Days Inn) from 2:00-6:00 PM, but the concert portion takes place at around 9:00 PM with an advertised reunion of Mike Haggith & The Din, albeit their 2013-2014 acid jam/improv incarnation featuring Daniel alongside Mike & Curtis McKenzie.

It will be nice to see 3/4ths of the core Haggith lineup back for a night, albeit under sad circumstances, and hopefully they recapture early Din sets well in Joy's memory! Curt will also play a solo set tonight (presaging his full solo gig there next week), while Dan's former Jack Spades bandmate Rob Speers will also bring his acoustic solo act there tonight, fresh off playing at The Dive on Thursday. This special 19+ concert has no advertised cover charge, as well as refreshments and a cash bar, though seating will be limited. Visit the above links for more on what should be a special night for Daniel and his family, here's the original Din live, and R.I.P. Joy!

Next up, let's pivot to Daniel's current work in Spades GT, so what are the local/Barrie crossover thrash band up to this year/month so far? You can find out some of that info here, as drummer Tyler Reiner took part in with the Niagara Falls-based music promotion company Sofa City Sounds on January 2nd! This was streamed on Sofa City Sounds' Facebook page, and ignore that the video description says that the interview was with Black Absinthe, they labelled the wrong group. If Sofa City sounds familiar, it's because Tyler and frontman J.D. Pearce were interviewed by owner/host Amanda Schilz (and her son!) back in December 2023, and you can watch that 48 minute video at this link. A year+ later, Tyler flew solo for this remote interview, which starts with Amanda reminiscing on the first time that she saw Spades live and other related topics. We next get hype for Spades GT's first concert of 2025, which saw them play at Walterstock III.

Two days after this interview was posted, Spades joined twenty-three other bands to pay tribute to beloved GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich at The Rockpile in Toronto once again, and this discussion leads to some good personal discussion about connectivity and personal interactions among the metal community there, plus coming and going into music and awareness of it, and having the drive and passion to get your name out there and also support other local-to-you bands. Eventually, Tyler does bring up the band's eventful 2024 and plans to return to the studio next month to record their next studio album, as well as plugging some of the band's radio airplay in Southern Ontario last year, while also opening the floodgates to promoters to book them in 2025, especially in markets that they haven't played at before. Following some more Walterstock promotion, Tyler plugs what they have for sale and what they hope to have to sell soon, especially the new CD.

The band's lineup is credited about 52 minutes into the interview, with the bassist search still ongoing at the time, and J.D. was supposed to take part in this year's Sofa City Sounds interview too but couldn't due to commitments with his day job. Most of the rest of the interview is casual conversation and reiterating 2025 plans for Spades GT, but Tyler does reference how he's not the first drummer of the band, crediting their beginnings in the Soo as Jack Spades in the 2010s, and how appreciative he is to be brought into the fold. While Amanda's son didn't help in the interview this time (though pets stopped by on both ends), this was another fun interview for Spades fans! Most of it was admittedly just Tyler and Amanda talking about the scene at large and personal experiences, and not a lot of ground is covered that fans didn't already know from 2024 postings and interviews, but it's a solid and laid back watch that you can check out below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Our Full Recap Of Mike Haggith's YouTube Interview From July!!

I apologize for this being so delayed, but local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith took part in a 2+ hour interview named "The Sky's The Limit" for YouTube in July, so what should you know here? This was conducted by Australian metal musician and artist Jade Starr, who has quite an interesting backstory both musically and personally (she is trans and gender nonconforming, FYI), so I do recommend reading the manifesto on her website to track her journey! The recent videos on Jade's YouTube channel have primarily been about recording music with Apple iPads and iOS devices, and of course, Mike uses similar tech for his recent solo output, and has appeared on YouTube interview shows of this ilk in the past that help teach other independent musicians how to make their own professional recordings in this way. This "How To App" interview begins with Mike's lyric video for his song "All The Best".

If you want to skip directly to the interview proper, it begins at 4:56, with the first section running for about 22 minutes. Jade has been hoping to interview Mike for a long time given the multiple musical and professional hats that he currently wears, so it good to see the right intercontinental wires cross! The interview proper starts with Jade asking what music means to Mike, his early musical influences and songwriting (didn't expect so much Joshua Kadison talk!), how his family took to his music, his preferred recording formats, and the songwriting process, and Mike shares some good insights across this section! After Jade plays lyric video #2 of 5 for "The Start Of Something Real", the interview resumes at 31:14, with part 2 running for around 38 minutes. We next see Jade asking about the 1980s influences on Mike's recent solo material, the music/work balance given Mike's day job as a commercial airline pilot, ...

...the music lessons and classes that Mike took when he was younger, the perception of Canada domestically and internationally, how safe air travel is nowadays, how Mike became a pilot in the first place and got to his current level in the profession, and more about the good, bad, and routine experiences of being a pilot. If you're as curious about flying airplanes as Jade is, this section will be for you, especially the last story about Mike's scariest moment in the air! We hit the midpoint of the interview when Jade plays the "Carousel" lyric video, and part #3 begins at 1:12:58, running for about 17 minutes. This portion deals more with Mike's music, with Jade asking about the bands that Mike has been in, and he does positively reflect on his bands in Sault Ste. Marie, including his work with Haggith and both the acid jam & power pop versions of The Din, complete with visual aids from his website.

Mike also discusses Between The Ditches, the cover band that he performed in while living in Thompson, before discussing The Big Finish Band, his solo backing group as seen at local festivals and The Soo's Got Talent. If you wanted to know where they got the Big Finish bandname, he tells us here! We also hear about Mike's experiences and memories about playing live in general, and translating his more personal songs to live performances. The penultimate lyric video played on air is "Twist Of Fate", and if you want to skip to the last portion of this interview, it begins at 1:34:08 and runs for around 36 minutes. This is when we finally dive into the DIY recording angle of Jade's recent content, with Mike asked about how he recorded his newest studio album "All The Best In All You Do" with his at-home equipment, his experiences launching and operating MorningStar Records, using Kunaki to print CDs & vinyl records on-demand, ...

...Mike's artist-friendly business model for MorningStar, his recent work helping get physical albums ready for New Jersey's Maezend Music Lab, how you can get Mike's attention re: maybe working with MorningStar, Mike dislocating his knee (and briefly playing through it) during his set at last year's Rotaryfest, his expectations for his then-upcoming return to Rotaryfest this year, and his advice for when musicians should start recording. The interview closes with the lyric video for "Hot & Cold". While a long watch, this was really well done and informative, both for Mike's insights on his local music career and his work as a pilot alone, but Jade covered lots of ground across this 2+ hour interview, and the extensive use of screenshots and photos in the back half helped give some context, which is handy for newcomers! Fans of Mike's will absolutely want to check out this new interview, which you can do below, and stay tuned for much more this week! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From Early 2024!!

Let's continue playing catch-up with local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT in today's post, and we'll pick things back up from last week with continuing coverage of their set at the second annual Walterstock memorial/charity concert at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th! In our post on April 7th, we looked at some fan-shot videos that filmed single songs from Spades GT, but their full set at Walterstock was also filmed, and in this case, horizontally! This was filmed by YouTube user Jake Disman, who previously shot Spades playing "Hands" at the Road To Lockdown Fest last year at the same venue, but this time, he didn't put a filter over the video afterwards. Owing to the fact that Walterstock had twenty-seven scheduled acts in one day, the former Jack Spades only had a 15 minute set, in which they played "Succubus", "Red", "Final Girl", "Sewer City Radio", and "Rise" (the latter was not planned to close but they didn't know they had extra time until they finished "Sewer City Radio".)

While Jake's video is softer and more distant than the closer videos that we featured here last week, this horizontal stationary video captures Spades GT ripping a furious (if rushed) mini-set, and you can't ask for much more out of what J.D., Daniel, James, and Tyler gave in 15 minutes than what you get here! Audio quality is much crisper than the video quality too. Check the whole thing out for yourselves below!

Moving into the month of February 2024, Spades GT's music video for "Final Girl" (as well as the newest video from guitarist Daniel Horton's side project The Fast Life) were reviewed by the Facebook music review page E:W:L (Even Without Life), which normally reviews new independent music not unlike You Rock! or Your Music Live. You can watch the 2+ hour livestream at this link, and host Tim Woloszyn looks at the "Final Girl" video an hour & 39 minutes into the stream. Despite the focus being on independent music, the portion of the stream where Tim plays Spades GT's video is muted due to Facebook content matching the song, even though Spades were 100% on board with being promoted here, so the video is sadly unembeddable externally. Tim highly praised the video and song though, and definitely was amped up as an on-camera personality, so check out the whole thing by clicking here!

Updates were relatively quiet from Spades GT's camp in February aside from openly putting their name out there re: bookings for later this year, both in the GTA and elsewhere. The band is now taking pre-orders for an official skateboard featuring the band's logo stencilled over the "Sewer City Radio" album cover, so click here if you want details on the construction and how to place an order! On March 8th, the guys confirmed that they have begun writing for their next album, as per this "Reel" (no video there though). They revealed that they're "stepping outside the box" here, but to what extent is to be revealed, and the band has since revealed that they plan to release new music "this summer". A few days later, Spades posted a new video from the Random Killing show in Toronto last September (also double posted as a "Reel" for some reason.)

The video sees Spades GT playing "Red" at The Bovine Sex Club, and it's a well shot video from a close angle (horizontal, at that) which gives a larger feel to the venue! Fittingly red lighting (maybe too red), but everything sounds and looks good, and while I don't know why they didn't share this last fall when the show was still fresh in mind, better late than never! Give their new-ish "Red" video a watch below!

We'll close with the aforementioned E:W:L, as Spades GT returned to that webseries for its March 22nd episode (also unembeddable due to Facebook content matching songs played on air), where Tim interviewed bassist James Roy Daley and drummer Tyler Reiner over Skype! The Spades section begins 32 minutes in with a playing of "Sewer City Radio" (now muted), but you do see Tim enthusiastically rocking out still! In terms of the interview proper, Tim (with help from commenters) asks the guys about their belief in ghosts, how they define music, how they write their songs, their favourite Canadian musicians, their rehearsal patterns, past drug experiences, how the band met (Tyler referenced the band's Soo origins here and even briefly mentioned why ex-bassist Daniel Rodbard left), the genre of music they'd prefer if they couldn't play punk/metal, an... interesting experience from their Northern Vibe Festival set up here in 2022, ...

...their favourite song to play live, why they got into music, and their message to the indie music community. The interview runs until the 65 minute mark, so we get over a half hour of loose and fun conversation with Spades' rhythm section here! I'd have structured the topics of conversation a little more naturally, as it seemed very random without a lot of follow-ups, but James & Tyler came off well, so give the whole interview with E:W:L a watch at this link! Remember, I can't embed it here due to the content matched audio elsewhere in the stream. We're almost caught up for Spades GT activity, so we'll have more from them last & this month on the site soon, along with more local content! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From December & January!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to acknowledge that local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns did not play at Shooters Downstairs Lounge last night for unannounced reasons, with no band replacing them. The band & venue never publically confirmed or denied the gig, which new drummer Brandan Glew announced on his personal Facebook page last month. The Stallyns are not known for frequently updating their Facebook page, alas, but I do apologize for the erroneous plug on Thursday. I'd have noted that it was cancelled had someone publically said something in advance! My thanks to Sarah Vikken (who was present for an unrelated event) for confirming the lack of a band last night.

Now let's dive into more recent news and notes from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what else have they been up to since the turn of the new year? On December 30th, Joe Taylor of the music website Blast Toronto reviewed their newest album "Sewer City Radio", recommending the album to fans of Motorhead, Anvil, The Offspring, and The Ramones. He used a lot of hyperbole to pump up this album in a brief but positive write-up, so give it a look at this link! The rubber chicken frequently pops up in Joe's CD reviews, if you wanted context. On New Year's Day, the band posted a "Reel" on their Facebook page to recap their 2023, featuring assorted live concert clips and posters as set to their song "Cenobites" while guitarist Daniel Horton talked about how the year went & how 2024 will be another big year. My usual "Reel" complaints aside, it hypes up 2023 well!

I can't embed "Reels" here, but I can embed this video, which features a 48 minutes-long interview that frontman J.D. Pearce and drummer Tyler Reiner recorded with Amanda Schilz and her son Andrew The Legend of Sofa City Sounds, a music promotion/interview company out of Niagara Falls. Tyler and J.D. were participating remotely over the holidays, with Tyler in Muskoka and J.D. in the Soo when this was recorded! Note J.D is in front of a local Ripcordz concert poster, and look for his various masks. After asking about their holiday plans, Spades GT talk about "Sewer City Radio", how Spades GT came together in Barrie (Tyler brings up the Jack Spades era here), their live concert experience (which J.D. hopes is close to hearing their studio material), their 2024 plans in concert and studio, bands that they have enjoyed sharing the stage with (Drew from Random Killing saw Spades at the Josey Scott show here last summer) ...

...rumoured major shows for 2024 (not that Spades GT were willing to spill many beans), their growth in the past year, and their advice for young musicians. Fun and loose interview with lots of discussion about bands that Amanda (and her kids) have seen live and worked with, and if you find the idea of a local band interview involving a host conducting it with her son to be unusual, remember that Heavy Lies The Crown did a (sadly now deleted) interview in January 2023 with Ghost Media Entertainment where the host's young daughter participated. Click here for our recap to compare. Give Spades GT's interview with Sofa City Sounds a watch below!

Spades GT's first concert of 2024 saw them play at the second annual Walterstock, the fundraiser/memorial concert in honour of noted GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich, who passed away after being unable to get prompt medical treatment in 2022 despite his best efforts (click here for more on that sad story). Like with the inaugural Walterstock last year, twenty-seven acts played at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th, and while none of the other bands are familiar from local gigs, frequent Spades GT show partners GFU played, as did headlining Pantera tribute band Cowboys From Hell, while Spades bassist James Roy Daley also played with the psychobilly band The House of Haunt immediately following Spades' set. Videos were not in short supply from Spades' Walterstock set, and we'll start with two fan-shot videos that, while both sadly vertical, are not "Reels" and therefore embeddable here!

Attendee William Wai Yun Lum (who previously filmed Spades GT at Indie Night In Canada last year) live-streamed this sub-2 minutes clip of them playing "Succubus" for his personal Facebook page, which the band later publically shared on their Facebook page. The somewhat low framerate and muffled audio are noted, but it's an intense performance from the front row, and while I wouldn't have shot it vertically, it does get a good look at J.D. in particular, so check it out for yourself below!

There's definitely more from Walterstock to come, but we'll finish up here with attendee Dawn Faller's video of Spades GT's closing song, namely the title track of their album "Sewer City Radio"! Dawn posted this three days after the event on her personal Facebook page before the band re-posted it. This is a longer video capturing the full song, and while vertical, she wasn't shy about rotating the camera around to catch things at skewed angles while zooming in and out, so it's an interesting watch! She was at more of a sharp angle too, but still clearly in the front row. Good audio quality here too, so check this clip out below as well!

 

When we pick things back up for Spades GT, it'll be with more Walterstock fallout, so look for that in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

Details On Dustin Jones' Interview On Across The Tracks On The Borderline!!

Back in June, two veteran local punk musicians were separately interviewed for radio shows on local internet radio station The Borderline, and I do apologize for both being so late to be covered on the SMS! We'll start with the June 23rd interview with Jonesy Land frontman/Bookclub bassist Dustin Jones, marking his second long-form interview with the station, following an episode of Sev's Cellar three years ago. This time, Dustin featured on Borderline founder Adrian Vilaca's interview series Across The Tracks, which focuses on detailing original songs, and the episode runs for 53 minutes. Conducted in studio, it's clear from the off that they've known each other for years, which helps for the comfort level! The interview started with Dustin explaining why he launched the Jonesy Land project apart from his bands, as well as the overall lighter/reserved tone of the project's debut album "Zoom-Out".

Like in past episodes of Across The Tracks, Adrian asks about the origins and themes behind songs by the interview subject, and while he does not stick to the release order of the album, the songs in question are played after that segment wraps up (though they are rarely directly introduced by Adrian, so that can catch you off guard at times). "Father Time" comes up first, but "Ode To The Boys" is discussed next, and it's neat hearing some insight as to The Inner City Surfers' heyday! The song actually wasn't directly about his old bands, moreso old friends, but Dustin does also give some advice to current musicians to start their careers, especially with how easy self-promotion and networking is compared to when he was younger. The debut single "Old Man" is next to be outlined, though note that the interview predates the music video for the song. Next, they discuss his love for Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma District.

That ties directly into their discussion of the Jonesy Land track "Superior Sons" and some of his surprising inspiration in that song's composition. Adrian next asks about Dustin's own Mission Control Studio and his experiences working with musicians who record there, leading into talk of "Keep Trying", which featured Shannon Moan on guest vocals. Dustin next talks about his views on the local music scene at present, as well as his experiences running a local songwriters competition with Greg MacLachlan pre-pandemic, while explaining how he's approaching music as he gets older, and how this album has a different edge than on his prior albums. This led into "Lonely Boy", before Adrian asks Dustin about fatherhood and his experiences with his kids, while also noting the experience he had making this album and some of the (largely) positive reaction that he received from listeners.

Given the talk about his family, this naturally led into "Shine On" (written for his daughter Jett), and the interview naturally wrapped up with "Summer's End", which was written for his late stepfather and written in the style of music that he loved. The interview ends with Dustin thanking Adrian for all he does locally, as well as plugging Jonesy Land, Mission Control Studios, and Tidal Records, though no sign of a dedicated band page for Jonesy Land yet. Fun interview that really explores the "Zoom-Out" album in depth and Dustin's maturity as a songwriter, and while the album proper is light on "punk" content, you can see how his life's experiences as a whole shaped things on the final product! I'm kinda surprised that he didn't talk about Bookclub though, as they are is current live band, past teasers about Jonesy Land playing shows again acknowledged. Check out this Across The Tracks episode at the links above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next, and that other June interview with a local punk icon on The Borderline will be covered in an upcoming SMS post! Thanks everyone!

A New Video Interview With Bill Priddle From Treble Charger!!

Here's a neat find, a new interview with Treble Charger guitarist/vocalist Bill Priddle that was posted on YouTube in August! This was conducted by Joel Martin of The Joel Martin Mastery Podcast, which you can hear for free on most major podcast platforms, with video versions also uploaded to the podcast's YouTube channel. The series' primary intent is to conduct two hour+ remote interviews with (typically) Canadian musicians in order to tell their stories and learn about what made them what they are today, and Joel himself is a singer/guitarist from Southern Ontario, so he can relate in many respects for these deep dives. It's rare when the SMS' coverage heads into podcasting, but the video from the show's YouTube channel is embedded at post's end, and note that Joel extracts parts of his interviews as separate uploads, but we're looking at the whole shebang here. 

The interview with Bill was episode #71 of The J.M.M.P. (episode #78 dropped on Monday), but don't bypass his other episodes, as he's gotten some big names! The 2 hours & 14 minutes long interview starts with Joel (pronounced Joe-ell) asking Bill about his recent songwriting and the struggles therein for now vs. back in the day, before going back to the beginnings of Bill's love & interest in music, his early influences as a kid, how he got into learning guitar and singing, his early local band work in the late 1970s and 1980s, his day jobs before focusing on music, and his mixed feelings about how the Soo influenced and impacted his music (I do agree with Bill on our lack of a Canadian rock or college radio station). How Bill met Greig Nori early and decided to form a band together was also brought up, including their move to Toronto, their first band there (named Warehouse) and their initial unreleased (and allegedly poor) album.

After outlining his views on band development under labels and the perceived "death of music" in the early 1980s, Joel asks Bill about when he realized he could make a career out of his music, family reactions to his musical aspirations, the MacLean's magazine cover article that featured Treble Charger (from March 27th, 1995), and some of his later nicknames. Treble Charger proper are focused on next, including how they came up with their original name nc-17 & why they had to change it, their debut album of the same name from 1994, their own indie label Smokin' Worm Records, early opportunities and concerts from this album's timeframe, and knowing The Tragically Hip from their early days (to some surprising levels). They next discuss Treble Charger's self-titled album from 1995, the feeling he got hearing their songs on the radio, that album's succession of re-releases, Bill's ear for harmonies, ...

...the pros and cons of being in a band with two singers (and how studio politics relating to who should be the lead singer helped stop the band initially), his memories of their first Juno Awards nomination and trip to the ceremony. Next they focus on 1997's "Maybe It's Me" (Bill's favourite of their five studio albums), with Bill discussing his feelings about getting proper rock radio hits and a gold certification for it, working with producer Lou Giordano and how that influenced him in that later role, choosing to re-record and re-release "Red" as a single, information on the gear and recording processes that he has used, and his ideal pick for a song to be included in a Guitar Hero game if they were asked. We dive into the pop punk era of Treble Charger next via 2000's "Wide Awake Bored", with Bill discussing why he thought it and "American Psycho" was their biggest album and song each, ...

...recording the album at Sound City in Los Angeles, his favourite tour stops & memories from this tour cycle (including playing with bands like The Foo Fighters), and how his songs come together. The final Treble Charger album (so far) comes up next, namely 2002's "Detox", which Bill is candid about his mixed feelings for in terms of recording it and the band's continued shift to pop punk, conflicting with his burgeoning work with Broken Social Scene and learning a lesson about playing music for money or not. Next, Bill answers a fan question about their 2012 reunion, his strained relationship with Greig by the end of their first run, how they repaired things, and why the reunion involved just him & Greig with session/touring musicians. Bill did note that he doesn't consider Treble Charger to be dead, and that they are slowly working on new music and hope to play live again (possibly next summer).

It does sound like a deliberate, stress-free approach, with them playing/working together when the cards line up the right way, and while some true public activity hasn't come in the pandemic era, hopefully we haven't heard the absolute last from Treble Charger! If you're only interested in Treble Charger talk, that stops about 90 minutes in, with Bill then going into detail about his work with Broken Social Scene, Don Vail, and The Priddle Concern (where some songs declined for later Treble Charger albums were eventually found), as well as some insights on his later work as a producer. An hour and 53 minutes in, we steer back to local discussion when Joel asks Bill about his recent local band Pointless, and he even brings up his help with local punk trio A Dire Setback's debut album! Joel gives his thoughts on three original song demos that Bill sent him as well, but there was no discussion of All The Tired Horses.

After asking about Bill's musical longevity, Joel gives Bill a series of rapid fire questions (stuff like favourite venues, biggest shows, bands he loved that he opened for, etc.), plus some closing deeper questions about unfulfilled dreams, his proudest achievements, and his advice for his 10 year old self. Very informative interview for fans of Bill's lengthy music career, especially on the Treble Charger side of the coin, and Joel had lots of good questions to ask, with Bill coming across respectful, kind, and insightful for the duration! I wonder if Greig could be interviewed by Joel at some point? Give the entire 2+ hour interview a watch/listen below, and weekend concert previews are next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rhythm & Brews), A New Video Interview, And More!!

I wasn't planning to double up with posts on this Saturday, but a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT came to my attention, and we'll fill things out with a lengthy new video interview with a familiar face, and the surprise cover songs he was involved with! Here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will return to The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill (well, outside of it) in nearby Barbeau to cap off their Oktoberfest celebrations TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced their involvement via their Facebook page on Wednesday, but the venue's Facebook page had been plugging the band as headlining for well earlier than this week. Rhythm & Brews debuted at The Cozy Corners at 6800 East 15 Mile Road in July for the Dunbar Dirt Road Dash, and TONIGHT's show will similarly be for a special event, with this Oktoberfest being a fundraiser for the Hospice of the E.U.P. in Sault Ste. Marie, so don't bypass that wonderful cause! Rhythm & Brews' established hard rock covers and likely Van Halen flourishes will be capping off Oktoberfest TONIGHT at 9:00 PM outside of the venue, and a bonfire, cornhole tournament, stein hoisting contest, and more will be ongoing from 2:00 PM onward

Also don't forget the smoke-off that began this morning, and again, sorry again about the late notice! I believe admission is free for Oktoberfest, with donations and funds from the smoke-off and internal events going to the Hospice, and of course, expect a 21+ age limit given the beer emphasis. 9&10 News is calling for cloudy weather from 9:00 PM-11:00 PM before showers are projected to set in, so hopefully Rhythm & Brews and the crowd escape the rain! No preview videos of Rhythm & Brews yet, alas, but visit the above links for more on TONIGHT's festivities!

Next up, here's a 50 minutes long video interview with former Gates of Winter/Woods of Ypres guitarist Bryan Belleau! Conducted remotely last month by Tyler Fleming of the Pensacola, Florida doom metal band October Noir, he hosts a YouTube interview series called The Noir Hour, which launched in the summer and has roughly posted an interview a week since. The interview is primarily based around Bryan's two year stint with Woods of Ypres (though Gates of Winter come up), and includes questions about Bryan's life in British Columbia nowadays, how Bryan met David Gold & joined Woods of Ypres with the rest of Gates in 2008, experiences working with & learning from David, Woods' influence and reach in the past decade, how he got involved in a cover of "Wet Leather" featuring Bam Margera (more on that at post's end), his folk/jazz music with his wife Melinda out west in the last few years, seeing bands cover Woods of Ypres songs at the Ypres Metal Fest in the Soo in 2012, ...

...his reactions to David's death the previous year, his relationship with David after leaving the band, Bryan's thoughts & perceptions of his album with the band (2009's "Woods IV: The Green Album") and some songs individually, the emotional impact of Woods of Ypres' late-period songs, the personal qualities & positive impact of David's mother Esther (a.k.a. Mama Gold), his musical development while recording with Woods, what Bryan knew about the "Home" single (he was told that the songs were "Woods IV" leftovers), the personal reasons that led to Bryan amicably leaving the band before their 2010 American tour, the wide-ranging friends Bryan met through Woods of Ypres, his views on the impact of his stint with the band, and how involved he wants to be in metal nowadays, especially now that he is a father with different priorities.

Solid interview with Bryan coming across as very humble & appreciative of both his time in Woods of Ypres and the kindness he's felt from fans of his, the band's, and David's in the past decade, and while Tyler was an acknowledged late bloomer to Woods fandom, you can tell he was thrilled to talk to Bryan and get his insight! Some more talk about Gates of Winter, even if just some more details on the Gates of Ypres 2008 tour and/or why Lee, Brian, and Steve progressively left, would have been interesting, but Bryan definitely hit most notes non-local Woods fans will wanna hear. Give the interview a watch for yourself below!

To close, what was that about Bryan recording a cover of "Wet Leather" with Bam Margera that I mentioned earlier? I assume this flew under the radar because Bryan isn't locally based anymore, but in April of last year, Bryan collaborated with Matt Lidwin of the Milwaukee goth metal project 616 to remotely cover "Wet Leather", with Bryan on guitar and Bam (formerly of Jackass fame and his band Fuckface Unstoppable) singing chorus vocals, alongside former HIM drummer Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen. 616 have strong HIM overtones, and Bam was a major fan of theirs already, so the shoes fit! Clearly a good working relationship was also established between Matt and Bryan, as the two worked together on another 616 cover earlier this year, tackling Type O Negative's "Everything Dies" last month, a song that Bryan mentioned in the Noir Hour interview was tentatively planned for a Woods of Ypres covers album that never made it to the studio.

Both 616 covers are on all major streaming services, I have them linked/embedded here via their YouTube channel. Great hearing new metal material from Bryan for the first time since Gates of Winter's last public "Perhelion" teasers in the mid-2010s (I miss them), both songs suit Matt's (and Bam's) vocal ranges well, and the covers are faithful but with some extra flourish and effects to help them stand out a little. Well recorded and produced, and if you don't mind the lyric repetition of "Wet Leather", it'll be easy to hop on board with that cover. Give them a listen above & below!

That's definitely all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith's Complete 2 Hour Interview on Sev's Cellar From Last Year!!

Back in January, I briefly noted in this post that Mike "Sev Micron" Severin interviewed local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith on The Borderline Radio last year for his radio show Sev's Cellar, but I opted not to give it a full write-up at that time because only the second half was posted for on-demand streaming as of that post's publication. At some point since then, the first half was finally uploaded onto the internet radio station's website, and you can now hear the full 2 hour+ interview at this link! Just be sure to listen to the second (lower) file first, as that is the opening half. This interview was originally conducted last year in advance of the release of Mike's most recent studio album "If Ever Comes The Day", whose songs premiered in The Borderline's rotation before the album's on-sale date. Conducted by phone, this was apparently the first Sev's Cellar episode after the pandemic began, and they do discuss it's impact on Mike's day job early.

Musically, the first half begins with Mike talking about his original discovery of music, the pandemic's effect on his day job, the origins of The Din's modern three-piece incarnation (the end of both The Revolution and Leaked come up), and The Din's breakup & farewell shows (featuring a clip of them playing "75" from the "Suburban Sendoff" gig/live album), before discussing the origin of his new album's closer "2145", which is played in full. Next, Mike talks about his hometown of Windsor, his early influences in music, his experiences as a pilot, what Mike was listening to at the time, his favourite song, his appreciation of local music, his cats, his favourite concerts that he ever saw and played at (Gianni Gagoots get some nice belated props here), the ideal celebrity he'd like to have a beer with, Mike's yet-to-be-realized dream band for his cancelled CD release party at LopLops, ...

...how Mike recorded "If Ever Comes The Day", his hope to record more live albums, and the origin of "This Page Intentionally Left Blank" from "If Ever Comes The Day", which was the intro to "Back Away Slowly", which was played in full to end part 1 of the interview. As for the second half, the interview includes Mike discussing his early on-stage memories in Windsor (complete with audio from one of his first high school gigs), along with some of Sev's trademark personal/humorous questions that you'll have heard in his other episodes, with the album's title track and "The Best You Never Had" both interspersed in this segment of the interview. Next, Mike elaborates on the inspiration of the latter song, and gives more details of the background from the new album's concept, preceding his song "Communique" being played in full. Follow-up discussion includes the moods and feelings of his songs, ...

...his songwriting inspirations, the rescheduled November date for his CD release concert (obviously since cancelled), his then-thoughts about where he wants to be in life, and the origin of The Din's "A Drive Through The Peninsula", before he and Sev discuss some local trivia and wrap things up, closing with Mike's song "Take Back The Moon". Of course, other songs from Mike's solo and Din work are played as background music during the actual interview, plus some unrelated tracks related to the topic of discussion. These can get loud at points (especially when Sev played Bob Seger in part 1), but that is par for the course for Sev's Cellar episodes. This interview is very long, but nice and informative about Mike's music and personality, and it's definitely worth listening for fans! Extra notes within include extra insight into The Din's breakup in 2017 and a surprise film credit of Sev's from the 1990s, though Mike's pre-Din local bands are largely sidelined.

Aside from teasers and his Shaw Spotlight host gigs in Thompson, Mike's been fairly quiet since the fall (his fans-only Facebook group aside), but hopefully 2021 proves to be busier for him, and this interview covers most of his pre-#LockdownLive activity well and with good humour! Give it a listen at this link or above, and be sure to check out The Borderline for lots of quality local music and hosted programs! Yes, there is more from The Borderline coming on the SMS in the near future, but that's all for today, and look for a new post of some kind on the site by Friday! Thanks everyone!