Lopstock III Coverage (Part 5!!)

At long last, let's finally conclude our coverage of SooToday's live-stream from last month's third Lopstock concert at LopLops Lounge! For sake of convenience, you can read our posts on the first eight acts via clicking these links: Hannah Lindsay & Bold Noize, Jupiter Marvelous & Juliana Regan, Sawbé & Stoneburgh and The Hollow Heads, and Far From Fine & Handsome Sandwich. The ninth and penultimate act at Lopstock III was online page-less local indie/drone rock band Pointless, featuring ex-Treble Charger singer/guitarist Bill Priddle, his All The Tired Horses bandmate Robert Sartini (Pillory), Robert's old Id Iota bandmate Dustin Goodall (ex-Pixo Control) on bass, and Robert's old Peach Thieves bandmate David Peredun (ex-Ashes To Dust) on drums. Video footage resumes 6:26:17 into the 8+ hour live-stream, with Lopstock MC/promoter Brendan Garlick introducing their set.

Of note, Brendan said that attendees positively compared this year's Lopstock to the last one in 2015, he announced the winner of a surprise raffle for a Lopstock poster signed by all ten acts, and he kinda plugged Pointless on the basis of Bill's Treble Charger work while trying to be low key about it. Oddly, Brendan said that this is the "first time you can hear them in Sault Ste. Marie", despite Pointless having debuted locally in 2017. Their set started with two original songs not introduced by name (linked here and here), before playing a song named "Alright Already". Next is the Treble Charger deep cut "Forever Knowing" (from "Maybe It's Me"), which was the first cover at Lopstock since Juliana Regan's set four hours prior, Bill co-writing it in the first place acknowledged. The following two songs (linked here and here) were also unannounced by name, but the next one ("If It's All The Same") was.

Pointless must have been an exception to the "one cover per band" rule (this is Bill Priddle's band, after all!), as their last four songs were all covers. Next up was Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine", followed by another Treble Charger deep cut, this time "Drive", which was the last song on their last album (to date), 2002's "Detox". A false ending led to an abbreviated rendition of Guided By Voices' "A Salty Salute", before closing with Bill's signature Treble Charger song, "Red" (from both "nc17" and "Maybe It's Me"). Entertaining set that, while not leaning into punk given Bill's musical preferences, had strong musicianship, and his dry humour was present even if he didn't talk to the audience much between tracks, and I do appreciate that the drone/noise element was toned down from early Pointless gigs! If you like early and Bill-led Treble Charger, you should like Pointless' Lopstock set!

Lopstock III surprisingly ended with young local metal trio The BAG, in what I can only assume was due to scheduling needs for them/earlier acts, if not an intentional effort to put the heaviest scheduled band on last. They clearly had fans out for the long haul though, complete with official BAG t-shirts! Be advised that The BAG did not introduce ANY songs at Lopstock by name, so I apologize in advance for only having two original songs (their released singles) titled here. Their set opened with their debut single "Eccentric Refuge", followed by two more original cuts linked here & here. Fourth was their other single "Our Rock", before playing this fast & hard original, a brief instrumental, and, if you believe guitarist Spencer MacGillivray, "the punkiest song we've got". The BAG next played a brand new song that was written for Lopstock, followed by this slower & longer cut and another new song written by drummer Bradley Nixon.

Spencer, Austin, and Bradley finished up with a somewhat funkier original, and after Brendan offered some closing remarks, The BAG got to play an encore song, which was their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" (also not introduced by name, but everyone knows it). If you haven't seen The BAG live yet, then you'll get an in-your-face slice of metal here with lots of subgenre influences and a down & dirty intensity, and while I do wish that the guys would talk more between songs (how did they not introduce even ONE song by name?!), having The BAG around is a promising sign for the local metal scene! Overall, huge kudos to Brendan Garlick & Sault Noir for putting on such a huge concert (especially after an eight year hiatus for Lopstock), and while I don't know how the SooToday deal came together for the live-stream, the professional quality of the footage (with very few technical nitpicks) is great for home viewers who missed out!

Whether I knew the song names or not, every single individual song is linked in our five Lopstock recap posts linked above, so if you want to jump to a specific band or song, you'll know how (the bands are similarly timestamped on YouTube, if not the songs). There's obviously a lot to see here, but it's a fun watch for fans of modern original local music, so check out the entire Lopstock III live-stream below,and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Lopstock III Coverage (Part 1!!)

As you may recall, ex-Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick resurrected his mid-2010s "bohemian conclave" multi-band concert Lopstock for a belated third installment at LopLops Lounge this past Saturday, which served as the launch event for his new promotional agency Sault Noir. In the lead-up, he teased "one more Lopstock announcement... and it's a pretty exciting one" on social media, but at the time that we previewed Lopstock III on the SMS on July 28th, it hadn't been made 100% public, so what was the announcement? Well, the concert was live-streamed.... all of it. All 8+ hours of it! And this wasn't just a "let's set up one camera in front of the stage and hope things cooperate" situation, as this was in cooperation with SooToday, being live-streamed directly to their YouTube channel and promoted on their website proper, with three high quality (mostly) static camera angles being used for the duration.

Kudos to Brendan for getting this high production quality to log this entire show (with ten scheduled acts, mind you), and it sure blows his already extensive video coverage from the last Lopstock out of the water! This is also a good sign of intent for what he's aiming to do with Sault Noir, even if we don't see video like this all the time. The live-stream runs for over 8 hours and 36 minutes, but is bookended by 7 minute-long static title cards on SooToday's end, and the performance order was heavily changed from the posters, with the three hard rock-leaning acts all pushed into the last four timeslots. The live video begins with Brendan himself introducing the show (he was the evening's MC), and the opening artist was folk/pop singer/guitarist Hannah Lindsay, who played her original songs "The Water Runs Cold", "Speak Your Mind", "The Birds", "Scarred", and "Where I'll Go", a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon", and her own "Your Friend".

Remember, Brendan asks Lopstock acts to keep their sets focused around original material with a one cover limit. Hannah had a strong performance of acoustic pop rock songs here, and while not always too animated on stage, she had a comfortable rapport with the audience, so don't sleep on her opening set! After Brendan offered a quote from Flowers For Algernon and acknowledged his late friend Joonas Kamula, the second act of the evening was local rapper Tristan "Bold Noize" Goslow, whose set started with his songs "Set The Tone" and "Danger". Things took a surprising turn next when he acknowledged on stage that he was going to "switch up the vibe a little bit", as "we're putting out a punk album (in) two weeks". Now this is 100% news to me, but as a rapper, Bold Noize isn't a project that I regularly scout. Social media teasers have been minimal as of this writing, but the album will be named "God Save Me", cover art pictured.

The punk portions of Bold Noize's set were still just Tristan alone with a backing track (if he has bandmates, they weren't on stage with him), but he was predominantly singing rather than rapping. The first two songs of this ilk were not introduced by name, but you can see them linked here and here. He gets back to his existing rap output next with "Bring The War", before dipping back to the punk album ahead with the title track "God Save Me", a song named "Dead Inside", and a slower track not introduced by name, before closing with his existing rap song "Talk". Personal Facebook postings suggest that "God Save Me" will be released on major streaming services on Thursday, so keep an eye out then if this interests you. If these are a true indication of how this album will sound, then expect something more like Machine Gun Kelly's rock output than NOFX, but I'm definitely curious to hear how the final product turns out!

Is this just his existing rap structure with predominantly clean vocals, or truly something more rock-based? We'll find out soon! I'll pass judgement on the songs until I hear the studio versions (even the rap songs here were more vocally animated live than in studio), but Tristan can carry a tune as a singer, and while the backing tracks did lean more to his rap output than a fully fledged band (at least as presented here), props to him for expanding his range beyond hip hop! He also made good use of the LopLops venue to rock out in the audience rather than staying on stage, and his rap flow was fast and natural. Check out all of Lopstock III below, with our coverage of the other 88% of it to follow this month!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more from Losptock and beyond this week! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's April 2023 Live-Stream!!

I profusely apologize for this being so late to make the SMS, but with his "Face To Face" concert also getting live-streamed last month (a normal live-streamed hangout last month did not occur), I really had to get this on the site soon before things got even more backed up! Yes, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith hosted his (usually) monthly live-stream on April 25th, but like in March, the planned Facebook simulcast of the live-stream was not posted for on-demand viewing, just via his YouTube channel. As you may remember, Mike's planned guest for his March live-stream was supposed to be Ryan Jensen of the Denver, Colorado alt-rock solo project Surrender The Tides (surprisingly not someone Mike met through You Rock! episodes), but scheduling conflicts led to Ryan's appearance being pushed ahead one month. So, what went down with Mike and Ryan in this 2+ hour live-stream?

The proceedings begin with Mike acknowledging that the audio quality is lower than usual on his end due to technical issues that he hopes will be worked out for next time (Ryan sounds better on his setup), while also noting that his Facebook live-stream was also simulcast on his personal Facebook page due to his own issues with Facebook as of late. I won't get into that here, but he has complained about engagement and promotion there before, even planning to move his primary online presence elsewhere. In any event, the personal live-stream isn't up for on-demand viewing either. The main program begins with Ryan talking about himself, Surrender The Tides, and his musical inspirations, and his at-home recording setup, while also asking about Mike's location, leading to discussion about his moves over the years. Mike also compares to his own experiences and promoting deserving musicians.

After plugging a possible contest for an extant vinyl test pressing of his newest (so far) album "Bridges", he acknowledged that there isn't a winner for last month's share contest due to (according to Mike) Facebook shares being "choked out" by the site's algorithms, though no word on if this is why his prior live-stream from before the 2022-2023 hiatus didn't have a winner. He did try the share contest (whoever has the most engaged share of the live-stream gets to pick a mandatory cover for net time) again, though time will tell if we hear another cover next time. Unlike with The Lillypillies in March, Ryan/Surrender The Tides did perform songs on last month's live-stream, starting with his original "Birthmark", after which Ryan talks about how that song came together (it's the one Mike first discovered). If you're waiting for Mike himself to perform, his first song ("The Best You Never Had") comes almost 35 minutes in.

Unfortunately, the technical issues that Mike warned us about rear their ugly head when he tried to actually perform, with the audio often dropping entirely despite his normal talking sequences sounding fine, if still worse than in March. This leaves Mike to pause his own performances for the rest of the episode, alas, but he did acknowledge that he plans to broadcast his next live-stream from a computer rather than a cell phone, which should be an improvement for the production quality. After Mike addresses the back story of "The Best You Never Had", he asks about what Ryan did musically after he completed "Birthmark", leading to him playing another original song of his named "Scars In The Sky". Style comparisons and personal messages come up next, as well Surrender The Tides' plans for a debut album and the challenges of the modern music industry and how people consume music.

In this stretch, Mike does talk about his upcoming album "All The Best In All You Do", and among the scoops, it will be 37 minutes long (presumably not including the teased Bandcamp bonus tracks) and was "not quite done" as of this live-stream. He noted that "a couple (of) really, really cool concert dates" are being locked down for the summer, one presumably being Rotaryfest, and he was tentatively planning for one to be the album launch event, but details on that front are forthcoming. He also noted that "at least a couple of these shows will have a full band", implying that he has at least three summer concerts planned (whether last month's Face To Face was considered one of them, I can't say). The second half of the live-stream starts with MIke & Ryan discussing printing albums on physical media, with Mike touting his print-on-demand work with Kunaki.

After criticizing Facebook again due to the low live-stream viewership on this platform, Mike passes over to Ryan again for his next song, preceded by some discussion about experiences in Florida, where Ryan wrote "Birthmark". The next song was briefly titled earlier in the live-stream, but not surrounding when Ryan performed it, but it is brand new. This is followed by more venting about the ills of Facebook and Mike's proposed overhaul of his social media focus for his music career, as well as talk about what social media services nowadays may be worth using. Ryan next performs his song "Into My Arms", before Mike experiments with trying to see if he can repair his own audio setup to allow him to play a song in full (this was in vain, and Mike was even quieter after his attempted fix!) Mike next asks Ryan about his future plans for Surrender The Tides, before asking if he has any favourite cover songs to perform.

Ryan breaks out a loose cover of The Brilliance's "Brother" next, while Mike tries one more time to get an audio workaround on his end, to no avail. The final song performed in the live-stream is Ryan's original "I'm Not Running", and the last nine minutes feature wrap-up talk, promotion of both Mike and Surrender The Tides' upcoming work, and reminders about technical fixes for next time. Honestly, I don't think that this was Mike's best live-stream, thanks primarily due to the technical difficulties and a bit too much Facebook bashing, but the casual conversations still worked well, and while not a hard rock/metal artist, Ryan shows strong aptitude as a singer/guitarist, so don't bypass Surrender The Tides if you like acoustic singer/songwriter music! You will also get some good details about Mike's summer plans, if still largely teasers of what's to come, so give April's live-stream a watch for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's Newest Live-Stream!!

After a one year hiatus for his Facebook live-streamed concerts, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith held his newest one on his Facebook page on Tuesday, March 28th! Now explicitly called a "live hangout", it marks his first such live-stream since he moved from Thompson, Manitoba last fall, and it runs for over two & a half hours, so there's lots to take in here! At the start of the video, Mike addressed what he's been up to in the past year (personally & professionally) before addressing his initially planned guest for the show, namely Ryan Jensen of the Denver, Colorado alt-rock solo project Surrender The Tides. Due to a scheduling conflict on Ryan's part, he's been pushed back to Mike's planned April live-stream, with Mike's replacement guest being Manny Attanasio, the frontman of the Australian indie/electronic rock duo The Lillypillies, who was originally planned to be the guest(s) this month.

No doubt their wires crossed when both The Lillypillies and Mike were featured on episodes of Your Music Live with Pete Johns and the community that arose through that series. The discussion begins about 3 minutes in with Manny asking about Mike's wedding and how Tianna's handling his musician/pilot life, before Mike acknowledges that technical issues on Facebook's part curtailed his April 2022 live-stream there (that one was only on YouTube). Mike next acknowledges the return of the share contest to determine a fan-decided cover that Mike has to cover the next time out (whoever gets the most engaged share of the live-stream wins). Manny gets to talk about himself and The Lillypillies proper next, including his recording setup and musical background, which Mike does connect to some of his past catalog (like how he loves his "Neighbourhood Watch" material but not the recording quality).

Mike & Manny talk about their musical abilities and such next, with Mike even talking down his own guitar abilities and noting that he had asked guitarist friends if they could guest on a guitar solo on his upcoming album. If you're in this for the actual performances, Mike is up first at the 24:10 mark when he covers The Lillypillies' own song "We'll Be Together", after which Manny praised Mike's rendition and talked about the inspiration of the song, including how the pandemic influenced it. Mike performs again next via his own original "If Ever Comes The Day" 36:15 into the video. After Mike criticized Facebook changes and social media in general, perhaps with a rebrand of some sort to follow, he asked Manny about his musical influences and his Lillypillies song "I'm Hypnotized", which Mike plays 55 minutes in, followed by him addressing his next album "All The Best In All You Do", which will have ten songs.

We move quickly to another song next, namely another of Mike's songs from the album "If Ever Comes The Day", namely his label namesake "MorningStar", which you can hear at the 1:04:10 mark. Mike next discusses the feedback that he's gotten from that song and his higher profile concerts that he took part in last year (particularly Rotaryfest, where he hopes to return this year), while also praising the talent of musicians in Sault Ste. Marie and how connected the community here is. He then asks Manny about The Lillypillies' future plans and upcoming material, before Mike tackles the first two planned songs from "All The Best In All You Do", namely "All You Do" and "Twist of Fate", which run into each other from 1:20:40 onward to end the first half, before Mike engages with commenters, especially ones that he's working with behind the scenes as a producer or collaborator.

The second half of the hangout continues with Mike asking Manny about his/The Lillypillies' planned return to Italy for some upcoming work, which links into Mike giving some insights into his Steeltown Sessions jam video with his live Rotaryfest band from last year, with Manny also talking up the advantages and drawbacks of technology towards his music, among other related topics. Mike tries another Lillypillies song next, namely "When We Were Young", which kicks in at 1:46:50, though Manny forgot to mute his video as he's singing along with Mike as he's playing and it doesn't sound great on a technical basis (too many halts and pops on Manny's end). If only the technical side of it was more level! Some casual discussion leads to Mike doing a brief new original song named "Love Will Light The Way" at 1:59:00, though he teased playing a song named "All For You" prior that was not performed on air.

The studio version sounds very lush compared to the acoustic guitar version heard here! When Manny asked about the release date for the new album, Mike didn't have a firm date in mind, but he did throw ideas out about possibly having five bonus tracks on physical copies only, with Manny offering his input on the idea and the creative process. After asking about what Manny does for fun and in his spare time, they discuss physical albums (Mike shows off a framed copy of "Bridges" on vinyl) and Mike's label MorningStar Records, of which American musician Tobias H. Reese has already signed on to release material through. The live-stream gets to thank yous, acknowledgements, and plugs before Manny signs off, with Mike hosting solo for the last 10 minutes, where he performs one more new song ("I've Seen It Before") at the 2:23:15 mark, complete with abrupt breaks to talk about the song's themes... very personal ones, at that!

Things end here (including a plug for the return of his YouTube album review series), but Mike did not play the winning song of his share contest from the March 2022 live-stream. That month's winner was not available to watch the April 2022 live-stream, so Mike postponed it to the next one, which was this installment, and there was no sign of it. Did it vanish into the ether? In any event, this was an entertaining live-stream with a good casual feeling, and while it was unfortunate that Manny didn't perform any songs himself like we saw in prior live-streams with guests, he is a talented musician and Mike did his songs justice! Check out all of the festivities for yourself below, and look for his next live-stream soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more from Mike (including his recent radio interview) and more on the site this week, including this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's April 2022 Live-Stream!!

After an almost four week delay, let's look at local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's monthly live-streamed concert from April 2022 this afternoon! No word on if he's doing one this month or not, for the record, but last month's didn't occur until the 27th, so there is still time in theory. Technical issues meant that the live-stream did not air on Facebook despite best efforts, leaving it exclusive to Mike's YouTube channel. The 2 hours & 20 minutes+ live-stream begins with Mike acknowledging the Facebook issues, while also mentioning his upgrade in audio equipment, presumably to undo all of the dreaded halts and pops that had been prevalent in his live-streams since starting to use StreamYard. For the first time since Mike began interviewing outside musicians, last month's guest was not from Sault Ste. Marie, rather Nick Howell, a blues/folk musician from Waubaushene in Central Ontario's Simcoe County.

Admittedly, Saultite interest in this episode may be weakened, especially as I don't think Nick has played shows here, but he is a very talented musician whose recommendations of releasing solo albums through Kunaki's manufacture-on-demand process heavily influenced Mike's Thompson-era albums, so don't quickly bypass him on residence alone! After a lot of assorted loose conversation, the interview proper begins about 7 minutes in with Nick discussing where he comes from, their collective experiences releasing albums with Kunaki and dialing in the audio/packaging quality, and Nick's upcoming solo album. This runs until 28 minutes in when we get our first performance, Nick doing a new original song named "A Night To Remember". Mercifully, the audio hang-ups of Mike's prior StreamYard-infused live-streams are definitely improved here, and Nick has a Thom Yorke-ish quality to his singing that I didn't expect!

After some tuning, Mike played his first song next (on his 12 string guitar, no less), namely "MorningStar", which begins about 40:45 in. Again, Mike's audio upgrades have definitely helped on his end of the video too, so no webcam halts or pops! Still not sure what changed to force those when he started using StreamYard. More discussion follows about their experiences releasing albums through Kunaki, Nick's unique "Rock Odyssey" offered through his website (seriously, give this a look), both Mike and Nick's own experiences making their websites, Mike's then-not-yet-released Steeltown Sessions video, Nick's artwork for his studio album "Traveler", and Mike's own experiences with designing album covers. Nick performs his original song "In Love With The Bottle" at about 1:04:30, with Mike following with his new song "Twist of Fate" from his next album.

That leads off the second half of the live-stream at about 1:13:00, and the between song banter afterwards is shorter, looser, and more musical before Nick returns to play "Swift Turtle: at 1:22:40.  More of the same is next, plus discussion about unique plans to play with backing tracks in live concerts, with Mike playing another yet-unreleased original next at 1:33:25, namely "I've Seen It Before". After plugging and promoting the Your Music Live and You Rock! shows that Mike has often submitted songs for (I know I'm very behind on both), as well as Mike's aims to take his indie label MorningStar Records to the next level, Nick discusses his summer plans and the idea of maybe doing live-streams of his own, along with more "Inside Baseball" talk about their albums. The music returns next with Nick playing his original song "Angry Moon" at about 1:52:30, with Mike fittingly playing "Take Back The Moon" at 2:00:30 to close his musical portion of the stream.

Sadly, the planned mandatory cover from the share contest was not played due to the winner not being present and the lack of a Facebook stream like they usually watched via, so that will be held over for next time (as such, no new share contest was held either). The last 17 minutes is mostly devoted to casual conversation and final promotion, but Nick does close by playing one more original song ("Late Nights, Early Mornings") at 2:13:40. While Nick was new to me going in, he is a very talented and genre-transcendent musician who you should give a listen, and Mike and him has a fun rapport, so check out the whole live-stream for yourself below!

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

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's Newest Live-Stream!!

Much sooner than last time, here's our extended recap of prolific local/Thompson, Manitoba alternative/hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith's newest live-stream from this past Sunday! Simulcast on both Mike's Facebook page and YouTube channel to commemorate hitting 100 subscribers on that platform (thanks to an upgrade to his StreamYard account), the 100 minute live-stream starts with Mike doing some routine maintenance, setup, and explanations for new viewers, given that YouTube-only fans may not know what these are. Regarding the episode proper, Mike acknowledges his recent marriage and the end of his Ukraine charity drive last month, before bringing in the episode's special guest, namely ex-Shit Liver singer/bassist Mike Kyle, who currently performs acoustic folk music with his solo project Sibling. Be advised that the dreaded webcam halts and pops are very prevalent on Mike Kyle's feed.

The interview starts with Mike Haggith praising Mike Kyle's music, with Mike Kyle discussing his musical background, appreciation for Sault Ste. Marie, artistic influences, recent hobbies and activities, plans for 2022, and there's even a fan question from the chat, which has to be new! After acknowledging a contest for live viewers to win a CD copy of The Din's posthumous live album "Technically Live" (to be reviewed on the SMS this month!), we finally get into some music at around the 25 minute mark, starting with Mike Kyle playing two brief Sibling originals named "Food For Thought" and "Chasing Rabbits". The interview portion of the episode resumes with lengthy discussions about Mike Kyle's evocative lyrics, artistic inspirations, avenues to promote his music, and his current visual art projects, before Mike Haggith finally plays some music of his own.

If you're tuning in for this Mike, he begins 48 minutes in with his new song "Twist of Fate" from his upcoming album "All The Best In All You Do", and unfortunately, the webcam halts and pops are an issue (if less so) on Mike Haggith's feed too. Is this StreamYard's fault, or did Mike change his camera setup from 2021? Afterwards, Mike does reveal that he is thinking about getting merchandise made for his next album beyond albums during the responses to live viewers in the chat, followed by a rendition of his familiar original track "MorningStar". Mike Kyle comes in next with his new (and fittingly named) song "Palindromes", which is the current song he's most proud of, followed with Mike teasing his upcoming musical plans, plus his recent following of local hip hop music, which he has incorporated on some of his Sibling-era originals. Mike Haggith next dives into the share contest for last month, so who had the most engaged share of all?

Ironically, it was Sainte-Marie/Bad Chug guitarist Jacob Quarrell, the guest of honour in the February 2022 episode, and as he had the most engaged social media share of that live-stream, he got to pick Mike Haggith's mandatory cover for last month. Mike Haggith is very coy about what song he was nominated to tackle, and that's because it's "The Birthday Song" by comedian Jon LaJoie (let's just say that the innocent vibe at the start takes a turn!) Next, Mike Haggith asks Mike Kyle again about his future plans, while Mike Haggith did tease that he's going to review one of Mike Kyle's albums in his YouTube album review series. The draw for the winner of the "Technically Live" CD is next, with the winner being ex-Bizotic frontman/No Arrow bassist Brad "Gortium85" Griffith! Mike Haggith also manages to figure out how to get live comments on the feed like on Studio Live Today near the end.

As for Shit Liver, they get the most discussion in the last 10 minutes, and only sparingly come up beforehand, but Mike Kyle does talk positively about the band & their tour runs, and gives some brief insights, with Mike Haggith even plugging the local goregrind scene that peaked in the mid-2010s. While musically a very slight episode (only 6 songs total), and the downgrade in audio quality since 2021 is unfortunate, this is an entertaining episode that lets Mike Haggith stretch his interviewer muscle, and if you haven't followed Mike Kyle's solo pursuits, do so, as he's a very creative artist with a distinct voice! It'll be interesting to see how the April live-stream goes, but give last month's a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums? post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Last Month's Mike Haggith's Live-Streamed Concert!!

I profusely apologize for the delay in getting this on the site, but here's our extended recap of local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's monthly live-stream concert from February 12th, as seen live and on-demand via his Facebook page! Granted, that live-stream itself was delayed a month due to Mike's acknowledged personal burnout around the time it was to have occurred, but on my end, it just fell through the cracks. Like in December's live-stream, a major component of last month's installment was a musician interview (previously with No Arrow/Bizotic alum Brad Griffith), but this time, Mike interviewed local folk musician Jacob Quarrell, who you may recognize from his current bands Jupiter Marvelous & Bad Chug, from his solo work under his own name and previously as Shit Creek Survivor, and from being tapped to play in Mike's full band for his pandemic-cancelled CD release show in 2020.

The big immediate difference from December's phone interview with Brad is that Jacob is on video via split screen here, which is a new one to see someone other than Mike, his now-wife Tianna (congrats to the newlyweds), and the cats! This was done via StreamYard, a video streaming service Mike was new to at the time. The 2 hour episode proper starts with Mike asking Jacob about what he's been up to (his new folk duo Sainte Marie comes up a fair amount regarding their debut show and early plans). After acknowledging the share contest for that month's live-stream where the most engaged share gets a fan-picked cover song for the next episode, he also plugged a contest where one viewer of the live broadcast would win copies of Mike's new album "Bridges" & Jacob's album "Small Town Troubles".

Music-wise, this episode also differed from December's in that Jacob is actually performing on the live-stream, rather than Mike covering the guest's songs. Jacob leads off with his & Jackson Reed's non-album song "The Moon" (12:55), and Mike fittingly opts to contrast that with "MorningStar" (21:45) from "If Ever Comes The Day", though perhaps "Take Back The Moon" was too obvious! I don't know whether to blame StreamYard or not, but the audio quality of Mike's camera was much worse than it was in 2021 live-streams, with those dreaded halts and pops you often hear on webcams, so keep that in mind. Jacob's camera feed sounded better, as proven when he next played the new track "Sinner" (31:00) following some house cleaning notes and general chit chat. After praising Jacob's musical influences and imagery, Mike tackles "Come On Home" (45:00) from "Bridges", continuing a chronological pattern of songs.

Following discussion about where you can buy Jacob's albums and their mixed feelings about social media, JQ plays his new original "83" (58:20), with MikeMike next asking Jacob about his next music plans (solo and in bands alike) and talking about John Mayer for a surprising while. Next, Mike reveals some early details of his next studio album, which he estimates is 35% done as of the live-stream's premiere, and the album will reflect the transition from depression and manipulation to a happier life (very much reflective of his own experience), and the album will be titled "All The Best In All You Do". Mike next plays "I've Seen It Before" (1:19:55), a new song from that album, but you'll have heard it in prior live-streams. The guys deliver some summative thoughts about their music and Mike's physical album process, after which Mike draws for the winner of the CDs (ironically, Jacob's Sainte Marie bandmate Hannah Lindsay.)

Mike's mandatory cover song (picked by the winner of the December 2021 share contest) is next, with ex-Re:Born singer Elly McWatters coming out on top then, and she was kind to Mike by nominating Gordon Lightfoot's "Rich Man's Spiritual" (1:47:20) rather than a comedy track. Fine rendition as you'd expect, just a shame about the audio quality on this camera setup. Also look for some surprise discussion of soap operas before that cover, with summative thoughts and plugs at video's end. Overall, this was an entertaining live-stream with lots of strong music and discussion, and it is clear that Mike and Jacob were friends long before this was shot! I'm admittedly not a folk music diehard, but Jacob is a skilled musician with a good ear for melodies, so don't bypass his recent work either! I am surprised that he never talked about Bad Chug, who notably opened for Buckcherry at Soo Blaster in October.

No word on their status, for the record, but they have not posted anything publically since that show. The major elephant in the room re: the live-stream was the audio quality on Mike's camera setup, as the sound was severely off compared to his live-streams from 2021, with the guitar only coming in intermittently via webcam pops and crackles. Hopefully he's had time to iron things out by this Thursday at 7:30 PM, as that's when his new live-stream debuts, as Mike's interviewing ex-Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle, who now performs solo under the project name Sibling! Tune in then for all of that, and check out last month's live-stream (at last) below!

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

Mike Haggith's Newest Live-Streamed Concert, And More!!

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!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's November 2021 Live-Streamed Concert, Including Din Album Updates!!

After way too long of a delay, let's give a proper full-post recap to local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's newest live-streamed concert, which took place on his Facebook page on Saturday, November 13th! This is another long one, running for over two hours & twenty minutes, so seats back, and tray tables must be in the upright position before takeoff! First thing I'll note is that this live-stream starts with very noisy background hiss through his new microphone, which is very unfortunate, and he gives up on it after 3 minutes. The episode proper is themed around Mike's old local power pop/hard rock band The Din to commemorate the recent release of the deluxe edition of their 2016 debut album "Give In To The Din", from which Mike planned to play the original nine-song album front to back, and he started with "In Search Of The Perfect Moment" (6:50).

After interacting with live viewers in the comment section, Mike next plays "Flux" (14:30), complete with a "drum solo" by Din drummer Brandan Glew in the comments section (how else would he play his solo from the studio track given the setup?). Mike calls up Brandan afterwards for a phone interview during the live-stream, which was a replacement option after attempts to have him pop up in a separate webcam feed didn't work out. Amidst lots of self-deprecation, joking remarks, and irreverence, Mike & Brandan reminisce on The Din's local run, including their original live album "The Din Does Laundry", why "Differences" didn't originally make the cut for "Give In...", and their release party for that album, which you'll be able to hear on the upcoming posthumous live album "Technically Live", and Mike even shows off a physical copy of it on camera, so is there anything to break from that?

While the video is mirrored, he shows the back cover on camera long enough for us to get the full tracklist for the CD, which confirms that every original song played that night will make the cut, except Mike's solo song "Of Cars & Criminals" for unannounced reasons, but you can hear that very performance of it on Shaw TV's OnStage episode of this concert, plus The Din's acoustic version from "The Din Does Laundry". In it's place, four outside covers that Shaw did not include for copyright reasons ("Learn To Fly", "The Old Apartment", "Times Like These", and "With A Little Help From My Friends") will surprisingly make the cut, while the spoken word intro to "75" ("Leamington, Ontario") is included as a separate track to lead off the album. Afterwards, they discuss the fire alarm that went off at the release concert, before Mike plays his next Din song.

The track in question is "Alleyways & Apartments" (37:10), after which Mike & Brandan discuss recording that song at Mission Control Studios, a possible lost take that they could have put on the new deluxe edition CD, and this week's share contest to determine a cover song Mike has to cover next month. His next song is "Out Of My League" (47:30), followed by Mike shouting out The Din's primary studio producer Daniel Schmidt, and then playing "75" (1:01:05) after some lengthy discussion with Brandan about it's lifespan before The Din & "Leamington, Ontario". Kicking off the second half, Brandan helps set up the next song that he wrote, "Remember" (1:14:05), followed by the renamed "Potato (Should've Known Better)" (1:27:25) and "The Rose" (1:30:55) played in short succession. Next, Mike plugs his new album "Bridges" and conducts the draw for the winner of his other test pressing of it.

Ironically, the winner of the test pressing was Obsession frontwoman Valerie Powley, who also won the share contest to pick Mike's mandatory cover during this live-stream (more on that in a bit). After both guys promote Mike's recent and upcoming albums and teased some possible further unreleased content, they gave a tentative release date of December 26th (yes, Boxing Day) for "Technically Live", so keep that date in mind! Brandan signs off before Mike ends the "Give In To The Din" playthrough with an abbreviated version closer "A Drive Through The Peninsula" (2:04:20), and afterwards, Mike moves on to the share contest to pick his mandatory cover for this month, and the aforementioned Valerie Powley had the most engaged share of the October video, so she got to pick Mike's cover. Rather than a joke or troll song, she nominated Bryan Adams's "Cuts Like A Knife" (2:10:45).

I'm not a Bryan Adams fan, but Mike's unplugged take went over well! The last 6 minutes features Mike talking to commenters, promoting his current activities and new/upcoming albums, including his "Morning Jam" series of daily Facebook song recommendations and his still-yet-to-debut YouTube album review series. Entertaining (if very long) watch, especially for fans of The Din and Brandan's usual comment section input from Mike's prior live-streams, so definitely give the whole thing a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Mike when it rolls in! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's Newest Live-Streamed Concert!!

Continuing our busy final week of October 2021, let's focus in on prolific local/Thompson, Manitoba alternative/hard rock musician Mike Haggith's long awaited first live-streamed concert in over a year! Taking place live at 7:00 PM last night on Mike's Facebook page, this follows his fourteen #LockdownLive shows from March-August 2020 (plus the occasional live post-show), which primarily occurred weekly during the first pandemic lockdown, but Mike is planning to do his relaunched live-stream series on a monthly basis. In fact, Mike has already scheduled his next live-stream for Saturday, November 13th at 7:30 PM EST, complete with his old bandmate (and comment section all-star) Brandan Glew joining in to discuss The Din's run and recent posthumous activity, so keep that in mind! As for yesterday's live-stream, it runs for 85 minutes, but trust me, Mike has went longer!

Mike starts by acknowledging how much fun the #LockdownLive shows were, and while he didn't 100% explain why he stopped doing live-streams for a year, he did acknowledge that this was kind of a pilot for the relaunch, and to show he's serious, he has a new microphone and a new 12 string guitar! For convenience, I'll timestamp the rough start times for performed songs, a'la my Metal Morpheus recaps, and yes, I will be doing more of those this week! His first performed song is a cover of The Killers' "When You Were Young" (3:10), which Mike follows by outlining how he got this guitar, and then he plays "Over Indecision" (8:35) from his upcoming studio album "Bridges". Next, Mike plugs the Facebook contest he held to give away a pre-release test pressing of "Bridges" on vinyl, with the winner to be announced later in the broadcast, though he warned us that it wouldn't sound as optimal as the final copies.

He also shows off the vinyl sleeve and record proper, so we know what to expect if you order that rather than a CD! Mike did address the very delayed release for the album, primarily chalking it up to the slow mixing process and getting it sounding perfect, and he plans to release it near the end of 2021, though updates are forthcoming. We next get two more performances of songs from "Bridges", including "The Nature Of The Times" (19:20) and "An Act Of Strength" (25:50), though during the bridge of the former, he plugs the share contest for this week, with the viewer who gets the most engaged Facebook share of the live-stream getting the right to pick a cover song that he has to play next week. After plugging his daily "Morning Jam" posts on Facebook, Mike asks for suggestions of artists to spotlight there, and promotes his still-to-debut album review series on his YouTube channel.

Next up, Mike plays "MorningStar" (34:30) from his newest album "If Ever Comes The Day", before discussing his guitar capos. The second half of the live-stream kicks off with the debut of a brand new original song named "Twist of Fate" (41:55), albeit slowed down from the planned electric studio version, and true to recent form, the song is very personal lyrically. He follows that with another new song "To Be With You" (52:50), which has aired on The Borderline Radio and previously been seen in performance videos, but is not posted online otherwise. After teasing his first planned album reviews for his soon-to-launch YouTube series in November, Mike covers "Alice" (59:15) by the New Jersey indie act Project Atlantic, as this song is on "Ghost Stories", an album Mike is planning to do a video review of. Passing the one hour mark, Mike draws for the winner of the "Bridges" test vinyl next...

...before playing one more brand new song entitled "I've Seen It Before" (1:06:25). Next, Mike shows off a CD copy of "Bridges" and hypes up the physical and audio quality, before playing one last song from that album, namely "Come On Home" (1:15:05). The live-stream closes with Mike discussing plans for the next episode and the idea of having regular guest musicians, with Jeremy Hannah planned for a future installment, while the winner of the share contest will likely be announced in a Facebook post as opposed to a post-show video. Entertaining live-stream overall, and a nice return to a highlight of last spring's lockdown, though some of the looser, more free-wheeling sensibilities weren't as prevalent, with less of an amusing array of viewer comments.

With Glew coming on as a guest next month, that should help, but with lots of album news and new songs, don't miss this live-stream at the above links, and stay tuned for the next one in just under three weeks! That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next!