More New At-Home Performance Videos & Some Assorted Recent News Items!!

Another video heavy post today, but we do have some assorted news and notes to get to at the end, which does include a couple of concert cancellations. Let's start in video-land though with the first new videos from prolific local punk/metal guitarist Tiffany Stocco's YouTube channel in over a year! Not long after helping her Guitar Gangsters bandmate Buzz out with his recent live-stream, the Jack Spades/Stegadeth/et al. guitarist posted play-along covers of The Distillers' "The Young Crazed Peeling" (which will definitely please Coral Fang fans) and, as embedded below, Bad Religion's "American Jesus". The backing songs can drown out her playing a little, but she knows these songs well, and the videos are nice quality, so fans of her local band work and prior cover videos will definitely want to check these ones out above and below!



Next up, let's head to the U.S.A. for some new videos from former Bad Side guitarist and The Bear/Yes FM DJ Jason Mapes! We haven't heard much locally from Jason since 2010, when he was let go from his radio gigs in the wake of the Sovereign/Northern Star buyout, with Bad Side dissolving that summer. Jason has since moved to Nashville and has continued recording as a solo musician, releasing his star-studded debut album "The Devil Plays Guitar" in July. Bad Side fans will like that it features drummer Jonah Brockman on each track, while fellow Bad Side alumni Dan Furmanik, Rob Johnson, and Paxton Olney all feature as guest musicians. The songs resemble Bad Side's 1980s-influenced bluesy hard rock stylistically, obviously differed by having Jason on vocals, and while his solo project isn't locally based, don't bypass his strong recent output! In terms of videos, Jason does have two new performance clips to check out on his YouTube channel!

Credited to a series named "Songs From The Squeaky Floor" (I think I can tell why they're called that), these are new at-home covers of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" and, as embedded below, Bon Jovi's "Superman Tonight". The motion blur effect doesn't feel necessary, but these covers (on a double-necked guitar!) are effective and make good use of his higher but edgy vocal range, and it's great to see that Jason is staying busy with quality solo music in the past decade! Give his new covers a look below, and buy/stream "The Devil Plays Guitar" at the above links!



Let's head back to Ontario for a new cover of Fall Out Boy's "Thriller" by local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, as uploaded to the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today! I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but Darren matches it nicely to an unplugged form factor, and the recording quality is as great as ever, so give it a watch below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or event name:

• The fourth annual Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as per their Facebook page, and tickets are refundable at point of purchase. Had the festival take place, it would have expanded to a two night format over the July 10th weekend, and some of the scheduled touring bands were tagged in the post about the cancellation, though no word on if The Rising Tide or other punk/hard rock acts would have played too. Very disappointing, but look for the festival's expected return in July 2021!
• I have removed next week's Numbing-headlined concert at The New American Pub from our concert calendar due to the extension of Ontario's emergency order until May 19th, which means that non-essential businesses like nightclubs will be closed until at least that date. Click here for details on the emergency order. For full disclosure, this concert has not been publically called off by Numbing, The New A, or promoters Dryer Fire, but it's status was on thin ice at best given what's going on in the world.
• Reports of local Tool tribute band Parabol's demise are premature! While their Facebook page was indeed taken down over the winter, it was due to Facebook flagging the page for copyright violations, as per Facebook comment replies. In other words, their Tool covers were too close to the real thing! That said, Parabol still haven't played a public concert since headlining at Soo Blaster in October, and I don't think they have replaced that page yet, but in the coronavirus era, that may be of secondary concern. We'll let you know when they publically resurface!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Numbing), New Eastern U.P. ConcertVideos, And Much More!!

We have a new news post to check out on this Monday night, including some assorted recent news and updates, new videos from the Sault Michigan area, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a couple months from now!

Victoria, British Columbia grunge quartet Numbing will make their local concert debut when they rock The New American Pub on Thursday, May 14th! A relatively new band who are touring in support of their debut album "Make Yourself Hard To Kill", Numbing definitely fit the 1990s grunge/indie vibe with their studio originals, and while not as heavy for the genre as familiar past local bands like No Arrow, Numbing will more than do the trick with their talented blend of sounds in two months! A local opener is to be announced. Promoted by Dryer Fire in their apparent New A debut, a $10 cover charge is in effect for this 19+ concert, which has an advertised 8:00 PM start time, and they're even hyping up free popcorn! It'll be neat to see Numbing on a local stage later this spring, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this concert as they roll in!

Next up, here's some new videos from Michigan bands of note, starting with a new teaser clip towards local classical metal band Theatre of Night's fourth annual Christmas tour, which will return for more seasonal metal renditions of Christmas carols on a live stage! This short teaser clip (uploaded to the band's YouTube channel earlier today) features a slideshow of photos from their Dreammakers Theater show at the local Kewadin Casino last year, as set to the band playing, albeit not of a recognizable carol. The photos were taken by photographer Crissy Dansak, but her Facebook page does not feature the full copies, alas. One can expect Theatre of Night to return to a local stage again in December, perhaps twice, though they only played the one E.U.P. date in 2019. The video's description notes that both a "2020 Christmas tour and album (are) in the works", with the latter not being an entirely new reveal given all of their studio teaser videos on their Facebook accounts in the late 2010s.

Aside from their minimally-advertised Reverbnation albums like "Guntower Democracy", what will the teased new album entail? A full-band re-recording of "Christmas Night", something more akin to their live concert in studio form, or something entirely different? We'll keep you posted when more comes out, but Theatre of Night should be busy in late 2020 once again, so see above and below for more details!

Also today, we have a new live video of Traverse City classic metal trio Peril to share here, specifically because it was shot at their concert at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on February 15th! The first ever video upload on their Facebook page, this 52 second clip features the guys covering The Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" to a packed audience on the floor, notably featuring occasional bassist Dave Weber (in place of his Scarkazm bandmate Adam Crawford that weekend) on lead vocals. You don't see much of Peril compared to the fans, but the cover sounds good, and everyone's having a good time, so what more can you ask for? It's just nice to see a Peril video shot at an E.U.P. gig, as those don't come along every day. Peril won't be back in St. Ignace for three months, but check their Beastie Boys cover from last month out in the interim, and don't miss Scarkazm at The Rapids Lounge in the Soo this weekend!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Sault Ontario southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will make their public concert debut (jam/open mic nights aside) when they open for Metallica tribute band Sandman at The Canadian Nightclub on Good Friday! The band just confirmed the gig on their Facebook page tonight, but the Facebook event page has not followed suit at press time. If true, this is a huge platform for Fort Creek to play their first formal show at, so visit the above links for more on this concert!
• In their first Facebook page posting in almost a year, defunct Sault Michigan grunge trio Half Stupid shared apparent cover artwork for a single (or album?) named "937 Years" last week, with the caption "Coming VERY soon." Zac (I assume) had teased that they were posthumously recording an original song they never finished in their original run last year, so is this that song, or have plans escalated? Stay tuned for updates as they roll in! 
• Sault Ontario/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith revealed on his Facebook page yesterday that his long-awaited new solo album "If Ever Comes The Day" will be released on Friday, May 15th! He also included the clearest image yet of the album cover, albeit with release advertising laid on top. Mike is promising to launch the CD "in spectacular fashion", but what does this entail? Follow Mike above to see what gets announced!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!