The Sky's The Limit's Return On Facebook, Plus Some New Acoustic Performances!!

Let's end another work week with our 54th straight daily post at the SMS, which is again devoted to videos, including a pair of acoustic renditions and the virtual return of a recent annual concert! Here's what you should know!

As you have probably gathered by now, the fifth annual Sky's The Limit fundraiser concert for Children's Mental Health Week did not take place yesterday as planned due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but Algoma Family Services made due with an online installment on their Facebook page! The Sky's The Limit V would have been held at Korah Collegiate last night, but it's a great idea to migrate the event to a Facebook video so that they can continue promoting mental health awareness with the help of talented young local musicians! The 1 hour+ video starts with an introduction by Algoma Family Services CEO Ali Juma where he talks about their mission, what they offer the community even with offices closed, and what music offers to people, and he even plays a bit of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" to start! A.F.S. counsellor and Dell Bros. bassist Marc Williamson returns as the event's MC to introduce acts.

Musicians were not credited in the description, but who all performs in The Sky's The Limit V? The opening act is singer/guitarist Tianna Legacy, who nicely covers Alicia Keys' "Underdog" and Bill Withers' "Lean On Me". Next up is the surprise reunion of Electric Church frontman Spencer Pine & bassist Elijah Nelson, in the first time I've seen them perform together since this event in 2018! Beau has moved out of town, for what it's worth. The guys cover Thrice's "Hurricane" with a nice injection of soul and emotion, followed by the old Electric Church original "Take Me Away". Given how Marc introduced them, I will stop short of moving Electric Church back to our active band links for now, but it's great to see Spencer & Elijah still playing music! L!me frontwoman Madi Schomogyi follows with covers of Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" and Hedley's "Old School" on vocals & keyboard, and she has a good voice on these renditions too!

Next is former Din frontman Mike Haggith, returning to The Sky's The Limit for the first time in three years (recorded from Thompson, of course), and while not in the exact location of his #LockdownLive sets, the performance quality is as high as on those! Mike performs "MorningStar" from his new album "If Ever Comes The Day" (buy it next week!) and "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost" from his next album after that, "Bridges". Rapper Tristan "Bold Noize" Goslow performs his original songs "Life I Live" and "Glow" from his new album "Noize.", and his rhymes are smooth and effective as usual! The final performer is singer/guitarist Joely Gough, who debuted in this event last year, and she covers Harry Styles' "Watermelon Sugar" and Lana Del Ray's "Happiness Is A Butterfly" with a nice authenticity! Ali returns with closing remarks at the end, and all of the musicians offer thoughts about mental health and their experiences during their segments.

While not ideal compared to the last four years, this Facebook concert helped make lemons out of lemonade, and it's great to see a who's who of top-line performers from past installments back virtually here! Of past Sky's The Limit headline acts, only The Pixo Control were not represented. There's a nice variety of music to check out from these six acts, and lots of honest remarks about mental health as well, so give The Sky's The Limit V a watch!



 We'll close today with a couple of new Facebook videos from Redundant frontman Justin Langlois, as posted to the local punk trio's Facebook page yesterday! These are acoustic renditions of their original songs "That December" and, as embedded below, "Miles Apart", and they sound good in this form factor! Both songs still retain that punk energy, and "Miles Apart" is particularly effective like this, so give both videos a watch above & below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (A Dire Setback), An Inactive Band Note, And New Videos!!

Here's a surprise second post for your Thursday evening, so what lies beyond with this one? A couple of new videos (actual new ones posted this week), and a note on a band that was recently moved to our inactive band links, but first, here's a unique SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TOMORROW!

Local alt-punk quartet A Dire Setback, blues/hard rock trio Electric Church, and punk/hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary will join forces for a concert at Sault College's campus lounge Odeno TOMORROW in honour of Sault College's reunion fesitivies! Apologies for the short notice, A Dire Setback only announced their involvement via their Facebook page this afternoon, with a share of the post by Andrew Pucci noting the other acts, though Mike had plugged the show on his Facebook page last month. While not acknowledged as such by the two announced bands, this is a day-long event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ontario's college system, with students, alumni, and past & present faculty encouraged to come to the the Northern Avenue East college for special events, speeches, tours, an hors d'oeuvres social, an alumni vs. varsity basketball game, and yes, music, so visit the official Facebook event page for full non-musical details!

It's great to see everyone involved with sets TOMORROW, especially Electric Church after taking much of the summer off from gigs, and as for Mike McCleary... we'll have more on him in an upcoming post, so stay tuned, but he'll be worth seeing for sure! There are no cover charges or advertised age limits for TOMORROW'S reunion, which starts at 1:00 PM with bands beginning at 4:00 PM at Odeno (which replaced The Outback), though be mindful of the reunion aspect if you're not a prior student. See above for more details, and here's A Dire Setback live!

Next up, I have reluctantly moved Sault Michigan metal trio Tantrym Tyme to our inactive band links. This is partially due to a year's public inactivity (last posting on their Facebook page with a video share in August 2016), but with their online updates always being somewhat sporadic, I was hesitant until learning that drummer Ethan Twardy currently lives out of state, which can't help their status. Active since 2010 under early names like Aux, Abstract, and Tantrum, the guys initially attracted attention as late-period graduates of the Guitar Studio rock camp, with members being around 11 years old when they first started making waves. Though gigs weren't always advertised well online, Tantrym Tyme played numerous concerts, community events, and fundraisers through last summer, and their development and improvement as musicians was always great to see as they got older! Hopefully the guys get back on stage down the road, but best of luck to Jacob, Mike, Ethan, and other former members in the future!

Also today, here's our first video look at new Sault Ontario based Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters! A side project from members of Cherry Crush (more on an upcoming benefit event for their singer in the coming days), The Soo Fighters are featured in this video shared by guitarist John Amendola to their Facebook page on Tuesday, where the band (sans guitarist Jeremey Salatuk) jam the Foos classic "All My Life". The softer verses are a little shaky, and Jules Cote's singing can be hard to hear, but this is a good preview that the guys can hopefully polish up in time for their debut at The Algonquin Pub for their first of two Halloween weekend parties, and give their first cover video a look below!



Finally for today, here's one more new video from local recording studio Mission Control Studios' Facebook page on Tuesday, and it's of Electric Church frontman Spencer Pine playing a guitar solo! Performed alongside presumed material from their forthcoming debut CD (recorded at Mission Control), this is a quality solo that will come as no surprise to diehard Electric Church fans, even while sitting down, so give it a look below as well!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this weekend! Thanks everyone!

Id Iota EP Updates, The Revolution's Only Studio Song, And Much More!!

On this Sunday morning, we have to keep the news rolling and get our cache of backlogged stories a little more cleared out, so we have some assorted notes, lineup notes on an upcoming concert, and a posthumous studio track today! First though, here's all you should know on a recent CD release!

With it's successful local release at Thursday night's LopLops Lounge concert, I absolutely purchased a copy of Id Iota's debut EP "Maudlin Fair", so what should you know about it? This is the full album cover, and as previously teased in official photos, the EP features 4 songs ("California Wasted", "Permanence In Pencil", "One Cent Vaudeville", and "Bitter Tea"), with the tracks running for just over 14 minutes in length. Performers on the album include singer Christian Lemay, guitarist Dustin Goodall, and drummer Blair St. John, though recording sessions largely took place between bassist Justin Girardi's departure and the addition of Dan Linklater, so Blair handles bass on the studio tracks. Similarly to The Pixo Control's debut CD, Dustin recorded and mixed "Maudlin Fair", with mastering done in Toronto by Chuck Carvalho of Joao Carvalho Mastering. The EP appears to be an independent release, and the tray plugs their unlaunched website as http://www.id-iota.com.

Copies of "Maudlin Fair" sold for $5, and will presumably be available at future concerts, but online availability is yet to be established. That said, when can you expect a review of "Maudlin Fair" on the SMS? I have Id Iota tentatively pencilled in for next month, as the AlgomA/Chronobot split EP is coming in the next week, but stay tuned for much more on Id Iota's debut CD soon, and get a hold of band members if you want a copy beforehand!

Next up, remember The Revolution (formerly the second version of Brutaly Fatal?) They were the 2014-15 doom/punk band that played a few notable local shows and had began recording sessions at PaperClip Productions towards a debut EP named "Roll Call" before breaking up (twice) last year, but as part of a special 4/20 surprise on PaperClip's Facebook page, we can finally hear the only completed studio track from the recording sessions there! Recorded early last year, this is for the band's song "Get High With Me", and the Facebook video confirms the EP's planned cover art as well. The lineup here includes singer/guitarist Austin McCrae (now back with the original Brutally Fatal) and drummer Brandan Glew (The Din) alongside Pillory bassist Jordan Leach, who replaced Rainey Vincent on bass before recording sessions began, but never played live with The Revolution. With all of that said, how does The Revolution's only studio track sound?

Harbouring more of their punk sound than doom, it's lively and well written, but Austin's vocals sound a little forced at times, and the lyrics can be a little repetitive. Still, it's great to finally hear some of The Revolution's cancelled recording sessions make it out there, and it'd be interesting to see the band reunite again if the stars align! Check out "Get High With Me" below!



Also today, remember The Sky's The Limit, the May 5th all-ages concert at The Tech that's being headlined by The Pixo Control as part of Algoma Family Services Children’s Mental Week? As you may remember, promoters were filling the opening slots with auditions at The Tech earlier this month for artists 29 and under, but as of this writing, promoters have yet to officially announce any openers. That said, there have been some confirmations and hints from artists themselves to give us an idea! One is Tristan "White Noize" Goslow, a local Christian rapper whose involvement was confirmed by his dad on the Facebook event page. He's got good flow, and should impress rap fans on the 15th! Local alternative/hard rock trio The Din expressed interest in auditioning as well, but at a different date due to guitarist Tammy Hill being out of town, and an organizer apparently sent a message in reply. The Din haven't said if they're playing or not since, but they'd be a good fit if they are! Our last clue comes via this video that apparently came from the audition at the former St. Mary's College site, so what should you know?

This is of a group of three young musicians, including guitarist Spencer Pine alongside musicians named Elijah and Beau, and while I believe all are current White Pines Collegiate students, I can't 100% verify the others' full identities. Uploaded to what appears to be Spencer's YouTube channel on April 7th, this is of the three covering Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" at the audition, which Spencer says that they "nailed" in the video title, but again, promoters haven't publically confirmed the openers yet. The guys do a good job here, with decent vocals and a strong solo, and they'd be fun to see on the 5th, so see more on the possible openers above & below!



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:

• Shawn Miller of The Metal Observer reviewed local doom metal trio AlgomA's split vinyl EP with Saskatchewan's Chronobot at this link, where he gave it an 8/10 score, saying that the split brings "a truckload of Sabbathian riffs that would make (Tony) Iommi smile like a proud father." Very positive overall review with few negative comments, so check it out above!
• The aforementioned Austin McCrae is looking to start a punk/grunge band that would play original and cover material, and needs guitarists and a drummer (he'd presumably be on vocals and bass.) He has practice space and spare equipment, though it's not clear if this is part of a Revolution revival or an entirely new project. If you're interested in trying out, message Austin at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post last week!
• In a clarification & apology regarding new local death metal band Kaepora Gaebora's lineup, we can confirm that their new bassist is Jeph Brown, who I don't recall from any other recent local bands. We erroneously noted on the site earlier that Twistory's Josh Amendola was their bassist, so I apologize for that, I can be bad with faces sometimes (plus, the band still doesn't list Jeph on their Facebook page's lineup.) Stay tuned for more on Kaepora Gaebora's next concert later this week!

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