Oh!No 2018 Video Showcase, Part 2!!

Hey everyone, here's our second showcase post of videos from last week's Oh!No concert festival at Robbie's Church in nearby Leeburn, Ontario, with all videos courtesy of Christopher Paci's excellent YouTube channel once again! For our rundown of videos from the closing three acts, the bonfire, professional photography, and assorted household cleaning notes, visit yesterday's post below this one. Continuing in descending order, Chris filmed Thunder Bay psychedelic/desert punk quintet The Franquilizers next, capturing them performing the last half of a song which I cant 100% identify by name (maybe it's new?) The dark nighttime lighting doesn't help visibility here, but this song has a laid back feel while also harbouring some hardcore punk-tinged vocals. Not an optimal view, but The Franquilizers' got a solid reception last week, as they did last year, so give Chris' video of their set a look below!



Next up, here's some more Northern Ontario punk action from last week, courtesy of Sudbury trio Lightmares, who are seen here playing their original song "Soup". More of a modern indie rock-tinged sound here, but there's enough punk energy and swagger to go around with this solid performance, and the lighting is a little better on stage! Strong performance, if a little muffled in the video, so give Lightmares' video from Leeburn a look below!



Also performing last week (during the sunset, even) were Barrie punk quartet Beaver Slap, as this fan favourite, all-female group can be seen here performing three songs, though they were performing sans singer Midge Beaver for reasons unannounced in an online form. While they played some songs as a three-piece (including the Chris-filmed "Don't Bleed"), they also jammed an open mic selection for attendees to join in on. As seen in both Donna Hopper's and Mimi Abitbol's photos from the festival (the latter on the band's Facebook page), you can spot the likes of C.T.W.'s Tyler Gibson, festival co-promoter/ex-Fuller frontman Jamie Vincent, and even a young girl (as in, elementary age) taking over lead vocal duties for short turns. Chris did film two videos featuring guest singers, including one with Bear Hunters singer Nik Deubel channeling his inner Rick Astley by covering "Never Gonna Give You Up"?! I don't believe that's what Beaver Slap are actually playing, but beggars can't be choosers!

Nik reminds me a bit of Glenn Danzig with his cleans before unleashing his usual growl, but I want to hear him in higher quality before fully judging. The other video (embedded below) features Winkstinger frontman Josh Amendola singing a song I can't easily identify, and while he still faces the side of the stage too often when singing, his harsh vocals shred through the music well! Beaver Slap adapted nicely to being short-handed with a crowd friendly backup plan, and the girls sound good throughout the clips, so give their videos a look above and below as well!



Finally for our second Oh!No fallout/video post, let's tackle the remaining out of town bands from last week's festivities! The day's first touring attraction was Toronto indie rock quartet Forest City Aurora, who Chris filmed for this video, though I can't identify the song by name. Garbageface aside, F.C.A. were the only touring non-punk/metal band on the bill, but their melodic and easy flowing sound comes through really well on this video, so genre fans should get a kick out of them! As well, visit Forest City Aurora's Facebook page for one more video of their set courtesy of a band colleague. We'll close today with the second out of town band last week, as F.C.A. were immediately followed by London post-grindcore trio Fat Cop, who Chris filmed two videos of, partially because the first video's lighting is too bright thanks to the sun (the second video with better lighting is embedded below.) That said, this barely sounds like the same band as on their studio recordings, in some respects!

From what I've heard of Fat Cop on Bandcamp, I expected a lo-fi instrumental noise rock attack, but in these videos, they have more vocals and more of a punk influence. New sound, or just how things translate live compared to the studio? In any event, their aggressive sound looks like it got a positive response from attendees near the mid-point of Oh!No II, so give their videos a look above and below!



We'll likely close our Oh!No festival fallout and videos in the coming days by looking at the local openers, plus any odds and ends I missed regarding the event and out of town bands, so look for those and more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Oh!No 2018 Video Showcase & Fallout, Part 1!

Here's our first of at least 2 (maybe 3) fallout/video posts from this past Saturday's Oh!No concert festival at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn, Ontario, and believe me, there's a lot to touch on! Co-promoter/AlgomA drummer Jamie Vincent gave a nice long thank you on the Facebook event page to everyone who made this year's festival possible (even Oosik Records were on site), so definitely give that a look! Jamie's write-up confirms a late lineup change, as drone/noise trio Pointless (featuring Oh!No sound engineers Bill Priddle and Dustin Goodall) did play a proper set after all, despite their prior removal from the schedule. Though they were bumped to the evening, they appear to have replaced Mister Tahti's advertised kickoff set, despite his attendance as a vendor on Saturday. Hopefully all's well across the board! Though curiously not part of a SooToday article (yet?), Donna Hopper was on hand for Oh!No II, posting 139 photos from the festival onto her photography Facebook page, so what should you know there?

Without breaking down individual totals (the shots are in order), Donna was on hand for the three final local bands (Planet Rock, Pointless, and The Dynowaves) and every out of town act except closing rapper Garbageface, with each band getting at least 8 or 9 photos. As expected, Donna's photos are superb, and she got a lot of photos of the crowd enjoying the festival and the bands, so if you were there, see if you're featured! Though the lion's share of her photos are in black and white, they contrast well with the ending bonfire shots, which she left in colour, so the old organ burning is preserved as you saw it on Saturday! In the realm of public videos, we are far more blessed than we were for year 1, particularly because Christopher Paci was on hand for the majority of the day's events, filming at least one video of every out of town band and the same local bands that Donna photographed, plus Jack Spades and Mik & Steve. If you missed or want to relive the latter stages of Oh!No II, visit Chris' YouTube channel!

We'll go in descending order for Chris' twenty videos from last week, which capped off with a video of the aforementioned organ bonfire, which is a good watch to see the spectacle in motion, let alone in a rare portrait orientation video of his! Chris' last music clips were three videos of Peterborough doom rapper Garbageface performing his songs "Mouths", "Like The Goddamn Fucking Challenger Explosion" (he titled it, not me!), and "Mental Alchemy". The lighting's not ideal on these clips, but his communal and intense presence comes through as well as it did locally last year, and this looks like a fun way to end the festival! Fellow Peterborough talents Cross Dog preceded him, with the hardcore punk trio filmed twice by Chris, though I admittedly haven't had a lot of luck identifying them based on their studio albums. The stage lighting is dark compared to the surrounding church walls, but you get a nice central view of Cross Dog's ferocious live attack here!

Tracy's vocals are sometimes muffled, but the raucous fan response is clear, and it's great to see Mark and company bring Cross Dog back to the Algoma District after 5 years away! Give Chris' videos of theirs a look at this link and below, and hopefully we're not waiting another 5 years for the next one!

We'll close our first Oh!No fallout post with a video of Sudbury "party violence" quintet The Therapists, and their video is of their original song "Shotgun Anus". Again, they titled it, don't shoot the messenger! If you can't see them well with the lighting, photographer Mimi Abitbol got colour shots of them at the festival, which you can check out on the band's Facebook page. I guarantee this will be the only band you see locally this year featuring both an astronaut and... Jesus Christ?! Also, nice touch by singer Patrick Sauve to wear a vest covered in Shit Liver patches, given that they replaced Shit Liver on the Oh!No bill. If I had to describe The Therapists' sound, I'd go with hardcore punk, but that's definitely a generalization, they have more to say than just that stylistically, and they definitely have a good sense of humour. Again, the audio's somewhat muffled here, but The Therapists look like a fun live band, and hopefully they come out west again in the future, so give Chris' video a look below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more Oh!No concert fallout in the coming days, possibly tomorrow, as we'll look at the remaining out of town bands then! Thanks everyone!