Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Sell This!

After a weekend concert preview-induced delay, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we again take a look at a band or solo project from our inactive band links, as randomly selected! This month gives us slight deja vu, as it's an early 2020s solo project with industrial metal influences again, but still very distinct and original as local bands go, so here's what you should know on them on this warm Sunday morning!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sell This!

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Winnipeg, Manitoba

Genre: Classical/Industrial Metal

Lineup:

Pete Mozarowski (RedD Monkey), all instruments

Audio/Video: When launched out of his then-Winnipeg homebase, Pete released their debut EP "The Cancer Stage of Capitalism" on Bandcamp in December 2020, followed by a full length album named "Isn't This A Democracy?" in 2022, which featured two guest spots by guitarist/bassist Eric "Elow" Loewen and a bonus track for paid buyers. The "Live 2023" single (not live in concert, recorded live) begat the release of their final EP "Empires Everywhere!", released on CD and mp3 in January 2024 after Pete moved back to the Soo. As far as I am aware, Pete never launched a YouTube channel or a social media account to host videos of Sell This!, leaving Bandcamp as their only online presence to hear their music, but luckily, Bandcamp now allows you to embed albums on websites like this, so here's the opening song of their sole local release!

Info/Analysis: Best known as the cellist in the 2009-2015 local/Kelowna/Toronto hardcore punk band RedD Monkey (fronted by his brother Steve), Pete fell dormant as a live/original musician in the late 2010s, but re-emerged in the 2020s while living in Winnipeg via Sell This!. Self-described as sounding like "if Trent Reznor sang for Apocalyptica", Sell This! were distinguished by leftist & politically charged lyrics relating to societal decline, and Pete was even interviewed about the project on Winnipeg college radio station CKUW 95.9 in 2023 shortly before he moved, but the interview is no longer streamable. After Pete came back home, he played Sell This!' only local concert at the former Distraction (still located upstairs then) in January 2024. This concert also served as the release party for "Empires Everywhere". which was played in full that night. Possibly owing to Sell This!' lack of a social media presence beyond Bandcamp, this concert was the project's final public act, and they appear to have fell inactive later that year.

Sell This! had potential and a locally unique sound and lyrical bent that fans of the current Realignment Project should take to, but of course, the presence of a cello distinguishes this (and RedD Monkey prior) from any other rock bands of the past 15 years. Pete was never a super rangy singer, but he developed a lot of confidence and expression by 2023, and he was good at shaking up styles of songs while getting messages across. With improved production and possibly a full band, Sell This! could have made larger local waves, but there is something here for industrial and noise rock fans, especially if the political slant doesn't bother you, so give their back catalogue a listen, and hopefully we hear from Pete again down the road!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around August 10th, and after a two month spell of industrial-tinged solo projects, our next randomly selected band will actually be a band, namely 2012-2018 hard rock quintet Skeyes Of Seven, so look for that next month and for more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Headstones & Tarnished), New Videos, And More!!

With a big new show announcement within, today's post features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on both sides of the border, along with new videos and a couple of other recent notes, so here's what you should know on this Wednesday night!

Sault Michigan classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished are scheduled to rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, February 21st & Saturday, February 22nd! Our source is Kewadin's entertainment page, whose schedule is updated through the end of the month. These will be Alex & Josh's second and third shows of 2025,  and their first at the Soo Kewadin in over four months, when they were late fill-ins for Risque there in early October. Good to see the guys back with some advance notice, and hopefully everything goes smoothly for their hard hitting classic covers and originals next weekend! No word on if Chris Leask and Ron Suchey will sit in as the bassist & drummer again, as they have at every non-battle of the bands set of Tarnished's since the fall, though be advised that the band has not corroborated these bookings on social media at press time.

We'll let you know if anything changes! As usual for bands rocking The Rapids Lounge, expect a 21+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, and no cover charge across both nights. Visit the above links for more on Tarnished's next two headlining dates as they continue what should be a big year!

Next up, here's yesterday's big concert announcement for Sault Ontario, as Kingston punk/alternative quintet The Headstones will headline at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Saturday, July 19th! While this show is presented by Sault Michigan's Rock 101, local radio listeners tuning into 104.3 The Fox will have heard a lot of The Headstones in the past month thanks to their 1990s hits like "Smile & Wave", "When Something Stands For Nothing", and their cover of "Tweeter & The Monkey Man". Fronted by Canadian Screen Award-winning actor Hugh Dillon, this will be their first known local concert appearance since 1997, when they headlined at Algoma University's T-Bird Lounge, which is a long time coming. Thanks to 104.3, I've gotten a crash course in The Headstones in recent weeks, and their sound jumps well from darker themes to punk rock to Tragically Hip-esque commentary, and it'll be neat to see them under the big tent this summer!

Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers (who opened for Monster Truck at Soo Blaster in 2019) will make their long awaited return as openers on July 19th. Solid band who don't play out here enough, so don't bypass them in five months! Presented by Cabin Media Entertainment, tickets for this 7:30 PM and outdoor-ish concert go on sale on Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, though I have not seen a clear reference to ticket prices as of this writing. Between this, Our Lady Peace, and Big Sugar headlining the Go North Festival (more on that soon), 2025 is proving to be a big year for domestic rock music here, and hopefully The Headstones' show is a huge hit! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, here's a new video from Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun's Facebook page! Posted last week, this comes from one of their headlining dates at The Merchants Bar over the I-500 weekend (either Friday, January 31st or Saturday, February 1st), and it sees them covering Seether's "Remedy". Filmed from side-stage to what looks like a good audience, this cover is well handled for the video's minute+ long runtime, but Skip's vocals are higher than I'm used to for Seether songs, so adjust accordingly. Check out Unfortunate Sun's newest video below!

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

 

• This was surprisingly never mentioned on the SMS when it happened, but Sault Michigan rock radio station Rock 101 quietly replaced The Core with Meltdown on Sunday evenings with hardDrive with Lou Brutus at some point in the last few years. As opposed to the 1990s-centric The Core, hardDrive is a bigger syndicated show focusing on modern hard rock, and Lou gets some big scoops and interviews, so it'll be some welcome variety on Sundays, especially if you want newer stuff than the Classic Rock Sundays rotation on 104.3! You can hear hardDrive on Sundays from 7:00-9:00 PM, while The Core can now be heard online at this link on Sundays at 9:00 PM.
  
• I have moved local/Winnipeg classical metal project Sell This! to our inactive band links, as they have not issued a public update since their release party for their album "Empires Everywhere" at The Distraction in January of last year. Led by former RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski, Sell This! were previously active in Winnipeg in the early 2020s, where they put out three EPs, before Pete moved home with Sell This! in 2023. While his vocals weren't always that rangy, Sell This! were a unique entry into the local scene with their industrial influences & politically charged lyrics, and hopefully we hear more from Pete soon!
• I can't embed it here because it is a "Reel", but local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 posted a highlight video of songs from their Bon Soo set at The Machine Shop this past Friday onto their Facebook page! In order, you'll see fragments of their covers of Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams" (with Jess dancing with Mr. Bon Soo!), Post Malone & Morgan Wallen's "I Had Some Help", Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", Walk The Moon's "Shut Up & Dance", and Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Despite being a "Reel", the clips within have were strong performances with good energy, so click here to see everything!
   

That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Sell This! - "Empires Everywhere" EP Review!!

It's now time for our 176th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene! Unfortunately, as local rapper Bold Noize's August 2023 debut punk album "God Save Me" has not been re-released in full on streaming services, I have had to change plans for this month, and if "God Save Me" does pop up down the road, a review of it will be as an archive release, not a new one where a review would be given priority. Still, hopefully Tristan re-posts it, as I was curious to review it! Instead, this month's review will be of new-ish local/Winnipeg classical metal project Sell This!' EP "Empires Everywhere", which was independently released on January 13th at its CD release party at The Distraction. The third studio effort and fourth release total from Sell This! (but first since singer/cellist Pete Mozarowski moved back to the Soo), "Empires Everywhere" only credits Pete for musical contributions on the final product.

You can buy this album on CD via Sell This' Bandcamp page for $10, but Pete opted to make digital mp3 copies of the album 100% free there (not even on a "name your price" model). Still, consider buying it on CD to support his work! With five songs running for 29 minutes in length, let's begin our first review of an album release from the year 2024!

This EP begins with its shortest song "Paint A Picture", which sets the tone with a droning drum beat and some distortion-heavy cello playing from Pete, who sings with an ominous intent, though the lyrics on offer are brief and relatively open for interpretation, especially given this project's political/activism leanings on prior albums. Compared to his better known hardcore punk-leaning output with RedD Monkey, this has more of a doom/noise style that will appeal to genre fans, but for me, the cello overpowers everything else too much. Second up is "We Fight Ourselves", which runs for 8:50, and it's not even the longest song on offer! The lyrics are more plentiful and specific here, with Pete singing about how we're basically fighting with ourselves rather than at the system, and how frustrated he is at the perceived "self-annihilation" while trying to rise against oppressors (he sings it better than I sum it up).

This song is much more substantial and varied than "Paint A Picture", and features some of Pete's best vocal work yet in this project (listen to his prior Sell This! albums to compare), with more confident shouting and clean vocals that do call Trent Reznor to mind more than it did in Winnipeg. Given Pete's obvious background as a classical musician, he puts that to good use in terms of breaking this song into distinct chunks, with the first half being a pounding industrial metal song before bridging with some spare cello work before gradually bringing the metal back with purpose. Definitely a highlight of the EP that shows off Pete's compositional abilities and increasing confidence as a vocalist without getting too repetitive, and I'd point new listeners to this song to hear Sell This! before other tracks!

The mid-point of "Empires Everywhere" comes on "TastyHandMeat", a comparatively short instrumental. This has more of a techno basis for its melody and composition, and while it's catchy enough, your ear is moreso drawn to Pete's high pitched cello playing overtop of the beat. Honestly, at first, this didn't do much for me, but the longer it went, the more I liked it, as that melody gave this song a mildly eerie sci-fi overtone. If he was trying to emulate a theremin here, I think he succeeded! Not an improvement on "We Fight Ourselves", but it sure grabs you as it goes! The penultimate song on this EP is "Fetish-Symptom", which runs for over 9 minutes, but like the preceding track, this is also an instrumental. This song is a slow builder from the off, with a steady low cello riff slowly getting added to with ominous percussion and more cello lines, but after about 4 minutes, the low riff drops out completely.

This continue building and building as cello parts take precedence or fall back, with the last 3 minutes featuring more rapid and intense playing, but the song ends very abruptly and I've never liked when songs do that out of nowhere. "Fetish-Symptom" sets a dark mood that I appreciate, but it goes way too long for my liking, especially with how the percussion is basically one slow, deliberate pattern every 6 seconds or so. I'd have amped up the drumming and chopped the song down greatly, but it's atmospheric qualities are noted! Sell This!'s first local EP ends with "It's Not Alright", which is basically a response to someone whose actions don't line up with their words (this is open for interpretation but I took it as based on one's stances on sociopolitical issues). Another song that makes use of drawn out, ominous overtones and structure, Pete's vocals return here and he tries to unleash some passioned screaming here.

If any song on the EP feels like one that could have been adapted to RedD Monkey, it'd be this one, but I'd have sped it up a lot and leaned into the anger of the lyrics more than we actually got on the final product. This is an improvement to end things with, but it feels a little too experimental and dark compared to what worked before. So, what are my final thoughts on Sell This' new EP? While inconsistent for what I like, it's definitely an improvement on what I heard from this project before Pete moved back home! His cello skill is never in doubt, but he is a more confident and forceful singer than we saw on prior albums, and he's putting things to relatively unique use here on industrial metal with socially charged lyrics, so he immediately stands out from the pack. If that's Pete drumming, he largely adds to the songs there, and the songs on offer are all unique & stand out from each other, for better or worse.

"We Fight Ourselves" is as ideal of a song as you can get for Sell This! (remarkably so given its length), and I increasingly liked "TastyHandMeat", so those are my recommendations, but there are things that I'd address. The cello can be overbearing on the opener, "Fetish-Symptom" was way too long and way too limited for percussion, and the production quality is definitely not where it could be for the displayed genres, though he has came a long way, especially compared to his past local band work.

RedD Monkey fans may be left hanging a bit by the genre jump here, but if Sell This! keep at it, they'll easily carve a deserved local niche by giving fans something that we truly don't have in the scene, and I do recommend checking out "Empires Everywhere" to see what Pete has in store at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, but what album are we looking at next? For the first time since 2022, I honestly do not know at this point. While our new album release backlog is not quite empty (Convergence's "Dead & Dreaming" came out on January 1st), that review is coming in April due to our six month anti-bias buffer period between reviews of albums from the same band. As such, unless something brand new drops in March, we'll dip into the archives for the first time in well over a year. What album, I can't say yet, but in the past, I would give preference to albums from artists playing live next month.

Barring that, I tended to look towards a high profile unreviewed metal, hard rock, or punk album, so use those hints however you see fit! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon, plus this weekend's concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Half Past & The BAG) Plus Two New EP Releases!!

Today's post is split between two topics: the first local metal album releases of 2024 and a pair of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next month, so here's what you should know on both fronts!

Remember how The Esquire Club's early 2024 concert calendar lists a band named "The B" as playing there on Friday, February 2nd? Well, they're not a mystery, rather a misprint, as young local metal trio The BAG will return there on this night! Frontman Spencer McGillivray confirmed that they are The B(AG) via their Facebook group on Friday, in what will be their first concert set of the year and their first appearance at the Second Line West nightclub since March of last year. Not sure what took them this long to come back, but hopefully Spencer, Austin, and Bradley deliver the metal goods for west end fans next month! In a rarity for The Esquire Club, this show will have an opening band, namely local punk trio Vanity First, in their second show together in under a week, following the previously announced Distraction concert on Saturday, January 27th, so this could be a rain date!

It's not every day when you get a double dose of original-heavy bands on stage together at The Esquire Club, so don't bypass this show next month for metal and punk action! This show is a 19+ event with no announced cover charge and a 9:00 PM start time. See above for more details!

Next up, reunited local hard rock quartet Half Past will finally return to the public concert stage on Saturday, February 3rd on Shooters Downstairs Lounge! As you may recall, Half Past were briefly advertised to return at Shooters in August of last year, only for that show to be cancelled without comment from the band, but with six more months to dial things in, hopefully next month's show is a huge hit for their comeback! This will be Half Past's first public concert in over twelve years, last seen at The Rockstar Bar in October 2011, and will see Jordan Rains, Alain Fletcher, and Arthur Lacasse now joined by Al's old Skeyes of Seven bandmate Jonny Amendola (original drummer Chris Thompson passed away in 2021, not long after Half Past relaunched). Hopefully their modern hard rock cover attack is welcomed back to the stage with ease after such a long layoff next month!

Note that this show (as well as Mid Life Crysis' show last night and Bone Yard's one nighter next week) are all Saturday nighters, seemingly indicating that Shooters has ended the Saturday DJ nights that they began last fall (or moved them to Fridays?). Half Past take the stage at 9:00 PM on February 3rd, this is a 19+ event, and there is no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, I apologize for the two week delay in this making the site, but local progressive metal duo Convergence released their second EP to their Bandcamp page on New Year's Day! Entitled "Dead & Dreaming", this was recorded at guitarist Brendan Christie's own Yellow Room Studios, and is the end result of what was previously uploaded as a single to Bandcamp, and features five songs (well, four and an intro track), including "The Ebb", which was briefly appended to their "One" EP from last year. That song features returning session drummer Cliff Aubut, but unlike on "One", no songs here feature vocals. Along with a couple of unembeddable "Reels", the former Kraken Mara did share the Facebook video embedded below of Brendan playing 47 seconds of the closing track "Awake" in studio, with the format and setting being fairly similar to much of their 2023 videos ("Reels" or otherwise). The EP costs $4.99 on Bandcamp, and can be streamed for free there too.

A review of "Dead & Dreaming" is not pencilled in for the SMS until at least April, due to our policy of putting a buffer period of at least six months between reviews of the same project's albums, to avoid any accusations of bias or favouritism (we only reviewed "One" in October 2023). At present, we have Bold Noize, Sykotyk Rampage, and Sell This! slotted for the next few months, but don't worry, Convergence are coming up in the spring as our bumper crop of heavier album reviews continues! I'll hold comment until then, but if you like djent-laden progressive metal, do not skip past Convergence's new material above & below!

We'll close today with one more album release, and while I was unable to go to the release party due to prior commitments, local/Winnipeg industrial/punk solo project Sell This! released their third album "Empires Everywhere" last night! The album did not turn up on the project's Bandcamp page until today, but it is an EP with five songs, including two instrumentals. However, two of the songs run for 8+ minutes, so this is a near-half hour listen front to back. The songs do feature percussion too, but project founder/cellist Pete Mozarowski is the only credited musician on offer, so I don't know if he drummed here, and/or if he had a guest/session drummer, let alone for their set last night at The Distraction. "Empires Everywhere" is on sale for $5 (a whopping 1¢ more than "Dead & Dreaming") and can also be streamed for free there. As alluded to above, I have this album pencilled in for an SMS review in March after Bold Noize and Sykotyk Rampage.

This is due to our continued new release backlog dating back to late 2022, and while I try to go in chronological order, this will leapfrog "Dead & Dreaming" despite being two weeks newer due to our six month anti-bias buffer period between reviews of the same artist's albums. Both are coming in the spring, but buy or stream both albums above, and look for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Jackal Blood & Bookclub), The Sell This! Concert Preview, And More!!

Before we begin this post, just a late update regarding TONIGHT & TOMORROW's short notice Soundcheck concerts at The Esquire Club, as bassist Jim Michaud will be absent this weekend due to a death in his family, as per the band's Facebook page. Rob Gilmar (who frequently filled in for ex-bassist Paul Belair before Jim joined last year) will sit in with Soundcheck this weekend. Our condolences absolutely go out to Jim at this difficult time, and don't miss Soundcheck with Rob on bass this weekend! Now, here's some more weekend concert previews and new videos, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE!

Online page-less local punk/alternative band Bookclub will make their first ever public concert appearance at The Kiln at Searchmont Resort TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, we only heard about this concert via Searchmont's Facebook page yesterday. The first announced show of 2024 for Bookclub will see them head north to the Soo's ski resort TOMORROW, in what will be just the third advertised concert at The Kiln so far this season, and the first there in over a month (perhaps last month's mild weather didn't help?). It's worth noting that Searchmont's description for the show/band credits Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling (not pictured) as being a member of the band now. This has not been publically corroborated by Bookclub on social media (their lack of a social media account acknowledged), but whether Josh is a permanent addition or not, adding some extra horns for certain gigs/songs can't hurt, so he would be welcomed!

Whether you're hitting the slopes or not, their fun 1980s-leaning covers will entertain TOMORROW NIGHT! This show has a 7:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details on Bookclub's Searchmont debut, and here they are live!

Next up, an intriguing multi-band concert will hit The Distraction on East Street on Saturday, February 3rd, marking their first event headlined by a touring act, namely Bay City, Michigan punk solo project Jackal Blood! Self-described as a "musical therapist", Jackal Blood uses vocals, guitar, and backing tracks to deliver a wide range of punk styles to the concert stage, and it'll be very interesting to see what they bring to the table in Canada next month! Adding to the solo project appeal, all four opening acts are solo artists/one man bands, including online page-less emo/folk punk act Agnosticism, fellow local funk punk virtuoso Chase Wigmore (who isn't hanging up his guitar yet!), former Raincourt frontman Eli Russell (who headlined the first ever concert at The Distraction last fall), and Floor Between Us frontman Colin Gasparelli in a solo set. Five talented and diverse musicians with a punk lean, so don't miss out on this show!

As usual for Distraction concerts, this is an all ages event with doors opening at 6:00 PM on February 3rd, and while the stated admission fee is $5 ($1 per performer?), "pay what you can" is once again also given as an option. An SMS amenable concert featuring five individual solo musicians is not something you see every day, let alone one with a touring headliner from the US, but it'll be a fun winter attraction for many readers, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Speaking of The Distraction, here's that final weekend concert preview for TOMORROW NIGHT, as local/Winnipeg classical/metal solo project Sell This! will make their local concert debut with a CD release party at the former Big Guns Barbershop! Led by former RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski, Sell This!' highly left wing political lyrics and current events-driven material will create an interesting contrast with his Nine Inch Nails-inspired vocals and established cello skill, but how will this project look in a live performance setting, especially as Pete is playing their entire new album "Empires Everywhere" in full tomorrow? Be at The Distraction to find out! In one more solo act for this venue, local folk punk solo project Slumshine will play their first public show of the year and first outside of the Fringe North festival in a few years as the opening act, so look for Brent's up-tempo acoustic punk to lead off nicely at The Distraction tomorrow night!

Ground rules are mostly the same tomorrow as they will be on the 3rd, including no age limit and a $5 entry fee (or "pay what you can"), but doors open later at 8:00 PM, and if Pete is indeed selling the new Sell This! album on CD as teased, one assumes those won't be free, so bring more than $5 if you want one. I can't find a video to preview Sell This! with, but if you miss RedD Monkey and want to check out Pete's new project (with album in tow), be at The Distraction TOMORROW NIGHT, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details on the release party!

We'll close today with some new videos from local indie/punk quintet The Northwest, albeit from their Instagram page! In 2023, Facebook updates were few and far between from The Northwest despite some high profile concert dates, but their Instagram page did see a little more in the way of updates and show promotion, including two videos that never turned up on Facebook. One is a cover of "O Christmas Tree" by guitarist Mike Yakasovich that was fittingly uploaded on Christmas Day, and it's well performed, if quaint, so give it a look above (if it being three weeks out of date doesn't bother you!). The other video is embedded below, and it features behind the scenes footage from when The Northwest opened for Marianas Trench at GFL Memorial Gardens in September 2022! The video features footage of the band entering the arena proper, setting up for rehearsal or soundcheck, and hanging out in the locker room (fitting given their hockey fandom!)

No live audio of them rehearsing or talking is heard, instead dubbed over by the studio version of "Long Hair (Longer Nights)". Between that and the vertical camera angle, this is another case where I would love to see the raw footage shot here rather than the vertical edited highlights, but alas, it seems like bands never post the full goods if they decide to go the highlight reel route. Still, this is a neat insight into arguably The Northwest's biggest concert set to date, so check it out below!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Northwest (@thenorthwestband)

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Chase Wigmore, The BAG, And Sell This!), A New Local Band, And More!!

As we continue to catch up on news and notes with the holidays in the rear view mirror, today's post is mostly devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this month, but in regards to the first of the shows, there's more to it both from a familiar face's new project and album, so here's what you should know across the board!

We have a new-ish local metal project to add to our links, and they are Sell This!, the current band from former RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski! While Pete remained active as a solo musician after RedD Monkey's final local gig in December 2013, he eventually moved to Winnipeg for a spell, where Sell This! began by 2020. As far as I can tell, their only social media page is via Bandcamp, where Pete notes that Sell This! are a hybrid of industrial, classical, and metal, indicating that "it sounds a lot like if Trent Reznor sang for Apocalyptica". While in Winnipeg, Sell This! released their debut EP "The Cancer Stage of Capitalism" in December 2020, followed by the full length "Isn't This A Democracy?" in 2022 (featuring some guest performers), and a live single featuring two songs from an upcoming release. The lyrics on offer are very political and influenced by societal decline, so note that when listening.

Sell This! definitely have a unique sound as local bands go, shelving the old punk influences of RedD Monkey for a darker sound with a more engaged, protest-type lyrical bent, and while Pete's vocals can lack in force and confidence, I see where he'd be making Nine Inch Nails comparisons for his delivery. Interesting to hear for sure, but when can you see Sell This! live in the Soo? Well, how about on Saturday, January 13th when they headline a CD release party at The Distraction! Yes, Pete has a new album for release that day called "Empires Everywhere", which will be performed in full by Sell This! next Saturday, and it will be interesting to see how his live set looks! No word yet on the album's cost, but "Isn't This A Democracy?" costs $10 on Bandcamp. Opening next Saturday is local folk punk solo project Slumshine in a rare non-Fringe North set, and hopefully Brent and his pink knit ski mask set the tone well in their Distraction debut!

The concert proper takes place at The Distraction (the former Big Guns Barbershop building at 72 East Street) next Saturday at 8:00 PM. It is an all ages concert, and while the recommended admission fee is $5, "pay what you can" is also acceptable. Visit the above links and the Facebook event page for more details on Sell This! and their CD release party next week!

Next up, prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore will also be playing at The Distraction on Friday, January 19th! His first live concert in two months, it is worth noting that Chase indicated on his Facebook page that his November date at Soo Blaster was "probably my last", referencing his teased hiatus from concerts/recording to focus on his personal life, but clearly he isn't stepping back just yet! The Facebook event page indicates that Chase will playing acoustic folk here, but knowing his intensity and guitar talents, fans shouldn't be left in the lurch too much in two weeks! Local/Toronto outsider folk musician Shae Tull will open, and she's a talented singer & guitarist in her own right, so don't bypass her set on the 19th either! Interestingly, doors open at 5:00 PM for this concert, which is slated to run until 9:00 PM. No word on why the show has such an early timeslot, for the record.

Otherwise, this show is similar to the Sell This! concert, in that it's an all ages affair with a $5 admission fee recommended (or "pay what you can" if you wish). It's good to see Chase back on stage given his hints that he may not be performing live for much longer, so don't miss out on all of the unplugged action later this month, and see above for more details!

Finally for today's post, we have one more SMS-amenable concert at The Distraction to take note of, and it will see rising young metal trio The BAG and punk fan favourites Vanity First join forces on Saturday, January 27th! Unlike the above shows, this one was not announced via a venue-created Facebook event page, rather this concert poster on Vanity First's Facebook page (at press time, The BAG have not confirmed the booking). Of course, Vanity First played one of the first shows at The Distraction last month, while this will be The BAG's first show there, and first live date since rocking Soo Blaster in November (which also featured Chase Wigmore, as alluded to above). Given that today's other two new Distraction gigs feature two solo acts apiece, fans hoping to see full rock bands there!

The ground rules for this concert about on par with Sell This! next weekend, including a 7:00 PM start time, all ages format, and $5 cover charge recommended (or "pay what you can"). It's great to see bookings picking up at The Distraction, but of course, if you want to encourage more concerts there, go see these three shows later this month! See above for more details on all three, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!