News has somewhat been slowing down as of late, but here's a full news post to check out on this Tuesday evening, including a new performance video and some assorted recent stories. Leading off are details on physical copies of a local punk veteran's recent album exploits that may or not be belated for the SMS, so here's what you should know!
This may fly under the radar unless you know frontman Brenton Ellis personally, but he is (still?) selling his acoustic punk solo project Slumshine's 2021 EP "Slumlord" on cassette tapes, as well as tape copies of his inactive punk/alternative duo These Magnificent Tentacles' EP "Surfacing..."! Brent definitely released Slumshine's vowelless debut "SLMSHN" on tapes in 2019, but he hasn't posted on that project's Facebook page since 2021 despite playing live at Fringe North last year, and never promoted an active sale of "Slumlord" on tapes there. However, I saw that Brent (a.k.a. B.G. Ellis) would be selling art at the Fishbowl Festival's flea market at The Klub at the Pall Mall on Queen Street East on Sunday, and in his teaser picture, there were cassette tapes! Not having any of Slumshine's tapes yet, I went down there and bought "Slumlord" and "Surfacing", which he charges $10 apiece for.
Brent is an accomplished painter & visual artist, so he hand-designed the art on his tapes, rather than use the Bandcamp cover art in a cropped or stretched form factor. On "Slumlord", Brent creatively gave the tape reversible artwork and liner notes, and while side A has "Slumlord" as seen on Bandcamp, side B (with reversible referencing artwork) has five bonus tracks named "Reversible Straightjacket", "Doubt For Life", "Prelapse", "Into The Inferno", and "Breeze Of The Sun". This is the sort of thing that I'm surprised Brent doesn't advertise, as it could boost sales of the tapes if people knew that Bandcamp only had 6/11ths of the story! Be advised that the "side A/B" labels fell off of my copy very easily, so have a glue stick handy. As for the These Magnificent Tentacles tape, it is less ornate for packaging and details, and has no bonus songs, but it uses thicker liner notes & promotes their Tidal Records affiliation.
What I didn't buy there was what appeared to be the original "SLMSHN" album on tape, distinguished by abstract painted liner artwork (as showcased in the Bandcamp copy's cover art), but at the time, I just took them for alternate art of "Slumlord" rather than a separate older album. If I described this accurately, then silly me, and hopefully Brent is selling his art again soon so I can grab that tape also and see how different/similar it is to the digital copy! Definitely keep an eye on when/where Brent will be selling art (or playing live) next to see if you can buy his recent albums on tape, and while copies of "Surfacing..." seemed limited, the Slumshine albums were well stocked. See above for more details!
Next up, let's take a brief detour to Sault Michigan for a new video from local classical metal band Theatre of Night's YouTube channel last week! A newly filmed live rendition of the Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", this is their first true performance video uploaded here featuring new bassist Luke Bernard, and he and the rest of the band are sure dressed for the occasion here! No videos from their abbreviated (and non-local) Christmas tour last year surfaced online, but this may help make up for that, if a few months late to really be seasonal. Filmed at their own space named "The Cave" (related in name only to Sykotyk Rampage's jam room), it looks like Theatre of Night pulled out all of the stops to give this video the presentation of their live concerts, complete with full staging and light/smoke effects, and it comes across very well in this video. I wonder if they filmed any more songs like this at the time?
We are 7-8 months out from this performance being timely, but the performance itself is solid and accurate to last year's studio revision, and fans of Theatre of Night's metal versions of Christmas classics should be right at home with this rendition 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:
In a rare public acknowledgement of their status, Gates of Winter guitarist Bryan Belleau revealed in a comment reply on the Woods of Ypres Fanclub Facebook group on Saturday that the Sault Ontario progressive death metal band "didn't officially disband", but life caught up to them and took them "in different directions", though the guys still talk daily. Bryan noted that "Gates 2" (their unfinished album "Perihelion") "may exist at some point" in the future. Gates of Winter have been inactive since the spring of 2018 after working on the new album since 2010, and they haven't played live since 2008. Fingers crossed that we haven't heard the absolute last from them!
Local indie punk quintet The Northwest's song "Shoreline" was featured on the February 25th episode of the CBC Radio One series In The Key Of C, where host Craig Norris spotlights rising Ontario musicians each Saturday at 5:00 PM. According to the show's Facebook page, The Northwest were the last of 12 bands played on that episode. If you missed the live airing on 89.5 FM (which is easy, as the band only announced that they'd be on that morning), the episode will likely come to the CBC Listen mobile application in time, though at the moment, the newest playable episode is from January 7th. Hopefully The Northwest got lots of new fans here!
I have moved St. Ignace, Michigan metal guitarist Ted Olson's solo project to our inactive Sault Michigan band links. The Heavy Lies The Crown axeslayer has not issued a public update to his solo Facebook page since posting a picture of his headless guitars in November 2021, though of course, he has been more than busy since with H.L.T.C. in studio and in concert. Follow the band for more on what Ted's been up to in the past year+, but hopefully he resumes solo work down the road!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for St. Patrick's Day weekend concert previews and more on the site in the days ahead! Thanks everyone!
Before we get into this post, just a heads up that tonight's Handsome Sandwich concert at The Rockstar Bar has reportedly been cancelled due to the inclement weather & related staff invailability, as per singer/drummer Johnny Belanger's personal Facebook page this afternoon. Tomorrow's concert is still on, but if you're hoping to see them, do not come out tonight. Disappointing, but not all is lost, so keep tomorrow's show in mind! However, you can stay warm with today's SMS post, featuring recent musician searches, a band moved to our inactive band links, and leading off, here's an overdue addition to our band listings, with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT too!
We have a new addition to our active band links today, and they are Slumshine, the current acoustic punk solo project from veteran local hardcore punk singer/bassist Brenton Ellis! Slumshine are nothing new, having debuted on stage back in September 2017, but early sound descriptions pointed to more of an alt-folk theme. However, as fans can attest, Slumshine are a full on punk act, just with one musician clad in the finest pink knit ski mask you'll ever find on a local stage! Brent doesn't use his name officially with Slumshine, and curiously uses plural pronouns (i.e. we/us) despite being a solo project. Initially making a splash via sets at the first Oh!No festival and by opening for The Faps, The Ghostly Hounds, and Dany Laj & The Looks in the fall of 2017, Slumshine went dormant throughout the following year, before returning to action in early 2019, appearing at Oh!No III and opening for The Faps again, Darsombra, Femur, and The River Jacks. Also, they released their first album "SLMSHN" on cassette tapes last July, and you can buy/stream it on Bandcamp on a "name your price" model.
Of course, Brent is among the staff of the Oh!No Collective, who distributed "SLMSHN" in their first release as a planned cassette tape-centric indie label, and his talents as a painter and artist are very evident in Slumshine's online marketing. Fans can see Slumshine back at it on Friday, March 20th when they open for The Sick Sons at LopLops (details here), but in a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, you can see Slumshine in a rare solo headlining appearance on Wednesday, March 18th at... Home Bakehouse Bed and Breakfast at 168 March Street?! This is a new downtown business whose name suggests what they do, so if you like homemade baked goods, or need a place to stay, Home is where the heart is! The locale is very atypical for an ostensible "punk concert", but Home has partnered with the returning Fishbowl Festival for sourdough classes, for what that's worth. This mid-week show has an early 7:00 PM start time, no age limit, and a "pay what you can" entry model. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!
Currently also a bassist with The Dynowaves, Brent's vocal work here and in Toronto is well known, and musically, I get more of his earlier straight punk vibe here rather than his later hardcore punk screaming, albeit with the stripped down unplugged format. Solid lyrics and strong melodic vocals mesh together well, and I think these sounds would be a great fit with a full plugged-in band, but even in this format, it's easy to see why Slumshine turn heads even beyond the pink mask. A smattering of videos are on Facebook & YouTube, but here's Slumshine playing their songs "Back in Blue" and "Blue Shift" at Outspoken Brewing in December!
Next up, I have reluctantly moved local alternative/indie rock quartet Id Iota
to our inactive band links. The group has not issued a public statement
since their cover of Pup's "Free At Last" was uploaded to their Facebook page
one year ago today, though that performance was sans frontman Christian
Lemay, and regardless of his status with the band, they have not played
a live set since the 2018 Rotaryfest weekend. Active since mid-2015
when they succeeded the studio-only Habitat Shuffle, Id Iota quickly
became a popular sight at a variety of local concerts in the mid-2010s,
including at Lopstock II, three straight Rotaryfest Second Stages from
2016-2018, two Ontario tour runs in 2016 with The Pixo Control and Mike
Mikus, and opening slots for touring bands like Saturn Alien, Windigo,
and The Almighty Rhombus. Along the way, Id Iota also released their
"Maudlin Fair" EP in April 2016, and they were working on a full length
album as recently as April 2018.
I have no clue what
happened to Id Iota, but they were a creative band that had enough genre
diversity to slide into hard rock and indie shows with relative ease!
Genre preference-wise, I did take to their 2000s ska punk predecessors
Free Beer more, but Id Iota showed their growth and progression as musicians
very well, and they left a wide footprint locally and with their tours 4
years ago. Hopefully we see Id Iota and their planned full-length CD
resurface down the road, but best of luck to Christian, Dustin, Robert,
Blair, Justin, and Dan in the future!
Finally for today, here's three recent Musicians Wanted Facebook group postings relating to musician and band searches from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Former Half Past bassist Arthur Lacasse is starting an acoustic rock band with him on guitar, who would cover modern hard rock acts like Highly Suspect, Shinedown, Seether, and Three Days Grace. He already has a singer lined up, and is looking for a bassist, drummer (ideally on cajon), and maybe an extra guitarist. It'd be great to see Arthur back out there, but if you're interested in more details, message him at this link or via his group post from February 8th!
A local rhythm guitarist named Jayrald Micky is looking to join a local band, and while he is aiming to play guitar in said group, he does have drumming experience. He didn't give a genre preference, just that he was "looking for anything at this point" and that he just wants to jam again. I'm not familiar with Jayrald as a musician, but if you want more details, message him at this link or via his group post from February 12th!
Fluid 5ive guitarist Liam Vaillancourt posted here on February 11th looking for a keyboard player for "a gigging band" that is capable of playing signature lines from various rock, blues, and country cover songs. Liam did not specify in the post if this was for Fluid 5ive or another band, but if it is referring to the 5ive, we have not heard anything regarding Rob Irving's status with the group (note that Rob played rhythm guitar as well as keyboard.) In any event, message Liam at this link or above for more details!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!
