Spades GT News & Updates From The Past Month!!

Let's spend this Saturday night catching up on what local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT have been up to in the past month+!  As you may recall, the guys played their first show of 2025 in Toronto on January 4th, where they joined twenty-three other bands to pay tribute to beloved Toronto metalhead Walter Froebrich in the third annual Walterstock charity concert at The Rockpile, an event that they have never missed. A series of (mostly) black & white photos from the event can be seen on the band's Facebook page, and after forgoing a recap video from their fall gigs, they did put one together at Walterstock III! Unfortunately, it is a "Reel", so I can't embed it here, and you'll have to deal with the vertical resolution. This recap video (complete with bizarrely jazzy backing music) was primarily shot by guitarist Daniel Horton, and largely focuses on events before and after their set, including lots of mingling with other attendees and performers, clearly in "selfie mode", as it were.

While it looked like everyone had a great time to support live metal music and Walter's memory (look at who was crowd surfing!), fans hoping to see/hear actual live performances won't get much of that here, from the former Jack Spades or anyone else. However, if you want to see Spades rock out, they did share this proper Facebook video as well, but I won't embed it here because it took me down a rabbit hole to a much longer and more substantial Walterstock video from the same filmer! Dave Galante of the Toronto alt-rock band ZigSeven was in attendance, and posted a 3+ hour GoPro video of every single band that played at The Rockpile that night to the band's YouTube channel, so if you want a slice of the Southern Ontario metal cacophony that Spades are now a part of, don't bypass it! Each band gets varying lengths of time on camera, but Spades GT (who were the 21st of 24 bands) got just over 6 minutes of screen time, so what do you see here?

Technically, the camera was rolling for seven minutes of their set, but the first minute is spent with Dave checking out that night's charity auction (which ZigSeven was involved with), so depending on if you want to hear as much as possible or not, you'll want to hop in at 2:23:30 or 2:24:44. During the charity auction part, the guys launch into "Succubus", which we see the second half of once Dave walks over to the stage, and he kept his camera rolling for their set-closer "Final Girl" as well. Regarding their still-vacant bassist position, the guys recruited Daniel's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorhouse for Walterstock, and given that and his prior fill-in sets with Spades, he was a solid choice! Dave got some great footage of Spades GT once he made it to the stage, and kudos to him for filming what he did on what was surely a long night for both him and his GoPro's battery! Check out his full video (and his glowing sunglasses) below!

The guys have since began pre-production on their new studio album, which they will record with producer Kyle Marchant at Room 21 in Toronto once again starting on February 17th. In their Facebook post on January 22nd plugging the plans, they noted that it "feels like (it) is going to be a different year, and we are OK with that", so make of that what you will. Their post on February 2nd confirmed that the album will have 8 songs, same as "Sewer City Radio", and the attached photo featured the band's current four official members, though it remains to be seen who will play bass (note that Daniel and Matthew both can). After recording sessions wrap up, Spades GT will play two shows in March, with the first seeing them and two other bands open for guitarist Matthew Voros' psychobilly band The House Of Haunt at The Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on March 7th. The following night, they'll play their first show in their adopted hometown of Barrie for 2025.

Specifically, they're sharing the stage at "Death Till We Party" at The Queens Nightclub with the aforementioned Fast Life, Cornwall metal band Hellrager (featuring ex-Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin) and fellow Cornwall hard rockers Don't Tell Sarah. While The Fast Life have yet to play in the Soo, both Hellrager and Don't Tell Sarah have played at installments of the Northern Vibe Festival, so keep that in mind if you're in the area. Sounds like an eventful first quarter of 2025 for J.D., Dan, Matt, and Tyler, so stay tuned to the SMS for more updates from Spades GT in the future, and more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From Early 2024!!

Let's continue playing catch-up with local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT in today's post, and we'll pick things back up from last week with continuing coverage of their set at the second annual Walterstock memorial/charity concert at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th! In our post on April 7th, we looked at some fan-shot videos that filmed single songs from Spades GT, but their full set at Walterstock was also filmed, and in this case, horizontally! This was filmed by YouTube user Jake Disman, who previously shot Spades playing "Hands" at the Road To Lockdown Fest last year at the same venue, but this time, he didn't put a filter over the video afterwards. Owing to the fact that Walterstock had twenty-seven scheduled acts in one day, the former Jack Spades only had a 15 minute set, in which they played "Succubus", "Red", "Final Girl", "Sewer City Radio", and "Rise" (the latter was not planned to close but they didn't know they had extra time until they finished "Sewer City Radio".)

While Jake's video is softer and more distant than the closer videos that we featured here last week, this horizontal stationary video captures Spades GT ripping a furious (if rushed) mini-set, and you can't ask for much more out of what J.D., Daniel, James, and Tyler gave in 15 minutes than what you get here! Audio quality is much crisper than the video quality too. Check the whole thing out for yourselves below!

Moving into the month of February 2024, Spades GT's music video for "Final Girl" (as well as the newest video from guitarist Daniel Horton's side project The Fast Life) were reviewed by the Facebook music review page E:W:L (Even Without Life), which normally reviews new independent music not unlike You Rock! or Your Music Live. You can watch the 2+ hour livestream at this link, and host Tim Woloszyn looks at the "Final Girl" video an hour & 39 minutes into the stream. Despite the focus being on independent music, the portion of the stream where Tim plays Spades GT's video is muted due to Facebook content matching the song, even though Spades were 100% on board with being promoted here, so the video is sadly unembeddable externally. Tim highly praised the video and song though, and definitely was amped up as an on-camera personality, so check out the whole thing by clicking here!

Updates were relatively quiet from Spades GT's camp in February aside from openly putting their name out there re: bookings for later this year, both in the GTA and elsewhere. The band is now taking pre-orders for an official skateboard featuring the band's logo stencilled over the "Sewer City Radio" album cover, so click here if you want details on the construction and how to place an order! On March 8th, the guys confirmed that they have begun writing for their next album, as per this "Reel" (no video there though). They revealed that they're "stepping outside the box" here, but to what extent is to be revealed, and the band has since revealed that they plan to release new music "this summer". A few days later, Spades posted a new video from the Random Killing show in Toronto last September (also double posted as a "Reel" for some reason.)

The video sees Spades GT playing "Red" at The Bovine Sex Club, and it's a well shot video from a close angle (horizontal, at that) which gives a larger feel to the venue! Fittingly red lighting (maybe too red), but everything sounds and looks good, and while I don't know why they didn't share this last fall when the show was still fresh in mind, better late than never! Give their new-ish "Red" video a watch below!

We'll close with the aforementioned E:W:L, as Spades GT returned to that webseries for its March 22nd episode (also unembeddable due to Facebook content matching songs played on air), where Tim interviewed bassist James Roy Daley and drummer Tyler Reiner over Skype! The Spades section begins 32 minutes in with a playing of "Sewer City Radio" (now muted), but you do see Tim enthusiastically rocking out still! In terms of the interview proper, Tim (with help from commenters) asks the guys about their belief in ghosts, how they define music, how they write their songs, their favourite Canadian musicians, their rehearsal patterns, past drug experiences, how the band met (Tyler referenced the band's Soo origins here and even briefly mentioned why ex-bassist Daniel Rodbard left), the genre of music they'd prefer if they couldn't play punk/metal, an... interesting experience from their Northern Vibe Festival set up here in 2022, ...

...their favourite song to play live, why they got into music, and their message to the indie music community. The interview runs until the 65 minute mark, so we get over a half hour of loose and fun conversation with Spades' rhythm section here! I'd have structured the topics of conversation a little more naturally, as it seemed very random without a lot of follow-ups, but James & Tyler came off well, so give the whole interview with E:W:L a watch at this link! Remember, I can't embed it here due to the content matched audio elsewhere in the stream. We're almost caught up for Spades GT activity, so we'll have more from them last & this month on the site soon, along with more local content! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From December & January!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to acknowledge that local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns did not play at Shooters Downstairs Lounge last night for unannounced reasons, with no band replacing them. The band & venue never publically confirmed or denied the gig, which new drummer Brandan Glew announced on his personal Facebook page last month. The Stallyns are not known for frequently updating their Facebook page, alas, but I do apologize for the erroneous plug on Thursday. I'd have noted that it was cancelled had someone publically said something in advance! My thanks to Sarah Vikken (who was present for an unrelated event) for confirming the lack of a band last night.

Now let's dive into more recent news and notes from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what else have they been up to since the turn of the new year? On December 30th, Joe Taylor of the music website Blast Toronto reviewed their newest album "Sewer City Radio", recommending the album to fans of Motorhead, Anvil, The Offspring, and The Ramones. He used a lot of hyperbole to pump up this album in a brief but positive write-up, so give it a look at this link! The rubber chicken frequently pops up in Joe's CD reviews, if you wanted context. On New Year's Day, the band posted a "Reel" on their Facebook page to recap their 2023, featuring assorted live concert clips and posters as set to their song "Cenobites" while guitarist Daniel Horton talked about how the year went & how 2024 will be another big year. My usual "Reel" complaints aside, it hypes up 2023 well!

I can't embed "Reels" here, but I can embed this video, which features a 48 minutes-long interview that frontman J.D. Pearce and drummer Tyler Reiner recorded with Amanda Schilz and her son Andrew The Legend of Sofa City Sounds, a music promotion/interview company out of Niagara Falls. Tyler and J.D. were participating remotely over the holidays, with Tyler in Muskoka and J.D. in the Soo when this was recorded! Note J.D is in front of a local Ripcordz concert poster, and look for his various masks. After asking about their holiday plans, Spades GT talk about "Sewer City Radio", how Spades GT came together in Barrie (Tyler brings up the Jack Spades era here), their live concert experience (which J.D. hopes is close to hearing their studio material), their 2024 plans in concert and studio, bands that they have enjoyed sharing the stage with (Drew from Random Killing saw Spades at the Josey Scott show here last summer) ...

...rumoured major shows for 2024 (not that Spades GT were willing to spill many beans), their growth in the past year, and their advice for young musicians. Fun and loose interview with lots of discussion about bands that Amanda (and her kids) have seen live and worked with, and if you find the idea of a local band interview involving a host conducting it with her son to be unusual, remember that Heavy Lies The Crown did a (sadly now deleted) interview in January 2023 with Ghost Media Entertainment where the host's young daughter participated. Click here for our recap to compare. Give Spades GT's interview with Sofa City Sounds a watch below!

Spades GT's first concert of 2024 saw them play at the second annual Walterstock, the fundraiser/memorial concert in honour of noted GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich, who passed away after being unable to get prompt medical treatment in 2022 despite his best efforts (click here for more on that sad story). Like with the inaugural Walterstock last year, twenty-seven acts played at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th, and while none of the other bands are familiar from local gigs, frequent Spades GT show partners GFU played, as did headlining Pantera tribute band Cowboys From Hell, while Spades bassist James Roy Daley also played with the psychobilly band The House of Haunt immediately following Spades' set. Videos were not in short supply from Spades' Walterstock set, and we'll start with two fan-shot videos that, while both sadly vertical, are not "Reels" and therefore embeddable here!

Attendee William Wai Yun Lum (who previously filmed Spades GT at Indie Night In Canada last year) live-streamed this sub-2 minutes clip of them playing "Succubus" for his personal Facebook page, which the band later publically shared on their Facebook page. The somewhat low framerate and muffled audio are noted, but it's an intense performance from the front row, and while I wouldn't have shot it vertically, it does get a good look at J.D. in particular, so check it out for yourself below!

There's definitely more from Walterstock to come, but we'll finish up here with attendee Dawn Faller's video of Spades GT's closing song, namely the title track of their album "Sewer City Radio"! Dawn posted this three days after the event on her personal Facebook page before the band re-posted it. This is a longer video capturing the full song, and while vertical, she wasn't shy about rotating the camera around to catch things at skewed angles while zooming in and out, so it's an interesting watch! She was at more of a sharp angle too, but still clearly in the front row. Good audio quality here too, so check this clip out below as well!

 

When we pick things back up for Spades GT, it'll be with more Walterstock fallout, so look for that in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!