Details On Brand New Albums From Spades GT & Jonesy Land!!

Today's post is devoted to two brand new album releases from this week, both from punk-adjacent acts led by very familiar faces, so here's what you should know about each one before you give them a whirl!

Online page-less local folk/punk solo project Jonesy Land's debut album "Zoom - Out" was released as planned on Wednesday, so what should you know here? Recorded at Mission Control Studios and released through Tidal Records, the album was mixed by Kyle Whittaker at Strange Pumpkin Studios in St. Catharines. This is the first completed album from veteran local musician Dustin Jones since his non-local punk supergroup The Conspirators' self-titled 2020 album, though three standalone Jonesy Land songs were put out in 2021 & 2022 which are not on "Zoom - Out". SooToday's Chris Belsito spotlighted Jonesy Land and the album in this article from Wednesday, where Dustin noted his songwriting process as he gets older, the recording process, inspirations for the songs & themes therein, how the album name was conceived, and much more, and it's a good read to see how everything came together over the last few months!

Notably, Dustin co-produced the album with Lake Effect frontman Frank Deresti, who appears throughout. The final album cover can be seen above, following lots of promotional images that turned out to be just that and not the final product. The Indiana Jones font is timed well to both match Dustin's last name and the release of Dial of Destiny later this month! Eight songs made the cut for "Zoom - Out", which is described as "a singer-songwriter record" focusing primarily on more mature, folk-leaning styles with less of a punk or drinking song influence compared to his prior local band work ("Moral Blackout" and Jonesy Land's mid-2021 live dates acknowledged). Frank aside, guest appearances on the album include singer Shannon Moan on "Keep Trying" (not "Old Man", as it turns out), and Dustin's Bookclub bandmates Al Watson (drums) on "Ode To The Boys" and Erin Antonello (trumpet) on "Superior Sons".

Surprisingly, Dustin's old Surfers and Tide bandmates do not appear, at least not publically. You can now stream "Zoom - Out" in full on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon, among other sites. Yes, you can buy the album through Amazon and Apple on mp3, with Amazon copies running for $9.49. Be advised that this image shows a lot of website/application logos, implying that the album is available on hosts like TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitch, so take that with a grain of salt. Personal Facebook postings suggest that bigger plans are afoot for the release beyond just dropping online, but I'll wait for public word on that front. With new albums from No Funeral and Handsome Sandwich beating it to market, I have "Zoom - Out" pencilled in for an August review on the SMS, but buy or stream it at the above links, and check out the new lyric video for "Old Man" courtesy of Tidal Records' YouTube channel below! Uploaded on Tuesday, the video was made by Loathing Hearts Productions.

Without reviewing the song (I'll hold comment until August), the video features slowly rotating images and scenes of musicians and beachfront scenery, with some of the latter being familiar from social media teasers for the album. Well made and nicely layered, so give the video a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Jonesy Land soon, especially if they finally launch a social media page beyond Dustin's personal Instagram page. Alas, Bookclub and The Cover-Up don't have one (yet) either, but neither of them have a brand new album to hype up!

Finally for today's post, another new punk-related local album was released as promised earlier today, namely local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's studio album "Sewer City Radio"! While the local press hasn't as big for this one yet (moving to Barrie arguably didn't help in that respect), you can now stream the eight included songs on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, possibly among other services. Oddly, there's no visible sale point through Amazon, but the album is on sale through iTunes for $7.92, which is the same price as "Zoom - Out" there. Released through bassist James Roy Daley's imprint Books Of The Dead Press, this is Spades' first album since the former Jack Spades took part in 2015's "Fed Up!" split, and their first album with every band member aside from frontman J.D. Pearce. No word yet on the music video for "Final Girl", but you can hear the studio copy below while you wait!

Guest appearances come from guitarist Daniel Horton's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorehouse on "XS" and Anvil frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow on a yet-specified song (though you can easily pick it out once you hear it). No word yet on the teased physical release of the album, but if ready, your first chance to buy it in the Soo will likely be at the Josey Scott's Saliva concert in three weeks. I'll hold comment on the album for now pending our planned review of "Sewer City Radio" in September, but buy or stream the whole thing above and below, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Wyld Stallyns & Soundcheck), Plus Jonesy Land Updates!!

This weekend is shaping up to be relatively quiet as heavier bands go (it being the Easter long weekend doesn't help), but we do have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to address, including SHORT NOTICE ones for this weekend, plus updates on an upcoming punk album. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, as well as a standard concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the Shooters gigs were only announced via the venue's Facebook event pages (linked here & here) on Saturday, while TONIGHT'S show at Jay's was only confirmed on the band's Facebook page yesterday. Yes, TONIGHT is typically jam night hosted by Soundcheck at the former Reggie's West, and while the band explicitly said that jam night is cancelled this week, they said that they were still playing a normal concert there TONIGHT. Why, I have no clue, but keep in mind that singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver doesn't typically take part in jam nights, so if this is a traditional cover gig for Soundcheck, will the full lineup be present TONIGHT?

With the debuting Generations playing at Jay's this weekend, Soundcheck will return to Shooters TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT for their first gigs there since mid-February, so whether you're available on a Thursday night TONIGHT or want to head downtown over the weekend, Soundcheck's hard & classic rocking party covers should be an apt soundtrack! Expect 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits across the board. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, while this is another quiet heavier concert weekend, there is more on the horizon at Shooters, and as the above poster indicates, local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns are returning there for one night only on Friday, April 21st! This show comes less than a month after The Stallyns' last appearance at the Dennis Street nightclub, and it should be another fine opportunity for fans to take in their crowd friendly & often heavy array of covers, so don't miss the Speers' and company then! Like on March 25th, this is a one-nighter, this time due to or resulting in pop rock cover band L!me's show there on Saturday the 26th. Like with Soundcheck above, The Wyld Stallyns will be on at 9:00 PM on the 21st with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Should be a good time for fans, "no repeat" theme or not, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more updates!

Let's close with some overdue updates (as far as normal SMS posts go) on online page-less local punk/folk solo project Jonesy Land's upcoming debut album "Zoom - Out"! While project leader Dustin Jones has posted a lot about the album on his personal Facebook page, public updates have been limited to teasers on his label Tidal Records' Facebook page as of late. On February 21st there, Dustin shared a "Reel" of local folk musician Shannon Moan tracking vocals for an unidentified song from "Zoom - Out", complete with lyrics for her verses on the screen. I can't embed "Reels" here, but it's nicely sung and it'll be interesting to hear how Shannon factors into the full track! Dustin has previously said that Jonesy Land has a fluid come-and-go musician makeup, and while a guest list isn't out yet, note that aside from "Sunshine Parades", their initial singles had credited guest bassists & drummers.

Note that there is a picture on Dustin's personal Facebook page showing what appear to be eight song titles for "Zoom - Out" (if accurate, the one with Shannon is named "Old Man"), though note that the project's initial three original songs are not among them. Regardless, the image is not public (yet?), but if you are Dustin's friend on Facebook, you can see it thusly. On March 29th, another "Reel" (cross-posted from Dustin's personal TikTok page) revealed that "Zoom - Out" will be released on Wednesday, May 31st (my birthday!) and features a very Tool-ish image set to a new song clip, likely "Shine On" if the image with the track listing is anything to go by. I'll hold comments on the sample pending our eventual review of the whole album, but it is a folksier song on average. Interesting stuff all around, and while I again can't embed "Reels", follow Jonesy Land above to see how "Zoom - Out" is coming together!

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