Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Exit 808

It's time for our first Defunct Local Band Profile of 2026, and we're starting the year with a bang, as this month's randomly selected band is a high profile E.U.P. group who just broke up last fall after two eventful years together. Here's what you should know in our latest look back at the run of a past local metal, hard rock, or punk act!

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Exit 808 (previously known as Double Jack)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Genre: Hard Rock

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics. Exit 808 were increasingly known for enlisting guest musicians in concert as band member availability fluctuated, but these performers are not listed here. Also, note that the band did imply that bassist Brad Pringle was a new member during their last concert, but he wasn't credited as such in the Facebook post announcing their breakup)

Amy Beach (Shift, Wild Fate), vocals
Dillion Semasky (Infathom, Half A Man), vocals
Nathan Webber (Crush, Tarnished, Lift The Broken), guitar/vocals
Alex Zimmerman, guitar
Blaze Beairl (Heavy Lies The Crown), bass/guitar
Jackie Moon (Molly & The Other Guys), drums

Melvin Willis (Stoned Ape Evolution), guitar
Will Robbins, guitar
Isaac "Iggy" Royer (Crush, Tarnished), bass/vocals
Myke Young (Division Of Sanity), bass

Audio/Video: A covers-only band under either of their names, Exit 808 were well filmed across their two year run, with dozens of live videos featured on their Facebook page. Once Dillion joined, the two singer format was juggled with songs featuring him and Amy sharing or alternating vocals as song needs dictated, with acts like AC/DC and Joan Jett to Evanescence and Volbeat to even Eminem & Rihanna and Tone Loc! Videos from their debut gig can also be seen on guest singer Molly Escherich's YouTube channel, while a studio cover of Black Sabbath's "N.I.B." was also recorded and posted online on April 1st, 2024. Here's one of the better quality videos of Exit 808 live with both Amy and Dillion, of them covering Seether's "Gasoline" with (I believe) Spun's Bob Libick on guest bass at 2024's Rally In The Valley in Ewen!

Info/Analysis: Debuting as Double Jack in November 2023, their original lineup (Nathan, Isaac, Melvin, and Jackie) claimed third place in that month's inaugural Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands, but lineup turnover would quickly follow, and by the spring of 2024, only Jackie was left from who we saw at the Arts Center. They also changed their name to Exit 808 that March (due to an existing cover rock band named Double Jack downstate). Unique among local rock bands for having two dedicated lead vocalists of different genders, let alone the wide age ranges in their lineups (Amy is Blaze's mom!), Exit 808 would begin regularly playing local shows along with gigs in the central and western U.P. by the summer of 2024, including some in the Lower Peninsula, and they networked well with bands on these tour runs, with some of their members often filling in with them.

Despite Nathan's return to the band last year, live dates for Exit 808 got more sporadic by the summer of 2025 due to members' outside commitments, and they opted to amicably disband after their Halloween concert at The Back Bay Grill & Games in Brimley. A strong band with some unique covers and a lot of collective talent, Exit 808 trekked a lot of miles in their two years together, and they delivered a familiar sound with distinct visual and sonic touches to help them stand out among their local cover brethren, while also making fans and friends while touring out west. Hopefully everyone lands in new bands when able, and/or reunites when the time is right!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We're heading north to Sault Ontario for the first time in this series next month, and we have a heavy hitter to get randomly selected next, namely 2007-2015 local hard rock quartet Garden Of Bedlam, so look for that on or around February 10th, and for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Headrush & Generations), Plus New Media From The Gambit & With Gunfire!!

Plans to put up this month's Defunct Local Band Profile have been slightly delayed, as LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS have crossed my radar, one on SHORT NOTICE! To round things out, we have new songs from a band who's more active than I realized, and more new live videos from a band we just talked about yesterday, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will rock The Full Throttle Saloon on Wellington Street West for the first time TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was first announced on the venue's Facebook page on Monday. Their second show of 2026 and third with new guitarist Joe Miller will see Generations making their way to the former Primavera Hall, so it will be good to see this veteran quartet make their way to a new locale, and hopefully things go well for them, the venue, and fans! Of course, if you're still unfamiliar with the amenities and other offerings at The Full Throttle Saloon, the venue's own promotional image will happily fill you in. TONIGHT's concert has a 9:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Generations' show TONIGHT, and here they are live!

Next up, let's stay at The Full Throttle Saloon, as fellow local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will return there in three weeks' time, on Saturday, January 31st! As you may recall, the Johns, Wes, Gino, and Frank debuted at the new-ish Steelton nightclub last week, and the show was well recieved with a strong attendance, even if bassist John Amendola's teased photos from the gig never made their way to their Facebook group. Headrush don't play live as regularly as other local cover bands do, so things must have went well for them to get booked twice in January 2026 alone, and hopefully they end this month with a bang! The venue's Facebook page did get a video last week of Headrush, but I'll hold that for our preview of the new date. Like with Generations TONIGHT, Headrush at month's end are on at 9:30 PM with no cover and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details!

Also today, here's a mild surprise, as local punk supergroup The Gambit are still active and have launched a Bandcamp page featuring four studio original songs! We hadn't heard of anything from the former Sick Sons since they played at Rotaryfest Stage 2 in 2024, but unbeknownst to me, those new songs were posted in May and December of last year! Had I known that, they wouldn't have been moved to our inactive band links last summer (they're back in the active listings again), but they only belatedly acknowledged one of the songs on their Facebook page last month. As fans who have seen The Gambit live since their 2019 debut know, they have included original songs in their sporadic live dates, and the four on Bandcamp are named "Lonelier Tomorrow" (a tribute song to the late Guy Thiffault), "Border, Border" (inspired by the Canada/US border), "Fault Line" (about finding love in tumultuous times), and "Click-Bait" (which is self-explanatory).

The songs are posted individually as singles and not as a collective EP, but if you want to buy them as mp3s, they cost $1 apiece. There's a nice diverse array of punk-leaning styles here, including multiple lead vocalists, and while not as ripping and fast paced as Lucas, Steve, Christian, Dave, and Clint's 1990s and 2000s bands could get, genre fans will find a lot to like! "Lonelier Tomorrow" is obviously the most reserved of the four, given its memorial nature, and it naturally goes over well in concert! It's great to see that The Gambit are alive & well, and hopefully they have a busier 2026!

We'll close today with one more new live video from newly renamed (and still online page-less) local metal quintet With Gunfire, courtesy of drummer Jonas Gasperas' YouTube channel! When we touched on their videos from last month's Fist Magnet reunion concert at Soo Blaster, I did notice that Jonas had uploaded two more clips of them playing their original "Well Of The Dead" at different concerts. One of the videos was actually from last month's Broke & Hungry charity concert for Christmas Cheer at Beck's Bar, and if you're curious, the teased live-stream of the concert is now considered to be a private video. If Twitchy did indeed stream the event on YouTube on December 17th, then it was truly only to be seen remotely that night, alas. I'd love to recap it here if he did and publicized the video! The other video is embedded below, as it's longer and horizontally shot, but from what concert does it come from?

Based on the logos on the screen, this 100% came from the Napoleon-headlined concert at Soo Blaster that the then-Sault Side Squad played in September, and yes, new singer Spencer MacGillivray was in the band by this point. For visual quality (from orientation to how fans on the floor were placed), this is our best look yet at With Gunfire, who can definitely tear it up with varied extreme metal influences. Imagine them with a larger pit! The Broke & Hungry video isn't bad sounding, but it's more distant and vertical. Give both and more from With Gunfire a watch above & below!

That's all for now, but our next Defunct Local Band Profile is definitely coming next! Thanks everyone! 

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Project 906), The Headf1rst Concert Preview, And More Recent Updates!!

Tonight's post wraps up this weekend's hard rock concert previews (including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), but new videos from a newly renamed band and some assorted recent updates round things out. Here's what you should know on this Friday night!

Sault Michigan hard/blues rock quintet Project 906 will begin their year with a one-night-only concert TOMORROW NIGHT at The Merchant's Bar! Apologies for the short notice, the band quietly announced this show on their Facebook page on New Year's Day, which slipped us by late last week. After taking the last couple months of 2025 off, this will be 906's first concert since their Halloween gig in Rudyard, and while they played often prior, the guys haven't played a public gig in the Soo since the Musicians Unite fundraiser in March, and they last rocked The Merch in July of 2024. It's been a while regardless, so it's good to see Billy, Joe, Dustin, Jason, and Brian back at it at a familiar local venue, and hopefully they deliver for assembled fans as expected TOMORROW NIGHT! This show has an 8:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge. See above for more details, and here's Project 906 live!

Next up, we'll wrap up this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, as Sault Ontario hard rock quintet HeadF1rst will play their... first concert of 2026 TOMORROW NIGHT at Beck's Bar! Last seen just over a month ago at Shooters, west fans won't have seen this talented quintet at the former Vibe Lounge since June of last year, and hopefully they have a good turnout for their hard rocking covers and originals to kick off another new year! This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge as usual for Beck's. Tomorrow's matinee performer at 3:00 PM is newer local acoustic duo Whiskey Hippy, who have their own separate 4 hour timeslot and are not "opening" for HeadF1rst, but you can hang around to see bothif you want. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Also, let's finally look at videos of the band formerly known as The Sault Side Squad when they opened the Fist Magnet/Spigots reunion concert at Soo Blaster last month! On the night of December 27th, the online page-less metal band revealed that they had officially changed their name to With Gunfire. No idea if they gave a reason for the name change at that show, but their original name (a play on "Suicide Squad") did seem to get a mixed reception. While Kevin Campbell didn't arrive in time to film With Gunfire's set for his YouTube channel, drummer Jonas Gasperas did upload four videos shot by attendees to his new YouTube channel! All are of original songs named "Beatdown", "Nuisance", "Well Of The Dead", and embedded below, "M.F.C.". Alas, all four were shot vertically, but these are our first proper videos of this band that aren't technically unlisted.

These also give us our first look at the former Sault Side Squad with The BAG's Spencer MacGillivray on lead vocals in lieu of Justin Pregent, and if you're familiar with heavier BAG originals, you'll approve of what Spencer brings to the table here, with some harsher vocals and yelling mixed in. A newer local metal band with this stacked lineup of familiar faces should be getting more attention (they debuted in 2024, they really should get social media pages going), but they have a very heavy sound that straddles a few genre influences, and Anthony and Chris have strong guitar work throughout, so With Gunfire's first truly public videos a watch above and below! We'll have more from them soon!

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

 

• I have moved local hard rock trio Bullet Train to our inactive band links. The band last posted a public update regarding their activity on their Facebook page on Christmas Eve 2024, where they promised that they would "be seeing you in the new year", but their only post in 2025 was in memoriam to the late Ozzy Osbourne. This union of Sense of Truth and Fort Creek alumni released three current events-driven original songs in 2024, but plans to release two EPs never went publically far. Hopefully we hear more from Cory, Bones, and Tony when the time is right!
• While not announced publically on social media prior, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down's show at The Water Tower Pub on Saturday was without bassist Dan Beaupre, but he was out of town in this case, rather than the ailment that knocked him out of most of their late 2025 concerts. Mid Life Crysis bassist Lori Reinholtz (their primary fill-in when Dan was out of action) returned on the low end for this one-nighter. I hope the concert was a hit on all fronts, and that Dan's trip went well!
• Rogers Radio closed their physical office at 642 Great Northern Road in October, with a "for lease" sign currently in the window of the building. This is part of a consolidation into remote operations from radio employee's homes or alternate locations for certain smaller markets, including the Soo and Timmins, as per this article from Broadcast Dialogue. No local jobs at either 104.3 The Fox or Kiss 100.5 were affected, though note that local mid-day DJ Dan Koo previously left the former Q104 in August, with North Bay's Mitch Belanger replacing him on our dial. Not ideal, but at least the stations are alive and well, and today is actually 104.3 The Fox's first anniversary as a rock station!

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Separate Wayz), The Tym Morrison Concert Preview, And More!!

Weekend concert previews are upon us, but given how much I wrote about today's first band (new to our links, if not the live music scene), I have opted to move our preview of Saturday night's HeadF1rst concert at Beck's to a separate news post tomorrow. Here's what you should know to start the weekend off right, including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

It's time to finally and belatedly roll local classic/hard rock cover quartet Separate Wayz into our full coverage! The delay was because I couldn't 100% verify if their sound and cover selection crossed our genre radar (the band posted zero live videos online in 2025), but a recent lineup change and how it links to their sister band The Guilty Party led me to make the move. It was announced last week that Separate Wayz drummer Steven Flint (formerly of The Suicide Kings and Soundcheck) had decided to leave the band, possibly temporarily, due to scheduling concerns that make it difficult to guarantee his availability for bookings. There is a chance that he will be back when he "makes his final call", though the band didn't specify what his external commitments revolve around. As such, Guilty Party drummer Brent Royer was announced "as the drummer of Separate Wayz".

With Brent taking on the drum position in this band, it means that Separate Wayz and The Guilty Party have identical lineups, aside from Separate Wayz' lead singer Nicole Thibodeau (Brent is the main singer with The Guilty Party). Nicole was discovered by then-Soundcheck bandmates Terry Eaton and Jim Michaud as a favourite guest singer during their Thursday jam nights, and was recruited to front their new band after Soundcheck disbanded on New Year's Day last year. Presumably named for the Journey song with a swapped letter, Separate Wayz debuted at The Water Tower Pub in February, and they later performed at Jay's Piston Broke Pub and The Esquire Club, at Toystock in November, on the road in Wawa and Chapleau, and at a private event or two. In those LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, their first shows of the year (and with Brent) go down TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Esquire Club!

Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced by the band late last week. While they credited this as "our debut at Esquire" on their Facebook page last week, the original lineup did play there back in April (source here). Given how the guys are used to playing with Brent in The Guilty Party (let alone Nicole guesting with that band at Reggie's last week), there shouldn't be any rust or growing pains as they return to the west end TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! With Steven stepping back, this may lead to an increase in bookings for Separate Wayz if his availability was the main reason why they weren't playing live often, but regardless, the synergy is noted. TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows are 9:30 PM affairs with no cover charge and 19+ age limits. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's the first ever public social media video of Separate Wayz! Well, technically, it's from a Guilty Party gig.!

Posted on the event page for this weekend, it features Nicole, Terry, Jim, and Brent covering Heart's "Barracuda" at Reggie's during one of The Guilty Party's shows there this past weekend. While sadly shot vertically (at least pan and zoom to hide the floor a bit!) and the very turquoise/magenta lighting doesn't suit the band, they sound good here, and if you haven't heard Nicole live yet, she was a really good voice that works well on this Heart classic! Give things a watch below, and don't miss Brent's official debuts with Separate Wayz TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT!

Finally for this preview post, let's stay in the west end, as veteran local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will bring his acoustic solo project back to Misty's Fifties for another matinee concert on SATURDAY NIGHT! This will be the second public concert of 2026 from the former Caveman Morrison frontman and Hollow guitarist, following his Misty's show this past Saturday, and while he's taking next Saturday off from the Second Line West nightclub, he will be back there in two weeks. Whether you're game to see Tym right away or not, you have lots of chances ahead this year to enjoy his old school blend of classic and hard rock covers in an intimate setting! As usual for his ample stops at Misty's Fifties, Saturday's gig is a 4:00 PM matinee with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this & upcoming Misty's shows, and here's Tym live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our HeadF1rst preview and more next! Thanks everyone!

The Fist Magnet/Spigots Reunion Concert Video Showcase!!

In today's post, let's look at videos from the well received 1990s punk reunion concert at Soo Blaster on December 27th! These videos all come from former AlgomA guitarist Kevin Campbell's YouTube channel, which hosts various vintage punk videos and albums, not always locally tied (the channel is now known as Canadian Punker, but operated under a different name for years). This show (held in the memory of late Fist Magnet guitarist Chuck Ayotte) raised $5,360 for the Algoma Regional Community Hospice, as verified in this post from ARCH's Facebook page, so kudos all around to everyone who supported the cause! Kevin filmed all bands on this night except late openers The Sault Side Squad (now renamed With Gunfire, more on them in an upcoming post), but he got fourteen videos from the night's other four groups, so in performance order, who else took the stage?

Second up on the 27th was debuting local punk quartet P.R.O.D., featuring former Destroilet bandmates Christian Foisy & John Conway alongside Fist Magnet bassist Andrew Marson and Gambit drummer Clint Wilson. While their Soundcloud (and so far, only online) page has original demos, Kevin filmed them covering NOFX's "Bottles To The Ground", and as embedded below, The Crucifucks' "Hinkley Had A Vision". Christian takes on lead vocals here, and while his singing is somewhat buried in the mix, they have a solid enough 1990s punk spirit on these covers, and I'm game to hear more from them! Check this out below, and watch for ex-Destroilet drummer Matt Waples!

The two one-off 1990s punk reunions came next, starting The Spigots (or, as the screen says, "Some Spigots"). Here, singer Trevor Harding & bassist Frank Guidocco were joined by half of The Inner City Surfers (Mikey Hawdon and Dave Bahun), and Kevin filmed them covering Gordon Lightfoot's "Ed's Boat" and playing their originals "Beer Goggles", "You're So Rad", and as embedded below, "Nothing You Do". Interestingly, all four of Kevin's videos have Mikey on guitar and Dave on drums, a flip of what they usually play, but I don't know if this is how the whole set went or not. Fun throwback sound with Trevor displaying a lot of energy, and the increased crowd on the floor is encouraging, so check these out above & below!

Though not last on the 27th, the long awaited Fist Magnet reunion was the top advertised band, and if you liked P.R.O.D., you'll like that all but Clint took part here! Frontman Garry Ingram (ex-Gatgas) and drummer Dave Stokes joined their old bandmate Andrew plus guests Christian and John for a well received return set, with Kevin filming them covering Death Sentence's "Live To Die", The Lewd's "Suburban Prodigy", and playing their own "Evil God Hater", "Big Fuckin' Joints", and as embedded below, "Fat Lip". It's great to see Fist Magnet back (if only Chuck could be here for it!), and they delivered well on their original heyday's promise and attitude, so check these videos out as well, and hopefully they and The Spigots return again!

Curiously, the closing band here was active local crossover thrash band Hails, in what turned out to be their last concert with founding guitarist Mikhal Muto. Kevin filmed their cover of The Almighty Trigger Happy's "Meathook" (as seen on "Punk Canada Vol. 4") and two songs from their self-titled album, namely "The Drifter" and (as embedded below) "Pink Clouds Of Density" Ending things on a faster and heavier note, Ha!ls were on form from their prior 2025 gigs here, and they definitely fit the theme of the night, as frontman Brenton Ellis got his local music start in the 1990s punk scene, so check out their Soo Blaster videos above & below!

That's all for now, but we'll touch on With Gunfire's set in an upcoming post, and weekend concert previews are on tap next! Thanks everyone!

Studio Updates & New Material From Three Local Bands!!

Before we begin this post, just a heads up that Brutally Fatal frontman Austin McCrea's obituary was posted on SooToday yesterday, confirming that he sadly passed away on Boxing Day. While it doesn't go into the specifics that the GoFundMe campaign did about his medical battles, it does detail his courage & resilience, as well as his love of music, even noting some of the projects he was involved in in the 2010s. He is survived by his parents, son Richard, sister Jasmine, and many friends. Among those he was predeceased by was his brother Matthew Nadon, who you may remember was supposed to get a tribute concert in the winter of 2022-2023 that Austin's band Far From Fine were scheduled to play at. Visitation will be on Friday from 1:00-3:00 PM at the Arthur Funeral Home's Barton & Kiteley Chapel, with a celebration of life at the Holiday Inn Express from 4:00-8:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Algoma Autism Foundation would be appreciated by the family. Hopefully there's a good turnout on Friday to pay their respects, and we'll let you know when more comes out on the tribute concert that's in the works. R.I.P. Austin!

Today's post otherwise looks at new studio material from three local bands, starting with newer hard rock quartet Maynard Hayes, who I didn't even know were in studio! In their first post on their Instagram page in five months (remember, that's their only social media account), the band revealed that their debut single would drop on December 20th, accompanied by this teaser video featuring rare public video of them in concert at Soo Blaster. Why not post that in a fuller and not pillarboxed form factor somewhere with the raw audio? The song in question is named "No Security", which you can now stream on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Anghami, Boomplay, and embedded below via YouTube, and the lyrics (seemingly about empowering someone to stop using drugs and better themselves) can be read at this link. How is Maynard Hayes' first original song overall?

It's a melodic hard rock number with Damon King using some deeper clean singing to good effect, even if the song is more casual sounding than the pointed lyrics would suggest. Musically, I was kinda reminded of Avenged Sevenfold structurally, but the vocals definitely don't match. Solid enough first track, and we'll have to see if Maynard Hayes have more in the works! Also, thanks to artist credits on streaming sites, we can now confirm that their bassist is Gabrielle Abulencia, an Algoma University student that I'm unfamiliar with from prior local bands. Stay tuned for more from Damon, Nathan, Gabrielle, and David when it comes in, and here's "No Security"!

Speaking of active bands featuring drummer David Peredun with new original songs from last month, his progressive metal band Convergence released the updated version of their song "The Ebb" on Christmas Day as promised! As long-time fans may remember, this song was originally seen on their 2023 debut EP "One", but Brendan & Jake have since wiped their two instrumental EPs from streaming services in order to basically relaunch as a full band with David and singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio now in the fold, with their first full-band EP (possibly still named "In Bloom") still in the works. You can stream the new version of "The Ebb" on YouTube Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Anghami.. I'll hold comment on the song for now, as unlike Maynard Hayes, we do know that an album or EP from Convergence is on the way, even if we don't know many current specifics.

This is our first full song sampler of Convergence with Stephen on vocals outside of live videos, so don't bypass it above and below, especially as they posted this lyric video to their official YouTube channel on the 25th! Stay tuned for more from Convergence as the year continues!

Finally for this post, we have a studio teaser clip to share from local southern hard rock quartet Fort Creek's Facebook page! After a very quiet 2025, the band resurfaced with their first proper new update in four months on New Year's Eve via this 13 second sample of their second original song from their long-gestating debut album. As teased in the summer, it's for their song "Sweet Rosie", and while there's not enough here to comment on even without knowing that an album is in the works, what we hear sounds promising, especially as it's a full electric song compared to last year's acoustic "One For The Road". Check out Fort Creek's new teaser video below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site as the week continues! Thanks everyone!

The Latest Updates & Album News From The Realignment Project!!

Let's talk about local industrial metal solo project The Realignment Project in this single-topic post today, so what have they been up to since we last left off with them in November? Well, on the 7th of that month, project leader Matt Hicks revealed that their fourth EP would be called "Let You Fall", which he had already finished recording at that point (remember, T.R.P. released three EPs last year alone). On November 10th, Matt confirmed both the final album cover and the release date of January 2nd (this past Friday!), with the track listing following on the 16th, notably specifying that "Scatterbrain" was retitled from "Nitwit" for one reason or another. You can see "Scatterbrain", "Where Did You Go?", and "By Myself" from that album being tracked in vertical videos linked here, here, and here from their Facebook page that same month. In a surprise announcement on November 24th, Matt announced that The Realignment Project had signed a label deal!

As teased in this video, he is working with East London Recordings, a British indie label that help independent artists release physical albums, and they have released T.R.P.'s first two 2025 EPs "Afterthought" & "The Frustration Sessions" together on vinyl, one EP on each side! East London uses a print-on-demand method from ElasticStage for making albums, which is also what Mike Haggith's MorningStar Records utilizes for physical album pressings, but I have no idea if Matt was aware of that prior. It does appear that ElasticStage's 12'' vinyl records have a 23 minute limit per side, which affects "The Frustration Sessions". Rather than drop a song, Matt opted to edit down four of its songs to fit ("Minor Outburst" alone is chopped down by 50 seconds). Keep that in mind before buying, but if you want some local industrial rock on vinyl, it costs $43.90 at this link!

This would imply that their third EP ("War Songs") & "Let You Fall" will be similarly combined for a vinyl release, but if East London does release them thusly, note that both EPs exceed 23 minutes, so expect edits on both sides. "Let You Fall" was successfully released on Friday, and if you believe promotional postings, it is "available everywhere". Definitely not true, as it isn't even on Amazon Music at press time, among other services, but you can currently stream it on YouTube (with lyric video postings ongoing), Apple Music, Spotify, Boomplay, and KKBox, and it is buyable on Bandcamp (name your price) and iTunes ($5.94). Given our ongoing album review backlog, The Realignment Project are currently pencilled in for April, as No Arrow, Sykotyk Rampage, and Handsome Sandwich all had albums that beat the yet-to-be-reviewed "War Songs" to market.

In the event that "War Songs" and "Let You Fall" get a joint vinyl release by April 30th, I would review both at once, as that would be a singular local album release, but if this was a one-and-done, we'd just review "War Songs". Either way, I'll be looking at new music from The Realignment Project in the spring, and Matt never stops, as he was already working on his fifth EP as of December 13th! Also last month, Matt was interviewed about The Realignment Project by David Oman of the British blog PlayedByDavid, where David interviews various indie musicians, seemingly all being posed the same questions. In Matt's interview, he outlines his musical background, favourite original songs, his songwriting and recording process, favourite musicians, future plans, and more, and he gives some good detailed thoughts on the topics at hand! In terms of scoops, the biggest one is that he's planning to release T.R.P. CDs.

This would be through ElasticStage (no word on if he'd be combining them like on vinyl), and while Matt is not planning on playing live in this project, he hasn't ruled it out either. It's great to see The Realignment Project staying exceedingly productive, and hopefully 2026 sees more quality music from them, so stay tuned for more from Matt soon, and here's the lyric video for the opening/title track from "Let You Fall"! Thanks everyone!