LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Suicide Kings & The Bunchofuckingoofs), Plus New Videos!!

On this 56th straight day of SMS updates, we're staying busy with more recent news and notes, and while we're taking a break from Woods of Ypres/Juno talk to cover some other recent items, we'll touch on the latest fallout from that huge story from this weekend in our next full news post! Today though, we have new videos from a handful of local artists, and leading off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this weekend and this summer, so here's what you need to know (and check out this month's YouTube Channel Profiles in the post below this one!)

Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands finalists The Suicide Kings will play at The Roosevelt Hotel for the first time this weekend! A full weekend with shows on Friday & Saturday, these will be the band's first non-battle appearances in over a month, and their first double weekend engagement since their first Docks gigs in February, so I'm sure fans of theirs will be itching to hear their full live concert sets again! Of course, if they perform well or win at the Rockstar Bar Battle finals THIS WEDNESDAY, they should be amped up and bringing their A-game to The Rosie this weekend, but we'll have to see what happens at the finals first! If you're up for some Suicide Kings action on Friday & Saturday, then both shows have 19+ age limits, 10:00 PM start times, and no cover charges. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! As the battle finals haven't happened yet, I won't give any in-depth thoughts on their next shows until we preview these gigs on Thursday, but hopefully The Suicide Kings have a successful weekend of hard rocking originals and covers at The Rosie, and don't miss them in the Rockstar Bar Battle Finals on Wednesday!

Also in new concerts, a venue has finally been confirmed for the other newly announced show from local punk/metal promoter/singer J.D. Pearce, so now, we can properly promote The Bunchofuckingoofs' concert in Sault Ontario on Monday, August 13th! This infamous Toronto hardcore punk quartet will headline what should be a brutal concert at The Algonquin Pub (downstairs from The Rockstar Bar), and their brutal and catchy sounds should be welcomed by local metalheads and punk fans this summer! At least two local opening bands will play support, including resurgent hardcore/punk quintet Destroilet (in likely their first gig there since opening for The Ripcordz) and local grindcore trio Shit Liver, in their own Algonquin Pub debut! It's good to see both bands playing more, as neither has been that visible in the past few months, so don't miss some brutal local action before The BFGs rock The Gonq! Admission prices and start times have yet to be confirmed, but I believe this will be a 19+ event. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be another intense concert of metal and punk action, and kudos to J.D. for yet another major concert in town this summer! Hopefully The BFGs and the local openers deliver a great night of action, so don't miss this show on August 13th, and for more on J.D.'s upcoming concerts, check out our post full of the rest from Saturday!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with footage of two eliminated bands from The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands Semifinals!  One comes from local punk band The Northern Tragedy's third place set on April 10th of them playing the song "3 2 4" (courtesy of their YouTube channel), and while it's filmed well from a good angle with talent clearly present, their energy, crowd engagement, and enthusiasm needs major work for future concerts. The other videos are from local stoner/death metal quartet Giwakwa's second place set last week, and they capture their full four song set across two videos, including their opening songs "Stoned To Death" & "Winter's Hunger" and (as embedded below) "Endless Bummer" and "Iron Lung"! Uploaded by YouTube user Zaphradoo yesterday, and as filmed from a far angle to the right of the stage, these offer a unique angle of Giwakwa's set, but drummer Chris Thompson is often blocked from view by guitarist Chris Page as a result. This was a good & very heavy performance, but I'd like to see them take more of a Crowbar or funeral doom influence, as at times, it often sounds like a slightly slowed down Bring The Fallen. If you're gonna go the doom/stoner route, go all the way with it!

Still, I enjoyed their set, it's great seeing Nolan and Josh back together on stage after two years, and hopefully we'll see Giwakwa back on stage soon with a longer set! Check out the second half of their battle set below, and don't miss Josh Stephney in Wednesday's finals anyway with his other band The Bear Hunters!



Finally for today, local grind/horror rap label Blood Shed Productions have uploaded two songs from their upcoming Crucify The Whore/Tomgrindy split demo "Grindshed" onto their YouTube channel! The C.T.W. track is called "I Like Shepard's Pie", while the Tomgrindy song is called "Tongue Tearing Taco" (a likely sexual reference.) Postings on the bands' Facebook pages linked above imply that the demo will be released on Friday, though it's unclear it will be just a demo or more professionally packaged (copies do cost $5 on request when released.) "I Like Shepard's Pie" shows more development of C.T.W.'s sound despite it's length, though it still feels incomplete lyrically and musically, and the pig squeal vocals do take a back seat to actual death growls! The Tomgrindy song, however, is longer and fuller sounding insturmentally, though the vocals are a mix of assorted noises with few discernible words. On both, images of the demo's likely artwork and assorted logos are featured, but as some feature pictures that some may find disturbing or offensive, I'll only embed the audio here of "I Like Shepard's Pie". If you're up for some more surprisingly prolific material from Blood Shed's grindcore artists, check the above links, and hear C.T.W.'s new song below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for our preview of Wednesday's final round of the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands, plus more news (including more Woods of Ypres/Juno Awards fallout) as it comes in! Thanks everyone!