Haggith CD Updates, Plus More Recent News & Notes!!

With a busy 40-post month behind us (April 2013 was our busiest since July 2012), we're heading full barrel into May! In this first post of the month, we have updates to one of our monthly feature series', some new items of interest at a local concert venue, and new drum cover videos, but first, here's some recent news concerning a rising local band's newest disc!

We'll start with the latest from local grunge quartet Haggith, who posted some more details and media from their upcoming third album (and second "mainline" CD) "Deuce" earlier today! As part of a new YouTube playlist of the album's planned tracks, the band posted the final mix of the album's last song "75" onto their YouTube channel featuring new vocal recordings, and through the above playlist, we now know what appears to be the full "Deuce" track listing! In order, the album features "The Story Of...", "Leon the Janitor", "Time For A Change", "To Whom This May Concern", "Loverbeam", "Safe on the Outside", "Untitled", "As Time Comes To Pass", "To Stay Alive", "Clifton Hill", and the aforementioned "75", while the previously announced "That Cold Winter Breeze" isn't listed, though it's unclear if it was reworked into a newer track or not. The planned May 10th release date is still in effect, and I'll say right now, if it does come out as planned this month, we WILL review "Deuce" on the site in June! I gave preliminary listens to it, "Apocalypse", and Mike Haggith's newest solo album "The Present Din", and "Deuce" is the heaviest overall, so it's definitely next among the 3.

I'm very curious for the release of "Deuce" and for the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands runner-ups' next live dates, so stay tuned as we hear more on both fronts, and check out the final version of "75" below!



Next up, As It Stands drummer John Mignacca has posted a pair of new freestyle drum cover videos onto the band's YouTube channel! Like his other recent uploads, these are on his electric drum kit, though neither is of a metal cover, and they include a copyright-blocked cover of Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack" (yes, you read that right) and, as embedded below, Mutrix's "Eye of Ra"! As always, John has the drums down really nicely, but the lighting could be better. Even if these are first takes, check out his Mutrix cover below, and hopefully we hear something relating to As It Stands' return sooner or later!



Thirdly today, while I was at The Rockstar Bar on Thursday for the Garden of Bedlam/Skeyes of Seven concert, I spotted more metal/hard rock items decorating the walls & ceiling of The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs bar/venue, so while I had some free time, I snapped photos to share with you guys! Joining previously featured autographed items from Turner Up, Lion Ride, That's Chester, Garden of Bedlam, Sneaky Pete, and Half Past (now removed), plus stickers and a Kiss Battle poster, The Rockstar Bar has since added a guitar signed by Helix from their last local show here, a speaker signed by Kiss tribute band Destroyer, Late & Loud bassist Benn Garside's smashed bass from the Battle of the Bands Finals last week (signed by the whole band, no less), and a Rad Zone-branded record, so click each link to check them out! I also included a Lucky 13 sticker and this smashed bass on the ceiling (does anyone know what show/band this came from?) There's much more than this, but it's great to see The Rockstar Bar honouring and displaying local band items and touring acts, so click here to see more of my photos, and go see everything at The Rockstar Bar next time you're there!

Finally, here's some more recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profile Mini-Series! For our profile of the YMCA Battle of the Bands in March 2009, I added extra info on the later battle experience of that battle's top 2 bands (The Undead Warriors & Dirty Virgin), along with adding info on the members of The Undead Warriors, The Glass Statues, and Operation: Killdozer that competed at last month's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands. And on our Kiss Battle of the Bands profile, I noted the participation that members of Sense of Truth, Blues Harvest, Bring The Fallen, and Sykotyk Rampage had at last month's Rockstar Bar Battle, while swapping some bands in the section on performers' later bands, in order to emphasize more prominent, varied, and current acts. In short, I replaced 415E, Angels of Fire, Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, Machines Dream, and Tym Morrison with Crawfather, Griphook, Lucky 13, Lucky Widmore (Stillbroke's Sam DeDominicis' new band in London), and Zero Hour (ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan's new band in Sudbury.) Stay tuned for more updates on this series in the coming days!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our first feature post of May, that being this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! Thanks everyone!