LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Merves), A New Music Interview Series, And New Videos!!

We have a lot of updates to clear out, so if something you've expected to see isn't up yet, it's coming! Today, we have new videos from two Blood Shed Productions-associated acts, news on a recently launched video/interview series with local musicians, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next month, so here's what you need to know!

Toronto-based Joan Jett/Ramones tribute band The Merves will already return to Sault Ontario for a full weekend next month at The Rockstar Bar! Bucking their usual trend of playing locally once a year around January, the band will bring their unique hybrid tribute sound to the Soo on April 4th & 5th almost three months after a successful first local stop since adding singer Amy Zuccheto and Joan Jett/Runaways covers to the fold, and after their positive reception at The Rockstar Bar in January, things should go awesome again! Remember, The Merves feature prolific local punk/metal musician Mikey Hawdon on vocals & guitar, so there's some added incentive if you've missed his more recent local stops! As announced via this poster and advertising at the venue (The Merves haven't confirmed the dates yet), admission should be around $5, you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit the above links!

The Merves' exciting blend of classic hard rock and punk should get a solid crowd again next month, so keep their return in mind for the first weekend of April, and stay tuned for potential updates!

Next up, and I apologize for this being late, but local news website Local2 has launched a new online video series on local music! Called Tuned, the first installment was posted on February 21st, but none have followed yet (so it might be monthly, or a test episode to gauge reactions.) Hosted by SooToday journalist/photographer Donna Hopper, it features interview segments and concert announcements, with Donna interviewing Machines Dream singer/bassist Craig West and Tragically Hip guitarist Paul Langlois (from his LopLops show last year), along with including concert footage of Paul and Canadian rock supergroup Crash Karma from their Rockstar Bar show last year, and some bloopers at the end. In terms of metal inclusions, Donna plugged last week's Heavy Thursday at The Rosie and the upcoming Skynet/Chronobot show at 180 Projects in a concert calendar segment, with a photo of The Elements from the first Heavy Thursday also being featured. Click here to check it out! (The video host that Local2 uses doesn't allow external embedding, hence why the full video's not posted here.)

I love the idea of a music interview/feature series on Local2, and I hope it returns! Donna did seem a bit nervous, but that will only improve with time, and she has some on-camera interviewing experience from past SooToday features (like this Econoline Crush interview from 2008.) Really, musicians of any genre haven't had this kind of feature video coverage in quite a while from local news media, so hopefully Tuned has a second installment soon, and check out the first episode above!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with a new concert clip from local funk metal band The Strange Coyotes! Courtesy of singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore's YouTube channel on Saturday, this comes from their most recent show on January 24th at The Oddfellows Hall (their last with ex-drummer Mike Haggith), and it's of the guys playing a 7 minute song by the odd name of "The Sapphoerotic Asphyxiations of Shannon and Linda", which uniquely doesn't feature guitar or bass. Instead, Chase plays the violin while singing, and bassist James Watterworth plays saxophone (similarly to his brief role with Mike Haggith & The Din), so this song definitely has a different feel than their usual songs! Seemingly their set-closer, the video really suffers from poor dark lighting, but I like the originality of this song and the creative energy being shown, so give it a look below! (As for updates on their vacant drummer position, the band hasn't made any yet, but they updated their Facebook page to remove any lineup mentions and to make a forest fire their cover photo. Make of that what you will.)



Finally for today, here's a new video from the newly returned death metal project Brutaly Fatal! Uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' Facebook page yesterday, this is of frontman Austin McCrae playing an instrumental take of their new song "Shadow" on bass, followed by a new remastered take (with vocals) of their song "Table For One". Even with the recent Re-Born transition to more accessible songs, the new Brutaly Fatal material sounds like a solid progression from their early work, and I'm curious to hear how Austin's vocals and bass evolve in the coming months! The video angle could be better though, you can barely see Austin's head at this angle when he's playing. Also, no word yet on if Ringsnaps Gibson is back on drums, or if Re-Born will continue independently, but we'll let you guys know if we hear updates on either! Check out Brutaly Fatal's new video below, and click here to hear Austin cover a Johnny Cash song in a separate new video posting, which doesn't sound too bad!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news likely tomorrow, and hopefully throughout the week! Thanks everyone!