Jack Spades' EP Release, New Dank Fest Videos, And Much More!!

Before we double up with weekend concert previews and our newest Battle of the Bands profile on the site tomorrow, we have recent band clarifications, new videos from a recent all ages show, and first, big news concerning another new album release, so here;s what you need to know!

Be prepared to jack the planet, as local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades' debut EP saw it's digital release on Sunday! Entitled "The First", the EP is now on sale at the band's Bandcamp page for just $4, so if you want to buy it right now, feel free! In order, the EP's songs are "They Live", "Rise", "Breakneck Speed", their cover of The Ripcordz' "X", and "To The Left", so click each link to sample the songs as well. A physical release is not coming until mid-May, but early indications suggest that physical copies will be out on Friday, May 16th at the long-teased release party, which is tentatively scheduled for The Rockstar Bar pending venue confirmation. Early word suggests that it will feature sets from Jack Spades, the returning Destroilet, and Oshawa punk band the Black Cat Attack, but nothing is 100% official as of yet, so keep an eye out for updates! While this appears to be the album cover on your left, Jack Spades have indicated that local graphic designers will provide some elaborate artwork in the CD inserts.

As well, a Facebook contest is on where if you change your Facebook profile picture to the above image and tag frontman J.D. Pearce (a.k.a. Johnny Pints) in it, you'll be entered to win a free copy of "The First" and release party tickets, so keep it in mind if you want to win both! The songs sound great so far in terms of production, but when can you see our review of it? In order to time it with the physical CD release party, we'll give it a formal review next month, so look out for it then! As for April 2014, I'll confirm that we're reviewing Shit Liver's debut album (which also came out on Sunday) within the next week, so stay tuned for that as well! Pick up Jack Spades' album at this link, and Shit Liver's here!

Next up, we have some new public videos to share from Saturday night's 11 band Oddfellows Hall marathon known as Dank Fest 2014, starting with a new clip from local classic metal quintet Project 421's set! Similarly to some of their Medi-Fest footage, this was uploaded to attendee Joey Phuckel's personal Facebook page but publically shared by the band last night, and it's of their cover of Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?", so how does it turn out? Pretty well, Joey had a nice close angle to the band, though the house lighting is inconsistent in the video, and Curtis McKenzie's vocals aren't as loud as they could be. Solid metal action though, so give Project 421's newest live video a look below!



Also from Dank Fest are two new videos of local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore's set, as per their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel on Monday! One of the videos has a song title we won't repeat here to avoid possibly offending some readers, but the other is embedded below, and it features fans moshing to one of C.T.W.'s (presumably untitled?) songs. The filmer captured the chaos well, but with the vertical cell phone camera angle, jittery camera motions, and dark lighting, the visuals on each aren't optimal. Fans of their grind attack should enjoy there songs, so give them a look above and below!



Finally, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while (ironically all concerning unanswered questions about local bands from our recent concert coverage, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Remember how we didn't know anything concerning Habitat Shuffle, who are debuting at June's Great Sabatini concert at The Moose Lodge? Apparently, they're a ska-punk/alternative band featuring ex-Free Beer guitarist Dustin Goodall & Dirty Few drummer Blair St. John, though we await official word and online information on them and their lineup. Thanks to promoter Jamie Vincent for the information!
• Local hard rock/punk duo Re-Born (a.k.a. the original Brutaly Fatal) are indeed still alive, but have reportedly switched focus to playing mostly unadvertised surprise gigs at events, so keep that in mind if you're at any Blood Shed Productions-affiliated house party events or Oddfellows shows. Thanks to drummer Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson for the clarification!
• To answer another lingering question from our coverage of last month's Commencing Human Desperation show at The Oddfellows Hall, the new local band known as Them that were once on the lineup are apparently a ska-punk duo featuring Pixo Control drummer Keeghan Rosso, though like Re-Born, they also mainly stick to quiet unannounced shows. Thanks again to Ringsnaps for the info!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for both the first of the weekend's metal & hard rock concert previews, and our newest Battle of the Bands Rewind profile on last year's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands! Thanks everyone!