New Videos, Lopstock Fallout, And Much More!!

Before we get too far, I want to apologize for missing the Division of Sanity set at Relay For Life in Sault Michigan for coverage on the site today, as we were waiting for confirmation about the location and public availability, and we didn't come across it until this morning, too late to get the word out here, so we just shared it on Facebook. Hopefully it was a great event, and hopefully copies of their demo raised some good funds! Today, we have recent festival fallout, some recent assorted notes, and first, some new video finds, so here's what you need to know!

Remember how we didn't have any live videos of local punk supergroup Brad Example & The Role Models to share on here when we rolled them into our coverage earlier this week? Well, we still don't, but frontman/Inner City Surfers bassist Brad "Example" Lacell has a solo YouTube channel featuring a number of solo original songs since November 2012 that may be similar to the band's recent output! Along with solo alternative song postings by former Marshmellow Gun frontman Eric Priest and other assorted clips, Brad has uploaded 11 videos there showcasing original material and select covers (most recently of a Hozier song 5 days ago), including live performances with members of The Rising Tide from last year, among others. Some of these songs (like "Diamonds" & "Thoughts In The Dark") are softer pieces, but there's a punk sensibility on many of these uploads, particularly on his original "Get Out Alive", as seen below set to Walking Dead footage. Nice aggression and a bluesy rhythm too, so check it out below, and hear/see more of Brad's solo work above!



Next up, local grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back are the subject of another new video on drummer Nathan Sauve's new YouTube channel, this time playing their original song "Girl, Do You Wanna?" in the same jam room from their prior 51 minute jam clip, albeit at a more normal angle. More of a humorous song than Bad Back is likely known for, there's periods of fast aggression and slower comical lyrical passages, and it's a fun listen, so check out their newest video below!



Also today, here's some fallout from the all ages Lopstock festival at LopLops Lounge on June 30th, which did feature local grunge/alt-rockers The Pixo Control and new post-punk band Gnaeus, so it fits here! Apologies for how delayed this got, I partly held it until after we rolled Gnaeus into our coverage. SooToday's Donna Hopper was on hand to cover the event in this article, wherein she called Lopstock "a splendid showcase of young local talent", and praised the organization and attendance, which included lighting and sound from Crank Sound Distribution. Her article also confirmed the added bands that weren't advertised before showtime, those being indie/alt-rock quartet Great Chamberlain (who may have played as a Chris West solo set) and local indie musician Nick "Aldous" Luck, while colour photos of all but one band can be seen at this link and above too, and like usual, Donna got some great shots! The only band that she did not capture for the article was Mashagama, so who were they?

Attendee Jessica Bolduc shared this photo from their set onto the Lopstock Facebook event page during the show, with Mashagama appearing to be either successors to or a renaming of Obviously D'uh and/or The Narwhal Sessions, with keyboardist Jenny Anne a member of all three. Likely not a hard rock or punk band, but it answers extant questions! Looks like Lopstock was a great event, so check the above links for more fallout!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last while! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• If you've seen references to local hard rock quartet The Danger Cats playing a show in Goulais River last weekend on their Facebook page, you're not alone, but we can now confirm that the set was at a wedding there and not a public event. Their next public shows will be at The New American with The Archaics on Tuesday, and then at Rotaryfest next Saturday, so don't miss them! 
• Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades' debut EP "The First" was reviewed by Leilah Thiel for Bucket List Music Reviews yesterday, where she gave it 9/10, calling it "13 solid minutes of driving punk thrash" and "perfect summer music." Solid review, nice to see the guys getting some wider exposure, so check out the full review at this link, and best of luck at Spiderfest this weekend!
• The first annual Soo Film Festival at The Soo Theatre in Sault Michigan on August 1st & 2nd will be screening two movies with local metal & punk ties, those being Wayne Kozeyah's documentary short about LemmaFest & in a bit of a surprise, Frightlight bassist Mike "Eddie Fright" Gingras' short film "The Kid Who Made The Face"! Nice to see even a tiny border crossover through this screening, so keep everything in mind at the festival early next month!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this weekend! Thanks everyone!