Local Punk Video Showcase (Part 6)

Despite a slow news run over the last few days, we have some big stuff to come shortly, but first, here's our 6th local punk video showcase! Apologies for the almost 1 month delay for the next one, it slipped through the cracks. Though this installment is similar to our first 5 punk showcases (and focuses mostly on Dustin Jones & Mikey Hawdon-featured projects), it's also our first to deviate in channel selection, as one regular channel and one regular band will merge this week, and as older punk videos get picked off, things will continue to be shuffled. Concert footage from four different shows follow, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with the last punk video from Jamie Penno's YouTube channel that we hadn't featured on here, and it'll be of interest to fans of defunct local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers! Filmed at what appears to be a Foggy Notions show around the turn of the New Year in 2007 (it was uploaded on January 4th of that year), this video is during their song "The Quest" (which closed their self-titled CD from that year), though the video actually focuses around a mid-song guitar solo battle between frontman Dustin Jones and lead guitarist Dave Bahun. If you know Dave's bands well, you'll know that behind-the-head guitar solos aren't uncommon, and here, he and Dustin duel at playing the solo to Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" behind their heads. I won't spoil the end result, but it's a fun diversion! The video closes with the last section of "The Quest", though Jamie didn't film the whole song. Solidly shot from close to the stage, the quality is solid all around, so give the guitar solo battle a look below!



Next up, here's some television footage of local/Toronto punk standouts Treble Charger from June 2003! This comes from a piece filmed by MusiquePlus (then the French-language version of MuchMusic) at that year's Woodstock en Beauce festival in St-Ephrem-de-Beauce, Quebec, which features footage of fans, the festival environment, live concert footage, and interviews with some of that year's bands. Uploaded to former MusiquePlus VJ Rebecca Makonnen's YouTube channel in April, the piece features her interviewing an unidentified Quebec francophone punk band (possibly Vulgaires Machins?) followed by Nickelback, Sum 41, and Treble Charger, with their segment beginning 5:16 into the video. Conducted in English, the interview takes place on the band's tour bus, with frontman Greig Nori lightly discussing reactions to them playing the festival, and if it's possible to play this festival sober.

A brief clip of them playing their song "American Psycho" is sandwiched in between, and the studio version of "Hundred Millon" can be heard briefly at their segment's start, but the guys are only featured for less than a minute before ending with more attendee interviews. Though short, it's nice to see Treble Charger getting some media attention during this big annual festival (which wrapped up it's 20 year run this summer), so give it a look below, and remember, Treble Charger are 5:16 in!



Third, here's the video that kills two birds with one stone (so to speak), as this is both from Mikey Hawdon's YouTube channel AND of his current local band Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, who we have some concert news on for this weekend too, so keep an eye out for that! Surprisingly Mikey's only video of the popular Celtic punk quartet on his channel, this was uploaded there in February of last year, and it's of the guys covering Trampled By Turtles' "Wait So Long" in Portland, Ontario (45 minutes north of Kingston), though around a table rather than in concert, with Mikey using said table as the drums. More of a straightforward cover of this folk/bluegrass song, but they make it work, and if you didn't know better, you might confuse it for a DJRT original! Though shot at the vertical cell phone camera angle, the quality's nice, so give it a look below!



We'll close things today by coming full circle with a bonus video of The Inner City Surfers, this time a full concert video from their show at Brennan's Pub in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in August 2007! Uploaded by YouTube user nifftyfriggins in May of 2011, this video is filmed from an overhead camera for most of it, though it does change angles at times, and moves completely to closer to the stage for the last 12 minutes. That night's set featured a high number of songs from their 2007 CD as well as non-album tracks and select covers from the likes of Weezer, The Vaselines, The Rolling Stones, and The Ramones (the latter three with Mikey Hawdon on lead vocals, for all you Merves & Fairmounts fans.) If you miss The Surfers, this is a great way to check out the guys' full concert experience, though the colour is awful, and if it wasn't for the camera zooms, it wouldn't be shocking to assume this was filmed in black & white. Solid audio and you do get a nice glimpse back at The Inner City Surfers' heyday, so give it a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new punk video showcase hopefully sooner than this one came, and keep an eye out for weekend concert previews TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!