LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Project 421), Our Swearnet Review, And More!!

Apologies over the next few days if we're either slow with posts, miss some news items, or have weirdly formatted posts, but my computer is having issues right now, so this is being typed on my backup Vista laptop. On this frigid Monday night, we have a long awaited movie review (yes, a movie), and a look at the newest episode of a local webseries, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month!

Three popular local hard rock bands will make their first live concert appearances of 2015 on Friday, January 23rd, when classic metal quartet Project 421, hard rock/alternative favourites Haggith, and all-female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats hit The Rockstar Bar! All three bands will be playing their first shows in over a month as well, with The Danger Cats notably ending a four month local concert hiatus for this show, so be sure to welcome everyone back to the stage come January 23rd! This will also be Haggith's second concert appearance with new bassist Jordan Leach, and first since officially confirming that he's a full band member. No word on if there's a special reason for this concert's booking, but it's great no matter what to see all three bands on stage, so don't miss one of the first big hard rock shows of the year one week from Friday! Promoted by Haggith frontman Curtis McKenzie, this 19+ show begins at 10:30 PM on the 23rd, and while door admission will be $7, you can get $5 advance tickets by contacting most members of Haggith on Facebook.

For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and our apologies for the slight delay in getting this show on the site! This should be a very entertaining concert for fans of local hard rock, so don't miss out on all of the action next weekend, and stay tuned for more updates if they roll in!

Next up, the newest episode of Local2's music spotlight webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper went up on Wednesday, and death metal fans will want to check this out, as it's main feature is on The Bear Hunters' CD release show at The Canadian Nightclub in November! Nice to see that episode finally make it online! Relatively short for a Tuned episode (running for 6:13), the episode features an interview between Donna and all 5 members of the band, where they discuss the recording process for their new CD "Eternal Hibernation" (including how Nik Deubel broke a computer during the vocal recording process), their work with White Wreckords on the album, and rhythm guitarist Josh Stephney's addition to the band and work with them since moving to Brampton. We don't hear much from bassist Justin Lam in the question & answer portion, but it's still a solid interview and recommended for Bear Hunters fans to check out!

In terms of concert footage, there's clips of The Bear Hunters' set interspersed throughout the interview, while a minute of footage Brampton deathcore band Livid & The Bloodthirsty's set is included after the concert calendar segment (which has no heavier or punk shows), though they're credited only as "Blood Thirsty", and no video from Haggith's set was included. Entertaining episode all around, and some positive press for the band & CD alike, so give this Tuned episode a look at this link, and watch for some fun outtakes at the end!

Lastly for today, here's our long overdue review of Swearnet, the film with metal ties that was shot here in Sault Ste. Marie in late 2012 and finally released in theatres last summer! The movie itself (which is 112 minutes long) stars Robb Wells, Jean-Paul Tremblay, and Mike Smith (Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles of Trailer Park Boys fame) as caricatures of themselves, who are denied when they try to get a new season for the show without censorship, so they decide to create their own internet channel, which quickly gains a notorious reception. In the meantime, Robb deals with a problematic relationship, Jean-Paul focuses on a rally race in his dad's memory, and Mike gets involved with a loan shark to fund the network, and focuses his attention on creating content, much of which we shouldn't describe on here. The film itself is most certainly not for kids, with apparently over 900 swear words and a Guinness World Record-setting level of "F words", plus nudity, sexual depictions, and drug use.

In terms of the local ties, the film itself is set in Halifax and has exterior footage from there, but most of the filming was done here. You can recognize The Essar Center as the setting for a World Junior Hockey Championship game (with Sebastian Bach singing "O Canada" at center ice & cameos by the Soo Thunderbirds), Reggie's Place as the site of "Sweareoke" (which is exactly what it sounds like), and Laird International Raceway as the starting location for the culminating rally race, which features both Carrot Top and Tom Green in cameos. Also, Destroilet and Billy Bastards concert posters turn up at Reggie's, which is cool, but atypical to Reggie's real life country cover focus. Personally, I liked Swearnet on it's own terms, but I concede that it's not for everyone, will wear out many from the amount of swearing, and doesn't have as much of the charm and likability of The Trailer Park Boys themselves. There are some amusing gags, often at the expense of Pat Roach (a.k.a. Randy), but also a mean streak and a story that often took a back seat to the language and shock value bits.

I recommend Swearnet (and it's real life web channel) to fans of The Trailer Park Boys and dark adult comedy, but if you don't like wall-to-wall swearing or 18+ humour, I don't imagine you'd like Swearnet. On a local basis to see familiar scenery and locations in a major Canadian movie, Swearnet may hold value too, so if you're interested in seeing it, check local stores that sell new DVDs and online merchants, while Family Video does carry the film as a rental (and is how I saw it.) That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!