VM Radio Battle Of The Bands Updates, New Treble Charger Footage, And An Older Punk EP!!

For today's news post on the site, we have an archive album purchase that I recently made that I thought might be interesting to share, along with new videos concerning a major local band playing live TONIGHT, but first, here's the latest on one of next month's anticipated battles of the bands, so here's what you should know!!

The latest updates on the lineup for next month's VM Radio Battle of the Bands are now out, so what should you know? Promoter J.D. Pearce revealed on the Facebook event page yesterday that there are currently 9 bands finalized to compete in the battle, which takes place on each Wednesday in March at The Canadian Nightclub, so who's in and out? There are two new confirmed bands, those being the previously hinted death metal rockers The Bear Hunters (who will look to claim their second straight battle win next month) and newer local hard rock trio Infamous (as seen at November's Sault Band-O-Rama), who still lack an online page as of this writing, but would be making their battle debut after the Rock For Dimes Battle's cancellation. They join the previously confirmed Danger Cats, Gnaeus, Haggith, Honest Job, Mannapool, Project 421, and Revolution on the lineup, but three bands that had had announced reserved slots are not listed at present.

Those missing acts are rap/metal project The Apocalypse Afterparty, hard rock quartet Late Shift, and newer metal trio Them, and while reasons for their absences haven't been announced, keep in mind that the latter two bands don't have online pages to confirm anything, and The Apocalypse Afterparty have recently been hinting at lineup changes. Plus, Them's Anthony Boudreau is also a member of Infamous, so they may have replaced Them. It's entirely possible that the three bands are still pending a registration form submission, but J.D. is publically hyping that there are now only 3 open slots for the planned 12 band lineup, so there's still time if you or your band want in! Message him at this link or visit The Rad Zone A.S.A.P. if you want to register! Remember, there is a $100 deposit required, but you get that money back (and more) by selling the ticket packages you get upon registering. Stay tuned for full updates and the complete schedule when announced, and click here for full details!

Next up, here's new videos of local/Toronto alternative punk veterans Treble Charger, just for good measure before TONIGHT'S headlining show at The Machine Shop for Bon Soo! On January 13th, the guys played an acoustic set live at The Bradshaw Hotel in Stratford, Ontario as part of their Preview Day, which saw that historic building re-opened as a student living facility and performance art space for the University of Waterloo. One video is mostly about university staff and area notables talking about the development, but 80 seconds in, it does feature interview remarks from Treble Charger's Greig Nori & Bill Priddle about the re-purposing of the building, even mentioning the Soo when discussing the concept (which we're also seeing with the Mill Square redevelopment.) Their section is short, but it's worth a look! The other video is of Greig & Bill playing an acoustic rendition of "American Psycho" at The Bradshaw Hotel, so what should you know on that?

An intimate rendition of one of their most popular songs (albeit sans touring members Darcy Yates & Jason Pierce), this video was excellently shot on multiple cameras, and captures basically how the MCTV commercials for TONIGHT'S show would sound if played out in full and with Bill contributing. The Bradshaw Hotel people got some great footage, and though not of their full live lineup, it's a nice preview of what to expect at The Machine Shop, so give it a look below!

Finally for today, I wanted to acknowledge a new archive punk CD that I recently acquired! On one of the local Facebook auction groups earlier this week, I won a bundle of CDs for $5 that included defunct local pop punk/emo quintet A Fall From Innocence's self-titled second (and final) EP from February 2006, and I've since uploaded it to our YouTube channel for posterity! According to the liner notes, this album features singer Larry Babic, guitarists Matt Durette & Jeff King, bassist Waylon Bougie, and drummer Marc Santos (now of Northwest), with Marc producing the album the previous year at Cherry Valance Sound, which is where defunct hard rockers Infrastrate also recorded their EP. Note that I don't have A.F.F.I.'s 2005 debut EP "The Breathing Method" yet, but I'm always on the lookout for that and more from older local bands. Five songs can be heard from this EP on the band's MySpace & Bandspace pages, but how about the full disc in order?

"A Fall From Innocence" features the songs "Take With Honor", "Tie Down Your Ghost", "Campbell's Cuts Are Too Deep", "B Is For Boston", "You Were Right, So Sue Me...", "Elliott", and "Take Your Jap Anime & Get The Hell Out Of Here", and they capture a talented emo/pop punk band from their local heights almost a decade ago! I don't know when we'll get a chance to review the EP on the site (though it'd tie in nicely with a Northwest show), but give "Take With Honor" a listen below, and hear the whole album at this link!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for Treble Charger fallout and much more over the weekend! Thanks everyone!