Emergency Festival Lineup News, Plus Some New Videos!!

Before we get this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile up on the site, let's touch on some news so we don't fall too behind. Today's news post features some new video finds from each side of the border, but first, some early lineup announcements for a returning summer concert festival, so here's what you should know!

The first lineup announcements have been made for the second annual Emergency Festival on Saturday, August 15th! The LopLops Lounge-promoted concert & arts festival (that more or less replaced Rotaryfest's Second Stage) will once again welcome numerous local and out of town artists back downtown for another year, so who all is playing so far? Punk and hard rock fans will notice alt-rock trio The Pixo Control & post-punk quartet Gnaeus (both from last year's Shock stage) and local indie/punk quintet Northwest among the announced bands, and it's nice to have them all on board! The out of town lineup is completely different (so far) from last year, including Toronto folk duo The Sunparlour Players, Alberta reggae band Tasman Jude, Toronto/Calgary indie rockers The Fast Romantics, Thunder Bay rock quintet The Poor Young Things, and Saskatoon country musician Zachary Lucky, many of which will be familiar from past local concerts. Though nothing "heavy", there's lots of talent to go around!

More artists are to be announced, as are performance venues, hence why we aren't calling The Emergency as a concert on here yet. For reference, last year's event featured three outdoor stages on Queen Street (the main stage for headlining bands, and two mainly for solo performers), and the indoor "Shock" stage in LopLops Lounge for local rock bands, so the same might apply here. For reference, a planned stage name this year is "Triage", which is being booked by Ears & Eyes Online's Jackson Reed, but again, we're waiting for official word on stage locations and lineups. Also expected like last year to have local arts vendors, beer tents, and FREE & ALL AGES admission, this will likely begin again in the late morning with music and entertainment all day, so be sure to stay tuned at The Emergency's Facebook page for full and future details as they come in!

It's great to see The Emergency Festival back for year 2, and after the positive response to last year's event, hopefully everyone at LopLops sees an even bigger turnout and reception for the sequel! Stay tuned as we hear more on where bands are playing, and for future lineup announcements!

We'll close today with new videos, including footage of Sault Michigan cover rock band The London Gentlemen covering some familiar songs at a wedding last year! Though this popular area band does cover the occasional heavy tune, posted media mostly points to general and indie rock covers, but given that their lineup includes Nixxon Dixxon alums Kyle Beaumont & Jake Lalonde, plus the extremely talented Mike Libertoski on guitar, you know the talent's there no matter what sound! Fronted by Fallen Heroes alum Mike Russo, 40 minutes of video from a wedding that The London Gentlemen played at in January 2014 at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino can be seen at the band's YouTube channel, and while I can't make out every song due to the audio quality and vocal levels, the first video includes covers of The Marshall Tucker Band, The Black Keys, and Blind Melon, among others.

Embedded below is the second video from their wedding show, including covers of Imagine Dragons and Foster the People, but punk fans will especially want to check out their solid cover of Sublime's "Santeria" about 7 minutes in! None of the songs here are badly done, but the video quality is mixed at best, and the camera is oddly distant from the stage (also, it's too bad more people weren't dancing, given that this was a wedding gig.) Check out these London Gentlemen videos above & below, and stay tuned in case we find more hard rock or punk covers from them!

Finally, here's the latest videos from ex-Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy's personal YouTube channel! One is from February (apologies for the delay on this making the site) and it's a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" alongside guest singer Jon Scott, who had also featured on Alex's Kodaline cover from last year. Solid performance of this softer number, and both guys handle their parts well! Alex's newest video (embedded below) is a cover of Dustin Lynch's "Hell of a Night", which is uniquely staged as a music video with Alex playing and singing in outdoor locales, including a beach. A country cover is a little unique considering Alex's usual cover range, but he handles this one well with an improving vocal range and nice guitar work! Check out Alex's newest videos above and below, and stay tuned for more videos from him when posted!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile next! Thanks everyone!