New Hard Rock Videos, A New Local Recording Studio, And More!!

With a lot of backlogged news items in our queue, I thought we should keep things rolling with a second news post today, before we dive into weekend concert previews, but check out some new show announcements and concert video below! We'll start this post with local alternative/hard rock trio The Din's fourth installment of their Cover of the Month series, as posted to their YouTube channel yesterday, as they covered The Killers' "While We Were Young"! Described as "a more production heavy tune", the video features two camera angles from the main performance, as well as insert footage of guitarist Tammy Hill playing guitar and keyboard in studio, and tracking material on a computer, plus segments with Mike singing layered background vocals. This is a well done cover that had a lot of work put into it, and Mike's singing is dramatic and deep, so give The Din's newest cover a look below!



Next up, here's some more videos from last week's Sky's the Limit mental health benefit concert at The Tech, courtesy of performers Electric Church, the new blues/classic rock outfit featuring young local guitarist Spencer Pine! Given the apparent 15 minute set times, their entire set was seemingly uploaded to Spencer's YouTube channel earlier this week, and within, the band covered Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble's "Pride & Joy", Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", and as embedded below, Hendrix's version of the blues standard "Rock Me Baby". The video descriptions confirm that Spencer is joined by Elijah Nielsen on bass, and Beau "The Beast" Whitfield on drums (though I'm not 100% on if I have Beau's last name right.) I've only seen Electric Church cover Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, and I have yet to find an online page for this band, but they have a good sound & clear talent, and Spencer's vocals fit the material and are suitably melodic! Give Electric Chuch's videos a look!

Also today, here's some recent updates related to local alternative hard rock quartet Id Iota, who have finally posted a digital download copy of their debut EP "Maudlin Fair" onto their new Bandcamp page! Prospective fans may be inclined to buy "Maudlin Fair" here rather than in physical copies given that the price is just $4, down from $5 on CDs. It's great to see the option is now available, and you can stream it free there too, so check it out and consider buying it above! As well, their Bandcamp page revealed the name of guitar/producer Dustin Goodall's home recording studio (which wasn't given in physical copies), as it's called Unsalted Audio, repurposing the name of his short-lived concert promotion agency Unsalted Records. To formally kick off the studio's public launch, Dustin posted a lengthy press release onto the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Monday to note that Unsalted Audio is the product of his "exceptionally high standards" of getting quality music recordings locally without breaking the bank.

As a result, Dustin is aiming to have his full studio operating by the fall, but is offering a special deal for the summer for prospective local musicians: $1,000 flat for a 10 song album with mixing and full production, which he says would cost 4 times that in a bigger city. Dustin's proven to be a very reliable producer (as also seen with AlgomA's split, and via mixing The Pixo Control's CD), and hopefully musicians take him up on Unsalted Audio's summer deal, so click here for full details on the studio's launch, and stay tuned for our "Maudlin Fair" review this month!

Lastly for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Troubled Mind drummer Mike Vincent has posted another new solo instrumental to his Bandcamp page, entitled "Sacred Sins"! The song has a fast paced metal groove and better audio quality than "Shoah" had, though what the 9/11 picture means towards the song isn't clear. Give Mike's new solo track a listen above!
• We have restored defunct Sault Michigan/Japan metal project Mugwort to our band links, after discovering that their thought-deleted MySpace page was still up! The page's URL had been a string of numbers now used by another page, but it always had http://myspace.com/mugwort too, and I only realized that the other day. Be sure to follow Bob Helsten's other bands to see what he's been up to since!
• In the newest episode of SooToday's music webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper, local artist, accordion player, and Ye Olde Mold Pickers alum Rihkee Strapp discusses her musical background & influences, upcoming open mic night at The Gore Street Cafe (footage of her opening for Dirtfight there is also included), and she also reiterated her recent desires to start a doom metal band with her singing lead vocals (message her above if you want in!) Solid feature of this multi-talented artist, so give it a look above, but note that Donna is nowhere to be seen, with the episode resembling Shaw TV's music pieces as a result.

That's definitely all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!