The full lineup for this year's Rotaryfest Stage 2 has been announced, courtesy of the festival's website in recent days, so what should you know? Returning to it's post-hiatus "redirected" location at the Clergue Park stage by the Art Gallery, the 11th installment of the Second Stage will take place as a one day event on Saturday, July 16th for the second straight year. Though the ongoing Indiegogo fundraising campaign to fund the sponsorless Stage 2 is only at $762 (as of this writing), the originals-focused Second Stage is a go, and here's who to look out for! Headlining this year are VM Radio Battle-winning indie rock quartet K.I.C.K. in their Rotaryfest debut, which is fitting given that 2015 battle winners Gnaeus headlined last year! The Keep It Cool Kids will hit the stage at 7:00 PM, with ex-Sailor's Tongue guitarist Liam Seymour co-headlining at 6:00 PM in a solo set that will apparently be focused around pop covers in a rock style. It's not his Rotaryfest debut, but it's his first as a solo artist.
He'll be joined by Boatload Killers bandmate Blake Jackson on bass and Gianni Gagoots drummer Frank McCormick for this set. Liam's a very talented guitarist with a good singing voice, as you may have seen both in high school events and in concert, and it'll be interesting to hear how this solo showcase goes! Post-punk quartet (and 2015 headliners) Gnaeus will return with a set at 5:00 PM as the highest placed hard rock or punk act, while 2013 Stage 2 performers Machines Dream will return with a set of progressive rock originals at 4:00 PM. Alternative hard rock quartet Id Iota will make their Second Stage debut at 3:00 PM, while jazz/prog rock quartet The Wild Iris will perform at 2:00 PM in their second straight year at Stage 2 (fourth total at Rotaryfest, counting their Stage 1 appearances as The Pesto Shirts in 2012 & 2013.) Opening the day on July 16th will be alternative hard rock trio The Din in their Rotaryfest debut, and they'll kick things off at 1:00 PM.Solid & varied lineup for this year's Second Stage, and very different from last year too, with only Gnaeus and The Wild Iris back from last year! I do like the more varied, all-original lineup that the "Redirected" era Stage 2 has, and hopefully this year's installment increases it's funding goals and is a huge hit! As usual for Rotaryfest, this is FREE & ALL AGES, so see the above links for more details, and don't miss The Din and Id Iota that same night at LopLops Lounge for the afterparty!
Next up, here's the latest from 2015 Rotaryfest Stage 1 performers Long Shot, who are still hard at work on their debut EP! The local hard rock quartet posted the first studio track from the apparently self-titled release onto their new Bandcamp page on Monday, namely the song "Double Take", complete with full lyrics. We'll hold full comment until the EP's release (apparently coming "very soon"), as we're hoping to review it, but be sure to stream it above! Now, we haven't seen Long Shot in concert yet this year due to their studio work, but we actually have a pair of new-ish concert videos of theirs to share on here! These come from the band's Eagles Club show in Heyden last June, and were filmed by attendee Melissa Philion, then shared to the band's Facebook page. The videos feature Long Shot covering part of Queen's "Under Pressure", and as embedded below, Velvet Revolver's "Fall to Pieces", so how did they turn out?Aside from some camera orientation early in the Queen cover, these are well filmed from a close angle, but the dark lighting doesn't help (the set appears to have been outdoors under a tent at the club.) Long Shot handle "Under Pressure" well, as fans are accustomed to, but Evan Dawe's vocals aren't a great fit on "Fall to Pieces" (however, Nathan Muto's guitar solo is excellent!) Give Long Shot's Heyden videos a look above & below, and stay tuned for more on their EP!
Lastly for today, here's a new video from Audiofumes podcast host and prolific local guitarist Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel, posted in response to Led Zeppelin's recent court victory over plagiarism charges from the band Spirit over "Stairway to Heaven". Jokingly titled "Keeping in the Spirit of Things", Mike notes that the ruling should open up things to allow more bands to avoid copyright infringement complaints, before unveiling a new guitar riff of his own that may or may not bear a resemblance to a certain iconic hard rock song. Cute little video to jump on a recent news item, so give it a look!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!
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