Nebraska Arms' Last EP, A New Cover Video, And Much More!!

Just under a week to go before Christmas, so let's keep things rolling with a new news post on this Monday evening, which includes a new cover, a belated album discovery, and some assorted recent updates. However, we'll start today's post on a melancholy note, regarding the final services for a prominent musician we recently lost, so here's what you need to know.

The obituary for late Hangdowns/Nebraska Arms frontman Guy Thiffault was posted onto SooToday on Saturday, wherein it confirms that a celebration of life will be held in the banquet hall at Sandro's Family Restaurant at 465 Trunk Road on Wednesday at 5:30 PM (no details are given for the funeral service, so it appears to be private.) Guy was just 36 years old, and the obituary confirms that he passed peacefully at his home on Friday. He's survived by his parents, sister, grandparents, and extended family, and the Thiffault family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Sault Area Hospital Foundation in his memory. This news definitely rocked the local music community over the weekend, especially those who Guy impacted as a musician, friend, bandmate, and family member over the years, but hopefully everyone keeps the good memories close and reflects on the great times he was a part of on Wednesday evening!

On lighter news relating to Guy's local music career, you may know that his old indie punk band Nebraska Arms released a CD entitled "We'll Never Sleep Again" during their 2009 heyday, but it's long since out of print, and as far as I can tell, unavailable in full online. Well, the band posthumously released a separate digital EP via Bandcamp in February 2013, so that might help fill in the gap if you don't have their actual album! The self-titled release features five tracks, namely "At The Time", "Light Houses", "I Was A Runner", "Art of Science", and "I Was A Writer", and while there is some cross-over with identical tracks previously seen on "We'll Never Sleep Again", at least two songs from that album ("Misery/Accountability" & "New Jersey Kneecap") are not on the Bandcamp EP. "Nebraska Arms" remains available on a "name your price" model, and though the band clearly hypes up the free sale option there, consider buying it to support their work!

Though it'd be nice to find "We'll Never Sleep Again" in full, it's great to have this digital EP available, especially as it has one exclusive track not seen on other surviving band pages ("I Was A Runner"), but is it possible for a review on the SMS? Yes, but I'd prefer their debut CD if we ever get it, especially if the Bandcamp EP's songs are all on it. Either way, if we can tie it in with a Northwest or Talk Shit show, you might just see a Nebraska Arms CD review on the site, and check out the self-titled EP at the above links!

Next up, we'll take a brief detour to Sault Michigan for the newest video from local classical metal band Theatre of Night's YouTube channel, but honestly, it fits more in with keyboardist Craig Harrison's personal YouTube channel. This is a cover of Alter Bridge's "Watch Over You", which he covered for it's personal meaning to him, and while it's far removed from Theatre of Night's typical orchestral metal sounds, it is similar in filming style, sepia tint, and genre to his own channel's prior vocal covers in recent months. Craig's voice can be a little muffled, but he's completely into the groove for this video, which is fun to see, so give this hard rock ballad cover a look below!



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

• The planned Blood Guy-headlined punk rock bingo concert at The New American Pub next Tuesday has quietly been cancelled, as per the deletion of it's official Facebook event page yesterday. A reason for it's cancellation hasn't been announced, but it's certainly off now, as an earlier event page deletion was due to this show having two event pages up by accident. Hopefully nothing bad happened, and that we see them in the Soo down the road!
• A local musician named Shae Tull is looking for musicians interested in doing "something different... not straightforward, experimental-ish, (and) weird-ish." Just in case this ends up fitting our genre ranges, I thought I'd mention it here, so if you'e interested in playing stuff like this, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last month!
• The previously announced 3 Day Millionaires-headlined New Year's Eve concert at The Rockstar Bar is still on! We originally removed it from our concert listings when announced openers A Dire Setback (coincidentally, also the planned Blood Guy openers) deleted their own Facebook event page for the concert. It is now clear that they just pulled out, as the show was never cancelled, with The Millionaires launching this new Facebook event page over the weekend. Admission remains $10 for this New Year's bash via advance tickets or at the door, so see above for more details!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this week! Thanks everyone!