The End Of Eclipse, New Mike Haggith Songs, A Local Punk Video From 1987, And More!!

On this Saturday afternoon, we have lots of stories to touch on, including some assorted recent updates, a 30 year old video from a big local punk concert, and a revived solo project's new material, but first, here's a note on a removal from our active band links!

We regrettably have to remove local hard rock quartet Eclipse from our band links due to the deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page at some point in the past few months, which seems to signal their second and final breakup. A reason for their apparent demise hasn't been announced, but rumours of internal issues have came up more than once last year, so read into those if you want. This does mirror the recent deletion of frontman Curtis McKenzie's solo Facebook page, though I don't know if the two were deleted for the same reason. As you may recall, the Haggith successors initially reunited early last year after their tumultuous original split in November 2016, with the guys notably opening for bands like The Hazytones, The Raygun Cowboys, and Speaker in 2017, among other events, with their tribute turn as "SSM of a Down" at The Algonquin Pub on Halloween weekend appearing to be their last public appearance.

Eclipse were a talented band with good chemistry and a fun selection of originals and covers, and their disbandment (and page deletion, sigh) is disappointing even if you factor in certain rumours. Hopefully we see Eclipse back down the road (or their originals/prior bands' songs carry over to a new project), best of luck to Curtis, Daniel, Fred, and Chris in the future, and don't miss Daniel in Jack Spades!

Next up, here's the first new original songs from former Din frontman/Haggith drummer Mike Haggith's solo project since the release of "The Warinside" in 2015! As you may know, Mike moved to Thompson, Manitoba for work last fall, and announced that he was resuming his solo project shortly beforehand, so we're starting to see some new material from him in this new year. Both of these songs were uploaded as solo performance videos to his Facebook page, and they are titled "Come On Home" and (as embedded below) "An Act of Strength". Both are acoustic solo performances in this current form, but Mike has indicated that a proper album entitled "Bridges" (source here) will come out later this year, presumably with a full band structure. The former song is more of a downbeat soft ballad, and while the latter has backing instrumentation and a drum track, it also has serious subject matter about a friend who survived domestic abuse.

It's great to see Mike finally getting his solo career back into first gear with some solid first demos, and remember, he has dozens of official studio albums, so this is old hat for him! Most of the Windsor-era ones aren't on his official pages anymore, but he still has a good deal of solo albums online to listen to, including some songs later played by his local bands. No word on if he'll resume work on "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited" in Thompson too, but check out Mike's new songs above and below, and visit his Bandcamp page to hear his Sault Ste. Marie-era solo output!



Also today, here's a surprising YouTube find: footage taken during Toronto hardcore punk band Hype's local concert appearance way back in 1987! This was uploaded to their promotional company Reuben Kincade Productions' YouTube channel late last month, and features the band arriving in the Soo for their show, setting up for it, and leaving for Winnipeg (you can see more of the trip there at this link.) Unfortunately, no concert video footage survives from this channel, but you can see that from other stops if you check out the other six videos of the tour. I wasn't born until May 1989, so I definitely can't comment on the scene as it was then, but you see lots of familiar sights on Gore Street surrounding this concert, including Rad Zone predecessor Radical Records (Paul Muncaster himself was key for getting Hype here), and there is a funny moment when Hype run into some kids going to a birthday party.

This video is a nice time capsule of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, but the audio quality is it's achilles heel, often sounding like the camera is attached to a propellor. You can't complain too much, as this is over 30 years old and no one could have forecasted putting this on the internet back then, but overall, kudos for putting this online! Hype themselves were an explosive and fun band, as you can see through other videos on the channel, and they were apparently the first hardcore punk band from Toronto to release a full length album, so it was cool to see them here on their second tour! Give this a look below, and see more from Hype at the above links!



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

• The opening band for the Big Wreck concert at The Machine Shop on February 13th was quietly announced last month, as Winnipeg alternative rock trio Attica Riots will join them on their "In Loving Memory Of..." 20th anniversary tour! Playing more of an upbeat power pop/indie sound in support of their new CD "Sunshine & Hysteria", they'll add an interesting contrast next month, so give them a listen as well, and get your tickets A.S.A.P.!
• A musicians' competition is being held at Bird's Eye Outfitters at 107 East Portage Avenue in Sault Michigan on Saturday, January 27th, with gift cards awaiting the winners! There is a $10 registration fee, but solo artists and full bands are welcome, drums & a PA system are supplied, and while the term "battle of the bands" isn't being thrown around, this sounds like a fun way to showcase some local talent, so click here for more details! Also, if an outdoor equipment store strikes you as a peculiar venue for this, keep in mind that Bird's Eye Outfitters used to be Golanka's Bar, a.k.a. The Bird!
• In advance of their live concert return TONIGHT at the Joni Radford benefit, Sault Ontario punk quartet Redundant announced on their Facebook page that they are recording their long awaited debut album at Mission Control Studios with producer Dustin Jones starting next month! This seems to imply that their 2012-2014 recording sessions are now completely discarded, but if they wanted to include Yannick, they'd have to rework things anyway.  Exciting news all around, Dustin is be a great choice to get this album sounding as good as possible, so stay tuned for updates!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site next week! Thanks everyone!