LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Go Skateboarding Day, The Cover-Up, And Gianni Gagoots), And A New Video!!

Here's a new news post for your Wednesday afternoon reading! There is a new video to check out at the end, but this mostly concerns three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this summer in Sault Ontario, so without any further adieu, here's what you should know on them!

Two online page-less punk cover groups will join forces on Friday, June 15th, when reunited supergroup The Cover-Up and the sporadically seen Bananas Guerrillas take the stage at LopLops Lounge! This is basically a Redundant-less sequel to LopLops' Punk Covers Night in March, and if you love punk rock classics, this will be an ample chance to see them on stage this summer! Of course, The Cover-Up unite Rising Tide bandmates Dustin Jones and Marshall Jaaskelainen with ex-Lion Ride guitarist Marco Pedalino and K.I.C.K. drummer Aaron Dunn, while The Bananas Guerrillas (a renamed continuation of the Blink-182 tribute from last year's Halloween Party) again feature ex-Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci and ex-Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick in their ranks. Lots of talent between these two bands, so don't miss out on their high impact covers in a couple of weeks! Promoted by Tidal Records (and as announced via their Facebook page), this is a 19+ show with a $5 cover and a 9:00 PM start time.

Coverage of this show would benefit if both bands had more of a presence on social media, but both The Cover Up and The Bananas Guerrillas have promising lineups and setlists (you can find The Cover-Up's on personal Facebook accounts), and hopefully this is a fun night for punk fans! See above for more details, and we're not done with The Cover-Up yet today!

Next up, and for a fourth straight year, local musicians will hit Queen Elizabeth Park for Tidal Records' Go Skateboarding Day festivities on Thursday, June 21st! This is the sixth year for the local independent label's sponsorship of Go Skate Day at the John Rhodes Center-adjacent skate park, and bands are back for another go-around of live music action at the top of the big ramp, so who all is playing this year? Believe it or not, there are no returning bands from the last three years, with the announced lineup including the aforementioned The Cover Up, indie/punk quintet Northwest, "no genre" alt-hard rock trio Handsome Sandwich, and indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota. Stacked lineup with bands who should be a great fit as a soundtrack to the skateboarding action in three weeks time, and it's very surprising that it took this long for Tidal Records owner and Cover-Up frontman Dustin Jones to play at Go Skate Day himself!

Note that Garden of Bedlam (whose final concert to date was Go Skate Day 2015) are depicted on the above poster, but unless I'm completely out of the loop, they're not back together for this year's festivities. Beyond the music, there will be a skateboarding competition, free skate lessons, and assorted vendors and sponsors will be on site as usual. Once again, Go Skateboarding Day is a FREE & ALL AGES outdoor event, so make sure to prepare for any adverse humidity or temperatures if coming out, while everything will start at 3:00 PM. This should be a great union of punk/alt-rock and extreme sports once again, so visit the above links for complete details!

Also today, there's one more new concert to acknowledge on here, as reunited local funk/hard rock/improv collective Gianni Gagoots will return to the stage on Friday, July 13th when they return to LopLops Lounge as openers for Niagara Falls experimental prog rock quartet The Road Waves! This will be the Gagoots' first local concert appearance in over nine months, having abruptly disbanded last fall, before quietly reuniting in February. The sauce masters have kept up the joking Italian lingo and references in posts since, but will they be able to shake off the rust effectively at LopLops in July? We'll find out then! As for the headliners, fans will recognize The Road Waves as headliners at The New American Pub last June (a show that Gianni Gagoots opened and promoted), and with a hybrid sound collecting blues, jazz, and funk rock into a creative improvised arrangement, it'll be neat to see them back on a local stage after over a year away!

No word on if this is show is being promoted by Gianni Gagoots' dormant in-house agency Like Ten Productions or not, but the Facebook event page was launched by the venue. A rare LopLops show with NO COVER, this July 13th event has a 10:00 PM start time and a 19+ age limit. With Gianni Gagoots hyping up 2018 as their year as they come "back to the main land", hopefully this show sees them picking up where they left off last fall, as you should be in for a fun time with all of the improvised rock on hand! Visit the above links for more details on this concert!

We'll close today with a short new video from local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback's YouTube channel, but if you visit their Facebook page, it's nothing new. Bassist Matt Quinn made a cover video for that page featuring a smoky skull apparition and text announcing that they are recording their first album, which you can pre-order at their Patreon page (which is essentially equal to becoming a $10 backer or above there.) More YouTube content is teased, but this clip is cool looking for what it is, and it's nice to see Facebook cover videos getting some more usage! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for our June Jam concert preview tomorrow!

 
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our first weekend concert previews for June 2018 tomorrow! Thanks everyone!