LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, A New Band, And More!!

In the last concert weekend before the 2018 holiday season truly begins, things are relatively quiet, but we do have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, an apology for a missed show, a new live video, and some assorted shorter items to fill things out! However, let's kick things off with a new local unplugged rock band featuring a couple of familiar faces!

We have a new local hard rock duo to add to our active local metal band links, and they are Tattoos & Scars, a new acoustic side project from members of Halfway Loaded! As announced in a post on that band's Facebook page on Halloween, singer Justin Grayson & guitarist Shane Biron have formed this new project while Halfway Loaded proper continue their ongoing dormant period due to personal life and work commitments. Tattoos & Scars proper are described on their new Facebook page as an "acoustic act... covering everything from classic rock to whatever we feel like playing." Old and new videos were teased to be uploaded there, and while that has yet to pan out, we do have clues as to how Justin and Shane sound together. One of their pictures features them dressed up as two of their big musical influences ("All Hope Is Gone"-era Corey Taylor and Zakk Wylde), while you can see Justin & Shane cover Thriving Ivory, Slipknot, Oasis, and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs on Halfway Loaded's Facebook page.

In the scattered videos that I've seen of Halfway Loaded, I've detected solid promise, whether it's the above Shane & Justin acoustic clips or with other band members, and the guys are a nice complimentary pair on the above covers! It'll be interesting to see if Tattoos & Scars prove to be more active than Halfway Loaded have been in the past year, but follow along at the above links, and stay tuned for more when it rolls in!

Next up, let's dive into this weekend's quiet hard rock concert weekend, starting with another busy weekend for ex-Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison, who will return to Gliss Restautant for matinee concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY, which sandwich a newly announced return to Room 21 TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on the latter concert, it was only announced via it's official Facebook event page on Monday. The Gliss gigs will mark Tym's third weekend since the resumption of his long-term arrangement at the downtown restaurant following it's move from Bay to Spring Street, so if you haven't seen the more intimate, hotel-independent location yet, this could be your chance to do so! As for TOMORROW'S Room 21 return, this will be Tym's first show there in two months, though I cannot confirm if there will be a Fishbowl or Finger Food Friday theme for this one. If you want a more typical nighttime setting for Tym's varied and often heavy cover selection, consider a trip above Low & Slow TOMORROW NIGHT!

Both of this weekend's Gliss shows are 6:00 PM matinees with no stated age limits or cover charges (but mind the locale), while TOMORROW'S Room 21 gig is a traditional 10:00 PM affair with no cover, but a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!



Also this weekend, here's a previously announced show taking place THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will hit the stage for one night only! Last seen over the Halloween weekend, this will be the Mourning Wood successors' first stop at The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub since the summer, and will ostensibly serve as a preview of their Toystock set next Sunday. Fans of this veteran hard rock band should find a lot to like with their accessible blend of classic hits, so don't miss out on all of the action on Saturday! This is a 9:00 PM event with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new live video of Soundcheck in action from... Saturday, November 3rd at The Esquire Club!? Yes, it appears that they did in fact play there two weeks ago, despite the show(s?) receiving no online advertising from the band or venue.

Assuming this was a public booking, I profusely apologize for not covering it on the SMS two weeks ago, but if the band or venue had plugged it in advance, we wouldn't have missed it! We can at least see how one song went that Saturday, as this video (shared from drummer Glen Thomas' personal Facebook page onto their own page on the 5th) features the band, with Paul Belair back on bass, covering Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". Interesting song choice that they effectively add a classic rock sheen to, and while the grainy purple lighting doesn't help, Soundcheck sound on their game with this rendition! Give their Alanis cover a look below!



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

• The aforementioned Halfway Loaded have quietly parted ways with bassist Jesse Gottwald, as per his removal from their Facebook page's advertised lineup. A reason for Jesse's departure wasn't announced, but his personal Facebook page implies that he moved to Southern Ontario for work reasons earlier this year. Best of luck to Jesse in the future, and hopefully he surfaces in a new project down the road! A new bassist has not yet been announced, but they've only posted on their Facebook page once since January.
• While still advertised on the Facebook event page as "Jeff & Friends", the Toystock set from Country 104.3 DJ Jeff McNiece next Sunday is apparently now considered to be from his band The Jeff & Jeff Show, who played at last year's Toystock as well. Our source is Jeff & Jeff's Facebook page, and this now means that 7 of this year's 10 bands are returnees from past Toystock installments. Just a bit of clarification for next weekend's roster at the Northern Grand Gardens, and look for our preview next week!
• In their first Facebook post since their singer change, Re:Born guitarist Blair Burch announced this morning that fellow guitarist Frank McGillivray will be largely absent from the band until April due to out of town work commitments. He will not be replaced, with the power rockers jamming as a quartet and working on both new material & live sets in the interim, and with Frank contributing where able. This is a disappointing bump in the road, but hopefully things progress how they're meant to over the winter, and that the full new lineup is back with a vengeance in the spring!

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