LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Tea Party), New Videos, And More Updates!!

Let's get a new news post rolling on this Wednesday morning, and it's a stacked one, with a handful of recent shorter updates, some new concert videos, a long awaited music video, and leading off, a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for early next year, so here's what you should know!

In the first announced local hard rock concert of 2019, Windsor hard/world rock trio The Tea Party will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a headlining concert on Wednesday, March 27th at The Machine Shop! The Juno Award nominees behind hits like "Heaven Coming Down" & "Temptation" were last seen locally when they headlined the local stop of the ONTour concert series at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion in July of last year, itself ending a 19 year break from their last Soo appearance, so it's great to have them back already for another concert! Last year's was very well received, and with their new single "Black River" now on sale, there's already some positive momentum for this show in the spring! Opening bands (local or otherwise) have not yet been announced, we'll let you know when/if they're confirmed. Promoted by Cabin Media (who are also promoting the upcoming Obie Trice and The Game rap concerts locally), this is unfortunately not a free concert like last year, with tickets going for $35 for the first 200 customers, and the cost goes up to $40 afterwards.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday morning at 10:00 AM at this link, and one assumes at The Machine Shop's in-person box office, so act A.S.A.P. if you want $5 off! Also unlike in 2017, this is sadly a licensed 19+ concert, but there is an early-ish 7:30 PM start time advertised. The Tea Party have a lot of familiar hits for anyone familiar with Canadian rock radio and old school MuchMusic, and it'll be nice to have the Jeffs and Stuart back in town early next year! Stay tuned for more updates as they roll in!

Next up, local death metal band The Bear Hunters finally released their first ever music video on Saturday! The first upload on their YouTube channel in over 4 years, this is for the first publically released song from their forthcoming sophomore album "The Dead Testament", namely "I Fear No God", so what should you know here? The video was directed by Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno via his independent film company Spacebag Productions (who are now finally in our "Other Local Metal Links" section), and was filmed at Robbie Adamson's church in nearby Leeburn, notably the site of both of the Oh!No festivals. The Bear Hunters didn't play at either installment (Johnny's other bands and Nik's Beaver Slap guest turn aside), so you could call this a belated make-up date of sorts! As you may tell by their new picture, the video does not feature rhythm guitarist Josh Stephney, who does play on this track and the CD, but still lives in Southern Ontario and hasn't performed live with the band since May 2016.

I'll hold comments on the song proper until our likely review of "The Dead Testament" in 2019, but the video is very well shot, with Josh capturing some effective mood lighting (even with candles!), and some excellent close up shots of the guys in action. I'd have included a little more outdoor footage, especially given how it was snowing when The Bear Hunters entered the church, but this is excellently done, especially for their first music video. Give it a look below, check the video description for the complete track listing order for the album, and keep posted for more updates!

Also today, here's two newly discovered videos of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, courtesy of drummer Glen Thomas' YouTube channel in recent months! One is from his debut as Soundcheck's permanent drummer, namely the Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East on September 22nd, and you can see the guys cover The Beatles' "Come Together" here in front of GFL Memorial Gardens. In terms of public video footage, this isn't a new cover (you may recognize this version from a Wawa gig with ex-drummer Scott McLurg), but this copy has strong merit and a strong performance that recalls Aerosmith's version to an extent! I like the setting right beside the Memorial Tower, but the outdoor sunlight is too overexposed, and the filmer flipped the camera sideways to capture Terry Eaton's guitar solo, so lock your mobile device's orientation for best results. Embedded below though is their cover of Greta Van Fleet's "Highway Tune", so what should you know there?

Filmed at Soundcheck's concert at The Esquire Club (also finally in our active venue listings) on November 3rd, this too features guitarist Travis Sharpe singing, and if you ask me, his solid vocals benefit from him not trying to sound like Josh Kiszka by way of Robert Plant! As for the video proper, I'm not high on the post-production effect where motions stay on screen for a slight delay, especially when the guys don't move around a lot, and the usage of a second camera's viewpoint late feels somewhat tacked on, and ideally should have been incorporated more. It's nice to see some more videos online, so give Soundcheck's new clips a look above & below!



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

• Based on their Facebook page's new cover photo, it looks like local Celtic punk veterans Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide have indeed enlisted Lake Effect drummer Chris Johns (replacing Mikey Hawdon) & The Barn Board Trio's Liam Seymour on guitar, officially making them a quintet. Mikey last played live with The Tide in July 2016, with Chris taking over on drums for their 2018 reunion, and Liam joined on later in the year. Both seem to fit in well, and it'll be interesting to hear the five-piece tide at LopLops later this month, but best of luck to Mikey with his Toronto bands!
• As frequently teased on social media prior, local/Thompson, Manitoba solo hard rock artist Mike Haggith released the first single for his forthcoming studio album "Bridges" onto online streaming and download platforms on Saturday! That single is "The Nature of the Times", which also has a music video in the works, and you can stream it on Spotify and buy it on Amazon, CDBaby, and iTunes. Like with The Bear Hunters above, I'll hold comment on the song until the likely review of "Bridges" next year, but this song will please fans of Mike's softer original material. Check it out above, and stay tuned for more on the CD!
• Dafter, Michigan hard rock solo artist SweetKenny quietly released another instrumental score album to his website on November 10th, though this oddly has not been released in a paid format at press time, and is also billed under his real name Kenneth Sutton. Entitled "Monster", the 8 songs are intended for usage in commercials for sports drinks and sports in general, and the album name may intentionally reflect Monster Energy drinks. Fans of his scores will want to check it out above, but we'll let you know if it goes on sale!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates as December progresses! Thanks everyone!