Lots Of Chase Wigmore News & Updates!!

Today's post is entirely devoted to recent and long overdue updates from prolific local alternative/metal solo musician Chase Wigmore, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so what's new to report from his (non-Awokest) camp? As you may recall, Chase briefly took down his solo Facebook page in May to consolidate his solo endeavours under the Awokest banner, but he clearly had a change of heart, as his eponymous page returned in late June, with teasers following shortly thereafter towards both an apparent album and concert on October 30th, a.k.a. Devil's Night. Originally given the name "The Stray Dog Saga", Chase finally confirmed on Friday that the album will be considered his "full length debut", as opposed to his many earlier free & demo releases. It's final name is "Songs To Punch Yourself In The Face To", an allusion to a viral video from the Cattle Decapitation concert here in 2009, and as credited to "The Ghost of Chase James Wigmore." It will apparently be a double album with 23 songs.

On this album, Chase will focus on a guitar-driven sound that he describes as "almost folk punk" yet "closer to blackened crust, countryish, and bluesy jazz", so make of that what you will, though fans of his solo concerts should be right at home with these descriptions. His rock opera "A Story About A Kid Named Todd" is also in the works as an intended proper album, but "S.T.P.Y.I.T.F.T." is first up, and it's 25 minutes long first single "Stray Dog Howl" can be heard on his Bandcamp page, with a planned paid single release to be posted there next Friday (the 13th, mind you.) If this does come out on schedule, it is immediately eligible for a CD review here.

That date directly ties into today's LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Chase will formally launch the single with a headlining concert at Rednecks Saloon next Friday, September 13th. You don't see Chase as a headline act very often, and fans may recall his cancelled attempt at a multi-act concert at Rednecks earlier in the year, but this one looks like a serious deal with more than a week's notice, so look for Chase to play lots of fan favourite acoustic folk, punk, and experimental tunes next weekend! A few other songs were teased for the album in earlier Facebook posts. Other acts will include C.T.W. frontman Tyler Gibson's drum & bass side project Alegendary in their apparent live debut, while the other advertised performer is "A Misterious Fellow" (sic), who I know nothing on, but we'll let you know if anything surfaces! An early 7:00 PM start time is advertised for this 19+ show, which has a "pay what you can" model for admission. Visit the Facebook event page for more details!

As for the Devil's Night show (and presumed album release party), this is nothing new for him, as Chase played at Blood Shed Productions' two Devil's Night concerts at The Oddfellows Hall in 2013 & 2014, and he did attempt to host a spiritual successor to those events last year. Teasers have sporadically came over the summer for this concert, and while a Facebook event page was deleted, Chase vows to play some sort of show on October 30th, "even if it's me in the middle of the street." As long as this is a public event with some semblance of advance notice, we'll cover it, so stay tuned for updates! Awokest material and advertising for already-held concerts aside, Chase's other recent updates have come via Facebook video postings, so let's at least get to a few of them today. On July 6th, Chase shared this 3+ minute video of him jamming along to an instrumental extreme metal track on acoustic guitar, and it's suitably intense and energetic, especially given it's solo, in-studio nature! Give it a look below!



Finally for today (though there's more from Chase and Awokest ahead), here's a 37 minutes long livestream video from July 29th of him playing a lot of seemingly improvised instrumental rock that almost has a progressive/funk essence to it, and if anything, it's further proof of his depth and range! Unfortunately, the audio quality almost sounds like the video was recorded underwater, and the tight camera angle focusing on just Chase's hands does make this seem a lot plainer than we are accustomed to. Still, there's a lot of nicely played music within, so give it a look below also!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more from Chase and other local acts in the coming days! Thanks everyone!