Tarnished Updates, Some Shorter News & Notes, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of SNFU frontman Ken Shinn, better known as Mr. Chi Pig, who passed away last night at the age of 57. A mainstay of the Canadian hardcore punk scene since co-founding SNFU (short for Society's No Fucking Use) in Edmonton in 1981, Chi Pig achieved wide acclaim for his songwriting, captivating live performances, and his kind and outgoing nature, as has been attested to by fans and friends across social media today. Readers will be very familiar with SNFU from their numerous tour stops in Sault Ste. Marie, including at The Grand Theater in 2009, at The Rockstar Bar in both 2015 & 2016, and in many shows that predate the SMS at venues like Centennial Lanes and Club Princess. SNFU's influence was also felt in the setlists of local punk bands like Jack Spades, Stegadeth, and Talk Shit, who all covered their songs live.

Given the known health issues that Chi Pig was going through in the 2010s, I made sure not to miss SNFU's last local date in September 2016 (read our review here), and while his voice was quieter than in the past, his stage presence and enthusiasm were off the charts. He lived a difficult life, as documented in the 2009 documentary Open Your Mouth and Say... Mr. Chi Pig that I definitely recommend tracking down, and you can also see Donna Hopper interview him for SooToday at this link. He was a true original, and will be deeply missed across the hardcore punk community. R.I.P. Chi Pig!

Now, today's post is reflective of the continued slow news cycle during the pandemic, and while we do have some big news from a recently prominent local band, this post does end with some assorted shorter stories of recent note. That said, let's start by heading to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock band Tarnished will end the heavy concert drought locally by headlining the Rock The Block event at Crooked Music THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! I apologize for erroneously promoting this show as taking place last night in our last post, wires were crossed earlier this week, but at least I caught my error early! Our preview of the show in Wednesday's post has been updated with the correct date. Now that everything's accurate, Tarnished's Facebook page revealed yesterday that this concert is getting a local radio push, but not on the station you would think, as Paradise classic hits station Eagle Radio 95.1 has been giving away tickets on air!

In the lead-up to the concert, frontman Alex Traynor and guitarist Josh Fair were guests on the Eagle's morning drive show this morning with DJ and new station owner Tim Ellis, where Alex & Josh promoted Rock The Block and performed an original song. I didn't catch it, but hopefully it went well and served as good promotion as we ease back into having live music in the area! This may have also filled the void for Alex & Josh's on-hiatus live-streams, especially if you had audio issues on those. Lastly from the Tarnished camp, the guys have revealed the cover artwork and release date for their debut EP "Down To The Wire", which will be released on Friday, July 24th (next week), way sooner than I expected! Part of me is surprised that Rock The Block isn't a CD release party, but alas, social distancing would limit the attendance. The EP will initially go on sale or for streaming on digital music platforms.

As well, it will go on sale "everywhere very soon after that" (presumably meaning physical outlets.) Visit the above links for further details on "Down To The Wire", but I am thinking we have a CD lined up for this month's album review! We'll let you know more details when the album is on sale, but it's great to see everything progressing so well for Tarnished despite the pandemic, so stay tuned for updates, and don't miss Rock The Block TOMORROW NIGHT at Crooked Music if you're in the E.U.P.!

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:

• Barring a sudden sign of life, I'll be moving Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Griphook to our inactive band links on Monday due to a year's inactivity. The band has not issued a public update since July 20th of last year, when they thanked Facebook fans for attending their Rotaryfest Stage 1 set the previous day. After falling inactive in 2017, Griphook reunited to open for Kiss tribute band Destroyer last March, but these were their only two shows since their return, ongoing pandemic acknowledged. Hopefully we see Joel, Brian, Dan, and Anthony back on stage together down the line!
• If you're wondering why we haven't covered Mike Haggith's fourteenth #LockdownLive concert (advertised for this past Monday) on the SMS yet, it's because it didn't take place at all. Mike acknowledged on his Facebook page that extensive renovations at his place stretched into the window where he would have been able to film the live-stream, and the episode will instead take place in early August, specific date to be announced. Disappointing, but life can get in the way sometimes, it's totally understandable. We'll let you know when more comes in on episode #14!
• Former Bear Hunters guitarist/Skull After Betrayl frontman Mike Vincent is again looking to get back into the local scene via two separate posts on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group in the past week. One was regarding him and an unspecified bassist looking for a punk/rock drummer, while the other one was more open to Mike just jamming with like-minded musicians, perhaps towards starting a genre-variable band with him on guitar. I guess it depends what you're looking for, but if you're interested in playing with Mike or getting more details, message him at this link or above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site shortly! Thanks everyone!