A New Article On A Prolific Punk Musician, Plus More Assorted Updates!!

As the second Ontario lockdown pushes forward, here's a new news post for your Sunday morning reading, and it's half devoted to lots of assorted shorter stories from recent weeks, but leading off, here's all you should know about a recent news piece/interview with a very familiar face!

Veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon was interviewed by fellow musician/SooToday contributor Chris Belsito on Thursday, so what should you know in this extended article? Early on, Mikey discusses "Eik Namo", the new album from his main Toronto-based punk band The Fairmounts, as well as discussing his popular Mikey & His Uke series, which famously evolved from solo ukelele "quarantunes" during the first pandemic lockdown into a collaborative series with far-flung musicians. Now, it's a once-a-month project where the ukelele pretense is dropped early on in favour of a full band cover, often with very recognizable non-local names joining in. Afterwards, Mikey talks about his love for Sault Ste. Marie, and apparently, he and his family plan to move back here, but that detail weren't elaborated on otherwise

 

This intertwines with more Fairmounts talk, including selling physical copies of "Eik Namo" while on Christmas vacation back home during the pandemic, and he also plugged one of his newer Toronto bands, the Huey Lewis & The News tribute group The Power Of Huey, who he played with at a drive-in concert there. The big reveal late in the article is that Mikey has launched his own independent label called Soolebrity Records, whose name alone will be a big hint towards local content, and their first release will apparently be a vinyl re-issue of an album by famed mid-1990s punk band Room 206! While they are admittedly before my time, their pedigree is well known among genre fans from that era, and Mikey would later perform with Room 206 alumni in The Inner City Surfers. I do know that they put out an album called "2 Innies & An Outie", but is that the tape that Soolebrity Records is re-releasing?

Assuming plans stay in place, I hope that the Room 206 vinyl sale does well (I hope to get one myself!), and even if Mikey's move back home isn't imminent, he's a talented guy who has managed to stay busy artistically with lots of irons in the fire here and there. I am surprised that the Surfers' reunion single "Excess Express" and their two new songs ahead weren't brought up, but there was so much ground to cover. Kudos to Chris for conducting this interview, and click here or see above for more details!

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

• I have removed local classic/hard rock cover quintet Fluid 5ive from our active band links due to the deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page at some point last month, which would seemingly indicate their dissolution. If accurate, a reason has not been announced, but Fluid 5ive had not been publically heard from since their last concert at The Water Tower Pub in February of last year, and who knows what affect the ongoing pandemic had on the band as a whole. Fluid 5ive were a talented group, and hopefully we hear from Colin, Liam, Rob, Jeff, Pierre, and Joe again down the road!
• Local musician Kiefer Barone is apparently looking to join a metal band as a rhythm guitarist, as per his posting on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group last month. Kiefer had posted searches on this group in the past, most recently a drummer search for a metalcore band in 2015 I'm not familiar with Kiefer musically, but message him at this link or above for more details!
  
• The former members of local classic metal quartet Late & Loud have reunited... kind of! Jonathan, Brendan, Benn, and Josh have been collaborating on a podcast called Late & Legends since October, where they play a fantasy RPG game together, and you can even support the podcast via Patreon. Very surprising project, but creative at the same time, so give it a listen above or on Spotify to hear their adventures in Renlan!
• As a promotional offer during the lockdown, Ryan McLaughlin at Relentless Audio is offering a deal for musicians looking to have studio material mixed & mastered without having to leave the house. If you heard the "new" As It Stands EP, you'll know the quality work Ryan does, so message him above or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last week for more information!
  
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished have announced a new concert for 2021 (presumably conditional on the pandemic easing up), as they are scheduled to to take a road trip to Curtis on June 30th to play at the Erickson Centre For The Arts! Now, Curtis is 90 minutes west of the Soo, which is outside of our coverage range, but it is nice to see Tarnished have something planned, and hopefully it will stick! Visit the Facebook event page for more details!
  
• Young Sault Ontario classic/hard rock band The Uncanny Valley have apparently parted ways with bassist Adam Fahrer, as per his removal from their lineup on their Facebook page's About section. A reason for his departure was not announced, but the band has not updated their Facebook page since posting their "Middle Man" single in October. This is a surprise to hear, especially as Adam was presumably on the recordings for their upcoming debut album, but hopefully we hear from him in music again in the future!
  

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our first 2020 wrap-up poll on the site next! Thanks everyone!