Mike Haggith's Newest Live-Streamed Concert, And More!!

Single-artist post on this Friday morning, as local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's third and final live-streamed concert of 2021 aired on his Facebook page last night, and is now available for on-demand viewing! This episode immediately differs from last month's, as it is much shorter (well, only 93 minutes in length), and it was curiously filmed in vertical portrait orientation due to some sort of Facebook quirk last night. After introducing the episode and checking in with live viewers, Mike starts by playing his new original song "Twist of Fate" (3:20), as previously heard in October's live-stream. For the first time in his live-stream/#LockdownLive catalog, Mike interviews someone that he did not play in a band or record an album with, specifically former Bizotic frontman Brad Griffith, who has been more recently active with his retro video gaming and VHS collecting pursuits on YouTube and Instagram as Gortium85.

Brad starts by outlines his local music career (albeit without naming bands). After reminiscing on Pink Floyd and mutual interests, Mike tackles five acoustic covers of songs of Brad's, starting with "Hurry Up" (20:05), an old solo song of his recorded at the former Stereo Soul Studios that you can hear on his Soundcloud page. Next, Brad discusses his run with the 2016-2018 alternative rock band Bizotic, from which Mike plays two songs of theirs back to back, namely "Psychic Vampire" (31:20) and "Subway Delay" (40:10), with Mike confirming that the share contest to determine a mandatory cover is on, but personal commitments have forced him to delay his planned cover for yesterday's episode to next month. The second half of the episode begins with Brad discussing what he's been doing artistically since Bizotic dissolved, why his eclectic solo music is put out under different monikers, and the music he's recorded while living & working out of town.

The next song Mike plays is Brad's 2020 solo blues number "Cold Canned Beer" (56:30), which is also on Soundcloud, and after discussing Brad's recent focus on electronic synthwave music, Mike closes his suite of Brad covers with his "Demon Moves" (1:08:00), which Brad put out on Soundcloud under the handle Coax Chrome. The final song of the show was next, namely a new unreleased song of Mike's named "I've Seen It Before" (1:14:20), before Mike and Brad wrap up their conversation, even talking about paranormal shows, plus possible plans to improve Mike's live-stream format in 2022. Mike finishes the live-stream by giving some details about some medical concerns he had been going through lately, complete with a Dairy Queen cake congratulating him for a reason you may not expect. His finacee Tianna appears at the end, I believe this is her first appearance in one of these live-streams.

Entertaining episode, especially if you like Brad's local music career, though I was surprised he never directly brought up No Arrow or SBD at all. Mike's renditions of Brad's songs were solidly done in a stripped down acoustic format, and could Mike interview/cover other local musicians in live-streams next year? Give the whole live-stream a watch below, and stay tuned for updates on January's live-stream when they roll in!

We'll close today by sticking with videos involving Mike Haggith, who has been plugging a lot of reviews of his new album "Bridges" as of late, which I plan to get to shortly, but let's start with spotlights of individual tracks on the YouTube series You Rock! hosted by Thomas Christ, who features a bunch of home-recorded independent rock music and reviews them live on air, hearing the song in question with all of us. "Over Indecision" is featured in episode #12 from November 27th at 52:43, embedded below, while "The Catalyst" was similarly reviewed earlier this month in episode #13 at 47:28, and both episodes also feature songs by local indie rockers Man Feelings. Thomas strongly praises "Over Indecision" and is a little more measured in his praise for "The Catalyst", but he gives good in-the-moment comments on both songs, and I like that Thomas is giving so many rising musicians a platform like this! Give these a watch above & below, there's a lot of strong out-of-town talent to check out!

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