Our Recap Of Last Month's Mike Haggith's Live-Streamed Concert!!

I profusely apologize for the delay in getting this on the site, but here's our extended recap of local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's monthly live-stream concert from February 12th, as seen live and on-demand via his Facebook page! Granted, that live-stream itself was delayed a month due to Mike's acknowledged personal burnout around the time it was to have occurred, but on my end, it just fell through the cracks. Like in December's live-stream, a major component of last month's installment was a musician interview (previously with No Arrow/Bizotic alum Brad Griffith), but this time, Mike interviewed local folk musician Jacob Quarrell, who you may recognize from his current bands Jupiter Marvelous & Bad Chug, from his solo work under his own name and previously as Shit Creek Survivor, and from being tapped to play in Mike's full band for his pandemic-cancelled CD release show in 2020.

The big immediate difference from December's phone interview with Brad is that Jacob is on video via split screen here, which is a new one to see someone other than Mike, his now-wife Tianna (congrats to the newlyweds), and the cats! This was done via StreamYard, a video streaming service Mike was new to at the time. The 2 hour episode proper starts with Mike asking Jacob about what he's been up to (his new folk duo Sainte Marie comes up a fair amount regarding their debut show and early plans). After acknowledging the share contest for that month's live-stream where the most engaged share gets a fan-picked cover song for the next episode, he also plugged a contest where one viewer of the live broadcast would win copies of Mike's new album "Bridges" & Jacob's album "Small Town Troubles".

Music-wise, this episode also differed from December's in that Jacob is actually performing on the live-stream, rather than Mike covering the guest's songs. Jacob leads off with his & Jackson Reed's non-album song "The Moon" (12:55), and Mike fittingly opts to contrast that with "MorningStar" (21:45) from "If Ever Comes The Day", though perhaps "Take Back The Moon" was too obvious! I don't know whether to blame StreamYard or not, but the audio quality of Mike's camera was much worse than it was in 2021 live-streams, with those dreaded halts and pops you often hear on webcams, so keep that in mind. Jacob's camera feed sounded better, as proven when he next played the new track "Sinner" (31:00) following some house cleaning notes and general chit chat. After praising Jacob's musical influences and imagery, Mike tackles "Come On Home" (45:00) from "Bridges", continuing a chronological pattern of songs.

Following discussion about where you can buy Jacob's albums and their mixed feelings about social media, JQ plays his new original "83" (58:20), with MikeMike next asking Jacob about his next music plans (solo and in bands alike) and talking about John Mayer for a surprising while. Next, Mike reveals some early details of his next studio album, which he estimates is 35% done as of the live-stream's premiere, and the album will reflect the transition from depression and manipulation to a happier life (very much reflective of his own experience), and the album will be titled "All The Best In All You Do". Mike next plays "I've Seen It Before" (1:19:55), a new song from that album, but you'll have heard it in prior live-streams. The guys deliver some summative thoughts about their music and Mike's physical album process, after which Mike draws for the winner of the CDs (ironically, Jacob's Sainte Marie bandmate Hannah Lindsay.)

Mike's mandatory cover song (picked by the winner of the December 2021 share contest) is next, with ex-Re:Born singer Elly McWatters coming out on top then, and she was kind to Mike by nominating Gordon Lightfoot's "Rich Man's Spiritual" (1:47:20) rather than a comedy track. Fine rendition as you'd expect, just a shame about the audio quality on this camera setup. Also look for some surprise discussion of soap operas before that cover, with summative thoughts and plugs at video's end. Overall, this was an entertaining live-stream with lots of strong music and discussion, and it is clear that Mike and Jacob were friends long before this was shot! I'm admittedly not a folk music diehard, but Jacob is a skilled musician with a good ear for melodies, so don't bypass his recent work either! I am surprised that he never talked about Bad Chug, who notably opened for Buckcherry at Soo Blaster in October.

No word on their status, for the record, but they have not posted anything publically since that show. The major elephant in the room re: the live-stream was the audio quality on Mike's camera setup, as the sound was severely off compared to his live-streams from 2021, with the guitar only coming in intermittently via webcam pops and crackles. Hopefully he's had time to iron things out by this Thursday at 7:30 PM, as that's when his new live-stream debuts, as Mike's interviewing ex-Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle, who now performs solo under the project name Sibling! Tune in then for all of that, and check out last month's live-stream (at last) below!

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