A Mid-Week Concert Preview, Spades GT & Chase Wigmore Updates, And More!!

Here's a new news post for your Tuesday evening reading, and it includes some assorted recent updates, a local solo musician's big plans, and the latest from a prominent punk/metal band (in a write-up postponed from our last news post due to a concert preview). Speaking of which, here's a mid-week hard rock concert preview to take in before the month ends!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will likely return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post for another outdoor matinee gig TOMORROW NIGHT! While not currently advertised with a Facebook event page or anything like that, note that Tym only posted a Facebook event page for last week's Trading Post show on the morning of. Good thing I knew to anticipate his regular weekly arrangement there, but time is definitely ticking for The Mike Case Stage in 2022, as it is only open on a seasonal basis and closes for the year at some point next month. As such, I won't rush to include new Wednesday evening gigs from there in advance in our concert calendar, but we'll absolutely let you know if he confirms September dates there or not! As usual for Tym's summer series at The Trading Post, expect no age limit, no cover charge, and a 7:00 PM start time tomorrow. 

Weather wise, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy/mostly sunny conditions, but their temperature projection is 14-15°, which could be enough for the show to be called off due to it being too cold out (Tym has made a call like that for warmer evenings than this). If you're at all concerned, follow Tym above or via his personal Facebook account if you're a friend of his. For now, see above for more details, and here he is live!

Next up, here are some recent updates from local/Barrie crossover thrash quartet Spades GT, who hit the road with Anvil on a few Northern Ontario dates before heading to nearby Ophir for their first ever post-Jack Spades local set at the Northern Vibe Festival on Friday (fallout forthcoming), with a further Anvil support gig planned in Brampton on September 16th (details here). Their August shows were done with a guest fill-in bassist, namely drummer Tyler Reiner's old Caym bandmate Jay Sarrazin (now of the Cornwall metal band Hellrager), so anyone who saw Caym's local concerts will at least be slightly familiar with Jay on stage! A reason for regular bassist Daniel Rodbard's absence from this run of shows wasn't announced, but hopefully all's well with him & the band!

One new, if very brief, video from Spades GT's Sudbury show at The Coulson Entertainment Centre on Thusday was posted to their Facebook page, and it features the end of a drum solo from Tyler shot from behind Jay on stage. He clearly approved, as did the sizeable crowd! Short video, yes, but a good teaser, and hopefully more pops up from their Northern Ontario tour run! Get more from Spades GT above & below!

Also today, here's the latest from prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore's Facebook page, and while he has nothing new to show for videos, he has elaborated a lot on his upcoming studio plans! Two weeks ago, he clarified in a post that the overdub-free album that he's currently working on ("Is This The End Of...?") will focus on multiple genres, and he cited four tentative song names, including "All We Really Have" from his last video upload. He dwarfed that post with a massive one last week which starts by detailing the genesis of a concept album he's had plans for named "The Stone", which would heavily be influenced by and parody religion & the Freemasons (read it for yourself, it's way too deep for me to summarize!). "The Stone" has evolved into an album named "The Chaotic Rite", which he estimated won't be complete until "probably next year or the year after it", but he calls it his "magnum opus".

If "The Chaotic Rite" sounds familiar, Chase uploaded a 12 minute acoustic performance of a song of that name back in March. His ambitious plans call for the album to be across two CDs, and be accompanied by the backing tracks, MIDI files, notation, and supplementary literature and art to fit the album's very deep concept. Yes, he did acknowledge his long-gestating rock opera "A Kid Named Todd" too, but according to him, its second episode is "just sitting on the shelf". It'll be very interesting to see if Chase's plans for "The Chaotic Rite" come to fruition as described, but given the thought and research he's put into these topics, it'll be an event when finished! Read more at the above links!

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:

• If you've been hoping to see more of local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard on public stages in the next month beyond their Shooters gig on September 16th, then the wait appears to be extended, as their newest Facebook page posting noted their thanks for the reception they got at a recent wedding gig, and they confirmed that "more private events (are) coming up". Good to see that Bone Yard are in demand, but hopefully their frequency of normal concerts returns to its early summer pacing at some point!
• In their first Facebook page posting in over a month (the guys didn't even promote their Northern Vibe set), local indie/punk quintet The Northwest plugged this article by Darryl Sterdan of the music website Tinnitist, where their song "Shoreline" was given a showcase on Thursday! The article features remarks by frontman Wayne Watkins on the song's origins, the band's aspirations since receiving an Ontario Arts Council grant, and how the pandemic & social distancing influenced how their new EP "All In" came together. Solid promotion to a largely non-local audience, so give it a look above, and stay tuned for more from The Northwest!
• Don't expect late notice concerts at local venues from classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck this weekend, as they'll be taking a rare road trip to the aforementioned Coulson Entertainment Centre in Sudbury for shows on Friday & Saturday, as per their Facebook page! A road trip four hours east my seem odd, but Soundcheck actually did play two gigs at The Coulson in September of last year, which appear to have went well to warrant an encore road trip almost a year later. Best of luck to Soundcheck on the road! If you really want to see them this week, the guys will host their usual weekly jam night at Reggie's West on Thursday.
  

 

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