LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Fort Creek), Plus Mike Haggith & Chase Wigmore Videos And Updates!!

Let's keep things rolling on the SMS on this Tuesday night, with a post heavily devoted to new videos and recent updates from two former bandmates' solo pursuits, but leading off, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will return to Soo Blaster for a special headlining concert on Saturday, December 10th! The band is calling this a "Christmas Blowout", and it will be similar in scope and professionalism to their May 7th headlining date at the same venue, including 705Live behind the controls, and even a guest appearance from Santa Claus?! Yes, there will be merchandise giveaways once again, though that won't be shocking for established fans. Their third announced show with new guitarist Bill Brouillard, Fort Creek's Christmas Blowout will have a 19+ age limit and an 8:00 PM start time, but admission is higher than their Soo Blaster gig in May, with $10 advance tickets or a $12 door price. You can buy tickets ahead at Soo Blaster, Sessions Cannabis at 216 Second Line West, or via individual band members. For the record, the band has not made any teasers related to their debut EP in the context of this concert.

That said, they are pulling out all of the stops, so keep an eye out just in case anything is revealed or previewed there.Should be a good time for fans of Fort Creek's hard rock-heavy covers selection and their originals so far, and hopefully there's a good & festive turnout next month! Visit the above links for more details when & if they roll in!

Next up, here's the latest from local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith, who has been uncharacteristically quiet in the past three months aside from posting memes & other non-musical content on his Facebook page (an inquiry about maybe revisiting his shelved "Neighbourhood Watch" re-recording aside). Those who know Mike personally will know more about what's been going on with him, and I won't overstep any bounds, but he did resurface with some new musical content on Saturday, specifically a new 70 minutes long live video! This is from an impromptu live jam session (venue not given) that Mike played in Thompson on Friday with two other guitarists, surprisingly also uncredited in the description, but the one on the left is Karl Bennett. The live-stream on Mike's YouTube channel began after Mike & friends' first song.

Mike's upcoming new album "All The Best In All You Do" was heavily featured to start this performance, with the unfilmed opener being the partial title track "All The Best" (which is a new confirmation from what I've seen), followed by another new track "Hot & Cold" and the already unveiled "If Only You Could Hear Me". Originals from here on out were previously released, and they started with "Morningstar" and "If Ever Comes The Day", before covering The Eagles' "Take It Easy" with Karl on vocals. The last originals are "The Nature Of The Times" & "Come On Home", and they finished with a trifecta of covers, namely Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World", Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone", (featuring the electric guitarist on the right on vocals), and Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", the latter of which Mike played completely solo, seemingly on purpose.

For the record, a fourth performer hopped in during the Neil Young cover and stayed for "Tuesday's Gone", but he also went uncredited. Mike noted before the Tears For Fears cover that "this might be the last (song) that I play in Thompson for potentially a very long time", so I think it's safe to say here that he's moving from Thompson soon, but I won't undercut any official public announcements on Mike's behalf as per his musical future. The performances here are solid, and it's neat hearing Mike perform with other musicians again, though the jam nature does lead to some meandering moments, and the echo on the audio setup is noted. Give Mike's (perhaps) final live set in Thompson a watch below!

We'll close today with some more recent media from Mike's old Strange Coyotes bandmate Chase Wigmore, who hasn't just had updates regarding his delayed next album "Is This The End Of...?" to talk about! A new song credited to his industrial-tinged solo project Awokest, named "We Are All Going To Die", was uploaded to his "Jason Walker" YouTube channel last week, and the instrumental sonic collage is well put together and still has some guitar flourish buried under the effects, so don't bypass it! In terms of proper videos, there are two new ones on his Facebook page, with the newest video being an original named "Gloria Cantis Decor" which he didn't attach to an album publically, but plans to use it as a teaching aid, even giving the chords for it in the description. It's an acoustic fretboard performance that shows Chase's skills well, but for teaching purposes, I'd use a better camera.

Embedded below is a 25 minutes long practice session branded for his planned 2023 concept album "The Chaotic Rite" (whose album cover he unveiled on October 14th, as seen above), which was posted to Facebook two weeks ago. Visually, there's not a lot to see with the webcam video quality and dark lighting aside from Chase's guitar (seemingly an acoustic-electric guitar), but if you like stream of consciousness instrumental jamming, this will do the trick, and it's a fine showcase of Chase's technical skills, so check it out for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the days ahead! Thanks everyone!