The Northwest/Gambit Concert Preview, Plus New Videos!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (and Hanukkah) and got in lots of family time and presents underneath all of this snow! With the year winding down, here's a new news post on this Tuesday morning, and it mostly includes new videos, but leading off, here's a mid-week concert preview to check out, assuming you can swing it on a work night!

Local indie/punk quintet The Northwest will headline a special charity concert TOMORROW NIGHT at LopLops Lounge! Ending their eventful 2022 in style, this will be The Northwest's first LopLops appearance since the pandemic began, their first local gig since the Marianas Trench show in September, and their first show period since their Guerrilla Grooves date in North Bay in October. This should be a fine way for the guys to cap off the year with their increasing profile & strong originals, so don't miss out tomorrow night! Revived and renamed local punk supergroup The Gambit (née The Sick Sons) will play their first concert since their LopLops dates in December 2019, preceding a three year pandemic hiatus, name change, and reportedly adding a fifth band member (identity yet unclear). It's great to see The Sick Sons Gambit back at long last, and remember that drummer Clint Wilson is a Northwest alum himself!

Reportedly taking place during renovations at the Queen Street East nightclub, tomorrow's 19+ show has an 8:00 PM start time, and admission is $20 at the door or via advance tickets purchased through the Facebook event page. However, The Northwest are holding a charity drive for St. Vincent's Place tomorrow (something they hope to reprise next year), where non-perishable food or hygiene product donations will get you either $15 door entry or $5 back (LopLops will match each donation for $5 apiece). Wonderful idea, as even after Christmas, many are still needing help from the community! Visit the above links for more on this holiday season concert, and here's The Northwest live!

Next up, let's dive into some videos, starting with the latest Mikey & His Uke cover video, as uploaded to the project's YouTube channel on December 16th! It's not a seasonal song or a carol, but that's just as well given that I'm only covering it now. This time, Mikey and crew are tackling Rancid's "Daly City Train", with Mikey himself on guitar and (at first) ukelele once again. Vocals are split four ways here, courtesy of Slackers frontman Vic Ruggerio (also on accordion), Buck-O-Nine singer Jon Pebsworth, Bedouin Soundclash frontman Jay Malinowski, and Mighty Mighty Bosstones singer/ex-Jimmy Kimmel Live announcer Dicky Barrett. Jon's Buck-O-Nine bandmate Andy Plafoot handles bass, while ex-Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (a former bandmate of Mikey's in The Dookies) rounds out the lineup here. I'm not a massive Rancid fan, but everyone acquits themselves well on this rendition!

Having four different singers spreads the wealth and lets some strong names in on the action, and they each do Tim justice in their own ways, and the instrumental performers more than hold their own (even the accordion isn't out of place!) Solid stuff as usual, so if you love punk rock, don't bypass Mikey & His Uke's latest effort below!

Also today, here's a new videos from prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore's Facebook page on Friday! This video sees him covering "No Children" by folk band The Mountain Goats, which Chase noted that he has covered in a video before, but allegedly didn't know what he was doing originally. The grainy monochrome quality of the video proper is at least livened up by rapidly changing backgrounds laid overtop of the original footage that seem to feature outdoor forest settings and animal skeletons in a living state. I'm not familiar with "No Children", but Chase gives it an ominous building quality with good vocal passion, so do check it out below, and more is coming soon!

Finally, here's a new acoustic version of a song from new local pop punk solo project Forever Will Be's YouTube channel two weeks ago! This is the unplugged version of "Downsides" from their debut album "Dead & Dishonest", and while I'll hold full comment on this song pending our review of the album (currently pencilled in for February), it translated well enough to this format, though the peppy, upbeat nature suits a full plugged-in band more. Check it out below, and stay tuned for more from Forever Will Be!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!