Handsome Sandwich, Soundcheck, And Vanity First Updates!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for missing a concert in this past weekend's previews, as local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns headed north for a gig at Searchmont Resort at their in-house venue The Kiln on Saturday night. The band did not promote this show on their Facebook page, and Searchmont's Facebook page only first mentioned it on Friday, later hyping up the campfire jam aesthetic and requests angle for it. Searchmont only host bands sporadically at The Kiln, so it's not a regular spot for me to look for concerts at, but I do apologize, I'd have plugged it on here had The Stallyns said something in advance! Now, here's what you should know from three active local bands!

After two months of public silence, local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich posted on their Facebook page on Saturday to reveal that recording sessions for their debut album "Deconstructed" are complete! Now, they did say the same thing in November when attached to this picture, so clearly they fixed something up since then. The tracks will now be sent off to be mixed, and while they didn't specify details on Saturday, they confirmed in November that Jordan Zadorozny was going to mix the album at Skylark Park in Pembroke. The plan is still to release the album on Saturday, May 6th, which has been the plan since at least October when singer Taylor Emlaw announced it during The Soo's Got Talent (I believe I misheard her say "May 5th" at the time, my apologies). Regardless, publically setting such a specific album release date seven months out is kinda odd.

May 6th must hold some sort of special in-band meaning, but if they've announced it publically, it must have been in concerts only. A release show for the album is planned, which does imply that there will be physical copies to sell at one, but we'll keep you posted when more comes out on it! As a teaser, the band shared this video with the new Facebook post featuring a 12 second clip of one of their original songs, as set to footage of guitarist Jesse Cook laying on his back performing bicycle kicks to his bandmates' (and now our) amusement. Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Handsome Sandwich soon!

Next up, here's some big news from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, as they have added Obsession bassist Jim Michaud to their lineup, replacing Paul Belair. The band announced the news on their Facebook page yesterday, and while they did not publically explain his departure, they did note that he "will be missed huge". Drummer Glen Thomas did elaborate on his personal Facebook page on the amicable reasons Paul left, and as it turns out, he actually left the band in November, something that the band never announced on Facebook. Paul had been Soundcheck's bassist since replacing Robin Lee in 2017, but he increasingly missed gigs for personal reasons, leading to guests (usually RPM's Rob Gilmar) filling in, including Jim at their Esquire Club dates on the 20th & 21st. With the similarly ranged Obsession ending their eighteen year run at the same venue next month, Jim coming on board does make a lot of sense!

It's worth noting that Jim & Glen played together in Lyrx, albeit in 1982 & 1983! No word yet on when the new Soundcheck lineup will debut, but they did jokingly ask on Facebook if Rob could fill-in again this weekend, so if that's legit, we'll be on the lookout for a short notice announcement (let alone if Jim carries over Obsession's planned March-December dates to Soundcheck, the idea is not unheard of). Stay tuned for more from as it rolls in, and best of luck to Paul in whatever he has planned next!

Finally, here's some new videos from local punk trio Vanity First's Facebook page in the past week! One is actually a re-post of their 2021 cover of Pennywise's "Bro Hymn" that was first seen on their YouTube channel, notable as it features former bassist Nick McClelland (singer Andrew Beggs has pulled double duty since Nick left). Cool to see again, they tackle this punk staple well! Another video is a re-post from their TikTok page, under the pretense that Andrew's "father" demands to know what he's doing behind closed doors. Of course, it's not what it looks like, and "it" is Andrew listening to punk music, specifically their 2022 standalone single "Get Out". Cute promotion for what it is! The other new Facebook uploads on offer actually have Vanity First covering Rage Against The Machine, including a vertically shot video of them covering "Bombtrack" at Go Skateboarding Day at Queen Elizabeth Park in May of last year.

Notably, Andrew didn't play bass while rapping on this one, so it was up to guitarist Mikhal Muto & drummer Keeghan McAllister to fill in all of the gaps, The 24 second clip comes off well with good angles of the ramp-top stage, though I'm surprised it took this long to come to Facebook! While seemingly formatted for TikTok, that video is not posted on their TikTok page, with the only post-EP release video there that isn't on Facebook being this clip of Keeghan having a "drummer moment" during what appear to be rehearsals at the Sault Community Theatre Centre. Light and amusing, but I feel you have to be in on the joke to an extent. Embedded below is a new 33 second clip of them covering "Killing In The Name" when they opened for Gutter Creek at Soo Blaster in September, and this video is extra notable given what did and didn't happen during the runtime.

As the band noted in the video description, Andrew has epilepsy, and if you know someone with that disorder, you'll know that they're often recommended to not look at strobe lighting or other rapidly flashing light patterns, as that could cause them to have a seizure. During the song's bridge, strobe lighting went off at the venue, and thankfully, nothing serious medically happened to Andrew, who kept his composure and played the song off perfectly normally! If you didn't know he was epileptic, you still wouldn't have if the band never said. I find "Killing In The Name" to be severely overplayed, but credit to Andrew for powering through here, so give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Vanity First!

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