LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Go North Music Festival) & New Videos!!

Before we get into today's post, just a heads up that the Adelitas Way-headlined concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on May 18th has been cancelled, as per Allstar Promotions' Facebook page yesterday. A reason for the cancellation was not announced, but refund details will be sent to those who purchased advance tickets. Disappointing to hear, but hopefully the bands all find their way back up to this area in due course! Now, we have some new videos and a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to take note of in Sault Ontario and area, so here's what you should know to kick off the month of May!

Local indie/punk quintet The Northwest will hit the road for nearby Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island as part of this year's fifth annual Go North Music Festival on Saturday, July 8th! Debuting in 2017 with a two year pandemic hiatus in the middle, this festival will return to Centennial Grounds at 1511 Richards Street (where Cornfest was) for another weekend full of live music and entertainment, including food and arts vendors, a family zone with kids activities, and on-site camping. Be sure to visit the official festival website for ongoing festival details! The Northwest will take over for the dormant Uncanny Valley as this year's local support act, with the headliners this year being Juno Award winning Toronto alt-rock trio The Monowhales in their local debut. Given their critical acclaim and rising profile on Canadian alternative radio, they are a big get, so don't bypass their set in Richards Landing in two months!

Four more touring acts will play on Saturday the 8th, including London alternative rock quartet Texas King, Guelph garage rock trio The Royal Castles (who dropped out of Go North last year following COVID exposure isolation), Toronto country/folk musician Jeremie Albino, and retro-styled Toronto rock quartet Propter Hawk, and the five bands are in that order on the website promotion with The Northwest opening, though timeslots are not out yet. No word either on if organizers will bring back the "family stage", where select bands played a second earlier set geared at families/kids elsewhere on the grounds. The shorter program on Friday, July 7th will be country-centric, and will feature Toronto honky tonk band The Holy Gamblers, Port Hope country artist Nickola Magnolia, and Kingston roots/country musician Solomon Woodland. This all ages festival has gates opening at 6:00 PM on Friday and 3:30 PM on Saturday.

Tickets are available at this link, with adults running for $71.28 (full weekend), $60.55 (Saturday only), and $28.34 (Friday only), while 13-18 year old student fees are $33.71, $28.34, and $17.61 respectively (kids 12 and under are free). VIP parking passes are also on sale. Of course, Richards Landing is 40 minutes southeast of Sault Ste. Marie, so if you want some entertaining and diverse live music, with a dash of punk, in some nice natural settings, it won't be too far of a trip! Visit the above links for more on Go North V, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, I have forgotten about this video for far too long, namely the newest Mikey & His Uke collaborative cover! Posted to the project's YouTube channel on March 31st (apologies for the delay), this cover sees Bookclub/ex-Inner City Surfers drummer Mikey Hawdon and a remotely-filmed all-star band covering The Circle Jerks' "Live Fast, Die Young", with Mikey on guitar and (initially) ukelele once again. Joining him this time from afar are Mighty Mighty Bosstones singer/ex-Jimmy Kimmel Live announcer Dicky Barrett (who split vocals on the Rancid cover in December), his Defiant bandmate (and Smashmouth guitarist) Greg Camp, prolific session bassist Hasma Angeleno, and Tosh "The Drummer" Peterson, a rising young artist who has drummed with modern rap/pop musicians like Young Thug and The Kid LAROI. Yes, the video is in a 4:3 standard-definition aspect ratio.

The cover is really good and if you wish Dicky's gravelly voice was on something a little less ska, this will be up your alley! Nice and intense performance on all fronts, including solid camera work on Hasma's end, and Dicky singing in the back seat of a moving vehicle. Mikey performs here in a less obvious locale than in his recent videos, appearing to be some kind of industrial area with bags of insulation. Short cover but it packs a punch, so give Mikey & His Uke's newest video a watch below!

We'll close today with new videos of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, courtesy of drummer Glen Thomas' YouTube channel! On April 22nd, the band played at a stag & doe, and despite being a private event, Glen filmed two songs there and presumably got permission to do so and upload them. The videos see Soundcheck covering Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" and, as embedded below, Blink-182's "All The Small Things", both featuring Cameron Oliver on vocals without playing guitar. I'm not sure that Blink-182 is a great fit for Cameron vocally, but the covers are well handled and the audio quality isn't bad despite the sometimes jittery camera angles. Check these out above & below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon, plus this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! Thanks everyone!