LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bookclub) Plus Some New Video Uploads!!

I hope that all of our Canadian readers had a good Canada Day, however you chose to celebrate! The long weekend isn't over yet, so here's some all-Sault Ontario content to check out, including a bunch of new videos, and to lead off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local alternative/Punk cover quintet Bookclub will take part in this year's Summer Concert Series at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion when they take to the stage under the big tent THIS TUESDAY! Apologies for the short notice, the schedule was only announced on the Roberta Bondar Park & Marina's Facebook page this past Tuesday. As Bookclub are kicking off the concert series, this was always destined to be covered on short notice here, Bookclub's lack of an online page to publically promote their own shows with acknowledged. Surprisingly, Bookclub are the only band of a hard rock/punk-leaning persuasion to play at this year's summer concert series, which sees local bands (typically covers-centric ones) rocking out at the Pavilion on TUESDAY and Thursday evenings throughout July and August. If you want to see Surfers and Room 206 alumni playing some unique covers on TUESDAY evening, head downtown!

This FREE & ALL AGES concert has a 7:00 PM start time on TUESDAY, with the show ending at 9:00 PM, and chairs will be provided to sit on if desired. The tent will obviously provide protection from the elements, but 9&10 News is calling for the warmest temperatures of the week ahead that day, so look for weather in the low-mid 20s Celsius, and the chance of rain is 10% that night, if at all, as of today. This should be a fun excuse to get some free live music if you're up for going to the Pavilion tent on a school/work night, so visit the above links for more on TUESDAY'S show and the rest of the Summer Concert Series, and here's Bookclub live!

Next up, let's stick with Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon, namely the latest cover from his Mikey & His Uke project! Surprisingly, the newest cover choice (as uploaded to the project's YouTube channel this past Tuesday) is not of a Canadian band for a Canada Day tie-in, as he opted for "Amoeba" by American hardcore punk legends The Adolescents, tying in with the fifth anniversary of bassist Steve Soto's death. As always, this is a remotely filmed cover from Mikey and a one-off supergroup, with the lineup here comprised of Voodoo Glow Skulls singer Efrem Schulz, his Death By Stereo bandmate Mike Cambra (an Adolescents alum himself) on backing vocals, prolific television cartoon composer Ego Plum on guitar, Faith No More bassist Billy Gould, Dickies drummer Adam Gomez, and Mikey himself on guitar and (initially) ukelele. Ego is originally credited while in a gorilla costume, but he performs out of it too via a separate camera.

Other scenes are pictured as well that don't necessarily feature the credited musicians, including someone on keyboard and a cameo by someone that Adolescents fans will instantly know. Strong cover with intense vocals from Efren and a nice unique array of visuals (vertical camera-work for Ego acknowledged), and note that Mikey is back performing in another industrial area for his clips, which has been a theme as of late. Good stuff, so check out Mikey & His Uke's newest cover below!

Also today, here's a new video from local psychedelic hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley's YouTube channel! Their first sign of public activity of any kind since last fall, this is a music video for their song "The Village", presumably from their long-gestating debut album (the 2021 date at the end of the video despite this being 2023 would be proof of that!). The video features assorted live clips of the band (not directly synced up with the song though), as well as assorted stock footage/newsreel clips of what appears to be a small European village from the 20th century, with post-production effects to add old television grain and whatnot. Assuming that this is a positive sign towards the album getting released at some point, I'll hold comment on the song pending our album review, but the video isn't badly done at all, if often washed out for the colour band footage. Check out The Uncanny Valley's new music video for yourself below!

Let's close today by acknowledging some videos from the i.o-headlined concert at The Drawing Club on Bruce Street last month, courtesy of promoters Dryer Fire's Facebook page, and by videos, I mean "Reels". While their page has posted a couple of scatted live performance "Reels" dating back to last summer, a company rep filmed all three acts at the i.o show on June 5th as such, meaning that they are all vertical & short by design, unplayable in background tabs, and unembeddable on external websites. Not ideal for SMS purposes, but alas, I'll have to make due, and at least here, the vertical camera angle means less when the show only had solo performers! i.o's "Reel" is of project leader Max Patterson in the midst of a chaotic drum solo (note where his tambourine is located) while local/Toronto outsider folk musician Shae Tull's "Reel" is filmed from further away, and gives more of a view of The Drawing Club's interior space.

Vanity First/Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto's emo/folk punk solo project Agnosticism's "Reel" was filmed at a side-stage vantage point, but it is the closest of the three to the artist, and it captures his passionate, slow-building song well! This would translate to a full band nicely if he took Agnosticism back down that road! Entertaining watches, if still way too limiting compared to just normal video uploads (or even YouTube "Shorts"), so visit the above links to watch them, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!