At long last, let's finally conclude our coverage of SooToday's live-stream from last month's third Lopstock concert at LopLops Lounge! For sake of convenience, you can read our posts on the first eight acts via clicking these links: Hannah Lindsay & Bold Noize, Jupiter Marvelous & Juliana Regan, Sawbé & Stoneburgh and The Hollow Heads, and Far From Fine & Handsome Sandwich. The ninth and penultimate act at Lopstock III was online page-less local indie/drone rock band Pointless, featuring ex-Treble Charger singer/guitarist Bill Priddle, his All The Tired Horses bandmate Robert Sartini (Pillory), Robert's old Id Iota bandmate Dustin Goodall (ex-Pixo Control) on bass, and Robert's old Peach Thieves bandmate David Peredun (ex-Ashes To Dust) on drums. Video footage resumes 6:26:17 into the 8+ hour live-stream, with Lopstock MC/promoter Brendan Garlick introducing their set.
Of note, Brendan said that attendees positively compared this year's Lopstock to the last one in 2015, he announced the winner of a surprise raffle for a Lopstock poster signed by all ten acts, and he kinda plugged Pointless on the basis of Bill's Treble Charger work while trying to be low key about it. Oddly, Brendan said that this is the "first time you can hear them in Sault Ste. Marie", despite Pointless having debuted locally in 2017. Their set started with two original songs not introduced by name (linked here and here), before playing a song named "Alright Already". Next is the Treble Charger deep cut "Forever Knowing" (from "Maybe It's Me"), which was the first cover at Lopstock since Juliana Regan's set four hours prior, Bill co-writing it in the first place acknowledged. The following two songs (linked here and here) were also unannounced by name, but the next one ("If It's All The Same") was.
Pointless must have been an exception to the "one cover per band" rule (this is Bill Priddle's band, after all!), as their last four songs were all covers. Next up was Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine", followed by another Treble Charger deep cut, this time "Drive", which was the last song on their last album (to date), 2002's "Detox". A false ending led to an abbreviated rendition of Guided By Voices' "A Salty Salute", before closing with Bill's signature Treble Charger song, "Red" (from both "nc17" and "Maybe It's Me"). Entertaining set that, while not leaning into punk given Bill's musical preferences, had strong musicianship, and his dry humour was present even if he didn't talk to the audience much between tracks, and I do appreciate that the drone/noise element was toned down from early Pointless gigs! If you like early and Bill-led Treble Charger, you should like Pointless' Lopstock set!
Lopstock III surprisingly ended with young local metal trio The BAG, in what I can only assume was due to scheduling needs for them/earlier acts, if not an intentional effort to put the heaviest scheduled band on last. They clearly had fans out for the long haul though, complete with official BAG t-shirts! Be advised that The BAG did not introduce ANY songs at Lopstock by name, so I apologize in advance for only having two original songs (their released singles) titled here. Their set opened with their debut single "Eccentric Refuge", followed by two more original cuts linked here & here. Fourth was their other single "Our Rock", before playing this fast & hard original, a brief instrumental, and, if you believe guitarist Spencer MacGillivray, "the punkiest song we've got". The BAG next played a brand new song that was written for Lopstock, followed by this slower & longer cut and another new song written by drummer Bradley Nixon.
Spencer, Austin, and Bradley finished up with a somewhat funkier original, and after Brendan offered some closing remarks, The BAG got to play an encore song, which was their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" (also not introduced by name, but everyone knows it). If you haven't seen The BAG live yet, then you'll get an in-your-face slice of metal here with lots of subgenre influences and a down & dirty intensity, and while I do wish that the guys would talk more between songs (how did they not introduce even ONE song by name?!), having The BAG around is a promising sign for the local metal scene! Overall, huge kudos to Brendan Garlick & Sault Noir for putting on such a huge concert (especially after an eight year hiatus for Lopstock), and while I don't know how the SooToday deal came together for the live-stream, the professional quality of the footage (with very few technical nitpicks) is great for home viewers who missed out!
Whether I knew the song names or not, every single individual song is linked in our five Lopstock recap posts linked above, so if you want to jump to a specific band or song, you'll know how (the bands are similarly timestamped on YouTube, if not the songs). There's obviously a lot to see here, but it's a fun watch for fans of modern original local music, so check out the entire Lopstock III live-stream below,and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
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