Mikey & His Uke's New Cover, Plus Spades GT Updates!!

Let's cover some overdue recent updates from a prominent local group in today's post, but first, we have a big new cover video from a fan favourite local project, so here's what you should know!

After taking July off, Mikey & His Uke is back with a brand new cover video on their YouTube channel! This time out, Bookclub/ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon is going metal, as to honour last months 40th anniversary of Metallica's debut album "Kill 'Em All", Mikey has assembled a far flung all-star band to cover "Motorbreath", so who did Mikey get for this one? On vocals is Jason Shevchuk of None More Black and Kid Dynamite, while guitarists include Ian Fowles (Aquabats/Death By Stereo) and Dave Pino from Andrew W.K.'s band, and the drummer is Authority Zero's Chris Dalley. Usually, Mikey himself plays guitar, but he instead handles bass here, plus his usual ukelele intro before dropping that pretense. Strong cover with Jason's vocals adding a punk flavour to this thrash metal classic, and everyone holds up their end of the musical bargain, but the post-production filter didn't strike me as necessary.

If you're curious, Mikey isn't playing anywhere recognizable in his scenes, rather an empty (to the viewer) room with gray walls. Nothing else shocking to report from the performers' videos, but Jason is sure in your face with his! Give Mikey & His Uke's new Metallica cover a watch below, and stay tuned for more from the project in the fall!

Next up, here is the latest from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what's new from the former Jack Spades' camp over the past month? On July 26th, they were plugged by The Metal Voice in this Facebook post which said that their new album "Sewer City Radio" has "8 blistering tracks", but aside from not crediting Jay Sarrazin on guitar, there's nothing that we don't already know there. Still good promotion! On August 5th, Spades GT were played on the Great Britain-based Stoverload Music Podcast, and it's great to see that they're getting some attention across the pond, so click here to check out that episode. In a mild surprise, the band revealed on August 4th that they had made a lyric video! As previewed in this "Reel" featuring the ending of a commencement speech by U.S. Navy Admiral William McRaven, the video is for "Black On Black", and is set to footage of military exercises.

The band does not feature on camera, but guitarist Daniel Horton directed/produced the video, and bassist James Roy Daley handled the on-screen text for the lyrics. The video was released to their YouTube channel and Facebook page on the 11th and is embedded below. While my review of "Sewer City Radio" isn't until next month, the tone of the video did catch me by surprise, but it was well edited! Their most recent show was at the Cornwall Chaos fundraiser festival for the Cornwall Hospice on the 19th, where they and Jay's metal band Hellrager were smack dab in the middle of the card, and in their newest posts, they shared two new reviews of "Sewer City Radio". One is from The Metal Pit's Jim Harrison, who gave it a 9/10. Jim praised it as "top shelf material", "groundbreaking", and a "fresh sound", and outlined each song briefly. Solid review, so click here to read it for yourself!

The other review is from Dennis Jarman of Planet Mosh, who gave it a 5 star rating, calling it "incendiary" and "a highly impressive debut" (someone may want to send him Jack Spades' albums!), while also breaking down each song individually. Of note, neither of these reviews list Jay Sarrazin as a band member either, but Dennis credited him on lead guitar for only two songs: "Final Girl" (where he performed in the music video) and "Red". Is this indicative of him leaving the band, or is his busy schedule with multiple other bands just limiting his availability? No one has firmly said, but he's clearly on good terms with the band regardless! Dennis also confirmed that the title track of "Sewer City Radio" is the one featuring Anvil's Steve "Lips" Kudlow with a guest guitar solo, something that wasn't made overly clear in much of the album's prior promotion

Give Dennis' review a read above! Spades GT's next two announced shows are both in Toronto, where they will open for Random Killing at The Bovine Sex Club on September 23rd, followed by a set opening for Anvil at The Rockpile on November 17th. The guys are certainly no strangers to either band, either from the Jack or GT eras, so those shows should go over well! Visit the above links for much more on what Spades GT have been up to lately, and here's their "Black On Black" lyric video!

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