Vanity First Concert Preview, New Videos, And Much More!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Monday night, including some assorted shorter updates, new videos, and leading off, a mid-week concert preview, so here's what you should know!

A special Tuesday night concert goes down TOMORROW when local punk trio Vanity First return to the stage at new local arts/concert venue The Distraction! Located at the former Big Guns Barbershop building at 72 East Street (down the road from Coch's Corner), this will be the second public concert held here, following former Raincourt frontman Eli Russell's solo gig there this past Thursday.  Unless you were at that concert, there will still be a lot of unknowns about The Distraction, but come on out tomorrow if you can to see what it's like! This will be Vanity First's... first concert since their June headlining gig at Soo Blaster, though fans will have seen Mikhal and Keegan since with Hails, and Mikhal alone in multiple other projects. It's good to see them back with Andrew after an unusually long break, and hopefully they draw a solid crowd to The Distraction tomorrow!

While this is unfortunately on a school/work night for many, it will have an early 7:00 PM start time, and admission is by donation ($5 is suggested). The venue is an alcohol/drug free zone, so this is obviously all ages, though be advised that it's not a handicap-friendly building due to the stairs to enter the front of the building. Punk fans should get their money's worth from Vanity First's return set, let alone at a new venue, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Vanity First live!

Next up, here's a brand new video from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's Facebook page! This comes from their Halloween party gig at The Esquire Club on the 28th (the costumes give that away), and it features them covering The Knack's "My Sharona". Unlike prior videos from this concert, this was filmed from further back behind much of the crowd, so you don't get a great view of most of the band. This 37 seconds-long snippet still sounds good with the energy you'd hope for at a Halloween party, so give it a look for yourselves below! Yes, I am aware that Silent 9 have posted a handful of videos as "Stories" on Facebook too, but "Stories" aren't viewable more than twice, let alone embeddable here.

Also today, here's two new videos from local/Barrie alt-hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith's Facebook page from December 5th & 8th where he tells his fans how you can get your own music printed on vinyl records! The first video (embedded below) has Mike outlining the struggles and cost that used to be involved in printing his studio material on vinyl until he discovered Kunaki, the website that allows you to easily upload your albums and have records printed on demand on both CDs and vinyl, which is how you're able to buy vinyl copies of his newest albums today. The "part 2" video has Mike demonstrating the quality of Kunaki-printed vinyl records by playing part of "I've Seen It Before" from his new album "All The Best In All You Do" on a turntable. Personally, I'd have had these videos uploaded as one 3 minute video, perhaps while talking a little slower, but these were cross-posted on TikTok, so that may explain the formatting and structure.

Mike has strongly advocated for and promoted Kunaki since discovering it, and while I don't know how many non-Morningstar Records-affiliated musicians in town use it, fans who have heard Mike's recent catalogue on vinyl will be able to speak to its quality! Hopefully these videos are a good reminder that getting your albums on vinyl isn't the hassle it once was, so given them a watch above and below! 

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name: 

 

• I have moved local extreme metal solo project Awokest to our inactive band links. One of the many project names used by Chase Wigmore apart from his own eponymous material, Awokest last posted on social media in November 2021, but I left Awokest in our active links until now due to Awokest-branded material being shared/posted on Chase's eponymous accounts as late as last fall. The lines between Chase's varying projects have admittedly gotten blurry, but with his teased break/hiatus from original music after "The Chaotic Rite" comes out, that may not bode well for his other efforts. We'll let you know if Awokest turn up again!
• In a lineup correction for the Fuller reunion at LopLops Lounge next Thursday, Pointless/Peach Thieves drummer David Peredun will be behind the kit for their set, not Nathan Sauve from their original run. I apologize for any confusion, I can be bad with faces and the similarly blonde hair in the jam session preview videos threw me off (note also that I don't believe he was publically confirmed by name on social media). David is a talented drummer across multiple genres, so don't miss him with Fuller next week, and thanks to frontman Jamie Vincent for letting me know!
• Local cybergrind/gorenoise solo project Malignant Neoplasm have also been moved to our inactive band links, as they have not posted on social media since November of last year aside from posts to promote their active sister project Crucify The Whore. Active since 2013, Malignant Neoplasm added an electronic approach and (originally) songs about medical conditions to the minimalist goregrind attack of C.T.W. and had their own distinct original material through Blood Shed Productions for the better part of a decade, though their music and imagery remained an acquired taste. Hopefully fans will hear much more from Tyler with C.T.W. and other acts in the new year!
  

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more on the site as the month continues! Thanks everyone!