LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Treble Charger & HeadFirst), Plus Handsome Sandwich Updates!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of St. Catharines musician Matt Alvarez, who passed away earlier this week, as per numerous Facebook postings. While not a local musician, Matt was certainly known to many in the Soo, as he was the fiddle player in Dirtfight, the St. Catharines-based folk/bluegrass band that the members of Shit Liver formed after they moved down south in the mid-2010s. During Josh, Mike, and Matt Baic's trips back home, they would often bring Matt Alvarez along too, with Dirtfight notably playing at The Gore Street Cafe in 2016 and The Algonquin Pub in 2017, as well at at least one open mic night here. Matt Alvarez also mixed & mastered Shit Liver's 2018 studio album "Hitting The Fan". Beyond his local connections, Matt was a singer and guitarist in the St. Catharines punk band Life Problems (among others), and recorded under the solo handle The Ole Razzle Dazzle.

Matt was also an accomplished visual artist, and contributed to the Hotdog Fudge zine. I don't recall meeting Matt directly in his Soo trips (I'm sure I must have), but the condolences and remembrances over the last few days point to a very kind, generous, and talented person who will be missed by so many people in Southern Ontario and afar. If you bypassed Dirtfight based on the tonal shift from Shit Liver's base, do give them a listen to hear a fun and different musical side of theirs, as Matt was very important in their final run in St. Catharines. R.I.P. Matt!

Today's post otherwise looks at some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and recent updates from a band recently on the road, so let's lead off with the first of those new shows, as rising local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will make their first ever solo headlining appearances outside of Reggie's next month! The band announced on their Facebook page on January 9th that they would play Shooters Downstairs Lounge for the first time on Saturday, February 17th, so fans of their hard rocking covers will want to circle that date! Remember, Shooters have flipped their band and DJ nights around for 2024, hence why this one-nighter is on the 17th and not the 16th. The other new dates will see HeadFirst debut at Jay's Piston Broke Pub for a full weekend on Friday, February 23rd & Saturday, February 24th! Be advised that HeadFirst accidentally dated these shows as being on the 22nd & 23rd (Thursday and Friday), which I'm surprised they haven't corrected yet.

Jay's also confirmed the shows (and the normal Friday-Saturday scheduling) via the concert calendar on their Facebook page on Thursday, rounding out the former Reggie's West's announced concerts for next month. It's great to see HeadFirst spreading their wings to some new venues (Toystock aside), so don't miss this talented young band rocking out elsewhere next month, and they are taking bookings for public and private gigs if you're looking! All three new dates are 9:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, here's a huge new concert announcement from late last week, as local/Toronto indie/punk standouts Treble Charger will reunite for a special fundraiser concert on Thursday, March 7th at The Machine Shop! Last seen on a local stage at Rotaryfest in 2018 (and at The Machine Shop for that venue's launch event in 2015), this concert is being held as a fundraiser for Algoma University's music program, which is of course linked to the Algoma Conservatory of Music at Mill Square, which frontman Greig Nori is the general manager of. Given the great work at the university and conservatory towards music education and performance, any promotion and aid is very useful, and hopefully Treble Charger's first local show in almost six years will benefit the Algoma University program nicely! The Eventbrite page for this show says that the band will be "accompanied by Algoma University faculty and students". 

It's ambiguous whether this means that Algoma students/faculty are opening for Treble Charger or playing directly with them, but for reference, Greig & Bill had played their 2012-2018 reunion gigs alongside session bassists & drummers. We'll let you know if we get clarity on this! An all ages concert at 8:00 PM, tickets run for $40 (plus processing fees/taxes) at this link, and a VIP package including balcony seating and a meet & greet with the band is also available for $65. I'll stop short of moving Treble Charger back to our active band links for now, but it's great to see Greig & Bill back, if only for one night, so definitely visit the Facebook event page for more details on this special reunion concert!

Let's finish up with the latest from local alternative/hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, who ended 2023 and started 2024 primarily on the road! As you may know, they played gigs in Sudbury and Oshawa in November and were just on the road this weekend for shows in Ottawa and Cornwall, so while reader interest will vary given that the shows were all 4+ hours away, they posted event pages and such for all of them on their Facebook page. Of note, their show yesterday in Cornwall saw them open for Hellrager, the metal band featuring part-time Spades GT guitarist Jay Sarrazin that you may have seen at last year's Northern Vibe Festival. This "Reel" showed off their planned sets for both of this weekend's shows, featuring songs from "Deconstructed", the yet-released "Party Fuel", "Without You", and "All Done Now", and their cover of Tones & I's "Dance Monkey" being played on one/both dates. Always neat seeing set sheets!

Official t-shirts (a limited run in both red & black) and stickers were on sale for their tour dates, as well as CDs, which were documented in "Reels" and photos alike. Re: their upcoming EP, the latest update was this "Reel" from December 21st featuring guitarist Mitch Sirie finishing his lead guitar tracking in studio, with the caption noting that Taylor Emlaw's vocals were last to be recorded. I wish this wasn't a "Reel" so I could embed it here, but it's a quality teaser of Mitch's work on the new material! Hopefully the Sandwich's out-of-town shows were hits, and that we hear much more from them here and afar in 2024! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week. Thanks everyone!