Tarnished News, Updates, And Media!!

Here's the latest from Sault Michigan hard rock/classic metal band Tarnished, so what's new from them in the past week? Regarding their most recent local date (when they headlined at The Merchants Bar on May 18th), a video from the show was uploaded to their Facebook page on the 24th, and it is of their cover of Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)"! For this song, frontman Alex Traynor just sang and did not play guitar. With Josh Fair moving from drums to guitar seemingly full-time for their plugged-in gigs, and bassist Parker Talentino playing guitar for at least this night, Rhythm & Brews/ex-Highway 63 bandmates Chris Leask and Ron Suchey handled bass and drums here. Alex's stage presence when he doesn't have to play an instrument is a work in progress, but everyone handles this Quiet Riot classic well, especially if you can get a look beyond the colourful stage lighting! Check out the video for yourselves below!

As previewed in this "Reel" and teased on-camera by Alex & Josh in this other "Reel", Tarnished officially released their new studio single "Lightswitch" this past Friday! This is the song that the guys recorded with producer Matt Dalton at Rock Hill Sound in Rochester Hills (outside of Detroit) in January, and the trip there & the recording sessions were documented in "Reels" at the time. Most of them were cross-posted as "Shorts" on their YouTube channel, in its first uploads in three years. Now, Tarnished claim that this song is available on "all music streaming platforms", a claim that is very easy to debunk no matter which local musician says it, so don't think I'm calling Tarnished out. In actuality, "Lightswitch" can officially be heard via their YouTube channel and their auto-generated YouTube Music channel, as well as on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Boomplay, Deezer, Qobuz, Next 2 Spit(?) and Ethiopian Music Store(?!)

While that is definitely a lot of streaming services to host a local act's material, it's definitely not "all" of them of them (Bandcamp, Tidal, and Napster come to mind, among others), but most of you will be able to find "Lightswitch" easily! Personnel wise, I believe this was recorded by just Alex, Josh, and Parker, and it's really not clear who played what on the final product (all three have played guitar and bass in past Tarnished gigs). It's known that Josh wants to play guitar rather than drum now, but did he drum in studio on "Lightswitch"? Maybe not, as Alex is clearly shown spinning drumsticks in this "Reel" hyping the single's release. Following that breadcrumb, Tarnished actually played a short notice concert this past Saturday downstate in Rose City (3 hours south of here) at The Bar-N, which I am fairly certain is the host venue of Barn Fest, the festival that Tarnished are playing at the end of August.

Both Barn Fest and the show on Saturday were headlined by Rose City hard rock band Tribe 898, who will be familiar to readers in the Saginaw area. While videos from the show have been teased, Tarnished started off by posting photos from the Rose City concert on Facebook, and while the drummer's identity is concealed in most shots, Alex is seen behind the kit in a few of them, so he must have been singing and drumming simultaneously. Only one of the pictures has Alex on guitar, so Josh was presumably on drums in that case (Parker is on bass in every shot that he's in). With Alex not a focus in these pictures, it almost looks like a different band, but these are really nice quality (if mostly monochrome) pictures of Tarnished in action! Back to "Lightswitch", the song was premiered on Rock 101 during Scott Cook In The Morning on Friday, and you can see what Scott had to say about the song in this "Reel"!

Filmed off of a vehicle's radio display, Scott (a known '80s metal fan, as Hair Scare fans know) definitely seemed to like the song, and it's great to see a local band get airplay on 101.3 FM! Alas, local bands never seem to get into Rock 101's rotation unless Scott plays them on one of his shows. Lastly for this single-band post, I should give my thoughts on "Lightswitch" as it's a standalone single (no word on if we'll see this and "SDR&R" on an album at some point). Solid enough track with a modern sensibility and recording style on top of their 1980s seasoned composition, if not at full blast, and it lets Alex show off his vocal range well, so give "Lightswitch" a listen for yourself below and on all many streaming services!

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