Blame a busy summer schedule for the delay here, but let's take time today to look at recent-ish updates from local/Barrie crossover thrash quartet Spades GT in this post! We left off in mid-May, with the former Jack Spades spending most of the rest of the month plugging their summer concert schedule, with their first show of the season being a headlining date at The Casbah Lounge in Hamilton on June 8th. The band claimed that this was "our first time" in Hamilton, and that is surprisingly true, though they did drop out of a planned set opening for Death Perception there in July 2023. Starting with this gig, Spades GT actually welcomed a second guitarist to their live lineup, namely Matthew "Fang" Voros, who fronts the Burlington psychobilly band The House Of Haunt (Spades bassist James Roy Daley has played with this band in the past). They have not said if Matt has joined the group full time, but he played at every show of theirs in June & July.
Spades GT's next show was on June 11th in their Barrie homebase, which was allegedly the "only Barrie show we('ve) got for 2024". This show saw them and two other bands open for the legendary Dayglo Abortions at The Queens Nightclub, in a make-up date of sorts for the planned Dayglo/Spades tour run in December that was cancelled after Murray "The Cretin" Acton underwent cancer surgery. Surprisingly, videos (let alone their vertical recap videos) were not posted on the band's Facebook page from either of these dates, but they would shoot one three days after the Dayglo concert! Spades made their way to Cornwall on June 14th, where they and ex-guitarist Jay Sarrazin's metal band Hellrager opened for Montreal hardcore punk icons The Ripcordz at La Maison Tavern. The recap video (still vertical but thankfully not a "Reel") was uploaded to their Facebook page on June 18th, so what is there to see here?
This recap video is an "extended cut" running for almost five minutes, which is more than welcomed! It features Spades arriving at the venue, checking out the interior, hanging out with the guys in The Ripcordz and Hellrager, and writing out their setlists, before we see very brief footage from the concert proper, and without any live audio from the bands (this isn't shocking for these recaps, but still). The video ends with the guys praising the gig and hitting the road. I still kinda wanna see raw (and horizontal) video of full songs, especially given Matt's presence, but this was a fun and well edited highlight reel for fans, so check it out for yourselves below!
Also in the fallout of the Ripcordz show in Cornwall, drummer Tyler Reiner starred in this Facebook video from June 16th where he wished everyone a happy Father's Day, hyped up how well the Cornwall gig went (they even consider Cornwall to be a "second home"), and they plan to come back there even heavier and faster next year. He also heavily hyped Duck Tape (a young Cornwall punk band) for their encouraging opening set. Not a lot here of a directly local relevance, but you can tell that everything went well at La Maison Tavern in June, so check this clip out below!
The band next played live in Toronto on July 11th when they opened for fellow Saultite Andrew Kiteley and his Oshawa hardcore punk band Random Killing at The Dance Cave above Lee's Palace. This show also featured Ottawa punk band BALM Squad, who will make their local debut at The Stellar Door under The Distraction this Thursday when they open for Total Chaos (preview forthcoming). The Toronto concert did not get the recap video treatment, but attendee Miles LeBlanc's extensive photo album from The Dance Cave was shared by Spades GT on Facebook, and he got some excellent shots throughout the night, so don't bypass them! The following day, Spades returned to Spiderfest in Meyersburg for the first time since 2021, which will be familiar to Jack Spades-era fans, given that they made the pilgrimage there annually for a number of years while still fully based out of the Soo! The guys opened for the likes of The Ripcordz, Random Killing, and The Bunchofuckingoofs there on July 12th, and while photos were shared on Facebook, there were no videos.
Unless stuff from their June-July gigs were belatedly posted to social media in the ensuing months, that's two months caught up for Spades GT's recent activity! When we pick things back up with J.D., Daniel, James, and Tyler (and Matt?), it will be in late August after they took a month+ off from the stage, so stay tuned for all of that soon! Thanks everyone!
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