Let's spend today's post by covering some recent news and notes from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what have they been up to since seemingly wrapping up their new album's recording sessions last month? The album was "in the bank and just waiting for mixes" as of March 3rd, for the record. Spades played three concerts this month in Southern Ontario, starting when they opened for new guitarist Matthew Voros' psychobilly band The House Of Haunt at The Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on March 7th, and they did post a recap video onto their Facebook page from that night. While a short and vertical video, it is not a "Reel", so I can embed it here! The 2:49 video features the guys arriving at and getting ready for their set, and while live concert footage is rarely a highlight for the recap videos, you do see a bit of Spades' set, confirming that they have finally filled their vacant bassist position, so who has signed on?
While not confirmed by name on the band's social media at that point, Matthew's House of Haunt bandmate Sean MacNab has officially replaced the already departed James Roy Daley on bass in Spades GT (Sean confirmed his addition on his personal Facebook page earlier this month). You may also recognize Sean from bands like Defile and Conflicting Plaid, and he does have multi-instrumental talent, as he drums for the latter group. We'll have fuller media of Spades with Sean soon, but he is a solid bassist, and it's good to see the guys finally restored whole as a five-piece! If anything, the recap video shines more for showing The House of Haunt's set anyway, with closer camera angles and some very eclectic fans performing on the floor, but Spades' set reportedly went well despite "a couple (of) boo boos". Good stuff for a recap video, so give everything included from The Hard Luck Bar a watch below!
The following day, Spades played in their adopted hometown of Barrie for the first time this year, when they rocked The Queens Nightclub with guitarist Daniel Horton's other punk band The Fast Life, Cornwall metal band Hellrager (featuring ex-Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin) and fellow Cornwall hard rockers Don't Tell Sarah. Another recap video was shared from this concert, and while a little longer (just over 3 minutes) and not a "Reel", it's still vertical, and I still can't embed this recap video here due to Facebook content matching the backing studio material added in post, so click here to check out the full recap video. It features Daniel hanging out with attendees (primarily members of Hellrager, Jay included) before showing actual video footage with raw audio of all four bands! If only this wasn't a recap video (and wasn't shot vertically), and I wonder how much footage was cut in editing? Some of the visual fidelity is inconsistent (Spades' video is fuzzy), but the audio is solid for the clips that we do get, and Spades are playing their brand new song "We Are United" in their clips!
The brotherhood between the four bands is definitely visible on camera, and while that will mean more if you're in Barrie/the GTA, it is great to see that the former Jack Spades have been so embraced and integrated into the scene down south! Daniel belatedly chimes in at video's end as he didn't do any on-camera thank yous or plugs at The Queens Nightclub. Good stuff across the board, so give this recap video a watch at this link or above!
Lastly, in a later announcement from earlier this month, Spades GT joined nine other bands on March 14th to open for London-based tribute band System A La Down at The Rockpile in Toronto. This was a memorial concert for Steve Edwin MacLeod, who was the sound guy at multiple Spades concerts at The Rockpile over the years. Kudos to everyone involved for throwing this tribute show together on such quick notice, and from what I've read, Steve seemed like a great guy! You can see 61 photos of Spades GT's set at this link courtesy of attendee Miles George, and while there was a recap video on the band's Facebook page, it was sadly uploaded as a "Reel", so I can't embed it here. Daniel again takes the lead here, shooting lots of footage of him mingling with attendees and his bandmates, with Sean getting his most camera time yet since joining Spades. There is some live footage of their set here (nothing really of the other bands), but there's no raw live audio, and the "Reel" ends super abruptly.
What we do see is effective to set up Spades' set, and you do get more pre-set input from the band as a whole than on the other March concert recap videos, so click here to check it out, but remember, this one is a "Reel" and you can't play it in background tabs. When we next talk about Spades GT on the SMS, it will be via longer raw footage of their set at The Rockpile, so stay tuned for that in the near future! Thanks everyone, and as they like to say, raise 'em up and cause a scene!
1 comment:
Hey. Thank you so much for the blog post ! Amazing!
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