Our Recap Of Brad Example's Afterparty Episode With Dustin Jones & Mikey Hawdon!!

As some readers may be aware, former Room 206 bassist/Role Models frontman bassist Brad "Example" Lacell has been hosting his own live-streamed interview/performance series on his YouTube channel named The Afterparty since 2024, where he jams and talks with musicians remotely from his current Atikokan homebase. Brad is among the local musicians who has gotten involved in the "DIY independent musician networking" community and has made friends and connections from far flung locales (some you'll recognize from Mike Haggith interviews and appearances), but Brad has done episodes with local talent before, like Frank Deresti and Jay Case. Brad's rootsier, country-inflected solo material largely doesn't cross our radar on its own, so that has kept me from covering Afterparty episodes in the past, but that changes today, as 3/4ths of The Inner City Surfers reunited last week!

This unites Brad with singer/guitarist Dustin Jones and drummer Mikey Hawdon (alas, no Dave) for a 58 minute acoustic jam, and despite the AI cover image, they were filmed remotely and not around a campfire with a bear in the lake behind them. In fact, Mikey & Dustin were together at Dustin's own Mission Control Studios, so things in familiar in that respect! The episode starts with Brad playing the late-era Surfers original "Excess Express", followed by "Been Done" from their debut self-titled "blue album". Brad hands things off to his old bandmates next, with Dustin starting with a solo rendition of "Screwed" from "Laughing On The Outside" (later re-recorded for their self-titled "black album"). After some light conversation, including pondering why Brad wasn't wearing a shirt, Mikey performs his first song, and rather than do a Surfers cut, he instead covered Sloppy Seconds' "Human Waste".

Remember, Mikey was the Inner City Surfers' drummer, though him switching instruments with Dustin was a common occurrence live. Afterwards, Brad returns for his first covers of the live-stream, specifically Sebadoh's "Rebound" and John Prine's "Souvenirs" (Brad is a massive John Prine fan and it shows in his solo music). We return to the Soo for the next songs, and in a surprise, the aforementioned Frank Deresti (of Lake Effect fame) joins in on mandolin for a rendition of "Father Time" from Dustin's inactive solo project Jonesy Land, which Frank collaborated with Dustin on in the first place. Mikey takes the spotlight next for "Clouds Float By", which is a more recent solo composition of his. The second half of the episode begins with Brad playing two more Surfers originals, including "Get High" from "Laughing On The Outside" and "Rollin'" from their oft-forgotten third album "Time To Travel On".

Dustin (and Frank) return to the forefront next for Dustin's first outside cover of the episode, namely The Commodores' "Easy", and it's definitely not the Faith No More cover given the presence of the second verse here. Mikey's next song actually is a collaboration with both Dustin and Frank, so finally, we can technically say that Dos Amigos played here, albeit with guest mandolin! This song was "Whole New Day", a song of Brad's from The Surfers' "Laughing On The Outside", and if you like that particular album, you'll like that Brad plays "TV" from it when he begins his last chunk of the stream! Brad's last song of the episode is "Backwards", one of the first songs that he and Dustin wrote for the "blue album". The episode closes with Mikey & Dustin (with Frank hopping back in midway through) covering Poison's deep cut "Look But You Can't Touch", followed by thank yous.

Not an interview series here, just an unplugged reunion of most of one of the Soo's biggest punk bands, and fans will like that eight of their songs were tackled here, albeit nothing that 100% originated on the "black album". While mostly an even split between the Soo and Atikokan, I would have liked to have seen Mikey involved a little more, as he only performed on four songs, but Dos Amigos proper did emerge in the back half! There were occasional flubs, and I do miss Brad's beard, but if you love The Inner City Surfers, check out this fun and loose Afterparty episode below, and see much more from Brad and various guests at this link! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of The Afterparty Episode With Brad Example & Jamie Vincent!!

Remember the slate of at-home music performance/interview series that increasingly cropped up in the early 2020s during the pandemic? Well, some are either still going on or debuted after things eased up, and one notable for many locals is The Afterparty, hosted by Inner City Surfers/Room 206 bassist Brad "Example" Lacell! Two seasons of 10 episodes apiece have been posted to Brad's YouTube channel in the past year, featuring at-home acoustic jams and chit-chat with and without guests from afar, not to mention live-stream viewers. These mostly haven't really crossed the SMS' radar so far for a few reasons, including that Brad has lived in Atikokan for many years now, most of his solo material is rootsier and folksier than his local punk work, and the guests that he's had on The Afterparty so far are mostly not local (though Jay Case was his guest in episode #12). However, the penultimate episode of season 2 fits the SMS!

Reportedly the second-to-last episode period of this series, Brad (who did shave off his trademark beard late last year) interviewed veteran local punk/metal musician Jamie Vincent in this episode from January 4th! Readers may recall seeing Jamie as the drummer in AlgomA and No Funeral, and the frontman of Fuller and Bad Back, among other groups here and in Edmonton. This takes on the loose format saw in Mike Haggith's pandemic livestreams with a special guest, where he and the guest alternate playing songs while occasionally checking out and responding to live-stream comments (Brad is using StreamYard for that). Episode #19 of The Afterparty begins with Brad playing his original "Sandbox" and covering John Prine's "That's The Way The World Goes Round", before Jamie takes over with a cover of T. Rex's "Spaceball Ricochet" and an original song that he co-wrote a decade or so ago, though he didn't give its name.

Afterwards, Brad notices that Jamie's old Fuller bandmate Mark Rand was commenting, leading to some discussion about the 2000s local punk/emo band's 2023 reunion concert, with Jamie revealing there that they recorded their old original material from Mark's run with the band in studio, but were still unsure of how they were going to release and finish the songs. That was rumoured at the time, but it's good to get 100% public confirmation, and hopefully the songs do get put out somehow! Remember, their actual self-titled EP from 2002 predated Mark joining Fuller, and none of its songs had titles. Brad takes over next to cover The Band's "Up On Cripple Creek" (R.I.P. Garth Hudson), before tackling The Inner City Surfers' classic "Booze N' Doobs" on request from Jamie, albeit with a minor lyric change. Next, he hands off to Jamie for another song, namely a country-ish original, name also not given.

We break from rotating two songs apiece to start the second half of the episode, with Brad next playing the first original song that he wrote after Room 206's breakup in the 1990s, though he did not give its name (it might be called "Rule The World"?). Jamie did title the next song, a "little funny" country song that he wrote named "Your Face", before Brad played his own original song "The Nightmare Is Real". The guys then highlight and acknowledge comments from Mark Rand again, plus Brad's Surfers bandmate Mikey Hawdon, before Jamie breaks out his harmonica (complete with Neil Young-style neck holder) for another original song, title not given. Brad follows up by covering Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm", and after debating his merits vs. Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, and John Prine, Brad closes the episode by covering Steve Earle's "Lonelier Than This". 

It was nice to see one of these relaxed remote performance live-streams again, especially without pandemic fears knocking around behind me! I would have liked to see more of an interview/chat a component here, and fans of Jamie's local band work may be left wanting somewhat by the lack of originals from those groups, but he and Brad acquitted themselves well and showed their talents and songwriting abilites nicely! Check out the second-to-last Afterparty episode out below, see more from the series above, and look for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Lo-Fi Video Fanzine No. 1 Review!!

Merry Christmas to all readers who celebrate! I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday and got lots of presents! On this holiday, I wanted to open a present of sorts, namely a disc that I found at Value Village a few weeks ago called "Lo-Fi Video Fanzine No. 1", credited on the spine as "a lo-fi film by Christopher Shoust". Long-time readers may recognize Chris Shoust as the frontman of the inactive indie/punk solo project Telephone & Address, from his work in bands like The Red & Black and Orange, and from his artistic pursuits as a painter and filmmaker, but I had no idea that he once worked on a video magazine project! Two DIY installments of this zine were made up in late 2012 (the first one is dated to September of that year), but I couldn't tell you how they were distributed at the time, as I don't remember him or performers openly plugging this on social media at all.

Interestingly, the disc is not a DVD, rather a data disc containing the 30 minutes of video in one file, so if you have either disc, your mileage will vary on if it will even play on certain devices. Given that I have only seen one of these in the wild in the past 11 years, I'd hazard a guess that their print runs were quite limited, but never fear, as Chris quietly uploaded both Lo-Fi Video Fanzines to his YouTube channel in April of last year. We'll focus on the first one today, which was largely shot across two dates in August & September 2012 inside the old Royal Canadian Legion building on Great Northern Road, aside from one performer, who was partially filmed playing on Queen Street East outside of Reggie's Place. It is worth noting that Chris said that the video is "deliberately low quality" to focus on documenting what happened rather than making the footage "look pretty". I don't necessarily agree, as our eyes see better than the camera was set up to, but Chris always liked lo-fi recordings.

I have no clue whether the Legion performances here were taken from public concerts or private events intended specifically for the zine, but if I had heard about them being public events, I would have at least covered them on the SMS at the time. The 30 minute video opens with defunct local hard rock duo Sounds From The Green Room, an online page-less precursor to singer/guitarist Brad Griffith & drummer B.J. Swire's later band Bizotic. S.F.T.G.R. even played a show in Ottawa in 2011, but their public dates in the Soo were very limited, and I didn't know they were still playing anywhere in 2012! Their song (which ended their set at the fuller Legion concert) was introduced by name, but I couldn't make out the title due to the lo-fi recording quality, though it sounded like Brad said "Fudgel". Very Sykotyk Rampage-esque sound to this song, but with more traditional melodic vocals, and it's definitely heavier than Bizotic were!

Second on the zine are two spoken word poems by Denis Robillard, though only the second ("Many Phones Sleep Here, Under The Earth") has its title introduced on camera. I'd have left in the applause after he finished, but Denis did write good thematic poems here! Next is the first appearance of fan favourite local pianist & street performer Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, who performs some original music for 3 minutes or so, and his skill on the keys is as prevalent as ever! More spoken word follows when Cody Rydall reads a well written poem named "Like Flight", while his brother Jake (who we have covered here via the old Swampstravaganza open mic block) gets an almost six minute stretch of the zine next, where he does two original songs on vocals & acoustic guitar. Neither one has its title given on camera, but they may be called "Eye To Eye" and "Broken Guitar Strings".

Jake sings well here and has a knack for good compositions! As the second half of the zine begins, we leave the Legion for the first time to catch Spider Fingerz playing outside on Queen Street (at 3:00 AM, no less!). One wonders what nighthawks must have thought of this, but as always, Damjan's abilities as a pianist are clear as day even if the video isn't! Cody Rydall returns for a second poem next, which isn't titled on camera but only runs for about 30 seconds. Once you're done snapping your fingers to it, you can check out the return of Sounds From The Green Room's Brad Griffith, who is otherwise best known on bass with No Arrow and SBD, and for his more recent solo pursuits under the Gortium85 handle. Brad's solo section is the longest in the zine, and the only one to feature two distinct camera angles. As seen here, Brad is sticking closer to his grunge/hard rock work of the 2000s and early 2010s than what we saw later from him.

His two songs include one possibly named "Black Shadow", but I couldn't catch a candidate name for the second song, which has a livelier classic rock flair, and was filmed beside Brad rather than in front of him. Strong stuff for fans of Brad's pre-Bizotic music in particular, especially his first song! Denis Robillard returns for one more poem next, whose title sounds "Woke Flow Aerodrome" but I may be slightly incorrect with it. That ends the Legion content of the zine, and after a break with Damjan skateboarding downtown, we end with him and Chris joining forces like they did in The Red & Black, but here, it is specifically credited as an improvised joint performance between Telephone & Address and Spider Fingerz. Also filmed outside of Reggie's in the middle of the night, this is basically what happens if you let two guys play piano simultaneously, with Chris playing the high keys and Damjan handling the low keys.

Rather than play side by side, Damjan is playing from behind the keyboard while standing up, and they do pair well together to create music that one pianist shouldn't be able to do alone! While I would have filmed these with better quality cameras/settings, this was a fun watch to capture this chunk of the local music scene from a bygone era, with some good poetry to break it up, and it's a shame that this didn't have a wider release or publicity at the time, as I'd have happily covered it 11 years ago! Give Lo-Fi Video Fanzine No. 1 a watch below, and click here to watch No. 2, which is more focused on the local arts community and does not feature hard rock or punk-leaning musical acts. Thanks everyone, and Merry Christmas!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Brad Example

For our last monthly feature post of May 2023, here's this month's delayed YouTube Channel Profile, yet another spotlight on a YouTube account whose videos are at least half relevant to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts! This month's randomly selected channel gives us a very familiar face in both his best known band work and in more recent solo confines, so here's what you should know!

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Brad Example (http://youtube.com/@bradexample)

Owner: Former Inner City Surfers bassist and Role Models frontman Brad "Example" Lacell, also known from bands like Love & Rehab and Room 206, as well as his Atikokan-based solo project

Channel Timeline: Launched on November 25th, 2006; Current videos posted from October 2011 through November 2022

Channel Summary: Brad's channel encompasses both his solo folk music after moving from the Soo and his more prominent punk band work here, as well as some non-musical content. 40 videos are uploaded here to date, with just over half of them revolving around his own solo material. 13 of his uploads are songs from his local bands, with the remainder being personal uploads focusing around family, animals, or nature. Listed separately from his individual uploads are automated copies of the Inner City Surfers' back catalog to date (all automatically generated through DistroKid), plus this "Short" video of a acoustic trio jam.

Why You Should Watch: Fans of Brad's music will be interested in his channel for the modern-day solo music than for the local punk songs, as there's a lot to like here for fans of his raspy singing voice and his folksy modern music, which often feature guest appearances from familiar Saultite faces! Surfers fans will like the hosting of their studio material ("Let's Go Greyhounds" aside), but only one of those albums was actually uploaded directly by Brad before bringing their albums to streaming services.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

ROOM 206-LAST STANCE: The only upload here from Brad's local band work that isn't of the Surfers came via his old local punk band Room 206, who reunited to record the song "Last Stance" for the 2003 compilation CD "Junk In The Trunk", as released by the original, more punk-centric version of Tidal Records. Full band member credits aren't given in the liner notes, but Brad and singer/guitarist Mike Yorke are credited as writers of the track. Set to a slideshow of concert posters and band images, the skate punk intensity and strong energy are on full display, and I really should talk about this compilation on the site at some point! Note that this song was not on their 1994 tape "2 Innies & An Outie", nor its 2021 vinyl re-release.

INNER CITY SURFERS - BOOZE 'N DOOBS: Brad's most popular upload is his old local punk band The Inner City Surfers' classic song "Booze 'N Doobs", specifically the re-recording from their 2007 self-titled CD (a.k.a. "The Black Album"), which was part of his uploading that entire album to YouTube in 2016 before batch uploading the rest with DistroKid. Joined as always by singer/guitarist Dustin Jones, guitarist Dave Bahun, and drummer Mikey Hawdon, this is more of a country tinged drinking song that very much caught on with fans in a live setting, and while I like my Surfers punkier than this, it still has their tried and true flavour! Hear the original version of "Booze 'N Doobs" from 2002's "Laughing On The Outside" at this link.

Lemon Lips- BrADeXaMpLe featuring Dave Bahun and Phil Greco: There's no shortage of songs to pick from in terms of Brad's solo career, but I opted for one with a lot of local ties, namely "Lemon Lips", which features his old Role Models bandmates Dave Bahun (also of The Surfers) on guitar and Phil Greco (now of PROV3RB5 and The Saturday Nights) on drums. Set to a video of various wild west/cowboy imagery, this is as close to a "cowpunk" song as I've ever heard from a band not named The Billy Bastards, and while some of the backing instrumentation is a little meandering, Brad's gritty vocals fit the tone well, and the production is top notch! Brad doesn't often play straight punk solo, but give his material a listen, as there's a lot to like for folk and roots fans, let alone Surfers diehards!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around June 26th for multiple randomly selected channels to be profiled, as the first that I selected only had three audio uploads of the same band, so I added a similarly lacking channel to fill things out. As such, we'll be looking at YouTube users panzertera (featuring songs from the short lived Sault Michigan metal band Great Bodily Harm) and Orb Hearthstone (featuring original solo music from Great Bodily Harm's very drummer). I swear I didn't plan this, happy coincidences happen here and there! Look for that then, and for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith's Newest Live-Streamed Concert, And More!!

Single-artist post on this Friday morning, as local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's third and final live-streamed concert of 2021 aired on his Facebook page last night, and is now available for on-demand viewing! This episode immediately differs from last month's, as it is much shorter (well, only 93 minutes in length), and it was curiously filmed in vertical portrait orientation due to some sort of Facebook quirk last night. After introducing the episode and checking in with live viewers, Mike starts by playing his new original song "Twist of Fate" (3:20), as previously heard in October's live-stream. For the first time in his live-stream/#LockdownLive catalog, Mike interviews someone that he did not play in a band or record an album with, specifically former Bizotic frontman Brad Griffith, who has been more recently active with his retro video gaming and VHS collecting pursuits on YouTube and Instagram as Gortium85.

Brad starts by outlines his local music career (albeit without naming bands). After reminiscing on Pink Floyd and mutual interests, Mike tackles five acoustic covers of songs of Brad's, starting with "Hurry Up" (20:05), an old solo song of his recorded at the former Stereo Soul Studios that you can hear on his Soundcloud page. Next, Brad discusses his run with the 2016-2018 alternative rock band Bizotic, from which Mike plays two songs of theirs back to back, namely "Psychic Vampire" (31:20) and "Subway Delay" (40:10), with Mike confirming that the share contest to determine a mandatory cover is on, but personal commitments have forced him to delay his planned cover for yesterday's episode to next month. The second half of the episode begins with Brad discussing what he's been doing artistically since Bizotic dissolved, why his eclectic solo music is put out under different monikers, and the music he's recorded while living & working out of town.

The next song Mike plays is Brad's 2020 solo blues number "Cold Canned Beer" (56:30), which is also on Soundcloud, and after discussing Brad's recent focus on electronic synthwave music, Mike closes his suite of Brad covers with his "Demon Moves" (1:08:00), which Brad put out on Soundcloud under the handle Coax Chrome. The final song of the show was next, namely a new unreleased song of Mike's named "I've Seen It Before" (1:14:20), before Mike and Brad wrap up their conversation, even talking about paranormal shows, plus possible plans to improve Mike's live-stream format in 2022. Mike finishes the live-stream by giving some details about some medical concerns he had been going through lately, complete with a Dairy Queen cake congratulating him for a reason you may not expect. His finacee Tianna appears at the end, I believe this is her first appearance in one of these live-streams.

Entertaining episode, especially if you like Brad's local music career, though I was surprised he never directly brought up No Arrow or SBD at all. Mike's renditions of Brad's songs were solidly done in a stripped down acoustic format, and could Mike interview/cover other local musicians in live-streams next year? Give the whole live-stream a watch below, and stay tuned for updates on January's live-stream when they roll in!

We'll close today by sticking with videos involving Mike Haggith, who has been plugging a lot of reviews of his new album "Bridges" as of late, which I plan to get to shortly, but let's start with spotlights of individual tracks on the YouTube series You Rock! hosted by Thomas Christ, who features a bunch of home-recorded independent rock music and reviews them live on air, hearing the song in question with all of us. "Over Indecision" is featured in episode #12 from November 27th at 52:43, embedded below, while "The Catalyst" was similarly reviewed earlier this month in episode #13 at 47:28, and both episodes also feature songs by local indie rockers Man Feelings. Thomas strongly praises "Over Indecision" and is a little more measured in his praise for "The Catalyst", but he gives good in-the-moment comments on both songs, and I like that Thomas is giving so many rising musicians a platform like this! Give these a watch above & below, there's a lot of strong out-of-town talent to check out!

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

Tarnished Concert Previews, A New Original Song, And Lots Of Recent Updates!!

Here's a rarity during the pandemic: TWO posts in ONE day! Due to the craziness of the Rotaryfest drive-thru weekend, I completely forgot about a pair of concerts taking place this weekend in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula, so let's rush one more post before I'm partially late to the party! To round things out, we do have a new video and some recent news and notes to touch on, but here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock trio Tarnished will make their first post-lockdown appearances at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Originally announced last month by the band, with Kewadin confirming these and much more on their website, these shows were only minimally promoted by the band online this week, which is kind of odd given the locale. In any event, Alex, Nathan, and Josh have been honing their craft in various Northern Michigan gigs (largely outside of the E.U.P.) as of late, so hopefully their return to local quarters will prove a success with strong hard rocking covers and originals this weekend! Tonight & tomorrow's shows are at 9:00 PM with no cover charges or age limits, but please respect any public health guidelines at the casino to ensure everyone's safety. See above for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

Next up, here's a new original song from Inner City Surfers bassist/ex-Role Models frontman Brad Example's YouTube channel entitled "Reckless Life", but he had help to make this one from two familiar faces. Not only did his Surfers bandmate Dustin Jones mix, master, and produce the song (presumably at Mission Control Studios), but Slumshine frontman and prolific local punk musician Brenton Ellis provides guest vocals! This is reminiscent tonally of Brad's Atikokan-era solo music, where it's not overly heavy or punk inspired, but his gritty vocals add that extra something, and Brent's in-your-face delivery on the second verse sounds extracted from one of his old bands! The music is laid back with a good groove, almost reminding me of a 1990s trip hop song, though the video (featuring slow motion footage of a few conflicted guys seemingly contemplating their future) is open for interpretation. but seems to play into the lyrics a bit.

Fun song while it lasts (it's over in no time at all), but if you like Brad's modern-day solo output, you'll like what's on offer here, so give "Reckless Life" a look below, and hopefully we hear more from him solo and/or with The Inner City Surfers in the near future!

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

 

• A local singer named Drew Borchardt is looking to join or start a new band, and while he listens to everything from country to metal, he is looking to sing rather than scream or growl. Drew isn't an established local name (he is from Thunder Bay), but he has 15 years of experience singing in bands there like John Thomas, and he included a video of him covering Journey's "Wheel In The Sky" in concert in the comments of his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from June 24th. Drew does have talent, and while he has attracted interest already, click here or above for more details!
• In their newest Facebook page postings, Handsome Sandwich have revealed that their planned debut album will be titled "Lettuce", and it is currently in pre-production at Unsalted Audio as of June 27th with producer Dustin Goodall, and no less than Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle is helping out as well! Other than that, all we have are teaser photos, but it's great to see that plans are quickly coming together for their new lineup! Stay tuned for updates!
• St. Ignace, Michigan progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown belatedly uploaded their debut EP "Scatter Brain" to their YouTube channel earlier this week, notably including lyrics for all four songs in the description and an alternate album cover that is way more to the left than what was on physical copies. Good to see the EP getting some more exposure, and hopefully their new album is still making solid progress behind the scenes!
  
• After a month or so of vague postings and meme shares, Sault Ontario noise metal solo project Molten Imp teased that they were working on a cover of Deep Purple's "Space Truckin'"that is 75% done and would feature guest vocals, but opted to hold it from completion after discovering that industrial metal legends Ministry (a personal influence of Boyd's) already covered it on their 2008 covers album "Cover Up". If it's different enough to stand alone, I don't see why Molten Imp's version can't come out, but voice your opinion either way on their Facebook page!
• Local punk trio Redundant revealed on their Facebook page on Tuesday that they are "hard at work at new material" (you can decide for yourself if anyone wore Crocs while songwriting), before plugging the rescheduled Buckcherry concert at Soo Blaster on October 19th, which they are still opening, as the show has seen a renewed social media push now that the pandemic is where it is in the province. Click here for full details on the show as of July 16th!
• New Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews do appear to have enlisted ex-415E bassist Brett Blackwood to replace Chris Leask in their lineup, as per tags from a photo of their debut concert on guitarist Chris Hubbard's personal Facebook page. My hunch was correct about the bassist's identity, but given his longer hair than I was used to, I didn't want to immediately say 100% that this was Brett until more confirmation turned up. Stay tuned for info on when Rhythm & Brews will hit the stage next!
  

 

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

Kraken Mara's New Playthrough Upload, More New Videos, And Assorted Updates!!

News is predictably slow due to the current lockdown, but I have cobbled together enough content for a post on this Saturday morning, including some assorted shorter news and notes, and some new videos from some familiar faces. Here's what you should know!

As promised, local progressive metal duo Kraken Mara's newest playthrough video for their upcoming EP "Press Start" went public on their YouTube channel yesterday morning at 10:00 AM! Again, they went the "uploaded in advance for a scheduled premiere date" route. This video is for their song "The Woodward", and after sitting out their last two playthrough videos, guitarist Brendan Christie is back on camera for this one, playing alongside Jake here, albeit with the brothers-in-law filmed separately. Once again, I'll hold comment pending our review of the EP. As for it's remaining track ("Stratus"), that had a playthrough video shot in 2017 that was filmed outside of the former St. Mary's Paper building, and it's description has been edited to reflect the 2021 EP plans. "Stratus" does not appear to have been re-recorded, so I would not be expecting a new playthrough video for it.

Also, just to clear up any earlier discrepancies, their previously announced song "Moon's Haunted" appears to have renamed "Miscreant" for unannounced reasons. Now that all five songs are on YouTube and their website to stream, how soon will "Press Start" go on sale? Kraken Mara's website says that it is "now available for purchase", but that looks like a placeholder, as the band has not officially announced anything about a release. We'll let you know when more comes out, but check out Brendan & Jake playing through "The Woodward" below for some more metal action!

Next up, here's the newest videos from former No Arrow drummer/Faithless Sin guitarist Joe Falco's YouTube channel! After a three month hiatus, Joe returned last month to post eight new videos, all but one being acoustic covers. These include Pink Floyd's "Echoes", The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's "Blue On Black", Alice In Chains' "Don't Follow", Oasis' "Stand By Me", Poison's "Every Rose Has It's Thorn", The Jeff Healey Band's "Angel Eyes", and as embedded below, Poison's "Something To Believe In". I went with that song because Joe also posted a short blooper reel video from his attempts at filming that particular cover, so give that a look if you want a laugh! Despite his self deprecating tone in the description, this rendition is solid, and as all of these covers are unplugged, his voice isn't as drowned out as on his earlier covers! You definitely hear more of his range in these.

Joe also posted an hour-long video on Tuesday of him working on his Aria Pro II STG-004 Series Stratocaster, if you're itching to see him fix and play an electric guitar. These videos are all worth checking out to see some well performed acoustic rock covers and more, so give Joe's newest uploads a look above and below, and stay tuned for more when we hear it!

 

Also today, here's a new original song collaboration from Inner City Surfers/ex-Role Models bandmates Brad "Example" Lacell & Dave Bahun! Posted to Brad's YouTube channel on Monday, this is entitled "The Nightmare's Real", and it's a gritty yet folksy number that fits more in line with Brad's modern solo work, complete with his raspy vocals (is it wrong to get a bit of an Everlast vibe from this?) Not a traditional punk number, but well done, and you can hear it for yourself below!

 

 

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

 

• The second annual (and final?) Coronafest live-streamed concert takes place tonight at 6:30 PM, with all relevant links and information to be found on the Facebook event page. While Coronafest is not originating locally, Saultites Kyla Becker & Jacob Baillie will play the second set, while ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan is a co-organizer of the event, and he will perform at 9:00 PM with his current Sudbury-based band The Rhythm Section. Check it out if you need some Saturday night entertainment!
• I have removed former local concert promotion agency Dismembertainment from our "Other Local Metal Links" section due to the deletion of it's Facebook (and only known surviving) page at some point in the past year. The banner under which ex-Time of Ruin guitarist Rich Moreland promoted local metal concerts in 2011 & 2012, and for a time afterwards in his current Alberta homebase, Rich has since switched primarily to work in concert photography, at least until the pandemic. Hopefully he's doing well out west!
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished took a surprising trip downstate to play at the Hotel Royal Oak outside of Detroit this past Saturday! It was only announced on four days notice, oddly, but click here for details about the show. Hopefully the road trip was a blast, especially as social distance-limited concerts can still take place in Michigan! Also, note that on the Facebook event page linked above, their bassist and drummer were credited as Donny Wayne and Josh Tyler, omitting their last names.
  

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

Another Local Metal/Punk Video Showcase!!

For our final news post of 2020, we're looking at some recent video uploads from a bunch of familiar faces from the local scene, including a few more belated Christmas-themed performances, and we'll start with a new old video from Sault Michigan classical metal quintet Theatre of Night in concert! Of course, their fourth annual Christmas concert tour did not take place in 2020 for painfully obvious reasons, but in a presumed Christmas Eve olive branch for fans on their YouTube channel, they did post a new-to-us video of them playing their set-opener "What Child Is This?" during the tour finale at The Park Theatre in Holland (40 minutes west of Grand Rapids) last year! If you want to see the whole concert from this night, click here, but this is from a separate camera that's closer to the stage. This is a very proficient and grand rendition from Theatre of Night that should help put you in the Christmas spirit, even 4 days late, so give it a watch below!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for new videos from three familiar punk musicians, starting with Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan, who was the special musical guest on a performance video uploaded by the Toronto-based podcast series Backyard Variety Tour's YouTube channel on Christmas Eve. Sadly, Greg couldn't host his usual Christmas Open Mic event at Coch's Corner this year (we all know why), but maybe this will help make up some of the difference! Introduced by podcast host Ian Pozz, Greg plays an 18 minute set of four Christmas deep cuts here, so if you don't want to hear the same old carols, this should do the trick. In order, Greg covers Tom Waits' "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis", John Prine's "Christmas In Prison", Gordon Lightfoot's "Song For A Winter's Night", and to fill out the punk quota, The Pogues' "Fairytale Of New York" with his girlfriend Amanda Kemp joining in on vocals.

Greg offers some context about the first three songs in between, and I do like that he didn't do the same old carols here, even if some are decidedly darker than you'd expect! The close camera angle from a low angle is a little odd, and the audio quality on this camera isn't amazing, but Greg sings and plays capably on these covers, and he and Amanda harmonize well! Give it a look below, and here's hoping for a better year for Northwest & Greg ahead!

Also, here's a new video of former Brain Tuel guitarist Zach Reid playing an instrumental cover of Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song", via an arrangement by Bruce French, as uploaded to his YouTube channel last week. Soft and intricate performance from a tight camera angle, this should put readers in a belated Christmas spirit, so give it a watch below!

Finally, let's close things on a non-seasonal note via a new song from Inner City Surfers bassist Brad Example's YouTube channel! While Brad's solo material has largely been of an acoustic folk rock bent, this song does feature his long-time Surfers/Role Models bandmate Dave Bahun, and this does share some thematic similarities with softer Surfers songs. Entitled "Girl Next Door" and set to footage of a shadowbox theater with lyric track, this song works well pairing Brad's raspy vocals and Dave's strong melodic guitar licks, so fans will want to give it a listen below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our 2020 year-in-review post by Thursday! Thanks everyone!

Tym Morrison's Second Live-Streamed Concert, Plus New Facebook Videos!!

With a day or so to gather new content for another post on the site, we're dipping back into the solo performance video well today, including new material from a long-gestating local band, a blues cover from a punk staple, and leading off, another lengthy live-streamed set from a familiar veteran presence in the local scene! Here's what you should know!

The second installment of local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's live-streamed Twitch concerts went up last night, so fans who miss his regular acoustic concert dates have another 2 hour batch of covers to enjoy! Unlike last week's debut of the "Live Guitar & Singing Of All Mightyness 7th Show", the wait for this one to start is much shorter (only 14 minutes), but yesterday's live-stream was broken up into two videos. The first half is embedded below, and it features Tym starting with Supertramp's "The Logical Song" before pausing the stream to restart his computer over bandwidth concerns. After a minute or so off-air, Tym returns to cover Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud", The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun", Amanda Marshall's "Trust Me (This Is Love)", Chris de Burgh's "Lady In Red", Oasis' "Wonderwall", and The Romantics' "Talking In Your Sleep". The second half of the live-stream features Tym covering Journey's "Lights", A-ha's "Take On Me", Tom Petty's "Yer So Bad" ...

... 10cc's "I'm Not In Love", Phil Collins' "One More Night", Yes' "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", The Beatles' "Blackbird", Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle", Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)", Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive", Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love", Supertramp's "Breakfast In America", Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise", and Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms", before closing with an original instrumental. A little shorter than last week's live-stream, Tym's guitar skills and rangy singing are as solid as ever, and this should nicely help fill time while we wait for Gliss and other venues to re-open! Given Tym's extensive setlist, I am surprised that he performed 12 covers that he already did in last week's video, curiously all from his first 15 songs there, but I'm sure some are regular live staples. Check out Tym's newest live-streamed concert above and below, and might the teased Thursday installment happen tomorrow?



Next up, here's a Facebook cover video from Inner City Surfers bassist Brad "Example" Lacell, as posted on his personal Facebook page last month, then shared on label Tidal Records' Facebook page afterward. This is a vocal/acoustic guitar cover of Steve Earle's "Lonelier Than This", and it has a rough, plainclothes honesty that suits the presentation, and is in line with much of Brad's post-Role Models solo material! He did introduce the video by promising to "play a couple of songs", but the second video wasn't shared publically that I know of. For now, give this cover a watch below!



We'll close today with the newest video from local metal band Chronic Demonic, whose public updates have continued to be sporadic and anti-climactic (their last Facebook page status in November is particularly dour.) That said, this video from last month helps get things on a more positive trajectory, as it features guitarist Kevin Powe playing some "death riffs" that could turn into a Chronic Demonic original song in time. Positive news has been extremely slow from their camp, but these riff are promising, and hopefully we finally hear some more forward momentum from the guys once the pandemic is over! Check this one out below!



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

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Brad Example & The Role Models And Second Guess

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, as we continue our monthly looks back at local metal, hard rock, and punk acts of the past! This month's randomly selected double header are due to the first band not having enough surviving info, but I just wanted to clarify that I decided to keep that band despite our removal of their MySpace page from our links, as nothing's changed with it beyond our knowledge (in hindsight) that MySpace lost their songs. However, un-profiled bands deleted from our band links will not be considered for future installments unless posthumous pages are launched/found. Now, here's what you should know!
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Brad Example & The Role Models

Genre: Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. This lineup information may be incomplete. Let me know if you can fill in any blanks!)

Brad "Example" Lacell (The Inner City Surfers, Room 206), vocals/bass
Dave Bahun (The Inner City Surfers, The Boot Hill Crooners), guitar
Marco Pedalino (The Cover-Up, Lion Ride, Bondar), guitar
Marc Muto (Lion Ride, Bondar, The Hangdowns), drums
Phil Greco (Tall Boy & The Smokes, Tripod the Dog), drums

Audio/Video: With MySpace's loss of millions of songs on their servers last year, The Role Models' four demo originals hosted there from 2006 are no longer streamable. No other media is known to exist publically online, but Brad's own solo recordings may harbour some similarities to The Role Models, if in a more stripped down format, and you can check out recordings of him at this link and at scattered other locations. Of course, Brad & Dave's past work with The Inner City Surfers also shared some obvious thematic links.

Info/Analysis: One of many Surfers side projects, Brad Example & The Role Models only played live sporadically, including sets opening for The Revue in December 2006, The Saigon Hookers (twice) in 2011, and Public Animal in June 2014, while also playing at 2011's Tailfeathers Music Festival in Bruce Mines. Brad has focused on solo music since 2015, but The Role Models' chemistry-laden & fan-friendly punk attack was always a solid presence, complete with some surprise metal covers, and Brad's gritty but soulful singing fit their live shows nicely! Hopefully some media turns up and/or they reunite down the road, they deserved a busier run!
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Second Guess 

Genre: Alternative/Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. This lineup information is incomplete, particularly concerning Dylan's role in the band. Let me know if you can fill in any blanks!)

Cody McMillan (John Hewitt & The New Americans, Blackwater), vocals/guitar
Garrett Masters (As It Stands, Break The Violence), guitar
Angelo Huckson (As It Stands, Break The Violence), bass
John Mignacca (As It Stands, Break The Violence), drums
Dylan Cook, ????

Info/Analysis: Formed by best friends & high school students in 2004, Second Guess reportedly played a gig at The Downstairs Bar in January 2005, and had teased shows that same year opening for Kiros and The Crossed, though it's unclear if those sets took place. Second Guess were reportedly working on an original CD, and listed 7 songs on their setlist on their Tripod page, though aside from a brief reference to covering Nirvana material, no direct hints towards their sound were made. Garrett, Angelo, and John moved on to the short lived ska punk band Break The Violence in 2005 before forming their best known band As It Stands later that year, while Cody would find greater renown locally as a folk musician, currently performing in Edmonton under the alias John Hewitt. I have no way of knowing how Second Guess would have sounded, but their lineup definitely had talent that blossomed very well in the ensuing decade+, and hopefully some media surfaces!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month in this series, we have a Sault Michigan band next in our rotation, but because the randomly selected band that I drew for next month doesn't have enough surviving information, I randomly added a Sault Ontario band to fill things out. As such, we'll be looking at inactive Sault Michigan hard rock band Bucksaw (a.k.a. Dirtbag In A Dress) and a Sault Ontario band we just added to our links last month, that being defunct alt-punk trio Nowhere Fast! Look for these on or around May 10th, and for weekend concert previews and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Bear Hunters Album Updates, New Videos, And More Recent News!!

Before we tackle this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, here's some recent news and notes for your Monday afternoon, including assorted shorter notes, new video postings, and first, here's some big updated for an anticipated new CD!

We'll start with some new updates from local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters, as per guitarist Mitch Sirie on their Facebook page early this morning, so what should you know? In terms of last night's Golers show at The New American Pub (apologies for missing it, blame personal family matters), the guys debuted two new songs during their set, including a track named "The Wrath of Angmar" (which appears to reference a kingdom in The Lord of the Rings), and a black metal parody named "The Forest of Forests". Hopefully someone got video of both! Mitch also noted that the former will be on their planned second CD "The Dead Testament", which will also have a closing title track of the same name that has yet to be completed. The first three songs will, in order, be "The Void", "The Omen", and "I Fear No God", but the track listing order for the rest is to be determined. Title track included, there are just 3 songs left to be unveiled live, though it's unclear whether "The Forest of Forests" will be one of them or not.

Mitch noted that they take their time writing their songs, rather than writing a handful of singles and adding filler for the rest, and he sounds proud of the work the guys are putting in! Plans are still to begin recording sessions on "The Dead Testament" next month and release it during the winter, so check the above links for complete current details on The Bear Hunters' highly anticipated new album!

Next up, here's a newly discovered solo performance video from Pixo Control frontman Michael Mikus, courtesy of local music/culture community Ears & Eyes' YouTube channel last summer, and it's of him covering the 1960s rock classic "Twist & Shout", which is frequently seen in full Pixo Control concerts. Uniquely filmed outside, this solo cover is done in the same style that Pixo Control fans know from concerts, as it's slowed down into more of a jam style, but it's abbreviated from the lengthy version fans hear in live concerts.  Solidly done, and a bit of a window into how this would sound in an acoustic setting, so give it a look below!



Also, here's the newest released cover from new local atmospheric black metal duo Dullahan, this time a cover of Absurd's "Pesttanz"! Set to World War II video footage (don't worry, there's nothing offensive), this was uploaded to their YouTube channel last week, and can also be heard on their Bandcamp page. It's a little repetitive in this form, but Dullahan have talent and they show it on this cover, so give it a listen below and above!



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

• An upcoming episode of Local2's stripped down music performance series Bare will apparently star Inner City Surfers/Role Models bandmates Brad "Example" Lacell & Dave Bahun as featured performers, as per personal Facebook photos showing them on playing on the Bare set. Is this a sign that Brad Example & The Role Models are alive, or is this a solo or new project? Hopefully we find out more when this episode is posted in the coming weeks!
• On Saturday, Detroit punk trio Heroes of Charlotte posted this jam session video of them playing their song "Goodbye", which begins with a shoutout to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as they can't make the Superior Festival (now on August 21st) that they were originally booked for, but hope to see us soon. I'm not sure if they meant that they couldn't make the original Saturday date or the rescheduling, but it's nice of them to acknowledge that they couldn't play, but wanted to, and hopefully they can at some point!
• Local musician Tammy Hill is looking for a drummer for her new "classic rock/punk/pop" band, who reportedly already have original material and want to do some recording and play live (no word though on if this is the same band she was looking for members for in February.) If you or someone you know are interested in trying out, message Tammy at this link or via her Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from this morning!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles next! Thanks everyone!