Ontario COVID-19 Restriction Update, New Videos, And More Assorted News & Notes!!

We're back with a new news post on this chilly Sunday afternoon, and it includes a new live concert video, some assorted updates, and more local hard rock musician exposure in a popular YouTube series! Before we get to topics about music, here's what you should know about a major news story and what it means for live music in Ontario in the short term.

We might as well start today with the province of Ontario's re-opening plans following the roll-back of restrictions on January 5th due to the highly contagious omicron wave of COVID-19, which put concerts to a screeching halt once again. In a news conference on Thursday, Premier Doug Ford revealed that the current modified Stage 2 restrictions will remain in place until this coming Friday. Starting then, the re-imposed restrictions will be incrementally scaled back at three week intervals, but specifically regarding concerts, venues & nightclubs can re-open with 50% capacity as of Friday, and will be lifted outright on February 21st (Family Day). All remaining capacity and gathering limits will be removed on March 14th, bringing us back to where we were to end 2021, though these are all subject to change if COVID case counts warrant a reversal. Vaccine passports and indoor masking requirements remain mandatory until further notice.

Read more about the provincial re-opening plans at this link or via your favourite provincial news outlet. As we learned following the end of the three full lockdowns in June 2020, February 2021, and June 2021, there are some musicians and venues who will eagerly book shows with capacity limits, so we should start to see limited concert announcements perhaps in time for Saturday the 29th, but we'll keep you guys posted no matter what. Fingers crossed that case counts and vaccination rates allow for no more COVID restrictions in Ontario, and stay safe out there!

Next up, here's a new live video of Sault Michigan hard/blues rock quartet Project 906 live at The Strongs Tavern in November, as uploaded to their Facebook page at the time! Notable as their first publically posted video featuring new drummer Odin Osogwin, the guys are playing their new original "Girls That Bleed" here. Between the side-stage camera angle, overly bright stage lighting, muffled vocals, and placement of the band members (you can barely see Dustin), this isn't an optimal look at the band, but the song does have a harder edge and good melody, so fans will definitely wanna check out the new Project 906 video below, and don't miss them in Hulbert next month!

Also today, here's some more recent appearances on the YouTube series You Rock! with Thomas Christ, which Sault Ontario/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith got good mileage & exposure out of in episodes #11-#15, but he was not in episode #16 from December 22nd. However, former No Arrow frontman Dann Pichette was (no doubt encouraged by his old bandmate Brad "Gortium85" Griffith), submitting his 2012 solo track "Swass" for a live review! You can check it out at the 2:26:48 mark (this episode is over 4 hours long). Beforehand, Thomas reads remarks from Dann about the inspiration of "Swass", and yeah, it's quite a description! Thomas compared the song to something he'd record under the influence, but he called it a fun track and said it was interesting, and you can tell that it intrigued him! Embedded below is episode #17 from December 29th.

Here, Dann submitted "Trial & Error" from No Arrow's unreleased album "Souls For Sale" (1:46:14), while the 3 hour episode ends with Mike Haggith's live cover of Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain" from his virtual CD release party in 2020. Thomas liked the lo-fi four track recording quality and punk energy of "Trial & Error", calling it "kick ass", while the "Purple Rain" cover was also praised for it's production values and professionalism. I have a feeling more local talent will get looked at by Thomas in 2022 episodes, but give his last two from 2021 a watch above & below!

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

 

• I have moved local hard rock band The Bridge Heads to our inactive band links, having not made a public post since new band photos appeared on their Facebook page in September 2020. Effectively the successors to Eclipse, this band launched in January of that year, and played just two concerts before the pandemic began. They did plan to press on as a trio after guitarist Daniel Horton moved out of town, but nothing really came of that. It's a shame The Bridge Heads didn't do more, but best of luck to Curtis, Daniel, and Caleb in their next moves, and R.I.P. Chris!
• Former Winkstinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur has moved back to the Soo and is looking for "someone to jam with" towards forming a heavy metal/rock band, specifically mentioning a drummer. It'd be great to see Jason back playing live again in the Soo, so message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last night for more details!
• Vanity guitarist Mikhal Muto posted on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group yesterday himself, looking for a "serious bassist to join a punk/alternative rock band" that plays originals and covers. The description heavily implies that he's looking for a new bassist for Vanity, and while they have not publically confirmed if Nick McClelland left the group, note that Vanity's Facebook page has not been updated in almost two months. We'll keep you guys posted when more comes out on Vanity, but message Mikhal at this link for more details on the bassist search!
  

 

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

More New Videos, Plus An Inactive Band Note!!

Hopefully everyone survived that cold snap in the Soo area over the last few days! Hopefully this will help warm everyone up, as we have another SMS post to check out today as this month moves along at a glacial pace. We mostly have some new videos to put the spotlight on, but there is a band moved to our inactive band links within, so here's what you should know!

Here's an interesting find, namely a clip of inactive local/Toronto indie/punk band Treble Charger playing "Sick Friend Called" on the CBC variety show Rita & Friends circa 1996! This was uploaded in October by YouTube user Uncool Dispatch, who previously posted this video of Greig & Trevor being interviewed on MuchMusic in 1997. If you're too young to remember it, Rita & Friends was hosted by the late country singer Rita MacNeil from 1994-1997, and while it is odd to see her introducing Treble Charger, it does show that she wanted to spotlight a wide array of music! The video quality is very rough (was this making the tape trading rounds?), but the audio's alright, and it's neat seeing an early video like this, especially given that Greig's on lead vocals for an indie-era song.

If you can get past the visual quality, this is a prime early performance from Treble Charger that surely gave them some much needed exposure to a national TV audience! Give it a look below, and do check out Uncool Dispatch's channel for much more videos of Canadian TV appearances from 1990s rock and alternative musicians, as there's a lot to see there!

Next up, I have moved local hardcore punk quintet Destroilet to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. The band's last public update (a picture on their Facebook page) went up one year ago yesterday, and while the pandemic is acknowledged, Destroilet updates had dramatically slowed down in the late 2010s, with the band playing just two public sets in the past six years, most recently at the Joni Radford memorial concert in March 2019. One of the most enduring original local punk bands of the new millennium, Destroilet launched in 2009, uniting five scene veterans into a fast & blistering old school package that fans will have seen open for the likes of Random Killing, The Rebel Spell, and The Dayglo Abortions at concerts through 2015, as well as releasing a self-titled EP in 2011, expanded into a full length CD in 2012, and participating in 2015's "Fed Up!" split alongside The Ripcordz and Jack Spades.

Jam space renovations, members' personal lives, and the pandemic haven't helped Destroilet's concert frequency since the mid-2010s, but given their sporadic usage of social media to post band photos and sell t-shirts, hopefully they're not 100% done and that we'll see the guys tear up the stage once again when things return to normal! Best of luck to Mike, John, Christian, Adam, Matt, and Brent in the interim, they've all been missed!

Also, let's belatedly cover some more of local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's recent appearances/reviews in Thomas Christ's YouTube series You Rock!, where the host reviews songs by independent musicians in a 2+ hour live stream, Studio Live Today style! Mike debuted in the series with song reviews in episodes #11, #12, and #13 late last year, but he also popped up in episode #14 at the 57:44 mark, with Thomas checking out "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost" from "Bridges", positively complimenting the song for it's professionalism, slow burn, and overall talent, even plugging Mike's interview with Pete Johns. As it turns out, former Bizotic frontman Brad Griffith (a.k.a. Gortium85) recommended Mike submit songs for Thomas to feature on air, which seems to have worked out! Embedded below is episode #15 from last month. 

In Mike's fifth straight appearance, his song reviewed was "The Best You Never Had", this time from 2020's "If Ever Comes The Day", and you can check that out 1:16:07 into the lengthy video. Thomas also liked this song for it's 1980s/modern hybrid sound and production, though you can tell that Thomas has his limits as a critic, as he didn't know who Michael Hutchence (INXS' late frontman) was when a viewer complimented Mike's vocals. Solid work all around, so give both episodes a watch, and look for local indie band Man Feelings in episode #15 as well! We'll have more from Mike soon!

Finally, here's a surprise upload of an old song by former No Arrow frontman Dann Pichette's inactive solo project! Posted to his YouTube channel last month, this is The Dann Pichette Multi-Track Recording Extravaganza's song "Swass", which has been up on their Soundclick page since 2012 or so (given that this isn't a new recording, I won't move the Extravaganza to our active links unless we hear that Dann's working on new material). As I thought last year when Dann first linked me to these songs, "Swass" reminds me of a Primus demo, albeit one that cascades into chaos, and it's a silly but well performed number for what it is! Give it a listen below!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: wayek

To keep our usual "one post every 3 days rule" alive, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we're kicking off 2021 in this series with another spotlight on a YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts! As usual, bands in this series are randomly selected. This month's selection is a channel featuring lots of solid content from a once prominent frontman in the local hard rock/alternative scene, so here's what you should know!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

wayek's Channel (http://youtube.com/user/wayek)

Owner: Former No Arrow/SBD singer/guitarist Dann Pichette

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 22nd, 2007; Videos uploaded from November of that year until January 2018

Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Dann made solid use of it as a de facto official channel for both of his primary local bands, including live and jam footage from both during their heydays. Other uploads from his local band period include two 2009 performances by a short-lived side project duo named The Beards and 6 episodes of "The Chett -n- Eshk Show" that he co-hosted in 2007 & 2008. Dann's last four uploads here were of brief video game footage he recorded, and have no local music ties.
 
Why You Should Watch: This is the best and most substantive source to see videos of Dann's work in No Arrow and SBD, and fans will get a nice dose of his grunge and alternative rock stylings here! The Beards had some promise too, and you may get some laughs out of The Chett -n- Eshk Show, though be advised of some adult language. The video game clips are short and not too substantial on their own. Note that some of Dann's No Arrow videos, along with some new-to-YouTube clips and footage originally from other channels, would be posted again on drummer Joe Falco's own YouTube channel in 2020.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

No Arrow - Honey Bucket (Melvins cover): This was Dann's first upload on the wayek channel in November 2007, and it is by far his most popular video, garnering over 5,400 views, possibly as covers of The Melvins weren't too common on YouTube at this early stage. A jam session cover by his 2005-2011 grunge/hard rock trio No Arrow's best known lineup (Dann, bassist Harley Syrette, and drummer Joe Falco), this 40 second clip has a mostly solid reception from commenters, but it's length and very rough audio quality mean it doesn't hold up as well as other No Arrow videos on the channel. Dann's video of No Arrow playing their original "One On The Line" is a longer and slightly better quality take of them reheasing.

No Arrow - Sikkha: The live concert footage of No Arrow on offer here has not aged particularly well in the audio department, with rough & staticy sound quality being par for the course (remember, these were filmed and uploaded in 2007.) Visually speaking, the best videos are of a set No Arrow played at a Sault Area Wrestling event at The Elks Lodge on June 16th, 2007, benefiting greatly from daytime indoor lighting. Dann posted two songs from this gig ("Souls For Sale" and the slightly longer "Sikkha"), which both capture energetic and aggressive performances from No Arrow's peak! For a better quality listen to "Sikkha", check out the alternate mix he posted in 2013.

SBD - Rock Paper Scissors 1: Dann posted 13 videos of his 2009-2011 experimental rock trio SBD onto his channel from January-March 2010, all as credited to an extended original suite called "Rock Paper Scissors", but nine of the videos run for less than a minute, and only one exceeds 77 seconds. Featuring Dann alongside ex-No Arrow bassist (and future Bizotic frontman) Brad Griffith & former Chintzy Slicks drummer Shane Triplett, these videos showcase their grunge-reminiscent but more varied sound well enough, and the sounds on display do shift noticeably from video to video despite the short lengths of many of them, but audio clarity was still an issue.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, our random selection will take us to the Sault Michigan area for a look at YouTube user halfamanvideo's channel, featuring lots of content from 2009-2013 Brimley metal band Half A Man! Look for that on or around February 26th, and for more news on the site by Thursday! Thanks everyone!

A New Solo Project Discovery, New Videos, And Much More!!

Today's post is almost going to run us dry for new content on the site, so good thing tomorrow's post has been ready to go for a bit, as we have some time to build up material for Wednesday! Below, you will find some assorted shorter stories, some new-ish solo content from a former local frontman, and a couple of videos, so let's get things rolling!

We have a new-ish solo project to add to our band links on the site, and this is The Dann Pichette Multi-Track Recording Extravaganza! Launched by the former No Arrow/SBD frontman back in 2012, this project isn't active anymore, but he linked me to his old solo material for something to cover on the site, and goodness knows, we sure need that right now! Ten songs are posted there, though only four exceed a minute in length, and there are (censored) expletives in many of the longer song names. The music on offer here is definitely more experimental compared to his old local bands, but if you miss No Arrow, "Always Tryin' To F*** With Me" will be the closest in spirit for grunge fans, and "Shut Up, You Stupid B***" will also have similarities there, albeit with sleepier vocals. Beyond that, "Wanna Be Like Dann" has more of a 1980s pop rock sound, and "Swass" sounds like a Primus demo, among other tracks. No song sounds like the others, which is good!

These don't have clean, professional recording quality, but they definitely showcase Dann's irreverent musical sensibilities, though given the solo angle, I'm surprised he didn't pay as much homage to early Pink Floyd as you may remember him doing in the SBD era. Dann moved out of town a few years ago, but if you were a fan of his local music work in the 2000s and early 2010s like I was, his Multi-Track Recording Extravaganza is worth a listen, which you can do above! Hopefully we hear more new music from him down the road!

Next up, here' the latest from prolific local folk punk/extreme metal solo musician Chase Wigmore, who has uploaded his entire discography to Google Drive for you to stream for free! This is totally official, Chase put this up all 22 albums for fans to have something to listen to during the pandemic, and it includes material released under his own name, plus Awokest, This Is Your Band On Drugs, The Black Lodge Masters, his splits with C.T.W., and any other project name you can think of. Not all of his back catalog is on Bandcamp and YouTube, so if you love Chase's diverse original music, you'll want to take advantage at the above links! As well, he did do a live-streamed performance on his Facebook page yesterday, which sees him cover a section of "Viral Counterpoint of the Coronavirus Spike Protein", an experimental classical piece by musician Markus J. Buehler, which attempts to turn the amino acid sequence of COVID-19 into a rather lengthy musical composition.

The video quality itself is oddly choppy for a live-stream, which may or not be helped by the filtered monochrome visuals, but musically, it's definitely something different! Very intricate playing, this as an oddly soothing essence, albeit one far from his usual sounds, so give it a watch below!



Also, here's one more new video from local/Elliot Lake punk solo project Ashoka at the Show, as uploaded on the 184Films YouTube channel yesterday, where frontman Darren MacDonald discusses what he's been up to since his originally lost access to this channel, how he got back into using this channel, and he promised to continue uploading "songs to quarantine to" daily while all of this is going on. You don't see too many videos like this where a YouTube channel owner apologizes for a hiatus, but it's good to keep fans updated, and hopefully we hear more of Ashoka at the Show soon!



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

• If you are wondering why we never covered local rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty's announced set at The Borderline's SMAC-19 live-streamed benefit concert earlier this month, it's because they quietly withdrew from the lineup for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing bad happened, but visit the Mike's Lunch Music Facebook group to see the other performances by a wide array of talented local musicians! You may have to dig for them, as they've been sharing a lot of Facebook performance videos there since.
• Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s "Songs & A Six-Pack" live-streamed concert series on Fridays did return last week, but it's actually not intended to be a one-artist showcase, so Greg Callaghan did not host the second installment (I apologize, wording from that week was ambiguous.) Instead, Rising Tide fiddle player Sheldon Jaaskelainen hosted, and you can see his episode, complete with Northern Superior plugs, at this link. Sheldon's vocal/acoustic guitar set contains no punk songs, but his talent is fully on display, including Boot Hill Crooners and Wild Turkeys renditions!
• In their first post since the cancellation of their March concerts, local folk-punk solo project Slumshine revealed on their Facebook page that they were helping pass the time by making up a run of CD copies of their debut album "SLMSHN", which was originally exclusive to cassette tapes in it's initial physical release last summer. The sleeves are perfectly in line with Brent's art style, but given social distancing, when and how will these be available to buy? Stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for part 4 of our WLS0 9O.1 FM retrospective series on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sneaky Pete), Hammerspace News, And New Videos!!

It's time for some more news before our next YouTube Channel Profile goes up tomorrow! In today's post, we have new videos from a pair of local artists in each of the Twin Saults, the return to activity of a Sault Michigan band, and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

Local hard rock quartet Sneaky Pete will take to the stage this coming weekend for their own Halloween weekend bash! Almost two months after last rocking the local stage, this talented outfit will return to the The Roosevelt Hotel for the first time since June next Friday and Saturday for two nights of hard rocking covers, new and old alike! Though both shows are hyped as part of their Halloween weekend, the Saturday nighter on October 29th looks like the actual Halloween bash, so if you want some Halloween weekend plans, aim for Saturday for some partying! Friday will be good too of course, and I actually have the Friday show tentatively pencilled in to attend, so hopefully I'll be there next weekend! Both of these shows will be 19+ events, they'll both start at 10:30 PM, and there shouldn't be a cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a great weekend of hard rocking from Sneaky Pete, and hopefully I'll be there on Friday the 28th to finally see the sneaky show live! Stay tuned for more Sneaky Pete news, and throw these shows onto a stacked Halloween weekend of concerts in the Sault area!

Next up, it looks like Sault Michigan metal quartet Hammerspace are back in action! Activity from them has been sporadic since a brief breakup in April and being scheduled for (and dropping out of) LemmaFest, but it looks like they're finally getting back into full gear as a band now! As posted on our Reverbnation page earlier this week, the band said "You bet your ass" that they're reforming, and that they've posted new versions of their originals on their Reverbnation page as well. Though I haven't been able to confirm if all of the songs there are indeed new versions, I'm certain "Corkscrew" is new, but how does it sound? Not too bad, and I think John Bergeron's finding his groove as a singer more now, but the song is sort of messy. That said, I have to compare to older versions, as I haven't heard Hammerspace's stuff in a while, but it's a heavy track and hopefully there's much more in the pipeline from them! They had lots of promise last year and early this year, and fingers crossed that they return to the stage sooner or later! Check out Hammerspace at the above links!

We'll wrap up this post with new videos, and first, here's some new live solo performances from End of Existence, Theater of Night, and Dust N' Bones keyboardist Craig Harrison! Both of these videos were posted on his YouTube channel on Saturday. One is a violin solo concept that he played on his keyboard, and coming from a guy who loves orchestral elements in metal, this should fit really well on a Theater of Night track! Sounds really nice, and here's hoping he shows more of this side of his music off in his projects! The video I'm sharing here though is a piano composition jam that he filmed, and it works well on it's own too! A bit darker in feel, and the lighting adds to the track, which would fit well on one of his bands' songs itself! Craig's got some great talents, and if check the above links for solo and band work of his, but here' his new piano jam from this past weekend!



And finally, here's some new audio tracks from SBD & No Arrow frontman Dann Pichette! While his bands are currently inactive, he shared some audio tracks with me that he wanted the world to check out, and he asked me to upload them onto the SMS' YouTube channel two weeks ago! Odd that he didn't put them on his own channel, but hey, I'm always willing to help promote local talent! One is a solo cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", which was one of their more psychedelic tracks, and Dann does it justice! Sounds trippy, and he tries to make it sound as good as possible, so if you like psychedelic rock and The Beatles, give it a look at the above link! The video I'm sharing below though is an unreleased No Arrow track named "You Might've Heard This Before", so if you're craving grunge, you'll be interested in this! Dann plays all instruments on this, but it definitely feels like classic No Arrow, and it has that unpolished alternative hard rock feel they did so well in their active periods! Give both of Dann's new songs a look above, and here's the new-ish No Arrow track below! Fingers crossed that Dann gets back into some band work soon!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our latest YouTube Channel Profile on defunct Sault Michigan rockers Bad Side's YouTube channel tomorrow! Thanks everyone!