LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Astral Gunk, The Din, And Mourning Wood), And More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, here's our second weekend concert preview post for this weekend, and it includes LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (including some on SHORT NOTICE), plus a few more new shows for next month to fill things out! With that said, here's what you should know for this weekend & beyond!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Mourning Wood will reportedly return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, after previously playing there yesterday too! Apologies for the short notice, and for missing last night's show, we only got wind of the shows yesterday via members' personal Facebook pages (and remember that Mourning Wood never announce Reggie's Place shows in advance publically for one reason or another.) Playing their first solo shows in almost a month (though they played at the Redneck Rock Bash two weeks ago), these will be Terry, Steven, Paul, and Glen's first dates at the original downtown Reggie's since the May 7th weekend. I wish they'd plug their Reggie's shows publically, but fans should take to Mourning Wood again TONIGHT & TOMORROW, and I hope yesterday's show went well! There's no announced cover charges for these 19+ shows, which have 9:30 PM-ish start times. See above for more details, and here's Mourning Wood live!



Next up, here's some more new shows coming up next month, including a unique event at The Gore Street Cafe on Wednesday, July 6th that will be headlined by Sackville, New Brunswick "punk gnar-wave garage psych" quartet Astral Gunk in their local debut! A talented genre-melding blend of old school punk rock and multiple retro-leaning genres have blended into a strong chaotic attack that should provide a solid capper on July 6th, so be sure to check Astral Gunk out! Opening will be The Leash Kids, the pageless experimental/rap duo from venue co-owner Sam Decter and rapper Mikey Thomas that debuted at Redneck Rock Bash II earlier this month, and while they're not a perfect genre match, they should deliver an entertaining opening set! A "pay what you can" event like most Gore Street Cafe shows, this is an ALL AGES event, and the show will start at 7:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and stay tuned for any further details!

In another new concert, local alternative hard rock standouts The Din and Id Iota will hit the stage at LopLops Lounge on Saturday, July 16th at the venue's second straight Rotaryfest Stage 2 afterparty show! Though not 100% stated on the Facebook event page, this strongly hints that the two bands will be making their first appearances at Rotaryfest's all-original second stage this year, joining Gnaeus & K.I.C.K. on the bill, but we await finite information on the date and schedule from the festival before plugging that on here. In any event, it's great to see the former Second Stage promoters hosting another afterparty, and The Din and Id Iota are a nice compliment with lots of talent between them! For reference sake, while we've seen The Din often since, this is Id Iota's first announced local concert since their local CD release show in April, but the band did play a private family event last month.

A $5 cover charge is in effect for this 19+ show, which starts at 9:00 PM, but remember, the two bands are likely for the Second Stage, so if you want to see them earlier, outdoors, and without age constraints, head down to Clergue Park beforehand! Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more on Rotaryfest soon, plus The Din's next show on Tuesday!

Finally for today, here's our likely last concert preview of the weekend, as London sludge/punk trio Foam will make their local concert debut THIS SUNDAY NIGHT when they headline at The New American Pub! Fans of sludge metal and noise rock should take to Foam's grungy, brutal sound on Sunday during this stop on their "West Toast Tour", so don't miss out if this sound is up your alley for your weekend plans! Newer local death metal duo Twistory (featuring Pillory & Faceityoureametalband alumni) will provide some of their own brutality as openers, so if you haven't seen them yet, keep their set in mind! New local death metal quintet Kaepora Gaebora (featuring Bring the Fallen and RedD Monkey alumni) will kick off the show with their own metal assault, so don't be late for them either! Promoted by Six, Two, Oh., this 19+ show has a $5 cover charge and a 9:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's, despite it's short length, the only Foam concert video that I could find!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news, updates, and concert previews soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Foam And Telephone & Address), And Archive Concert Photo Notes!!

For our first full news post of the month, we're splitting things down the middle for two specific topics: An easier way to check out some of our earliest concert photos, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for two summer shows at the same venue, so here's what you should know!

London sludge/punk trio Foam will make their local concert debut on Sunday, June 19th when they headline at The New American Pub! Citing many different genre influences, Foam's grungy, hard hitting, noise assault should get a solid response from fans in two weeks' time, so don't miss out! Local death metal duo Twistory (featuring ex-Pillory bandmates Josh Amendola & Robert Sartini) will make their New A debut as openers on June 19th, and while they still don't have an online page, fans have been receptive to their sets since debuting, so check out their attack as well! At least one more local opening band is to be announced, and we'll let you know when they're confirmed. Promoted by Six, Two, Oh., this 19+ concert will have a $5 cover charge and a 9:00 PM start time. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and don't miss the Grave Party show there the very next day!

Next up, local punk/grunge solo project Telephone & Address will also rock The New American Pub this summer, as they'll be opening for Hamilton blues duo Frankie & Jimmy on Wednesday, July 13th! A rare appearance by Chris Shoust's acoustic solo act at The New A, this will be Telephone & Address' first set since their Fortnight Festival appearance at The Gore Street Cafe, and with Chris' talented and experimental originals in full effect, he should set the tone well next month! Frankie & Jimmy's bluesy yet avant garde sound has a lot of creativity going for it, and they should leave a good impression when they make their local debut next month in the second stop of their Western Canada tour! Apparently promoted by Chris, this 19+ show has a listed 8:00 PM start time, but a cover charge isn't given on the Facebook event page (have money on hand just in case.) Fans of acoustic rock and experimental music should like this show, with Telephone & Address handling the punk side of things, so see above for more details!

Finally for today, I wanted to note on here that I've done something that I should have done a long time ago: Move old concert photos from our inactive Facebook group and inactive Photobucket page to our current Facebook page! I've meant to migrate them over for a while, but only got around to doing it yesterday, but to make it a little more special and more in line with our concert photography work since, I fixed the lighting or colour on the photos where needed, and straightened out camera angles where possible. These shows took place between 2007 & 2009, early in the SMS' run, and while I didn't have a camera at each of our earliest shows (November 2008's Wolven Ancestry/Woods of Ypres show is a notable absence), a good number are now on our current Facebook page to check out! One album contains a Bellevue Park Bandshell concert from August 2007 featuring Sindicate, Atrophia, and two other bands, as well as select photos from April 2008's Skid Row Battle of the Bands at The Speak Easy.

Other albums are dedicated to individual shows, and they include the Sandman/As It Stands show at The Canadian Nightclub in June 2008 (my first 19+ concert), the Helix/Stillbroke show there the following month, most bands from July 2008's Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser at The Canadian (headlined by Ministry of Zen), and Gates of Winter's trilogy of Grand Theater shows in late 2008 prior to their ongoing stage hiatus (opening for The Womb in August, Inflict in September, and Fuck the Facts in November.) Those are all from our old Facebook group, while moved over from our Photobucket page, we now have January 2009's Ministry of Zen/Fingerbone concert at the old Coch's Corner, the Stillbroke show at The Verdi Hall that April, most bands from The YMCA Battle of the Bands at The Grand that April, the Cattle Decapitation show at The Oddfellows Hall that same month, May 2009's Who Made Who show at The Canadian, and Fitswitch's month-ending reunion show at Coch's Corner.

The quality of these photos ranges from OK to mediocre, but using a succession of cameras and not being as experienced with photography as I am now, I'm just glad I did get photos at some of them, and it was fun to reflect back on the SMS' early days while cleaning them all up! Check out all of our "new" Facebook concert photos as the above links, and if you can help ID any of the bands or details on the Bellevue Park show from 2007, let us know! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming week! Thanks everyone!