Double Down & Separate Wayz/Guilty Party Updates, Plus A New Video Interview!!

Before we tackle another round of weekend concert previews, here's a new news post on this Wednesday night, which includes lineup updates for some bands on the weekend rock cover circuit and a new interview discovery with a musician who had a brief but noteworthy stint in a local band, so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

We have some big lineup news from two (kinda three) local classic/hard rock bands, as Half Past drummer Johnny Amendola has joined both Separate Wayz and The Guilty Party, replacing Brent Royer. As per Separate Wayz' Facebook page on Sunday, Brent amicably left due to being unable to "commit (to) the amount we want to play in both bands" (not unlike why Steven left), and while the statement was only made on one of the two bands' pages and didn't directly say that Brent left The Guilty Party too, singer/guitarist Terry Eaton confirmed that he did in a Facebook e-mail yesterday. Brent had been a founding member of The Guilty Party last fall, and only just joined their sister band Separate Wayz three weeks ago, but he played just one weekend with each group before opting out. He's a talented musician (you have to be to drum and sing at once), and hopefully we see him in a new band soon!

The son of Headrush bassist John Amendola, Johnny has been a familiar face in local rock bands like Cherry Crush, Tripod The Dog, and Skeyes Of Seven since the mid-2010s, and he reportedly is gelling well with Terry, Jim, and Nicole so far, so we'll have to see how things go for the two bands in 2026 now that they have a drummer who is purportedly more available! Terry also confirmed that Johnny will take over for Glen Thomas behind the drumkit for Soundcheck's reunion gigs next weekend at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, which only makes sense. Stay tuned for more on the two full-time bands' next shows when they roll in, let alone Soundcheck next week!

Next up, here's the latest from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down, who confirmed on their Facebook page on Monday that this past Saturday's concert at Beck's Bar was their last with Mid Life Crysis bassist Lori Reinholtz as a fill-in, as their regular bassist Dan Beaupre is finally returning after being AWOL since the summer for medical and travel reasons. Apologies for erroneously covering that Dan was on bass for their show at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on December 12th, the band never said either way who was on bass that night. It will be good to have Dan back for their Water Tower Pub gig on February 21st, if not sooner! While we're on the subject, the band posted three videos from their Beck's gig on Saturday to their Facebook page, one with each regular band member on lead vocals. Alas, all three were shot vertically and none are full, but what was filmed?

The uncredited attendee filmed Double Down & Lori covering Collective Soul's "Gel" (with guitarist Joel Syrette on vocals) and Weezer's "Island In The Sun" (with drummer Ric Datson on vocals), but embedded below is the longest of the three, of their take on the Thin Lizzy version of the Irish standard "Whiskey In The Jar" with guitarist Beej Syrette on vocals. Nice sampling of their live sound with everyone singing well when called upon, and while I wouldn't have shot these vertically, the filmer at least got some close-up angles from all over the stage, including the band's view of Beck's! Give Double Down's new videos a watch above & below, and kudos to Lori and Alex for filling in with them since last fall!

Finally for today, I figured this was worth sharing, even if the musician in question was only briefly a local band member, and only became publically known as such after the band dissolved. As you may recall, after Woods Of Ypres frontman David Gold passed away in December 2011, it came out that he and guitarist Joel Violette had enlisted American musicians Brendan Hayter & Rae Amitay to serve as their new bassist and drummer the previous month. Obviously, their 2012 tour plans never came to fruition, but Joel would add both Brendan and Rae to the lineup of his studio-only black metal band Thrawsunblat, and Brendan appeared on their albums through 2019. Brendan is otherwise best known for his New England-based atmospheric black metal band Obsidian Tongue, who predated his brief Woods tenure and are still active today.

I bring all this up now because Brendan was interviewed about his career (including Woods Of Ypres) by Shayan S. of the Iranian/British interview series/podcast Iblis Manifestations last year! You can watch the whole hour+ interview below, but if you want to jump straight to the Woods section, that begins 34:40 into the 67 minute interview. Here, Brendan talks about how he and Obsidian Tongue got the chance to open for Woods of Ypres on their last tour in May 2011 and how he befriended David and Joel afterwards, how he got the bassist gig, and his perceptions of "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" before it came out. He outlined plans for him and Rae to drive to Ontario in January 2012 to rehearse with the band before flying to Great Britain for label dealings, a music video shoot, and European tour dates, which leads into how he processed learning about David's death and the lost opportunities therein.

It's interesting to hear how Brendan balanced his thoughts about grief and loss from his place in the band, especially as he didn't know David that well yet, and he approaches things at a very mature and respectful level while not asking for pity or playing the blame game. The Woods of Ypres section takes up about 15 minutes, and it's an interesting look into the tail end of the band's all-too-short run, so check our Brendan's entire Iblis Manifestations interview below, and black metal fans shouldn't bypass Obsidian Tongue!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's Community Pulse Video Interview From Last Month!!

Today's single-topic post takes us back to the Scarborough-based independent music webseries The Community Pulse, who interviewed local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith for a second time on December 22nd! You may remember when Mike was interviewed (alongside HeadF1rst frontman Red Jettison) in episode #67 back in June, and he was invited back for another remote interview for episode #94. Now, this is their Christmas episode, and we're obviously almost a month removed from it, so make note of the belated seasonality before watching, but given holiday commitments, the odds that I would have been able to make time to watch and cover this before Boxing Day were slim. The two hour episode begins with audio recordings of "Li'l Miss Blu" playing "We Three Kings" on piano, followed by host Frank Terzo's orchestral version of "This Christmas", so if you want to skip straight to the interview, head to the 8:35 mark.

Frank (who is not from the Soo despite his fitting name) starts by setting up the episode and The Community Pulse's official Christmas playlist, as well as bantering with this episode's co-host, a Racine, Wisconsin indie musician only known as J.J., a.k.a. Mr. Folkpunk. Laurie Pepi Igo (the Massachusetts-based pianist who hosts Laurie's Mishmosh) also pops up 13:45 in for her regular guest spot, this time before Mike joined in the chat. Shout-outs after Laurie entered suggest that former Inner City Surfers bassist Brad Example was watching, which is neat! After addressing why Mike is in this episode, Frank plays two more songs on air, including Laurie's own version of "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" alongside Hugh Caldwell, plus "Joy Throughout The World" by the British pop rock musician P.A.L. (pronounced "Paul"). The hosts and Laurie return on camera at 29:45.

Once credits and comments are made on those two songs, Laurie signs out of the episode (after a brief false start), and Mike first appears on camera at 31:45, sticking around for the remaining 90 minutes, song and video breaks aside. Apologies to Detroit Lions fans reading this over Mike's Green Bay Packers sweater! We get around 20 minutes of unbroken interview time to start, with Mike leading off by addressing the cancelled battle of the bands at the Downtown Plaza in September and how he & his Big Finish Band rushed to turn the 15 minute battle set into an 80 minute headlining performance in just 48 hours, how well the concert went over, the lucky strike that led to this concert getting the high quality recordings needed to release a proper live album, and why Mike opted to release "Under A Moonlit Sky" in conjunction with their Toystock set at the end of November for Christmas Cheer.

Sensing a chance to support a great local cause at the holidays, Mike opted to launch a fundraiser related to buys and streams of both the album and the YouTube video of the concert through the end of December, and he got in contact with Frank and The Community Pulse to get the word out for the charity drive, which he hoped would generate $1,000 in donations. J.J. next asks how much practice time that Mike gets with The Big Finish Band (answer: not a lot, he lives in Barrie), with Mike outlining how much pre-planning goes into their sets. He next gives credit to everyone in the band, and even acknowledges former Din guitarist Tammy Hill here, plus why ex-bassist Jacob Quarrell left in 2024. He also confirmed that Elly McWatters didn't play guitar at all last year due to recovery from rotator cuff surgery, but she may pick the guitar back up in 2026.

In the follow-up discussion on their setlist, Mike confirmed that his newer solo song "No Love" has had a studio demo recording and will be on his next album (presumably alongside "I Really Hope This Gets To You"), and the working title for the album is currently "Was It Just A Dream?". At the 52:30 mark, two consecutive songs from the "Under A Moonlit Sky" video are played on air, specifically "No Love" and "Hot & Cold". While the second half of the episode begins 1:00:15 into the livestream, we don't stay in the proper interview for long, as Frank sets up two more songs by indie musicians in their community next, including Hamilton folk duo Jo & Barrie Glenn playing "In The Bleak Midwinter" and British singer-songwrtier Harriet B. playing "In Time For Christmas". Mike, Frank, and J.J. return at 1:10:25 with some light discussion, and the introduction for Mike & the band's next on-air song.

From "Under A Moonlit Sky", we next see the live performance of "An Act Of Strength", which Mike talks about in regards to how different the live version is from the piano-heavy studio version from "Bridges".  That song is played at 1:16:15 with the interview resuming at 1:20:10, after which Mike addresses a young fan up front of the stage having a blast and the gear he was using that night. We next get two more Christmas songs from community members, including "Incarnation" by New York pop rock duo Mike & Dawn Ginese, and Christian musician DLynn's cover of "A Holly Jolly Christmas", and the guys return to the interview at 1:35:20. When the interview resumes, Mike discusses living in the Soo and his run with The Din here, which lead directly into Mike's last video from The Downtown Plaza show here, namely their cover of The Din's "Missing". That plays at 1:38:30 and ends at 1:42:30.

After plugging that performance and the (as of December 22nd) Christmas Cheer proceeds from streams/buys of the album and video, the last song/video of the episode is played, namely an "adult version" of the novelty song "Nuttin' For Christmas" by Denver rock musician Chris Lane Sr., which is a clear tonal jump (if an amusing one) from some of the earlier, more sincere carols! The interview returns for good at 1:50:40 for its final stretch, with final plugs and thanks, where the saying "All Hail Haggith" came from, Mike's positive perceptions of the music scene in the Soo, and the connectivity and relationships fostered here (Laurie even returns at the very end), before closing with Lou Monte's novelty song "Dominick The Donkey". A lot to pack in here, especially given that it dragged me back into Christmas mode in mid-January, but it's an effective interview that lets Mike expand on his career, good nature, and musicianship to good effect, and it's clear that Frank and J.J. appreciate his work and musical talents!

While the July interview was entertaining as well, it was heavily about HeadF1rst too given Red's involvement, so if you want to focus on Mike & The Big Finish Band, you may want to watch this one first, and depending on your tolerance of Christmas music out of season, navigate those songs as your preferences dictate (or wait until the end of the year). Give episode #97 of The Community Pulse a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Mike as 2026 continues! Thanks everyone! 

Our Recap Of Spades GT's Sofa City Sounds Interview From Last Month!!

Today's, we are heading back to the world of local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, and for this post, we'll focus on a brand new interview that guitarist Daniel Horton and bassist Sean MacNab took part in on September 22nd with the Niagara Falls-based music promotion company Sofa City Sounds! This is the third interview that Spades GT members have conducted with Sofa City head Amanda Schilz, following interviews with J.D. and Tyler in December 2023 and Tyler alone in January of this year. We just need her to talk to Fang and she'll have the entire current lineup covered! Our prior links to those interviews have been wiped due to Facebook live-streamed videos now being deleted after 30 days, but I linked to each interview's YouTube copy via Amanda's YouTube channel, which is also where I've sourced the new interview so it doesn't vanish in eight days. 

This 65 minute remote interview begins with Dan & Sean introducing themselves and talking about recent experiences at live events Amanda saw them at. Apparently, Amanda was supposed to interview Spades GT members before their set at Rye Fest in Brantford in August, but unspecified health matters led to that being delayed. She and Daniel discuss how well Rye Fest went to perform at and attend, and assorted experiences at live concerts, before transitioning to how Sean joined the band (he confirmed that he did not perform on "United"). Interesting to hear how he fell into the Spades gig, let alone his jokingly tenuous standing with the band even now! Looser casual talk follows, including everyone's ages, past live concert experiences, and family links (one of Amanda's kids was off camera playing with a loud toy), before they about how they got on the bill to open for The Exploited last year and will again do so later this month.

This leads to Daniel elaborating on how their sound is kind of a punk/metal hybrid that allows them to adapt to multiple bills. After Amanda discusses aborted plans to ask Spades to open for The Dayglo Abortions at a concert she was involved in, Daniel outlines the band's origins (again describing Jack Spades as a different band than Spades GT), and then taking the lost Dayglo opportunity in stride, as Spades opened for Dayglo in in their first post-relaunch gig in Barrie in April 2022. Note as well that Jack Spades' first full concert set in September 2013 was opening for The Dayglo Abortions here at the former Roosevelt Hotel, but of the current GT lineup, only J.D. was in the band then. They next discuss the networking and relationships made through the rock music scene in Southern Ontario, including podcasts, and apparently, Dan and J.D. have kicked tires on starting one to talk to other musicians. If Tyler can do one with Drummers Paradise, why not?

Personal struggles with sobriety and mental health come up next, with Sean rightly pointing out how their new song "Demons" is relevant to the topic at hand, and things also evolve into how the music scene has evolved in good and bad ways, including how the pandemic affected how bands operated, and continued experiences of seeing live music and performing at big concerts. A lot of credit is given by Amanda and Dan to the people who support the scene, be they musicians, promoters, journalists, photographers, stage crew, or anyone else who helps the cause. Near the end, Daniel does tease that "we've got some fun stuff comin' next year for sure", with Amanda planning to contact Spades GT for booking them on a show in 2026, before talking about Amanda's bull mastiff, who helped end the interview a little more abruptly than planned. Nice long interview that had a very friendly atmosphere, and while questions about Spades GT and their past/future plans weren't the firm focus, Amanda and the guys had a good rapport that shows that they knew each other well!

It's clear that Amanda loves what she's doing with the heavier music scene in Southern Ontario, and she gets along well with the Spades crew (lack of an interview with Matthew acknowledged) , though it would have been nice to hear Sean a little more in the discussions. Check out the full hour+ interview below, and stay tuned for more from Spades GT soon! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith & Red Jettison's 2+ Hour Video Interview From Last Month!!

Apologies for the three week delay in this making the SMS, but local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and HeadF1rst frontman Red Jettison took part in a 2+ hour long video interview on June 16th! This was for The Community Pulse, a series out of Scarborough hosted by musician Frank Terzo, and while his name would seem very appropriate for a local musician to have, this is one of those "do-it-yourself indie musician" feature programs that Mike has gravitated to in his modern day solo era. If you've followed his interviews and appearances in this realm since 2018, you'll recognize names among prior episode guests that have either worked with, interviewed, or spotlighted Mike. This episode of The Community Pulse actually begins with a Frank Terzo music video (he promotes his own music in this series as well as via guests and collaborators), before the introduction, which includes specifics on the format.

While interviews are definitely most of the story, The Community Pulse features artist spotlights, song premieres, indie music news, and more, so it's a good catch-all if you're in this oeuvre of DIY indie rock artists helping out other DIY indie rock artists! The actual show begins 7:34 into the 2:28:23 episode, with Frank setting things up, acknowledging Father's Day, and plugging some independent musicians and hosts featured in the introductions. We finally see Mike and Red on camera at the 13:50 mark, but I want to preface things by noting that Red is also referred to by his real name Carson Hiltz in the episode, by Mike, Frank, and in text (the Red Jettison stage name is exclusively used in the band's own promotion though). Also, Red is referred to as the "co-host" rather than a guest, which goes along with prior episodes of The Community Pulse, in that Frank always has a remote musician credited thusly, even if they don't ask many questions themselves.

After Frank asks how Mike and Red met, he promotes Mike's own indie label MorningStar Records (more on the No Arrow mention soon) and does some plugs and shoutouts, before he played "Tour Bus Fantasy" from HeadF1rst's new album "Road Trippin'" at the 27 minute mark. Once it concludes, Frank highly praised the song's retro rock vibe, and Red discussed the songwriting process for it, heavily crediting guitarist Rainey Rancourt's contributions there. After discussing the deadlines and time crunch for getting physical copies of "Road Trippin'" pressed and shipped, Red noted that HeadF1rst are already working on new original songs, before Frank does some more shoutouts. We next transition to talk about Mike's music, where he plugs his Frequent Flier fan club/newsletter program, and how you can get his new studio album "Frequent Flier" for free (eventually), while also explaining his thought process beyond releasing it for sale.

Basically, Mike wants to keep the album special for Frequent Fliers, hence why only three songs are posted to stream for free, but he also wanted to offer the whole thing to people who buy physical media and/or non-subcribers interested in buying the songs. The lead single "Brand New Day" is played at 47:57, and when we come back to the interview, Frank immediately calls it a "killer track", again complimenting the retro classic rock vibes of it (I'll hold comment until our review of "Frequent Flier" later this month). Mike next outlines the recording process for this song, particularly the backing vocals. Following more shout-outs, Frank asked how Mike first got into music, leading into Mike discussing his extensive discography, noting that "Frequent Flier" is not one of his "mainline" solo albums, and is one of nine in his back catalogue that is "off to the side". He next outlines his aims for MorningStar Records and promoting other independent acts there.

Red jumps back in next to discuss his feelings on MorningStar and his hope to do a concert featuring just MorningStar-affiliated acts. Frank next sets up Mike's original song "Hot & Cold" from 2023's "All The Best In All You Do", as prefaced by Mike's songwriting process for it and the inclusion of Southern Ontario-based metal guitarist Hetriani (another indie musician who pops up on The Community Pulse and similar shows) as a guest. The song proper (via its lyric video) is played at 1:08:19, capping off the first half of the episode. After strong praise from Red and Frank, another guest pops in on the livestream, namely Laurie Pepi Igo, a pianist out of Massachusetts who also frequents this indie music sphere via her channel Laurie's Mishmosh. After more shout-outs from Frank, Laurie (a Frequent Flier cardholder, no less), praises Mike's program and its offerings, while Red elaborates more on HeadF1rst's lineup and plans for the future.

Laurie gets the spotlight next, with a short song by pianist Donna Mitchell played at 1:31:40 (I guess Laurie features regularly to showcase an independent pianist). After Laurie signs out, Red asked how soon Mike knows what will make his albums (especially given his extensive discography), before we transition to talking about the next song played on air, namely Mike's song "All The Best" from his 2023 album, and you can hear it at the 1:40:55 mark. More discussion about art and songwriting follows, before Frank asks Mike about the freak accident at Rotaryfest 2023 when Mike dislocated his knee while playing "Hot & Cold" on Stage 1, and played on while laying on his back until the ambulance arrived (read our initial coverage of that at this link). At least at this point, Mike can look back and laugh about everything, but he was a trooper for getting through all that two years ago! Frank next asks Mike about how he devised the Frequent Flier program.

The last song played on air in this mammoth episode is the namesake for Mike's label, namely "MorningStar" from his 2020 album "If Ever Comes The Day", as prefaced by Mike elaborating on the song's inspiration and recording process, especially as he started using GarageBand for iOS with that album. You can hear that song at 2:08:19, with 15 minutes to spare. This Community Pulse episode continues with Frank asking about Mike's live music plans, with Mike noting that he and The Big Finish Band were hoping to return to Rotaryfest, but they weren't selected for 2025, though he is hopeful that they might be picked for next year. He did promote their return to the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir next month, while a pro-shot, multi-cam, full concert video of Mike & crew's set at HeadF1rst's album release party in May is planned to be posted on YouTube soon, along with a live album of that entire concert!

Not all of Mike's announced/teased live album plans have seen their intended conclusion ("Face To Face", for one), so that will be neat if it does come out thusly! Red also plugs upcoming HeadF1rst gigs, including a short notice show to be previewed on the SMS tomorrow, a teased return to the Loud & Proud family fun day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion (we await confirmation on that event), and their Rotaryfest and Northern Vibe sets ahead this summer. After final words and plugs from everyone, Frank closes by playing "Family" by Liz Aday over the end credits. Entertaining and casual interview/hangout that painted Mike and Red in strong lights! Red was less "co-host" and more "co-interviewee", with Frank asking way more questions, but this is Red's first real toe in the water to this community (unless I missed something). It's always neat to see all of the live-stream commenters and interactions in videos like these too, including many repeat names!

There's a lot to take in, but check out the full Community Pulse episode for yourselves below, and we'll have more from HeadF1rst and Mike Haggith on the SMS this month, starting with a short notice show preview from the former tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's Newest Podcast Interview With Brian Tremblay!!

Remember when local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith was interviewed by local folk/country musician Brian Tremblay for an episode of Rock 'N Roll Heaven on The Borderline back in March 2023? Well, the two have united for another podcast interview almost two years later! However, this one isn't affiliated with The Borderline, rather The Lonesome Cowboy Podcast, Brian's own independent series that you can check out episodes of via Substack. This podcast debuted in November of last year, and you read more about its raison d'etre at this link, and while an allusion is made as to why he seemingly left The Borderline, new Rock N' Roll Heaven episodes were still being released this month, so who is to say what's going on. Regardless, this new interview with Mike is exclusive to The Lonesome Cowboy Podcast, and it is much shorter (37 minutes as opposed to the almost 2 hour long interview from 2023).

If you want to hear their Rock N' Roll Heaven interview from 2023, click here, but one plus to the February 2025 interview is that it was uploaded in video format with Mike interviewed via Zoom! To that end, Brian hosts in front of a green screen of a western sunset, but the chroma-keying isn't perfect, and often blends with his shoulders. The interview here differs from 2023 beyond length and visuals by focusing mostly on Mike's work as a do-it-yourself independent musician and owner of MorningStar Records (which was still in the works during his last interview with Brian), with Mike first discussing how MorningStar fully came to be and why he decided to start his own artist-friendly label, with information about the label operations and amenities being given on air. Mike even has copies of Brian's output with MorningStar to show on camera, so there's your proof as to the label's success with releasing physical albums for affiliate artists!

This leads into Brian drawing comparisons between Mike's music career and the discipline of his day job as a pilot, as well as the pilot/flying references made in Mike's Frequent Flyer newsletter program, including a rare public reference to Mike's "Frequent Flyer" studio album that is being released piece by piece to newsletter subscribers (I'll mention it on the SMS when unequivocally completed in its release there). At the midpoint of this interview, Brian asks about Mike's lack of pushiness when promoting his artistic endeavours, before asking about Mike's plans for future concerts, with Mike explaining why most of his modern concerts are in the Soo and not elsewhere, but he does hope to play solo dates in other markets, possibly in conjunction with where he travels as a pilot. Brian then asked how the pandemic affected Mike's live concerts and the audience turnout after things re-opened and shows resumed in earnest.

After talking about Mike's live concert experiences and feedback, Mike spends the last few minutes by promoting his music directly, particularly his post-2011 output and his Din albums, and where you can hear/buy everything. While much shorter than 2023's interview and completely lacking in songs of Mike's, this is an informative watch that covers lots of ground in a nice casual manner, and it's good to see Mike & Brian talking about music again like this! No word on if we'll ever see the teased "Face To Face" live album from the two of them though. Unfortunately, I'm unable to directly embed the video proper on the SMS, just as a shared link from Substack, but click here to watch the 2025 interview, and if Mike does have new content to tease, it doesn't sound like another interview with Brian will be far off! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

One More Weekend Concert Preview, Plus A New Spades GT Interview Video!!

In this post, we're wrapping up this weekend's concert previews with a special event featuring a band reunion, but the rest of this post references one of the performers' current group, so here's what you should know!

Here's one more weekend concert preview for TONIGHT, as a bunch of familiar faces will join forces at The Dive Gastro Pub! Advertised by the venue as the "jam night for Joy" (the Facebook event page treats it as a normal concert), this special event is the culmination of today's celebration of life for Joy MacMillan, the late mother of Spades GT/ex-Haggith guitarist Daniel Horton, whose support was clear and instrumental throughout her son's local band work in the 2010s, as his friends and bandmates will be well aware of. Joy passed away in late November, but after a GoFundMe campaign, her celebration of life proper takes place today at the Holiday Inn Express (the former Days Inn) from 2:00-6:00 PM, but the concert portion takes place at around 9:00 PM with an advertised reunion of Mike Haggith & The Din, albeit their 2013-2014 acid jam/improv incarnation featuring Daniel alongside Mike & Curtis McKenzie.

It will be nice to see 3/4ths of the core Haggith lineup back for a night, albeit under sad circumstances, and hopefully they recapture early Din sets well in Joy's memory! Curt will also play a solo set tonight (presaging his full solo gig there next week), while Dan's former Jack Spades bandmate Rob Speers will also bring his acoustic solo act there tonight, fresh off playing at The Dive on Thursday. This special 19+ concert has no advertised cover charge, as well as refreshments and a cash bar, though seating will be limited. Visit the above links for more on what should be a special night for Daniel and his family, here's the original Din live, and R.I.P. Joy!

Next up, let's pivot to Daniel's current work in Spades GT, so what are the local/Barrie crossover thrash band up to this year/month so far? You can find out some of that info here, as drummer Tyler Reiner took part in with the Niagara Falls-based music promotion company Sofa City Sounds on January 2nd! This was streamed on Sofa City Sounds' Facebook page, and ignore that the video description says that the interview was with Black Absinthe, they labelled the wrong group. If Sofa City sounds familiar, it's because Tyler and frontman J.D. Pearce were interviewed by owner/host Amanda Schilz (and her son!) back in December 2023, and you can watch that 48 minute video at this link. A year+ later, Tyler flew solo for this remote interview, which starts with Amanda reminiscing on the first time that she saw Spades live and other related topics. We next get hype for Spades GT's first concert of 2025, which saw them play at Walterstock III.

Two days after this interview was posted, Spades joined twenty-three other bands to pay tribute to beloved GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich at The Rockpile in Toronto once again, and this discussion leads to some good personal discussion about connectivity and personal interactions among the metal community there, plus coming and going into music and awareness of it, and having the drive and passion to get your name out there and also support other local-to-you bands. Eventually, Tyler does bring up the band's eventful 2024 and plans to return to the studio next month to record their next studio album, as well as plugging some of the band's radio airplay in Southern Ontario last year, while also opening the floodgates to promoters to book them in 2025, especially in markets that they haven't played at before. Following some more Walterstock promotion, Tyler plugs what they have for sale and what they hope to have to sell soon, especially the new CD.

The band's lineup is credited about 52 minutes into the interview, with the bassist search still ongoing at the time, and J.D. was supposed to take part in this year's Sofa City Sounds interview too but couldn't due to commitments with his day job. Most of the rest of the interview is casual conversation and reiterating 2025 plans for Spades GT, but Tyler does reference how he's not the first drummer of the band, crediting their beginnings in the Soo as Jack Spades in the 2010s, and how appreciative he is to be brought into the fold. While Amanda's son didn't help in the interview this time (though pets stopped by on both ends), this was another fun interview for Spades fans! Most of it was admittedly just Tyler and Amanda talking about the scene at large and personal experiences, and not a lot of ground is covered that fans didn't already know from 2024 postings and interviews, but it's a solid and laid back watch that you can check out below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Our Full Recap Of Mike Haggith's YouTube Interview From July!!

I apologize for this being so delayed, but local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith took part in a 2+ hour interview named "The Sky's The Limit" for YouTube in July, so what should you know here? This was conducted by Australian metal musician and artist Jade Starr, who has quite an interesting backstory both musically and personally (she is trans and gender nonconforming, FYI), so I do recommend reading the manifesto on her website to track her journey! The recent videos on Jade's YouTube channel have primarily been about recording music with Apple iPads and iOS devices, and of course, Mike uses similar tech for his recent solo output, and has appeared on YouTube interview shows of this ilk in the past that help teach other independent musicians how to make their own professional recordings in this way. This "How To App" interview begins with Mike's lyric video for his song "All The Best".

If you want to skip directly to the interview proper, it begins at 4:56, with the first section running for about 22 minutes. Jade has been hoping to interview Mike for a long time given the multiple musical and professional hats that he currently wears, so it good to see the right intercontinental wires cross! The interview proper starts with Jade asking what music means to Mike, his early musical influences and songwriting (didn't expect so much Joshua Kadison talk!), how his family took to his music, his preferred recording formats, and the songwriting process, and Mike shares some good insights across this section! After Jade plays lyric video #2 of 5 for "The Start Of Something Real", the interview resumes at 31:14, with part 2 running for around 38 minutes. We next see Jade asking about the 1980s influences on Mike's recent solo material, the music/work balance given Mike's day job as a commercial airline pilot, ...

...the music lessons and classes that Mike took when he was younger, the perception of Canada domestically and internationally, how safe air travel is nowadays, how Mike became a pilot in the first place and got to his current level in the profession, and more about the good, bad, and routine experiences of being a pilot. If you're as curious about flying airplanes as Jade is, this section will be for you, especially the last story about Mike's scariest moment in the air! We hit the midpoint of the interview when Jade plays the "Carousel" lyric video, and part #3 begins at 1:12:58, running for about 17 minutes. This portion deals more with Mike's music, with Jade asking about the bands that Mike has been in, and he does positively reflect on his bands in Sault Ste. Marie, including his work with Haggith and both the acid jam & power pop versions of The Din, complete with visual aids from his website.

Mike also discusses Between The Ditches, the cover band that he performed in while living in Thompson, before discussing The Big Finish Band, his solo backing group as seen at local festivals and The Soo's Got Talent. If you wanted to know where they got the Big Finish bandname, he tells us here! We also hear about Mike's experiences and memories about playing live in general, and translating his more personal songs to live performances. The penultimate lyric video played on air is "Twist Of Fate", and if you want to skip to the last portion of this interview, it begins at 1:34:08 and runs for around 36 minutes. This is when we finally dive into the DIY recording angle of Jade's recent content, with Mike asked about how he recorded his newest studio album "All The Best In All You Do" with his at-home equipment, his experiences launching and operating MorningStar Records, using Kunaki to print CDs & vinyl records on-demand, ...

...Mike's artist-friendly business model for MorningStar, his recent work helping get physical albums ready for New Jersey's Maezend Music Lab, how you can get Mike's attention re: maybe working with MorningStar, Mike dislocating his knee (and briefly playing through it) during his set at last year's Rotaryfest, his expectations for his then-upcoming return to Rotaryfest this year, and his advice for when musicians should start recording. The interview closes with the lyric video for "Hot & Cold". While a long watch, this was really well done and informative, both for Mike's insights on his local music career and his work as a pilot alone, but Jade covered lots of ground across this 2+ hour interview, and the extensive use of screenshots and photos in the back half helped give some context, which is handy for newcomers! Fans of Mike's will absolutely want to check out this new interview, which you can do below, and stay tuned for much more this week! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From Early 2024!!

Let's continue playing catch-up with local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT in today's post, and we'll pick things back up from last week with continuing coverage of their set at the second annual Walterstock memorial/charity concert at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th! In our post on April 7th, we looked at some fan-shot videos that filmed single songs from Spades GT, but their full set at Walterstock was also filmed, and in this case, horizontally! This was filmed by YouTube user Jake Disman, who previously shot Spades playing "Hands" at the Road To Lockdown Fest last year at the same venue, but this time, he didn't put a filter over the video afterwards. Owing to the fact that Walterstock had twenty-seven scheduled acts in one day, the former Jack Spades only had a 15 minute set, in which they played "Succubus", "Red", "Final Girl", "Sewer City Radio", and "Rise" (the latter was not planned to close but they didn't know they had extra time until they finished "Sewer City Radio".)

While Jake's video is softer and more distant than the closer videos that we featured here last week, this horizontal stationary video captures Spades GT ripping a furious (if rushed) mini-set, and you can't ask for much more out of what J.D., Daniel, James, and Tyler gave in 15 minutes than what you get here! Audio quality is much crisper than the video quality too. Check the whole thing out for yourselves below!

Moving into the month of February 2024, Spades GT's music video for "Final Girl" (as well as the newest video from guitarist Daniel Horton's side project The Fast Life) were reviewed by the Facebook music review page E:W:L (Even Without Life), which normally reviews new independent music not unlike You Rock! or Your Music Live. You can watch the 2+ hour livestream at this link, and host Tim Woloszyn looks at the "Final Girl" video an hour & 39 minutes into the stream. Despite the focus being on independent music, the portion of the stream where Tim plays Spades GT's video is muted due to Facebook content matching the song, even though Spades were 100% on board with being promoted here, so the video is sadly unembeddable externally. Tim highly praised the video and song though, and definitely was amped up as an on-camera personality, so check out the whole thing by clicking here!

Updates were relatively quiet from Spades GT's camp in February aside from openly putting their name out there re: bookings for later this year, both in the GTA and elsewhere. The band is now taking pre-orders for an official skateboard featuring the band's logo stencilled over the "Sewer City Radio" album cover, so click here if you want details on the construction and how to place an order! On March 8th, the guys confirmed that they have begun writing for their next album, as per this "Reel" (no video there though). They revealed that they're "stepping outside the box" here, but to what extent is to be revealed, and the band has since revealed that they plan to release new music "this summer". A few days later, Spades posted a new video from the Random Killing show in Toronto last September (also double posted as a "Reel" for some reason.)

The video sees Spades GT playing "Red" at The Bovine Sex Club, and it's a well shot video from a close angle (horizontal, at that) which gives a larger feel to the venue! Fittingly red lighting (maybe too red), but everything sounds and looks good, and while I don't know why they didn't share this last fall when the show was still fresh in mind, better late than never! Give their new-ish "Red" video a watch below!

We'll close with the aforementioned E:W:L, as Spades GT returned to that webseries for its March 22nd episode (also unembeddable due to Facebook content matching songs played on air), where Tim interviewed bassist James Roy Daley and drummer Tyler Reiner over Skype! The Spades section begins 32 minutes in with a playing of "Sewer City Radio" (now muted), but you do see Tim enthusiastically rocking out still! In terms of the interview proper, Tim (with help from commenters) asks the guys about their belief in ghosts, how they define music, how they write their songs, their favourite Canadian musicians, their rehearsal patterns, past drug experiences, how the band met (Tyler referenced the band's Soo origins here and even briefly mentioned why ex-bassist Daniel Rodbard left), the genre of music they'd prefer if they couldn't play punk/metal, an... interesting experience from their Northern Vibe Festival set up here in 2022, ...

...their favourite song to play live, why they got into music, and their message to the indie music community. The interview runs until the 65 minute mark, so we get over a half hour of loose and fun conversation with Spades' rhythm section here! I'd have structured the topics of conversation a little more naturally, as it seemed very random without a lot of follow-ups, but James & Tyler came off well, so give the whole interview with E:W:L a watch at this link! Remember, I can't embed it here due to the content matched audio elsewhere in the stream. We're almost caught up for Spades GT activity, so we'll have more from them last & this month on the site soon, along with more local content! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From December & January!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to acknowledge that local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns did not play at Shooters Downstairs Lounge last night for unannounced reasons, with no band replacing them. The band & venue never publically confirmed or denied the gig, which new drummer Brandan Glew announced on his personal Facebook page last month. The Stallyns are not known for frequently updating their Facebook page, alas, but I do apologize for the erroneous plug on Thursday. I'd have noted that it was cancelled had someone publically said something in advance! My thanks to Sarah Vikken (who was present for an unrelated event) for confirming the lack of a band last night.

Now let's dive into more recent news and notes from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what else have they been up to since the turn of the new year? On December 30th, Joe Taylor of the music website Blast Toronto reviewed their newest album "Sewer City Radio", recommending the album to fans of Motorhead, Anvil, The Offspring, and The Ramones. He used a lot of hyperbole to pump up this album in a brief but positive write-up, so give it a look at this link! The rubber chicken frequently pops up in Joe's CD reviews, if you wanted context. On New Year's Day, the band posted a "Reel" on their Facebook page to recap their 2023, featuring assorted live concert clips and posters as set to their song "Cenobites" while guitarist Daniel Horton talked about how the year went & how 2024 will be another big year. My usual "Reel" complaints aside, it hypes up 2023 well!

I can't embed "Reels" here, but I can embed this video, which features a 48 minutes-long interview that frontman J.D. Pearce and drummer Tyler Reiner recorded with Amanda Schilz and her son Andrew The Legend of Sofa City Sounds, a music promotion/interview company out of Niagara Falls. Tyler and J.D. were participating remotely over the holidays, with Tyler in Muskoka and J.D. in the Soo when this was recorded! Note J.D is in front of a local Ripcordz concert poster, and look for his various masks. After asking about their holiday plans, Spades GT talk about "Sewer City Radio", how Spades GT came together in Barrie (Tyler brings up the Jack Spades era here), their live concert experience (which J.D. hopes is close to hearing their studio material), their 2024 plans in concert and studio, bands that they have enjoyed sharing the stage with (Drew from Random Killing saw Spades at the Josey Scott show here last summer) ...

...rumoured major shows for 2024 (not that Spades GT were willing to spill many beans), their growth in the past year, and their advice for young musicians. Fun and loose interview with lots of discussion about bands that Amanda (and her kids) have seen live and worked with, and if you find the idea of a local band interview involving a host conducting it with her son to be unusual, remember that Heavy Lies The Crown did a (sadly now deleted) interview in January 2023 with Ghost Media Entertainment where the host's young daughter participated. Click here for our recap to compare. Give Spades GT's interview with Sofa City Sounds a watch below!

Spades GT's first concert of 2024 saw them play at the second annual Walterstock, the fundraiser/memorial concert in honour of noted GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich, who passed away after being unable to get prompt medical treatment in 2022 despite his best efforts (click here for more on that sad story). Like with the inaugural Walterstock last year, twenty-seven acts played at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th, and while none of the other bands are familiar from local gigs, frequent Spades GT show partners GFU played, as did headlining Pantera tribute band Cowboys From Hell, while Spades bassist James Roy Daley also played with the psychobilly band The House of Haunt immediately following Spades' set. Videos were not in short supply from Spades' Walterstock set, and we'll start with two fan-shot videos that, while both sadly vertical, are not "Reels" and therefore embeddable here!

Attendee William Wai Yun Lum (who previously filmed Spades GT at Indie Night In Canada last year) live-streamed this sub-2 minutes clip of them playing "Succubus" for his personal Facebook page, which the band later publically shared on their Facebook page. The somewhat low framerate and muffled audio are noted, but it's an intense performance from the front row, and while I wouldn't have shot it vertically, it does get a good look at J.D. in particular, so check it out for yourself below!

There's definitely more from Walterstock to come, but we'll finish up here with attendee Dawn Faller's video of Spades GT's closing song, namely the title track of their album "Sewer City Radio"! Dawn posted this three days after the event on her personal Facebook page before the band re-posted it. This is a longer video capturing the full song, and while vertical, she wasn't shy about rotating the camera around to catch things at skewed angles while zooming in and out, so it's an interesting watch! She was at more of a sharp angle too, but still clearly in the front row. Good audio quality here too, so check this clip out below as well!

 

When we pick things back up for Spades GT, it'll be with more Walterstock fallout, so look for that in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!