I thought I should start by offering our best wishes to Frightlight guitarist and prolific local drummer Rick "Styles" White, who was hospitalized following an incident at The Thrill Junkies' show at The Roosevelt Hotel on Friday night. Details are murky on what happened, but from what I've read on Facebook, there was some type of altercation that required an ambulance be called to The Rosie. Last I heard, he was still in the hospital, but he is in good spirits, and that's definitely great to hear! However, his injuries appear to be bad enough to knock him out of concerts through at least late next month, as Frightlight have been forced to drop out of frontman Johnny Pints' annual Halloween Party at The Roosevelt Hotel on October 26th, which would have been their fifth straight set at this annual Halloween weekend event since their 2009 debut. Replacing them will be Johnny's newest local band Jack Spades (featuring T-Rex Manning's Tiffany Stocco & The Bear Hunters' Justin Lam & Johnny Belanger), and they'll have a set tailored to Halloween to fit the evening, so don't miss them!I assume this will also take Rick out of next week's Ray Brown benefit show at The Verdi Hall (which he is scheduled to play with Redundant), but this has yet to be officially confirmed. Out of respect to Rick & his family, I'm in no position to say anything further, and for new info that doesn't affect his bands or shows, we won't cover it here for that reason, including any possible criminal/legal fallout. After all, we're a site about local metal/hard rock news, not TMZ. Get well soon Rick, we're pulling for you!
Next up, here's what I caught from Friday night's debut performance by new local rock cover band Glitch! After The Hydra's Teeth wrapped up downstairs, I bolted upstairs to The Rockstar Bar to catch the last chunk of Glitch's second set, so what'd I see? From what I was there for, Glitch covered U2, Beatles, and Rolling Stones songs, and all were sung by guitarist Mark Oliverio, who has a solid voice! Still, those songs may not scream "hard rock", but Glitch did cover Godsmack, Pearl Jam, and Aerosmith earlier in that set, and there was roughly an even split between harder covers and more general stuff, but as I wasn't there for the bookending sets, I can't speak to their other material. I will note that drummer Mike Oakley had his headset mic on, so he does appear to sing at least some songs with this new band (a'la Sneaky Pete.) The crowd was fun and large for their set, and the members talents were strong, but there could be more energy as a whole, with Marco Pedalino often appearing to be very reserved & quiet on stage.I like what I heard, but I'll definitely have to see more of Glitch's live show to get a fuller sense of their set and sound, especially to hear how they handle heavier songs, but all 4 members have histories in such bands, so that shouldn't be a problem. I did get some photos while there, so click here or visit our Facebook page to check them out, and I also uploaded a video from the show onto Facebook, so here's their cover of The Rolling Stones' "Doom & Gloom"!
Also today, here's some updates on opening bands for local grunge/alternative quartet Haggith's announced slate of fall concerts! Despite earlier hints of fellow PaperClip Productions bands opening for them in their series of upcoming New American Pub gigs, two of the three will be opened by unaffiliated bands, including local punk trio The Northern Tragedy THIS WEDNESDAY (our preview of that is coming tomorrow) and new local rock band Nikkfitt (pictured) on Friday, October 20th! Though their genre and setlist is still unknown, their lineup includes singer/band namesake Nikki Bryant, guitarists Jacques Marceau (ex-Caveman Morrison) and Robert Ross (who I believe replaced Dutch Vanderploeg in the band), bassist Andrew MacDonald (ex-Fitswitch/Scary Uncles), and drummer Glenn Lavoie. The lineup has a lot of promise based on what I know of them, but we'll have to see how they sound, so stay tuned for updates! They have also joined Haggith among the performers for the Jack Bryant benefit show at The Rockstar Bar on Thursday, October 3rd, where they'll play alongside two more new confirmations, those being The 7 Year Itch (a.k.a. Griphook minus Brian Oja, as last seen at The Rockstar Bar in July), and local country band Thin Ice in an acoustic set.No word on why this won't be a full Griphook set, but there's now a nice diverse lineup for the Jack Bryant benefit, and I believe Nikki Bryant was his daughter in law, so they fit extra well for that event! Keep an eye out for updates on these shows as they come in (including a possible opener for Haggith's show at The New A on November 22nd), and stay tuned tomorrow for our preview of Wednesday's Haggith/Northern Tragedy show there!
Finally for today, here's the latest song from local solo grind/gore project Malignant Neoplasm, as uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel on Sunday! Entitled "Retinoblastoma" (a type of eye cancer), this IS planned to be on "Blood Shed's Bloody 3 Way" demo with fellow label artists Brutaly Fatal & Rotopsy (formerly Spitneck.) A short 45 second track, it has no discernable vocals, but a lot of programmed blast beats and is clearly heavy, it's just not something I can accurately comment on given it's length. Check it out below though!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Haggith concert preview and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
