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!

Lopstock III Coverage (Part 4!!)

Time to resume our coverage of Lopstock III at LopLops Lounge on July 29th in today's post, as we are now in the second half of the marathon 8+ hour concert with just four bands to go, albeit including three of the four previously acknowledged hard rock/punk-leaning acts among them! Once again, SooToday's multi-camera live-stream will guide the way. We'll pick things back up at the 4:28:34 mark of the lengthy livestream embedded at post's end, with promoter/MC Brendan Garlick relating how he met his old Gnaeus bandmate Matt Fronzi, who is the bassist for act #7 at Lopstock, local punk/hard rock band Far From Fine! This is the first public video of the former Ravencore in concert to surface online, so if you missed them at Toystock last year or Rotaryfest this year, now you can see what the fuss about! Former Suicide Kings bandmates Mike Gaetano (vocals) and Mitch Sirie (guitar) join Matt in this new group.

Id Iota/Free Beer alum Blair St. John (recently seen performing with fellow Lopstock act Juliana Regan) filled in on drums once again in lieu of the departed Austin McCrae. Far From Fine's all-original set began with an unintroduced original song (possibly named "Sunshine"?) followed by "Poison" (née "Poison In My Mind"), "Relapse", "Broken", "Whiskey Dick" (I didn't name it!), their first song written with Matt (which wasn't introduced by name), an upbeat song that also wasn't named, a song named (I think) "Go Away", "This Way Again" , and one more unintroduced song. Don't go into this expecting a revival of The Suicide Kings with a new rhythm section, as Far From Fine lean more into punk and don't resurrect any of that band's originals (I don't think), but styles do vary here and they do dip into ballad, hard rock, and even drinking song territory across their set. Mike also played guitar on a couple of songs.

One thing that hasn't changed from The Suicide Kings' heyday is Mike's brief & minimal banter/song introductions despite his ease on stage, but assuming that their debut album is on track to still come out, then we'll know all of these song names in due course. Assuming that we'll have an album to review on the SMS next year, then I'll hold individual song reviews for now, but the guys have good chemistry and can weave around punk songs well while also dipping into other styles where need be, and I was reminded a bit of how The Inner City Surfers weren't just a full-bore punk act in that way. Strong lyrics as a rule too, so definitely check out Far From Fine above and below to see what you think! Not sure about that "kazoo" section though. In a mild surprise for the running order, local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich were the 8th of 10 bands despite their recent profile, meaning that Mitch Sirie played in consecutive Lopstock sets!

After Brendan plugged his new promotional agency Sault Noir and their second event (a burlesque show at LopLops next month), he gave way to Handsome Sandwich, whose set started with five originals from their debut album "Deconstructed", namely  "Better Off", "Monkey", "Stick Up" (with more of an intro than it had on the CD), "All Or Nothing", and "Bitter". Next, they tacked four songs that are not on the album, but are pegged for their planned follow-up EP, including "Without You", "Party Fuel", "Change A Bit", and "No Idea". Before "Without You", drummer Johnny Belanger noted that "we actually started recording (a demo of it) this week", which is encouraging, and we'll have to see how the EP plans continue to shape up! Their set closed with two more cuts from "Deconstructed", namely "Conquest" and "No Entry". Note that they were the fourth straight Lopstock act to forego their one allowed cover.

Fun set with a lively energy and an encouraging increase in fans on the floor (if to the detriment of live-stream viewers), and the block of new songs will be a nice appetizer for that EP ahead! It would be nice to see singer Taylor Emlaw (who guested with Sawbé & Stoneburgh earlier that night) be a little more vocal between songs though. Note that Handsome Sandwich's pro-shot multi-camera video footage from their album release party at The Loft in May is still not online that I'm aware of, so for the next best thing, check out their 11 song Lopstock set below! Today's covered bands can be seen from 4:28:00-6:10:00.

We are officially just over the 3/4ths mark of Lopstock II with just two bands left, including a surprise choice to cap off the "bohemian conclave", so we should wrap up our coverage this weekend. There's a big normal news post slated for tomorrow, and then we have weekend concert previews, so good things will come to those who wait! That's all for today, but look for more on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Lopstock III Coverage (Part 3!!)

It's been too long already, let's continue our extended look at Lopstock III at LopLops Lounge on July 29th today via the middle two acts who played at the 8+ hour "bohemian conclave! Firstly, just some unfinished business from our coverage of Bold Noize's set in part 1 from last week, as we can now officially title the three new songs from his debut punk album "God Save Me" that he did not introduce by name. In order, they are named "Hopes Up", "New Man", and "The Taurus", and while I will talk more about this album/its punk quota on the site soon, Tristan would perform five of the nine cuts from "God Save Me" at Lopstock. Now that we have more details, give those songs a look/listen above! As for Lopstock III in progress, we pick things back up with the fifth of ten acts from two weeks ago, namely local rappers Mykey "Sawbé" Preston and Ethan Stoneburgh (who typically performs under just his last name).

The two MCs have performed together frequently since at least 2019, and have rapped in joint sets often in 2023, Lopstock among them. They're introduced by promoter Brendan Garlick at 2:44:37 of SooToday's multi-camera live-stream embedded below, during which time Brendan defended the local rap scene as being quite real (I guess there are people who don't think we really have one). Sawbé & Stoneburgh led off with their joint single "NFR Cyphers, Pt. 3", before curiously going in reverse to do "NFR Cyphers, Pt. 2" next (albeit sans Mic Swiff from the studio version). They next perform "We Ready", afterwards doing a brief song that I couldn't identify by name (possibly called "Stages"?), before Stoneburgh traded places with the aforementioned Bold Noize for one of his joint songs with Sawbé, "Sand Castles". Stoneburgh returns for another brief song that wasn't introduced (perhaps these are transitions by design?)

Next, the two MCs are joined by fellow local rapper Grief and (from off stage) Bold Noize again, uniting all four performers on "Rust", which Stoneburgh is the lead rapper on rather than a featured performer. A brand new song (possibly named "Hellbound"?) is performed by Sawbé & Stoneburgh next, before they do another song not introduced by name. Grief returns to the stage next to join in on "All Eyes", whose hook was sung in studio and at Lopstock by Handsome Sandwich frontwoman Taylor "Tea" Emlaw! Nice to see her involved, especially as this is Sawbé's most popular song on Spotify! Taylor trades places with Bold Noize for this set's closing song, with all four No Filter Records MCs joining in for Sawbe's "Burning In Hell". Hip hop isn't something that I am super knowledged about, but Sawbé, Stoneburgh, and crew are talented rappers with good flow and intensity when called on!

Sawbé made use of the LopLops space well, and while Stoneburgh's stage presence was a little stiff, you can see how the two pair well on these songs, with Grief also impressing for his features, and Bold Noize making up for the lack of rap in his set to boot. Rap fans will definitely want to give this set a look below or via the song names linked above! As Lopstock started with acts with shorter sets, the sixth set from young local alternative/indie rock quartet The Hollow Heads' set concluded the first half of the festivities. If you're unfamiliar, you may recognize them from Rotaryfest Stage 2 both this & last year (among other events), and frontwoman Gabrielle Dumas was involved in the Clusterfolk Music Festival last year as a solo artist. Also, Pointless' Bill Priddle & Dustin Goodall helped produce their debut single. Gabrielle is joined here by guitarist Ethan Roode, bassist Liam "Curls" Morassut, and drummer Joseph Rosso.

You may recall seeing this set via The Hollow Heads' own YouTube channel, with the band having re-posted their songs from SooToday's live-stream there as a complete set and via individual uploads, so keep those in mind for the convenience. In order, they played "Rat Race", "I Get It", "Breakup", "Invested", "Rearview", "Gypsy", "Belly",  and "Lucy", before closing with a brand new song named "I Need Time", which featured two guest musicians, namely singer Juliana Regan from two sets previously, as well as The BAG drummer Bradley (credited as Ben) Nixon on rhythm guitar. For the record, The Hollow Heads did not play their aforementioned debut single "Complicated", and like the preceding rap set, they had no covers either. The Hollow Heads' set was nicely varied for subgenres and styles, with "Rat Race" being surprisingly heavy compared to everything after it, and Gabrielle was very much at ease on stage!

She had a knack for storytelling and crowd banter, with vocal ability to match, and this young foursome definitely showed a lot of talent across their nine song set, so don't bypass them! We have now reached the (more or less) halfway point of Lopstock III, and the full hard rock/punk acts will start being touched on next, but to see what all went down between the 2:45:00 and 4:12:00 marks on July 29th, check out the full live-stream below or via individual songs linked above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site next! Thanks everyone!