YouTube Channel Profile Series: Brook Moreau, Mike Deresti, And Maltheus

Here's this month's YouTube Channel Profiles to check out on this Tuesday afternoon! Today, we're spotlighting 3 randomly selected channels, as the first one we chose only had 3 very similar videos, so we had to fill things out, and the second channel only had one video period, so three it is. This month covers solo, live, and studio material from a handful of notable performers, so here's what you should know on this month's chosen YouTube channels and their content within!
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Brook Moreau (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3oG6AxI8g4ueU4yCdxdZ6A) 

Owner: Ex-For All That Is Lost guitarist Brook Moreau

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 5th, 2012; Videos posted from March 15th-18th, 2015

Channel Summary: Two years after the breakup of his Central Algoma death metal band F.A.T.I.L., Brook uploaded three solo performance videos on YouTube, including a cover of August Burns Red's "Composure" and two Killswitch Engage covers, "Take This Oath" and "Self Revolution", his most popular video. Oddly enough, Brook doesn't appear to have his guitar plugged in for the covers (hence why you can hear him hitting the guitar strings), but he is clearly playing the songs in question and seems to know them very well! Though Brook hasn't visibly used his channel in over three years, check out For All That Is Lost videos for higher quality views of Brook in action, he was a highly underrated player!


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Mike Deresti (http://www.youtube.com/deresti64) 

Owner: YouTube user and area resident Mike Deresti

Channel Timeline: Launched on April 28th, 2011; Only video posted on July 16th, 2017

Channel Summary: Mike's only upload is a video of Windsor hard/world rock trio The Tea Party's free headlining concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion last July during the provincial government-sponsored ONTour concert series. Posting this shortly after the show wrapped up, Mike's video is of The Tea Party playing their classic ballad "Heaven Coming Down" (plus a mid-song rendition of U2's "With Or Without You"), though it starts with frontman Jeff Martin talking about filming the music video for this song. One of the better public videos from this concert, you get a nice look at the stage and video wall from Mike's vantage point, and The Tea Party sound as good as ever on their biggest hit! Though Mike hasn't visibly used this channel since, other YouTube accounts have more videos from this show.


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Maltheas (http://www.youtube.com/maltheas) 

Owner: YouTube user Maltheas, who I don't believe is locally based

Channel Timeline: Launched on June 17th, 2010; Videos posted on June 19th & 20th of that year

Channel Summary: Maltheas' channel is solely made up of two videos of songs he likes with accompanying lyrics in both English and Spanish, including Jonathan Coulton's "The Future Soon", and the more locally relevant "Brand New Low" by Treble Charger. I don't speak Spanish, so I can't comment on how good the translation is, but commenters on the more popular Jonathan Coulton cover seem appreciative of the effort! Of course, the Treble Charger song in question was a fan favourite from their 2000 CD "Wide Awake Bored", but there are many channels with this and far more content from the local indie/punk veterans, so the channel may only be of a vested interest for Spanish-fluent fans.


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, our randomly selected channel will be that of Pillory guitarist/Id Iota bassist Robert Sartini, who has over two dozen videos from Pillory and his solo endeavours, so look for that on or around July 26th, and stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck) & Tea Party Concert Fallout!!

Before our weekend concert previews go on the site (not to mention some recently announced new concerts coming up in August), we have lots of fallout from a recent major concert to get to at last, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will make their Canadian Nightclub debut with a solo concert there on Friday, August 4th! Apparently a rare solo concert from a local cover band at The Canadian (is the venue getting back into booking weekend cover acts again?), this won't be entirely new territory for the guys, as predecessors Mourning Wood played a Toystock fundraiser there, but this will be a first for the former Nameus. No word yet on if we'll see Soundcheck out there in the interim (remember, shows that they announce are often on short notice), but fresh off of their Rotaryfest debut, hopefully Soundcheck deliver a fun night of 1980s themed covers and select country numbers in two weeks time! A $4 cover charge is in effect for this 19+ concert, which is listed to start at 9:30 PM, and aside from food/drink specials that night, I can't confirm if there's any extra frills related to the booking. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's some fallout and videos from Sunday night's free Tea Party concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! SooToday's Donna Hopper was on hand for the ONTour concert series stop, snapping 39 colour photos from the event for this article that also briefly summarized the event. Donna's excellent (but scrambled-in-order) pictures include 8 of The Tea Party's headlining set, 9 of Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, 5 of Andrew Hyatt, 2 of McLean, and 15 of fans and attendees. That does seem like a lot, but it's clear from the happy fan response and ONTour paraphernalia that everyone had a good time with the free downtown entertainment on Sunday! SaultOnline's Lynne Brown was also in attendance for her own article on the concert, and she took 11 photos herself, including 5 of The Tea Party, 4 of U.S.S., and 2 of fans (including a well-timed shot of fans waving their arms in sync.) Give all of these photos and show summaries a look above for more on Sunday's action!

In terms of videos from the show, we'll start with a nine minute video of The Tea Party's set, courtesy of YouTube user Mike Deresti's channel right after the show. Mike's footage includes the Windsor hard rock veterans playing their biggest hit song "Heaven Coming Down" (as preceded by frontman Jeff Martin's anecdote about filming it's music video), and yes, they did inject U2's "With Or Without You" into the rendition! The video looks and sounds great, with a nice angle of the stage and video wall(!), and The Tea Party still sound like how they did at their peak, so give Mike's video a look below!



Today's other known videos come from the aforementioned local news websites, including multiple videos from a SaultOnline-affiliated YouTube channel named "ShadesofNorth CanUsa". If you glanced at or didn't read the above article, four abbreviated videos were linked there, including two of U.S.S.' opening set (which definitely got younger attendees moving up front) and two of The Tea Party's set. Their videos include clips of their songs "Psychopomp" and, as embedded below, one of their heavier hits, "Temptation". The side stage videos have some audio distortion, but a nice and unique angle of the band, so give them a look above and below as well!



Finally, SooToday also filmed the last two bands for their own YouTube channel, though in their case, it's a summative 69 second clip with no specific focus  on either band. Confirming that there was an on-stage MC to introduce acts, the video features some great quality, but all-too-short clips, including The Tea Party playing their song "The Bazaar" at video's end, and U.S.S. interacting with the crowd on the floor, which had to have been a thrill for fans! I wish there was more to this video, but give it a look below for more solid footage from Sunday's ONTour event!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Tea Party), A Concert Cancellation, And Much More!!

Here's a new news post for your Tuesday morning, which is by and large devoted to two topics: A major concert cancellation that many were expecting, and a huge LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, but we also have some assorted recent news and notes to take in as well. Now, here's what you need to know!

Juno nominated Windsor hard/world rock trio The Tea Party will headline a FREE & ALL AGES concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Sunday, July 16th! As announced by in a press release on SooToday on Friday, the show is one of 23 free outdoor concerts taking place across Ontario between June 25th and September 17th as part of the Government of Ontario's ONTour concert series, which will see over 50 Ontario music acts playing across the province to celebrate Ontario's 150th' birthday, with the Soo's coming fourth in the tour. This is a nice surprise for music fans across the province, so visit the above links for current details on the tour so far! This will be The Tea Party's first local concert appearance since headlining at The Princess Theatre in 1998, before they had their biggest chart hit with "Heaven Coming Down", so this should be a cool chance to hear these Canadian rock legends playing many of their hits on a local stage after 19 years away, and for FREE!

A diverse opening lineup will include Toronto drum & bass duo Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (who played at LopLops Lounge back in 2011) and Barrie country quartet The James Barker Band in their local concert debut. Both bands have had top 10 hits on the Canadian alternative and country charts, and should find solid audiences of their own next month! A 6:00 PM start time is advertised on the Facebook event page, and for readers elsewhere in the north, note that there will be ONTour events in Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, and Blind River as well, artists to be announced. This sounds like a great time for local music fans of varying genres, especially given The Tea Party's return, so stay tuned for updates if they come in!

Next up, it is now 100% official: the planned Rock The Border Music Fest at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Sunday is not taking place. Organizers quietly deleted the official Facebook page and event page yesterday, following a tumultuous month of no new public updates despite mounting local debate and pessimism about the planned concert. Australian hard rockers and planned co-headliners The Lazys confirmed the cancellation on their Facebook page, while planned local openers The Din took their issues and concerns public via the Facebook video below from this past Friday. The clip explains The Din's reasons for dropping out of the show (which hadn't officially been cancelled at that point), noted that they've obtained refund money for outstanding local tickets from March's aborted Quiet Riot concert from the same promoters, and encouraged fans to instead check out the Electric Church/Speaker concert at The Canadian on Sunday from local promoters Live705.

It's worth noting that if you purchased a Rock the Border Fest ticket, Live705 will honour them as coupons for their show on Sunday night, getting you admitted for the $5 father's discount price, which is very admirable of them! The Din encourage sharing of their video "if you value this city's ability to bring in big name concert acts". Also, note that the Eventbrite page for online ticket sales is still up as of Tuesday morning, despite the Facebook deletions, so don't buy tickets there hoping that this show might still occur. I won't single out any individual promoters here, but after two high profile hard rock cancellations in a three month span, it's easy to see why there's been so much online reticence in the past month, and the lack of public updates since May 7th was telling that something was up (at the very least.) Give The Din's video a look below, and don't miss Live705's Canadian Nightclub concert on SUNDAY or the aforementioned FREE Tea Party concert at The Pavilion in July!



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

• Local alternative/hard rock quartet Bizotic, alt-punk/no-genre trio Handsome Sandwich, and rapper Mikey Thomas have all been added as openers for the Vaultry-headlined concert at The Canadian Nightclub on July 7th. Promoters Live705 had originally only planned for 2 more acts on the bill of this rock/rap hybridization event, but now there's 7 total acts, including 4 bands and 3 rappers. Very intriguing event to be sure, so check the above links for full details on all of the action next month!
• This past Thursday night's CKY concert was covered by SooToday's Donna Hopper in this article posted online yesterday, featuring interview remarks with frontman Chad Ginsburg on his move to lead vocals and their upcoming CD "The Phoenix". As usual, Donna got some great photos at the show (albeit in black & white), including 5 of CKY's set, 10 of The Wild's set, and 4 of Jack Spades' set, though she didn't get anything from A Dire Setback or with CKY touring keyboardist Matt Cole. Solidly done once again, so check out Donna's new concert photos and coverage at the above links!
• Remember how Toronto death/groove metal quintet Sludgehammer were to have headlined the postponed Oddzfest II concert at The Oddfellows Hall on Saturday? Well, it was announced on Sunday that Bear Hunters guitarist Josh Stephney (the promoter of Oddzfest II) has replaced Chris Szarota as Sludgehammer's new frontman! No word on if the reveal would have been a surprise unveiling on Saturday or not had the show taken place, but it's great to see Josh singing again in a death metal band, so follow Sludgehammer above, and hopefully he brings them north for Oddzfest II at some point!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for even more news and notes on the SMS in the next few days! Thanks everyone!