Happy Canada Day to all readers who celebrate, and I hope everyone enjoyed having an extra long weekend this year via it being on a Monday! In our first post of what is surely to be a busy July, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, linked cancellation, and new concert videos from last month, so here's what you should know!
The planned Crucifest extreme metal concert at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn on Friday, July 26th has been cancelled. According to promoters Deciduous Events & Decor on their Facebook page yesterday, "our main organizer has been dealing with ongoing health issues", which has forced her to give up promoting the festival. Definitely a shame, as I know how many metalheads and Robbie's church fans were looking forward to this, but hopefully D.E.A.D. can try promoting a similar event in the future when health allows! Tickets already purchased through Eventbrite will be refunded. However, not all is lost, as the show must go on, if in a reduced capacity! While the five touring Ontario metal bands (Beguiler, Salem Trials, Seagrave, Drugwolf, and Dead Roots) are no longer playing here this month, the four local bands have banded together to keep the July 26th booking, so fans can still prepare to bang their heads then!
This is considered to be a replacement concert with separate admission pricing, but camping that night is still encouraged. Punk/thrash trio (quartet?) Hails have seemingly taken on the promotional banner in their return to Leeburn following last month's It's The Pits Festival, and they will be joined by the reunited Pillory's first public concert in almost five years, rising young metal trio The BAG, and the debuting Sault Side Squad (featuring As It Stands, A Dire Setback, Jack Spades, The Haze, and Winkstinger alumni). It's not entirely clear who is headlining now, as the presented band order is not consistent in promotions. This new all-local metal concert has no stated age limit, a 7:00 PM start time, and a flat admission fee at the door of $20 (Crucifest was $25 for the Friday and $45 for the full weekend, including camping). We have seen local bands salvage cancelled bookings like this before, so kudos for doing so here!
I just hope it doesn't rain on the 26th like it did for It's The Pits, but if you're up for the hour's drive east to rock out (and/or camp out) at the church, visit the official Facebook event page for more details! While we're on the subject, the aforementioned Ha!ls were filmed at It's The Pits for a video publically posted to their Facebook page on Wednesday! Be advised that I have seen more videos than this from It's The Pits, but regrettably, as Facebook goes, they all were either on private accounts or were exclusively shared as "Stories", which means that they can only be seen once or twice before vanishing. A brief separate video of Hails was shared by P.I.T.S.' Instagram page in a batch post covering videos from the whole day, with bubbles a-flying, and it has a better angle than the Facebook video, if square by necessity given that it was uploaded to Instagram. Ha!ls are third in the rotation there, so don't bypass those clips!
As for the Facebook video, it features Hails playing their non-album
original "Bipolaris" from a unique high camera angle, clearly from an
open second floor locale. In this case, I'll forgive the vertical
orientation given that it better accentuates everyone's placement on the
stage! Note that guitarist Carmen Muto was present in both the Facebook
and Instagram clips, but as he was in the promotional imagery for the
festival, you can't be shocked (Ha!ls still haven't confirmed that he's
joined the band on their own social media). A little cymbal heavy, but
this 39 second clip thrashes along well, so give it a watch below, and
see more from It's The Pits above!
Finally for today, here's a brand new video from local alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB live at this year's Poutine Feast yesterday! The first video uploaded to their new (if almost two years-belated) Facebook page, it captures 41 seconds of their cover of Doug & The Slugs' "Making It Work". Filmed roughly side-stage, this (thankfully) horizontal video doesn't have the crispest clarity, but the guys sound good, and it does give us our first public visual look at an SMS-amenable band rocking the Village Media Stage at the Downtown Plaza. For what we see of this band-focused clip, things look professional and open for fans (some were dancing), but I'm curious to see how the video screen above the stage looks in conjunction with performers below it, and of course, this was a community festival moreso than a formal ticketed concert. Check out BookcluB yesterday below, and don't miss them at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Saturday the 20th!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post and more soon! Thanks everyone!
Before we finally cap off this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews, just a friendly tip that Wyld Stallyns/ex-Elements frontman Rob Speers will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for another acoustic show on their patio tomorrow night. I'm still not 100% sure if his solo dates are similar to his bands in set/sound or not, hence why I'm not covering it as normal here, but keep it in mind if you want some downtown unplugged music! Now, let's wrap up this weekend's previews by looking at a big festival an hour or so outside of town, plus two Sunday events, so here's what you should know!
We'll start at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn, where local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their biggest ever concert TOMORROW, namely the It's The Pits! Yes, live music returns to the site of the late 2010s Oh!No fesitvals and last year's private Bear Hunters reunion event, and P.I.T.S. (peach pit motif fully intact) will be bringing a wide array of styles to the church tomorrow, and while the former Dryer Fire have never been known as a metal/punk-first promotion agency, two of the ten acts tomorrow are SMS-amenable! Half of the bill is comprised of touring artists, and while it's not clear if the poster gives away the performance order (we don't know set times anyway), Toronto electronica duo LAL are definitely the headliners tomorrow night. Also making their way here are Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, who genre fans will definitely take to with their melodic sound!
Other touring acts tomorrow are Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton (who played in the Soo in October), Toronto "deep Earth folk" project Twintwa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan "dark folk" duo Rabbit Fur. The local contingent tomorrow includes crossover thrash/punk band Hails (who will be back in Leeburn for Crucifest next month), DJ Seith (who joined Ha!ls at the private Leeburn event last July), Chris West's local/Quebec indie solo project Tampa, lo-fi "anti-folk" singer/guitarist Shae Tull, and the cryptic regional Americana project Tye Lawless Co.. Note that ex-Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's folk project Sibling dropped out of It's The Pits last month after deciding to step away from music, and they were not replaced on the bill. Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is tomorrow's host, and numerous arts and culture vendors will be selling their wares on site.
It's The Pits (which has no stated age limit) takes place tomorrow at 2:00 PM into the night at 5756 Highway 638 outside of Bruce Mines, and attendees are welcome & encouraged to camp out on site and leave on Sunday if they so choose. Just respect the space, and mind tomorrow's rainy weather forecast (though the concert proper is indoors). Tickets cost $45 in advance at this link or via P.I.T.S. staff, and the price jumps to $50 at the gate. Hopefully It's The Pits is a huge hit for Nicole and crew, so that they make this an annual event, and punk fans will enjoy The Mendozaz and Hails in particular among this talented lineup! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Mendozaz live!
Next up, let's head back into Sault Ste. Marie city limits for two concerts taking place on SUNDAY, starting with a matinee performance by online page-less local alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub as the headliners during that day's teddy bear picnic at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery! Last crossing our radar when Tym Morrison had a weekly run there in late 2019, the 4057 Third Line West mill/winery will host their first ever teddy bear picnic on Sunday afternoon, where families and their kids are encouraged to come down (with picnic blankets and plush toys in tow) to enjoy refreshments, family entertainment, games, prize draws, local vendors, and of course, music! BookcluB will be headlining at 1:00 PM (running for three hours), while veteran R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers will open the picnic with a few sets starting at 10:00 AM. What's unclear is if they'll be playing inside at the Wine Barn or fully outdoors.
Regardless of age, tickets run for $10 at this link or presumably upon entry, though if you have a baby 2 years or younger, they'll get in free. The Weather Channel is currently projecting partly cloudy weather in the 22° range on Sunday afternoon, but showers do bookend the 10 AM-4 PM timeframe, so if you are at all concerned about the rain messing with the picnic, keep tabs on your preferred local weather reports closer to Sunday. It'll be interesting to see how things go at Thomson Farms, both for the atypical concert setting, the potential weather impairment, and just how the teddy bear picnic goes, but BookcluB should get a good response! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!
Finally for this very busy slate of weekend concert previews, let's head to The Distraction, where Detroit pop punk solo project Inconsistent Me will headline on SUNDAY NIGHT! One of a surprising number of Michigan-based touring bands to play in Sault Ontario in recent months (if only Sault Michigan bands were similarly crossing over), Inconsistent Me's brand of up tempo & nostalgic pop punk should draw a good response from fans at the old barbership on East Street, so don't miss out if you can swing coming on a work night! No word on if Brendan will be playing solo with a backing track or if he has a band with him (both have happened in the past). Local support will come by way of punk trio Vanity First, capping off a busy weekend for Mikhal and Keeghan (and Carmen?) following their sister band Hails' sets at Go Skateboarding Day tonight and at It's The Pits yesterday! Also, this is their first show since releasing "Identity Crisis" in April.
Oddly, Vanity haven't been promoting this show much in recent weeks, but it does appear to be on for Sunday as scheduled, and as usual, this is an all ages concert. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and admission is via a "$10 or pay-what-you-can" model. If the rain scared you off of Go Skate Day, and if Leeburn is a little too remote for tomorrow, punk fans may find that Inconsistent Me is what the doctor ordered, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Inconsistent Me live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!
Let's dive back into recent news and notes on the SMS today, and in this catch-up day, it just so happens that we're leading off with Mikhal Muto-featured projects for a third straight day! Gotta go where the content is, as both of his current punk bands have new Facebook videos to check out, but for variance, let's start with his skate punk/thrash trio Hails, who were filmed at their headlining concert at The Distraction on May 19th for two videos posted to their Facebook page in the past week. Notably, both appear to feature Mikhal's brother Carmen as a guest guitarist, but Ha!ls did not credit him in either video's description. The two videos run for under a minute in length (Hails rarely post videos of full songs), and feature the guys and Carmen playing "Down For Life" and, as embedded below, "The Drifter". The former song is on their "Rock And Rolls" EP, but the latter is not.
The filmer (I believe it was the same person) shot Ha!ls from two different angles on the 19th, with "Down For Life" being in a normal front-on placement, and "The Drifer" being shot side-stage. I still think that the stage lighting here is too purple, but the setting at the former barbershop is certainly unique, and Hails rocked out as well as you'd expect here, so check out their abbreviated new live videos above and below!
Next up, let's trade Brent for Andrew and look at Ha!ls' sister band Vanity First, who posted one more video from last month's album release party at Soo Blaster onto their Facebook page two weeks ago! In this case, it's of the guys (and the aforementioned Carmen Muto) playing their original song "Off With Their Heads" from the same camera and vantage point as their Choking Victim cover posted on May 8th. Lively performance with "cool guitar stuff" that faithfully captures this song in a good way for fans who heard it on "Identity Crisis", which I will be reviewing on the SMS next month! It's worth noting that Vanity First's introduction on their Facebook page now calls them a "local three (sometimes four) piece punk outfit", implying that Carmen will be back for more Vanity concerts in the future, if not necessarily all of them or for entire sets. Check out their new "Off With Their Heads" video below!
Also, let's move to an entirely unrelated punk act next, namely inactive indie/lo-fi punk solo project Telephone & Address! You may recall this Christopher Shoust-led group from a series of independent album releases & sporadic live dates in the 2010s, and he recently launched a new YouTube channel to collect short films that he has made over the years, including the previously seen F.F.B. documentary trailer. In two of his newest YouTube uploads, Chris posted 2015 skateboarding footage there under the title "Skate Army", with both featuring a full song from Telephone & Address' seventh album "Rust Orchid". The first one is embedded below and uses their song "Seven", but "Skate Army 2.0" instead uses the song "Sunrise". Credited skateboarders here are his old Red & Black bandmate Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, ex-Id Iota/Free Beer frontman Christian Lemay, Man Feelings/ex-Bizotic drummer B.J. Swire, and Chris Leclerc (who's not a musician that I can recall).
Chris Shoust considers these to be "half skate video and half music video", so it is neat to see these songs get some love nine years on! Now, "Rust Orchid" is an interesting choice of album to source the music from (that album also being from 2015 acknowledged), as that album was entirely made up of dark ambient instrumentals that were a far cry from the drum/bass and folk punk material on Telephone & Address' albums before and after this. Not badly composed, but not my first thought of a skate video soundtrack, especially with no visual effects to match the music. Well edited overall though, so give the skate army's work a watch!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or store name:
According to this SooToday article by Alex Flood on their recent purchase of rare instruments, long-time Queen Street East music store Case's Music is now fully owned by ex-Blues Harvest frontman Jake Rendell and his wife Lee, with Jake previously holding a co-ownership stake at Case's since at least 2018. Case's had been co-owned by Carrie Suriano since 2010, initially with her ex-husband Jay Case (Mike Case's nephew). Hopefully the Rendells keep things going successfully long term, and Jerry's instruments seem to be in great hands!
In a quiet change to the lineup for the It's The Pits Festival in Leeburn on July 22nd, local acoustic folk solo project Sibling have been removed from event advertising. A public reason for Sibling's exit wasn't announced, but project leader Mike Kyle (better previously known as Shit Liver's bassist) had made personal Facebook posts to the effect that he was stepping away from music for personal reasons. Hopefully all's well with Mike and that we'll hear from him again in time! As of this writing, Sibling have not been replaced on the bill, but we'll let you know if they are.
It is rare to see a touring band announce a lineup change between the announcement of a local concert and showtime, but Minnesota hair metal band Vixen have parted ways with singer Lorraine Lewis due to the band "going in a different direction" (I hate that excuse), as reported on music news websites like this. Now, Vixen only had one classic-era band member (drummer Roxy Petrucci) left anyway, so it's not like Hair Scare listeners will get a dramatic shift from their classic studio material here, but it is worth noting given their upcoming set opening for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 20th. Stay tuned for updates!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
As teased at the end of yesterday's post, we are looking at the other new summer concert festival announced for the same venue via an extended LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and a new high profile cover video rounds things out. Here's what you should know for this punk-leaning post!
Make it two summer concert festivals hitting Robbie Adamson's church in nearby Leeburn in the coming months, as local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their own festival named It's The Pits on Saturday, June 22nd! Playing into the whole peach pit motif as seen in their post-renaming materials (has Nicole explained the inspiration behind that?), It's The Pits will beat the metal-centric Crucifest to the stage by over a month, but the two festivals do share a common band. Of course, the former Dryer Fire are hardly metal/punk-centric promoters, but many events have featured some heavier crossover, this festival included, so who all is playing next month? Apologies if I err on any band identities, P.I.T.S. did not share social media links for the bands, they just listed them on the official poster. As best as I can gather, five of the bands are from out of town, so who's making the way to Leeburn?
The touring acts are Toronto ambient/house duo LAL, Toronto/Minnesota "deep Earth folk" band Twintwa, Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton, Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, and Grand Rapids, Michigan folk duo Rabbit Fur. A lot of talent for genre fans can be found with these artists, and for you punk fans, The Mendozaz will get things amped up with a strong and melodic brand of modern punk, and with distinctive vocals! Local performers include skate punk/thrash trio Hails (the only band also playing at Crucifest in July), DJ Seith (who played at The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last July along with Ha!ls), local/Gatineau, Quebec surf/indie rock solo project Tampa (led by Mulch & The Mire alum Christopher West), indie rock singer/guitarist Shae Tull, former Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's acoustic folk solo project Sibling, and the cryptic anti-folk/Americana act Tye Lawless Co.
Note that Sibling and Tye opened for Catriona Sturton at Case's Music in October for Dryer Fire, so if you liked that concert, here's your encore! Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is slated to host It's The Pits, while local artist/photographer Chandra Barnett of Lady Of The Glue will be selling her art here. Partially brought to you by the Ontario Arts Council, tickets for this all ages festival are on sale this month for $40, but the advance fee jumps to $45 on June 1st, and tickets at the gate will cost $50. Like at Oh!No before it and Crucifest after it, camping is encouraged, so keep that in mind if you want to stay the night and head home on Sunday the 23rd! You can buy your tickets in advance at this link. While the festival is slated to begin at 2:00 PM, bands are expected to start playing at around 4:00 PM. More details on It's The Pits are forthcoming.
It's The Pits has to be the biggest event that Dryer Fire/P.I.T.S. have ever put on, and hopefully it's a huge hit for Nicole and crew so they can do this again next year, or at least something of a comparable scale! It's not a punk haven, but genre fans will be satiated by The Mendozaz and Hails, and while not everyone will be into the remote camping appeal, it's very much in this year. The two Leeburn festivals at 5756 Highway 638, Go North on St. Joseph Island, and Northern Vibe in Ophir are all scheduled for the summer, so keep all four in mind if you wanna go off the grid and enjoy some high energy local and touring music! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on It's The Pits!
We'll close tonight's post with the ninth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Just over two weeks removed from their rendition of "She", song #9 from "Dookie" was posted to the project's YouTube channel this morning, and keeping with the album's running order, this cover is of the Green Day deep cut "Sassafras Roots". Bookclub/ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon is back on guitar and (initially) ukelele here alongside former Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (wearing a baseball jersey here for a change), while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot is back here for his fifth "Dookie" cover in this series, after missing the last two. Vocals are provided here by Jeff "Kepi Ghoulie" Alexander of the Sacramento horror punk veterans The Groovie Ghoulies, who is seen painting something while singing the song.
Kepi does reveal what he painted at the end, but I won't spoil it here. Perfectly sound cover with strong melodies, and well edited from the remote filming locations, though aside from Kepi's painting in a very blue room, there's no quirks in settings or on-camera activities to note. Green Day diehards will like the cover though! Tenth in this series will be the classic "When I Come Around", which is the final yet-covered single from "Dookie" before they hit a home stretch of deep cuts. Given past timeframes, it should turn up at any point between Monday and June 4th (the current average would be May 19th). Check out Mikey & crew covering "Sassafras Roots" below, and look for more soon!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
