Belated News Coverage & Interviews About This Year's Clusterfolk Music Festival!!

Today, I wanted to give a much belated look at some of the coverage for April's revived Clusterfolk Music Festival, which had hard rock involvement via The Uncanny Valley, though they did withdraw from the proper Clusterfolk concert at The Rockstar Bar on late notice. In case you need a refresher, Clusterfolk in 2022 was primarily an online festival concocted by Jackson Reed, 180 Projects, the NORDIK Institute, and various grant organizations, with Bad Taste Cinema filming high quality music videos of eight young and (mostly) local indie/folk acts, with mixing & engineering done at Unsalted Audio. The eight videos had staggered uploads in April leading up to the concert, with Jupiter Marvelous, Distich, and late replacements Sainte Marie (who didn't get a Clusterfolk video) performing at The Rockstar Bar to cap off the festival on April 23rd, and reactions seemed to be positive!

In advance of the concert proper, Clusterfolk did get some positive press from regional news media that I apologize for missing until now! CBC Radio One's Northern Ontario culture/lifestyle show Up North did a 10 minute piece on Clusterfolk on April 11th, where producer Bridget Yard talked to Jackson about the genesis of the new Clusterfolk, how things came together (apparently they had wanted to do the festival in 2021 if not for pandemic challenges), aims & aspirations, what the original 2010-2011 Clusterfolk was like, artist feedback, a preview of the Clusterfolk concert proper (albeit before The Uncanny Valley and Bad Actors dropped out), and plans to bring back the festival in 2023 as an in-person summer event, before playing local folk duo Distich's song "Seams" from their festival video. Effective promotion to be sure with some new info, but I am surprised that host Jonathan Pinto didn't ask the questions.

If you didn't catch the feature live on Up North on 89.5 FM, you can hear it on demand at this link, so definitely do so if you want! CTV Northern Ontario's Christian D'Avino spotlighted Clusterfolk in this piece for the former MCTV on April 22nd, featuring interview remarks from both Jackson and Bad Taste Cinema owner Curtis Carriere, and while there's not a lot of new details to glean from it, the regional network television coverage was surely appreciated, so if you missed it on channel 11 (Shaw) or 2 (over the air), click here to see it for yourself! SooToday's Lisa Dobrovnik also covered Clusterfolk for this article on April 5th that approached everything from a future lens, as it beat other outlets to the punch, but it's definitely also worth a read to see how this came together! However, the biggest coverage was via Adrian Vilaca of local internet radio station The Borderline, so what should you know there?

On April 20th, Adrian interviewed Jackson about Clusterfolk for this episode of his main Borderline series The Smart As Trees Podcast, which runs for a solid 53 mintues, so what do we learn here? The interview starts with Jackson discussing his promotional work at the old Cafe Natura and what he's done artistically and abroad since then, before playing Jackson's original song "Go" with his recent solo band The Tweeds about 5:30 in, before getting into Jackson's promotional company Ears & Eyes, and then outlining Clusterfolk and the staff behind it, with Jackson discussing all four of the bands who were supposed to play at The Rockstar Bar, obviously still including The Uncanny Valley, who are brought up first as the intended headliners. Jackson noted that their music video for "Stuck In Rotation" was actually filmed at Unsalted Audio, and you can hear it at 16:10.

Sudbury folk duo The Bad Actors (the other late withdrawals) are brought up next, though Jackson doesn't bring up that their song ("Kelly's Wine") was not a video in the series. That song is played at 22:05, and Jackson does plug Sudbury's Will Powers (who the Bad Actors replaced initially) afterwards, but doesn't get into that lineup change on air. Distich are plugged next with "Seams" played on air 28:10 in, before Jackson plugs something I didn't know until now: All eight Clusterfolk songs were released as a compliation album on Bandcamp on April 19th! The album (put out through Jackson & Will's indie label Care Records) is a totally free download (no "name your price" option), but you can also order it on cassette tapes for $10, and it was sold at the concert! I recall seeing private Facebook pictures of Clusterfolk tape cases, but I never heard anything about a public release, so why wasn't that pumped up more?

Incidentally, a formal album review of this tape wouldn't be imminent, as I typically don't look at compilations with only one or two hard rock/punk songs (this is why I never reviewed the Dunnplugged CDs), but I really should buy a tape for myself! Jackson last discusses mixed-genre local band Jupiter Marvelous, and their song "Stress" is played at 38:55, after Jackson & Jacob Quarrell's joint song "The Moon" at 34:50. The last 10 minutes features Jackson discussing his post-secondary music program experience, the Clusterfolk poster design, the 2011 Clusterfolk (Jackson did get the old organizers' blessing to use the name), hopes to bring live bands back to the Bellevue Park Bandshell, and final hype for the Clusterfolk concert proper, before playing Jackson's solo song "The Sun" on air at 50:30. Very informative interview with lots of push for the concert proper and the overall conceit of the festival!

I do wish they'd have at least mentioned Storm Rausch, Xeno, and Gabrielle Dumas (the other three Clusterfolk video/album acts who were never advertised for the concert), but kudos to Adrian for having Jackson on for this much time to hype Clusterfolk, and here's hoping it comes back bigger & better in 2023! Definitely visit the above links for all of the Clusterfolk coverage, and check out all eight songs on YouTube and/or Bandcamp, and if you have a cassette deck, consider buying a tape for yourselves! Still surprised that wasn't hyped more. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rudyard Musicians Festival), New Video Finds, And Rotaryfest Updates!!

After a busy weekend of personal commitments, we are back on this Sunday morning with a new news post, largely covering the Sault Michigan area via some new/old videos and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month! To round things out, we do have some lineup updates for a major Sault Ontario festival to round things out, so here's what you should know!

The third annual Rudyard Musicians Festival will go down at Rudyard Township Park (18725 South Mackinac Trail) on Saturday, August 18th! This late-summer concert event is back for a third go-around, with all proceeds going to Rudyard Area Schools' music and band programs once again, which remains a great cause! E.U.P. music lovers can take in a pig roast dinner, concessions, and camping before and after the festival, among other fun stuff, so visit the official Facebook page for full non-musical details! Promoters are again sticking to returning bands, with only 3 acts not back from 2017 (The Karstens, The Neighborhood Dogs, and Denny Verrett), and only two acts are debuting, so if you liked past years, expect a familiar day of entertainment! This year's only verifiable "hard rock" band is Project 906, and while it's great to see them back for year #3, note that they're on much earlier this time, namely at 3:00 PM. Local classic rockers and festival organizers Steelhead will headline this year's installment at 11:00 PM.

Classic rock favourites The Whole Shabang are back at 10:00 PM, while 2016 performers Second Offense will return to this event at 9:00 PM. Most remaining bands are (once again) country or bluegrass-centric unless otherwise known & stated, including Robert & Bob Malaski at 8:00 PM, The North Country Band at 7:00 PM, and The Wednesday Night Headliners (featuring Brian Harrison) at 6:00 PM. This year's debuting acts are new local country/western trio Rusted Spurs at 5:00 PM and St. Ignace country/folk artist Patrick Springsteen (of The Springsteen Brothers) at 4:00 PM, while the pre-Project 906 acts are Kevin Blakeney at 2:00 PM, pop singer Hayley Malaska at 1:00 PM, Jimmy Williams at 12:00 PM, and Traverse City's New Jazz Trio leading off at 11:00 AM. Musicians Fest III is once again an ALL AGES event with $5 admission at the door, save for kids 10 and under, who remain FREE. It's great to see another stacked lineup of regional musicians back for an excellent & relevant cause next month!

After two successful installments (even with the "NO METAL" disclaimer for last year's band search), this has proven to be a reliable and positive event to help the area school band programs, and hopefully this year's meets the same goals while entertaining large crowds at the same time! Visit the above links for current details on this year's Rudyard Musicians Festival!

Next up, here's a surprise video discovery of a local singer/guitarist covering some heavier music at two Sault Michigan concerts seven years ago! The performer here is Jude Reed, who I am not familiar with from our E.U.P. coverage, but he was the opening act for defunct local metal band Hammerspace for at least two of their early-2011 concerts, and shared a video from each onto his YouTube channel at the time. The latter video comes from their St. Patrick's Day concert at Zim's, where Jude covered The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" & The Foo Fighters' "Best of You", as part of a longer set that Jude lampshaded as being "shameful" aside from these songs. I more dislike the audio quality of the camera, as Jude seems to have a good grasp on these covers! The longer first video is embedded below, from the February 20th concert at The Merchant's Bar, and it features Jude covering Nirvana's "About A Girl", The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Elvis Costello's "So Like Candy", ...

...Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", Nirvana's "Pennyroyal Tea", David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World", and The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun", so click each link to go to that song. Clearly a fan of Nirvana's MTV Unplugged album, Jude was honest about making mistakes during this concert (especially the solo during "So Like Candy"), but he is a good guitarist with a melodic yet gritty singing voice! Again, the camera's audio is the Achilles heel of these videos, not to mention the usually dark lighting, but if you can get past that, there's good qualities here, and hopefully Jude's kept at his music! Give his videos a look above & below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items, all being lineup clarifications for hard rock bands playing at Rotaryfest's main stage on SATURDAY NIGHT! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name, and all are cited from the Sault Ontario summer festival's official program:

• If the program is to be believed, Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide have not enlisted Gianni Gagoots guitarist Liam Seymour as a fifth band member, as was the case in prior online advertising. No word on if a guest spot is planned, but don't miss the four piece Tide at 7:00 PM on Stage 1, and/or Liam with The Barn Board Trio on Stage 2!
• Prolific local metal/punk drummer Johnny Belanger will play guest drums with the reunited Suicide Kings for their one-off set on Stage 1 at 5:00 PM, in place of Ben Boudreau. A reason for Ben's absence hasn't been publically stated, but hopefully nothing bad happened internally, and that we see him on stage again down the line! Johnny filled in with the former Beaumont Avenue late in their run, and has played with band members in The Bear Hunters and Heavy Head, so he should be a fine fit on Saturday!
• North Bay guitarist and sound engineer Dan Belanger will play guitar for That's Chester's one-off festival-closing set at Stage 1 at 10:30 PM on Saturday. Dan worked with That's Chester on their Tommy musical production in 2015, and after guitarist Eugene Orlando's sudden death a few weeks later, Dan filled in at their farewell/tribute set at Rotaryfest 2016, a role he'll reprise this weekend. Very solid and familiar choice, and hopefully the guys deliver another home run!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week, especially with Rotaryfest looming large! Thanks everyone!

Nothern Lights Festival Boreal Meltdown Review & Results!!

Hey everyone, here's my review of last night's Northern Lights Festival Boreal Meltdown audition/battle of the bands at LopLops Lounge! I haven't missed attending a judged local battle of the bands since the Algoma University Battle in late 2009, so even with late lineup notice, how could I resist? Of course, this event was held and designed by organizers of the NLFB, which is the annual folk/indie music festival in Sudbury each July, which has been going on since 1972, so you know this is a big and established deal. Festival staff were on hand to promote the NLFB, sell tickets, seek volunteers, and sign up attendees on their mailing list (complete with a raffle for festival passes), and hopefully this western outreach pays off come July! Even Sudbury's own Stack Brewery was on hand to dole out beverages for the night. Judging the battle were SooToday's Donna Hopper alongside NLFB executive director Max Merrifield (who MCed the Meltdown), outreach coordinator Krisha Patel, and marketing coordinator Shawn Kosmerly, plus Sudbury music scene veteran Darlene DarlenYa.

Before we begin our review of the performers, just a heads up that one previously announced band dropped out of the event, they being progressive rock veterans Machines Dream, the advertised closing act. The band cited "unforeseen circumstances" for their withdrawal, as per their Facebook page, and though they didn't elaborate further, note that they have been focusing on studio work since their Rotaryfest set last summer, and don't appear to be playing live until their teased CD release party later this year. It's still disappointing to see them drop out, but hopefully Machines Dream are back with a vengeance soon!

Performers only had 15-20 minute sets, so as bands averaged around 4 songs each, apologies if I seem to sum things up quickly. The opening act at the Meltdown was local folk singer/guitarist M.D. Dunn in a rare appearance at a local battle-formatted event from a solo performer. He played a short 3 song set, including originals named "Master of Doubt" and "Solace", plus an instrumental titled "Barnswallowing", and while his style isn't something I hear a lot of, his singing was pleasant and melodic, and he is a solid guitarist in this more reserved, laid back style! I wish he had played longer though, as all of the other bands played at least one more song, and none of them had an instrumental. Next up was alternative/hard rockers Id Iota (the only quartet of the night, believe it or not), and they powered through a 4 (well, sort of 5) song set of newer originals like "Happy Sailor" that got early fans moving!

Their first song had a definite late era-Chili Peppers vibe, while their second song was much faster and heavier, but I wish they announced song names a little more. Christian Lemay handled vocals and the melodica with ease, and everyone had good energy, especially bassist Dan Linklater. Good stuff all around, and it'll be interesting to hear how things shape up for their forthcoming full length CD! Third last night was local pop rock singer/guitarist Mike Mikus, in the first time I've seen his current solo project live, so what can I say? Well, in terms of his backing band, it was a surprise throwback to his old deal's final lineup, as he's replaced drummer Mitchell Harris with Pixo Control bandmate Keeghan Rosso, which was a nice surprise! Nothing bad happened with Mike and Mitch, as you'll see later in the review. Mike and crew (including Id Iota's Dustin Goodall) played a four song set included his debut solo original "Drowning Crown" and three more newer originals.

The latter two had more of an alternative/indie essence, but the second song (possibly titled "Electric Kiss"?) sounded like a Pixo Control outtake, with a very heavy and fast structure, which was really cool to see! I can't say whether Mike is trying to find his solo sound, or if he's intentionally varying things in his current music, but there was a little of everything, and hopefully he keeps at it in 2017! After a 10 minute break (the Meltdown was running ahead of schedule), newer local indie rock trio The Autumn Roots hit the stage in their LopLops debut, where they played a 5 song set including such originals as "Moon Song", "The North", and "Falling Down". A drummer wouldn't come amiss for their quickly expanding slate of material, but The Autumn Roots had a solid set, with Jeremy Hannah's melodic vocals fitting their songs well, and he and Chase Wigmore have a good rapport on guitar! Chase was really getting into it during their set, almost as if there was a metal show going on in his head.

Greg "Carlos" Carscadden needs to be more animated on stage, but overall, The Autumn Roots have a good thing going for their sound, and it'll be interesting to see how things shape up for them as this year rolls along! Local alternative/hard rock trio The Din hit the stage next, looking for their first battle of the bands victory in their fifth try, and they delivered an entertaining four song set including "High Park", "35s The Limit', and "Potato (Should Have Known Better)", with all but the latter expected for their next album. I've seen The Din a lot lately, so I don't have a lot to add (especially with their short set), but they played to their standards, with Tammy Hill's guitar work on point, and Brandan Glew kept the rhythm going well on drums, but be sure to check out The Din at upcoming shows when they're not as time-limited! The audition closed with local folk artist and Ears & Eyes promoter Jackson Reed playing a solo set, as joined by Mike Mikus on bass and his former solo and Fever Tops bandmate Mitchell Harris on drums.

Jackson and crew played a 4 song set largely culled from his "November Gales" cassette EP from last fall, including "Generation Vietnam" and "Welcome Home". I'd never seen Jackson perform live before last night, and if I had to compare his sound to anyone, I sort of got hints of Bob Dylan and Randy Newman from his sincere folksy originals, though he could stand to be a little more confident on stage. Mike's backing vocals could be a little distracting, but overall, Jackson has a good thing going for his genres, and ended the Meltdown in fine form! Afterwards, judges deliberated the winner, and when Max came back to the stage to make the announcement, he did acknowledge that this was a very tough decision, and it was like comparing apples & oranges. With all of that said, who won The Northern Lights Festival Boreal's first ever Sault Ste. Marie audition?

M.D. DUNN! Yes, Mark D. Dunn has claimed the surprise victory in the Meltdown, and has won the all expenses paid trip to Sudbury in July to play at this year's NLFB, as well as opportunities to participate in musical mentorship programs that same weekend. Congratulations to Mark on his victory, he's a talented veteran presence in the local music scene, and this is a nice feather in his cap, so hopefully he makes lots of fans out east! On the surface, this is an upset win given that he had no backing band, played first, and only played three songs, but his talents are clear as day, and Max did note in his introduction that the judging critera also included suitability for the festival lineup. Given their usual genre range, M.D. is a very good fit for the NLFB, and should fit in very well! Runner-up placements were not publically announced, nor were prizes for second place and beyond, but hopefully second place is considered if there's a vacancy at some stage!

For what it's worth, pre-audition advertising noted that there would be two winners in solo and band categories, but that was not the case, possibly as M.D. Dunn was the only true solo performer on the bill (Mike and Jackson had backing bassists and drummers with them.)

Kudos to everyone on strong performances last night, and the turnout was solid too, despite the relatively late notice on the competing bands! After the battle, Id Iota and Mike Mikus played bonus sets, but I couldn't stay for them, though I hope they continued to rock the lounge as well as they did during the battle proper! Surprisingly, this was the first local battle of the bands with judges where I was just a spectator since Downtown Showdown in 2010, so I was in full reviewer/photographer mode, and you can check out my shots from the Meltdown at this link or via our Facebook page! As for videos, I got everyone's first song, so here's M.D. Dunn playing his song "Master of Doubt", Id Iota playing "Intro To American Literature", Mike Mikus playing "Drowning Crown", The Autumn Roots playing "Rock Bottom", The Din playing "Suburban Dream", and Jackson Reed playing "Generation Vietnam"!













That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Four posts in two days, we're off to a fast start for 2014! Today's post mostly relates to weekend concert previews, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for Saturday night, but we also have lineup notes and debuts for two hard rock bands playing this weekend, and some more assorted notes to round out today's post. As for Tym Morrison's weekly arrangement at The Harp, while I assume it'll continue tomorrow night, I am currently awaiting official confirmation, but when announced, that will be up on the site as soon as possible. Now, let's begin today's news/preview post!

Local party/hard rock mainstays Stiffler's Mom will kick off 2014 in style with a headlining concert THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only just announced on Monday, and I held it until today to avoid a redundant re-post. The first local concert date for Stiffler's Mom since we officially rolled them into our full coverage, Greg, Mike, and Jobn were last seen upstairs at The Rockstar Bar six weeks ago, and if you're familiar with their fun live concert dates and skilled experience, you'll know they'll be up to their usual tricks again in their first date of the new year! A $5 cover charge is likely for Saturday night, a 10:00 PM start time is likely as well, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the above links (as for one reason or another, this show doesn't have an event page like their late-2013 shows.) This should be an entertaining and often heavy show, so keep it in mind for THIS SATURDAY, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train"!



Now to the weekend's heavier dates that we knew about already, including the new Griphook lineup's public debut TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Roosevelt Hotel! As you may remember, the band officially replaced Ottawa-bound frontman Jim O'Leary with bassist Dan Beaupre's former 100 Gran bandmate Joel Syrette last week, so this weekend's concerts will be the local hard/classic rock quartet's first verifiable live gigs with Joel up front and their first public non-stag & doe appearance since the Ray Brown benefit in October (not counting 7 Year Itch dates.) Last seen at The Rosie in April, it'll be interesting to hear how the new Griphook lineup does, but Joel & Dan have chemistry from the 100 Gran days, and while Joel isn't overly similar to Jim musically from what I've seen, he is a very talented singer & guitarist, so this should work well! Admission should be free for this weekend's 19+ dates, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's Griphook's original lineup covering AC/DC last year!

Finally for currently confirmable heavier shows this weekend, prolific Sault Michigan hard rockers RamWagon will debut a new lineup of their own TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT when they make their first 2014 stops at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! These will be RamWagon's first dates since replacing the departed Marcel Grengs with former Monkey's Uncle drummer Ron Suchey, and given Ron's past work in that band with RamWagon bandmate Nathan Switzer, there should be ready-made chemistry for the new lineup's debut this weekend! Also in lineup changes, the band appears to have parted ways with guitarist Cody Reed at some point late last year, as per his absence from their currently listed Facebook lineup. Unlike with Marcel, a reason has not been publically announced for Cody's departure, but it sounds like it happened somewhat recently, as Cody's personal Facebook page still has RamWagon's banner as his cover photo. He has not been replaced as of yet, but hopefully the split was amicable, and best of luck to Cody in the future!

With lots of wide-ranging modern and older hard rock covers in store, kick off 2014 in good order for the first heavier shows of 2014 across the river with RamWagon! Like usual, there's no announced cover charge, a 9:00 PM-ish start time, and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's RamWagon's original lineup covering Cameo at LemmaFest last summer!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or company name:

• If you didn't hear any more formal word on why Colosimo's Music Store closed, it's likely related to the closure of it's original Thunder Bay location last August due to declining business as a result of online shopping, as per this news article. Info on the Soo branch (which replaced the relocated Case's Music on Spring Street in 2012) isn't given there, but it definitely closed around the same time last summer. At least nothing bad happened locally, but best of luck to the former staff!
• Were you still curious as to the identity of The Debts, the new punk band that headlined the Danger Cats-featured X-Mess acoustic show at LopLops last month? I assume it's safe to say now that their lineup includes prolific local musician (and Case's Music owner) Jay Case, Blues Harvest/Pesto Shirts alum Jake Rendell, and his former Garage Inc. bandmate Ryan Seabrook. I know they're not a metal band, but I just wanted to answer an open question from our coverage of this event! My source is personal Facebook postings.
• "The original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage have announced a new album for release in 2014, that being a sequel to last year's "Environ-Mental Suits" (subtitled "Anvil of Antioch".) It's album cover was posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday, and it's considered their 45th album, indicating that at least one more is in the works for this year (as they have 43 officially so far.) Release details are forthcoming, but this will likely be a free release like their other recent albums. I'm curious to hear more, and stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow in case there's any late-notice concerts to plug, with other news also lying in wait! Thanks everyone!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!