Tidal Records' "Junk In The Trunk" Compilation CD Review!!

It's now time for our 190th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and with nothing brand new on sale this month from heavier or punk acts from the area, let's take a dip into the archives for an album that I've surprisingly never talked about in great detail here. In honour of this month's Room 206 reunion concert at Soo Blaster, this review is of "Junk In The Trunk", a December 2003 compilation album put out by the original punk-centric version of Tidal Records, the indie label led by Inner City Surfers frontman/Bookclub bassist Dustin Jones. The first CD release from Tidal, this was produced and engineered by Dustin and his long-time bandmate Dave "soanso" Bahun, with mixing by Eric Harry and mastering done at Umbrella Sound Studios in Toronto. This punk-leaning compilation features songs from five bands featuring local talent (one being Room 206), each contributing 1-3 songs apiece, as well as a title track featuring multiple musicians and a bonus track.

Unfortunately, the liner notes for the CD do not list complete performer credits on each song, just who wrote them, but Dave and fellow Surfers mainstay Mikey Hawdon (on drums) are credited for "guest appearances on various tracks". I won't assume who is/isn't on given songs unless I'm very certain, but expect commonalities from local punk musicians of the late 1990s and early 2000s. "Junk In The Trunk" has been out of print for over 20 years, but the CD cost $15 at the time. A YouTube copy has been online for three years, but it has bare bones information, two songs mistakenly cut off, and no bonus track, so I have re-posted the whole thing on the SMS' YouTube channel, and songs below are linked to the copies in that upload. No copyright infringement is intended whatsoever, all credit goes to the original musicians! With eleven songs running for about 36 minutes, let's take a long overdue look at the junk in Tidal Records 1.0's trunk! 

Apologies in advance for any errors on band particulars, I wasn't following local bands yet in 2003. This album is opened by Brad Example & The Role Models, the band led by Surfers bassist Brad "Example" Lacell, which was sporadically active from at least 2003-2014 before his move out of town. Mel Radke and Brad's Love & Rehab bandmate Alexis Mantello are credited for providing backing vocals on their lone offering on this CD, namely "365", which was once re-recorded for MySpace in 2006. If you're familiar with the grittier, bluesier songs on Surfers albums with Brad singing, you'll be right at home on this song, which has a country ambiance to the guitar work while still having a punk edge, plus well suited lyrics. The backing vocals do somewhat clutter the sound when implemented, but it's a tight number that fans of Brad's solo material will get a kick out of, and it's nice to hear a Role Models studio track again!

Brad returns next for the first of three offerings by his Toronto punk band Love & Rehab, who (at the time) also featured singer/guitarist Mike Theriault and drummer Alexis Mantello, all originally from the Soo. Modern readers may recall Love & Rehab for their reunion set at The Inner City Surfers' own reunion concert at LopLops in August 2019, and from a PositiveSoo article at the time. Mike & Alexis wrote their contributions to "Junk In The Trunk", with the first being "Moonshiner", which is a somewhat laid back power pop number with a catchy guitar riff. I'd have really boosted Mike's vocals in the mix, as his vocals are not very prominent beneath the instruments, but this is a fun track for what it is, and the talent is definitely on display to write a song that sticks in your head with strong melodies! If only Mike's singing was louder. Third up on the CD is Dustin Jones' Toronto-based punk band Sideblinder, who had a more prominent run in the GTA from 2008-2013 that did receive some light attention in SMS posts.

While Sideblinder featured Salads alumni in their lineup during that later run, I don't 100% know who joined Dustin in this band as of 2003. Their first of two songs here is "Banished", and there will be obvious Inner City Surfers comparisons here with Dustin at the mic, but this is more of a direct punk number without their folksy influences, so if you like the punk sides of the Surfers, don't bypass this one. Again, guitar melodies shine here, and it's a well written number that calls to mind Dustin's prolific local band work while standing on its own, and the percussion is solid while it lasts too! Fourth up are The Varsity Street Kids, a rock band led by former Bombed Squad/Big Kahunas guitarist Pat Suriano, who is the only credited writer for their two offerings on this album, and also designed the album artwork. No other 100% confirmed band member credits are given, but Dustin is definitely helping on backing vocals, at the very least.

Their first song here is also the longest on "Junk In The Trunk", namely the 6+ minutes-long "On The Cusp". Tidal compared Pat's music here to that of Dinosaur Jr. at the time, and you do get some of that on this laid back, deliberately paced alt-rock with some of the easiest lyrics yet to actually pay attention to. Pat's downbeat but pointed lead vocals suit the song's pacing, and while not at the pace and energy of earlier punk-leaning songs, but the chorus is really overdone, and I don't think this song really needed to be as long as it is, as it does get repetitive. Nice change of pace though, and it's have been interesting to hear this band more had they lived into The Sault Metal Scene's inception! We hit the halfway point next with the return of Love & Rehab, whose second song here is named "Change". A rollicking and way more punk-inspired number than "Moonshiner" was, this again suffers in the mix, but not just vocally, as the instrumentation is really muddled.

It's not a bad song at all though, and for my musical tastes, it's more of an intense, in-your-face track from Love & Rehab with effective guitar moments and strong drumming! I just wish the parts came together more individually and that it was easier to really pick out Mike's vocals, which haven't been problems with the other bands on offer. The last of the five unique bands here is next, namely local punk staples Room 206, whose only song here ("Last Stance") was their first new song release in about eight years, but I don't believe this particular reunion lasted very long. Singer/guitarist Mike Yorke and bassist Brad Lacell are your credited writers here, while guitarist Dave Bahun and drummer Allan Watson likely rounded things out in terms of their lineup. By far the most intense punk song on offer, fans of skate punk will be right at home with Mike's melodic yet edged vocals, chugging bass, and quick paced verses, so Room 206 fans will have no worries!

Dave gets the best chance to shine yet on "Last Stance" via one of his trademark guitar solos, something that punk needs more of in general. Definitely a highlight for me on "Junk In The Trunk", and yes, we will have video footage from their reunion concert earlier this month in an upcoming news post! The next three songs are all from returnees from the album's first half, starting with Sideblinder's second song "Split End", which is a much more reserved track than "Banished" that does call to mind softer Surfers and Rising Tide songs, but with more of an alternative rock bent, almost like it was written with rock radio in mind. The louder and fuller chorus does feel more distinct from his bigger bands in particular, and the drumming is really good throughout! A solid change of pace if you wanted to hear a Dustin-fronted band with less of an emphasis on folk or punk, so don't bypass it on this stacked compilation disc!

The Varsity Street Kids' second song is next, namely "Deep Breaths", and this is a much faster and shorter song than "On The Cusp", but still harbours Pat's somewhat maudlin and low singing. There is definitely more of a punk influence here (I was kinda reminded of Husker Du a bit), and the song definitely feels more at home with its discmates than the previous, complete with a brief guitar solo, but the vocals will be an acquired taste compared to the music. Good stuff though! The last song on this CD from a credited band is Love & Rehab's third and final song, namely "The Ruiner", which takes a lot more cues from Brad's solo music than their first two, with a country-inspired guitar riff and pacing. While not ideal for my musical preferences, this song has by far Mike's clearest vocals, so that counts for a lot! At the same time, his higher vocal range is not a clean fit on a classic country/blues number.

"The Ruiner" is just aching for Brad's gravelly delivery, and I wouldn't be against hearing him do a solo version of it nowadays. Not a bad song for genre fans, but aside from the better vocal mix, it's not really for me. The last credited song is the album's title track "Junk In The Trunk", which was recorded by a supergroup of then-Tidal Records artists who appear elsewhere on this CD. The three credited writers are Dustin Jones, Mike Theriault, and Al Watson, but the credited performers are simply given as "Many". Gauging this against the nine full-band songs is pointless because this is an extremely loose and carefree acoustic jam with performers simultaneously singing on this casual acoustic jam. This would play well as a night-ending song to have a beer or two with, and you really have to take it for what it is, so it's fun in that way! Lots of cross-talk and background discussion too, but the song does probably run a minute or two too long, as it kind of loses its way late.

Still, this is a pleasant closer that fans and friends of the original Tidal Records and Surfers-adjacent bands will definitely enjoy at base level! A 63 seconds-long bonus track rounds out the CD and is not advertised on the physical copies. It has an answering machine message of what sounds like a sped up song played by an ice cream truck while someone interjects with brief dialogue, saying what sounds like "You won't" a few times, and ending with "That's right". I really don't know what to make of this, and I assume I'm missing some type of inside joke from 2003, but look for the bonus track at the end of the disc!

So, what are my final thoughts on "Junk In The Trunk"? I liked it for the most part, and it captures a window in time into what The Inner City Surfers were up to in other bands and projects during their early run! The original Tidal Records didn't last very long (they first fell inactive in 2005 before Dustin relaunched the label with a less punk-centric focus in 2013), but they had a strong core talent roster at the time, with all five included bands offering up entertaining original music for this compilation. Room 206's skate punk song was my favourite, while Sideblinder will definitely be a fun listen for fans of Dustin's bands, Brad & The Role Models kept things familiar for fans of Brad's modern Atikokan-era solo music, Love & Rehab showed good diversity on their three cuts, and The Varsity Street Kids put Pat's unique vocals to good use on two very different songs, so there's a lot to like from these five bands!

The title track is a fun little farewell/summative number for fans of this era/rotation of bands too, but don't rate it 100% against the preceding cuts. In terms of issues... the vocal mix on Love & Rehab's first two songs was far from ideal, "On The Cusp" was way too long, I really didn't get the bonus track at all, and I'd have tried to have more of an even split of bands on the final copy (as in, have everyone perform two songs, or give one of Love & Rehab's slots to Room 206 or The Role Models). At the same time, a Surfers song may have helped the retrospective awareness of "Junk In The Trunk", but the focus was put on newer and reunited bands, and it was a good idea (even if the liner notes don't have full credits). This now-rare compilation is a strong album of cuts from the early days of Tidal Records, so definitely give it a listen at the above links, and I hope you liked this month's CD review!

Next month, we will we will return back to 2025 for a brand new album review, as we'll next look at HeadFirst's second album "Road Trippin'", which comes out at its release party on May 3rd! Look for that next month, and for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Details On Dustin Jones' Interview On Across The Tracks On The Borderline!!

Back in June, two veteran local punk musicians were separately interviewed for radio shows on local internet radio station The Borderline, and I do apologize for both being so late to be covered on the SMS! We'll start with the June 23rd interview with Jonesy Land frontman/Bookclub bassist Dustin Jones, marking his second long-form interview with the station, following an episode of Sev's Cellar three years ago. This time, Dustin featured on Borderline founder Adrian Vilaca's interview series Across The Tracks, which focuses on detailing original songs, and the episode runs for 53 minutes. Conducted in studio, it's clear from the off that they've known each other for years, which helps for the comfort level! The interview started with Dustin explaining why he launched the Jonesy Land project apart from his bands, as well as the overall lighter/reserved tone of the project's debut album "Zoom-Out".

Like in past episodes of Across The Tracks, Adrian asks about the origins and themes behind songs by the interview subject, and while he does not stick to the release order of the album, the songs in question are played after that segment wraps up (though they are rarely directly introduced by Adrian, so that can catch you off guard at times). "Father Time" comes up first, but "Ode To The Boys" is discussed next, and it's neat hearing some insight as to The Inner City Surfers' heyday! The song actually wasn't directly about his old bands, moreso old friends, but Dustin does also give some advice to current musicians to start their careers, especially with how easy self-promotion and networking is compared to when he was younger. The debut single "Old Man" is next to be outlined, though note that the interview predates the music video for the song. Next, they discuss his love for Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma District.

That ties directly into their discussion of the Jonesy Land track "Superior Sons" and some of his surprising inspiration in that song's composition. Adrian next asks about Dustin's own Mission Control Studio and his experiences working with musicians who record there, leading into talk of "Keep Trying", which featured Shannon Moan on guest vocals. Dustin next talks about his views on the local music scene at present, as well as his experiences running a local songwriters competition with Greg MacLachlan pre-pandemic, while explaining how he's approaching music as he gets older, and how this album has a different edge than on his prior albums. This led into "Lonely Boy", before Adrian asks Dustin about fatherhood and his experiences with his kids, while also noting the experience he had making this album and some of the (largely) positive reaction that he received from listeners.

Given the talk about his family, this naturally led into "Shine On" (written for his daughter Jett), and the interview naturally wrapped up with "Summer's End", which was written for his late stepfather and written in the style of music that he loved. The interview ends with Dustin thanking Adrian for all he does locally, as well as plugging Jonesy Land, Mission Control Studios, and Tidal Records, though no sign of a dedicated band page for Jonesy Land yet. Fun interview that really explores the "Zoom-Out" album in depth and Dustin's maturity as a songwriter, and while the album proper is light on "punk" content, you can see how his life's experiences as a whole shaped things on the final product! I'm kinda surprised that he didn't talk about Bookclub though, as they are is current live band, past teasers about Jonesy Land playing shows again acknowledged. Check out this Across The Tracks episode at the links above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next, and that other June interview with a local punk icon on The Borderline will be covered in an upcoming SMS post! Thanks everyone!

Wednesday Concert Previews, Plus Soundcheck/Obsession Concert Videos!!

It's unusual where two concerts that cross our radar take place on a Wednesday, let alone both outdoors, so let's preview those to start this Tuesday evening post, which is capped off with live videos from a unique recent concert. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with Tidal Records' ninth annual Go Skateboarding Day festivities at Queen Elizabeth Park outside of The John Rhodes Centre TOMORROW, and for a seventh year, live music will be on tap for skaters and fans to enjoy! Along with the skating, refreshments, vendors, and games, four local bands will take to the stage atop the big ramp tomorrow, all new to Go Skate Day, with online page-less punk trio Hails (featuring These Magnificent Tentacles & Vanity First alumni) headlining. Their sound is tailor-made for extreme sports like this, so they're a fine pick! Support bands include also-online-pageless alternative/punk quintet Bookclub (featuring event organizer/ex-Cover-Up frontman Dustin Jones), rap collective Sound Syndicate (featuring ex-As It Stands singer Justin "Nadj" Pregent), and young local metal trio The BAG. Nice array of current music for all tastes, including rap for the first time since 2016, so keep this event in mind!

Whether you're skateboarding or not, Go Skate Day is FREE and ALL AGES, and a 4:00 PM start time is advertised. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for sunny conditions in the 25° range, so unless you hate summer, this should be optimal for both skating and seeing an outdoor concert. Go Skateboarding Day is always June 21st, so the Wednesday timing won't be ideal for many on work/school schedules, but at least it'll be an early event with good weather, and hopefully a solid array of established and new skateboarders turn up for all of the fun, let alone the music! See above for more details, and in lieu of a public video of Hails, here's Bookclub live!

Next up, there's more hard rock-leaning live music taking place outdoors downtown TOMORROW, as Baltimore, Maryland psychedelic hard rock duo Darsombra will return to the Soo for a special gig at a pop-up stage on March Street! The second and final concert in Dryer Fire's summer concert series that crosses our genre radar, this will be Darsombra's third local appearance, following indoor gigs at separate venues in 2017 & 2019. Given their audio/visual presentation and extended jams in their set, it will be interesting to see how Darsombra do in an outdoor setting, though at least by the time their set is slated to begin at 9:45 PM, it will be getting darker! Local folk punk/extreme metal solo musician Chase Wigmore will open tomorrow, presumably in acoustic folk punk confines, and his guitar wizardry should be more than welcomed by fans, especially following his Dryer Fire set opening for Hails in March!

As best as I can gather, this show will be held at or near the corner of March Street and Queen Street East (somewhere near The Queen's Tarts), and was moved from the Bellevue Park Bandshell for unannounced reasons. This is also a FREE & ALL AGES concert (the crowd-funding campaign worked!) with Chase opening at 8:30 PM, preceded by a local vendor's market with food by Jiggs & Reels at 6:30 PM. 9&10 News is calling for sunny-clear skies at this later point tomorrow, with temperatures in the low 20s Celsius. Should be a very memorable show on musical and visual fronts, as Darsombra have to be seen to be fully appreciated, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!

Now let's look at a bunch of videos from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck's special Esquire Club show on Saturday, June 10th alongside three former Obsession singers! Drummer Glen Thomas uploaded nine videos from the gig to his YouTube channel last week, all labelled as "Soundcheck with (the) Obsession Angels" (presumably as there were three of them, like Charlie's Angels). A commemoration for the 18 year run of Obsession (featuring Soundcheck bassist Jim Michaud), the videos show Soundcheck playing alongside Obsession's first three lead frontwomen (Kim Liguori, Lorrie Lynn Bolduc, and Valerie Powley), who appear to have sung together on stage for the duration rather than trade off for solo songs. Seven people on stage must have gotten crowded! The nine videos include renditions of April Wine's version of Hot Chocolate's "You Could Have Been A Lady", ...

Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In The City",  Electric Light Orchestra's "Rock N' Roll Is King", The Eagles' "Heartache Tonight", two different versions of Shania Twain's "(If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!" (this one and an updated version with multiple camera angles), Trooper's "Raise A Little Hell", and Janis Joplin's version of Roger Miller's "Me & Bobby McGee", which also had the two upload treatment by Glen, but this time, both versions were composites from multiple camera angles (this is the original, the final updated copy is below). Mileage varies, but it is clear that Soundcheck didn't know all of these songs equally. Still, it is fun seeing them rock out in a relatively unique setting like this, and the ladies pair up well together! You can see why they all were remembered from their tenures in Obsession, though it would have been nice to see their final singer Jessica Amadio also involved here.

Credit to Glen for going the extra mile for the Shania and Janis covers by cobbling together available video footage (as best as I can tell, none uploaded publically on their own elsewhere) so we can see lots of angles of Soundcheck, the Obsession singers, and the audience in action, and even if some footage was vertical, he at least tiled it over horizontal clips! Give everyone tackling "Me & Bobby McGee" a watch below, and look for more from Soundcheck when we hear it!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for formal weekend concert previews on Thursday, and more news and notes otherwise soon! Thanks everyone!

Details On Brand New Albums From Spades GT & Jonesy Land!!

Today's post is devoted to two brand new album releases from this week, both from punk-adjacent acts led by very familiar faces, so here's what you should know about each one before you give them a whirl!

Online page-less local folk/punk solo project Jonesy Land's debut album "Zoom - Out" was released as planned on Wednesday, so what should you know here? Recorded at Mission Control Studios and released through Tidal Records, the album was mixed by Kyle Whittaker at Strange Pumpkin Studios in St. Catharines. This is the first completed album from veteran local musician Dustin Jones since his non-local punk supergroup The Conspirators' self-titled 2020 album, though three standalone Jonesy Land songs were put out in 2021 & 2022 which are not on "Zoom - Out". SooToday's Chris Belsito spotlighted Jonesy Land and the album in this article from Wednesday, where Dustin noted his songwriting process as he gets older, the recording process, inspirations for the songs & themes therein, how the album name was conceived, and much more, and it's a good read to see how everything came together over the last few months!

Notably, Dustin co-produced the album with Lake Effect frontman Frank Deresti, who appears throughout. The final album cover can be seen above, following lots of promotional images that turned out to be just that and not the final product. The Indiana Jones font is timed well to both match Dustin's last name and the release of Dial of Destiny later this month! Eight songs made the cut for "Zoom - Out", which is described as "a singer-songwriter record" focusing primarily on more mature, folk-leaning styles with less of a punk or drinking song influence compared to his prior local band work ("Moral Blackout" and Jonesy Land's mid-2021 live dates acknowledged). Frank aside, guest appearances on the album include singer Shannon Moan on "Keep Trying" (not "Old Man", as it turns out), and Dustin's Bookclub bandmates Al Watson (drums) on "Ode To The Boys" and Erin Antonello (trumpet) on "Superior Sons".

Surprisingly, Dustin's old Surfers and Tide bandmates do not appear, at least not publically. You can now stream "Zoom - Out" in full on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon, among other sites. Yes, you can buy the album through Amazon and Apple on mp3, with Amazon copies running for $9.49. Be advised that this image shows a lot of website/application logos, implying that the album is available on hosts like TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitch, so take that with a grain of salt. Personal Facebook postings suggest that bigger plans are afoot for the release beyond just dropping online, but I'll wait for public word on that front. With new albums from No Funeral and Handsome Sandwich beating it to market, I have "Zoom - Out" pencilled in for an August review on the SMS, but buy or stream it at the above links, and check out the new lyric video for "Old Man" courtesy of Tidal Records' YouTube channel below! Uploaded on Tuesday, the video was made by Loathing Hearts Productions.

Without reviewing the song (I'll hold comment until August), the video features slowly rotating images and scenes of musicians and beachfront scenery, with some of the latter being familiar from social media teasers for the album. Well made and nicely layered, so give the video a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Jonesy Land soon, especially if they finally launch a social media page beyond Dustin's personal Instagram page. Alas, Bookclub and The Cover-Up don't have one (yet) either, but neither of them have a brand new album to hype up!

Finally for today's post, another new punk-related local album was released as promised earlier today, namely local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's studio album "Sewer City Radio"! While the local press hasn't as big for this one yet (moving to Barrie arguably didn't help in that respect), you can now stream the eight included songs on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, possibly among other services. Oddly, there's no visible sale point through Amazon, but the album is on sale through iTunes for $7.92, which is the same price as "Zoom - Out" there. Released through bassist James Roy Daley's imprint Books Of The Dead Press, this is Spades' first album since the former Jack Spades took part in 2015's "Fed Up!" split, and their first album with every band member aside from frontman J.D. Pearce. No word yet on the music video for "Final Girl", but you can hear the studio copy below while you wait!

Guest appearances come from guitarist Daniel Horton's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorehouse on "XS" and Anvil frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow on a yet-specified song (though you can easily pick it out once you hear it). No word yet on the teased physical release of the album, but if ready, your first chance to buy it in the Soo will likely be at the Josey Scott's Saliva concert in three weeks. I'll hold comment on the album for now pending our planned review of "Sewer City Radio" in September, but buy or stream the whole thing above and below, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Wyld Stallyns & Soundcheck), Plus Jonesy Land Updates!!

This weekend is shaping up to be relatively quiet as heavier bands go (it being the Easter long weekend doesn't help), but we do have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to address, including SHORT NOTICE ones for this weekend, plus updates on an upcoming punk album. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, as well as a standard concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the Shooters gigs were only announced via the venue's Facebook event pages (linked here & here) on Saturday, while TONIGHT'S show at Jay's was only confirmed on the band's Facebook page yesterday. Yes, TONIGHT is typically jam night hosted by Soundcheck at the former Reggie's West, and while the band explicitly said that jam night is cancelled this week, they said that they were still playing a normal concert there TONIGHT. Why, I have no clue, but keep in mind that singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver doesn't typically take part in jam nights, so if this is a traditional cover gig for Soundcheck, will the full lineup be present TONIGHT?

With the debuting Generations playing at Jay's this weekend, Soundcheck will return to Shooters TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT for their first gigs there since mid-February, so whether you're available on a Thursday night TONIGHT or want to head downtown over the weekend, Soundcheck's hard & classic rocking party covers should be an apt soundtrack! Expect 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits across the board. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, while this is another quiet heavier concert weekend, there is more on the horizon at Shooters, and as the above poster indicates, local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns are returning there for one night only on Friday, April 21st! This show comes less than a month after The Stallyns' last appearance at the Dennis Street nightclub, and it should be another fine opportunity for fans to take in their crowd friendly & often heavy array of covers, so don't miss the Speers' and company then! Like on March 25th, this is a one-nighter, this time due to or resulting in pop rock cover band L!me's show there on Saturday the 26th. Like with Soundcheck above, The Wyld Stallyns will be on at 9:00 PM on the 21st with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Should be a good time for fans, "no repeat" theme or not, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more updates!

Let's close with some overdue updates (as far as normal SMS posts go) on online page-less local punk/folk solo project Jonesy Land's upcoming debut album "Zoom - Out"! While project leader Dustin Jones has posted a lot about the album on his personal Facebook page, public updates have been limited to teasers on his label Tidal Records' Facebook page as of late. On February 21st there, Dustin shared a "Reel" of local folk musician Shannon Moan tracking vocals for an unidentified song from "Zoom - Out", complete with lyrics for her verses on the screen. I can't embed "Reels" here, but it's nicely sung and it'll be interesting to hear how Shannon factors into the full track! Dustin has previously said that Jonesy Land has a fluid come-and-go musician makeup, and while a guest list isn't out yet, note that aside from "Sunshine Parades", their initial singles had credited guest bassists & drummers.

Note that there is a picture on Dustin's personal Facebook page showing what appear to be eight song titles for "Zoom - Out" (if accurate, the one with Shannon is named "Old Man"), though note that the project's initial three original songs are not among them. Regardless, the image is not public (yet?), but if you are Dustin's friend on Facebook, you can see it thusly. On March 29th, another "Reel" (cross-posted from Dustin's personal TikTok page) revealed that "Zoom - Out" will be released on Wednesday, May 31st (my birthday!) and features a very Tool-ish image set to a new song clip, likely "Shine On" if the image with the track listing is anything to go by. I'll hold comments on the sample pending our eventual review of the whole album, but it is a folksier song on average. Interesting stuff all around, and while I again can't embed "Reels", follow Jonesy Land above to see how "Zoom - Out" is coming together!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site over the holiday weekend! Thanks everyone!

A New Album Release, Spades GT's Facebook Relaunch, And New Videos!!

Before a busy concert weekend gets underway, let's tackle some big recent news stories on the SMS today, including a new music video, a solo performance clip, and a band's return to Facebook to go with their relaunch out of town, but first, here's a surprise album release to take note of!

The original crash band are back, as Sykotyk Rampage quietly released a new studio album to their Reverbnation page yesterday! After a four year public hiatus, the blue Chinese metal crash punk veterans have given us "Hell Bent Heaven Sent", their 62nd canon studio album, which features eleven songs and quite the distinct cover artwork!  While Sykotyk Rampage have been publically inactive since the release of 2018's "Live At The Paris Hilton", the masters of the crash never officially broke up, and guitarist/vocalist Dirk Becker (an old friend of my mom's) would occasionally tell me that Sykotyk Rampage were still jamming and planned to record new music. Aside from some re-uploads of back catalog albums, nothing followed until now, but it's great to see the guys back at long last, even if only in studio! They have not played a truly public concert since 2016.

"Hell Bent Heaven Sent" is on sale in mp3 format for $9.99 ($1.50 for individual songs), so if you've craved more eclectic original music recorded in their own improvised and very sykotyk way, click here or above! Yes, this album is eligible for a review on the SMS, but we're in a very busy stretch for our monthly review series, so for placing this in chronological release order, it's behind The Din, Vanity First, and Chase Wigmore (more on him in a bit). It's looking like Sykotyk Rampage's new album will get its SMS review in July, but we will see how things go, and it's great to see the Beckers, Shane, and Tony back at it! See above for much more!

Next up, local/Barrie punk/metal quartet Spades GT have indeed launched a new Facebook page, giving us our first public media of their new lineup in the process! At some point in the past month or so, the former Jack Spades quietly took down their original Facebook page, taking all of their official Facebook content from their 2013 debut onward along with it, but my hypothesis that the deletion was to signify a fresh start for the band appears to be true. In fact, their biography says that they "formed in early 2022", even though the band announced their relocation and planned return in November of last year. Of course, to Barrie locals, they might as well be a new band, and as they like to say, "we haven't heard of you either!" The band's lineup is given with aliases, including returning singer "Johnny Pints" (J.D. Pearce, of course) & guitarist "Handsome" Dan Horton, plus new additions Daniel "Odie" Rodbard on bass and Tyler "JeeB" Reiner on drums.

Posts on the new Spades GT page largely reflect media from their set opening for The Dayglo Abortions and Random Killing in Barrie this past weekend, along with posters for that show and their set opening for Anvil next month. This minute-long video was also uploaded as a promotional clip for the Anvil concert featuring footage from their show last week, and while it does not have live audio from the set, it looks like Spades GT are off on the right foot! I wish they hadn't deleted their old page outright, but check out more from the new-look band above! Like with the H.L.T.C. video on Monday, Facebook content matched the background song ("Rise" from their 2014 EP "The First"), so the video can't be embedded externally here.

Also today, here's the second official original song and music video from Rising Tide/Inner City Surfers frontman Dustin Jones' solo project Jonesy Land! As seen live at Rotaryfest last year, this has been Dustin's main band outlet while The Rising Tide have been dormant, but activity has been fairly slow, pandemic acknowledged. Maybe their new song "Moral Blackout" will help, especially as it's a proper punk song, unlike last year's "Sunshine Parades", and it features Dustin's Surfers bandmates Brad "Example" Lacell and Mikey Hawdon to boot! No Dave, alas. The music video proper features Dustin singing to a GoPro camera (or variant thereof) both poolside and at Searchmont Resort (on the slopes and on the ski lift) with lots of clips of skiing and snowboarding for good measure. If you get 705 Video Magazine vibes from this, you're not alone, and there's even a few behind the scenes-ish clips to be had!

The song proper is a fun and upbeat punk rocker that Surfers fans will instantly take to, but I have to wonder if the video (uploaded to Tidal Records' YouTube channel yesterday) is a little late? I love winter, but as of the video's release date, snow's almost gone in the Sault area. Hey, maybe you can live vicariously through the skiing action, so give Jonesy Land's new video a look below, and we'll let you know when more comes out!

Finally for today, here's a new solo performance video from prolific local metal/folk punk singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore's Facebook page! The sub-2 minute clip sees Chase playing a 1980s prog metally instrumental on his acoustic electric guitar, and while it was uploaded in grayscale, maybe that's because of his sunglasses? If you don't get the reference, watch They Live. Solid showcase of Chase's pure guitar skill that a wide array of fans will take to, so give it a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Band, A New EP Release, And A New Archive Punk Album Reissue!!

Before we get into the meat of today's post, just a heads up that today is Bandcamp Day (where Bandcamp waives their roytalty cut on music sales), but this year, a number of local musicians have pledged to give today's earnings to the Sault Area Hospital COVID-19 Emergency Fund. Wonderful cause, and you can click here to see the full roster of artists taking part, including local punk trio A Dire Setback and the first two bands we're talking about below! One's brand new, one has a new EP, and to wrap things up, we have big updates on a surprise classic album re-release. Here's what you should know, and buy local on Bandcamp today to help a great cause!

We have a new band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely These Magnificent Tentacles, the new Tidal Records-signed project from Slumshine/ex-Detroit frontman Brenton Ellis and former Vol. frontman/Pixo Control bassist Steve Edwards! As of this writing, T.M.T. are a two man studio project (not that they can play normal concerts yet anyway), with Brent on vocals, rhythm guitar, and bass, and Steve on lead guitar and drums. These Magnificent Tentacles publically launched earlier this week via their Facebook page, and released their debut original song "The Abyss" today on their Bandcamp page and on Brent's new YouTube channel. Mixed by Kyle Whittaker at Strange Pumpkin Studios in St. Catharines, the song is available for purchase for $3 (or more) on Bandcamp. "The Abyss" is not easily pinned down by genre (Bandcamp lists it as an acid, garage, indie, punk, and skate rock song), but if it's representative of the band, they'll definitely fit our coverage!

Brent's vocals firmly pin this one into genres we actively cover, but the song proper is deceivingly upbeat otherwise, and very different from what you tend to hear from local bands nowadays. The song is well performed overall, and it'll be interesting to see what These Magnificent Tentacles have in store next, but give the lyric video for "The Abyss" a watch below!

Next up, we're not done with new material from Brent-led projects, as his acoustic punk solo act Slumshine released their new EP "Slumlord" to their Bandcamp page yesterday, a day earlier than advertised! Their first paid release since their debut "SLMSHN" tape almost two years ago, "Slumlord" is on sale for $5 or more., and it features six tracks, though their newly released song "Believe In Hugs" is not one of them, and two songs that did make the cut run for under 40 seconds. No word yet on the previously teased cassette tape release for album #2, but given the short run time of "Slumlord" and the missing original, is Slumshine looking at releasing "Believe In Hugs" on a second digital EP, then putting them both on each side of a tape? Just hypothesizing on my part. Without reviewing the EP just yet (maybe later this month?), what does "Slumlord" offer musically?

"Slumlord" comes across as more experimental and varied than "SLMSHN" did, including via the two short tracks, added post-production effects, and more electric instruments, with only one of the four full tracks being 100% acoustic. It's great to see Brent staying so busy right now, especially at this stage of the pandemic, and buy or stream Slumshine's new and old material above! Also, the title track was also uploaded on Brent's YouTube channel, but we just featured it's Facebook video here on Wednesday.

Finally, this is a topic that I've definitely been aware of for a few months now, but I held off on discussing it until things went unequivocally public, and here we are: Early-mid 1990s local punk band Room 206's 1994 debut cassette-exclusive album "2 Innies & An Outie" is being re-released on vinyl later this year by veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon's new locally-focused independent label Soolebrity Records! Note the Princess Theatre-inspired logo, nice touch! If you know Mikey well, you'll know that Room 206 were a highly influential band for him as a young music fan, and this is a labour of love to give their original cassette tape a proper remastering, which Mikey had done at Drive Studios in Toronto. Room 206 are represented here by Totally Confused alumni Mike Yorke (vocals/guitar) and Al Watson (drums) alongside Mikey's Inner City Surfers bandmate Brad "Example" Lacell on bass.

Initial public details on the re-release can be found in the video embedded below, courtesy of Mikey's YouTube channel, featuring an intense announcer telling us about Room 206 and what to expect from the vinyl copies. They will have all eight songs from "2 Innies & An Outie", plus two newly recorded bonus tracks, which were both Room 206 originals that never saw a studio recording at the time. Here, they'll be covered by guest musicians, including the other three members of The Inner City Surfers plus members of No Doubt, Goldfinger, No Use For A Name, and Movin' In Stereo (exact lineup roles to be revealed). Note that Room 206's song "Good Enough" (from the "Punk: The Next Generation" compilation) was not on the original tape. If you're interested in buying a vinyl copy of "2 Innies & An Outie", contact Mikey Hawdon at this link A.S.A.P. to pre-order your copy for $40!

If you do want Room 206's album on vinyl, act fast, as there will only be 206 copies printed (naturally), and given the limited and special release, the $40 price tag is understandable. A release date or potential digital copy weren't specified either, but remember that we are still in a pandemic, and things can easily be thrown out of whack. I love the idea of bringing a classic album like this back, and if that ends up being the raison d'etre for Soolebrity Records, then I hope the Room 206 re-issue is a huge hit to encourage more releases like this! Get more details on the band and vinyl below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site by Monday! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From Tidal Records & Local Punk Musicians!!

Ending a surprisingly busy month at the SMS with a post every day in April 2020, we have some new videos to look at today, with a heavy emphasis on Tidal Records-affiliated artists, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with a huge collaborative cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" featuring numerous local musicians to help support the fight against COVID-19! Sort of an epilogue to SooToday's Come Together YouTube concert last week, this at-home cover features many of the same musicians that took part in that event. 3/5ths of Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide take part from afar here, with only Liam and Marshall absent, and other familar faces on the roster include Jay Case (who leads off vocally), Frank Deresti, Tracey Hilderley, and Huckster alum Sean Halliday, among many others. The recording quality is uneven, but seeing all of these talented musicians working together like this is great to see, and donations to the Algoma COVID-19 Response Fund & the Sault Area Hospital Emergency Fund are more than welcomed. Check out the full cover below!



Next up, if you're a friend of veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon on Facebook, you may recall seeing his (more or less) daily series of "Quarantunes", where the Fairmounts frontman & Inner City Surfers drummer covers songs on vocals & ukelele in videos on his personal Facebook page. As best as I can tell, these have not been shared publically on his band pages, hence why I haven't featured them until now, but last night, local promoters Live705 shared Mikey's 46th "quarantune" video on their Facebook page, so I feel comfortable sharing that one. This is an 82 second cover of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian, which is a great message at this confusing time, and Mikey projects a nice optimistic feeling with this cover too! Give it a look below, and if you're his friend on Facebook, go see his other 45 "quarantunes", including a number of collaborations with friends!

We'll next go from a former Rising Tide member to a current one, and while he didn't take part in the "Hey Jude" cover above, guitarist Liam Seymour does have a new at-home concert set to check out! This was live-streamed on his personal Facebook page on Sunday, and almost simultaneously shared on Tidal Records' own Facebook page, so it's good to go in the public sense. Liam did warn viewers about issues with the stream, so expect frequent audio drop-outs. After an initial instrumental jam, Liam's set (which is shorter than his April 5th live-stream) includes renditions of The Barn Board Trio's "This Big City", Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses", Junior Brown's "Highway Patrol", Marty Stuart's "Branded", David Wilcox's "Downtown Came Uptown", Johnny Bush's "Whiskey River", The Weeknd's "Earned It", another instrumental, and Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road". The surprise Weeknd cover aside, blues & country renditions seemed to be the theme of the evening.

The constant audio drop-outs are very unfortunate, as the streaming quality is otherwise fine and comprable to his April 5th show, but this eclectic selection of songs you don't hear covered every day should be of interest to many readers and fans! Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more updates from him and The Tide as they roll in!



We'll close today outside of the Tidal umbrella with the latest video from local/Elliot Lake alternative/punk solo project Ashoka At The Show (courtesy of the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today), and it's an acoustic cover of Pennywise's "Alien". The camera's obviously mirrored (the Blackhawks logo on his shirt gives it away), but the cover's solid, and he does this Pennywise classic justice in this form, so give it a watch below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post to kick off the month of May tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

New Inner City Surfers & Pop Evil/Buckcherry Concert Promotional Videos!!

Before we begin this post, I just wanted to apologize for a missed concert, as Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Project 906 played an outdoor set yesterday outside of the new Crooked Music location as part of this year's Sidwalk Sales. Yesterday was not one of the open dates that 906 plugged on their Facebook page in June, and that aside, the Facebook event page plugging the show only went online literally minutes before it's advertised showtime. While it was their call for the late plug, I do apologize for missing their set, we'd have covered it had it received some modicum of advance notice!

Now, today's post features some added coverage of two big local concerts TOMORROW NIGHT via new video postings, so let's begin with The Inner City Surfers' long awaited reunion show at LopLops Lounge in Sault Ontario! Back on July 25th, frontman Dustin Jones posted this video onto the band's Facebook page, as filmed on location at Mission Control Studios, where he thanked everyone who bought tickets, and also took some time to explain why the show was booked at LopLops and not at a bigger venue. As also clarified in The Sault Star, Dustin says that the guys wanted to have a "low stress" concert with a smaller production after such a long layoff, though the write-up attached to the video does leave the door open for more concerts if this does well, so if you couldn't get tickets, cross your fingers. Notably, Dustin also erroneously says this is the first Surfers show in 10 years, despite them having played publically advertised shows locally in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Maybe it's for poetic license given the 20th anniversary, but the proof's in the pudding, and had we rolled punk bands into our coverage before July 2014, I'd only have moved The Surfers into our inactive band links in December of the previous year. Whether it's 6½ or 10 years, this is a long time coming for fans of The Inner City Surfers' up-tempo and varied blend of punk rock, so hopefully you got tickets before they sold out! Give Dustin's video a look!



The other new Surfers video was shared on Dustin's label Tidal Records' Facebook page on Monday, and it features drummer Mikey Hawdon rehearsing in Toronto for the reunion concert, playing alongside a Spotify stream of their song "Here's To The Days" from their 2007 self-titled CD. While the colours are a little washed out, Mikey's drumming looks on form, and the vertical camera angle suits the layout! After a nearly 10 7 year long layoff, it's great to see Mikey behind the kit again playing these songs, and check out this video below! Best of luck tomorrow night!



Today's other videos from earlier this summer are plugs for tomorrow night's Pop Evil/Buckcherry concert outdoors at Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan, with members of each band directly promoting the show to fans on the Facebook event page, as posted by the casino's Facebook page. Regarding the Muskegon hard rock headliners, frontman Leigh Kakaty is seen here plugging the show in a brief 12 second clip, and he sells it well, though with 5 Soo shows already under their belts, U.P. fans know that Pop Evil always bring the goods. Check it out below!



The other video is even shorter, but it features Buckcherry singer Josh Todd and guitarists Stevie Dacanay & Kevin Roentgen briefly advertising the concert, though with less personalization than Leigh did for his clip. We don't hear from Kevin at all, and it'd be nice if this felt a little less boilerplate, but hey, it's great to see Buckcherry coming back to finally rock the border! Give it a look as well, and buy your tickets A.S.A.P.!

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

This Weekend's Concert Previews, Plus New Videos!!

A quiet concert weekend is upon us, so barring a late notice confirmation, today's post features this weekend's previously announced concert previews, plus some new videos from two very different local acts. Without any further adieu, here's what you should know!

We'll start our previews with the Sault Ste. Marie debut of Sudbury punk trio Lightmares, who will rock LopLops Lounge TONIGHT! After two fan favourite appearances at both of the Oh!No concert festivals in Leeburn, this will be a long overdue chance for Oh!No attendees and newcomers alike to see Lightmares in the Soo proper, and with their alternative-tinged, upbeat blend of originals, they should get a solid reception among the LopLops faithful! Openers were quietly confirmed in recent weeks, and they will include new local hip-hop jazz quartet Bom Kronik (spelled "Bomb Chronic" on the Facebook event page) and local surf rock quartet The Dynowaves, who also played at Oh!No this year. Diverse but talent-laden lineup, so don't be late for the opening acts! Advertised as promoters Six, Two, Oh.'s 90th concert to date, this show has a 19+ age limit, $5 cover charge, and 9:00 PM start time.

With this show tonight and The Therapists returning to our area later this month, this is a good time to be a fan of this year's Oh!No lineup, so if you can swing a Thursday nighter, head to LopLops for all of tonight's varied action, and for a preview, here's Lightmares live last month!

Next up, the only other advertised local hard rock concerts this weekend will take place at the re-opened and relocated Gliss Restaurant, as Tym Morrison's weekly arrangement there begins it's second week since the big move TOMORROW & SATURDAY! Following the grand re-opening on October 27th, Tym resumed his regular run there last week, and will play his second public concert weekend at the former Cesira's location over the next two days. Fans of Tym's regular and proficient blend of hard and classic rock covers should welcome his weekly Gliss matinee gigs back after a 3+ month hiatus, and you can expect more of the same high quality entertainment on Spring Street tomorrow and/or Saturday! Unless there's a late confirmation, these are Tym's only publically announced shows this weekend, and they are 6:00 PM gigs with no announced cover charge or age limit, but mind the more intimate restaurant locale. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live in concert a few years back!



We'll close today with some new videos, starting with a surprise song posting from.... Room 206?! This comes from bassist Brad "Example" Lacell's YouTube channel last week, and while your first guess may be that the song (entitled "Last Stance") is a 20 year old demo from the punk quartet's original run, that doesn't appear to be the case, as the video's description says that it was "recorded for Tidal Records' compilation #1." This seems to imply that former Room 206 members recently reunited to record at least one more song, presumably at Tidal Records' own Mission Control Studios, for an apparent compilation album featuring Tidal-signed artists & collaborators, though this is largely conjecture until there is confirmation beyond this video. For what it's worth, Brad is on Tidal's roster already as a solo artist, and was a bandmate of Tidal head Dustin Jones in The Inner City Surfers. Also note that much of Tidal's recent online posts have revolved around the big Jesse Merineau concert yesterday, so outside topics may have been on hold then.

I was a kid (as in, under 10) during Room 206's heyday, so I missed out on the glory years of the Windsor Park Hotel concert era, but this new song should highly pique the interest of mid-1990s local punk fans! I can't confirm full credits for who's representing Room 206 here, and I'll hold on reviewing "Last Stance" pending teasers of a Tidal compilation album being true, but give it a listen below, and stay tuned for more when and if it comes in!



Finally for today, here's the latest from local cybergrind solo project Malignant Neoplasm, who returned after a lengthy hiatus with two new digital albums on their Bandcamp page on Tuesday! One is entitled "Jesus Died For Our Tins", and the other (embedded below via label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel) is entitled "No More Medical Songs." This seems to signal a shift away from songs named after medical terminology and conditions, though this isn't new, as their 2016 album didn't have any medical song names either. In fact, Malignant Neoplasm's 2018 songs have more in common thematically with their sister goregrind act Crucify the Whore, so if that's more your thing, these will be familiar! While less cyber-influenced than previous material, these new songs (some with suitably provocative titles) remain a quick listen, as despite having 8 and 9 songs respectively, neither crosses 10 minutes in total length. Only 3 songs between them exceed 2 minutes, and 6 don't run for more than 20 seconds, so don't lose track of time when checking them out, as a song could end before you know it!

These albums are both available at the above links on "name your price" models, and while the polarizing gorenoise originals and typically undecipherable vocals will not win over any prior detractors of Blood Shed's grind acts, the aggressive noise rock will be right up the alley of existing label fans! Give all 9+ minutes of "No More Medical Songs" a listen below, and stay tuned for more from Tyler and company when it rolls in!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!