Videos From & After Spades GT's Album Release Concert!!

Today's post catches us up further on updates from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's July activity, and as you may recall, they headlined the release party for their new album "United" at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto on July 5th. While we still don't know when the former Jack Spades will return home to Sault Ste. Marie, we can witness what happened at The Bovine for ourselves, as ZigSeven's Dave Galante was on hand to film the proceedings for his/the band's YouTube channel! You may recognize Dave from filming at Walterstock III and the Steve Edwin McLeod memorial concerts (both featuring Spades), so kudos to him for coming out to their headlining show last month, let alone filming over an hour & 48 minutes of content! The video begins with Dave talking to the camera before and after getting a sandwich near the venue before the show began, and you've gotta love his fancy sunglasses!

The first band on July 5th was Spades guitarist Daniel Horton's other band The Fast Life (whose frontman Andrew Moorehouse was a guest backing vocalist on both Spades GT albums), and they got 12:30 of footage for Dave's video, so click here to jump straight to the beginning of what he captured that night. After some between-set mingling, we next see the stars of the evening, as Spades GT actually played the middle set rather than closing up for unannounced reasons (maybe there was a scheduling issue?) Dave filmed 40 minutes of action from J.D., Daniel, Tyler, Matthew, and Sean here, and in order, they played "United", "Hands" (featuring guest backing vocals from G.F.U. frontman Jeremy Cibirka), "Demons", "Red", "Strong" (featuring guest rapper Mersinary like on the studio track), "Cenobites", "Wrecked", a cover of Turbonegro's "All My Friends Are Dead" (featuring Andrew Moorehouse on guest vocals), ...

..."Final Girl", and "Die On Our Feet" (featuring ex-guitarist Jay Sarrazin like on the studio version), to end their set. Of note, their set alternated between "United" and "Sewer City Radio" sets back and forth, though the Turbonegro cover did briefly interrupt that pattern. After Dave mingles outside The Bovine between sets, the video closes with York Region punk band G.F.U.'s closing set, and he filmed 48 minutes of punk action from this talented veteran act. Click here to go straight to their set to check out what they had in store, and watch for a member of Spades GT getting on stage midway through! There's a lot to take in here, but kudos to Dave for filming all that he did, and he got some solid quality (and horizontal!) footage of full sets here, and Spades GT sounded raw and in your face as you'd expect! You also get some quality visuals of The Bovine's interior and the packed house for the bands' sets throughout the video's runtime!

Note that, in the host segment bits with Dave using his camera in "selfie mode", he added post-production effects and a logo noting that the video was now in "Zigview". Fun way to differentiate from the band clips and not distract from them with the added effects and logo! And yes, that is former Project 421/Re:Born singer/guitarist (and past bandmate of both J.D.'s and Dan's) Blair Burch as the photographer, he has been snapping pictures at a lot of GTA concerts since moving to Southern Ontario last year. Click here to see his ample shots from the release concert, and relive the complete release party (or see what you missed if you're in the Sault area) below!

We'll close this post with a brief video from guitarist Matthew "Fang" Voros from Spades' Facebook page on July 6th, where he thanked everyone for attending the album release party. There, he called it "a big hit" and "a great time", while also complimenting seeing familiar and new faces alike. Nothing really new here, but it is neat to see Matt take the lead in some official Spades GT social media content, so give it a watch below!

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

Spades GT Updates & Recap Videos From Earlier This Month!!

Let's spend today's post by covering some recent news and notes from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what have they been up to since seemingly wrapping up their new album's recording sessions last month? The album was "in the bank and just waiting for mixes" as of March 3rd, for the record. Spades played three concerts this month in Southern Ontario, starting when they opened for new guitarist Matthew Voros' psychobilly band The House Of Haunt at The Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on March 7th, and they did post a recap video onto their Facebook page from that night. While a short and vertical video, it is not a "Reel", so I can embed it here! The 2:49 video features the guys arriving at and getting ready for their set, and while live concert footage is rarely a highlight for the recap videos, you do see a bit of Spades' set, confirming that they have finally filled their vacant bassist position, so who has signed on?

While not confirmed by name on the band's social media at that point, Matthew's House of Haunt bandmate Sean MacNab has officially replaced the already departed James Roy Daley on bass in Spades GT (Sean confirmed his addition on his personal Facebook page earlier this month). You may also recognize Sean from bands like Defile and Conflicting Plaid, and he does have multi-instrumental talent, as he drums for the latter group. We'll have fuller media of Spades with Sean soon, but he is a solid bassist, and it's good to see the guys finally restored whole as a five-piece! If anything, the recap video shines more for showing The House of Haunt's set anyway, with closer camera angles and some very eclectic fans performing on the floor, but Spades' set reportedly went well despite "a couple (of) boo boos". Good stuff for a recap video, so give everything included from The Hard Luck Bar a watch below!

The following day, Spades played in their adopted hometown of Barrie for the first time this year, when they rocked The Queens Nightclub with guitarist Daniel Horton's other punk band The Fast Life, Cornwall metal band Hellrager (featuring ex-Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin) and fellow Cornwall hard rockers Don't Tell Sarah. Another recap video was shared from this concert, and while a little longer (just over 3 minutes) and not a "Reel", it's still vertical, and I still can't embed this recap video here due to Facebook content matching the backing studio material added in post, so click here to check out the full recap video. It features Daniel hanging out with attendees (primarily members of Hellrager, Jay included) before showing actual video footage with raw audio of all four bands! If only this wasn't a recap video (and wasn't shot vertically), and I wonder how much footage was cut in editing? Some of the visual fidelity is inconsistent (Spades' video is fuzzy), but the audio is solid for the clips that we do get, and Spades are playing their brand new song "We Are United" in their clips!

The brotherhood between the four bands is definitely visible on camera, and while that will mean more if you're in Barrie/the GTA, it is great to see that the former Jack Spades have been so embraced and integrated into the scene down south! Daniel belatedly chimes in at video's end as he didn't do any on-camera thank yous or plugs at The Queens Nightclub. Good stuff across the board, so give this recap video a watch at this link or above!

Lastly, in a later announcement from earlier this month, Spades GT joined nine other bands on March 14th to open for London-based tribute band System A La Down at The Rockpile in Toronto. This was a memorial concert for Steve Edwin MacLeod, who was the sound guy at multiple Spades concerts at The Rockpile over the years. Kudos to everyone involved for throwing this tribute show together on such quick notice, and from what I've read, Steve seemed like a great guy! You can see 61 photos of Spades GT's set at this link courtesy of attendee Miles George, and while there was a recap video on the band's Facebook page, it was sadly uploaded as a "Reel", so I can't embed it here. Daniel again takes the lead here, shooting lots of footage of him mingling with attendees and his bandmates, with Sean getting his most camera time yet since joining Spades. There is some live footage of their set here (nothing really of the other bands), but there's no raw live audio, and the "Reel" ends super abruptly.

What we do see is effective to set up Spades' set, and you do get more pre-set input from the band as a whole than on the other March concert recap videos, so click here to check it out, but remember, this one is a "Reel" and you can't play it in background tabs. When we next talk about Spades GT on the SMS, it will be via longer raw footage of their set at The Rockpile, so stay tuned for that in the near future! Thanks everyone, and as they like to say, raise 'em up and cause a scene!

Spades GT News & Updates From The Past Month!!

Let's spend this Saturday night catching up on what local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT have been up to in the past month+!  As you may recall, the guys played their first show of 2025 in Toronto on January 4th, where they joined twenty-three other bands to pay tribute to beloved Toronto metalhead Walter Froebrich in the third annual Walterstock charity concert at The Rockpile, an event that they have never missed. A series of (mostly) black & white photos from the event can be seen on the band's Facebook page, and after forgoing a recap video from their fall gigs, they did put one together at Walterstock III! Unfortunately, it is a "Reel", so I can't embed it here, and you'll have to deal with the vertical resolution. This recap video (complete with bizarrely jazzy backing music) was primarily shot by guitarist Daniel Horton, and largely focuses on events before and after their set, including lots of mingling with other attendees and performers, clearly in "selfie mode", as it were.

While it looked like everyone had a great time to support live metal music and Walter's memory (look at who was crowd surfing!), fans hoping to see/hear actual live performances won't get much of that here, from the former Jack Spades or anyone else. However, if you want to see Spades rock out, they did share this proper Facebook video as well, but I won't embed it here because it took me down a rabbit hole to a much longer and more substantial Walterstock video from the same filmer! Dave Galante of the Toronto alt-rock band ZigSeven was in attendance, and posted a 3+ hour GoPro video of every single band that played at The Rockpile that night to the band's YouTube channel, so if you want a slice of the Southern Ontario metal cacophony that Spades are now a part of, don't bypass it! Each band gets varying lengths of time on camera, but Spades GT (who were the 21st of 24 bands) got just over 6 minutes of screen time, so what do you see here?

Technically, the camera was rolling for seven minutes of their set, but the first minute is spent with Dave checking out that night's charity auction (which ZigSeven was involved with), so depending on if you want to hear as much as possible or not, you'll want to hop in at 2:23:30 or 2:24:44. During the charity auction part, the guys launch into "Succubus", which we see the second half of once Dave walks over to the stage, and he kept his camera rolling for their set-closer "Final Girl" as well. Regarding their still-vacant bassist position, the guys recruited Daniel's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorhouse for Walterstock, and given that and his prior fill-in sets with Spades, he was a solid choice! Dave got some great footage of Spades GT once he made it to the stage, and kudos to him for filming what he did on what was surely a long night for both him and his GoPro's battery! Check out his full video (and his glowing sunglasses) below!

The guys have since began pre-production on their new studio album, which they will record with producer Kyle Marchant at Room 21 in Toronto once again starting on February 17th. In their Facebook post on January 22nd plugging the plans, they noted that it "feels like (it) is going to be a different year, and we are OK with that", so make of that what you will. Their post on February 2nd confirmed that the album will have 8 songs, same as "Sewer City Radio", and the attached photo featured the band's current four official members, though it remains to be seen who will play bass (note that Daniel and Matthew both can). After recording sessions wrap up, Spades GT will play two shows in March, with the first seeing them and two other bands open for guitarist Matthew Voros' psychobilly band The House Of Haunt at The Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on March 7th. The following night, they'll play their first show in their adopted hometown of Barrie for 2025.

Specifically, they're sharing the stage at "Death Till We Party" at The Queens Nightclub with the aforementioned Fast Life, Cornwall metal band Hellrager (featuring ex-Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin) and fellow Cornwall hard rockers Don't Tell Sarah. While The Fast Life have yet to play in the Soo, both Hellrager and Don't Tell Sarah have played at installments of the Northern Vibe Festival, so keep that in mind if you're in the area. Sounds like an eventful first quarter of 2025 for J.D., Dan, Matt, and Tyler, so stay tuned to the SMS for more updates from Spades GT in the future, and more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!

Fall 2024 Updates From Spades GT!!

It's been a minute since we talked about local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT on the SMS, so what have they been up to since we left off in late September? Well, we'll start with a new live video of theirs that was uploaded to their Facebook page on September 25th, courtesy of the show where they opened for The Exploited and Total Chaos at Lee's Palace in Toronto earlier that month! This was cobbled together from footage shot by Julie's HC Music and Stuff, as well as Thrash Panda Productions head Bowser Tabernak, who is one of the organizers of the annual Spiderfest in Meyersburg that (Jack) Spades have played at often over the years. The band was filmed here playing "Final Girl", and in a throwback to their late 2022 incarnation, ex-guitarist Jay "The Beard" Sarrazin came back to fill in on bass for their shows with The Exploited that month (new second guitarist Matthew Voros was ill and missed both dates). 

The two camera angles were well edited together for this video, with one very close to the stage from an upward slanted angle, while the other was further out and captured the entire stage in frame, but was not stationary and did slowly sway around. Good stuff, and while they were down a guitarist, Spades delivered a rollicking rendition of the first single from "Sewer City Radio" here, so give this strong live video a watch below!

After that Friday the 13th show in Toronto, the bands in question regrouped on Ottawa the following day to rock The Brass Monkey, with Andrew Depedro reviewing the show for KNAC, and you can read his review at this link. While Andrew seemed to refer to that night's lineup as their current lineup, he praised their punk-esque energy levels and "bombastically eavy bruising numbers", while also remarking on their "unpolished driving ambition for many of their peers to dig". A picture of guitarist Daniel Horton was included as well. Solid praise of the band and set, so give his review a look above! On October 27th, the band posted a "Reel" to their Facebook page of Daniel and drummer Tyler Reiner remarking on their songwriting sessions at their "jam chamber" towards their planned new album next year, and they're apparently working on "some bangers", with hopes for fans enjoying "the direction tempos and messages".

As usual, "Reels" are unembeddable on external websites like this, they can't be played in background tabs, and they're forcibly short/vertical videos, so keep that all in mind, but the content within is encouraging for Spades fans! Another "Reel" was posted on November 2nd of the guys (sans Matt) in an apparent recording studio, but it just has static images and music, without new visual content. Spades GT played their final show of 2024 on November 8th, when they returned to their adopted hometown of Barrie to open for Battlescarred at The Rec Room. This show (entitled "Battle Cry Against Cancer") was a fundraiser for Battlescarred frontman Ray Galica following his own cancer diagnosis, so kudos to Spades for stepping out to help out Ray at this difficult time! $3,200 was raised for him and his family on this night. A recap video and "killer shots" were teased but never uploaded for unannounced reasons.

You can see a static image from their set in this brief video (not sure why they did it like that), but it confirms that Matthew was back in the fold for this set. With Jay on the road touring with Sierra Pilot, Spades GT called in Daniel's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorhouse (who provided backing vocals on the studio version of "XS") to play bass for the night, so he's a good familiar choice! A post-set "Reel" was also uploaded, where Daniel noted that they had a "couple (of) boo-boos", but "Andrew killed it", and he praised Barrians for coming out, while also hyping "lots of new surprises" for the new year. No sign of Matt, and the rapidly flickering light should definitely be advised for anyone who could be prone to seizures (maybe it's a good thing I can't embed it here!), but it's a nice little post-show update! Lastly for today, another "Reel" was posted on November 10th featuring Tyler and singer J.D. Pearce at their jam space.

Here, Tyler praises a bottle of rum that they had there, notes that they were just working on two new songs, and showed off their demo recording setup, including a keyboard that will reportedly factor on at least one song. It's hard to read the on-screen text behind the Facebook caption, but Spades plan to record their new album in February with producer Kyle Marchant at Room 21 in Toronto, similar to "Sewer City Radio" last year. We'll have more from the Spades camp on the site soon, but visit the above links for more on what J.D., Daniel, Matthew, *insert bassist here*, and Tyler are up to as of late! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates From August-September 2024!!

Given recent news and recommendations from the band, let's continue playing catch-up on local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT's activity in recent months! Last time we talked about Spades, they had finished up two Southern Ontario gigs opening for Random Killing in mid-July, after which they took a month+ break from the stage. Their final show of the summer season was on August 31st, when they opened for Gag Order & A.S.O.P. at Bar 379 in Peterborough, and unlike their July gigs, they did give this concert the vertical recap video treatment for their Facebook page! I'd still prefer seeing videos of full songs shot horizontally, especially given the addition of Matthew Voros to their lineup, but hey, at least this isn't a "Reel". The video features the guys driving to Bar 379, mingling outside, setting up for their set, and even reenacting a moment/meme from The Simpsons, before we see clips of them on stage with live audio!

Nice to hear a snippet of "Sewer City Radio" there, as brief as it is! The video ends with the guys hanging out post-set and remarking on some of the surprising things that they saw and found in Peterborough that day. Quality video that has a little something for all Spades GT fans and some amusement within, so check this out for yourselves below!

Conspicuous by his absence from the Peterborough concert & recap video is bassist James Roy Daley (Matthew played bass there instead), and we can now confirm that he has parted ways with Spades GT. A reason for his departure was not publically announced, other than to say that "we have had guys come and go". James had played with Spades since the beginning of 2023, and featured on their "Sewer City Radio" EP and their most recent local gig (last August's Josey Scott concert at The Rink), but remember that he was always busy with multiple other projects, bands or otherwise. I wonder if his leaving the band was part of why he pulled out of his solo set at the Northern Vibe Festival last month? Hopefully all is well & amicable with Killroy going forward, as he is a talented artist! The former Jack Spades are seeking a new permanent bassist ("THE GUY", as it were), so who/what are they looking for?

They must be punctual, have a professional attitude & work ethic, and have their own professional gear as well. If you want to audition or inquire within, contact the band at the above links or by e-mailing drummer Tyler Reiner at reinerpd@yahoo.ca. Of course, local readers should remember that the band relaunched in Barrie in late 2021 (and primarily jam/rehearse in North York), so this will be far more amenable to musicians currently living in the GTA. Hopefully J.D., Daniel, Matt, and Tyler find the right bassist soon! Just over a week after the Peterborough concert, Tyler starred in this Facebook update video where he hyped up their shows opening for The Exploited in Toronto and Ottawa earlier this month, thanked promoter Steve Hoeg for booking them on multiple concerts down south, and confirmed that "The Beard" (a.k.a. former Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin) would be returning to fill in on bass for the Exploited shows!

Of course, Jay first served as their fill-in bassist after Daniel Rodbard's departure in mid-2022 (including at that year's Northern Vibe), before moving to second guitar for shows in early 2023 and recording on two songs on "Sewer City Radio". It's good to see Jay back with the guys (including his old Caym bandmate Tyler), even if temporarily, so look for him in videos from this month's dates! Tyler also confirmed that they do indeed have another hometown gig booked in Barrie on November 8th (a cancer fundraiser for Battlescarred frontman Ray Galica), but details are still forthcoming. Good & detailed updates, so check it out below!

After one more Tyler-starring teaser video to hype the Exploited concert in Toronto the next day, the guys did rock Lee's Palace as one of the opening bands for the British hardcore punk legends on Friday the 13th, and again in Ottawa at The Brass Monkey the following day! Both bills also included recent Stellar Door local headliners Total Chaos. Unfortunately, Matthew missed both dates due to an unspecified illness, as revealed by fellow guitarist Daniel Horton in the 11 minutes long recap video covering both of the Exploited concerts from this month. Much to my happy surprise, it's horizontal too! The video starts with the guys arriving at Lee's Palace, loading gear, having a bite to eat, and hanging out pre-show, before we get some all-too-brief clips from their set, but audio of them playing "Rise" can be heard. After we see them chilling after the concert and hitting the road in the middle of the night, we next see their footage from Ottawa the next day.

While much of the Ottawa video is similar to Toronto's (just in a new venue in a new city), we do see them getting breakfast at Denny's and checking out The Exploited's merchandise. No concert footage from Spadres GT's set (nor Spades GT's set) was filmed at The Brass Monkey, allegedly because "every camera in the building malfunctioned". Joke answer or not, the URL for the website to forward complaints to did not work, so now who can I tell? The cameras were all fixed in time to film some of The Exploited & Total Chaos' sets, while we also see Spades & Jay hanging out in & out of the venue, and wrapping things up at the hotel, where they hinted at a likely return to Ottawa in 2025. There's definitely a lot to see here ("camera malfunctions" aside), and it does look like both concerts were big hits for hardcore punk fans in the capitals, so check everything out for yourselves below, and hopefully Matt got better soon!

As best as I can tell, we are now caught up for Spades GT content on the SMS, barring anything fan shot or posted that the band hasn't re-shared on social media! They don't have any announced gigs until the fundraiser in Barrie in November, so we'll have to see how the fall continues to shake out for the guys, let alone their bassist search. Stay tuned for updates in any event, and for more news on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Treble Charger At Big Shiny Saturday Concert Video Showcase!

I apologize for this slipping through the cracks over the past 2+ months, but when the band in question doesn't really have an active social media presence, it wasn't as likely to cross my radar. As teased in some of the local press for their reunion gig at The Machine Shop in March, local/Toronto indie/punk quartet Treble Charger did indeed continue playing live via summer festival dates in Southern Ontario! We knew at the time that they'd be playing at Riverfest in Elora last month, but before then, they actually were booked for the Big Shiny Saturday festival in North York, which took place at The Bowl at Sobey's Stadium on July 6th! Here, they played alongside fellow domestic 1990s-2000s rock acts The Tea Party, The Headstones, I Mother Earth, and Bif Naked (The Headstones were never on a Big Shiny Tunes album, but they're of the same era). In searching YouTube, at least seven attendees filmed Treble Charger's set, so let's cover four of them in today's post!

We'll start with attendee superfannrock, who filmed Treble Charger playing three songs at Big Shiny Saturday during their middle set (he also filmed The Tea Party and The Headstones for his channel). Songs filmed include "Hundred Million", "Red", and as embedded below, their second song "Brand New Low". Sharp angle with a smoky ambiance, but superfannrock got a nice zoomed in view of the guys in action, who sound on the level of their reunion gig, and while he's laser focused on filming just the band, you do get a sense that this is a big stage. Check these out above & below!

Next up, attendee ShakyShorty filmed a song each from the five acts at Sobey's Stadium on this day, with his Treble Charger video being of their early Bill Priddle-sung classic "Red", which was their second-to-last song. Also, Frank Deresti and David Peredun continued on bass and drums from the local date in March, so it is very neat to see an all-local Treble Charger lineup, let alone playing out of town! While ShakyShorty didn't employ as extreme of a zoom, he also had a far more central view of the stage and got more of the framing and setup as a result. If you like mid-late 1990s indie Treble Charger, you'll like how the guys played "Red" here, so check this quality performance out below too!

Alas, superfannrock was one of only two of the seven filmers to shoot anything other than "Red" and "American Psycho", so I apologize for any redundancy in advance. Both of those songs were shot by attendee Toronto Live Music, who filmed everyone on Big Shiny Saturday except Bif Naked. To spread things out a bit, I'll also feature this channel's "Red" video here, but I'd argue that these are the best of the Treble Charger videos for quality in this post, with Toronto Live Music clearly closer to the stage and framing things well with some lighter, more natural zooming, and the audio is nice and clear! Good stuff on both accounts, so check these videos out also!

Three of the other four Big Shiny Saturday filmers only filmed "American Psycho" during Treble Charger's set, and we'll close with that song from attendee Fun Randyz, who also filmed everyone except Bif Naked on July 6th, but this was his only Treble Charger video. Like she did at The Machine Shop in March, Greig Nori's daughter Ava joined the guys on stage to provide guest backing vocals from the bridge onward, which is a fun touch that I'm sure Greig loved repeating! This punk-era staple is always a crowd favourite, and while Randy was a little further back, he zoomed in well on the stage with good audio, so give his clip a watch below!

We'll have more from Treble Charger and Big Shiny Saturday in an upcoming post, but it looks like everything went well in North York in July, and here's hoping their other 2024 festival dates were similarly successful! Stay tuned for all of that and more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates & Videos From December & January!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to acknowledge that local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns did not play at Shooters Downstairs Lounge last night for unannounced reasons, with no band replacing them. The band & venue never publically confirmed or denied the gig, which new drummer Brandan Glew announced on his personal Facebook page last month. The Stallyns are not known for frequently updating their Facebook page, alas, but I do apologize for the erroneous plug on Thursday. I'd have noted that it was cancelled had someone publically said something in advance! My thanks to Sarah Vikken (who was present for an unrelated event) for confirming the lack of a band last night.

Now let's dive into more recent news and notes from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what else have they been up to since the turn of the new year? On December 30th, Joe Taylor of the music website Blast Toronto reviewed their newest album "Sewer City Radio", recommending the album to fans of Motorhead, Anvil, The Offspring, and The Ramones. He used a lot of hyperbole to pump up this album in a brief but positive write-up, so give it a look at this link! The rubber chicken frequently pops up in Joe's CD reviews, if you wanted context. On New Year's Day, the band posted a "Reel" on their Facebook page to recap their 2023, featuring assorted live concert clips and posters as set to their song "Cenobites" while guitarist Daniel Horton talked about how the year went & how 2024 will be another big year. My usual "Reel" complaints aside, it hypes up 2023 well!

I can't embed "Reels" here, but I can embed this video, which features a 48 minutes-long interview that frontman J.D. Pearce and drummer Tyler Reiner recorded with Amanda Schilz and her son Andrew The Legend of Sofa City Sounds, a music promotion/interview company out of Niagara Falls. Tyler and J.D. were participating remotely over the holidays, with Tyler in Muskoka and J.D. in the Soo when this was recorded! Note J.D is in front of a local Ripcordz concert poster, and look for his various masks. After asking about their holiday plans, Spades GT talk about "Sewer City Radio", how Spades GT came together in Barrie (Tyler brings up the Jack Spades era here), their live concert experience (which J.D. hopes is close to hearing their studio material), their 2024 plans in concert and studio, bands that they have enjoyed sharing the stage with (Drew from Random Killing saw Spades at the Josey Scott show here last summer) ...

...rumoured major shows for 2024 (not that Spades GT were willing to spill many beans), their growth in the past year, and their advice for young musicians. Fun and loose interview with lots of discussion about bands that Amanda (and her kids) have seen live and worked with, and if you find the idea of a local band interview involving a host conducting it with her son to be unusual, remember that Heavy Lies The Crown did a (sadly now deleted) interview in January 2023 with Ghost Media Entertainment where the host's young daughter participated. Click here for our recap to compare. Give Spades GT's interview with Sofa City Sounds a watch below!

Spades GT's first concert of 2024 saw them play at the second annual Walterstock, the fundraiser/memorial concert in honour of noted GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich, who passed away after being unable to get prompt medical treatment in 2022 despite his best efforts (click here for more on that sad story). Like with the inaugural Walterstock last year, twenty-seven acts played at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th, and while none of the other bands are familiar from local gigs, frequent Spades GT show partners GFU played, as did headlining Pantera tribute band Cowboys From Hell, while Spades bassist James Roy Daley also played with the psychobilly band The House of Haunt immediately following Spades' set. Videos were not in short supply from Spades' Walterstock set, and we'll start with two fan-shot videos that, while both sadly vertical, are not "Reels" and therefore embeddable here!

Attendee William Wai Yun Lum (who previously filmed Spades GT at Indie Night In Canada last year) live-streamed this sub-2 minutes clip of them playing "Succubus" for his personal Facebook page, which the band later publically shared on their Facebook page. The somewhat low framerate and muffled audio are noted, but it's an intense performance from the front row, and while I wouldn't have shot it vertically, it does get a good look at J.D. in particular, so check it out for yourself below!

There's definitely more from Walterstock to come, but we'll finish up here with attendee Dawn Faller's video of Spades GT's closing song, namely the title track of their album "Sewer City Radio"! Dawn posted this three days after the event on her personal Facebook page before the band re-posted it. This is a longer video capturing the full song, and while vertical, she wasn't shy about rotating the camera around to catch things at skewed angles while zooming in and out, so it's an interesting watch! She was at more of a sharp angle too, but still clearly in the front row. Good audio quality here too, so check this clip out below as well!

 

When we pick things back up for Spades GT, it'll be with more Walterstock fallout, so look for that in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT's Late 2023 Video Content From Rye Field Studios!!

With no currently announced Friday night hard rock concerts in the area for the St. Patrick's Day weekend, and two Sunday nighters taking place on said holiday, I'm postponing this weekend's concert previews to tomorrow so that we're slightly closer to what has been announced. Stay tuned!

Instead, let's continue playing catch-up on local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT's recent activity, and we're winding back to late 2023 for some performance and interview footage that they shot! These come from Rye Field Studios, a recording studio out of Brantford that also posts long-form content to their YouTube channel featuring bands that come in to their headquarters, particularly interviews and performance footage. The former Jack Spades aren't even the only band with local ties to be featured in Rye Field Studios content, as St. Thomas metalcore band Prosector (fronted by ex-State of Misery singer Steve Rhodes) got similarly covered in January, so give those a look if you've missed Steve locally! The first of Rye Field's videos featuring Spades GT was uploaded in September, before they ever made the 2 hour drive south to Brantford, and it has concert footage of them in Toronto in June!

The video (one of two compilation videos from Beer Bash 6, the other seen here) features the first five bands that played at Beer Bash 6, with Spades GT's segment beginning about 7 minutes in with introductions by Rye Field's Ben Zander & Shane Briand, who also host much of their YouTube content. Spades GT were introduced as "the first band" despite being the third seen in the 23 minute video, and they were filmed playing their newest album's title track "Sewer City Radio". Strong performance at a nice venue with great video quality (horizontal and multi-camera, at that), but the drum-cam of Tyler is pointed too far out from him. Check out Spades GT and much more from Beer Bash 6 above and below!

On December 8th, a 17+ minute in-studio performance video of Spades GT at Rye Field was posted to YouTube, but before that, two teaser videos were shared to preview the Spades content in the preceding couple of days. One video is a preview of the actual performance so I won't redundantly embed it here, but if they were going to crop it to vertical dimensions (presumably as a "Shorts" video), why not do that before the on-screen text is added? Embedded below is the other preview clip, which features J.D., Daniel, and Tyler (no sign of James) signing a Rye Field Studios banner on the wall there, that other musicians have apparently signed over time. Oddly, the song "Sewer City Radio" is playing in the background, albeit over speakers there and not added in post. Nice gesture to help Ben and Shane commemorate their in-studio sessions, if shot vertically too, so check it out below!

As for the proper in-studio performance (part of Rye Field's "Live In The Whiskey Pit" series), it leads off with Ben & Shane introducing Spades GT, then pertinent logos (the kids saying the studio's name caught me off guard), before we get to the band proper. As noted with on-screen text, Spades GT play "Hands", "Succubus", "Red", "Final Girl", and "Sewer City Radio" here, and at least three different cameras capture the band in action here, two facing the band at slightly different angles, as well as a drum cam that is better positioned than at Beer Bash 6. Very well performed, shot, and edited, so fans of Spades (Jack and/or GT) will be right at home, but the green lighting was overdone to me. Check it out below!

Finally, a 36 minute interview with Spades GT was posted to YouTube by Rye Field Studios on December 12th, so what are they asked about while sitting on "The PodCouch"? Ben and Shane start by asking the guys about how Beer Bash 6 went, followed by the origins of Spades GT. The Soo days and Tyler's old band Caym's shows up here are addressed, but much of it is about how the band came together in Barrie, including insights by James as to how far along songwriting for the "Sewer City Radio" album was when he joined. After briefly discussing the album and practicing, they ask about Anvil (whose drummer Robb Reiner is Tyler's dad) and Spades GT's experiences opening for Anvil last fall, including some notes on working with and hanging out with Anvil frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow. Their then-upcoming concert plans, including their cancelled winter tour run with The Dayglo Abortions, come up next.

Ben & Shane (who has a great voice) ask about Spades GT's early favourite bands before getting into Tyler's drumming style, the advantages and disadvantages of the internet, their plans to work on new material in 2024, and even James' story about meeting Robert Plant(!), among other topics. This is a fun and laid back interview with great presentation from multiple cameras, and it's nice to hear James so much throughout (he's definitely the quietest member in social media promotions). However, it can be hard to hear some of the conversations with everyone talking over each other at points, especially when things go off the rails a bit. Check the whole interview with Rye Field Studios out for yourselves below!

Lastly, kudos to Ben & Shane at Rye Field Studios for all of their work in promoting metal and punk bands in Southern Ontario, both from their YouTube videos and their actual recording studio work, so give much more from them a look above as well! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

A New Album, Mike Haggith Updates, And New Videos!!

We have a new news post on this Sunday morning, which includes some new videos, big updates on a prominent local musician, and leading off, a new album release from a very prolific local group, so here's what you should know!

Local blue Chinese metal crash punk quartet Sykotyk Rampage have released yet another new studio album onto their Bandcamp page, and it's their third in a five month span, and 68th total! Officially dated with a February 1st release date despite being posted on Bandcamp last week, this has the unwieldy title "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of The Stoned Ape: Hal​​​-​​​lu​​​-​​​ci​​​-​​​no​​​-​​​gen​​​-​​​ic​​​-​​​Mus​​​-​​​i​​​-​​​cal​​​-​​​Brain​​​-​​​Scans​​​-​​​3", and it is the belated sequel album to their prior two "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of..." albums that were released in 2011, harbouring the same scheme of songs generally having one word names. However, "Genius Mushrooms 3" has a whopping 27 songs, including one for each letter of the alphabet in order, and it would have to be a double album if released physically. Sykotyk Rampage also jokingly claim that this album is not associated with the prior two albums in this series, or the "bands" that recorded them.

Allegedly, "they stole our idea", and this album was just in the works for 12 years and not rushed out in 2011. Now you know!? Given the double length, "Genius Mushrooms 3" is on sale for $15, but you can of course stream the whole thing for free on Bandcamp as well. Will this be reviewed on the SMS? Not short term, as I'd rather review these albums in order and I haven't yet looked at the first two, but a review of either of their September 2022 albums ("Scott's Pub & Crash Music" or "Love Muffin") will hit the site no later than next month. Still, be sure to give this and dozens more of Sykotyk Rampage's unique brand of bluesy alternative and psychedelic rock a listen at the above links, it's quite an experience!

Next up, here's the latest from local alternative/hard rock musician Mike Haggith, who has finally spilled the beans about his recent plans, especially in regards to his homebase after previously teasing a move out of Thompson, Manitoba last fall. This will be no surprise to anyone who knows Mike personally, but on his Facebook page yesterday, he revealed that he has moved to Barrie, Ontario for work reasons and career advancement opportunities, but Mike does plan to become active in the music scene in Barrie, including solo concerts and possibly "calling the boys" for full band sets. He didn't 100% confirm if he meant his local band from Rotaryfest last year, but note that Mike is much closer now (Barrie is 6 hours east of the Soo), and keep in mind that his hometown of Windsor is a 4 hour drive from Barrie. Also, don't forget that his old Haggith bandmate Daniel Horton already moved down there with Spades GT.

Regarding his upcoming album "All The Best In All You Do", Mike confirmed that "good progress is being made in the studio", and he's hoping for it to come out in mid-2023, perhaps with a release concert. He also plans to resume monthly live-streams and album review videos in the spring now that he has a dedicated area to host his video recording setup. Mike had a very productive run with his best received solo output yet during his five years in Thompson, but hopefully Barrie proves to be just as fruitful artistically and personally, and we'll definitely keep you posted when more comes out on his next musical plans!

Also today, here's some brief clips of local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's new lineup playing at the Walter Froebrich memorial concert at The Rockpile in Toronto last night! Uploaded by YouTube user Belgian Jasper, this is a compilation video of six bands from the event, plus interviews with attendees/performers about Walter and what it means to pay tribute to "the metal mayor of Toronto". Spades GT turn up 1:19 into the 5:49 video, and are seen/heard for about 25 seconds, though remarks from members of Anger By Design are overlaid during it. Not a long look at the expanded Spades GT yet, but they sound good for what little we see, so check it out below, and R.I.P. Walter!

Finally, here's a new video from local progressive metal band PROV3RB5's Facebook page yesterday, which sees guitarist Benjamin Roswell playing a 72 second chunk of their song "Sea of Tranquility". Thankfully, the live instrumentation is enough for this video to avoid being content matched to itself by Facebook algorithms, so it can be embedded here, and Ben has a strong, technically sound handle on things as you'd expect! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from PROV3RB5 in 2023!

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

Spades GT Updates, Plus New Videos From Both Sides Of The Border!!

Let's cover some more recent news and notes as we play catch-up on this Friday evening, including some new studio recordings from two local solo acts, and leading off, updates from a prominent relocated local punk/metal band who look to have a busy 2023 start in a big way this weekend!

Here is the latest from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, who will play their first (non-local) concert of the year tomorrow night, but this one is for a special cause. You may recall hearing news stories last month about the death of Walter Froebrich, a beloved fixture of the metal scene in the GTA who was a frequent and friendly presence at concerts for decades, and who passed away in unfortunate circumstances after abdominal issues that he was unable to get prompt medical treatments for (click here for more details). A benefit show for Walter takes place tomorrow at The Rockpile in Toronto, with a whopping twenty-seven bands on the bill, Spades GT among them. For reference, none of the other bands are familiar from tour dates in the Soo, but there are recognizable names if you follow the rising metal scene there, including at least three tribute bands. Kudos to everyone for coming together for Walter like this, he'd definitely be proud!

Spades GT have since posted some teasers for the show on their Facebook page, including pictures from a recent jam session, and they indicate changes to their lineup, notably an expansion to a quintet for the first time since the former Jack Spades announced their Barrie relaunch in 2021. Late 2022 fill-in bassist Jay Sarrazin (drummer Tyler Reiner's old Caym bandmate) appears to have shifted to rhythm guitar full time, belatedly replacing Tiffany Stocco in the process. If he is sticking around, he has the chops on guitar for sure! With Daniel Rodbard apparently leaving the group last year for unannounced reasons, and Jay moving to guitar, their new bassist is James Roy Daley, a prolific musician and horror author who has also been seen in GTA punk bands like Stand Against Fear, Prior Convictions, his solo act Killroy, and even Puppethead, a literal parody of Motorhead starring puppets. James gets more and more interesting the more you read!

J.D. and Daniel are now in the minority as the local contingent of Spades GT, but again, GT = Greater Toronto. It's great to see the band back at full strength, and here's hoping the benefit concert is a massive hit for Walter's friends and family in & out of metal! If you're in the GTA, Spades GT play at 7:00 PM. The full new lineup appear in this brief video to plug their set tomorrow and give Walter a shoutout, which was nice of them, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more from Spades GT when it rolls in!

Also today, here's some new videos from local extreme metal/folk punk musician Chase Wigmore's "Jason Walker" YouTube channel in the past month! After posting a free streaming copy of his newest solo album "We Are All Going To Die" (review forthcoming) and a separate upload of its song "Don't Worry, We Have A Plan" featuring unique cyberpunk graphics, he uploaded a song called "Gristly" under the project name Manitou (apologies for mixing the two up), and whose visual layout is quite similar to the proceeding (graphics in a square video with a title overlayed in the middle). Very doom/synth heavy, reminds me of something Molten Imp would have cooked up, but Chase says this was a collaboration with "non mammalian sentience", and Chase referred to them as "her" and "the old gal", so read into that however you like. No word on if this project will exist long term, but check out Manitou below!

Finally for today, here's the first new song from Sault Michigan extreme metal solo project X's & Y's' YouTube channel in seven months! This is a cover of the "Creeping Silence" and "Pleasure of Tension" songs from the 1988 graphic adventure video game Snatcher, which is best known in North America for its Sega CD port in 1995. If this rings a bell, you obviously remember X's & Y's leader Jason Mills' past work with his indie label Werehold Records, as he already covered "The Pleasure of Tension" under the project name Snatcher back in December 2017. Unfortunately, as the Werehold YouTube channel has been deleted since, I can't check out that version to compare, so assuming it's not just a renaming of the prior recording, I want to say this is more techno influenced than what Snatcher the band put out at the time. Could be wrong, but the metal is definitely present in this recording, and it has a solid groove to it!

It's worth noting that X's & Y's posted on their Facebook page for the first time since the summer in September to reveal that they have finished writing two whole albums since 2019, and while public updates as to either have not came out yet, their last post from last month noted that Jason was "ironing out the last of the album art". Will the Snatcher covers turn up? No idea yet, but remember that Werehold acts largely stalled out at free YouTube uploads despite a lot of promising material. Fingers crossed, but check out more from X's & Y's above & below!

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

New Videos And More Recent News & Notes!!

Before we dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, here's a new news post to check out on this stormy Wednesday night, which wraps up with some assorted recent updates, but let's lead off with a batch of new videos, starting another new video from local/Barrie punk/metal quartet Spades GT! This comes from Toronto filmmaker Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group, who filmed and edited this seven minute clip for the band, and be advised that while the YouTube video is unlisted there, Spades' Facebook page shared the clip publically earlier today. The video was shot at their set opening for Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, and it features the absolute best quality video footage I've seen of Spades (Jack or GT), but it's not just about that, as Aidan also filmed new band members Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner prepping for the show and driving to the venue (meeting up with J.D. and Dan there).

You also see the guys setting up for their gear & some one-on-one remarks outside The Rockpile before we get soundcheck and performance footage taking up most of the last 2½ minutes. Nice little "Inside Baseball" look at Spades GT getting ready for a concert in their current era, and again, the video quality is excellent for the performance clips, as brief as they are! It'd be awesome if Aidan could post the whole unedited set, but if you want to watch the whole thing from another attendee, check back on the SMS by the weekend. Check things out below, and look for a couple of cameos by Anvil drummer Robb Reiner (Tyler's dad!)

Next up, here's another new video of new local acoustic hard rock (and online page-less) duo Short & Sweet from the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as per frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel once again! Why he's staggering uploads like this, I'm not sure, but it does mean that we're covering Short & Sweet more frequently! This time out, you will see him and Kyle covering another Seether song, namely "Wasteland" (definitely not the same named song by 10 Years). Another strongly handled cover that's effectively pared down to an acoustic duo format, in spite of some jittery camera work, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's the latest from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown, who revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that their second show with their current lineup will take place on July 13th.... in Chesterfield Township, outside of Detroit. Alas, no local dates yet, hopefully at some point soon! Specifically, they'll be opening for Nonpoint (of "Bullet With A Name" and "Left For You" fame) that night at the Diesel Concert Lounge, so click here for details on that show if you're so inclined. In the video proper, singer Brandon West (who randomly loses his shirt midway through) and guitarist Ted Olson are bantering with someone off camera while allegedly signing their contract to open for this concert, before plugging the show proper. They also have tickets to sell for $20 a piece (message them for details), so this may be one of those "openers pay to perform and sell tickets to offset the cost" situations that you see more of in larger markets.

Still a huge deal for H.L.T.C. to open for a name band like this, let alone in their second show with this lineup (this will be huge for Jaxon especially), so give the announcement video at this link! I cannot embed the video here due to Facebook content matching the music in the video, even though it is from Heavy Lies The Crown's own album.

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

• I have moved Sault Ontario alternative/grunge solo project Kush Wood to our inactive band links, having not updated their Facebook page since sharing a meme in May of last year. Project leader Kristien Woodcock had been active recording original content since 2015, and he had a good thing going despite us only discovering his work last summer, so hopefully he picks things back up for Kush Wood in due course!
• As per their Facebook page last month, local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp has left Bandcamp (at least for now) to devote more resources to uploading new material on a perceived overlooked platform, namely Soundcloud, while also introducing a Patreon account for paid backers to get exclusive content. As such, their prior paid virtual singles can now be heard for free on Soundcloud, albeit without the paid buyer-exclusive bonus tracks. Sounds like Boyd's thinking outside the box a little for his imminent music work, but we'll see how things ahead go for Molten Imp!
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will hit the road for DeTour Village (70 minutes southeast of the Soo) this Saturday for a free outdoor concert at their marina as part of DeTour Village's summer concert series! Now, DeTour Village is just outside of our coverage range (it and Drummond Island are really the only parts of Chippewa County that are more than hour's drive away), but if you're up for a drive or live near the southeast tip of the county, you'll see Rhythm & Brews at DeTour's marina on Saturday at 6:00 PM, and hopefully things go well!
   

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