I hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing Labour Day! My original plan to follow up yesterday's post with this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post has been slightly interrupted, as I really should preview two mid-week concert previews for shows at the same locale while there's still good time to get the last word out on them! Rounding things out is a new album release and some recent updates from a local metal band, so here's what you should know before school re-opens!
We'll start TOMORROW NIGHT, when local acoustic punk solo project Slumshine will make their Soo Blaster debut when they open for Ottawa alt-folk singer/songwriter Rory Taillon! As far as I can gather, this will be the first time that Hails frontman Brenton Ellis has broken out his pink knit ski mask and acoustic guitar for a public Slumshine concert not tied to the Fringe North Festival since 2020. It's good to see Brent back in this guise for an increasingly rare live set, and hopefully a sizeable audience comes to hear his relatable unplugged punk originals despite being on a work/school night! Rory Taillon's headlining set will be his first in the Soo since rocking the former Gore Street Cafe eight years ago, and while not overtly punk influenced, his music does have similarities to Slumshine's in terms of his personal battles. He's a very talented musician, so folk fans won't want to bypass Rory's return tomorrow if able!
Promoted by Brent's Ha!ls bandmate Mikhal Muto, tomorrow's stop on Rory's tour in support of his new album "Now It's Dark" has a 19+ age limit, 8:00 PM start time, and admission price of $10 (tickets at this link) or $15 at the door. Should be a good time for fans of acoustic folk musicians, and Brent will have some punk laid in for his set, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Slumshine live!
Next up, this week's other mid-week Mikhal Muto-promoted concert at Soo Blaster goes down on WEDNESDAY NIGHT, as Montreal psychedelic hard rock trio The Space Wizards will be making their local debut in two days' time! If you like trippy, spacey sounds in your classic-influenced hard rock, you should take to The Space Wizards, who deliver a fun retro sensibility to their entertaining original music, so don't miss this newer touring act if you can help it on Wednesday! Local support will include hard rock quintet HeadFirst in their... first concert since rocking Shooters on Saturday, in what their Facebook page said was "gonna be a different show" as "we've had a lot going on the last little bit". No idea what they were hinting at, let alone if things will be "different" on Wednesday too, but you may find out then! The other advertised opening band is The Spaceship Opening, so who are they?
To be honest, I still don't know. I can only find references to them on social media in the context of them opening on Wednesday, so they may be intentionally staying silent until their public debut. We'll let you know when we hear something! Like the Rory Taillon/Slumshine concert tomorrow, this appears to be a 19+ event, but it has a later start time of 9:00 PM, and admission prices are $5 higher across the board ($15 in advance at this link, $20 at the door). Again, the mid-week scheduling isn't ideal, but fans of creative hard rock with classic flourishes won't want to miss out on the action at Soo Blaster on Wednesday night! See above for more details, and for a preview, here's The Space Wizards live!
Now to some other recent updates, starting with a brand new album release, as local alternative hard rock quartet Sykotyk Rampage released their 70th studio album yesterday! After three false starts on Bandcamp, "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck" was released two weeks early yesterday (backdated to August 1st), and you can stream it for free on Bandcamp, YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and yes, even Boomplay. It can be bought on Bandcamp for a whopping $70, which seems steep, but this album has thirty-four songs (if released physically, it'd be a triple CD set), and purchases on Bandcamp do include the accompanying 137 page read-along comic book, which was teased on their Facebook page last month. If you don't like/use Bandcamp, you can buy the comic alone on Lulu for $90, which is noticeably higher, so you may want to take up the Bandcamp offer for the full experience!
Yes, the comic is being printed physically (6.5'' x 10.5'' dimensions), and I have not seen reference to a digital/.pdf version. 70 albums into their local career, you certainly can't fault what the Beckers, Shane, and Tony are doing to shake things up and stay creative! After all, what other local bands have comic books linked to concept albums like this? "Waerlogas Sagas 1" will be this month's CD review on the SMS (whether I have the comic or not is to be determined), but fans of Sykotyk Rampage's distinct and fun brand of "crash music" will definitely want to check everything out at the above links! For now, check out song #1 ("Chapter 1: Astro-Travellers") below!
Finally for today, let's come full circle with a new video from the aforementioned Brent Ellis' current crossover thrash/punk band Hails in concert! Uploaded to their Facebook page yesterday afternoon (after I had posted about them in yesterday's post), this sub-2 minute clip, which is vertical but mercifully not a "Reel", comes from their Carmen-less set at the Humber River Arts & Music Festival in Toronto on August 24th, and sees them playing "Thrashmastertenbillion" from their debut EP "Rock And Rolls". Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that this is the very same song played by Slumshine in the 2019 preview clip embedded above, and I'd never made the connection before that that song originated as an acoustic Slumshine track before Brent's later band adopted it! The camera glare isn't ideal here, and the vertical orientation really isn't ideal (why accentuate the grass where no one's standing?), but the music is nice and clear, capturing the thrash mastery at full force!
Between this Southern Ontario trip and Hails' surprisingly high number of shows in Michigan's Lower Peninsula this year, the guys are definitely putting in the miles to get solid exposure and attention beyond the Soo area, and hopefully they got a strong reception from attendees at Sunnyside Park in Toronto for the Humber River Festival last month! Check out Ha!ls' newest live video below!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile hitting the site next! Thanks everyone!
