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!
Got a new news post to check out on this Monday night, which includes updates on a big upcoming concert, a new original song teaser, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this fall, so here's what you should know!
Sudbury-based Def Leppard tribute band Just Leppard will return to Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday, November 11th (yes, Remembrance Day) for a special double header of tribute band action at Soo Blaster! It was around that time last year when Just Leppard made their third local stop (and first at Soo Blaster) for a date with AC/DC tribute The AC/DC Show, but this time, they'll take the stage alongside fellow Sudbury tribute band Saturday Night Special, who pay homage to southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd! I'll admit that neither source band is my favourite, but Just Leppard have gotten a solid response in their prior local stops, and Saturday Night Special seem to have the Skynyrd sound down well, so this should cover a wide range of classic rock fans this fall! Advance tickets for this 19+ event (which starts at 8:00 PM) run for $40 at this link, which is up from the $32 advance price last year.
No word on a price hike at the door, but last year's Just Leppard/AC/DC Show concert jumped to $35 if you waited to buy until you got there, so I'd at least prepare for the possibility. This should be a good time for Def Leppard and Lynyrd Skynyrd fans (especially if you happen to be both), so visit the official Facebook event page for details on what to expect!
Next up, here's some updates on the Josey Scott's Saliva-headlined concert at The Machine Shop on Saturday night, starting with a band withdrawal, as Louisville, Kentucky post-grunge quartet Tantric have dropped out of this event, according to promoters Superior Entertainment on the Facebook event page yesterday. This is due to frontman Hugo Ferreira being unable to enter Canada, and while they didn't go into specifics as to why, he has had legal issues in the past that may be a factor, and other rock websites will go into detail on that if you are so inclined. Disappointing to hear, but hopefully Tantric can come back this direction again when able! A replacement band has not been announced, but Superior Entertainment has asked ticket sale host Etix to adjust show prices to the pre-sale discount rate rather than the week-of price of $53.50 (as of this writing, the price has not visibly been lowered). Click here to check on any potential price adjustments, in any event!
In terms of promoting the event, (this version of) Saliva's frontman Josey Scott has made some video appearances to get the word out, including via this brief clip uploaded to Superior Entertainment's Facebook page last week, where he invited fans to "party with us" and "shake the lake" on Saturday night. Not the best audio quality, he didn't mention any of the other bands, and he pronounced "Sault" like "salt", but any direct promotion is cool to see, so check it out above! For longer-form promotion, Josey was interviewed by Ernest Skinner of the local YouTube interview series Border City Rock Talk on Friday, so what comes up here? In the 18 minute interview, Josey talks about why he left the original version of Saliva, ex-Motley Crue singer John Corabi saving him from a bar fight, the passing of his old Saliva bandmate Wayne Swinny earlier this year, how they united musically, new material plans, ...
... working with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger on the "Hero" single, his love of ketchup chips, and more. This was recorded before Tantric dropped out, but neither Ernest nor Josey remembered the local openers' names (Josey did pronounce "Sault" right here though!) Good and laid back interview that will be a good primer for the show on Saturday night, so check it out below, and also give Border City Rock Talk a watch for much more video interviews, if not always with musicians playing locally in the near term!
We'll close today with a new video from local progressive metal duo Convergence's YouTube channel! The first unequivocally new upload there (not counting Kraken Mara-era videos that they left up/rebranded), this was uploaded as a "Shorts" video (a.k.a. YouTube's answer to "reels"), but at least you can embed "Shorts" externally and play them in background tabs! The video features a snippet from a new original song named "Chimera" courtesy of their computer tracking program, and it certainly sounds the part for prog metal fans, but it's worth noting that their Facebook post about the video says that "we're working on another track for our album". Now, their debut EP "One" is on sale on Wix, but are implications correct that "One" is a work in progress that they're going to add to as songs get completed? I can't say for public certainty, but give Convergence's new song snippet a listen below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for Wednesday concert previews and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Happy Father's Day to all of our dad readers! Today's post is half devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS regarding a popular downtown festival in a couple of weeks, while we also have some recent concert videos and assorted updates to touch on, so here's what you should know!
Live music will return to the Sault Ste. Marie Poutine Feast over the Canada Day long weekend, and while a full performer schedule across all four days (Thursday, June 29th-Sunday, July 2nd) is not yet out, two SMS-leaning bands are confirmed for this year's itinerary, starting with funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns outside of the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site
at 800 Bay Street on Thursday the 29th! The Stallyns played last year's festivities as the Thursday morning openers, but they have been bumped way up to evening headliners at 6:00 PM, which is a change from last year, where only the Friday and Saturday programs had bands that late. It's worth noting that singer Christina Speers' new disco tribute band The Saturday Nights will also be playing at the Poutine Feast this year, but they have not publically stated the day or timeslot. We'll let you know when/if organizers release the full schedule (they did last year, in any event!)
The Stallyns confirmed their involvement via this Facebook page, as did the other known band playing at the Poutine Feast this year, namely local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich! About one year after members of the two bands joined forces for early July gigs under the Stallyns banner (The Wyld Sandwych?), Handsome Sandwich will make their standalone Poutine Feast debut as the headliners on Sunday, July 2nd at 4:00 PM! Be advised that the band gave their timeslot as 4:00-7:00 PM, but the Poutine Feast's own advertising says that the festival ends that day at 6:00 PM. One of them is right! This will be Handsome Sandwich's first show since the Soo Soundcheck event earlier this month, and hopefully they prove to be a fitting soundtrack to cap off the Poutine Feast! No word on other bands playing this year, but the timeslot spacing would imply three bands daily except for two on the shorter Sunday program.
Of course, the main portion of the Poutine Feast is the poutine, with many kinds on sale from a bunch of food trucks all weekend long, so if you love fries drenched in gravy & cheese curds (or anything else), head down to the Old Stone House for all of that, with music to match! The daily programs begin at 11:00 AM across all four days, this is absolutely all ages, and admission is free assuming you don't buy any food. Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for continuing updates on this year's Poutine Feast as they roll in!
Next up, here's our long-awaited write-up on videos from the Queen: It's A Kinda Magic tribute concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre on May 21st, courtesy of Christopher Paci's great YouTube channel! Again, apologies for the nearly month-long delay in these making the site, but now we're caught up for his heavier concert videos (assuming he wasn't filming at something this weekend!). Chris shot eight videos of the Australian Queen tribute band playing the classic songs "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions", "Under Pressure", "I Want To Break Free" (featuring singer Dominic Warren heading out into the crowd), "Bicycle Race", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Radio Ga Ga", and as embedded below, "Bohemian Rhapsody". Always impressive seeing a band tackle the entire version of that song, even the "scaramouche" part, which the real Queen used a pre-recorded track of because it was hard to replicate.
Chris has gotten clearer videos compared to these, and the audio can be soft at times and scratchy at others, but he has a good view from the right of the stage to capture It's A Kinda Magic's very professional stage set-up and high attention to detail! You can tell that this tribute had the Queen look and sound down pat, so fans of the British hard rock legends will have been right at home, and you can tell by the audience reception! Give Chris' videos from last month a look above and below!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Former Rising Tide/Lake Effect drummer Chris Johns filled in for Tony Santoro behind the kit when Generations played at Jay's Piston Broke Pub last night due to unspecified "prior commitments", according to the band's Facebook group. Fan-shot photos have already made their way there, and hopefully Chris fit in well with Generations for the night!
The one-off reunion of local classic/hard rock cover band That's Chester at Rotaryfest on July 15th will feature original singer Richard Fullerton as their lead singer for the evening, according to the band's Facebook page! Ritch had made guest appearances with That's Chester in their last two Rotaryfest gigs in 2016 & 2018, but he appears to have fully replaced Greg Simpson for this show, making this the first Rotaryfest without Greg fronting a band since 2009. No reason was given for the switch, but fans of mid-2000s That's Chester will be glad to see Ritch back from Ottawa for the night! Dan Belanger will return as rhythm guitarist in lieu of the late Eugene Orlando.
To promote last night's Soo Blaster concert, local punk trio Vanity First and rap/party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty were spotlighted in this SooToday news release! No big scoops here unless you weren't familiar with The A.A.'s fluidity for inviting guest musicians on stage (never guitarists, the band has never had them), but we do learn here that Vanity First were originally a quintet named Five Angry Women before eventually changing their name to Vanity (First) and paring their lineup down. One ex-band member is bassist Nick McClelland, but I don't know who the other one was. Good promotion for the concert, so check it out above!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews by covering previously announced shows not covered in yesterday's post. Here's what you should know to round out a busy weekend!
We'll pick things back up by heading first to Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula, starting with the debut of local blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 at The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot in nearby Kinross TONIGHT! This will be both the first show we've covered at this relatively newer venue, which you may remember as the Malamute Saloon once upon a time, as well as Project 906's first since Fake Chow/Camaros drummer Jason VanLuven replaced Odin Osogwin behind the kit (Jason missed last week's gig in Cedarville due to being double booked with Fake Chow that same night). This show seems to be getting more of a to-do than your usual bar band setup, with 906 breaking in a new outdoor stage at Well Diggers (located at 3047 West M-80), and attendees can also expect food & drink specials, plus a charity 50/50 raffle. Hopefully things go well for Project 906 in Kinross tonight, especially in a new locale for them!
Tonight's concert has no announced cover charge, a 21+ age limit, and an 8:00 PM start time. Expect clear weather with a temperature no lower than 10°, according to 9&10 News. This should be a fun way to welcome Jason to Project 906, and their brand of crowd friendly hard and classic rock covers should get fans in Kinross going well, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Project 906 in concert last year!
Next up, we'll head further south to St. Ignace, where Traverse City classic metal trio Peril will return to their Kewadin Casino for gigs at The Northern Pines Lounge TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! While they have been seen in Sault Ste. Marie since, these will be Peril's first St. Ignace concerts since rocking that branch over the New Year's weekend. Peril don't play live as often as their sister band Scarkazm, but this is their second stop in a run of three E.U.P. weekends in three months, so hopefully fans of their old school hard rock and metal favourites come out in full force this weekend! As usual for Peril's Kewadin trips, expect 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits at The Northern Pines Lounge tonight and tomorrow, and if you can't make it, you can see them at The Rapids Lounge in the Soo at the end of next month. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Peril live!
Now let's head north to Sault Ontario, where local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard will return as musical entertainment for this year's Queen Street Cruise TONIGHT & TOMORROW! Of course, this is the annual event inspired by the old tradition of cruising Queen, where everyone drives down Queen Street East and shows off their vehicles, and that throwback takes place tonight followed by a car show tomorrow, though unlike past years, it will be held at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion and along Foster Drive rather than outside of GFL Memorial Gardens (planned construction work was cited initially but this SooToday press release suggests that expanded space was why they moved). Regardless, visit there and the Facebook page for all non-musical details, like vendors, draws, how to join the cruise, and more! Bone Yard have played the Queen Street Cruise annually since 2016, so look for more solid tunes from them downtown this weekend!
Bone Yard will break out their old school southern and hard rock covers under the big tent at 6:30 PM tonight, while Saturday's gig will be a 12:30 PM matinee during the Show n' Shine car show. Yes, they are under the tent, but weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for clear sunny conditions tonight in the 12-16° range, while it'll be partly cloudy with a high of 23° during the matinee tomorrow. These are all ages events with no cover charge for general attendees. Visit the above links for full details, and here's Bone Yard live in concert earlier this year!
Finally on this busy weekend for hard rock and punk concerts, we'll get a little of both at Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT when local punk trio Vanity First and rap/party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty join forces! Both bands have opened for major bands at Soo Blaster in recent months (Gutter Creek and Leash for Vanity First and various touring rappers for The A.A.), but this is an all-local showcase. Hopefully Vanity First's up-tempo modern punk originals and diverse covers go over well as they continue their upward momentum, and it's great to see The Apocalypse Afterparty on an rare all-local gig, so look for lots of eclectic minimalist rap rock from Paul & Amanda too! Sponsored by Session Cannabis, this 19+ event has doors opening at 7:00 PM and advance tickets run for $17.31 ($15 plus processing fees) at this link (oddly not given on Facebook at all, just Linktree), with the door price jumping to $20.
The ticket price for two local bands may seem steep, but Soo Blaster is a huge venue and both bands are talented groups on the rise that have released debut EPs, so hopefully they attract a strong turnout tomorrow! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Vanity First live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!
A busy concert weekend is upon us, so let's dive right into the first half of this weekend's previews! Due to the amount, I'll hold Sault Michigan previews, plus Bone Yard and Vanity First, for our next post that hopefully drops early tomorrow, so don't worry, they are coming! Now, let's begin with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!
Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the shows were only announced on the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday, though personal Facebook posts featuring official band imagery have also been floating around this week. TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows come just one week removed from Double Down's debut appearances at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, marking their first bookings in back-to-back weeks, but these will be their first gigs at the downtown Reggie's in just over a month. Hopefully Double Down's old school brand of classic and hard rock covers goes over swimmingly TOMORROW & SATURDAY! These are 9:00 PM events with no cover charges and 19+ age limits. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video from their Facebook page!
Live-streamed at Jay's on Saturday for attendee Beej Syrette's personal Facebook page and subsequently shared by the band publically, this has Joel, Adam, Brad, and Ric tackling Lonnie & Ed Young's "Chevrolet", albeit a later rock cover of it. Everyone sounds good on this blues rock number, and it's a good pick to showcase their musical heft, but it's a shame that Beej filmed this vertically, moreso because it really highlights how few fans were on the floor close to the stage at this point of the night. Let's hope it was more packed off camera, but check it out below, and don't miss Double Down at Reggie's TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT!
Next up, fellow new local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will hit the aforementioned Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced these shows on their Facebook group on Monday. The Jus' Chillin successors actually debuted at Jay's on April 7th, but had not played there since, so if you've missed them at the former Reggie's West, don't miss out TOMORROW & SATURDAY! Generations last took the public stage at The Esquire Club at the end of May, but they have played at least one private gig since, and of course, Valerie sang with Soundcheck for their Obsession tribute show this past Saturday. TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT'S concerts are at 9:30 PM with no advertised cover charges and 19+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Generations live earlier this year!
We'll next look at two shows that did have advance notice before this week, including local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck hitting Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! As alluded above, these will be Soundcheck's first gigs since rocking The Esquire Club last week, notably including three former Obsession singers as guests on Saturday, but they have not played at Shooters in over a month. Hopefully the core four-piece lineup delivers a strong night of hard rocking covers for fans at the Dennis Street nightclub tomorrow! A one-nighter due to or resulting in a video dance party on Saturday night, tomorrow's festivities are at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Soundcheck live (yes, I am aware of the Obsession gig videos from Saturday, look for those on the site soon!)
Finally for today's previews, let's stay downtown for the only concert during this year's third annual Summer Moon Festival that crosses over with the SMS, as online page-less local alt-hard rock cover quintet Bookclub will perform TOMORROW NIGHT as part of the Street Yourself Street Party! The Summer Moon Festival is a downtown arts and culture festival at multiple locations with loads of family-friendly entertainment and specialist events for different artistic topics, so click here to see what all is planned! The Street Yourself Street Party specifically takes place on a closed section of Queen Street East from Gore to Tancred, and beyond the music, attendees can take part in a "glow in the dark foam party" and a meet & greet with artists who painted murals for the festival, while a mini-collector's convention and concessions from Ernie's Coffee House are also planned. Fresh off of their Festival of Beer set, Bookclub will be tomorrow's opening band at 8:15 PM, with roots rockers The Hustle Brothers headlining at 10:00 PM.
This is a FREE and ALL AGES event, and as our first true outdoor concert of the summer season for the SMS, I am happy to report that 9&10 News' weather forecast is calling for mostly clear conditions with a temperature of 7-14°. Hopefully Bookclub's diverse array of punk-tinged covers prove to be a fun way to kick off the street party before The Hustle Brothers get down, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Bookclub live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!
New news post for you guys on this late Tuesday night, as we continue clearing out our news backlog, if slowly! Assorted shorter topics round things out, but let's first look at some recent updates from two local acts who coincidentally both relocated to Barrie!
Local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith is definitely staying busy as of late, and while we do have both his Face To Face concert live-stream and a recent video interview to look at (hopefully) soon, let's lead off with the big news, as Mike's new studio album "All The Best In All You Do" has an official release date of Thursday, July 13th! You can pre-save it on Spotify at this link, though remember that he plans to include Bandcamp-exclusive bonus tracks for the paid release there. An offical lyric video for "Carousel" from the new album went up as a scheduled upload earlier today on Mike's YouTube channel, which features Mike (one assumes) writing out the song lyrics with a Sharpie on pieces of paper, with late input from rose petals. Is the destruction of flowers an intentional visual motif for the album? Note the film grain and the VCR graphics too, albeit in widescreen.
No word on the album cover, but note the release date of July 13th coincides with his Rotaryfest Stage 1 set that same day, so we get the de facto release concert! Mike should have physical copies in tow that weekend. While the lyric video is embedded below, Mike also uploaded this "Shorts" video to YouTube as well to hype the album, which includes an audio sample and recommendations to fans of Tears For Fears, Louis Tomlinson, U2, Coldplay, and Train. In other words, don't expect The Din III here, but the jury's out on the full product yet! Assuming this date holds, and nothing new from metal or hard rock acts beats it to market beforehand, "All The Best In All You Do" is currently slated for an SMS review in... November, alas. We have quite a backlog of new albums to look at, and I don't want to usurp anyone in line from release date, but Mike is absolutely in line, and I know that fans are highly anticipating this one!
Of course, I will hold comment on "Carousel" pending our eventual review of the album, but you know that Mike is moving up in the world when he's putting out a proper lyric video with production values like this for one of his singles! Visit his official website for much more on "All The Best In All You Do", stay tuned for more from him soon, and here's "Carousel"!
Next up, here's some recent non-"Reel" updates from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's Facebook page! In terms of concerts, their Toronto gigs at Beer Bash VI on June 3rd and Indie Night In Canada last week (allegedly their last Toronto show "for some time") both went really well according to the band, and you can see lots of photos (and, yes, "Reels") from them on Facebook! Apparently, live clips from their Indie Night In Canada set were played on Wallygator's Rock & Roll Swamp on CGCM Rock Radio this past Saturday, continuing their positive relationship with that internet station, so consider giving them a listen, as you never know if you'll hear some "Sewer City Radio" there! Spades GT's next show will see them and guitarist Daniel Horton's other band The Fast Life join forces at Rhythm & Brews (no relation) in Cambridge on Friday, so click here for details!
Note that none of these shows were branded as a release party for "Sewer City Radio", though I guess Beer Bash VI was the de facto one, as it was a day after the album came out. There are some new "Reels" too, but rather than nitpick the enterprise again, let's hold those for a future post and feature a Spades GT video that I can embed on the SMS! This was filmed by attendee Amanda Schilz and publically shared to the former Jack Spades' Facebook page on June 3rd as part of a batch post of Beer Bash photos. It runs for just 17 seconds, it is sadly vertical, and it mostly focuses on fans before slowly panning to the stage, but it sounds good while it lasts, so Spades GT fans can check it out below!
Finally for today, here's three shorter assorted news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
Local hard rock quartet Half Past announced the addition of guitarist Al Fletcher's old Skeyes of Seven bandmate Johnny Amendola to their lineup on their Facebook page on Saturday, replacing Jamie Labreche. A reason for Jamie's departure was
not announced, but they have yet to play a live concert since their fall 2021 reunion despite him
coming on board at the time.
Hopefully nothing bad happened with Jamie, but it's good to see Johnny
(also of Cherry Crush and Tripod The Dog fame) back out there, and hopefully we hear more from Half Past soon!
New and online page-less local classic metal/hard rock trio Nostalgia have slightly amended their name to Nostalgic, as per this Facebook event page for their Reggie's
shows this past weekend. A reason for the name change wasn't announced,
but it's one letter (the last letter, at that), so I can see it blowing
right by some fans. Stay tuned for more from Nostalgic when it comes
in!
SaultOnline's Heidi Ivany covered the Queen: It's A Kinda Magic concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre last month for this article,
where she highly praised the band, stage show, and overall attention to
detail for recreating Queen's 1986 world tour. 23 pictures from the
concert were also featured, as well as a note that the band promises to
return to the Soo on their Canadian tour next year. Good read, so give
it a look above! As best as I can tell, there were no Facebook videos on
SaultOnline's end here.
That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
Today's post is devoted to recent concert videos shot for Christopher Paci's excellent YouTube channel, and I do apologize for the delay in these making the site! The concert in question is the Dayglo Abortions-headlined show at Soo Blaster last month, and yes, I am well aware of his Queen: It's A Kinda Magic videos, which will hit the site soon also! Chris filmed 15 videos at the Dayglos concert, with all four bands that night getting at least three videos, so what can you see there? In terms of the headlining Victoria, British Columbia hardcore punk band, Chris filmed The Dayglow Abortions playing "Proud To Be A Canadian", "Bedtime Story", "Stupid Songs", and as embedded below, their opening two songs "Your Facebook Can Kiss My Assbook" and "Sick Of The Lies". Fast, intense, and rough around the edges, just what you hope for from The Cretin and crew, so fans will definitely like these!
Chris had a good angle of The Dayglos from the floor, and while vocals weren't always audible depending on how hard the song was going, these tracks came through well on this big stage. Crowd was definitely receptive to their long awaited return, so give their videos a look above & below!
Interestingly, Chris actually shot more videos of an opening band here compared to the headliners, perhaps because the openers in question are Toronto hardcore punk icons Random Killing, whose frontman Andrew "Drool" Kiteley is from Sault Ste. Marie! Chris' five videos of Random Killing include performances of "Genocide","Patios & Beer", and (as embedded below) "Twelve", but Chris didn't title the other two, and I have had no luck trying to identify them, despite both having vocals. Click here and here to give those videos a watch, in any event. Filmed at a similar vantage point, these performances are solid, and Andrew is more audible than Murray was, so fans will enjoy Random Killing's videos below!
Chris also filmed three videos of Vancouver garage/noise trio Motorama's set on May 19th, and again, I was having trouble titling songs despite these not being instrumentals. Despite cross-referencing with their Bandcamp discography, I couldn't find a 100% verifiable name for any of these songs, which says more negative about me than it does about Motorama, I assure you. The longest of the three videos is embedded below, but click here and here to watch the others. While not as hardcore punk-based as their tourmates, Motorama's hard hitting, more lo-fi brand of noise rock drew a good reception, and Chris' more central placement on the floor was fitting here, so give these a look above and below!
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", ...
