The Next Local Battle Of The Bands, Plus One More Toystock Video!!

In our second post of the day, we're mostly focusing on a big event taking place early next year, but we also have one final video from another recent multi-band event to close things out. Give everything a look below, and also check out the first of this weekend's Sault Ontario concert previews in the post below this one!

For the first time in over a year, Sault Ontario will see a full battle of the bands on Friday, February 20th at The Rednecks Saloon! Hosted by new local sound company Twin City Sound, this will be the first formal battle of the bands (Soo Band Roulette aside) since November 2013's Viva La Battle, so if you've missed this sort of event, you'll want to take note! Promoters have revealed that the battle will take place at 8:00 PM on February 20th, and it will feature 10 bands, which would be the largest one day battle in recent memory if that holds up, but spots to compete are available on a first come, first serve basis with no holds, so if you or your band want in, message promoters Steven Flint & Terry Eaton through the Facebook event page A.S.A.P.! To sum up the criteria, each band will have a 25 minute set, and there will be house instruments supplied for bands to use (to ensure a level playing field), though individual requests can be made if you want something more personal.

The first battle of the bands to feature a panel of judges since the Rockstar Bar Battle in April 2013, they'll be judging bands based on their enthusiasm, crowd engagement & response, originality, and skill of the band's members, and while original songs are not mandatory, making covers your own will play into the scores. The judges will be Midway frontman Paul Leclair (who you may also know as the president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians union), battle co-promoter Terry Eaton (also well known from his work with Asylum Country & Mourning Wood), and.... yours truly, making this the third battle of the bands that I've had the privilege of being a judge for. As such, expect our coverage of this battle to once again be impartial to all competing bands, and I will not play favourites! An unspecified cash prize awaits this battle's winning band, and though more specific prize details have yet to be announced, we'll let you know when more is publicized on that front!

Signed up bands will have to pay a $100 registration fee to compete at the battle, but like at 2013's Rockstar Bar Battle, bands will get 10 tickets to sell for the event on February 20th, and as each ticket costs $10, you'll make your money back if you sell all 10 of the tickets! That will be the likely cover charge for the battle as well, and as The Rednecks Saloon is a bar, this will be a 19+ event. As for what bands you can expect to see, the field's wide open (especially given the gap between battles over the past year+), but local grunge/hard rock favourites Haggith have already shown visible interest in hopping aboard. All we can really say otherwise at this point is that bands affiliated with Twin City Sound and/or the judges won't be playing, but given the talent in this city, a full field of 10 bands should be easy to attain! In case you're wondering, there is another battle of the bands coming in March, and we'll address that on the site tomorrow, so stay tuned for that as well!

For full details, including complete information on the battle of the bands' rules,. sign-up criteria, and more, click here, and apply A.S.A.P. to ensure you or your band are among the 10 competing bands come February 20th! I'm excited to be a part of another battle of the bands, and even if I wasn't judging, it's been far too long for a new battle in Sault Ontario (especially following the cancelled Rock For Dimes battle), so be sure to stay tuned for updates on the first 2015 battle of the bands in the city in over the next 2 months! SIGN UP NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, and stay tuned for news on the March battle TOMORROW!

We'll close this post with the last of the known public Toystock videos, courtesy of Mike Case's Junior All Stars, who did cover Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" last month in their set! The student youth band was filmed for their entire set by YouTube user dtwalker79, whose daughter Hannah is one of the band's singer/guitarists. He also filmed Mike Case's student bands at other recent events such as Toystock 2013 and Rotaryfest, and I'll look through those videos in the coming days too so we can see if they have any hard rock covers in those! Filmed at a generally stationary camera angle (though it switches to a closer view of the lead vocalists for the last 9 minutes), the lighting here isn't much and only lights up a few members very well, but the audio's solid! The Joan Jett cover is 18:29 into the video, and in order, the All Stars also covered songs by Hot Chelle Rae, One Direction, Icona Pop, Serena Ryder, Katy Perry, Miranda Lambert, and Bob Dylan.

Mike Case's Junior All-Stars are developing their musical talents and live stage experience well, and it's great to see them have a successful set for a second straight Toystock, though I concede that most of their cover selections aren't my thing. It will be interesting to see where the kids go from here, but for now, here's their complete Toystock 2014 set at The Canadian last month, and we'll let you know if dtwalker79 has any other hard rock covers!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for Sault Michigan weekend concert previews and full current details on March's battle of the bands TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lucky 13 & The Thrill Junkies), Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

With a surprisingly busy weekend of heavier concerts on the horizon (especially given that it's not quite the holidays for most people), we'll be breaking up this weekend's previews into two posts, with Sault Ontario shows (including some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS) kicking things off today, and Sault Michigan-area shows headlining tomorrow's post, but we have a new YouTube performance to fill today's post out! Now, here's what you should know for the weekend's concert previews!

Local alternative/hard rock cover quartet Lucky 13 will return to the solo stage TOMORROW NIGHT with a one night only show at The Rockstar Bar! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only just announced by The Rockstar Bar's Martin Fiser on their Facebook group on Tuesday. A one night engagement due to the short notice show we have after this write-up, this will continue the band's steady run upstairs at The Algonquin Hotel (they haven't played an announced solo show outside of The Rockstar Bar since February), and fresh off their third straight Toystock set, the guys should be in great spirits for another night of varied and often heavy covers! Note however that Lucky 13 have not plugged any of their concerts on their Facebook page since October, but they're definitely alive & well. This 19+ concert has a likely 10:00 PM start time TOMORROW, and while a cover charge hasn't been announced, bring $5 just in case.

For more details, check the above links! Lucky 13 have proven themselves as a live favourite over the past two years, and hopefully they deliver the same good vibes at The Rockstar Bar once again TOMORROW NIGHT! For a preview, here's the guys at Toystock last month!



With Lucky 13 playing tomorrow, who's playing at The Rockstar Bar THIS SATURDAY? The Thrill Junkies, that's who! Apologies again for the short notice, we heard about this show at the same time on Tuesday in the same Facebook group posting. This will be the Turner Up successor quintet's first ever appearance at The Rockstar Bar, their first show since last month's Rock For Dimes, and their first solo headlining show in almost 11 months, so if you're up for a full night's worth of classic and hard rock covers, you know where to be on Saturday night! Like above, this is a 19+ event, a 10:00 PM start time is in effect, and bring $5 just in case there's a cover charge this weekend. For more details, visit the above links and the official Facebook event page! After lying dormant for much of 2014, it's great to see The Thrill Junkies back in action with a more typical solo gig THIS SATURDAY, so keep it in mind as well! For a preview, here they are Rocking for Dimes last month!



Lastly for known Sault Ontario concerts this weekend, local hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison is scheduled to return to The Harp Bar & Grill for his usual weekly solo gigs TOMORROW NIGHT & SATURDAY NIGHT! Officially confirmed on Facebook via this Facebook event page after not having one for last weekend's show, his own website's calendar also confirms that he did not play at The Harp last Saturday for unannounced reasons (we'd have reported it had we heard it, our apologies!), while he will not be playing at The Harp over the Boxing Day weekend at all, though it's not yet clear whether that's due to a holiday break or for external bookings. We'll let you know if we hear anything! Tym's successful year long run at the former Madison's Pub shows no visible signs of slowing down though, so feel free to take in his acoustic covers at tomorrow's open mic night and his usual Saturday night solo show this weekend if you're up for a good night of music!

There's no announced cover charge for either night at The Harp this weekend, you must be 19 to attend, and 10:00 PM start times are likely. For more details, visit the above links, don't miss Tym's extensive cover sets this weekend, and here he is at the Big Cheese a few years back!



Finally for today, here's a solo performance video that will be of high interest to old As It Stands fans! On Tuesday, longtime A.I.S. drummer John Mignacca uploaded this video to his/the band's YouTube channel of him playing through As It Stands' original song "Oh Herm, Herm Delish" on his normal drum kit (rather than the electric kit of his past solo uploads.) For fans who have missed As It Stands since their quiet breakup earlier this year (and last show in 2012), this is a pleasant surprise that shows John back in a familiar element, and despite the odd title, this was one of their better late-period originals! I wouldn't read into this as a sign of life for As It Sands unless stated otherwise, but give this solid video a look below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for Sault Michigan weekend concert previews TOMORROW, and some more big news to come! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Pixo Control), More Toystock Videos, And More!!

Before we tackle a busy weekend for hard rock concerts, here's one more news post for this Wednesday night, but be sure to check out this morning's Defunct Local Band Profile on Half Past below this post! Tonight, we have some more recent CD reviews, more videos from a recent benefit concert, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the end of the year, so here's what you need to know!

Local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control and post punk/garage quartet Gnaeus will return to the stage for a end-of-year show at Cafe Natura on Tuesday, December 30th! Specifically taking place in the Elgin Street whole foods restaurant & venue's basement for unannounced reasons, this will be The Pixo Control's first Cafe Natura set in over 6 months, while it will be Gnaeus' first show anywhere since August's Emergency Festival. Look for both to have some exciting newer originals as they end 2014 with a bang! This show's advertised headline act is local folk musician Chris West's Great Chamberlain solo project, while local blues rock quartet The Frasiers will reunite over four months after their announced breakup on December 30th as well, so if you've missed them, you're in luck! Promoted by Frasiers bassist Brenden Fitzgerald, this show has NO COVER CHARGE, no announced age limit, and time slots to be announced. For more details, visit the Facebook event page!

This should be an entertaining concert, especially as all but The Pixo Control haven't played a publically announced show since the summer! Keep tabs on it over the holidays for a varied mix of sounds from Lopstock and Emergency Festival acts, and as they've now hosted two distinct shows with hard rock or punk acts, we're now listing Cafe Natura in our active Sault Ontario concert venue links!

Next up, here's some more videos from last month's third annual Toystock charity concert at The Canadian Nightclub! First, Bone Yard/That's Chester drummer Ric Datson uploaded this compilation of clips from the day's acts onto his YouTube channel last week, so what can you catch in the 9 minute+ video? In order, we have The Stumpy Coldwater Trio covering The Steeldrivers' "Guitars, Whiskey, Guns, and Knives" & a song that I can't place, followed by Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet beatboxing, the arrival of Santa & Mrs. Claus, Lorrie Lynn & The Sinners playing "Swear When I Pray", The Pixo Control playing "Land of the Moles" & clips of two later originals, Thin Ice covering Jason Aldean's "The Only Way I Know", Domina covering Pat Benatar's "All Fired Up" and clips of four later covers, Mourning Wood covering Bon Jovi's "It's My Life", Mannapool playing their song "Mayday", and closing with five assorted clips of Bone Yard playing various covers, so click each band's name to see them!

Note however that Ric did not film Mike Case's Junior All Stars or Lucky 13 (at least, not in clips included below) for unannounced reasons, though we'll have more from the former in an upcoming post. Solid footage overall at varied angles, despite Ric's lack of zoom on the clips, though the filmer for his band Bone Yard's footage did go closer to the stage. I wonder if the longer footage of The Pixo Control & Domina's sets is a sign of confidence for both bands' success and talent? Though most of the footage is from each band's first song (a'la Mike Caruso's videos), Ric did a solid job getting these clips, so see them below, and stay tuned for more!



Also from Toystock, here's the last of the aforementioned Mike Caruso's videos from the event! Uploaded to the Sault Online correspondent's own YouTube channel last week along with the videos we shared on Saturday, the last three videos that Mike shot are of prog-rockers Mannapool playing their first original song (credited on their setlist as "Chaos", but that's likely not it's full name), country headliners Bone Yard covering Brantley Gilbert's "Country Must Be Country Wide", and embedded below, classic/hard rock trio Mourning Wood covering Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way". Like with Mike's other videos, these have washed out colours due to the auto-brightening filter, and sometimes have quality jumps due to camera switches, but they're solid all around, and fans should enjoy these videos if you're a fan of the respective genres! Give Mourning Wood's video a look below, and see more via the above links!

Finally for today, here's some more reviews of local sludge/doom metal trio AlgomA's debut CD "Reclaimed By The Forest"! Last week, Marcos Garcia from the website Metal Temple reviewed the album, giving it an 8/10 rating ("Excellent" on their scale), calling it "a savage Sasquatch on a furious attack", even praising Mark Rand's mix of the tracks, and praised them as having "a very good future". Nice review, so give it a look at this link! The Tumblr page Doomed & Stoned also reviewed "Reclaimed By The Forest" yesterday, where they called it "well-crafted doom" and "a crushing listen" in a brief review, though they did tag it as one of their best metal albums of the year. Short but well stated, so give it a look at this location! Lastly for now, AlgomA made a cameo in MetalSucks' article on the best metal albums of the year (as chosen by various metal musicians), where Hooded Menace frontman Lasse Pyykko ranked AlgomA's CD as his 9th favourite album of 2014, joining such bands as Pallbearer and Godflesh, among others.

Solid all around, so see more of the rankings here, and stay tuned for more from AlgomA! That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Half Past

It's now time for our last Defunct Local Band Profile of the year, as we once again look at a randomly chosen defunct or inactive metal, hard rock, or punk band from the Sault Ste. Marie area, in order to spotlight them, their activity, their material, and more from their local run! We're ending 2014 with a prominent Sault Ontario band from the turn of the 2010s, but I will just note as a reminder that we will not mention the recent legal issues of one of this band's ex-members here, as it's irrelevant to our focus on local bands and music on the site, not to mention this profile. Now, here's what you should know on this former local band!
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Half Past

Genre: Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics)

Jordan Rains (NAClamation), vocals

Alain Fletcher (Skeyes of Seven), lead guitar

Arthur "Chicky" Lacasse, bass/ex-rhythm guitar

Chris Thompson (Giwakwa, Frightlight, Fitswitch), drums

John Barber (Late Shift, Redefined), vocals
Luke LeBlanc, vocals
Charles Gibson (The Pisstanks), bass
Harley Syrette (No Arrow, Quite Frankly), bass
Ryan Disano (Caveman Morrison, Winkstinger), bass

Audio/Video: While Half Past were working on a debut CD in 2010, it was never completed, and it's preview video featuring original samples has since been pulled from public view. However, a decent amount of videos currently exist online, including a number of videos with different lineups at drummer Chris Thompson's YouTube channel, three covers from their classic lineup's last set together in February 2011 at this link, and a handful of live videos from assorted events on our YouTube channel, though note that Fingerbone-era videos aren't known to exist publically. Here's Half Past playing one of their best original songs "War Inside My Head" at The Canadian Nightclub in April 2010!



Info/Analysis: Active from 2008-2012, Half Past launched under the name Fingerbone, with their original quintet lineup debuting at Coch's Corner in the fall of 2008, though they only played a handful of gigs before a number of lineup changes & departures through 2009. After changing their name to Half Past, the band's classic quartet lineup debuted at that year's Coch's Corner Halloween Party, and followed it up with assorted headlining gigs and a set at Garden of Bedlam's website launch party during their early 2010 peak. After another hiatus partly due to bassist Arthur Lacasse's original departure, the band returned to headline at The Rockstar Bar in February 2011, but parted ways with then-singer Luke LeBlanc shortly afterwards. After acquiring new vocalist Jordan Rains, Half Past played sets at that year's Hempfest and returned for one more abbreviated set that October, but the band wouldn't take the stage again, and quietly dissolved in early 2012.

I enjoyed Half Past with all three of their singers, and it really seemed like they were going to do some big things, but they never had a sustained run of full activity under any incarnation. Al Fletcher's guitar stood out throughout, their singers all held their own, and Half Past's original songs from 2010 were entertaining, though it is disappointing that we never saw the release of their planned CD. Hopefully the guys stay active in music, and for the closest active matches to Half Past's sound, check out Al's current band Skeyes of Seven, and Fingerbone singer John Barber's band Late Shift!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Now, what's in store for this series to kick off 2015 via random band selection? Well, we'll start the year in Sault Michigan with the defunct young hard rock band Intrepid (featuring The Highest Of Fives' Mitch Goetz), but with only one substantial surviving online page and no currently public videos, I'll likely add a Sault Ontario band in a similar situation to fill things out. That band is The Joe Falco Experience, the former solo project from ex-No Arrow drummer Joe Falco, but if Intrepid's profile proves to be large enough to stand alone, Joe will lead off a split profile in February. Look for our next Defunct Profile(s) on or around January 10th, and stay tuned for more news and previews soon! Thanks everyone!

A Newer Local Hard Rock Band, Plus New Videos & CD Reviews!!

Our steady news stream continues today with new videos from a local band, reviews of the new CD of another, and leading off, a new-ish band to add to our links on the site, so here's what you should know!

We have a new band to add to our Sault Michigan band links, and they are Highway 63! Essentially the successors to Jager/Monkey's Uncle, Sir Charge, and RamWagon, the band originally formed and made their live debut in March, but the wait to add them to our listings came because they originally identified as a country rock band, though they've since shifted their focus back to a Monkey's Uncle-esque set. Currently, their lineup features Henry Switzer on lead vocals and guitar, alongside his son/frequent bandmate Nathan on guitar, Power Slug's Chris Leask (the only non-Monkey's Uncle alum) on bass, and Ron Suchey on drums, while their original lineup featured Nathan on bass with his & Ron's RamWagon bandmate Ryan Kitzmiller on guitar. Named after the H-63 highway in the Easter Upper Peninsula, Highway 63 played some test sets at The Rapids Lounge in the spring before taking the summer off to round out a full cover set.

The band returned with shows at the Dondee Lanes in October, and have since played a Halloween show at The American Legion as well as new gigs at both the Soo and St. Ignace Kewadin Casino branches, most recently at The Rapids Lounge this past weekend, though upcoming gigs have yet to be announced. It should be noted though that Highway 63 are much more active on Facebook than Sir Charge ever were, so that's great news for fans! In terms of their sound, we do have samples of it via some Facebook video posts and shares, which include videos of them covering The Outfield's "Your Love" in St. Ignace, and from this past weekend, covers of Shinedown's "Save Me" and (as embedded below) Bad Company's "Rock 'N Roll Fantasy", while Black Sabbath and Foreigner covers have been teased in status updates. If you were a fan of Henry's past local cover bands, you should have a similar enjoyment for Highway 63, who at this point are showing a unique cover selection of their own!

The new band sounds good and tight so far, with the guys' old Monkey's Uncle-era chemistry carrying over to Highway 63, and Henry has highly praised the new band in recent days as well, so be sure to keep an eye out for them in the area! No word on what Chris' involvement means for Power Slug's status, as they haven't posted on their Facebook page in almost a month, and haven't played very much over the fall, but hopefully we hear more soon. Check out Highway 63 above, and here they are this past weekend in the Soo!



Next up, here's some more new videos from Sault Ontario grunge/alternative trio The Pixo Control! Courtesy of Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick's new YouTube channel, these come from their set at Lopstock at LopLops Lounge on June 28th, and feature The Pixo Control playing their songs "The Great Salute To Radio Edits", "Reasons", and as embedded below, "Sixty Extra Chances Called Minutes". All filmed by attendee Jason Lloyd (who also filmed this Gnaeus video at Lopstock), these are great quality live videos, and capture some songs that haven't gotten the same amount of filmed attention from their sets, so give them a look above and below for some nice and grungy original action from The Pixo Control!



Finally for today, here's some long overdue new reviews of local sludge/doom metal trio AlgomA's debut CD "Reclaimed By The Forest"! On November 5th, Chris Wheeler from the Quebec metal site Ondes Chocs reviewed the album, giving it a 7/10 while saying that the guys made "a noticeable impression" with unconventional riff ideas. Solid if brief review, so check it out here! Diego Benedetto from the Spanish metal blog Puro Roido ("Pure Noise") reviewed the CD on November 11th, and while you'll need Spanish knowledge or a translator to read it, Diego called the album a "pleasant surprise", and also praised their guitar riff variances. Hard to read through an auto-translator, but you can tackle it at this link! Lastly for now, the metal blog Wonderbox Metal checked out "Reclaimed By The Forest" on November 12th, where the reviewer called it "a smorgasbord of heaviness, crunchy guitars and bile", praising the album's sludge content and heaviness. Solid review also, so check it out here, and stay tuned for more!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Pixo Control), Album Updates, And More!!

Keeping this steady stream of news rolling, we have recent concert videos, new studio songs, and lots of updates from a rising young band (including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT) to touch on, so here's what you should know!

Local grunge/alternative trio The Pixo Control will play an acoustic headlining show at a unique venue on Friday, December 19th, when they make their debut at Low & Slow Smoked Fusion BBQ! If you're not familiar with it, Low & Slow is a relatively new restaurant at 113 Gore Street that specializes in slow cooked barbeque items with an open concept, and they also appear to be getting into the acoustic concert promotion game, having hosted Jay Case & Frank Deresti there last month (source here.) As such, I don't know a lot about Low & Slow as a concert site, but an acoustic setting is nothing new for The Pixo Control, having played some unplugged gigs at Gusto's Bar & Grill earlier this year. They should deliver a solid set, so keep it in mind for in just under two weeks time! For reference, 113 Gore Street is the former location of Hunter's Grill and Grazia's Italian Restaurant, not the old GLOW/Other Place building (that's 119 Gore Street), but it's nice to have another active concert venue on Gore Street either way!

Promoted by Boxes of Boom mainman Sam Decter, this show has a 9:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and given the restaurant setting, may not have a designated age limit. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an interesting show, so keep it in mind if you're up for a more reserved night of original action! The Pixo Control have been keeping busy in recent weeks beyond their live shows too, as they mentioned on their Facebook page on Saturday that they are working on a debut CD, confirming earlier teases via some recording session photos shared by veteran local musician Keith Conway, like the one here. Details are otherwise minimal, but it'll be interesting to hear the final product! The guys have also been subject to a handful of recent video postings, including this video posted to their Instagram page last month, which initially confirmed the album plans, and features bassist Steve Edwards recording a bass track.

This is the first Instagram video that we've ever shared on here, and though it's short, it does give a glimpse into The Pixo Control's album recording process! It's great to finally have full confirmation of their CD plans, and I'm curious to see where things go, so give their new Instagram video a look below, don't miss them at Low & Slow on the 17th, and stay tuned for more!

A video posted by The Pixo Control (@thepixocontrol) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:55pm PST

Speaking of albums, local alternative/blues rock quartet Sykotyk Rampage officially released their newest "album" on November 29th via their Reverbnation page! Entitled "Bring The Heavy", this is officially considered the band's 47th album, and will likely be their last of 2014's recording batch, barring a resurrection of the four dropped 2014 albums that they had once planned, like "Wyrd Radio" & "Double Live". We won't post the album artwork here though, as it's content is partially not safe for work. I have yet to hear "Bring The Heavy" in full, but love appears to be a partial theme for the tracks, with songs like "Her Love", "Love Is Good", and "Love Her So" among the 18 tracks, though no word on if any of the songs are holdovers from their three cancelled albums. Like the band's prior studio output with their current lineup, the albums have not been posted in a full album sale format (you can buy separate tracks individually, but that's all), but fans of Sykotyk Rampage's creative improvised hard rock will be right at home, so give "Bring The Heavy" a listen above!

Finally today, remember how Staind frontman Aaron Lewis headlined a solo country concert at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino last month? Well, we have a pair of YouTube videos of him covering songs that will be familiar to Staind fans! Attendee Dana Howland uploaded 9 videos from the show onto her YouTube channel just in the last day, and while they're mostly of his new country originals and genre covers, one is of Aaron covering Staind's biggest song "It's Been Awhile", and the other features his cover of Pearl Jam's "Black", which became a solo radio hit for him in the early 2000s. Both are naturally played in a country music style on this tour, and while "Black" adapts better to that genre (partially due to being slowed down), fans of his hard rock work should like these! It's just a shame that Dana only got under 40 seconds of each song, but two of her videos from Aaron's set do surpass three minutes. Well recorded with a good camera angle (despite the orientation), so give "It's Been Awhile" a look below, and see more above!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more Toystock fallout and more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Beaumont Avenue), A Missed Concert Apology, And More!!

Before we get too far into things, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert, as local Celtic/punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide returned to the local stage for the first time in over 3 months last night as the pub night entertainment at the Rankin Arena during the venue's Silver Creek Cup hockey event. We originally mentioned the show on the site last month when it was added to their label Tidal Records' website's schedule, but at the time, it listed the show as taking place at the Silver Creek Golf Course in Garden River, which was unfamiliar as a concert venue, and gave us pause in case this was incorrect and/or or a private event. We were right to second guess the listed venue (Silver Creek sponsored the tournament but didn't hold the concert), but this was definitely a public event, and blame me for not keeping up with the venue confirmation to plug it on the site. No word on who drummed for them last night either, given that they've used guest drummers at some recent events.

Our sincere apologies for the mess-up, and don't miss Dustin and company on Boxing Day at The Rockstar Bar, and stay tuned also for more details on the Tidal Records Christmas show on the 20th, whose bands are to be announced! Now, let's get to some more recent news, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for over the Christmas break, and more assorted notes, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet Beaumont Avenue will return to the stage with two solo headlining concerts over the holidays! The former Suicide Kings will play their first show in almost four months on Boxing Day (Friday, December 26th) at The Rednecks Saloon, which they'll follow up a week later on Friday, January 2nd when they rock The Rockstar Bar! Both appear to be one night only engagements, and it's worth noting that the Rednecks concert will be their first there since May, while the Rockstar show is our first verified local hard rock concert of 2015. Beaumont Avenue have been taking a break since August due to drummer Ben Boudreau's out of town school commitments, but they're making the most of the Christmas break while he's back home, as the guys revealed on their Facebook page last night that they'll be working in the studio over the holidays, are "finally recording", and will hold a release party for their debut CD in "early 2015".

The post suggests that the guys are starting over from scratch with their album rather than using what they recorded at The Smoke & Oak Room last year, while the "early 2015" timeline likely points to an April release at the earliest, assuming Ben doesn't return home until after the next school semester ends. Also, the guys' Urawk live karaoke series recently announced that they're "on hiatus" (source here), though it's not clear whether it's due to Beaumont Avenue's resumption of activity or not. Both of the guys' new concerts have 19+ age limits and likely 10:00 PM start times, and while the Rednecks show has no announced cover, bring $5 to The Rockstar Bar just in case. For more details, visit the Boxing Day show's Facebook event page & the above links! It's great to see Beaumont Avenue back in action for the season, so don't miss their hard rock originals & covers over the holidays, and stay tuned for updates on their CD and more!

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

• I'm surprised that we never mentioned this in a news post on here, but local metal/rap duo The Apocalypse Afterparty released the studio version of their song/The Fury cover "The Crowd" to their Reverbnation page in recent months! We'll hold our thoughts for now, assuming that we'll review the band's planned debut CD next year, but it's well recorded, so give it a listen above!
• On November 24th, local alternative/grunge band Haggith revealed on their Facebook page that their upcoming album "Apocalypse II" will likely be complete by next month, and is just undergoing mixing, while "XIV" is delayed until at least March due to the band's split with bassist James White and his White Wreckords studio. The band also revealed there that a surprise new live album named "Time Machine: Live" is also in the mixing stage for a planned February release, though we've heard little else on that front. We'll keep you posted as we hear more!
• The newest episode of Local2's music spotlight video series Tuned with Donna Hopper went online last week, and while it doesn't have a large focus on heavier or punk bands (mostly featuring an interview & performances by Toronto folk duo Scarlett Jane during their recent local show), Donna does plug the X-Mess acoustic punk show at The Algonquin Pub on December 20th in the concert calendar segment. It's still a good watch, so give the full episode a look above, especially if you like folk rock!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a video-heavy post TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!