Let's continue playing catch-up with local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT in today's post, and we'll pick things back up from last week with continuing coverage of their set at the second annual Walterstock memorial/charity concert at The Rockpile in Toronto on January 6th! In our post on April 7th, we looked at some fan-shot videos that filmed single songs from Spades GT, but their full set at Walterstock was also filmed, and in this case, horizontally! This was filmed by YouTube user Jake Disman, who previously shot Spades playing "Hands" at the Road To Lockdown Fest last year at the same venue, but this time, he didn't put a filter over the video afterwards. Owing to the fact that Walterstock had twenty-seven scheduled acts in one day, the former Jack Spades only had a 15 minute set, in which they played "Succubus", "Red", "Final Girl", "Sewer City Radio", and "Rise" (the latter was not planned to close but they didn't know they had extra time until they finished "Sewer City Radio".)
While Jake's video is softer and more distant than the closer videos that we featured here last week, this horizontal stationary video captures Spades GT ripping a furious (if rushed) mini-set, and you can't ask for much more out of what J.D., Daniel, James, and Tyler gave in 15 minutes than what you get here! Audio quality is much crisper than the video quality too. Check the whole thing out for yourselves below!
Moving into the month of February 2024, Spades GT's music video for "Final Girl" (as well as the newest video from guitarist Daniel Horton's side project The Fast Life) were reviewed by the Facebook music review page E:W:L (Even Without Life), which normally reviews new independent music not unlike You Rock! or Your Music Live. You can watch the 2+ hour livestream at this link, and host Tim Woloszyn looks at the "Final Girl" video an hour & 39 minutes into the stream. Despite the focus being on independent music, the portion of the stream where Tim plays Spades GT's video is muted due to Facebook content matching the song, even though Spades were 100% on board with being promoted here, so the video is sadly unembeddable externally. Tim highly praised the video and song though, and definitely was amped up as an on-camera personality, so check out the whole thing by clicking here!
Updates were relatively quiet from Spades GT's camp in February aside from openly putting their name out there re: bookings for later this year, both in the GTA and elsewhere. The band is now taking pre-orders for an official skateboard featuring the band's logo stencilled over the "Sewer City Radio" album cover, so click here if you want details on the construction and how to place an order! On March 8th, the guys confirmed that they have begun writing for their next album, as per this "Reel" (no video there though). They revealed that they're "stepping outside the box" here, but to what extent is to be revealed, and the band has since revealed that they plan to release new music "this summer". A few days later, Spades posted a new video from the Random Killing show in Toronto last September (also double posted as a "Reel" for some reason.)
The video sees Spades GT playing "Red" at The Bovine Sex Club, and it's a well shot video from a close angle (horizontal, at that) which gives a larger feel to the venue! Fittingly red lighting (maybe too red), but everything sounds and looks good, and while I don't know why they didn't share this last fall when the show was still fresh in mind, better late than never! Give their new-ish "Red" video a watch below!
We'll close with the aforementioned E:W:L, as Spades GT returned to that webseries for its March 22nd episode (also unembeddable due to Facebook content matching songs played on air), where Tim interviewed bassist James Roy Daley and drummer Tyler Reiner over Skype! The Spades section begins 32 minutes in with a playing of "Sewer City Radio" (now muted), but you do see Tim enthusiastically rocking out still! In terms of the interview proper, Tim (with help from commenters) asks the guys about their belief in ghosts, how they define music, how they write their songs, their favourite Canadian musicians, their rehearsal patterns, past drug experiences, how the band met (Tyler referenced the band's Soo origins here and even briefly mentioned why ex-bassist Daniel Rodbard left), the genre of music they'd prefer if they couldn't play punk/metal, an... interesting experience from their Northern Vibe Festival set up here in 2022, ...
...their favourite song to play live, why they got into music, and their message to the indie music community. The interview runs until the 65 minute mark, so we get over a half hour of loose and fun conversation with Spades' rhythm section here! I'd have structured the topics of conversation a little more naturally, as it seemed very random without a lot of follow-ups, but James & Tyler came off well, so give the whole interview with E:W:L a watch at this link! Remember, I can't embed it here due to the content matched audio elsewhere in the stream. We're almost caught up for Spades GT activity, so we'll have more from them last & this month on the site soon, along with more local content! Thanks everyone!
Today's SMS post is divided in half between the Twin Saults, with new videos and band updates from Sault Michigan taking up the back half, but we're leading off north of the border with a big concert preview for tomorrow night and an intriguing LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month. Here's what you should know!
Toronto "dead metal/zombie glam" band Blood Opera will make their local concert debut on Saturday, May 18th at The Queen of Hearts Club above Shooters Downstairs Lounge! Billed as Canada's only "horror heavy metal" band, Blood Opera will be right up the alley of Frightlight fans thanks to their horror movie-influenced presentation and lyrics, but taken up many notches with an elaborately violent stage show to accentuate their hard hitting and melodic sound, and note their impressive guest performer list on their studio material too! This show is being promoted by Steel City Events and will serve as an afterparty for that day's Steel City CollectorCon at the Quattro Hotel, basically along the same lines as the planned First Jason-headlined concert that would have served as the Steel City Nostalgia Fair afterparty in April 2020 (one guess as to why that fair and concert were cancelled). It's great to see Steel City try a concert of this scale again, let alone another one for diehard horror movie fans!
Local support will come by way of party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty in a rare support turn for a touring band as opposed to rappers. Hopefully the Stanghettas & Mikhal deliver a fun set to kick off the night! This is a 19+ event (as is Blood Opera's stage show in general), but $20 tickets bought in advance will double as passes to the CollectorCon, and the concert proper begins at 9:00 PM. Blood Opera are the sort of band best seen rather than described, but fans of horror movies won't want to miss all of the action over the Victoria Day long weekend, so visit the above links for more on this concert (and the CollectorCon) next month!
Next up, here's a preview of a big concert taking place TOMORROW NIGHT, as Coquitlam, British Columbia alternative rock musician Matthew Good will make his long awaited return to Sault Ste. Marie when he headlines at The Machine Shop! The former Matthew Good Band frontman and political activist will be familiar to many readers from band and solo songs like "Hello Time Bomb" and "In A World Called Catastrophe", so it'll be good to have him back on a local stage! Of course, this is Matthew's first stop here since his acoustic gig at The Speak Easy in October 2007 that was... divisive, let's say. I won't rehash what happened, but clearly, he wants to let bygones be bygones with the Soo! Remember that he was supposed to play at the Sault Community Theatre Centre in March 2020, but that show was one of the first cancellations due to the pandemic lockdowns, so kudos to him for coming back to Sault Ste. Marie four years later!
Guelph hard rock solo artist Vilivant will open tomorrow in her local debut, after dropping out of November's Big Wreck show at the same venue due to "logistical issues". Hopefully there will be none of the sort for Vilivant this time, as she's got some solid tracks herself! Unusually bumped up from its originally planned date on April 25th, this all ages concert begins at 8:00 PM, and general admission tickets are still on sale for $54.50 plus online & processing fees at this link, and presumably at the door. Fingers crossed that this show is a huge hit for Matthew and fans alike, so that we're not waiting another 16½ years for him to come back! Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Matthew live!
Also today, let's zip over to Sault Michigan for a new band in the works from two rising young musicians that have been covered on the site! Attendees of last fall's fan-voted Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands will remember the surprise runner-up run by local singer/guitarist Molly Escherich, who has been increasing her profile ever since with more acoustic sets in the E.U.P., but is also working on a proper band named Aerials (System of a Down reference?). Joining her here is drummer Blaze Beairl, who is the son of Exit 808 frontwoman Amy Beach and former Shift guitarist Joey Beairl. Fans in Alpena saw Blaze fill in on bass with his mom's band at the Rock Recovery Battle of the Bands in last month, but Blaze is a drummer first and foremost, and he has his own solo Facebook page featuring him covering songs by Knocked Loose and Limp Bizkit.
While both Molly & Blaze have multi-instrumental skill sets, they are looking for a permanent bassist to fill out their lineup, and you can watch them covering The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright", System Of A Down's "Sugar", and, as embedded below, Pop Evil's "100 In A 55" on Molly's solo Facebook page (Aerials do not have one of their own yet). These obviously aren't 100% indicative of their final sound, but Molly & Blaze are definitely talented young musicians with some intriguing bands in mind to cover, so check their first videos out above & below, and click here for details on their bassist search and how you can try out!
Finally, here's the latest from local hard rock/metal band Tarnished, and while the wait for the rest of their videos from the aforementioned Rock Recovery Battle of the Bands continues, they have more news to share. Remember this "Reel" from last month featuring frontman Alex Traynor and an unidentified guitarist playing the solo to Ratt's "Round & Round"? Well, the second guitarist was actually drummer Josh Fair! Of course, long-time fans shouldn't be shocked that Josh can play guitar, as Tarnished began life as an acoustic duo, with Josh playing guitar for their shows in this format through 2020, and he also played bass when the band had a separate drummer in the past. Leading from that "Reel", a normal embeddable video was shared on March 30th featuring Tarnished (with Josh on guitar) playing "Round & Round" in full, and sitting in on drums here was Rhythm & Brews/ex-Nixxon Dixxon drummer Chris Hubbard!
Tarnished gave mixed messages as to Chris' status with the band (they thanked him for "rocking out with us" in the description, but also said that they've "currently got Chris jammin' on the drums" in a comment reply), but remember that Chris and Alex filled in with each other's bands for concerts earlier this year. Whether Chris has joined permanently or not, let alone if he and Josh could switch roles if needed, I couldn't say, but he drums well on this strong cover! I've never liked "Round & Round", but Tarnished handle it as well as you'd expect, so give this jam a watch below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!
Another concert weekend is upon us, if not with much going on tonight for hard rock/punk fans, but we do have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to address, some on SHORT NOTICE! Due to the amount of shows this weekend, our preview of Sunday night's Matthew Good concert will hit the site tomorrow. Now, here's what you should know for your Saturday concert plans (and beyond in one case!)
Local alternative/punk cover supergroup Bookclub will return to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre TOMORROW as the headline musical performers for this year's Great Lakes Outdoor Show! Apologies for the short notice, we only heard above Bookclub's involvement via Facebook advertising earlier this week, complicated by Bookclub's continued lack of an online page to publically promote shows with. While an outdoors expo might not seem like a traditional event for a concert, Bookclub are no strangers to playing at community events and festivals, and hopefully their unique retro covers fins a receptive audience TOMORROW! Folk/pop singer/guitarist Matthew James (who you may have seen last year at Rotaryfest Stage 2) will open the proceedings. While this concert is taking place as part of the Great Lakes Outdoor Show, it is being treated as its own event with its own separate admission fee.
The Outdoor Show is an all ages event with $10 passes for the weekend (including the band-less Sunday program), and while doors open at 10:00 AM, the concert proper is at 5:00 PM. The concert proper is also $10 and does not require Outdoor Show tickets to attend, but $20 packages that get you entry to both are also available. It'll be interesting to see how Bookclub and Mathhew Matthew do as a post-show attraction rather than mid-show entertainment, but the talent is definitely there, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Bookclub live!
Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this show via their Facebook page on Tuesday, and at press time, Shooters have not confirmed the booking on social media. After an off week (Thursday jam nights at Jay's aside), Soundcheck are back for a traditional concert on SATURDAY, which will be their first show at the Dennis Street nightclub since the winter, and it may serve as the lead-out entertainment following Shooters' showing of game 2 of the Soo Greyhounds' second round playoff series against the Saginaw Spirit, assuming that Shooters keeps with their recent trend of showing the road games on the TVs there (the game is in Saginaw). Hockey or not, Soundcheck's mix of classic and hard rock hits will find a receptive audience TOMORROW!
This show has a 9:30 PM start time (possibly later if the Hounds game dictates), no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. If you can't make it, Soundcheck have a full weekend at Jay's next week, and of course, they are hosting jam night there on Thursday as usual if you want to count that. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!
Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet
Generations will celebrate their one year anniversary when they rock The Water Tower Pub for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT, but they will also make their first ever stop at Gateway Casino on Saturday, May 18th! The latter show was newly announced by drummer Tony Santoro on their Facebook group on Tuesday, and it's good to see Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre spreading their wings to a new (to them) venue, so don't miss them at Sault Ontario's casino over the Victoria Day long weekend! Before then, the band will rock The Water Tower Pub as previously announced tomorrow, marking one year since they succeeded Jus' Chillin, so head to the central nightclub for lots of classic and hard rock cover favourites! This is a one-nighter as is standard for The Water Tower Pub, with classic rock trio The Sidekicks playing there tonight.
Tomorrow's Water Tower Pub show is at 8:00 PM, next month's Gateway Casino show is at 9:00 PM, both are 19+ events, and neither has an announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Generations' upcoming concerts, and for a preview, here they are live!
Finally for today's previews, you can also check out local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's continuation of his bi-weekly run at Misty's Fifties TOMORROW! His first of two April matinee gigs at the venerable Second Line West nightclub/restaurant in this current arrangement, tomorrow's show does not fall on a major holiday weekend, so expect a standard block of well produced acoustic rock hits from the former Caveman Morrison frontman tomorrow! If you can't make it, Tym returns to Misty's on April 27th, and the series is advertised to continue once every two weeks until the end of June. Tomorrow's matinee concert has a 4:00 PM start time, it's presumably a 19+ event given the locale, and there is no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live in concert last year!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Matthew Good preview and more next! Thanks everyone!
It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! In our monthly spotlight of a local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past (randomly selected as always), we're next heading back a decade to look at a very unique but entertaining hard rock group that definitely turned heads at many a local concert, so here's what you should know on them!
(Note that both Kate and Jamie are now known by the last names Hatherley and Garside respectively due to getting married after The Danger Cats disbanded, but the band's run predated their weddings. Incidentally, they both married members ofLate & Loud.)
Audio/Video: The Danger Cats did write and perform a handful of original songs like "Wanted Man" and "Sugar Mama", but never released an album of any sort despite recording at Six Two Oh in April 2015. Covers ranged from the likes of The Runaways, Blondie, and Bif Naked to AC/DC and The Black Keys, among other acts. The best modern source of Danger Cats videos is their YouTube channel, which features multiple live concert videos from their heyday, and even an interview, but fan shot videos exist elsewhere in decent quantities, and I have filmed them for our Facebook page as well. Here's The Danger Cats playing their own song "Give Me" and covering The Scorpions' "The Zoo" at The Rockstar Bar in 2014!
Info/Analysis:A rare example of an all-female rock band in the Sault Ste. Marie area, The Danger Cats formed in April 2013 and made their public debut opening for the short-lived Hydra's Teeth at The Algonquin Pub that September. Taking their stage names from various cat species/breeds and playing that up in their concert attire, The Danger Cats lineup remained stable throughout their run aside from Kate moving to vocals & guitar upon Katie joining on drums, not to mention Summer's departure for health reasons in early 2014. Fans will recall seeing the ladies open for touring bands like K-Man & The 45s, Archaics, and The Red Rails, while also opening Late & Loud's two reunion gigs, playing Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2014, and competing at the VM Radio Battle Of The Bands semifinals in 2015. The Cats also could be seen at multiple all-local gigs, and even headlined a few solo concerts on the weekend cover circuit.
In advance of Kate's move to London, The Danger Cats announced their impending breakup in May 2015, last playing live at the Border Brawl roller derby event the following month. Gender aside, The Danger Cats impressed local audiences with their fun and lively sound, with promising originals and eclectic covers that served them well at multiple kinds of local concerts in their 2+ years together! Once Kate moved to vocals & guitar, she got into a more familiar groove that helped the band click even moreso, and everyone's skills developed well as they got more experience. It's a shame that The Danger Cats didn't last longer, but hopefully they reunite in the future if things line up properly, and R.I.P., Summer!
I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around May 10th for our second Sault Michigan profile of the year in this series, we look at local/Grand Rapids epic metal quintet (and Theatre of Night sister band) End Of Existence! Look for that next month, and for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Firehouse frontman C.J. Snare, who passed away due to cardiac arrest on Saturday at the age of 64. Visit your preferred music and/or news outlets for more details (here is Rolling Stone's coverage) but he had previously been battling cancer and abdominal issues. Local hair metal fans will recognize C.J. as the long-time frontman of the South Carolina glam metal/hard rock band dating back to his joining Firehouse in 1987. They peaked in the early 1990s with commercial hit singles like "Don't Treat Me Bad", "Love Of A Lifetime", and "When I Look Into Your Eyes", and got a Billboard Top 40 single as late as 1995. Firehouse played in the Twin Saults multiple times, most recently when they opened for Dokken at what's now GFL Memorial Gardens in September 2017, while they opened for Bret Michaels and Skid Row at Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan in 2014 & 2009 respectively.
While never a headlining attraction in their local gigs in the past 15 years (the cancelled Moloney's Alley show in 2016 acknowledged), Firehouse delivered the goods for Hair Scare diehards in their Sault Ste. Marie sets, and C.J. was a talented singer who could handle hard rockers and ballads with ease. What I have heard about him as a person is positive, and hopefully fans can look back on his work with Firehouse to remember him in the best ways at this difficult time. R.I.P., C.J.!
Now, today's post features some recent news and notes, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Detroit pop punk solo project Inconsistent Me will make their local concert debut on Sunday, June 23rd at The Distraction! The second Michigan-based punk solo project to make their way to the East Street venue this year (though they have performed with backing musicians in some videos), Inconsistent Me deliver a fun and up-tempo brand of pop punk that should find a receptive audience this summer, so definitely give Brendan's work a listen to see what they'll bring to the table north of the border! Local punk trio Vanity First will open in their first announced concert following their album release next weekend, and they should pair well sonically in a few months, so don't be late for their set! This is an all ages event with doors opening at 6:00 PM, and admission is $10 or "pay what you can". See above for more details!
Next up, we haven't written about local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp on here since last year, so what have they been up to lately? As it turns out, the project took down their Facebook page for unannounced reasons late last year and replaced it with a new Facebook page in December, albeit one set up as a normal user account that you have to add as a friend to follow (not unlike what Double Down have). Project leader Boyd "Unterbiss Von Wigwaus" Rendell has kept things relatively cryptic in updates there since, but he revealed that new music would be released in "the first quarter of 2024", but that could take until the fall given the pace he was working at. In February, Boyd indicated that he was working on new music, and teased a possible virtual single release like in their early run, but again, updates tend to be cryptic, often just about writing/creating music as a whole without being directly tied to Molten Imp.
It's good to see that Molten Imp are still working behind the scenes, even if the wait for new released music continues into 2024's second quarter! I do apologize for the delay in writing about Molten Imp on the site, the cryptic posts don't have a lot to latch onto when earmarking topics for upcoming SMS posts and they have always been easy to fall through the cracks, but hopefully Boyd's doing well and that we hear much more from him in the near future! If I did/said something wrong, I do apologize!
We'll close today with new videos from local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225, and while I usually share new videos in conjunction with weekend concert previews for convenience in promoting tradtional shows, I'll buck that today because these are from their Thursday jam night hosting duties at Reggie's Place last week! In a rare TikTok-exclusive video from Bone Yard, they shared this video of Alex and Warren being joined by four guest jammers (including a saxophonist!) to play a blues song that I couldn't identify. Is it called "Waiting"? Shockingly, the video is horizontal, but for one reason or another, it was put in monochrome & with some sort of visual filter, and it only captures 44 seconds of the performance. I've never had luck embedding TikTok videos on the SMS, but click here to check it out, as it has a good groove! Embedded below is a video from Reggie's Facebook page on Thursday, so what can you see here?
The video sees Greg and Alex joined by guest singer/keyboardist Joey Damasco for a cover of Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69", and while I'm no fan of Bryan Adams, this is a lively cover that relatively seamlessly incorporates keys! Joey's vocals are not super rangy but they work for this song, and while the video was shot vertically, at least the filmer captured everyone in frame. Check it out below, and remember to join (or even replace?) Bone Yard 225 at their next jam night at Reggie's this Thursday!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!
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!
Today's post is devoted to Kewadin Casino concert videos, new and old alike, and we'll start with the Skid Row-headlined concert at The Dreammakers Theater in Sault Ste. Marie on March 23rd, which took on new significance when frontman Erik Gronwall left the New Jersey glam metal band just four days later to focus on his health (Erik is a leukemia survivor & bone marrow transplant recipient with a compromised immune system). In fact, the Sault Ste. Marie show was the final one with Erik, so how's that for timing? Our first post with videos from the show went up on the day his departure was announced! Of course, our best thoughts go out to Erik, whose health actually caused this show/tour to be postponed from the fall as it was, and for my money, he was the best singer Skid Row had brought on since Sebastian Bach left! Halestorm's Lzzy Hale will fill in temporarily with Skid Row in their upcoming festival dates.
As for the Soo show, the ever prolific Christopher Paci was in attendance to film all three bands on the 23rd for his YouTube channel, filming Skid Row in eight videos! He shot them playing "Big Guns", "18 & Life", "Psycho Therapy", "Time Bomb", "I Remember You", "The Gang's All Here", "Youth Gone Wild", and as embedded below, their set-opener "Slave To The Grind". Chris was further away from the stage than in prior local videos that we've seen, but we do see more of the stage at once here, and it was an honest sell out based on the audience! The sound here is a little soft but you hear everything you need to, and Erik was nailing these songs even on his final date, so check them out above & below!
Next up, Chris also filmed six videos from co-headlining Los Angeles hard rock quintet Buckcherry's set, including "Say Fuck It" (they titled it, not me), "Hellbound", "Sorry", "Gluttony", their extended & covers-infused "Crazy Bitch" medley, and as embedded below, their opening song "Lit Up". I've never been a huge fan of theirs, and Josh's voice is inconsistent across these videos, especially later in the set, but they put in an energetic performance for fans, and they've always been good to the Twin Saults, so give Buckcherry's newest local concert videos a watch above & below!
As for opening Philadelphia hair metal quartet Britny Fox, Chris filmed them playing "Plenty Of Love", "Girlschool", and as embedded below, "Dream On". Even with a mostly different lineup than when fans last saw Britny Fox in town, they sound good for glam metal fans on these videos, and for better or worse, less fans had cameras rolling so you get a clearer view of the band than you do with the later acts. Check these out for yourselves above & below as well!
Finally, let's wind back to 2014 for a video that I didn't feature on the site in the first place. Back in November 2014, Staind frontman Aaron Lewis came to Sault Ste. Marie for the first time since launching his solo career as a country musician, and while that obviously doesn't fit our genre range, he did and still does cover Staind ballads in his solo sets. At the time, I covered videos filmed by attendee Dana Howland on here, as she filmed Aaron playing Staind's "It's Been Awhile" and covering Pearl Jam's "Black" (which was a solo radio hit for him years before he acutally went solo). Either due to my own omission or due to that post being written before she uploaded it (it's been nine years, I don't remember), I never acknowledged that she also filmed Aaron playing the Staind hit "Right Here Waiting" at Kewadin on this night, so it is embedded below! This came to my attention because it was re-uploaded as a "Shorts" video.
As such, her Staind videos from 2014, this one included, turned up in their own special section when searching for recent Kewadin videos. "Shorts" are not as restrictive as Facebook "Reels", and her videos were vertical and focused on a solo musician right along, so I won't complain about the formatting here (no comment on Aaron's political views either, but this show was before a lot of that became more prominent). The stage lighting is VERY over-exposed here, but Aaron's performance is on point for Staind fans, so give this belated local concert video a watch below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
