This week in RCS Music News Weekly: BOGO rehearsal time all August at Royal City Studios, new research calls out single-use waste at concerts (and sustainable options); Vintage Flight releases their new single, “All I Need”; drummer Pete Parada gets booted from The Offspring for refusing COVID vaccination, and YouTube staggeringly hits the 500-hours-per-minute mark.
But first…
Live Album Release Party with Ian Andrews & The Smokin’ Scoundrels
ICYMI: Ian Andrews & The Smokin’ Scoundrels will burn up the RCS concert hall on Saturday, August 14th at 7 PM in a special live in-person performance of their new album, Eclipse, which has been under lock and key for nearly five years.
Limited seating is available for this COVID-safe, licensed event.
Get your tickets while they last. With their background in blistering, award-winning blues, this one-night-only performance will be unforgettable.
>> Grab your tickets at Eventbrite
LUVR Concert Sold Out at RCS
The August 21st RCS concert by LUVR (with special guests WAIVERS) is sold out. Yet some tickets currently remain for The Coywolves, performing at RCS on Sept. 4th at 9 PM.
>> Order your Coywolves tickets at Eventbrite
Tickets are also going on sale any day for the August 20th RCS concert by Tiger Suit (with opening band Make.Shift). To hear about tickets when they become available, follow RCS on social.
Live Performers Return to the Rockwood Farmers’ Market
As further indication of area restrictions easing for live musical performance, musicians were allowed back this week to the Rockwood Farmers’ Market. Though the market has regularly featured live musical performances each week since its inception, this week’s performance marks the first since the pandemic began.
Located 15 minutes west of Guelph, the Rockwood Farmers’ Market (4-7 p.m. every Wednesday at Rockmosa Park) offers performance opportunities ideally suited for solo and duo acoustic performers. Yet student bands have performed there in the past from places like Rick Imus Music Studio.
For non-performers simply looking for great food, the market stands unique among area markets. Where many markets feature vendors re-selling food and products produced by others who may not live locally, the Rockwood Farmers’ Market hosts vendors who’ve either grown or produced food themselves (which supports local farmers) or have sourced ingredients from local producers.
BOGO Rehearsal Time All August at RCS
In case you missed it in the last issue of RCS Music News Weekly: Until August 31st, 2021, Royal City Studios is offering BOGO rehearsal time. Book 1 hour of rehearsal time in a small, medium, or large studio and get the second hour free.
This is a scalable offer. The more time you book, the more free time you get. Book 2 hours, get 2 hours free. Book 3 hours… well, you know how to do math.
Use the code AUG21BOGO when you book online. Or call (226) 314-2177, email info@royalcitystudios.ca, or DM RCS on social.
No charge for cancellation. Masks still required.
New Research Calls Out Single-Use Waste at Concerts
With fans slowly returning to music festivals and arena events, Upstream recently commissioned an environmental impact assessment of disposable plastic cups used at such events against reusable cups made from different materials. Key findings:
- Reusable stainless steel and polypropylene cups are by far the most sustainable options, outperforming single-use cups across all environmental metrics.
- Single-use aluminum cups are the worst option for the climate, using 47% more energy and creating 86% more carbon dioxide than single-use plastic options.
- The average stadium that hosts 300 events annually uses 5.4 million single-use cups, creating a staggering 7 tons of plastic waste. If these were replaced with reusable polypropylene (PP) cups used 300 times and then thrown away, that would generate less than one ton of waste (and zero waste if the cups were recycled).
Vintage Flight Releases “All I Need”
Today, Vintage Flight drops their new single, “All I Need,” on Spotify and iTunes before kicking off two weekend shows:
- Saturday, August 7th at 8 p.m.: Belmont Village Bestival (Waterloo).
- Sunday, August 8th at 4 p.m.: Cork Hall at McCabe’s Irish Pub (Kitchener).
Sunday’s performance marks bassist Braydon Kains’ final performance with the band. As noted by the band on their Facebook page, Kains has decided to “focus less on live music and more on his computer science career” and personal life. Yet Kains “isn’t going cold turkey. You’ll still see him jamming on guitar around town and playing duo acoustic gigs” with Vintage Flight vocalist Avalon Bridger.
For a taste of Vintage Flight performing at full throttle at Royal City Studios, check out the pre-pandemic video Teenage Shred.
Voices Expands
In direct response to tremendous shifts in the gig economy, Voices has expanded it creative services for businesses. In addition to offering businesses voiceover talent, Voices now has three new service categories: translation, audio production, and music composition.
In other words, Voices now has more freelance opportunities for area musicians, engineers, producers, etc., as well as people whose backgrounds are not in the music industry.
Freelancers on the Voices platform can showcase a portfolio of their work on their profiles, which are searchable by keyword, location, and rating. Buyers can either invite an individual freelancer to reply to a job or post a job to the marketplace for free. Payment and delivery of finished creative work also happens on the Voices platform, which uses the proprietary payment protection service SurePay.
Voiceover work for voice talent includes, animation acting, audiobooks, business and education, podcasting, video, radio, telephone, and television opportunities.
Creating a Voices talent profile is free for instant access to the Voices marketplace.
Don’t have recordings to showcase your talent on Voices or the right equipment and/or environment for a recording? Book recording time at RCS. Don’t need a whole studio for something like voicework samples? Book a rehearsal studio at RCS in August. Grab your laptop and microphone to record in a quiet environment—and get Royal City Studios’ BOGO rehearsal time (only until August 31st).
Scroll up a few stories for the code if you skimmed down this far and missed “BOGO Rehearsal Time Remains All August at RCS.”
YouTube Hits the 500-Hours-Per-Minute Mark
Content competition on YouTube has reached staggering new heights. According to a July 30th report released by Statista, 500 hours of content are now uploaded to YouTube every minute.
This massive influx of minute-by-minute content generally applies across the board on social. As an example, 695,000 stories are shared each minute on Instagram, and 5,000 downloads happen each minute on TikTok.
All this boils down to one thing for bands and promotions. Getting noticed and building followers on social has only become tougher and more competitive, and there are no current indicators that content competition won’t get worse. So, bands will have to be both creative and consistent in their social media marketing (and marketing in general) to reach the radar of new followers and fans.
Pete Parada Dropped from the Offspring for Refusing COVID Vaccination
After refusing COVID vaccination based on the advice of his doctor, Pete Parada is no longer the drummer for The Offspring.
Announcing the news on Instagram, Parada explained that given his medical history with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that dates back to Parada’s childhood, his doctor advised him to not get a COVID shot at this time. Parada also explained that having caught COVID over a year ago (which was mild for Parada), he was confident that he would be able to handle infection again if it happened. Even so, Parada explained, “Since I am unable to comply with what is increasingly becoming an industry mandate, it has recently been decided that I am unsafe to be around, in the studio and on tour.” Parada felt compelled to share his story “so that anyone else experiencing the agony and isolation of getting left behind right now knows they’re not entirely alone.”
Parada added that he bears no ill will toward his former bandmates and acknowledges that everyone involved is doing what’s best for their personal situations.
Share the Music News Love!
RCS Music News Weekly was created during COVID in the spirit of “we’re all in this together.” And we’re certainly hoping to continue this spirit post-COVID to keep everyone in the loop about what’s happening at RCS and locally, as well as national and international music news stories of interest.
Leave a Reply