This week, our intrepid music news team asked readers, “Tell me what you want, what you really really want.” They replied, “Music news, of course. It’s like right there in the title,” to which our team replied, “Alrighty then!” Here’s what they came up with:
Your Royal G and Vintage Flight Music Sampler!
You naturally like to sample something before you make a commitment. That’s why grocery stores give out free cheese samples (because who doesn’t enjoy something in mini-cube form?). In the spirit of that, you may have read a recent concert announcement at Royal City Studios. If not, here it is again:
For the first time ever, indie rock band Royal G Symphony and classic rock band Vintage Flight perform together—live on Saturday, Dec. 4th (7 PM) at Royal City Studios. (Friday show sold out.)
It’s going to be a killer event—just 10 minutes from Kitchener West.
Tickets are $10 at the door, but here’s the important part. There are only 50 tickets available for this rare show, and almost half are already gone. So, pre-order your tickets today at Eventbrite and don’t risk missing out at the door.
All-ages event, licensed, free parking, and accessible. Vaccine passports required.
“But I’m just not sure. Can I try a sample to know what to expect?”
Great question, cool stranger. Damn straight you can. That’s why our RCS Music News team includes the Sample Squad, who hunted up the following samplers just for you:
- Listen to Royal G Symphony’s EP The King’s Highway on Spotify (If you enjoy the Hip, you’ll love this collection of original indie rock.)
- Listen to Vintage Flight shred the night fantastic in the video Teenage Shred. (Rush, Sabbath, and Zeppelin fans will particularly want to watch this face-melting clip compilation.)
Holiday Spirit Shopping Simplified with The Whisky Hunter
Got a whisky lover on your holiday shopping list but don’t know what to buy them? Chris Gormley has you covered on his YouTube channel, The Whiskey Hunter.
When not drumming for The Trews, Gormley is on a relentless adventure to discover the world’s greatest whiskies, and a recent stop included Silver Fox Distillery in Arthur, Ont. (30 minutes from Guelph). In addition to producing a range of award-winning spirits (including butter tart liqueur, apple pie moonshine, and premium Sterling Vodka created for famed drummer J-Rad Sterling), Silver Fox houses a Dalek and Tardis actually used on the sci-fi series Dr. Who. (Yup, really.)
Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered how John Wick might review whisky, Gormley also has you covered—and hilariously nails it in his deadpan review of Blanton’s Bourbon, which begs the question:
Is Gormley doing a spot-on imitation of John Wick or is Keanu Reeves doing a spot-on imitation of Gormley doing a spot-on imitation of John Wick? (Whoa! I think we just blew our own minds.)
Shred Kelly’s Holiday Shop Now Open for Cool Ugly Xmas Sweater-ness!
For years, music fans have wondered, “Where can I find a Xmas sweater that has a cool band logo on it but also keeps me in the running for the coveted ugly Xmas sweater crown?” Good news! Shred Kelly fans can now order poly-knit Xmas sweaters from the band’s online holiday shop. (Only a limited number available.)
Shred fans can also order personalized singing telegrams as Xmas gifts for $35, with $15 from each telegram donated by the band to the Canadian Red Cross for BC Flood Relief, plus CDs, which make great stocking stuffers.
SOCAN Announces More Money for Black and Indigenous Music
SOCAN recently announced 10 new cash prizes to the TD Indigenous Songwriters Awards and the SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards, giving more opportunities to emerging music creators to benefit from the awards.
Each award category will be augmented with five $1,000 Honourable Mention prizes, in addition to the current prizes of $10,000 for the Indigenous Songwriter Awards and five $5,000 prizes for the Black Canadian Music Awards.
In addition to the new honourable mention cash prizes, the Songwriters Association of Canada and the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec are offering free one-year memberships to the Grand Prize winners in each competition, giving the winners special access to their services.
Music creators must submit their applications for consideration by Monday, Dec. 6th, 2021, at 11:59 PM ET. Applications can be submitted here. For more information, visit the SOCAN website.
Tresor 30 – Massive New Electronic Music Box Set
After our last issue of RCS Music News Weekly, a reader wrote to note how we haven’t covered much electronic music. Thankfully, he remedied that for us by turning us on to Tresor 30, a massive new box set featuring a dozen 12-inch records (52 tracks in total) and 16-page booklet compiled by industry insider and booking agent Carin Abdulá.
This unique collection profiles some of the artists that gave the previous three decades of Tresor its sound and foundation but also casts its gaze forward by including new artists who maintain a connection to Tresor’s original mission.
He also encouraged us to explore the history of Tresor, the underground techno nightclub and record label in Berlin and its connection to Detroit, and Richie Hawtin, the British-Canadian electronic musician and award-winning DJ, who began his career in Detroit clubs at age 17. And we would encourage you to do the same.
Spoon-Sized Music News!
- Road Apples 30th Anniversary Edition (remastered) now available on red vinyl at thehip.com for $40. For the whole basket of Apples—including Saskadelphia Vinyl, and a 36-page booklet reproduction of Gord Downie’s handwritten lyrics, and rare photos—check out the vinyl box set.
- Guelph singer/musician Mikalyn drops her cover of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” on YouTube. Haven’t heard of Mikalyn? Check out our recent feature.
- Steve Page musically and heartwarmingly lets Ryan Reynolds know in the hilarious YouTube video that, as much as Reynolds loves Canada, Canada Loves You Back. (I’m not crying. You’re crying!)
- Ringo teaches drumming and creative collaboration on MasterClass. The course, according to MasterClass, will inspire you to “take your drumming and creative collaboration to the next level, with lessons, stories, and insights from the legendary drummer of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and The Beatles,” which begged RCS Music News Weekly to ask the question, “So, being The Beatles drummer wasn’t enough to qualify as legend?” Questionable copywriting aside, though, it looks like an awesome course. Watch the trailer here. (Includes where and why Ringo decided to become a drummer.)
Thank you to That Unknown Drummer
Remember that night around this time last year when the whole world seemed silent and live music might just never come back? RCS Music News Weekly does. It was a November night, quiet and cold, when government restrictions had effectively chucked live music into the trunk of a car, then pushed that car into a ravine, then set it on fire. Yet for all the so-called “warmth” of restrictions that were supposed to make people feel warm-and-fuzzy safe, we remember the distinct fog freezing from our mouths as we said, “Holy, sh-t. Is this it?”
Right about then, we heard the sound of drums echoing down from the basement of a house up on a hill. Like the pulse of some hospital patient refusing the idea of any plug being pulled, the sound of a lone drummer let us know that live music would return (as it has) and no pandemic would ever snuff it out. That moment brought great hope and joy to us, and contributed to the eventual launch of RCSMNW, and for that, we wanted to give overdue thanks to that unknown drummer, whose playing reminded us that music is the heartbeat of the soul, which is eternal.
Thank you, lone drummer, for reminding us of this when we almost forgot.
Add a FREE HOUR of Rehearsal Time at Royal City Studios!
Just bring in your Long & McQuade instrument rental receipt or product purchase receipt to Royal City Studios after you book an RCS rehearsal studio and get an extra hour of rehearsal time for free.
All instrument receipts accepted: saxophone, trumpet, bass, guitar, keyboard, whatever you rent.
Walk-ins welcome but limited to studio availability.
Book your rehearsal studio online (https://royalcitystudios.ca/book-a-studio/) or call (226) 314-2177.
The closest L&M location to RCS is right down the street at 30 Arrow Road, where we’ve put up a poster with details. If you can’t find the poster, simply ask a L&M employee, “Where’s that handsome and oddly sexy RCS poster about free rehearsal time?”
Okay, the poster may not be that handsome or sexy, but our graphic designer has a bit of a fragile ego. So, we’re doing what we can to buck him up.
Significant Increase in Depression Caused by COVID
Researchers already knew COVID was causing an increase in depression and anxiety. Yet according to researchers in a new October 2021 report by The Lancet, the authors estimate a significant increase in the prevalence of major depressive disorders.
Now, RCS Music News Weekly is certainly no doctor (although we have worn lab coats as camouflage in a snowstorm), but we don’t need a medical degree hanging beside our staffroom dartboard to ask you to please keep good care of your mental health. Plus, check in with family, friends, and colleagues from time to time.
Royal City Studios would never call itself a mental health facility (obviously) or ignore (intentionally or accidentally) the complexity and scope of mental health issues, but we do know that simply walking out the door and getting your ya-ya’s out can feel pretty darn good sometimes and put life into new perspective. (We’re speaking from experience here.) To that end, you know where to find the RCS rehearsal studios, fully equipped with amps, PA, drums and other kickass gear to dial catharsis to 11.
And finally…
Subscribe to RCS Music News Weekly
According to RCS scientists who may not be actual scientists but simply individuals who never took off their lab coats worn as camouflage in that snowstorm, missing RCS Music News Weekly can result in shock and dismay. Just look at this guy.
Okay, we’re just milking the hell out of a stock photo, but if you’re reading this from a social link and want to get RCSMNW delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss high-falutin words like “catharsis” (plus music news, RCS concert announcements, limited-time offers, and more), visit the RCS homepage and sign up to the mailing list.
Until next time, stay awesome.
Leave a Reply