LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Toystock XIII) & Two Local EP Uploads From 2014!!

Before we get into today's post, just a heads up that Friday night's "Devil's Night At Dirtbag's" concert at a private location has been cancelled. According to Underground Events SSM's Facebook page, "Dirtbag" (implied to also be a member of one of the scheduled bands) hurt his foot, hence the cancellation. Why the rest of the bands can't play on, I don't know, but hopefully "Dirtbag" heals up soon, and there's no shortage of concerts at public venues to check out for Halloween weekend! Now, this post features a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the impending Christmas season and some surprise local EP uploads, so here's what you should know!

The full lineup for the thirteenth annual Toystock was announced on their website and Facebook page last week! Returning for its tenth installment at their current homebase at The Grand Gardens North on Sunday, November 29th, this is the annual Christmas Cheer fundraiser concert held in late November by GS (formerly Maxx) Entertainment, where 10 bands play across 10 hours, all donating their time to the cause. Along with music, each Toystock features kids activities like face painting, arts and crafts, a play area, and visits with Santa Claus himself, and the Stuff-A-Bus may make another appearance for good measure. For adults, The Grand Gardens is licensed and the bar will be open if so inclined, and food will be on sale as well. Admission is FREE with the donation of new toys or winter clothing, new or gently used books, games, and puzzles, or gift cards, though you can also donate cash.

Visit the above links for full non-musical details! For just the second time (after 2018), most bands from the previous year are returning for the following year, and in a mild shocker, there are no mystery debuting bands next month. As usual, your headliners at 9:00 PM are local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225, who have played every event save for 2014, when frontman (and Toystock promoter) Greg Simpson took the stage with other bands of his. Eternal kudos to Greg and his wife Kerry for all they do to help those in need over the holidays! After debuting last year as late replacements, local blues/classic rock cover band Sunday & The Broken Hearts will leap up the bill to serve as the co-headliners at 8:00 PM, while country rock cover quintet Elly McWatters & The Drifters will return to Toystock for their own second straight year at 7:00 PM.

Fittingly, the 6:00 PM timeslot belongs to Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band (in their third straight year), and the timing works out, as The Drifters and The Big Finish Band share a lot of members between them! While this will be Steve & Brad's fourth straight year, their current hard rock quartet The Reeves will be playing Toystock for the second time next month at 5:00 PM. Toystock newcomers make up most of the first half of the bill, including blues/hard rock trio Stones & Crows (Spencer knows Bone Yard well now!) at 4:00 PM, young hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe at 3:00 PM, and new pop punk/emo band Homeroom Hero at 2:00 PM (see them debut on Friday night at The Art Hub At Spring!). Continuing the annual trend of giving a timeslot to representatives of a local music store/school, blues rock quartet The Associates are up at 1:00 PM

This will be The Associates' third straight year at Toystock, and they will once again feature Bone Yard bassist Warren Reville before he joins the rest of "The Dirty Three" that night, along with fellow colleagues of his from Long & McQuade. The opening act this year is a solo artist, namely local country musician Jazmine "Jazz Marie" Ladouceur at 12:00 PM in her Toystock debut. It's great to see another stacked lineup of talented local musicians back for Toystock XIII, and hopefully there's a huge turnout of music lovers, families, and festive folks at The Grand Gardens once again on the last Sunday of November! Visit the above links for full current details!

Finally for today, remember how mid-2010s local punk/grunge duo Bad Back released two demo EPs in late 2014 that were amended somewhat for their digital release? Well, physical copies of each have finally been uploaded to YouTube! Originally limited to 25 copies apiece, the band from former Fuller bandmates Jamie Vincent and Nathan Sauve had released the EPs (now named "VOLumes!" and "VOLumes TWO!") on Bandcamp, but they opted not to use the physical artwork in either case, and the setlists of both had cuts. Jamie's old AlgomA bandmate Kevin Campbell owns copies of each EP, and he posted both to his Canadian Punker YouTube channel in August. On the first originally self-titled demo, Jamie & Nathan dropped "Drum My Way Home" and "Number One Hit Single" for Bandcamp, possibly because they re-recorded them for 2015's full length "ALbums". 

"Bad Back Vol. 2" had "No. 1 Hit Single" again, and "Oh!" was also redone on "ALbums", but the eight minutes long instrumental jam "Stop Listening To Phish" was completely dropped from the Bandcamp release without being redone. I get the sense that "ALbums" was intended to be their representative final act with the best songs and recordings, hence why it had cherry picked remakes, but why not post "Stop Listening To Phish" on Bandcamp? Unless you bought one of the 25 CD copies, you can hear it now though! A review of either isn't imminent (neither are new, and look at our backlog), but give Bad Back's original demo EPs a listen above & below, and thanks to Kevin for posting these after a 12 year wait!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

X's & Y's - "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars" EP Review!!

It's now time for our 208th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and for a second straight month, we're heading to Michigan, with this month's review being of local metal solo project X's & Y's' third CD "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars"! Posted online on January 13th in advance of a physical CD release exactly one month later, this EP features two versions of the title track along with two bonus holdover originals. A Werehold and AFR Records production, the songs here were mixed and mastered in Lansing by Mitchell "Mitch Michelle" Wells, with Jason as the only credited musician this time. X's & Y's forgone the usual streaming platform release for "FTMFTS" (Bandcamp doesn't even have the middle two songs), but the whole 20 minute EP is officially streamable on YouTube. CD copies only cost $3 USD, which is a pretty good deal, so contact Jason on social media if you want to inquire about availability eight months later! I have no idea if there are/were any physical storefronts in the EUP carrying the CDs.

Let's begin this quick review with the title and longest track, "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars", a 7+ minute song that Jason said leaned "into doom/drone/horror territory". This is undeniably a metal song, but it really slows down with an extremely deliberate and ominous pace. A rare Jason Mills-led song with vocals (albeit just seventeen yelled words), I'm not gonna lie and tell you that this style of metal is my favourite, but it's distinct, punishing, and will be a fitting choice for inclined listeners over the Halloween season! For my tastes though, the song might be more effective if sped up in Audacity. Next is the EP's shortest song "Hand Of Cydonia", which continues the space concept, as Cydonia is a region of Mars. This song is particularly distinguished because Jason uses a tremoloa (a zither often used to replicate the sound of a Hawaiian steel guitar) as one of the included instruments, which he couldn't find other examples of in metal music.

If the droning nature of the title track wasn't your thing, you may appreciate the pounding djent riffs of this instrumental, and the tremoloa does add suitably spacey/other-worldly affect. It's still a doom metal song, but the aggression and quicker pace works better for what I like, and it would suit a sci-fi movie or TV show well! The last completely new song is "Crater", which is peppered with backwards guitar playing, including the first 30 seconds.before the full song kicks into gear. Definitely not as heavy as "Hand Of Cydonia", but it has an effectively eerie feeling and strong instrumentation, including what sounds like more tremoloa input in the background, and the last 52 seconds is just a mild harmony to keep the existing vibes going. Not a bad song at all, especially for seasonal mood music, but metalheads will take to the opening tracks more for heaviness.

The EP closes with an instrumental version of "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars", which is the exact same song minus lyrics, and the song wasn't verbose as it was. The vocals aren't essential to appreciation of the song, but they are also a variance to its structure and pacing, so I do prefer the main version to the instrumental. Your mileage may vary! Overall, I did like X's & Y's' new EP, but for what I go for in metal, I did prefer their full-length albums "The Obsidian Dream" and "Ruination Coactive" more. It has the diversity seen on the former, including the doomy overtones and tremoloa usage, but this wasn't as fast paced and hard-hitting on average. "Hand Of Cydonia" was easily my favourite song here", but fans of AlgomA and later Woods of Ypres will want to check this for a more modern example of local doom metal. Honestly, there's so much material that Jason could have sourced for a full space concept album similarly to the Contra-themed "Ruination Coactive".

Still, my reservations are mostly of the "existing metal subgenre preference" type, and this is a good collection of songs. Here's hoping that Jason returns to the studio and works on some new X's & Y's material soon, but check out this EP above, and I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! Next month, we will return to Sault Ontario for a look at local metal trio The BAG's debut album "Sacculus", so look for that in November, and for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

The 2026 Lake Superior State Battle Of The Bands Review!!

My review of this event was delayed a few days due to our usual weekend concert preview cycle conflicting with when I would have normally began typing it out, but I made the slightly impromptu call to head over to Sault Michigan to check out the fourth annual Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands on Wednesday! Returning to their on-campus Arts Center, this is the second time that I have crossed the border to check out the festivities (following 2024), and it was a good day to do so given the dramatically increased cash prizes and larger advertised lineup. Attendance in the the theater wasn't sold out, but a good sized crowd turned out, aided in part by a large group of students from a high school downstate (I think it was a marching band). The crowd was vocal and attentive as you'd hope, and compared to 2024, there was a surprising amount of impromptu clapping along with certain artists. Always good to see an invested audience like this!

The MC of the battle this year was Ryan Maurer, an accomplished local actor who you may recognize from Soo Improv, Yooper Frankenstein, and various stage productions. He's also married to Sara Maurer, an adjunct instructor and writing tutor in LSSU's arts department. Judges included Dr. Jason Swedene (an LSSU professor who competed in the last two battles with The Undecideds and Socrates & The Caveman) and current students Nathan Piche, Jack Callaghan, and Victor TenElshof. I do not know if the judging criteria has changed since 2024 (re: was each judge scoring on one specific aspect or were they all assessing everything now), but Ryan's pre-battle specifics weren't as detailed as Noah Luce's were two years ago. I will note that Ryan was still referring to this as the third annual battle, omitting the fan-voted 2023 debut event won by The Sole Aggressors. Unchecked error or is this a retcon because of the lack of judges in 2023?

Eight scheduled acts were blocked in 15 minute timeslots, but the lineup was gradually impaired by artist withdrawals that I'll address as Ryan mentioned them. The opening act on Wednesday was new jazz fusion sextet FusionCore, made up of current Sault Area High School students. Despite being the biggest band on the bill, they had the shortest set, playing for only 7 minutes! I'm not sure if this was due to their inexperience and/or the late 7:06 PM start time, but they didn't have any clear song breaks either, and no real crowd banter, Still, the kids were dressed to impress and have a promising ska-heavy sound that you certainly don't get much of in the EUP! I couldn't easily make out the singer's voice, but Byron Hockersmith made for a good effect by leaving stage and coming back with a trumpet of his own to play. They do need to work on their stage presence, but FusionCore are off to a good start! 

The first of three solo competitors was next, namely local singer/guitarist Danielle "Dee" Homminga, a rising local musician and performance artist who also appeared in Yooper Frankenstein. Despite FusionCore's short set, Dee didn't begin performing until 7:22 PM due to technical difficulties, but she still had a longer set featuring three covers, including of Dolly Parton and Cage The Elephant songs. Dee's guitar work wasn't perfect but she has a nice voice and she had a natural rapport with the audience, and she has a bright future of her own ahead! The third performer on Wednesday was supposed to be local indie rock singer/guitarist Adam Alford, but he no-showed the battle (unlike with Sonic Dazye's withdrawal in 2024, Adam's absence was announced to the live audience). Adam clarified on his personal Facebook page that he caught a cold, and you know how that can affect a singing voice, but check his original music out on streaming!

The opening half of the battle concluded with new local classic rock/country act Whiskey Red, featuring singer Holly Sibbald (ex-Small Town Society) and guitarist Jason Lamoreaux (ex-Full Throttle) joined here by bassist Mark Blackwood. Possibly because of Adam dropping out, they got a longer four song set, including covers of songs by Zach Bryan and The Devil Makes Three, plus a closing original about drug addiction. I wasn't familiar with Whiskey Red, but I did find that country rock covers suited Holly better than what we heard at the 2024 battle, and Jason's shared lead vocals on "Something In The Orange" were well implemented, as was strong fan interaction. I'm not a country guy, but they delivered well! After a 15 minute intermission, the battle resumed with Dynamix, and while initial promotion didn't say they were one & the same, we can now confirm that they are the renamed evolution of reigning champs The Dynamic Duo.

The band confirmed this on their Facebook page, and as such, ex-Absolute bassist Bill Spence and drummer Dan Jackson have joined Danielle Petingalo and Ben Huyck in this mixed genre cover quartet. Set times definitely appeared to be growing as the night went on, as Dynamix played five songs, including covers of Gretchen Wilson, Halsey, Alannah Myles (always a trip seeing an EUP band covering Cancon), and The Cranberries. I wasn't at last year's battle, and Bill & Dan only joined this band a month ago, but Dynamix came in with the fullest presentation as an established band here, covering a diverse array of music with energy and enthusiasm, and you wouldn't have guessed that this foursome only united as a full band recently! The next set belonged to veteran local folk musician Kevin Blakeney, who is one of just two performers to have competed in all three four LSSU battles of the bands to date.

The slow growth of set lengths continued, as Kevin played six songs, including a Blue Stones cover and his originals "Gone Are The Days", "Babe", "Thank God For The TV", and "The Burning". You did get a sense of Kevin's discontent with the state of the world in some of his lyrics, but he performed well with his requisite grit and determination, and the crowd got into it, with a surprising amount of impromptu clapping! Good stuff for fans of acoustic singer/songwriters, and if he played shows in Sault Ontario, he'd find a strong audience here too (granted, every performer here would!) The penultimate band was supposed to be returning local rap duo Tunngtyed, but they dropped out on short notice due to an unspecified emergency. Hopefully all is well with The Baztad and G-Blunt, though I wonder if their and Adam's withdrawals helped explain why set times got progressively longer as the night wore on?

After all, they had two hours to fill, though it does work out that the band order put all returning acts after the intermission, so they benefited from any timeslot extensions (if so, I feel really bad for FusionCore!). We did have one more change to the performers though, as About:Blank drummer Kade DesArmo was called into work late on Wednesday and was unable to compete. Luckily, frontman Parker Talentino is also a solo musician who competed as such here in 2024, so he reverted to acoustic singer/songwriter mode as a result. Note that Parker is the other performer to play at every LSSU Battle, having played with Tarnished in 2023 and with About:Blank last year. While Ryan did invoke the About:Blank name still for introductions, this was a Parker solo set otherwise, and he played eight songs, including originals like "Given What I Got", "When I Fall", and "Already Been Said", plus a Green Day cover.

Another entertaining set for fans of acoustic alt-rock, and Parker had good candor and explanations of his music, with some enthusiastic fan input at points! I do prefer the heavier About:Blank, but Parker's solo music has seemed to take a back seat to his band, so it was a nice change of pace to dip back into that well! While judges deliberated and tallied their scores, Ryan plugged upcoming Arts Center events and interviewed some of the performers. All sixteen performers on Wednesday were on stage for the announcements of the winners, and taking home the $1,000 first place prize were.... Dynamix! Make it two straight battle victories for this band regardless of name, which is a huge feather in Danielle & Ben's caps in particular, and it will be interesting to see where Dynamix go locally in the near future! Whiskey Red claimed the $500 second place prize.

Even without Kade present, Parker claimed the $250 third place prize, giving him two podium finishes at local battles in a row (About:Blank won $500 for finishing third at the Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands in Brimley in July). Congratulations to all of the prize winning artists! In spite of the late artist withdrawals and the slow increase in set time lengths, this was a fun evening of EUP talent, but I've really gotta get across for a Sault Michigan show that isn't a battle of the bands! Hopefully this event returns next fall, even if it stays on a Wednesday (the first three were Thursday nighters), and there's so much talent in Northern Michigan that deserve to get the spotlight, especially from Canadian readers. You can check out our photos from the battle at this link or via our Facebook page, limited to 5 apiece because I didn't realize that FusionCore were playing an abbreviated set and I needed to film something.

As for my videos, here's FusionCore playing the end of their un-introduced last (only?) song, Dee Homminga covering Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Whiskey Red covering Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs' "Li'l Red Riding Hood" (with healthy audience involvement), Dynamix covering Audioslave's "Like A Stone", Kevin Blakeney playing his original "Remember Palestine", and Parker Talentino playing his own "Running From The Day"!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and features on the SMS as we wind down October next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Dos Amigos), More Weekend Concert Previews, And Other Recent Notes!!

Before we begin this post, just a heads up that tomorrow night's planned Who Made Who/Green River Revival concert has quietly been postponed to Saturday, March 6th, as per the ticket page on the Sault Community Theater Center's website. I have not seen a formal reason given for the 19 week postponement, but hopefully all is well in both tribute bands' camps, and there's plenty of time to get tickets now! Today's post otherwise wraps up this weekend's concert previews (including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related apology) plus some more recent news and notes, so here's what you should know on this Friday night!

Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will return to Thomson Farms Cider & Winery for a matinee gig on SUNDAY AFTERNOON, which is just two days removed from a gig that they played at the mill earlier today! Apologies for the short notice on SUNDAY's show and for missing today's gig, both were quietly announced via (sigh) Facebook "Stories" from band members' personal Facebook pages that I only stumbled across today. Thomson Farms only confirmed that Dos Amigos would be playing today from 5:00-8:00 PM on their Facebook page this morning, and in their AI-generated poster for SUNDAY's fall fair/farm festival events, they didn't even acknowledge live music, let alone Mikey & Dustin. In that sense, I do thank them for posting the "Story" confirming their involvement on SUNDAY, as even a temporary "Story" beats no announcement at all... I guess!

Today's concert was standard fare for their recent Thomson Farms shows, while SUNDAY's sees them play from 12:00-3:00 PM while attendees and family can partake in the corn maze, pumpkin patch, food and drinks, tractor rides, corn cannon, and more (Dos Amigos are not playing tomorrow). This is FREE & ALL AGES as usual, though note that 9&10 News is calling for 40-60% chance of rain that afternoon, which could push the show into the wine barn proper. Temperatures are projected to be 12-13° during showtime on SUNDAY. Visit the above links for more details, apologies again for missing Dos Amigos' show at Thomson Farms today, and here they are live!

Next up, let's roll back to TOMORROW NIGHT, as Halifax indie/pop punk quartet Customer Service will make their local debut at Blaster Powerhouse! A retro influenced band who fans of 2000s punk and scene music should easily take to their brand of "east coast emo", and they should go over well with local fans at the former Soo Blaster tomorrow night! Local openers will include ska/crust punk quartet ASDP (whose frontman Mikhal "Cha" Muto is putting this show on via Underground Events SSM) and rising hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe, while rapper Kodex is the surprise replacement for anti-folk musician Shae Tull on tomorrow's bill. A mix of styles that slowly gets more punk as the night wears on, so don't bypass this entertaining lineup! Doors open at 7:30 PM for this all ages concert, and admission is $20 through the local bands or The Rad Zone, with the door charge jumping to $30.

While tomorrow's concert is a week out from Halloween, Mikhal has no shows booked next weekend, so this is Underground Events SSM's Halloween party, and costumes are absolutely encouraged! If there is a costume contest, they haven't said so in writing. Whether you're dressed in your spooky best or not, visit the official Facebook event page for full details on tomorrow's action, and here's Customer Service live! 

Lastly for known and publically advertised hard rock concert in the area this weekend is the latest acoustic matinee concert from former Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison, which goes down on SUNDAY at Reggie's Place! Whether there will be Halloween theming or not, I can't say (Reggie's rarely posts on social media nowadays and Tym's faith may not encourage leaning into the season), but this show will be Tym's third-to-last at the Queen Street East nightclub for 2026, with a show a month following to send out the year. Hopefully there's a good turnout at Reggie's regardless, and Tym's talented as a singer and guitarist aren't in doubt! As usual for Tym's shows at this particular tavern, expect a 2:00 PM start time on Sunday (running until 6:00 PM), a 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live a few years back!

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

 

• Two months after leaving the former Primavera Hall location on Wellington Street West, The Full Throttle Saloon re-opened on Monday at their new Market Mall home! They are sharing space with Cravings Diner, and they have more limited space for patrons, with venue capacity limited to 40 people. Concerts resume there next Saturday when classic rock trio Flathead Ford headline their Halloween party, so click here for full details on the relocated Full Throttle Saloon, and best of luck to Rosa and staff!
• Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids classical metal band Theatre of Night will return to the stage for the first time in two years when they perform at The Frauenthal Center in Muskegon on Friday, December 11th! Unless they play elsewhere prior, this will mark the debut of new singer Aziza Poggi and bassist Alex Darwin, and this will absolutely be a Christmas concert. Will there be a Christmas tour to go along with it, perhaps with a show in the Soo? No clue yet, but if you'll be in Western Michigan and are up for the 5 hour drive downstate, click here for details!
• Just to clarify (partially), Soundcheck/Sidekicks bassist Dan Beaupre did indeed perform with his old Double Down bandmates Joel & Beej Syrette's acoustic band The T.R.I.P. at The Water Tower Pub in Sault Ontario this past Saturday, meaning that he was absent for Soundcheck's concurrent Jay's Piston Broke Pub show that night. I have not heard who filled in for Dan with Soundcheck that night (if anyone), but alas, The T.R.I.P. don't have known social media accounts and Soundcheck barely use theirs nowadays. Hopefully we hear more on both bands' fronts soon!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906, The Sidekicks, And TNT) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

Not the busiest weekend going for SMS-amenable concerts, possibly because Halloween weekend is more of a focus, but there's still enough shows this weekend to warrant two weekend concert preview posts. As such, we'll look at Saturday night's Customer Service and Who Made Who shows tomorrow, as well as Tym Morrison's Sunday matinee. Tonight's post focuses on a big multi-band show in the EUP and SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so let's lead off on the Canadian side of the border!

Local acoustic classic/hard rock cover duo TNT (Soundcheck's Terry Eaton and Travis Sharpe) will return to Beck's Bar for a matinee concert on SATURDAY! Apologies for the short notice, Beck's only announced the show in their weekly entertainment schedule post on Wednesday (two days late due to ownership's work on the Misty's Fifties renovations). Regardless, TNT still don't have a known public social media account to promote their gigs with. Trav n' Terry last rocked Beck's two weeks ago for the Thanksgiving long weekend (you may have seen "Stories" on Facebook from that gig). If you like Soundcheck and don't hate unplugged covers, then you will enjoy what TNT bring to the table! No word on if cajon player Rusty Barrel will join them on SATURDAY, but he is (at least) a frequent guest, and he was supplying percussion two weeks ago, as seen in the aforementioned "Stories".

SATURDAY'S matinee concert is at 3:00 PM running until 7:00 PM, it is a 19+ event, and there is no announced cover charge. No public/permanent and embeddable videos of Terry n' Trav(is) yet, but visit the above links for more on this show, and we'll let you know if more comes out on TNT!

Next up, who is playing at Beck's Bar on SATURDAY NIGHT? Local classic/hard rock cover trio The Sidekicks, and they'll also be rocking The Water Tower Pub for their Halloween party on Saturday, October 31st! Again, apologies for the short notice on THIS SATURDAY's concert, it was announced by Beck's when they announced the TNT matinee. Speaking of which, Travis & Terry welcomed Sidekicks bassist Dan Beaupre into Soundcheck not too long ago, so could there be any crossovers between the two bands at any point on SATURDAY? Fans last saw Dan, Tracey, and Steve together as the closing band at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in July (they are not seen on the weekend nightclub circuit as regularly as many other bands), with SATURDAY'S concert being their first at a standard indoor venue since May. As for next weekend, The Water Tower Pub's Halloween party will be 1980s themed, which will be right up the alley of many concergoers.

The Sidekicks do play their fair share of 1980s covers, and while the AI-generated rendering of the band likely won't represent their 100% attire, costumes referencing the decade are encouraged! There is also a teased costume contest (or "prizes", at least). THIS SATURDAY's Beck's show is at 9:00 PM (TNT aren't "opening" for them, there's a two hour gap between bands), the Water Tower Pub Halloween bash is at 8:00 PM, and both events are 19+ with no cover. Get more details on both events at the above links, and for a preview of THIS SATURDAY's concert, here's The Sidekicks live!

Let's head to Michigan for the back half of the post, and we'll next take the hour's drive west to Eckerman, where local hard/blues rock quintet Project 906 will return to the stage at The Strongs Tavern on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, both the band and venue only announced this show via different AI-generated posters on their respective Facebook pages on Tuesday. After a quieter-than-usual #summerof906, the guys will be playing their first publically advertised gig since the Barge Bash in Cedarville in early August, and their first concert at The Strongs Tavern in four months. Good to see Billy, Joe, Dustin, Jason, and Brian back at it, and this could be a good warm-up gig for their Halloween party in Rudyard next week! The Strongs Tavern doesn't book the same band on back to back nights, though note that Friday's 5:00 PM concert from Will Springsteen wouldn't conflict.

SATURDAY'S concert will take place at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Project 906's entertaining mix of hard rock covers should go over well at one of their favourite venues, so don't miss out on the action in Eckerman on SATURDAY, and here they are live!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #1, we'll head back east to Sault Ste. Marie, where the latest multi-band concert in the basement of Pizza Hut goes down TOMORROW NIGHT! Promoted once again by Serious Business, this show will unite three touring acts from points south and west, including headlining Detroit experimental/progressive duo MRKT, who will keep with the promoters' eclectic multi-genre tastes for sure. The other two out-of-town bands are no strangers to the EUP, including Marquette art punk duo Bimbo (who headlined a prior Pizza Hut show in May) and Muskegon punk trio Violet Scum, who you may recall from a Pickles Bar & Grill show in Brimley last year before Serious Business shows largely moved to the Soo proper. Your local openers are punk duo About:Blank, just two days after frontman Parker Talentino competed at the LSSU Battle of the Bands (fallout coming soon).

Parker & Kade were openers at both of Bimbo and Violet Fuse's past local dates, so they're ideal to call on for this show! Tomorrow's festivities at 2255 Ashmun Street will have a $15 door charge, a 7:00 PM start time, and an 18+ age limit. Hopefully there's a sizable turnout of punk fans at the Hut for this concert, and kudos to Brighton and crew for bringing these touring multi-band shows to the area! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Bimbo live (gotta love the lo-fi VHS 4:3 aesthetic!)

That's all for now, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The 2026 Lake Superior State University Battle Of The Bands!!)

The fourth annual Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands goes down TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice in two ways, as 1. the band lineup was only revealed on a staggered basis in recent days on LSSU's Arts Centre's Facebook page after registration closed on the 11th, and 2., the battle was quietly moved up a day from tomorrow to TONIGHT at some point last month (this poster is proof that the date was originally on Thursday, as the past three battles were). Regardless, this year's fourth (not third) annual battle will be the biggest yet, as not only are there a record high eight competing acts, but the prize pool is bigger than ever, with $1,000 going to the first place act, $500 for second place, and $250 for third! For context, first place bands previously only won $150. Kudos to Kevin and Pam Cooper for sponsoring the upgraded prize totals! If the same as past years, LSSU faculty and a student representative will judge on differing categories, with bands getting 15 minute sets, and competitors are allowed to play covers.

Of this year's eight competing acts, three are returnees from last year's battle, namely folk singer/guitarist Kevin Blakeney (the only act to have played at all four LSSU Battles), punk/hard rock duo About:Blank (fresh off of their third place finish at the Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands in Brimley this summer), and local rap duo Tunngtyed. Last year's battle was won by local acoustic rock act The Dynamic Duo, and while they're not technically defending their title (no winning band ever has), Danielle Petingalo and Ben Huyck have formed a proper four piece sister band named Dynamix to compete TONIGHT! Their lineup is rounded out by bassist Bill Spence (ex-Absolute/NoXcape) and drummer Dan Jackson, and they claim to play "rock, pop, and country", similarly to what Danielle and Ben play unplugged. Will electric instruments and a rhythm section ensure another win? Two more bands are playing tomorrow, one being Fusion Core, a jazz/rock sextet of teenagers, who did win a talent show at Sault High.

New and promising local musical talent is always welcomed, and members do play horn instruments, so it will be interesting to see how Fusion Core fare beyond being the largest and youngest band in the field! TONIGHT's other band is Whiskey Red, a new local classic rock/country duo out of Kinross featuring former Small Town Society frontwoman Holly Sibbald and ex-Full Throttle guitarist Jason Lamoreaux. Photos show them playing electric instruments, but come out to see what else they bring to the table! The field is rounded out by two more acoustic solo musicians, namely Hessel alternative rock singer/guitarist Adam Alford (who has original music on major streaming services) and Dee Homminga, who is active on stage and screen as a singer and guitarist. No solo act has ever won the LSSU Battle, but could Adam, Dee, or Kevin be the first?

The 3rd 4th annual LSSU Battle takes place TONIGHT at 7:00 PM as part of this year's Great Lake State Weekend. It is absolutely ALL AGES, with tickets running for $10 for adults and $5 for kids aged 10 and under, and you can buy them at this link if you don't want to pay at the door. As in the past three years, everything goes down in the theater at the far left of campus (basically Sault Michigan's answer to the SCTC). The field this year is wide open, and it will be interesting to see who joins The Sole Aggressors, Molly & The Other Guys, and The Dynamic Duo as victors of this annual event! Could About:Blank build off of their podium finish in Brimley? Can Dynamix kinda sorta repeat as champions? Is the fourth time a charm for Kevin? Can Tunngtyed impress despite being the only guitar-less entry this year? What about all of the complete newcomers? Find out who comes out on top TONIGHT!

Memo to Sault Ontario event promoters: If Sault Michigan and Brimley can each have successful multi-year battles of the bands, what's stopping a bigger neighbouring city from even getting one off the ground? No preview video today, as I don't want to give any inkling of favouritism in the competition, but visit the above links for complete details on this year's Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Hails), A New Local Punk Band, And More Recent Updates!!

Before we dive into weekend concert previews, here's a new news post for your Tuesday night reading, which includes some shorter recent updates, a new video, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and leading off, a new band making their debut later this month, so here's what you should know!

New local pop punk band Homeroom Hero have launched their own Facebook page, so now we can add them to our active local band links! Debuting on Friday, October 30th at The Art Hub At Spring when they open for The Reeves (details here) with a further gig coming next month at PetFest, Homeroom Hero are hyping themselves up big towards fans of early-mid 2000 pop punk and emo bands, which will definitely be a niche that has been underserved locally in the 2020s. Their lineup includes former No Shadows Cast guitarist Brian Lester, newer local guitarist Dennys Andrade, bassist Paul Fowler, and former As It Stands drummer/Forever Will Be leader Ryan McLaughlin. The band originally had ex-A Dire Setback frontman Larry Babic on vocals, but he has quietly departed Homeroom Hero for unannounced reasons, as per a recent Facebook Messenger conversation with Paul.

Hopefully nothing too serious happened with Larry, as he has been missed on stage since the late 2010s! In Homeroom Hero's first video on Facebook, you can hear their apparent new singer (a woman, based on the voice) covering the last chorus of The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright". Doesn't sound bad to me, but who is she, and will the band reveal her identity prior to Devil's Night? And what other covers do Homeroom Hero have up their sleeve? We'll know more soon, but check out their first audio teaser below!

Next up, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, this time an all-local show from Underground Events SSM on Tuesday, November 10th at The Speak Easy at Algoma University, and despite being on a work/school night, this will have a stacked lineup of five local bands, two debuting! Your headliners are crossover thrash trio Hails, while their former guitarist Mikhal Muto (promoter of this very event) will front his ska/crust punk quartet ASDP as co-headliners. Young hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe (or, if you believe the poster, $5 Bribe) will make their Speak Easy debuts here, while the other two bands are brand new. One is The Mario Kwon Quartet, a jazz outfit led by the musician behind the Yecharo solo project that some readers may recall from this year's Go Skate Day, while the other is a debuting skate punk band named Worst Case Scenario. I have no public details on them yet, we'll let you know if something comes out in the next few weeks!

Tickets are on sale at this link for $20, and the price is unchanged at the door, unless you're a current Algoma student with valid student ID, as you'll get in for half that price. The bands start at 6:00 PM and this is absolutely an all ages concert (the bar will not be open and they ask not to bring in outside alcohol). If you can swing coming out on a Tuesday, this should deliver the goods for fans of hard rock and punk, and it'll be interesting to get more on Worst Case Scenario, so visit the above links for more details!

Also today, the above poster (made by Mikhal) sort of ties into our next topic, as Eden Plague guitarist Mitch Sirie starred in this new Facebook video to promote their gig opening for Korpiklaani at Blaster Powerhouse next month. While ostensibly to hype availability of tickets (all members except Justin were credited in the description as having some to sell), Mitch spends most of the video criticizing generative AI usage, especially to advertise events. Veronica Miller of Mother North Studio designed the official poster for the concert, which came about after the former Bear Hunters disapproved of the AI-generated poster that the former Soo Blaster made for the concert (which you can still see on the venue's concerts page; I recall Mitch complaining that the AI program distorted the Eden Plague logo). To their credit, Blaster has used Veronica's poster for all promotion elsewhere since, including physical copies.

Mitch doesn't mince words about his distaste for generative AI posters, while also plugging his hairstylist and locally-made beard oil for good measure. I do agree that you should support real artists, regardless of medium, and I would rather see art made in a legit computer program or by hand, so hopefully we get more of that regardless of source! As for the concert promo, it did take a back seat for much of the video (still no word on who Free Drugs are), but getting Korpiklaani here all the way from Finland on November 7th will be huge, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Mitch's video!

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:

• Local rapper Kodex has replaced Shae Tull on the lineup for this Saturday night's Customer Service concert at Blaster Powerhouse, as per promoters Underground Events SSM's Facebook page. Unspecified "scheduling issues" were cited as to why Shae withdrew from the Halloween-themed concert, and hopefully all is well with her! Kodex's inclusion makes him even more of a genre outlier than Shae would have been at this majority-punk concert, but he is a talented MC, so don't bypass him, and our preview of this show will hit the site in a few days!
• A celebration of life for late local classic rock musician and American Federation of Musicians Local 276 union vice president Paul Leclair will take place at The Water Tower Inn on Saturday at 1:00 PM, as per this entry on SooToday's obituary page. This takes place eight months after Paul passed away at the age of 74, and I am glad to see that his friends and family will finally get a public chance to pay their respects and celebrate his memory. R.I.P. Paul!
• In another "Story" from Riverside Stasis frontwoman Tea Emlaw's solo Facebook page, she shared a brief clip of the band playing at Village Media headquarters this past Friday for the (slightly) relocated Village Sessions kickoff event. I don't understand why you wouldn't let everyone see and share the video whenever we want, but it did give some sense as to the intimate space of the event. Also, ex-Din drummer Brandan Glew was behind the kit for this gig, though the band still has not officially clarified on social media if he has replaced Anthony Boudreau or if he was just filling in. We'll let you know when they formally announce something!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!