LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Prince Fest), The Next LSSU Battle Of The Bands, And New Videos!!

In what will be a productive day re: knocking items off of our backlog that began building up last month, we have another packed news post today, including new videos from two bands seen on stage together earlier this month, initial details on a returning annual battle of the bands, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a new regional festival. Here's what you should know on this warm Tuesday evening!

A debuting summer concert festival in Prince Township (20 minutes west of the Soo) named Prince Fest goes down on Saturday, August 29th, and it will be headlined by Toronto-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer! While this is being co-promoted by DeMarco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse at 2667 Second Line West, Prince Fest will be an outdoor event in the adjacent baseball field at the corner of Second Line and Airport Road. Along with live music, advertising so far (the AI-generated posters linked here & here) indicates that there will also be local food and craft vendors, a beer garden, children's activities, at least one food truck, an on-site barbecue, a baseball tournament, and 3-on-3 basketball. More updates are sure to follow! Destroyer are by far the best known touring Kiss tribute to Sault Ste. Marie fans, having played here at least 6 times in the last 15 years, most recently at the former Soo Blaster in October 2023.

Good to see their faithful take on the Kiss back catalogue here again, if a little further west than you may expect! Local support will come by way of acoustic punk duo Dos Amigos and country rock solo musician Mike Robitaille, who has frequently played at the Boots & Saddles. Prince Fest is expected to run from 12:00-7:00 PM, it is absolutely all ages, and I have not seen any reference to a cover charge or ticket fee. 705Live Sound Co. will be on hand here too. Why not add one more community festival before the summer ends, and it's neat that one is happening so far west, so hopefully Prince Fest is a big hit at month's end! Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, get ready, as the fourth annual Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands returns to Sault Michigan on Thursday, October 22nd! Now, the official advertising on LSSU's Arts Center's page erroneously lists this as the third annual battle there, even though this is 100% year 4 (The Sole Aggressors won in 2023, Molly & The Other Guys won in 2024, and The Dynamic Duo won last year), so hopefully that gets fixed in time for the Facebook promotion to begin. Thanks to generous sponsorship, this year's LSSU Battle will have the biggest prize purse yet, as after three years of $150 and $50 gift cards for first & second place, there will be prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250 for first-third place! If the same as the last two years, judges (primarily made up of LSSU faculty) will assess the competitors, who will each have 15 minute sets to compete this fall. The past three LSSU battles had six or seven acts apiece, though 2024 was once slated to have eight.

Video auditions are now being submitted at this link, and while last year's battle curiously only had solo artists and duos, the raised cash prizes should ensure a wider swath of artist submissions. We'll let you know when the official competitor lineup is announced, but could The Dynamic Duo attempt to repeat as champions where the prior winners didn't? Admission for general attendees will be $10 USD ($5 for kids 10 and under), and yes, this is a Thursday nighter, as the previous three LSSU Battles also were. Two EUP battles of the bands in a three month span with $1,000 top prizes ain't a raw deal, so visit the above links for more details, and click here to buy tickets!

We'll head back to Sault Ontario for the back half of today's post to look at some new videos, starting with the first 2026 concert videos from local space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening! On August 1st, Andrew and Ralph played their first show of the year when they opened for 5 Dollar Bribe at a multi-local band concert at Blaster Powerhouse, and they shared photos from it the next day to their Facebook page. While they teased that "videos (are coming) soon", only one has followed since, a video shot by an attendee named Kayla of them playing "a little ET cover". Whether they mean ET: The Extra Terrestrial or not, I can't identify the 22 seconds of music being played here, but the chugging riff sounds good, and being a duo, they are better framed for the vertical dimensions! I'd still have zoomed in a bit more though. Give this a look below, and hopefully The Spaceship Opening have more videos soon!

Finally for today, let's look at some new videos from the aforementioned 5 Dollar Bribe, who spent some time posting some non-concert videos to their Facebook page in late July and into this month that largely call to mind their pre-debut viral/comedy uploads on Instagram. To promote the aforementioned August 1st concert at the former Soo Blaster, drummer Chase Chapman starred in this video from July 28th where he demoed a kickflip, and had some help from "Jimbo Jenkins". Watch the video to find out who "Jimbo" is! Another video followed two days later that started with an attempted cover of the intro of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine" before abruptly phasing to waking up in a field where Jayce and Tyler were, and beyond plugging the Soo Blaster show, I'll let you decipher what happened next! The day of the show, they posted an episode of "Dwayne's World" (one guess as to what they're parodying) where Chase was a guest of Dwayne and Garth(?) to promote the band and concert. 

Always good to see homages to classic SNL, even if needlessly letterboxed into vertical dimensions despite being a square video! Lastly, on July 31st, they covered At The Drive-In's "Patterns Against User" with Jayce on lead vocals, though for one reason or another, I can't embed it here. The level of covers that 5 Dollar Bribe will source from is always impressive, especially for their age, and they have a good tight sound on this post-hardcore deep cut, even if the video quality itself is fairly blurry. As it's apparently unembeddable, here's the "Dwayne's World" video, but give all of 5 Dollar Bribe's new uploads a watch at the above links!

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

A New Addition To Our Band Links, A Mid-Week Concert Preview, And Much More!!

In terms of our backlog clearout, yesterday's posts somewhat set us back, as one was a scheduled feature post and the other only knocked one topic off of the list. However, today's post will clear six items from our list, so here's what you should know via some recent shorter updates, a concert preview for tomorrow evening, and leading off, a belated addition to our band links and full coverage, so here's what you should know!

After their well received closing set on Rotaryfest Saturday last month, it's high time that we finally roll classic/hard rock cover trio The Sidekicks into our full coverage! The band has generally been cagey when it comes to sharing media and setlist hints from their shows, which is what has kept them out of our links for this long, but what they played at Clergue Park last month definitely points to The Sidekicks fitting based on bands that we already actively cover. Active since at least February 2020 when they played at the United We Jam! fundraiser right before the pandemic began, their Facebook page was only launched in August 2021, and they have had a steady lineup since then, featuring singer/drummer Tracey Hilderley (formerly of bands like Tripod The Dog, Boogie Fever, and Domina) alongside guitarist Steve Cardiff and bassist Dan Beaupre (of 100 Gran, Griphook, and Double Down fame).

Pandemic restrictions are partly to blame for their relative lack of shows from before 2023, and while they're not the most regularly seen cover band going, they're probably best recognized from their appearances at The Water Tower Pub in the past three years, along with scattered gigs at venues like Jay's Piston Broke Pub, The Dive Gastro Pub, and Beck's Pub (sorry, Beck's Bar). Tracey, Steve, and Dan have also been seen at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2023, that year's Bushplane Days, and a 2024 Summer Concert Series gig at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion. As noted above, The Sidekicks don't post videos of themselves on social media, perhaps with the thought process of "if you want to see/hear us, come to our gigs!", but from what I caught of them on Stage 1 at Rotaryfest last month, they covered the likes of Heart, The Cult, Pat Benatar, Sloan, The Scorpions, The Tragically Hip, and Judas Priest, among others.

The Sidekicks will be a unique band alone from having a frontwoman who sings and drums simultaneously, and while I did find that Tracey's vocals could be overly theatrical on more upbeat rockers, she adjusts well when songs call for it, and they do have some interesting cover selections that other bands don't tackle. Steve and Dan are solid musicians to match, and Steve is (to me) an underrated lead guitarist that I'm surprised isn't talked about as much. There is a new Sidekicks video to share from Rotaryfest shot by an external page that we'll address when we cover the remaining Rotaryfest videos, but click here to see our video of them covering "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" from last month! 

Next up, here's our latest mid-week concert preview concerning the prolific local classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison, whose weekly arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post continues TOMORROW! With five more shows to go for the former Caveman Morrison frontman for this seasonal run, tomorrow's date should provide fans with more unplugged rock favourites, so keep things in mind if you're in the area or are up for a drive north! If you'd rather see Tym on a better day for concerts or somewhere else, we will preview his next Desbarats show on Friday in this weekend's previews, plus his new late notice matinee confirmation for Sunday. These shows are 6:30-8:00 PM affairs with no cover charge or age limit, and as this is an outdoor event, 9&10 News is calling for sunny skies with temperatures in the 20-22° range. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

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

 

• On June 2nd, Kewadin Casinos' Facebook page announced a new series of upgrades at their five locations to begin that summer, including "bar and restaurant/deli renovations". However, in the linked press release, the only way that this may affect SMS coverage is that the Sault Michigan branch is getting a new sports bar that begins construction next summer. Is this replacing The Rapids Lounge or is this something that will exist alongside it? Time will tell, but see above for more on all levels of upgrades at Kewadin Casinos in the coming months!
• The local openers have been announced for Australian hard rock band The Lazys' headlining concert at Blaster Powerhouse in Sault Ontario on October 9th, and surprisingly, it will be folk/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels! They revealed their involvement last week via the poster for their Full Chisel Tour this fall, though note that the former Soo Blaster has yet to visibly corroborate this in the full concert promotion. While 3/4ths of The Scoundrels have experience in hard rock/metal bands, they are still an interesting genre contrast, so hopefully they help pull a sizeable crowd in two months' time! Tickets are on sale at this link!
• In two more examples of local classic/hard rock cover bands using Facebook "Stories" to share self-destructing vertical videos that I can't link to or feature here, Quite Frankly did so from their April concert at The Water Tower Pub (where they covered Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son"), and Silent 9 just did so over the weekend for a very blurry video of them covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" at a recent private event, with Jess singing on stage alongside an attendee. I will never understand why some bands and venues choose to share videos as "Stories" that can only be seen once or twice before vanishing into the ether, but alas, you may have missed those ones as of late!

 

 That's all for now, but stay tuned for another new SMS post later today! Thanks everyone!

Bush/Candlebox Concert Video Showcase!!

It took only three posts for us to head back to the EUP in terms of the focus of tonight's post, but this time, it's to look at videos from the Bush-headlined outdoor concert at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 18th! Despite concerns over the air quality index from the Northwestern Ontario forest fires (this took place concurrently with Rotaryfest Saturday), the show went on, and attendance was quite good despite the competition an hour north! It is worth noting that the Barenaked Ladies show last year also took place on Rotaryfest Saturday, so this is nothing new for Kewadin. Social media buzz from the show seemed positive, and the air quality was manageable in St. Ignace, but if you want to see for yourself, at least three YouTube filmers were on hand, though two only filmed Bush's set. We'll start with Dr. Death Defying, in his first ever concert videos.

Dr. Death Defying filmed the British post-grunge/hard rock quartet playing their songs "Glycerine", "Everything Zen", "Machinehead", and as embedded below, "Ghosts In The Machine". The framerate isn't too high, but Dr. Death Defying had a good view of the former BushX (ask a Canadian), if with a head or two in the road. I'm not a huge fan of Bush, but I will say that Gavin Rossdale sounds really good compared to their 1990s hit singles, and the stage lighing gives the show a big time feel, so check these out!

Next up, the YouTube channel named Echoes From The Stage was also on hand for this concert, and while they have extensive video uploads from major rock concerts in Michigan and Ontario, this video of Bush playing "Glycerine" in St. Ignace is their only local upload to date, so they likely aren't from this part of the state/province. This video has a much better framerate than Dr. Death Defying's take, and while the audio quality doesn't seem too hot, "Glycerine" was always a low-toned ballad and I think that's just how it came off live. Gavin's singing here seemed a little forced compared to their harder rocking songs too, but see what you think below!

We'll close with prolific Sault Ontario filmer Christopher Paci's YouTube channel, as he headed to St. Ignace for this concert after seeing Mid Life Crysis at Rotaryfest that afternoon. Chris' videos are last in this post because he's the only one of the three filmers that got Candlebox videos, but he by far has the most Bush videos here, filming 9 videos last month, including "Little Things", "Swallowed", "Glycerine", "Everything Zen", "The Land Of Milk & Honey", "The Chemicals Between Us", "Bullet Holes", "Machinehead", and as embedded below, the extended closing version of "Comedown". Filmed from one of the first few rows of seats, you do get the sense that Gavin's voice was getting run down by the end of the night, but the crowd was very receptive and happy to sing along, and the whole band have good energy and play these songs very well! As this was outdoors, it is neat to see the skies get darker.

You can tell during "Everything Zen" that the sun was setting, and while none of the the three filmers got "Human Sand" afterwards, it was black out from "Glycerine" onward, and I always liked that contrast! Check out all of the Bush concert videos (so far?) above and below!

Finally, Chris got four videos of Seattle grunge/alternative rock quintet Candlebox's opening set, and while they were in a support slot an hour south, it was nice to finally see them in our region 6+ years after their April 2020 concert at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin was cancelled due to the first pandemic lockdown! I wonder if anyone tried to see if their 2020 tickets could be transferred to this show? Chris filmed Candlebox playing their songs "You", "Far Behind", "Arrow", and as embedded below, "Change". Partially thanks to the steady daylight, the Candlebox videos give the best steady look at the crowd density up front, and the guys come off good in the videos here! Kevin Martin's voice has aged really well, and while only he and Peter Klett are still around from their heyday, the new band nails these grunge-era favourites, so don't miss Chris' videos of Candlebox's set above and below! 

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Skeyes Of Seven

Keeping our busy post schedule rolling as we enter a new work week, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This monthly feature series again looks at a local metal, hard rock, or punk act that was randomly selected from our band links, and this month's selection is full of familiar faces that you may recall seeing at a few scattered Sault Ontario gigs in the early-mid 2010s. Here's what you should know on them!

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Skeyes Of Seven

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock/Metal

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

Cory Murchison (Sense Of Truth, Bullet Train), vocals/guitar
Ron Baxter (Sense Of Truth), guitar
Kyle Sweet (Short & Sweet), guitar
Alain Fletcher (Half Past, Parabol), bass/formerly guitar
John Mignacca (As It Stands), drums

Mike Mannarino (Tripod The Dog), bass
Chris Thompson (Frightlight, Fitswitch), drums
Johnny Amendola (Soundcheck, Separate Wayz), drums

Audio/Video: Skeyes Of Seven were working on a debut EP (to be named "Stare At The Sky") at Deluca Sound Studios in 2014 & 2015, and while it never saw a proper paid release on CD or streaming, you can hear all six intended songs on their YouTube channel. Original songs named "Destination Unknown", "No One Cares", "Differences", and "Anything At All" were among songs that either didn't make the cut for or came after the EP sessions, while they did tackle select Sense Of Truth originals live, like "Crawling". Outside bands like Slipknot, Stone Sour, Breaking Benjamin, Tool, Audioslave, Mastodon, and Avenged Sevenfold were among Skeyes of Seven's cover range. Select additional videos exist on the band's surviving channels as well as Mike's and the SMS' YouTube channels. Here they are playing their song "Treading Water" at their last concert!

Info/Analysis: Sporadically active from 2012-2020, Skeyes Of Seven effectively replaced the shorter lived but more frequently seen Sense Of Truth upon their debut, with two past (and future) members of Half Past also being part of their initial lineups. Cory, Ron, Al, Mike, and Johnny debuted this new band when they opened for Anvil at The Canadian in July 2012, but would only play one further gig (with Garden of Bedlam at The Rockstar Bar in April 2013) before Mike moved out of town and Johnny left the band. With Al moving to bass and John Mignacca coming on board on drums, Skeyes of Seven ended a two year stage hiatus at May 2015's final Swampstravaganza at The Canadian, and played at one of the Gonqshow events at The Algonquin Pub the following month. Another two year hiatus followed, and the band (now with Kyle Sweet on second guitar) played their final show when they opened for Project 421 at The Canadian in November 2017.

Skeyes Of Seven resurfaced briefly in July 2020 when they entered "Detonate" into Corus Radio's $20,000 Summer Song contest, but they would not return in a public capacity after the pandemic restrictions eased up. Despite their longevity, Skeyes Of Seven were full of unrealized potential given their talent, experience, and modern hard rock sound, including technical and unexpected cover choices, and it's a shame that we only saw them five times in just over five years (all in support slots), let alone never got the full EP release. Most members have been active in newer bands in the 2020s, so follow them to see what they've been up to since, but hopefully Skeyes of Seven return down the line, and R.I.P. Chris! 

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, our latest random selection will give us a solo act for the third time in four months, and this time, we're looking at local progressive/hard rock musician and podcaster Mike Cliffe's dormant original solo project! Look for that on or around September 10th, and for a new video-heavy post on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

Dopethrone/Tribunal Concert Video Showcase!!

We haven't had a post 100% devoted to Sault Ontario since Wednesday, and it feels like longer given how many posts we've already has this month, so let's continue clearing out the backlog with a post dedicated to videos from a recent concert! In this case, this is one of the three recent SMS-leaning concerts attended by prolific YouTube user Christopher Paci that got backed up in recent weeks, as he was at Jay's Piston Broke Pub for the Dopethrone-headlined concert there on May 25th. While he only filmed seven videos at this Memorial Day concert, all four bands were filmed at least once, with the headlining Montreal "slutch metal" trio getting three videos on the evening. During their first local set in seven years, Chris filmed Dopethrone playing "Snort Dagger" and "Scum Fuck Blues" (featuring Tribunal guitarist Jessica Yang and Shit Liver frontman/promoter Josh Penno on guest vocals).

Embedded below is by far the longest of the three Dopethrone videos, which sees them playing their song "Dry Hitter". If you like your doom (er, "slutch") metal as slow and punishing as possible, you'll be glad to know that Dopethrone haven't lost a step in that regard since their 2019 date at The New A, and they hit all of the extreme notes while keeping things sludgy and low. Solid crowd too, so give Chris' Dopethrone videos a look!

Co-headlining in May was Vancouver gothic/doom metal quintet Tribunal in their local concert debut, and Chris filmed them playing their lengthy songs "A Wound Unhealing" and, as embedded below, "Incardine". Very distinct and eerie yet well layered and orchestral sound from Tribunal, who definitely looked like they left their mark on fans at the former Roosevelt Hotel in May, so give Chris' videos from their set a look above and below as well!

For the two local opening bands, Chris shot a video each, and one was of the one-off reunion of local grindcore trio Shit Liver in their first concert appearance since the Dopethrone show here in 2019. This was just a 15 minute bonus set and not a full reunion (Josh is busy leading The Golden Scoundrels nowadays), so Chris' video constitutes almost a third of this set. Two songs are played here, namely "Evacuation" from their 2018 album "Hitting The Fan" before an abbreviated cover of fellow local doom staples AlgomA's "Fell Down A Well", which Shit Liver covered on 2017's "Trading Faces" split. AlgomA's last show was also at the 2019 Dopethrone gig, so this was a cool nod to Boyd, Kevin, and Jamie in absentia! It is odd to see Josh playing these songs with short hair, but it must have been cathartic for him, Mike, and Matt to revisit their blistering 2010s chaos one more time, and fans definitely ate it up, so give this video a watch for yourselves below!

Finally, the opening band here was a band that Shit Liver know very well in and out of this Korah Road nightclub, as relaunched and renamed local death metal quartet Eden Plague (the former Bear Hunters) played their first show under the new name on this night! Chris filmed them playing most of "Bloodthirst", though unfortunately, he didn't film the minute-long instrumental intro. While not one of the new Eden Plague originals, there is something fitting about seeing Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny on The Rosie's stage, with that infamous pole, playing an early Bear Hunters staple once again all these years later, so give this brutal performance a watch below!

There's more to look at from Chris' channel as of late, but how soon will we have more of his recent hard rock/metal concert videos? Hopefully we'll know more soon, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

More New Videos & Related Updates From The EUP, Plus A New Live Video Of The Gambit!!

Here's another news post as we continue staying busy on the SMS this weekend, and it just so happens with our backlog clearout that we have a heavy focus on Sault Michigan and/or the Eastern Upper Peninsula again today. This includes a follow-up to recent coverage from a local battle of the bands and local musicians' involvement in an indie film premiering later this month, but we are capping things off on the Canadian side for a new live performance video. However, we'll start south of the border, so here's what you should know on this Sunday morning!

While featuring the video yesterday of Molly Escherich's Music In The Park set at last month's Superior Whitefish Festival, I realized that a video from last year's battle of the bands at this Brimley-based festival was also uploaded to her YouTube channel! While the Dafter-based teenage singer/guitarist led The 8th Fire to second place in year #2 of this battle, and she led Molly & The Other Guys to victory at 2024's Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands (more on this year's soon), the two battle runs bookended an off day for Molly as a local battle competitor. Molly & The Other Guys were revived with a mostly new lineup for 2025's inaugural Superior Whitefish Festival battle, but with five competing acts (four guaranteed prizes), Molly & crew surprisingly finished in last place. Possibly because of this, the video is now unlisted on YouTube, but it was publically shared to her Facebook page at the time. 

For this set, Molly was joined by returning Other Guy Nathan Webber (ex-Tarnished/Exit 808) on guitar, alongside bassist Destini Smith (who guested with Tarnished at the previous year's LSSU Battle) and Molly's brother Cayd on drums. Cayd was a very late replacement for About:Blank drummer Kade DesArmo (what are the odds on the similar first names?), stepping in that same day for his first ever appearance as a drummer in a live concert. Things started with a full band version of Molly's original song "Cheap Cologne", before Molly put down her guitar for a cover of Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Old Time Rock & Roll". and then picked up a tambourine to cover Paramore's "Hard Times". This was actually the entire set, and as Molly explained on her Facebook page at the time, they wanted "to give the band some stage time" despite the lack of rehearsal and the drummer change, so the set was heavily pared down from the expected 45 minute runtime.

The 10 minute length will likely explain the lack of a podium finish last year, but I did notice timing issues during the set, and to me, they picked two covers that would have suited having a second guitarist present (Molly or otherwise). Still, they did perform well and likely would have won cash had they played a full set! This would end up being the swan song for any version of The Other Guys, with The 8th Fire becoming Molly's new full-band concern last month, let alone her heading to Interlochen last fall, but she has a bright future ahead, and Nathan, Destini, and Cayd are talented musicians too, so give Molly & The Other Guys' 2025 battle set a watch below!

Next up, let's stay in the EUP by heading north to Sault Ste. Marie for... the premiere screening of an indie horror movie? On Saturday, August 22nd, Lake Superior State's Arts Center will host the premiere of Yooper Frankenstein, a locally-filmed and produced horror movie by local filmmaker Dave Cairns that was shot here from mid-2024. The movie will be screened twice that evening at 7:00 & 9:00 PM, and the movie will definitely be R rated for violence, adult content, coarse language, and disturbing scenes (it is a horror movie, after all!). Teasers from the shoot have been shared to the movie's Facebook group and across multiple YouTube videos, one embedded below, but why is this relevant to SMS coverage? Well, look at who is soundtracking the movie, namely Viscera frontman "Blind" Bob Quinn, X's & Y's/ex-Life's Eclipse guitarist Jason Mills, and ex-Half Stupid/Plastic frontman (and former Crooked Music owner) Zac Crook!

Blind Bob also has a small acting role in the film proper, and Zac is the film's music director. Zac and Jason have shared songs from the film to YouTube, and while what they have shared so far is atmospheric and feels inspired by 1980s horror classics, there will be some level of metal music, as heard in the teaser below from YouTube user gothicsoldier (listen to those drums!). A locally made horror movie in Sault Michigan is sure intriguing, and they've certainly put the work in over the past two years, but will this be horror's answer to Escanaba In Da Moonlight? See above and below for more on Yooper Frankenstein and the premiere in two weeks! 

We'll close this post with a rare live video from veteran Sault Ontario punk supergroup The Gambit's Facebook page! As you may recall, they played their first public concert set since Rotaryfest Stage 2 in 2024 on August 1st when they opened for 5 Dollar Bribe on an all-local bill at Blaster Powerhouse. This was just their fourth show period since changing their name from The Sick Sons in 2022, and given their stacked lineup and original material, it's a shame that they don't play more often. This video captures the last 2 minutes of what I believe to be a new original song named "Searching For A Signal" (if it's a cover, I don't know the original at all), and while the audio levels are too loud and staticy as filmed, it's an upbeat punk rocker that fits in line with members' past bands! Good stuff, and hopefully we're not waiting until 2028 for The Gambit's next gig, so give their new video a watch below!

That's all for now, but there should be at least one more post on the SMS later today! Thanks everyone!

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates & New Tour Videos From The Spring!!

It's been three months, so what have St. Ignace, Michigan deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown been up to since we last left off with them in early May? Surprisingly, not much, but too much time has passed, so let's get caught up! When we left off our last post on HLTC, they had just finished their multi-state spring tour run, and while the video that ended that post was sadly deleted from Facebook due to the new one month time limit on live-streams, a raw video of them covering "Friend" from the last gig at The Jordan Inn in East Jordan was shared to their Facebook page on May 5th. This features guest vocals from Jay Clemons (drummer of the Detroit-area metal bands Influence and Nothing After This), who had sang on this song on multiple gigs on this loop. Just as a reminder, new bassist Bubba Hillz did not join this tour, and this was among the shows that didn't even have a guest bassist present.

Bubba is still in the band's profile and cover photos on Facebook, but they haven't always been transparent when it comes to lineup changes, so we'll have to see if he is on the low end when they return to action. What we see and hear in this clip is suitably chaotic, and Brandon and Jay add to the brutality with their joint screaming, so give this a watch below!

Later that day, frontman Brandon West starred in this horizontal(!) update video from his vehicle where he noted that they're taking a week off after the tour, but would soon "push for new music", as they "have developed a new sound on the road". Specifically, he noted that they want to remove "a lot of our slower songs, and, like, happier songs", and even namedropped certain originals that they removed from their set on this tour for that reason. While not bad songs, he said that they wanted to find "our focus of our sound", and you could infer that Heavy Lies The Crown want to be faster and heavier going forward. I hope this doesn't mean a loss of melody in the trade-off, or that they completely disown songs like "*69", "Notions", and "Road To Detroit"! Three days later, Brandon asked in the video embedded below where fans want to see them tour when they hit the road next.

Specifically, Brandon sounded optimistic about touring out-of-state again, particularly in Wisconsin. Brandon did directly note wanting to play more shows in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but said that through his contacts to that point, it was hard to get a foot in the door an hour north unless you were a weekend bar cover band (he should contact Serious Business or Soo Tang Records, and if able to cross the border, Sault Ontario promoters!!) If you can help get HLTC booked locally or elsewhere, or play on the same bill with them, message Brandon above, and check out the video below!

After asking for new merchandise suggestions on May 14th, Heavy Lies The Crown took a month+ break from updating their Facebook page, returning via the upload of this video on June 20th from an unidentified concert, of Brandon draping a t-shirt over drummer Blaze Beairl's head mid-song, and he kept on drumming without missing a beat. The loud staticy noise and 12 seconds-long runtime do not help, but it's fun for what it is! Two days later, a longer (if still very short) video from their show at the Petskull Brewing Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on April 29th was shared, featuring 27 seconds of Brandon, guitarist Jaxon Massaway, and Blaze (no guest bassist here) rocking out. The corner-stage angle is a unique look at the ferocity, with Brandon being a powder keg of energy here, so check out this brutal but short look at a rare out-of-state gig a watch below!

To close, the band's most recent video is from June 23rd (they have been idle from Facebook for well over a month now), and it features them playing 15 seconds of "Rewind" at the tour kickoff at the Eaton Rapids Craft Company on April 24th. This show was one of the early ones here that did have a guest bassist, namely Emily Barnett from the Athens metalcore band Fault Of The People. While brutal with Brandon's energy levels and screaming at top levels, this is far from ideal, not just from the length. For one, the stationary camera looks like it's pointing at the wall beside the stage, so you only see Brandon and Emily in frame, with the focus on Brandon's back when he's facing the crowd. The audio sounds dubbed in in post, which is proven by vocals being heard when Brandon's mic isn't at his mouth (note that the video description does say "Rewind edit"). Why not trust the raw audio, especially for 15 seconds?

Despite the brevity, the file's runtime is over 24 minutes long, which is otherwise a black screen. I felt like I was watching the finale of The Sopranos! If you do want to see a better angle of the stage (despite the identical length, vertical orientation, and cartoon cowboy hat added in post), click here for an earlier Eaton Rapids video that we featured on the SMS in May. With the teasers of longer/fuller videos and even vlogs from the tour, I do hope that Heavy posts more when they're ready, but the teasers sure leave you wanting more, so give everything so far a watch above and below!

We are now surprisingly caught up on Heavy Lies The Crown despite the three month gap, but hopefully they emerge from their dormant summer in full force, so stay tuned for more from them in the future, and for more news and notes on the SMS next week! Thanks everyone!