LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Vaegon), New Videos, And More Recent Updates!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for missing local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub this past Saturday for coverage on the site. While the venue never plugged the show on social media, drummer Tony Santoro plugged it thrice on their Facebook group between June 5th and that afternoon, all of which passed me by at the time. I apologize again and will do better to keep tabs on their updates, but hopefully it was a big hit, and don't miss Generations at Rotaryfest next month, especially with the schedule coming out this week! Now, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, new videos, and much more from Sault Ontario in the last while!

Remember the era of Roosevelt Hotel metal nights in the early 2010s? Well, we're getting a return to the good old days on Sunday, July 21st, as the former Rosie (now known as Jay's Piston Broke Pub) will host touring extreme metal bands that night! Both making their local concert debut, the bands in question are technical death metal bands from western Canada, including Edmonton quartet Vaegon as the headliners alongside Vancouver quintet Exterminatus, who are touring Canada on the Particle Eclipse Canada Tour (named for Vaegon's newest EP). It's not hyperbole when I say that this will be the heaviest show to take place at Jay's/Reggie's West since The Rosie was sold in 2014, and between Vaegon's intense original material and Exterminatus' Cannibal Corpse-reminiscent sound, both containing groove metal elements, extreme metal fans should be right at home at 306 Korah Road next month, especially on Rotaryfest weekend!

Local support will come by way of young metal trio The BAG in their first announced show in three months, and if Facebook comment replies are to be believed, they were key in getting this show booked. Not an extreme metal band, but Spencer, Austin, and Bradley will set the tone well! This 8:00 PM and 19+ concert has $10 tickets, presumably available at Jay's and through BAG members. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on the brutality hitting Jay's next month, so metalheads can party like it's 2011 or so all over again!

Next up, here's the latest from local hard rock trio Bullet Train, who posted their newest at-home demo single to their YouTube channel two weeks ago! After a few weeks of teasers hinting at new material, they delivered with "Profit", which also has a music/lyric video giving us our first look at real (if monochrome) video footage of Cory, Bones, and Anthony on camera performing in this project! AI imagery also alternates with the performance clips, and sticking close to their past songs/videos, this one is very much focused on current issues, specifically the belief that it's more profitable for pharmaceutical companies to medicate illnesses than cure them. I am not qualified to comment on stuff like this, so I'll leave that to people who are, but fans of Cory's old bands like Sense of Truth will like the chugging riffs and melodic vocals on display, though I'll leave any analysis of the lyrics for others. Check out "Profit" for yourselves below!

Also, here's the latest from local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who return to the stage at Go Skateboarding Day on Friday, but this is very different. As you may recall, Shooters Downstairs Lounge hosted their first annual karaoke talent quest competition last summer, where ex-Re:Born singer Elly McWatters won the $1,000 first prize and a trip to Las Vegas. We don't actively cover 100% karaoke events here, but I did note last year that local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck had signed on as the judges for the event's duration. This year, Shooters have changed things up by enlisting rotating guest judges, and for night #1 on June 9th, the judges were most of HeadFirst! Everyone except guitarist Liam Dinsmore and drummer Anthony Boudreau headed to the Dennis Street nightclub to judge the competition, and they actually filmed the MC's introduction and the first singer for their Facebook page!

Again, I don't cover karaoke-only events here, but as HeadFirst filmed this and are featured on camera, I thought I'd at least acknowledge it. The video features singer Vix Vikken covering My Chemical Romance's "I Don't Love You", and while Vix didn't advance to the top 25 on their first shot, paid registrants can keep auditioning until the top 25 is filled out, so there is still time for Vix to match their top 12 run under a different name last year. Emo and pop punk fans will like the strong vocal cover here, so check the video at this link! I can't embed it here, as Facebook content matched the "I Don't Love You" backing track.

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

 

• Sporadically-heard-from local metal band Chronic Demonic made their first post about real band activity since 2022 on their Facebook page on May 31st, where guitarist Kevin Powe (ex-Fitswitch) revealed that he's "jammin' with my unnamed 3rd project" that also includes drummer Jonathan Harvey (ex-Gates of Winter), and he floated the idea of playing a joint show with all three of his bands. He didn't give the identity of the second band, but it could be the inactive Frightlight, who dropped out of a planned reunion set at the Northern Vibe Festival last year. It'd be great to see Chronic Demonic finally play a full concert, but visit the above links for more info!
• After seeing their album "Deconstructed" nominated for Outstanding Engineer (Dustin Goodall) at this year's Northern Ontario Film & Music Awards, local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich will hit the road for Sudbury next Friday to play at that night's Soiree d'Ambiance Artist Showcase at Le Studio Desjardins, one of multiple Northern Ontario showcase concerts taking place that weekend around the awards ceremony. Handsome Sandwich and North Bay punk band Peach Pact will be opening for Thunder Bay folk rockers The Honest Heart Collective that night. Best of luck to Handsome Sandwich and Dustin next weekend!
  
• Local metal concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment has relaunched after a six year hiatus! Ran by former Them frontman Tyler St. Amour, the company has been plugging events from other promoters in recent months, but confirmed on their Facebook page earlier this month that they are booking events for this year and next year, and are "pleased to be working" the It's The Pits Festival from Piecing It Together Shows in Leeburn this weekend. I don't know to what end Tyler is involved in It's The Pits, as it's not metal-centric like in H.N.E.'s early-mid 2010s heyday, but it's great to see him back promoting concerts in the Sault area!

 

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