December is now in full swing, so why not beat the winter blues and the heavy snow this week by occupying a venue? There's enough hard rock concerts in the Soo area to warrant extending our previews to a second post, so this weekend's Tym Morrison shows will be previewed next. Here's what you should know to start this weekend off right, including a pair of SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to The Water Tower Pub for another "uncorked" concert on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the band's Facebook page yesterday, and it is newly listed on their website's concert calendar too, along a handful of extra shows to end 2025 with! Also newly confirmed there are returns to Beck's Bar on Saturday, December 13th (a regular nighttime concert) and once more on Sunday, December 14th (an acoustic matinee, and thusly their last "uncorked" gig of the year), before they debut at... The Full Throttle Saloon on Friday, December 19th? If you're unfamiliar, the Full Throttle Saloon is the rebranded Primavera Hall at 256 Wellington Street West (not far from the Eagles Club), and just had their grand opening last week.

The Primavera Hall came up as a concert host very sporadically in the 2010s, but the saloon has been ramping up concert and events bookings in recent weeks, and they do still have the buffet! It will be interesting to see how Bone Yard go over in Steelton in a couple weeks, but before then, their first unplugged gig at The Water Tower Pub since October goes down on SATURDAY! That show is at 8:00 PM, the Beck's shows are at 9:00 & 3:00 PM respectively, the Full Throttle show is at 9:30 PM, all have 19+ age limits, and none have an announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details on your local 225's last bar gigs of 2025, and here they are live!

Next up, local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT themselves! Again, apologies for the short notice, this concert was first announced via the venue's December events calendar on Facebook on Tuesday, in which HeadF1rst's show is the only concert booked all month. As you may have noticed, Shooters have severely dialed back on hosting bands in 2025, with HeadF1rst really being the only band of note to play there since the spring, last rocking out there after game 7 of the World Series last month. No word on why HeadF1rst seem to be the only band that Shooters has anymore, but it'll be good to see their mix of hard rocking originals and old school-leaning covers on stage again on SATURDAY! Like Bone Yard 225, they were last seen at Toystock this past weekend. Note that Shooters' calendar posting hint at various holiday surprises given that we're in the Christmas season.

If any will arise to coincide with SATURDAY's concert, I don't know, but they do go all out for promotions when it comes to karaoke and dance party nights and what have you! Red, Rainey, Liam, Claire, and Anthony take the stage on SATURDAY at 9:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 have a previously announced concert TOMORROW NIGHT, which will see them headline  the Searchmont Ski Runners' holiday mixer at The Rockstar Bar! While the band considers this a "private event" on their website's calendar, the Ski Runners are publically advertising the mixer on social media. This isn't the first time that the Ski Runners have booked Silent 9 for a fundraiser at The Rockstar Bar that technically wasn't private, as they headlined their fall social in October 2023. Hopefully there's a great turnout to help their youth skiing program, and with the weather we've gotten this week, the skiing conditions shouldn't suffer this year! Note that The Rockstar Bar hinted at re-opening to regular nightclub service soon on Facebook in the past week, meaning that we could see bands playing there again there in 2026 beyond one-off corporate bookings like this.

Given the fundraising aims, this is a ticketed concert that will run you $35 (on sale at this link and presumably at the door), but advance ticket sales get you entries for a draw for Searchmont passes. This is a 19+ event, and a 7:30 PM start time is advertised. Visit the above links for more on the S.S.R.'s holiday mixer, and here's Silent 9 live!

We'll close today's preview post by heading south to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will take over The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen for their second annual "Drinksgiving bash" in Hessel (and in the Soo on Halloween night at The Merch), this will be the Fake Chow successors' first concert weekend at The Rapids Lounge since back in May. If you like a wide array of heavier-leaning rock covers, you won't want to miss out on Skip, Jody, Tony, and Jason's cover slates tomorrow and on Saturday, so don't miss out on all of the action this weekend! Whether you're placing bets on them kicking ass or not (I don't endorse gambling on the SMS), this weekend's concerts go down at 9:00 PM each night with no announced cover charges, and you must be 21 or older to attend. Note that the poster implies that "The Tony Rogers Band" is opening for Unfortunate Sun this weekend, a rarity for their gigs alone.

That would imply that their bassist (formerly of Clownsack, Shift, et al.) has launched an eponymous side project. I have not seen this corroborated anywhere else, let alone what Tony's band would be playing, but keep that in mind! Visit the above links for more on Unforunate Sun's Rapids Lounge stops this weekend, and here they are live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison previews and more on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Where Are The New Albums? December 2025 Update

For one last time (well, this year), here's our newest "Where Are The New Albums? post, as we're again looking at the current release whereabouts and public updates on albums in the works from Sault Ontario hard rock acts! No changes in entries from last month, but half of the six this time have updated information, as noted with their title in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!

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Bone Yard 225's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "F.A.F.O.", "Gypsy Spell", "Fuck!", "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (Mike Posner cover)

Background: After months of teasers that they were planning to record original music (as previewed in their live concerts prior), local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225 began releasing their own songs on major streaming services in July 2024, a whopping fifteen years after the pre-225 band debuted as a country cover quartet. Their first three singles (all recorded at their home studio) were posted online by January, though it took until May 2025 for the band to confirm on their Facebook page that they were indeed working on a proper album. It's not immediately clear if their existing three singles will be included, but it's not a given, as Jonesy Land fans saw with "Zoom-Out". As of August 11th, it was reportedly "album tracking time", while this video from three days later shows bandmates Alex D'Ettore and Warren Reville recording backing vocals for their cover of Mike Posner's "I Took A Pill In Ibiza". That will be one of "a couple of covers" for the album, as confirmed by frontman Greg Simpson during recent concerts. "Fuck!" was renamed "The F Word" on streaming services last month, but it's not clear if the less explicit name will stick on the album.

Current Release Status: In that Facebook post from May 30th, your local 225 said that "the album is coming along nicely", and they hoped to release it "by the end of 2025", but Greg has since adjusted the timeframe to "early 2026" when mentioning it during live shows. While singer/drummer Greg Simpson did release an EP with his old band Stiffler's Mom, it's hard to compare the release methods and schedule given that "The Demo" came out in 2004.  It is neat to see that Greg, Alex, and Warren are going all in on a studio album, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

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Bullet Train's upcoming EPs

Rumoured Songs: "Atmosphere", "Illusions", "Profit", "Wayside"

Background: The current hard rock band from former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchsion and ex-Fort Creek bandmates Robin "Bones" Lee and Anthony Fabiano, Bullet Train have existed solely as a studio band so far, releasing four original songs recorded at their own home studio to their YouTube channel in 2024, all very much influenced by their take on current events. After a quiet summer due to "life's trials", Bullet Train resurfaced on their Facebook page last September to reveal that they were working on two demo EPs, with the first one entering post-production as of the 9th, though it's not clear if their 2024 singles will be on them.

Current Release Status: No idea yet, especially as this band has no prior track record for releasing albums, though all three band members have experience writing and recording studio material to varying degrees. Bullet Train claimed in September of last year that a release date for EP #1 would be announced "in the upcoming weeks", but he band will hit a year without a public update on band activity on Christmas Eve. It'll be interesting to see if Bullet Train have more updates in store, so keep tabs for further updates!

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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite

Rumoured Songs: "The Cities Alive & It's Angry"

Background: Ever the prolific artist & songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore has been working on an extensive rock opera for years (once claimed to be a 33 part work), originally named "A Story About A Kid Named Todd". Worked on in between his other unrelated solo albums, released for sale or otherwise, Chase posted a lengthy elaboration of the rock opera in 2022, now titled "The Chaotic Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release timeline. Clips of songs have surfaced on his Facebook page, as have full songs not explicitly tied to the album, as well as the final artwork. In more recent promotion, Chase has hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final solo album as part of aims to focus on his personal life more than his prolific original material. Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.

Current Release Status: Chase elaborated on Facebook last summer that the album was 95% done earlier that year when the files "got trapped on my desktop's hard drive", and he had been unable to procure a backup of the material or recover the files as of that post. In any event, three of the full songs uploaded to Facebook in the previous year were clarified as not being planned for "The Chaotic Rite", but they could surface on a separate EP. Fingers crossed that Chase is able to save this album and put it out when able, especially given the years that he's put into the making of it!

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Convergence - In Bloom

Rumoured Songs: "Gemini", "In Bloom", "Breaking News", "It Ate The F&$%ing Moon", "Kraken Mara", "You Are Not Flesh", "The Ebb"

Background: Just over a month after releasing their sophomore EP "Dead And Dreaming", local progressive metal band Convergence announced in February 2024 that EP #3 would be named "Gemini", with its cover artwork being released at the same time. Teaser clips of most songs from the EP were posted on their Facebook page and their YouTube channel throughout much of 2024, but most prior media was wiped as they retooled as a full band, now including singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio and drummer David Peredun. Convergence have been working in studio recently with producer Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio, documenting the sessions in Facebook "Reels", and while they did get cagey about the endgame for the studio sessions, they have confirmed in concert that the EP (now named "In Bloom") is still in progress. Live versions of early instrumentals (now with vocals) have also been played in their early sets. A new version of "The Ebb" (first seen on their 2023 EP "One") with vocals will reportedly be released to streaming services on Christmas.

Current Release Status: No clue, and given the complexity of their music yet their independent studio trappings so far, that could bode a quick or lengthy timeline for "In Bloom" to come out, depending on what angle you take. Since their modern studio cycle commenced in 2023, things have been relatively steady for Brendan and Jake as a recording act, and here's hoping that Convergence keep that up for their third offering! 

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Fort Creek's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "One For The Road", "Sweet Rosie"

Background: Background: Local southern/hard rock band Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to record an EP since February 2020, but they wouldn't release any samples until almost two years later when they shared (now-deleted) clips of their original song "Hammer Down" on their Facebook page. The guys would play it regularly at concerts from 2022-2023, with studio sessions taking place in early-mid 2023 as well. After the departure of bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer Anthony Fabiano (both now of Bullet Train) in the fall of 2023, Fort Creek opted to abandon material recorded with them "as a show of good faith", and have been working on new material and rebuilding their studio over the past two years. Now featuring Phil Greco on drums, their first single (the acoustic "One For The Road") was posted online in January, with the band confirming plans to now record a 10 song album at Jettison Studios prior to returning to live concerts. Their new single "Sweet Rosie" was said to be coming next, and they teased being back in studio to record that very song as of August 31st.

Current Release Status: Prior release timelines for their debut EP reflected their early 2020s lineup's material, and Justin, Shane, Bill, and Phil have largely kept things somewhat close to the vest prior to putting out "One For The Road". There are a lot of unknowns, especially given the 5+ years of production time and their decision to basically start over in 2023, and that this is a band that was primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit before their rhythm section left. It will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned for updates!

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The Realignment Project - Let You Fall

Rumoured Songs: "Let You Fall", "Where Did You Go?", "Scatterbrain", "By Myself", "The Last Time You See Me", "Find My Way Out"

Background: The solo industrial hard rock project led by former Riverin frontman and Dirty Virgin drummer Matt Hicks, The Realignment Project got off to a fast start as a recording act, independently putting out three EPs in 2025 alone (January's "Afterthought", April's "The Frustration Sessions", and October's "War Songs"), Fans of T.R.P. will have noticed that Matt has begun songwriting and recording for future EPs before his next ones were even released, and that remains true for their next effort, as Matt confirmed on their Facebook page on October 15th that he was already tracking vocals for their fourth EP, and had began the demos for EP number 5.  Matt confirmed last month that EP #4 would be named "Let You Fall", and confirmed the final track listing on November 18th, which notably omits "What Have We Done", an instrumental released at the beginning of the November (unless he changed its name). Teaser videos of the sessions were posted on Facebook throughout the past month.

Current Release Status: Matt has confirmed that this EP will be released on major streaming services on January 2nd, surely making it the first local hard rock album release of 2026, and we may see a physical release on vinyl too (perhaps in combination with "War Songs"), as Mike is now working with East London Recordings to release the album in print-on-demand vinyl.  Follow The Realignment Project on social media for continuing updates, and we'll have more on "Let You Fall" in a regular post soon!

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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around January 2nd (incidentally, the release date of "Let You Fall"), while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next week. That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith's New Live Album Details, Plus New Headrush & Quite Frankly Videos!!

For our first news post of December 2025, we have some new videos and related updates from a selection of talented local bands, so here's what you should know on this snowy night!

To coincide with his second straight solo set at Toystock, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith did indeed release his and The Big Finish Band's new live album "Under A Moonlit Sky" yesterday! According to Mike's Facebook page, the album is available "EVERYWHERE", and by that, he means it's on the three major streaming services linked here as well as on Bandcamp, YouTube Music, and yes, even Boomplay, Qobuz, and Anghami. I'm not seeing Tidal, Napster, et al., so it's not truly "everywhere", but it's making the rounds! The album is on sale via iTunes for $9.99 and on Bandcamp for $10, though note that Mike hasn't updated Bandcamp yet to reflect the release yesterday, so the album is still technically only available for pre-order there, and only has the three advance singles available for free play. Until that's updated, go elsewhere to stream the album unless you're buying it. As a charitable tie-in beyond Toystock, Mike is donating money from streams of the live album to Christmas Cheer!

If you want to show your support for those in need, each Spotify stream will generate 15¢ until year's end, while $5 from purchases of "Under A Moonlit Sky" on Bandcamp will go to Christmas Cheer too, as will 10¢ per view of the full concert video when it goes live on YouTube (more on that in a bit). Recorded at Mike & crew's outdoor headlining concert at the Downtown Plaza on September 25th, the full album has 19 tracks, and in terms of the makeup, it has four songs from "All The Best In All You Do", three songs from "If Ever Comes The Day", two songs each from "Frequent Flyer" & "Bridges", The Din's "Missing", the band Haggith's mainstay "75", and Mike's two newest live songs "I Really Hope This Gets To You" & "No Love" (which aren't on any album yet). The other four tracks are the self explanatory "Guitar Adlib" and, as I suspected, three intro tracks, though all feature the band playing behind Mike's spoken word.

Note that Elly McWatters only provided backing vocals and tambourine for this concert/album (she hasn't been pictured playing guitar with The Big Finish Band all year). I'll hold comment on the album pending our review of "Under A Moonlit Sky" next year (now pencilled in for May, as I forgot about Handsome Sandwich's new album in blocking the album review schedule), but buy or stream it above, and as for the full concert video, Mike has shared a preview clip from that night to his Facebook page last week. High quality multi-camera footage and natural outdoor lighting sure help, but we'll have to see how the full show looks when uploaded. Check out the preview below!

We'll close this post with new live videos from classic/hard rock cover bands on the local bar circuit, starting with our first look at the revived Quite Frankly at a public concert! Uploaded to their Facebook page yesterday, this comes from their Beck's Bar debut on Saturday, and features a montage of clips from their sets that night, including covers of The Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel", Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me", Journey's "Any Way You Want It", Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son", and Collective Soul's "Shine". Alas, some of the videos here were shot vertically, and the video editor again put everything into portrait orientation, which means that the horizontal videos are pillarboxed and tiny. Why not make the video in 16:9 and force the vertical videos to be letterboxed so everything is as big and full frame as you can get?

I'd rather see full songs than 13-ish seconds long clips, let alone the vertically framed ones, but Quite Frankly sound good from what we can hear, and they had a solid turnout (look at the dancers during the Chris Stapleton cover!) Note that guitarist Frank LaTassa sings lead on "Wagon Wheel" & "You Wreck Me", while frontwoman Haley Alopaeus is on lead vocals on the other songs. Not a bad first step for Quite Frankly 2.0 after their 15 year hiatus, so check everything out above and below!

Finally for today, here's some new videos from fellow local classic/hard rock cover veterans Headrush's concerts at The Esquire Club this past weekend! These were publically shared to the band's Facebook group over the weekend. Two were Journey covers filmed by attendee Audrey Marshall on Friday night, including the guys playing the opening of "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Stone In Love", while bassist John Amendola posted a video of them covering AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" on Saturday night, which he appears to have shot himself from the stage towards his bandmates and the crowd. Not the first time that we've seen this vantage point at The Esquire Club, but it's still not every day where you get a band's eye view like that! I'm no Journey fan, but everything sounds and looks good, with Headrush playing to a packed house and with good energy, so give all three videos a watch above and below! The AC/DC cover is embedded here because Audrey's aren't allowed to be embedded externally for one reason or another.

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone! 

Our Extended Preview Of Toystock XII!!

Today's post is solely devoted to our extended preview of the twelfth annual Toystock, which goes down TOMORROW at The Grand Gardens North! Held annually since 2012 (the 2020-2021 pandemic hiatus aside), this special holiday concert event sees ten bands in ten hours donating their time to support Christmas Cheer, and as usual, donating for the cause is how you enter! Admission is via donating new toys, gently used puzzles, games, and/or books, new gift cards, mitts, scarves, hats, grooming items, or cash (nothing was said this year about non-perishable food). While The Grand Gardens is licensed and the bar will be open, Toystock is absolutely an all ages & family friendly event, and activites like face painting, arts & crafts, temporary tattoos, a play zone, and Christmas ornament decoration will be available along with the live music, and Santa Claus himself will stop by at 3:00 & 6:00 PM tomorrow, so I hope everyone has been good!

Yes, the Stuff-A-Bus will be on site once again. Visit the official website for complete non-musical details! Now, which ten bands will fill Toystock XII's ten hours? As usual, southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 (fronted by promoter Greg Simpson) will headline at 9:00 PM in their record eleventh appearance at the event, and all kudos to them and their colleagues for putting on this wonderful event once again! After playing the past two years in indie rock quartet Skinbox/The Haze, Steve Edwards & Brad Irwin have snagged the 8:00 PM co-headlining slot tomorrow for their new successor band The Reeves, where they are now joined by Long Shot alumni Adam Dawe & Jeremy Ganuelas. Time will tell how The Reeves sound compared to members' prior bands, but you can be the first to find out tomorrow at The Grand Gardens! At 7:00 PM, attendees can check out Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band on what wil be a big day for them!

Playing their second Toystock together and their first local gig since they rocked the Downtown Plaza in September, tomorrow will also be the release date of the alt-hard rock band's brand new live album "Under A Moonlit Sky", which was recorded that night. Mike and crew are donating proceeds from purchases and streams of the album to Christmas Cheer, which is a fantastic idea and well timed, so consider helping out whether you're at Toystock or not! Some of Mike's bandmates will play the prior set, as guitarist/backing vocalist Elly McWatters will front her country cover band The Drifters at 6:00 PM. Local country cover veterans Out & Out Country (featuring former Bone Yard drummer Ric Datson) will take the stage at 5:00 PM, and it is neat seeing Ric back at Toystock after three years away! Also debuting at Toystock tomorrow are indie rock quartet Jupiter Marvelous at 4:00 PM.

Notably, this will be Jupiter Marvelous' first show after the departure of guitarist Jacob Quarrell (formerly of Mike Haggith's band and Bad Chug), whose farewell gig with them is actually tonight at Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s Taproom. Best of luck to Jake in his next endeavours! Hard rock quintet and 2023 Toystock performers HeadF1rst will rock the Great Northern Road events hall at 3:00 PM, as preceded by cover rock quartet Separate Wayz (featuring singer Nicole Thibodeau alongside Soundcheck and Obsession alumni) in their Toystock debut at 2:00 PM. Debuting local blues/classic rock band Sunday & The Broken Hearts (replacing Redundant) will rock Toystock at 1:00 PM, and while not a lot is known about them yet, hopefully Jason Gasparetto & crew deliver a solid cover set for fans in the afternoon! Your openers tomorrow are online page-less blues rock quartet The Associates at 12:00 PM.

The Associates are back from 2024 and are this year's annual music school/store representatives, with Bone Yard bassist Warren Reville bookending tomorrow's band schedule as such. Musically, there's a lot to like this year, including six Toystock newcomer acts and a nice array of sounds for all tastes, so hopefully there's a great turnout with lots of quality Christmas Cheer donations! There's many needy families that will be extremely appreciative. Visit the above links for complete details on Toystock XII, here's Bone Yard 225 live, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Hells Bells & Tym Morrison), More Concert Previews, And Recent Updates!!

Tonight's post wraps up this weekend's hard rock concert previews, with the major exception of Toystock, which gets an extended look on the SMS tomorrow! For now, we also have some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE), plus recent updates, so here's what you should know! 

Joining his previously announced Fraternal Order Of Eagles Club concert TOMORROW NIGHT, local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will also rock Misty's Fifties TOMORROW with a matinee gig prior! Apologies for the short notice, I had held off on adding Tym's end-of-year gigs to our listings when there weren't any other concerts of note to add to our listings, but I forgot to add them before tomorow's was short notice. In terms of Tym's lengthy relationship with Misty's, fans will be able to catch the former Caveman Morrison frontman at the Second Line West nightclub TOMORROW and then thrice next month (December 6th, 20th, and 27th), all also Saturday matinees. Busy end of year for Tym, so don't miss out on his final four Misty's gigs this year, not to mention tomorrow night's Eagles Club show, as he plays his final double header of 2025, so he'll be heading to Steelton after things wrap up at Misty's.

Tym ends 2025 back at The Eagles Club on New Year's Eve, for the record. TOMORROW'S and next month's Misty's shows are all 4:00 PM events, tomorrow night's show at Aerie #3991 is at 8:00 PM, the Misty's gigs are likely 19+, and none have an announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here for more on Tym's year-end acoustic hard rock cover shows at both venues, and here he is live!

Next up, Barrie-based AC/DC tribute band Hells Bells will return to Sault Ste. Marie on Friday, April 10th at The Sault Community Theatre Centre! One of a handful of different AC/DC tribute bands to play here over the years, local fans will have last seen them as original AC/DC frontman Dave Evans' backing band in May 2019 at The Rockstar Bar, where they also played an opening set on their own accord, but they last played a full headlining date of their own here in 2015. Definitely moving up in the world to book the former Kiwanis Theater, and it will be interesting to see how big of a crowd packs White Pines for their brand of high voltage rock n' roll in the spring! This show has a 7:30 PM start time, it is definitely all ages, and tickets are now on sale for a flat $45.20 at this link, with all rows having seats available at press time. Visit the above links for more on Hells Bells' return next year!

Also, let's resume this weekend's hard rock concert previews by heading to Soo Blaster, where local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty will once again be the rock outliers on an otherwise all-hip hop concert TOMORROW, this time headlined by Guelph rapper Robbie G! This is effectively the sequel to Robbie G's shows here in April and in 2023 that The A.A. also opened for, not to mention the Tech N9ne, Madchild, and Afroman shows where Robbie and the band's paths also crossed. Clearly, these rap bookings for The Apocalypse Afterparty are going well, and hopefully they carve out another solid niche and make some more cross-genre fans tomorrow night with the double bass attack! Paul, Amanda, and Mikhal remain unacknowledged on the Facebook event page despite ample social media promotion on personal accounts (clearly they are the "& more"), but former As It Stands/Sault Side Squad frontman Justin "Nadj" Pregent is hosting.

Also performing tomorrow are Southern Ontario rappers M For The Movement with Capital "A" Plus and Lumberjack Pat, local MC Bold Noize, unspecified rappers from No Filter Records, and KG Tha SunGod. This is an all ages concert taking place tomorrow at 8:00 PM, and base tickets are $20 at this link or at the door, with VIP packages also available. If you like rap, there will be a lot of strong MCs here dropping rhymes, with a bit of a rock chaser from The Apocalypse Afterparty, so visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's the band 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:

 

• Sault Michigan hard rock trio (and Tarnished's all-original side project) Crush's most recent concert was out of town, as they opened for Tribe989 at Benet's Benefit Ride at the Bluegill Festival Pavilion in St. Helen (2 hours south of here) on November 8th. Not a lot was said about it on social media from what I found, but hopefully Crush and crew had a great show for the cause! 
• In a post on their Facebook page on Wednesday, The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub The Rockstar Bar revealed that they're looking for a DJ to work weekends there, and to send contact information if you're interested. Comments inquiring if the 864 Queen Street East venue was re-opening were not denied, so could we be seeing The Rockstar Bar opening to normal service for the first time since the summer of 2022? They spent the past 3+ years only hosting occasional private and ticketed events, as Silent 9 know well. This is encouraging news for sure, so we'll have to see what The Rockstar Bar has in store for 2026!
• I have replaced the link for 2012-2018 local hard rock quintet Skeyes of Seven from their (sadly) now deleted Facebook page to their still-up Bandmix page. Successors to the late 2000s hard rock band Sense of Truth, Skeyes of Seven had a lot of promise and solid original material, but only played five sporadic concerts. Don't miss Cory in Bullet Train or Alain & Johnny in Half Past nowadays though!

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Toystock preview on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Quite Frankly & Dos Amigos) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

For this final concert weekend of the month, and arguably the true start of the Christmas season, we have too many hard rock shows for one post once again, and that's not even counting Toystock on Sunday! That will obviously get an extended preview soon, but we'll also hold Saturday's Robbie G/Apocalypse Afterparty and Tym Morrison shows for tomorrow's post. Now, here's what you should know re: bands playing tomorrow in some description, plus SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local acoustic punk duo Dos Amigos will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT at The Whisky Barrel! Apologies for the short notice, the venue first announced this show via their Facebook page on Sunday, and Dos Amigos haven't updated their Facebook page in over three months. While their lack of public social media updates this fall doesn't mean they haven't played shows that just slipped past our radar, this will be Mikey & Dustin's first publically promoted concert as this project since late August, when they opened for The Golden Scoundrels at the same venue. If you like the idea of unplugged punk covers from the former Inner City Surfers and Rising Tide bandmates, then come down to Gore Street and beat the weather while enjoying some tunes! This is a 19+ show with no cover and an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Dos Amigos live!

Next up, reunited local classic/hard rock cover band Quite Frankly will finally play their first show since their reunion earlier this year on SATURDAY NIGHT at Beck's Bar! Again, apologies for the short notice, this concert was only announced via Beck's Facebook page on Tuesday when they made their weekly announcement of that week's entertainment lineup. As you may recall, Quite Frankly (a prominent if short lived local presence from 2009-2010) announced their surprise reunion in July, with guitarist Frank LaTassa, bassist Harley Syrette, and guitarist-turned-drummer Joe DelBasso now joined by singer Haley Alopaeus. While they have played at least one private gig since coming back, this will be your first chance to see Quite Frankly 2.0 on a public stage, following their cancellation of a Bruce Mines gig last month due to an unspecified band member illness. It will be interesting to see how Quite Frankly go over in their grand return after 15 years!

For reference, the SATURDAY matinee performer this week is acoustic singer/guitarist Nigel Cormier (also in his Beck's debut), but as always, he isn't "opening" for Quite Frankly. Nigel has his own full timeslot from 3:00-7:00 PM, ending 2 hours prior to the band's start time of 9:00 PM. Expect a 19+ age limit and no cover charge as usual. See above for more on Quite Frankly's return on SATURDAY, and here they are at a private event post-reunion!

Now let's move to shows that did have advance notice, starting with fellow local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush, who will return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! This weekend's shows come just over a month after the Johns, Wes, Gino, and Frank's most recent gigs at the same venue, though they did play at least one private gig (a stag & doe) in the interim. According to the official Facebook event page, Headrush have "new tunes on the roster (that are) guaranteed to keep you dancing", so if you want to see what's new in their sets, and if you will indeed keep dancing throughout, head to this west end favourite this weekend! As usual for bands at The Esquire Club, tomorrow and Saturday's shows are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Headrush live!

Finally for this preview post, let's head to Sault Michigan, where Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm will return to The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! With Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror, these will surprisingly be Scarkazm's first shows in Sault Ste. Marie since April, partially aided by the band taking the summer off from gigs in any locale. It's always good to see Adam, Dave, and Jeff delivering their hard hitting original and cover attack north of the Mackinac Bridge, and hopefully there's a great turnout both nights to send out November 2025 on a high note! As usual for Kewadin Casino lounge bookings, tomorrow & Saturday's shows are at 9:00 PM with 21+ age limits and no cover charges, and if you can't make it, they'll return to the St. Ignace Kewadin the weekend before Christmas. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here for more details, and here's Scarkazm live!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Joe Bedlam

For our last monthly feature post of the month, our newest YouTube Channel Profile is here, and it again features a spotlight of a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk artists/concerts! This month's selection is an official channel for a late lamented band who accomplished a lot and put out some really solid music in their heyday, so here's what you should know!

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Joe Bedlam (http://youtube.com/videosofbedlam)

Owner: A member or representative of 2008-2015 local hard rock quartet Garden of Bedlam, exact identity unclear (though note that no band member was named Joe) 

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 12th, 2010; Videos uploaded from July 2012 through January 2013

Channel Summary: An official YouTube channel for Garden of Bedlam from a six month stretch of the latter half of their active run (succeeding this earlier channel), fans can watch two live performance videos, a rehearsal clip, and a slideshow set to one of their studio tracks here.

Why You Should Watch: While not the largest source of Garden of Bedlam content on YouTube, this channel does feature some good content from shortly before their activity began winding down in the mid-2010s, and fans of theirs should take to the content on offer! I mean, as of this writing, they haven't played live in over a decade, which is hard enough to believe! 

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Garden Of Bedlam - Your Disgrace (live July 21, 2012): The first two uploads here come from Garden of Bedlam's headlining set at Rotaryfest's Second Stage in July 2012, in its penultimate year on a closed off section of Queen Street East before its 2014 hiatus and relocation to Clergue Park. As usual, the band is represented here by ex-Barfly/Changing Lanes frontman Erik "Buzz" Boissineau, guitarist Josh Belleau, bassist Evan Belleau, and future Wyld Stallyns/Even Flow drummer Derek Turner. The guys were filmed here playing two cuts from their 2011 album "Everything Will Die", including the title track and (featured here) "Your Disgrace". Camera work is a little shaky, but the performances are sound, and I miss hearing Buzz's powerful melodic vocals on stage! The Queen Street locale was more unique visually too than how Stage 2 looks now, but your mileage may vary.

 

Garden Of Bedlam - Everything Will Die (drum can rehersal): To help promote their Rad Zone birthday concert on Devil's Night 2012 at The Rockstar Bar, this channel uploaded a rehearsal video of Garden of Bedlam jamming "Everything Will Die" focusing on Derek. Interestingly, this isn't your typical "drum cam" video, as someone (Joe?) was actively filming Derek while holding the camera, not relying on a tripod or stationary placement, so it's quite jittery. The focus on Derek does let us see how solid of a drummer he is (I'm glad that he still performs live in different projects), though you only see part of Josh in frame for the rest of the band. The fan who shows up 30 seconds in sure got a good view of everything!

Garden of Bedlam Around the Bend: The final and most popular "video of bedlam" here is a slideshow set to their ballad "Around The Bend" (also from "Everything Will Die"), featuring ample photos of or related to the band's 2008-2012 activity, including live performance shots, promotional photos, band logos, and album covers. I do like my Garden of Bedlam heavier than this, but the song shows off Buzz's soft pure singing voice really well, and the slideshow gives a nice glimpse at the majority of their run together!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around Boxing Day for one more installment in 2025, and next month, we'll be looking at multiple channels, as the first randomly selected channel only has one video period, so I picked one more channel that had only two distinct SMS-relevant video to fill things out with. As such, we're ending the year with YouTube users kekeitba (featuring a Woods of Ypres song upload) and ChrisHubbard415E (featuring two solo guitar performance videos). Stay tuned for those then, and for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tarnished), The Unfortunate Sun Concert Preview, And More Recent Updates!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this wet Tuesday night, which is half devoted to Sault Ontario and half to Sault Michigan. We'll start south of the border as our Yooper readers gear up for Thanksgiving, so here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and a related mid-week preview, before we finish things up north!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Tarnished will rock The Merchants Bar TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this gig on their Facebook page earlier today, and as usual, The Merch don't advertise bands playing there on their own Facebook page. For Canadian reference, the Wednesday night booking is because Thursday is the American Thanksgiving, so most people will have the day off, and thusly can stay out late and go to the bar without impairing work or school (hence why some call tomorrow "Drinksgiving"). Tarnished have taken most of the past month off, so if you've missed Alex, Josh, Chris, and Ron's brand of hard rocking covers on a local stage, consider a mid-week jaunt to The Merch for their Thanksgiving pregame action TOMORROW! This is a 21+ event at 9:00 PM with no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live last year!

Next up, hard rock fans in the E.U.P. have one more opportunity to partake in a "Drinksgiving" concert TOMORROW NIGHT, but in this case, it had advance notice, as local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will set up shop tomorrow at The Islander Bar in Hessel! This is a reprise of their Thanksgiving Eve concert last year (also the last time that the Fake Chow successors played at The Islander Bar), with the venue calling it a Drinksgiving Party again, but the band are calling this year's event a "pre-stuffed party". Of course, you can get stuffed early if you want, but we know how Thanksgiving tends to go! Unfortunate Sun's lively and fan-friendly mix of hard rocking covers should draw another solid audience, so come rock out before you settle in for the parade, the Lions game, turkey, and more on Thursday! All of the action begins at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Unfortunate Sun live! 

Also, I have sadly moved Sault Ontario/Toronto punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke to our inactive band links. Guitarist/ukelelist Mikey Hawdon hasn't posted any updates relating to him and his uke since posting the finale of his 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's "Dookie" (the album's closing songs "F.O.D." & "All By Myself") one year ago today, though commitments to his family and local bands BookcluB & Dos Amigos shouldn't be overlooked. Originally launched during the spring 2020 pandemic lockdown as a series of loose solo ukelele "quarantunes" for social media, Mikey's covers quickly caught steam and eventually attracted guest musicians of an increasing scale, and these soon took on their final form as remotely filmed full band covers, with Mikey starting each on ukelele before dropping the pretense and rocking out on guitar. Mikey moved back to Sault Ste. Marie in June 2022, and based the project locally from that point.

There were no inklings last fall that the "Dookie" series was Mikey & His Uke's grand farewell, but if it was, he sure went out with a bang! Truly transcending his home base, the YouTube channel has over 42,000 subscribers, with 10 songs getting 200,000+ views, including the cover of The Ramones' "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" exceeding 930,000. These were always fun covers with cool names to recognize and discover from afar, so definitely check out Mikey & His Uke's litany of all-star covers above, and hopefully he picks up his uke again in the future!

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 station name:

 

• In a programming note for 104.3 The Fox, 2:00-6:00 PM weekday & 12-6:00 PM Saturday DJ Dan Koo has not been on air since (at the earliest) August 15th, with Rogers Radio regional content director and 101.9 The Fox (North Bay) DJ Mitch Belanger replacing him ever since. Assuming that Dan has left The Fox/Rogers, a reason for his departure was not announced (unless it was only on air), but hopefully this isn't a sign of consolidating operations from afar, as Dan was the only fully local on-air personality dating back to final years of Country 104.3. Note that Dan is still credited in his timeslot in the schedule on The Fox's website, albeit without a picture.
• If you follow the Up & Down Lounge on Facebook, you may have seen this vertical video from the 24 Second Line West bar & golf simulator lounge on Sunday, which features a very brief clip of classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 playing there. We didn't miss a concert of theirs (the Up & Down Lounge rarely hosts public concerts), as this was definitely a private holiday party, and the video seems mostly intended to promote that you can book private events there. Silent 9's clip is muted out in favour of a seasonal Drake/Wham mashup anyway. It looks like a lot of fun was had!
• Convergence frontman Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio finished in second place in last month's sixth annual The Soo's Got Talent! We didn't cover this year's due to it being all-karaoke (let alone that there was no house band for the finalists like the last few years), but congratulations to Stephen, who has a really strong voice that goes beyond his recent metal work! This year's winner was David Ikechukwu (a.k.a. Bobbie Lex), making him just the second male champion of T.S.G.T., while perennial finalist Demoy MacSamuels finished in third place, and Shae Levi (the only female finalist this year) finished in fourth. Congratulations to all six finalists!

 

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