Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will return to Huck's Pub & Grill in nearby Rudyard for one night only on Saturday, February 22nd! The show is the only new addition on their most recent concert calendar posting from January 2nd (again featuring the screaming astronaut motif) on their Facebook page, though the poster still includes their show at The Merch last month despite already having occurred. Next month's one-nighter will be Skip, Jody, Tony, and Jason's first stop in Rudyard since headlining a "hunter's widow party" there in November, though no word yet on if this new date will have a theme. If you like varied and crowd friendly hard rock covers, don't miss out on this show if you're in the area or wanna drive to Huck's, but fans will be able to see Unfortunate Sun this month in both Cedarville and the Soo beforehand! Next month's show is a 21+ affair at 8:00 PM with no announced cover. See above for more details!
Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for a selection of new videos, and we'll start with a new music video from dormant local death metal band The Bear Hunters' YouTube channel! Now, the song in question was released by guitarist Mitch Sirie's inactive solo project Sir Hell back in February 2023, and began life as a novelty song by his prior solo project April Eyes, but it is now being credited to The Bear Hunters, who memorably played it live on occasion in the early-mid 2010s. That song, of course, is the iconic "Squirrel Buddy", and the 2023 version features Mitch on all instruments aside from drummer Johnny Belanger, plus prolific local saxophonist Josh Norling for two solos. The music video appears to have been filmed as a Sir Hell video at first, complete with a (fake?) vinyl record copy of "Squirrel Buddy" being purchased, and the squirrel costume worn by Mitch in the cover art is worn by the musicians in the video.
The only on-camera tie to The Bear Hunters is their logo at the start, and the video doesn't feature Nik or Justin at all on camera (Johnny's Handsome Sandwich bandmate Rafael Medina plays bass in the video). Directed by former Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick, the video stars local folk/indie musician Juliana Regan as the titular squirrel buddy, who is seen working at The Rad Zone and acting like a squirrel, while also getting read the riot act from her boss (Big Finish Band/ex-Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi). The heavy death metal parts are basically presented as the squirrel's existential crisis, with dark mood lighting accentuating the musical performances, including Mitch & Johnny doing vocals in blue lighting, while Josh & Rafael join them to play the song proper in red lighting with the squirrel costume on. Fun little video for "Squirrel Buddy" that has some good imagination and lots of brutality from the original song!
What this video means for The Bear Hunters' 2025 activity and future is not yet public, but Mitch had posted on their Facebook page in July to tease that they were planning to release one more album and play one final concert. Given their massive slowdown in activity since 2017, you can't be too shocked that they're looking towards the finish line, but we'll have to see what the guys have in store ahead! Give the "Squirrel Buddy" video a watch below, and stay tuned for more from The Bear Hunters!
Finally, here's some new videos from local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush's Facebook group! On November 29th, the band played at Pioneer Construction Inc.'s Christmas party (complete with 705Live Sound Co. at the controls), and while this was a private event, bassist John Amendola did post two videos from it, though sadly, both are under a minute long and were filmed vertically. One has the band (minus singer John Anderson) covering Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" with the rhythm guitarist/keyboardist on lead vocals, while the other has them covering Sweeney Todd's "Roxy Roller" with John Anderson back on stage for it. The covers sound good while they last, and lead guitarist Wes Greco gets some good room to shine, but the length and orientation aren't ideal. Props to the guys for playing on despite that night's major snowstorm! If you want to see something from a public concert, Headrush have you covered too!
For their last shows of 2024, Headrush rocked The Esquire Club over the December 28th weekend, and the Friday nighter was filmed twice for their Facebook group, and in both cases, the videos are over a minute in length and horizontal! John Amendola shared their night-closing cover of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" from attendee Audrey Marshall's personal Facebook page, but embedded below is his own upload, which is a montage of clips of them covering Journey, Steve Earle, Eddie Money, and AC/DC songs (the latter is black and white for some reason, and the Steve Earle cover has John Amendola on lead vocals). I'd rather hear full songs, but what we hear sounds good, so check everything out below!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
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