LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Headstones & Tarnished), New Videos, And More!!

With a big new show announcement within, today's post features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on both sides of the border, along with new videos and a couple of other recent notes, so here's what you should know on this Wednesday night!

Sault Michigan classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished are scheduled to rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, February 21st & Saturday, February 22nd! Our source is Kewadin's entertainment page, whose schedule is updated through the end of the month. These will be Alex & Josh's second and third shows of 2025,  and their first at the Soo Kewadin in over four months, when they were late fill-ins for Risque there in early October. Good to see the guys back with some advance notice, and hopefully everything goes smoothly for their hard hitting classic covers and originals next weekend! No word on if Chris Leask and Ron Suchey will sit in as the bassist & drummer again, as they have at every non-battle of the bands set of Tarnished's since the fall, though be advised that the band has not corroborated these bookings on social media at press time.

We'll let you know if anything changes! As usual for bands rocking The Rapids Lounge, expect a 21+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, and no cover charge across both nights. Visit the above links for more on Tarnished's next two headlining dates as they continue what should be a big year!

Next up, here's yesterday's big concert announcement for Sault Ontario, as Kingston punk/alternative quintet The Headstones will headline at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Saturday, July 19th! While this show is presented by Sault Michigan's Rock 101, local radio listeners tuning into 104.3 The Fox will have heard a lot of The Headstones in the past month thanks to their 1990s hits like "Smile & Wave", "When Something Stands For Nothing", and their cover of "Tweeter & The Monkey Man". Fronted by Canadian Screen Award-winning actor Hugh Dillon, this will be their first known local concert appearance since 1997, when they headlined at Algoma University's T-Bird Lounge, which is a long time coming. Thanks to 104.3, I've gotten a crash course in The Headstones in recent weeks, and their sound jumps well from darker themes to punk rock to Tragically Hip-esque commentary, and it'll be neat to see them under the big tent this summer!

Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers (who opened for Monster Truck at Soo Blaster in 2019) will make their long awaited return as openers on July 19th. Solid band who don't play out here enough, so don't bypass them in five months! Presented by Cabin Media Entertainment, tickets for this 7:30 PM and outdoor-ish concert go on sale on Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, though I have not seen a clear reference to ticket prices as of this writing. Between this, Our Lady Peace, and Big Sugar headlining the Go North Festival (more on that soon), 2025 is proving to be a big year for domestic rock music here, and hopefully The Headstones' show is a huge hit! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, here's a new video from Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun's Facebook page! Posted last week, this comes from one of their headlining dates at The Merchants Bar over the I-500 weekend (either Friday, January 31st or Saturday, February 1st), and it sees them covering Seether's "Remedy". Filmed from side-stage to what looks like a good audience, this cover is well handled for the video's minute+ long runtime, but Skip's vocals are higher than I'm used to for Seether songs, so adjust accordingly. Check out Unfortunate Sun's newest video below!

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

 

• This was surprisingly never mentioned on the SMS when it happened, but Sault Michigan rock radio station Rock 101 quietly replaced The Core with Meltdown on Sunday evenings with hardDrive with Lou Brutus at some point in the last few years. As opposed to the 1990s-centric The Core, hardDrive is a bigger syndicated show focusing on modern hard rock, and Lou gets some big scoops and interviews, so it'll be some welcome variety on Sundays, especially if you want newer stuff than the Classic Rock Sundays rotation on 104.3! You can hear hardDrive on Sundays from 7:00-9:00 PM, while The Core can now be heard online at this link on Sundays at 9:00 PM.
  
• I have moved local/Winnipeg classical metal project Sell This! to our inactive band links, as they have not issued a public update since their release party for their album "Empires Everywhere" at The Distraction in January of last year. Led by former RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski, Sell This! were previously active in Winnipeg in the early 2020s, where they put out three EPs, before Pete moved home with Sell This! in 2023. While his vocals weren't always that rangy, Sell This! were a unique entry into the local scene with their industrial influences & politically charged lyrics, and hopefully we hear more from Pete soon!
• I can't embed it here because it is a "Reel", but local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 posted a highlight video of songs from their Bon Soo set at The Machine Shop this past Friday onto their Facebook page! In order, you'll see fragments of their covers of Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams" (with Jess dancing with Mr. Bon Soo!), Post Malone & Morgan Wallen's "I Had Some Help", Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", Walk The Moon's "Shut Up & Dance", and Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Despite being a "Reel", the clips within have were strong performances with good energy, so click here to see everything!
   

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