LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rust & M1), The Clutch Concert Preview, And Exit 808 Updates!!

Today's post features a bit preview for a notable E.U.P. concert and recent fallout from another one, but leading off, we have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS concerning upcoming tribute band concerts in Sault Ontario, so here's what you should know!

Calgary-based Motorhead tribute band M1 will make their local concert debut on Wednesday, July 9th when they rock Beck's Bar! This is the first instance of a touring band of any genre to headline at Beck's since opening in April, and it comes by way of a tribute to hard rock legends that you don't often see tackled here beyond the occasional "Ace of Spades" cover by local acts. While M1 don't necessarily look like Lemmy and crew, they have the sound down well, and if you check out their videos on their Facebook page, they do a good job in mimicking Lemmy's gravelly vocals in particular! When Beck's announced the show on their Facebook page on Monday, they indicated that there would be an opening band, but we await public confirmation of their identity. This 19+ concert will be an early-ish night (ideal for a Wednesday) with the openers starting at 7:00 PM, and there is NO COVER CHARGE.

It's not every day when a touring band plays a free show in the Soo, let alone a tribute band, and hopefully M1's take on Motorhead draws well at Beck's in three weeks, as it may lead to more touring acts playing at the former Vibe Lounge in due course! Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, there's more tribute hard rock action ahead this fall, as Sudbury's Rust: A Tribute To Rush will rock Soo Blaster once again on Saturday, October 18th! Fans may recall seeing Rust rock the same venue in November of last year, but their members are no strangers to the Soo, as the Kuthy brothers also perform in Just Leppard, who have played Def Leppard classics here four times since 2019, including at Soo Blaster two months ago. Rush fans will enjoy Rust's faithful take on the progressive rock legends' catalogue once again this fall, and hopefully there's a sizeable turnout at Soo Blaster once again for Rust's local encore! Notably, Rust plan on playing the "Moving Pictures" album in its entirety in four months. Like last year, tickets run for $25 online and at the door, this is an all ages event, and there is an advertised 8:30 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, let's get a slight jump on this weekend's concert previews by way of a major headlining concert in Sault Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT, as Maryland stoner/hard rock band Clutch will make their way to The Dreammakers Theater at the local Kewadin Casino! Well known among metalheads (if not necessarily mainstream rock radio) for songs like "Careful With That Mic...", "The Mob Goes Wild", and "10001110101", Clutch's melodic & bluesy but rough edged brand of hard rock stands on its own, and it'll be interesting to see how things go tomorrow in their local debut! Part of me is curious to hear if there's a normal amount of Canadian attendees given the current political climate and tariffs, but we'll have to see in that regard. Opening for Clutch tomorrow are Nashville southern hard rock quartet Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown and Washington D.C. folk/country musician Nate Bergman. 

The performers definitely get heavier as the night wears on, but Tyler and Nate are talented artists, so don't be late! Clutch frontman Neil Fallon even plugged the show directly to fans in this "Reel" on Kewadin's Facebook page, which is neay! Presented by Rock 101 (who have played a fair amount of Clutch on air in the past four months), this stop on Clutch's Full Ahead Flank MMXXV Tour is all ages with an 8:00 PM start time, and this is the rare standing room only concert at The Dreammakers Theater. Tickets run for a flat $55 USD at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. Should be a good time, and a definite change of pace, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Clutch live!

 

We'll stay in the E.U.P. to end today's post, courtesy of a new video from local hard rock band Exit 808! They kicked off their summer concert season at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino two weeks ago for their only truly local dates of this month, and it sounds like everything went well for Exit 808, aided by a bachelorette party taking place on the Saturday nighter! As per their Facebook page, they welcomed two guest musicians for the weekend, namely About:Blank/ex-Tarnished guitarist Nathan Webber (himself a founding member of Exit 808/Double Jack) and Project 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins on bass. While he was tagged in this post featuring photos from the weekend, Blaze Beairl appears to have missed these shows again, but he did rejoin them for their Walloon Lake concert on Saturday. A video was posted from the Saturday the 7th show, so what can you see there?

The video (sadly shot vertically) sees Exit 808, Nathan, and Joe covering the abnormally popular 4 Non Blondes' song "What's Up?" with Amy Beach handling lead vocals. I'll never quite understand how this song is such a popular cover choice (Sault Ontario bands cover it a lot), but it does have that crowd sing-along quality, whether I get it or not. The filmer was more to the side of the stage than we usually see from Northern Pines Lounge videos, and while I'm not a fan of accentuating empty crowd levels on the floor, they do eventually zoom in. Not my personal cover choice, but give Exit 808's newest St. Ignace video a watch below!

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

Spades GT Album & Concert Updates From The Last Two Weeks!!

It's been a busy two weeks for local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, with both live concerts and hype for their upcoming studio album "United" to address, so what have the guys been up to since we last left off with them on June 3rd? The following day, the band announced details for their album release party at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto in July 5th, confirming there that the opening bands will be York Region punk band G.F.U. and guitarist Daniel Horton's other band The Fast Life, both of which have played with Spades on numerous occasions since their 2021 relaunch. The rest of the concert updates will primarily interest fans in the G.T.A., but keep it in mind if you'll be down south then! On June 6th, the former Jack Spades revealed the cover artwork for "United" on their Facebook page, which features a black spade-shaped jigsaw puzzle with four pieces, one not in place. Shouldn't it be completely "united" like the album name?

Are the four puzzle pieces a reference to the band's then-four members who recorded the album (they were in between bassists during the recording sessions), and if so, does the ajar piece represent one of them specifically? Liner notes for the album were also shared, hinting that the album will have at least some level of a CD pressing. As seen in this image shared from the liner photos, the band thanked a number of names, including producer Kyle Marchant (who produced both of the Spades GT-era albums at Room 21 in Toronto) and graphic designer Brandon Ross of BJR Graphics (who made the album artwork), but the other names may hint at the album's guest performers. One is former Spades guitarist Jay Sarrazin, who was shown in a teaser video from the recording sessions, and another is Fast Life frontman Andrew Moorehouse, who (like Jay) also guested on 2023's "Sewer City Radio".

Spades had said on their Facebook page in February that the last day of recording sessions would feature "gang vocals", but never posted a teaser video from that day, so is that a hint as to Andrew's contributions here? Also credited is Julien Dos Santos, a.k.a. Mersinary, a rapper from the G.T.A., confirming the band's tease in April to have "a wicked feature" from the hip hop label Reel Wolf Productions. Should be an interesting styles clash there! Current Spades GT bassist Sean MacNab is thanked as well, and is included in the band photography in the liner notes, but he joined the band a few weeks after the sessions wrapped up. If we hear that he will be included musically on the final product in some form, we'll let you know! In their first of three concerts this month, Spades returned to their Barrie homebase on Wednesday to open for drummer Tyler Reiner's old band Selias at The Queens Nightclub, so what should you know from that night?

Frequently teased as "the last one (in Barrie) for a while" in the lead-up, their usual vertical recap video from the proceedings was posted to their Facebook page on Friday the 13th. The first half is focused on the guys mingling outside of the venue with locals while hyping up the concert proper, and what appears to be a studio track from the new album can be previewed underneath the video itself. In the second half, we see the guys setting up for and playing at The Queens, though why the jazzy instrumental track, I couldn't tell you. Why not have the raw concert audio in the recaps? It's still recapping the show just as well, moreso if we can actually hear pieces of the set! Still well edited, so give it a watch below!

Also on Friday the 13th, Spades GT revealed the official track listing for "United" on their Facebook page, with all eight songs confirmed in this image (likely the back cover of CD copies), though we don't yet know which songs have guest performers, let alone if Daniel will be on bass for all songs on offer. The advance single postings still await (the title track drops first on Saturday), but the second advance single is spelled "Demons", so the prior reference to the song having an A in the title was obviously a typo. Lastly for this post, the guys rocked Windsor for the first time that night when they opened for Devilz By Definition at The Cherry Rock Lounge. As plugged beforehand with this video of the full band hyping the show outside, the Windsor recap video made it to Facebook yesterday, this time with over 6 minutes of vertical action! The first 2½ minutes captures the band's commute to Windsor.

A lot of references are made to the guys being very close to Detroit and the American border, which is old hat for J.D. and Dan given their years in the Soo! For a change, we do get some raw live audio from Spades' set, as we see the guys playing "Sewer City Radio" at the 3:42 mark, albeit for just 19 seconds. The video ends with the guys remarking on their set, hyping their next show in Toronto, playing arcade games and even arm wrestling inside the venue, and heading home, but not before a stop at Tim Hortons. I'd still prefer full songs to heavily edited recap videos, let alone vertical ones, but this is an improvement on the Barrie recap video in every way for what I like from local artist videos, so give it a watch below!

We're caught up anew for Spades GT updates, but with two Toronto shows ahead and a new album release, fans will soon be "united" in anticipation for their new studio material and more big happenings, so it'll be interesting to hear what J.D., Daniel, Matthew, Sean, and Tyler have in store in the coming weeks! Visit the above links for more from Spades' camp, raise 'em up and cause a scene, and stay tuned for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

Local Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

Let's dive into a video-heavy new post at the SMS, which includes live videos that I missed from two big concerts in the last couple of years, and some footage from recent local concerts, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with an apology for a show that I missed for our last round of weekend concert previews, as local acoustic classic/hard rock band Dodge This played at The Dive Gastro Pub on Saturday night. The venue first announced the booking on their Facebook page via their June concert calendar on the 7th, but that completely slipped me by over the past week, complicated by Dodge This not plugging this show at all on their own Facebook page.  I profusely apologize, things always get busier for the SMS in the summer, but hopefully their latest stop in the "Naughty Corner" was a hit, and don't miss them at The Water Tower Pub on Friday! However, we do have a new video to share of the guys covering The Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy" with Jamie July on lead vocals, as shot at their Beck's Bar gig on May 3rd, though only uploaded it on June 6th to promote their return to Beck's the following night.

The 22 seconds long and (sadly) vertical clip features lots of close angles of the guys, including percussionist Jeff July, Jamie's brother, who was quietly 100% confirmed on their Facebook page in September as being a member of the band, despite their profile photo still just crediting Jamie & Jason. From what we hear of the "Hey Jealousy" cover, it sounds good and how you'd expect it to unplugged, and the filmer got some nice panning shots of the interior of Beck's, so check it out for yourselves below!

Next up, here's some videos from North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks' headlining concerts at The Machine Shop in 2023 and 2024! I found these belatedly when looking up his Hope Air fundraiser concert at the Bushplane Museum earlier this month, and I apologize for not finding these until just now. These were shot by attendee Brian S for his YouTube channel, which we previously touched on here when Brian filmed at Pop Evil and Theory of a Deadman's most recent local concerts. From Cory's local debut in July 2023, Brian got just one video, of Cory and his band playing his original song "Blame It On The Double", and if you're still questioning the heavier rock credentials for Cory, this video opening with a brief cover snippet of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell" may help! Unfortunately, all of Brian's Cory Marks videos are vertical (granted, few of his uploads aren't), but he was close to the stage and you get a good view of everyone on stage!

The frame rate seems somewhat low, but from Brian's vantage point, you see what you need to see, and the fans are well crammed in on the floor for this one! Solid performance for fans of this modern wave of country rock, so check it out for yourselves below!

Brian upped his video count for Cory's return to The Machine Shop in September of last year (in his most recent uploads to his channel), though like in 2023, he did not film local openers Silent 9. Last fall, Brian shot Cory and his band playing "Blame It On The Double" again, as well as "Keep Doing What I Do", and as embedded below, "Outlaws & Outsiders", which appeared to end his set. Compared to 2024, Brian has a better (re: front row) angle of the stage, but there is more of a sense that he's pointing upwards as a result. Still, these are strong renditions for fans familiar with Cory's music, and he has a good audience rapport, so check these out above & below, and we'll have more from the Hope Air show soon!

Finally for today, here's some new videos of local hard rock quartet Half Past's debut at the aforementioned Beck's Bar in April! While their cover of Tool's "The Pot" was posted to their Facebook page at the time, that and more were also uploaded to bassist Arthur Lacasse's YouTube channel, which exclusively has videos from that night of the guys covering Alice In Chains' "Them Bones", and as embedded below, Thousand Foot Krutch's "Lifeline". Unexpected band choice in a few respects, but they handle that song and "Them Bones" well, and the video quality is as good as on the Tool cover, so fans will have nothing to worry about! Check out Half Past's newest live videos for yourselves above & below!

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

Details On Three Brand New Local Album Releases!!

Remember when we had a two years-long backlog for new album reviews from 2022-2024? Well, another one is loading up for mid-late 2025, as no less than three SMS amenable albums from local musicians were just released in the span of three days! Here's what you should know on all three for this stacked Sunday morning post!

In what may be a surprise announcement for many, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith released his 53rd studio album to his Bandcamp page on Friday, but there's a story here! In mid-2023, you may recall Mike launching his own e-mail subscriber program, where members called "Frequent Fliers" get a weekly e-mail featuring essays from Mike about his music, personal life, and day job as a commercial pilot, along with membership perks for album discounts and deals, plus a "secret album". Starting in June 2024 (I was in on this right away), "Frequent Fliers" got a letter a week in their subscriber e-mails for a password to unlock songs for the album, named "Frequent Flier". Based on my e-mail content, I knew precisely what was going on and what the album would have in it, but as it was a subscriber bonus, I didn't actively cover the "secret" album here... but what would happen when I had all nine songs?

Answer: Mike would unveil it to the public the following week, but "Frequent Flier" isn't as openly accessible as his other recent albums. The album is only available to buy in full at once on Bandcamp, and only three songs ("Brand New Day", "You Are The Sun", and "Home") are available to listen to for free there. It is not on other major streaming services, so if you want to hear the other six songs without being on the Frequent Flier program, you will either have to buy it on mp3 format there for $10, or buy physical copies on CD or vinyl for $20.40 or $51.90 at his new ElasticStage store for his MorningStar Records catalog (no more Kunaki). Otherwise, you can get everything for free...gradually, over the next year, by signing up for the program! If you like Mike's solo music already, you'll enjoy his essays and personal thoughts about life, music, and flying airplanes there, and the longer you're a Frequent Flier, the better deals you'll get for his online store.

A e-mail fan club exclusive album is very new territory for the SMS, but Mike has the dedication and fan connections to make it happen long term, and the proof is this album, as it did legitimately take a year for each song's password to arrive in my inbox letter by letter! If you don't want to wait, you can pay to hear the full album right away, but fans should sign up for all you get, and who knows, we could get a second "secret album" down the road! Buy "Frequent Flier" or join the program above, and check out the lyric video for "Brand New Day" below, courtesy of Mike's YouTube channel!

Next up, Friday the 13th proved to be a good day for local album releases, as Sault Michigan metal solo project X's & Y's put out their sophomore album "Ruination Coactive" as promised that day as well! The follow-up to last fall's "Obsidian Dream" can now be heard for free on Bandcamp, YouTube Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify, representing a wider initial launch than their debut had, if not technically available "everywhere". If you want to actually buy Jason Mills' new album (released through AFR Records once again), it costs $3 on Bandcamp, $7.92 on iTunes, and $10 on CD. With Crooked Music now closed, contact Jason/X's & Y's directly if you want to buy physical copies, as I don't know if any brick-and-mortar stores in the E.U.P. would be carrying them. "Ruination Coactive" is a concept album themed around the classic Nintendo Entertainment System game Contra, with the songs inspired by each of the game's levels.

It's great to see Jason acting so fast to get his second proper paid album out (especially after the Werehold-era false starts), and given the Contra ties, there should be more interest from you metalheads who also love classic gaming! Along with another pre-release visualizer video for "The Gemini Machine" from the new album, X's & Y's proper YouTube channel has a full album upload in a single video, so check it out for yourselves below!

Finally, here's another new album release, as Sault Ontario folk punk solo project Agnosticism released their own new EP today! Project leader Mikhal Muto announced the album, named "Atticcore Fornication", via their Instagram page on Thursday (remember, this is Agnosticism's only social media account), where Mikhal said this would be their "last release for quite some time while I focus on other writing projects." Hails fans' ears may perk up at that statement, but Mikhal always has multiple irons in the fire! "Atticcore Fornication" is Agnosticism's fifth album & fourth EP on major streaming services, and first since last year's "A Letter Of Resignation", though Mikhal said that half of the songs are 2-3 years old now and he doesn't necessarily agree with their lyrics now, but wanted to finally get that material released. The EP does feature guest vocals from Kayden Simon on "Nightmares".

Kayden's unknown to me, but he played guest bass with Mikhal at an upstairs show at The Distraction in May of last year. You can now stream "Atticcore Fornication" for yourselves on YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and yes, even on Boomplay. If you want to actually buy the mp3 copies, the six-song EP is on iTunes for $5.94. Fans of acoustic/folk punk and emo will definitely be curious to hear Agnosticism's new material, and check out the EP's first song ("Sea Of Discontent") below!

With all of that said, what is the short term album review schedule for the SMS? I had pencilled in X's & Y's for this month already, so that's not changing, but Mike Haggith will now be slotted in for next month. I had already scheduled the new Realignment Project album "The Frustration Sessions" for August, so as to not review the same band twice in six months, so that would put Agnosticism in for September, and would shove our planned review of Spades GT's "United" (releasing next month) to October. Hey, our schedule is pretty well set in stone now, which is good! That's all for today's stacked all-new album release post, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone! 

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Ikons Of Rock), More Weekend Concert Previews, And New Videos!!

A slight delay for this second weekend concert preview post, but it is supplemented with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this fall and some new videos from another band playing this weekend, so here's what you should know on this Saturday morning!

Winnipeg/Las Vegas classic rock tribute band Ikons Of Rock will make their local concert debut on Sunday, October 5th at The Sault Community Theater Centre! This wide ranging tribute pays homage to hard rock legends from the 1970s onward, and as you can see in promotional materials, members (including Harlequin & Streetheart alumni) dress up as the covered legends in questions, with an emphasis on heavier artists, including female rockers and even going as recently as Rob Zombie! Ikons of Rock's multimedia-friendly live show is sort of a "jack of all trades" approach that you might recall from Las Vegas residencies, and there's definitely lots of talent in their ranks, so it will be neat to see them at the former Kiwanis Theater this fall! Unlike the newly announced Steve-O show at the S.C.T.C. this fall, tickets have not went too fast yet, so there's plenty of good seats available for Ikons Of Rock!

This all ages concert has a 7:30 PM start time, and tickets are only being sold in the lower area, not the gallery. All seats have flat prices regardless of location, those being $65 for adults and $55 for kids 12 and under or students with valid student ID. As of this writing, there are open seats in all rows, so act now before things start filling up! Get yours at this link or at the in-person box office at Station Mall, and visit the above links for more details!

Next up, let's finish up this weekend's known hard rock/punk concert previews, starting with new local acoustic punk duo Dos Amigos' involvement in the Lot & Loaded Parking Lot Jam outside of Forty Five Social TONIGHT! This is an outdoor acoustic concert taking place during/after the Sault Ste. Marie Festival Of Beer down Queen Street East, which has bands of their own at the Downtown Plaza (as previewed in our last post), so the 117 Spring Street men's clothing store is capitalizing on the festivities by hosting concurrent live music along with offering cocktails behind the store on their patio and attached parking lot. Of course, Dos Amigos bandmates Dustin Jones & Mikey Hawdon are also playing at the Festival Of Beer at 3:30 PM with their alternative punk sextet Bookclub, so it'll be a busy day for them!

Dos Amigos play at 7:00 PM when the Festival of Beer is slated to end, with veteran local singer/guitarist Jay Case headlining at 9:00 PM, while folk artist Matthew James at 4:00 PM, Pillory bassist Blair St. John at 2:00 PM, and country musician Marty Frolick at 1:00 PM will kick off the program at Forty Five Social. Nice change of pace and alternative for music (and beer) fans today, so keep all of the action in mind downtown, and Dos Amigos' unplugged punk covers should find an amenable audience! Lot & Loaded is a free event, and 9&10 News is currently calling for mostly cloudy weather at 17° with no chance of rain. See above for more details, and no public Dos Amigos videos yet, we'll let you know when there are!

Lastly for this weekend's hard rock concerts, we'll zip across to Rudyard, Michigan, where local hard rock quartet The Nameless are advertised to return to Huck's Pub & Grill TONIGHT! Now, I do want to preface this by noting that the band has not publicized this concert on social media, and also did not do so for their advertised Huck's concert last month, while Huck's Facebook page hasn't acknowledged this show at all since this concert calendar from May 9th. At the same time, no one has said that it isn't happening, so I'll treat it as on unless otherwise stated, but it is odd that The Nameless would promote their recent shows at The Merch but not these. Assuming all is well, tonight's Rudyard gig will be The Nameless' second there with their current lineup, and their first show anywhere since the end of May. They are a talented hard rock band with lots of fun covers, so don't miss them tonight!

Notably, veteran local country musician Gary Hatch is playing a matinee concert today to tie in with Huck's customer appreciation day (complete with a pig roast!), but this is a separate 3 hour concert, and he isn't "opening" for The Nameless. That said, Huck's recent "nighttime" concerts have all had early start times, usually at 6:00 PM, tomorrow included, so don't be late! Expect a 21+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Nameless live!

Lastly for this post, let's look at some new videos from local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst in advance of their debut at Beck's Bar tonight! To promote the concert, one more teaser "Reel" was shared to their Facebook page, which features frontman Red Jettison and guitarist Rainey Rancourt standing outside of Beck's physical signage while debating ways to get the word out about tonight's concert. Rainey has many ideas, but will Red like any of them? Find out there, and then go see them on Goulais Avenue tonight! For something longer and embeddable, the band posted a second music video from their new album "Road Trippin'" onto their YouTube channel on May 28th (apologies for the two+ week delay), and this time, it's for the song "Steam"! Red compiled this video entirely out of public domain black-and-white cartoons from the 1930s, expanding on that concept after using an early Disney cartoon in the "Slay The Dragon" video.

This video was edited around cartoons that had something to do with trains given the song's allusion to steam engine trains, namely the Looney Tunes short Porky's Railroad and the Fleischer Studios cartoon Betty In Blunderland (a pre-Hays Code cartoon, at that!). I'm a classic cartoon buff, so I approve of re-appropriating public domain cartoons from Porky Pig & Betty Boop in this manner, and while I might prefer actually seeing HeadF1rst in their own video, Red did a good job editing this to match the song. Check out the "Steam" video below, and you may hear them play it tonight at Beck's!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison & HeadF1rst), Plus Weekend Concert Previews!!

Let's tackle another round of weekend concert previews on the SMS, though due to the amount, we'll push Saturday's Dos Amigos and Nameless concerts to tomorrow's post. Just for clarification, cover rock quartet Separate Wayz (featuring half of Soundcheck's final lineup) are at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this weekend, but we still await confirmation of their sound/setlist, while Sault Michigan's Tarnished are playing at the annual Michihistrigan Rendezvous motorcycle rally on Saturday in Gould City, which is a 90 minute drive from the Soo and thusly outside of our coverage range. Keep these dates in mind if you're interested though, but let's lead off with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst are the latest local band to debut at Beck's Bar, and will do so on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, we only learned about this booking via Beck's Facebook page on Tuesday, but the band first announced it on their Facebook page on Wednesday of last week, getting lost in the shuffle as we were focusing on that week's concert preview cycle. According to the band's Facebook page, "we're kicking off our tour" with this concert, their first since their album release party at Soo Blaster last month, though a planned Sudbury road trip was cancelled for last week. To promote the concert, drummer Anthony Boudreau stars in this Facebook "Reel" where he is seen having a spit take after leaving Millie's Mini-Mart nearby before checking out Beck's for himself. It's more hype for the venue than the band, but it's great to see that Beck's is catching on!

It's great to see HeadF1rst back at it, and hopefully SATURDAY'S debut at this new-ish west end venue is a blast for fans and regulars alike! This week's 3:00 PM Saturday matinee is Dodge This/ex-Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer (no idea if his solo sets are basically one man Dodge This gigs or not), but this is a separate concert earlier in the day and he isn't "opening" for HeadF1rst. SATURDAY'S HeadF1rst concert (a one-nighter due to Friday DJ nights) has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Next up, Sault Ontario classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will return to Beck's Bar for another matinee gig on SUNDAY! Again, apologies for the short notice, this gig was also only announced via Beck's Facebook page on Tuesday, but in this case, Tym quietly added SUNDAY'S concert to his batch Facebook event page for shows there, along with even more dates! His scheduled August 31st show was cancelled for unannounced reasons (granted, you could argue that it was rescheduled to any of the new dates), but the two new bookings are both Saturday matinees, which will see Tym rock the former Vibe Lounge on Saturday, June 21st and August 9th! He is scheduled for two further dates in the fall but we'll hold those for now due to the timeframe, so our concert calendar isn't clogged with one act's shows that far out. Good to see Tym getting lots of new bookings at Beck's, THIS SUNDAY'S included, so don't miss his busy summer slate!

As usual for matinees at Beck's (Jason Taillefer on Saturday included), Tym's shows on SUNDAY and ahead are all at 3:00 PM with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!

Moving to shows that had advance notice, it's a busy weekend for local alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB, who will rock The Prince Township Pavilion TONIGHT to kick off Prince Township's summer concert series for 2025! This show is on the borderline of our coverage range going west, so it'll be a slight hike for fans in Sault Ontario proper, but their fun blend of atypical rock covers and ample live experience will serve them well at this outdoor-ish venue! The all ages show takes place tonight at 7:00 PM at 3042 Second Line West with a rare $10 cover charge. After that, Bookclub will perform at this year's Sault Ste. Marie Festival Of Beer at the Downtown Plaza on SATURDAY, where they are the only SMS amenable band playing this year's also outdoor-ish festivities for craft beer patrons and vendors on Queen Street East. The lineup was announced on Facebook last week, so who else is playing?

As per LopLops' Facebook page, the nominal headliners at 6:00 PM are local DJs (also opening the day's program at 12:30 PM), while musical performers include Winnipeg indie pop duo Sundayclub at 4:30 PM, BookcluB at 3:30 PM, and a mystery local band named The Catalina Wine Mixer at 2:30 PM. This show is free to check out at the Downtown Plaza with mostly cloudy weather of 14-15° projected by 9&10 News, as well as a 20% chance of rain. Hopefully things hold up there as they should tonight in Prince, so visit the above links for complete details on the Festival of Beer and tonight's concert, and for a preview, here's Bookclub live!

Finally for this preview post, we'll stay downtown, as local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These will be their first public concerts in two weeks (also at Reggie's), after cancelling their "uncorked" show at The Water Tower Pub this past weekend due to a double booking. They have since heavily implied that they were playing a private event on Saturday (as teased in this Facebook video from that evening), so now you know what was going on. Good to see the guys back and plugged in at Reggie's this weekend, and hopefully these two "sermons" deliver all of the old school rock action and originals that fans are hoping for! Yes, Bone Yard did tease on their Facebook page on May 30th that "the album is coming along nicely", and they hope to have it ready by the end of the year. First I heard that they're working on a full album, which is great news!

Time will tell if their existing three original songs will be on it, but hopefully things go according to plan for your local 225! Tomorrow & Saturday's Reggie's shows have 19+ age limits, no cover charges, and 9:30 PM start times. Visit the above links for more details on Bone Yard's gigs this weekend, and here they are live! 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Generations) & Our Lady Peace/Collective Soul Concert Videos!!

Before we kick off another packed stretch of weekend concert previews, here's a new news post to check out on this Wednesday evening, featuring a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month and some very belated videos from a major concert earlier this year. Here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will make their first appearance at Beck's Bar on Saturday, June 21st! This show was first announced on the band's Facebook group on Sunday by drummer Tony Santoro, and while members may well have played at the former Vibe Lounge during its early 2010s run under that name, it will be good to see Generations spread their wings a little further west at another live venue! Beck's proper have not corroborated this booking at press time, but they generally take bookings week by week, hence why many of the hard rock shows there are late notice around these parts. Remember that the Goulais River nightclub hosts DJ nights on Fridays, hence why this is a one-nighter, and we await word of who's playing in the Saturday matinee timeslot next week. This is a 9:00 PM concert with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details on Generations' upcoming Beck's debut!

Next up, remember how there was a surprisingly small amount of public videos after the Our Lady Peace-headlined concert at GFL Memorial Gardens on March 2nd? Well, this should help make up for things, as Christopher Paci belatedly uploaded videos of every band to his YouTube channel on May 4th! Apologies for the month+ delay on our part for these making the site, already two months after the show took place, but better late than never given Chris' excellent work filming at major local concerts over the years! Chris filmed eighteen videos at the Gardens on this night, half coming from the headlining Toronto alt-hard rock quartet, and he captured O.L.P. playing "One Man Army", "Superman's Dead", "Innocent", "Life" (featuring Superior Heights Collegiate's student rock band Steel Rock), "In Repair", "Whatever", "Somewhere Out There", "Clumsy", and as embedded below, their set closer "Starseed".

While not especially close to the stage from his spot on the floor, Chris zoomed in well to capture much of Our Lady Peace's first local set since 1998, and the guys sound good! Raine's voice is definitely deeper than in their heyday, but fans of their domestic rock radio hits (the Q104 format switch happened just in time, huh?) had nothing to worry about, and you can see how packed the arena was. Check out Christopher's Our Lady Peace videos for yourselves above & below!

From co-headliners Collective Soul's set, Chris filmed the Georgia alt-rock veterans playing "Mother's Love", "Heavy", "Shine", "Precious Declaration", "Gel", and as embedded below, "The World I Know". Collective Soul have a litany of familiar classic hit songs, and they come through well via the local concert videos, though the cell phone waving during ballads like "The World I Know" really dates things to the present! Good stuff for rock radio fans, so give Chris' videos from their set a watch as well!

Finally for today, Chris also filmed two songs from local indie punk quintet The Northwest's opening set on March 2nd, specifically of their original songs "Long Hair (Longer Nights)" and, as embedded below, "Walls". For their first live concert after a year+ hiatus, they made the most of their available staging with a good lively set, if these videos are any indication! Fans making their way/to from seats are definitely more of an issue at this point in the evening, so keep that in mind. No word on when we'll see The Northwest live again, Greg & Yak acoustic gigs aside, but check out The Northwest's 2025 videos from the Gardens above and below!

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

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: 20 Pack Of Marshmallows

It's now time for our latest monthly Defunct Local Band Profile, as we shine another spotlight on a local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past, as randomly selected from our band links! This month's choice coincidentally features the former bassist of last month's profiled group (Acention), and while they didn't become concert staples outside of high school functions, they did plant seeds for big things to come from some of their members, so here's what you should know on them!

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20 Pack Of Marshmallows (also known as Manganese, Warning, Wanko Twist, The Curtis J. McKenzie Project, and Restricted Illusions)

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock/Grunge/Metal

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics. This information may be incomplete. Let us know if you can add any former band members!)

Curtis McKenzie (Haggith, Project 421), guitar/vocals
Daniel Horton (Spades GT, Haggith, Eclipse), guitar
Mikey Cachagee (Acention), bass
Daylan Dorricott, drums

Travis McKenzie, vocals/guitar
Darren Vlassoff, drums

Audio/Video: The best surviving place to hear songs from 20 Pack Of Marshmallows/The Curtis J. McKenzie Project is via Curt's old YouTube channel, which has old Dunnplugged concert videos of them playing covers, plus some early original songs. Now-deleted performances by the McKenzie brothers are linked on this page from their Wanko Twist-era Tripod site that confirm more song titles, along with Judas Priest covers. Notably, this prior project is where later Haggith originals like "Wanko", "Loverbeam", and "The Married Massacre" were first written and performed, and they were once planning to record an album named "Battle Royale" featuring their original material. Here is (as they were known then) Restricted Illusions playing "Kiss Me Goodbye" at Sir James Dunn Collegiate circa February 2010!

Info/Analysis: One of the final rock bands to come out of the Dunnplugged program before the Sir James Dunn/Bawating merger in 2010, 20 Pack Of Marshmallows (among its other names) continually featured Curtis McKenzie and Mikey Cachagee in their public lineups. Surviving material 15+ years on isn't plentiful beyond YouTube videos and what's left of their Tripod page, but Curt's 2008-2010 band work is very notable in hindsight for presaging the band Haggith, whose 2012-2016 run (including songs carried over from 2.P.O.M.) largely also featured Daniel alongside Mikey's brother Caleb, and continued the same grunge/hard rock path. Obviously, the guys were in high school then, so the quality of both the performances and the videos compared to what (especially) Curt & Dan have gotten up to since will be noticeably lesser, but the promise was definitely there, and it's worth looking up what they did then to see how they've evolved!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we're heading a few years ahead in the timeline to look at a very prominent local act from the 2010s, namely 2012-2019 doom/stoner metal trio AlgomA! Look for that on or around July 10th, and for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates From March-April 2025!!

It's been too long since we last looked at St. Ignace metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown on the SMS, so what else were they up to in the spring? We'll actually flash backwards first to this brand new clip of them live at the Feed Them! fundraiser at The Music Factory in Battle Creek on March 22nd, as they belatedly shared a 13 seconds-long clip of their set that night three weeks later. Prior footage uploaded to their Facebook page had the studio version of "Marble Skin" dubbed over, so it's nice to hear some raw audio, if only for 13 seconds and of a bridge without actual lyrics. Still, this is solid quality (and horizontal!), and Brandon has some nice energy, so give this a watch below!

On April 6th, H.L.T.C. shared this video of ice covered waters right near the Mackinac Bridge, with singer Brandon West noting that he'd love to film a music video there, and/or even just sit on the ice with the waves splashing. If safe to get over there with gear, it sure would look neat! Three days later, they also hinted that "we're gonna try & take some time and give you some music" (specifically one more advance single from their next album) after their next three shows took place, hinting that further new material was going to sound more like their singles "These Walls" and "Marble Skin" than their prior albums. Two of those upcoming shows took place that weekend, starting with one at the Influence The Band Headquarters in Taylor (outside of Detroit) on April 11th, where they opened for Monroe metal band Theta, awesome keytar in hand. Videos from the next night's show came first, but a Taylor video did surface!

This 35 seconds-long clip captures the guys at a side-stage angle that best showcases drummer Blaze Beairl (the filmer is more or less behind everyone else), while there is a very smoky haze inside the I.H.Q. building that doesn't help visibility. However, you may notice a second guitarist with long hair and a cowboy hat at the far right, and that is actually a familiar face that H.L.T.C. fans haven't seen for a long time in new band media: former drummer Jaxon Massaway! As you may recall, Jaxon had taken almost a year off from gigging with the band while travelling for his day job, though the plan was always for him to return when/if able, albeit switching to guitar (he has also tracked some studio material for Heavy as recently as last fall). These shows marked Jaxon's return to the band, and it's great to see him back in the fold, so give the ferocious sounding Taylor concert clip a watch for yourselves below!

The following day, Heavy Lies The Crown returned to The Music Factory in Battle Creek to open for Tennessee's Autumn Lies Buried at Nassaru's Metal Memorial Show. Unfortunately, all of the videos that the band posted after the fact from this show are vertical. The first upload from that night is this six seconds long concert clip, followed by this 25 seconds-long video, which notably sees guitarist Kaycee Mason roaming through the crowd mid-song before Brandon jumps off stage to do the same. Fun clip while it lasts, and it's cool to see everyone moshing along while 2/5ths of the band gets super close! The last of the videos from that weekend (so far?) is the longest of them all, with Kaycee again spreading out into the audience during filming. While not the most packed concert that I've seen H.L.T.C. play, fans were definitely into it (and making faces at the filmer), and it's great to see a dual guitar attack again, so give these a watch above & below!

When we next talk about Heavy on the SMS, we'll pick up with their updates from April 15th onward, so look for those soon, and for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal/Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

After escaping another busy weekend concert preview run, we have a new news post for your Saturday morning, and it mostly covers new videos relating to local artists and concerts, with related information therein. With all of that laid out, here's what you should know!

I hope to cover last night's Cory Marks concert livestream on the SMS soon (I have to, given that they have a 30 day lifespan now!), but to promote the event, the North Bay country/hard rock musician actually got interviewed on CTV News Northern Ontario on Tuesday! If you missed that night's newscast on cable/satellite (or channel 2 OTA), CTV News' YouTube channel uploaded the segment, which was anchored by Tony Ryma, who was a former Sault Ste. Marie city councillor before moving to Sudbury to work on the former MCTV News there. The interview is more about Hope Air, the remote health care access charity that put on the local concert last night at the Bushplane Museum (on Hope Air Day, of course). Only the last question was directly about the concert, which Cory (who recorded the interview in Sturgeon Falls) revealed there was "a pop up acoustic set". Maybe that helps explain why this didn't get a lot of promotion as a concert?

While Hope Air Day is understandably prioritized over Cory's music (though I guess he played a Hope Air Day concert in Timmins last year too), promotion for both on local network television would have been huge, and hopefully eyeballs watching CTV News Northern Ontario on Tuesday made the point to come downtown for the free concert! Check out the full interview segment below, and stay tuned for more public content from Cory's acoustic show last night, livestream or otherwise!

Next up, remember how local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith was tapped to sing "O Canada" at a couple of Barrie Baycats baseball games last summer, only for rain delays to get in the road? As you may recall, Mike did successfully sing the national anthem on June 13th, but that game was rained out after a few pitches, before Mike eventually did the honours at a game that went ahead in full on August 1st, and I surprisingly never talked about that on here. You can watch that particular Intercounty Baseball League game (which saw Barrie beat the Welland Jackfish 5-4) at this link, and Mike is introduced 6:05 into the livestream. It was a fine rendition, Mike put his voice to quality use on a big stage (well, diamond), but there were some audio dropouts after he finished, so there's an awkward silence on the video that likely wasn't there at Athletic Kulture Stadium. Kudos to the Baycats for bringing Mike back after Mother Nature got in the way!

Incidentally, the Baycats won the IBL championship last fall, so belated congratulations from afar on their playoff success! They also beat Welland in the finals, and the two teams also faced off on Thursday for another game where Mike was the anthem singer! Dressed even fancier this time, Mike's performance is just as good as his two stints last season, but in this game (full livestream here), the audio doesn't drop out after he's done singing, so we can hear the P.A. announcer's copy about Mike at the end. While the Jackfish got their revenge by beating Barrie 4-3, hopefully a good time was had by all in attendance! Mike uploaded just the anthem from Thursday's game to his Facebook page, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's our first public videos of local hard rock quartet Sylo's current lineup! The band debuted new second guitarist Owen Middleton when they opened for Derev at Soo Blaster on May 23rd (itself their first show since Eli left for university last fall), and they posted two brief videos from their set to their Instagram page in the following days. Unfortunately, both are vertical (not even square), but you have to be used to Instagram video limitations on that platform. The band has promised that "full length footage (is) coming up soon", implying that longer videos are coming to a platform that will host them, but I haven't seen it anywhere obvious yet. One of the videos focuses on Owen playing during their cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" with drummer Jakob Fice-Lesage "switching up in the middle of the set", as noted via on-screen text. I don't think that the text was needed, but viral content creation, I know. 

The purpose is to make light of Jakob's change in fills, and Owen got a good laugh, but hopefully we see fuller video of this cover soon! Embedded below is Sylo playing their original song "War Times", and while I wish this was the full song and not shot vertically (you see very little of Owen and Jakob here), it's a strong performance of Sylo's earliest and best known original song! Good stuff, but hopefully we do see the long-form videos that Sylo teased. Give these two Instagram clips a watch above & below!

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Finally for today, newer local industrial metal solo project The Realignment Project posted four more lyric videos from their sophomore EP "The Frustration Sessions" onto their YouTube channel last month! One is for "Static" (which Matt had teased in a Facebook "Reel" in April), but "Minor Outburst", "Fireside", and "Stupid" also got the lyric video treatment. There is not (currently?) a lyric video for the closing song "Medicated (A Spade Is A Spade)", but remember that two songs from their debut EP "Afterthought" didn't get lyric videos either. I'll hold comment on the songs until our review of "The Frustration Sessions" in August, but give these new industrial rock songs a listen (with lyrics) above & below!

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