A New Local Band, The Tym Morrison Concert Preview, And More Updates!!

Today's post finally closes up this weekend's hard rock concert previews, but we also have a recent radio interview, and leading off, a brand new (but familiar) addition to our band links, so here's what you should know!

Let's start today by talking about new Sault Michigan metal band Crush, so what should you know about them? Not to be confused with the same-named Bon Jovi and Rush tributes that have played in Sault Ontario (nor the former local pop rock cover band Cherry Crush), this band is indeed a side project/spinoff of hard rock/classic metal quartet Tarnished, with frontman Alex Traynor and guitarist Josh Fair (a.k.a. Josh Tyler) rejoined by their 2021-2023 bandmate Isaac "Iggy" Royer on bass. The aim here is to focus Crush around original material while Tarnished will continue on playing covers-centric sets. Of course, Tarnished released their EP "Down To The Wire" in 2020, and have a couple of standalone singles, most recently "Lightswitch" last year, but since they added the rhythm section of Highway 63 (Chris Leask & Ron Suchey) to their live lineup last summer, any hints of original material have vanished from newer media.

Interestingly, Crush's live debut was actually out of town, as they co-headlined night #1 of Bar-N Stock, an annual summer concert festival at The Bar-N in Rose City (three hours south of here) on July 25th. Tarnished had played at last year's Bar-N Fest, and it is neat that they got the opportunity to debut the new project there one year later! FYI, Lansing hard rock band Mr. Denton On Doomsday (who played here a few times in the 2000s) performed at Bar-N Stock on night #2. The following day, Crush were the mystery band at the Superior Whitefish Festival battle of the bands in Brimley, where they claimed the $1,000 top prize, a huge feather in Alex & Josh's cap after their increasing positions with Tarnished at the LSSU battles! The first public video of Crush is from their battle set, courtesy of their Facebook page, featuring 11 minutes of them in action, and if you're curious, Alex doubles up as singer and drummer in this group.

He did so on occasion at Tarnished gigs before Ron came on board, with Josh wanting to play guitar rather than drums anyway. The battle video from Riverview Park begins with a punk-influenced song named "Hey You" in progress, with the next one being a harder rocking number named "Fire". After some audience participation while Isaac soloed on bass, the set closed with a driving original named "Capitol Gain". No word on if Tarnished's old originals (let alone Alex's from "Crazy World") will cross over to Crush gigs, but they got off to a good start here with energetic but skilled rockers to a receptive audience, and it will be interesting to see where they go from here! Check out more from Crush above & below!

Next up, let's wrap up this weekend's known hard rock concert previews with a Civic Holiday long weekend rarity, namely a Sault Ontario show that did get advance notice before this week, as local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's latest Misty's Fifties matinee is TODAY! As the former Caveman Morrison/Nostalgic Band frontman's busy summer calendar enters its final month, this should be a fun way to enjoy some unplugged rock classics with solid production values and talent across the board, so don't bypass his latest matinee gig if you'll be in the west end a little later on! As usual for Tym's plentiful Misty's gigs this year, expect a 4:00 PM start time today, a presumed 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more on Tym's Misty's matinee later today, and for a preview, here he is live!

We'll close today with a band who was on the road for the long weekend, namely local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225! As of late, they've been focusing on road gigs, including yesterday at Thessalon's Community Day (with a return 90 minutes east on the 16th), but on the July 12th weekend, they packed their bags for Kirkland Lake, a whopping 7 hours northeast of the Soo! The gig was to headline the annual Stéphane Léveillé Memorial Poker Run motorcycle rally there on July 12th, performing at their Royal Canadian Legion hall. We'll have more media from that gig soon, but while Bone Yard were in town, frontman Greg Simpson was interviewed by Barry Ferguson on Kirkland Lake variety station CJKL 101.5 the previous morning at 7:39 AM! The full interview was saved and is freely streamable on the band's website, though note that in the Firefox browser, it automatically downloads as an mp3 when you click the link. How was the interview?

Conducted during CJKL's morning drive show, the 9 minute interview features Barry asking about Greg moving from Kirkland Lake in the mid-1990s and his musical trajectory after leaving, the band's lineup and setlist range, Greg's musical influences, their touring habits, and more topics, while also adding in lots of plugs for the rally proper and surrounding events. It sounds like the interview went well, and Barry has an excellent voice for radio, so click here or above to hear the whole thing, and we'll have more from your local 225 on the SMS soon! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site very shortly! Thanks everyone!