Let's dive into some more recent news and notes on this Tuesday evening, including a new cover video, updates from a prominent E.U.P. band, and leading off, a mid-week concert preview, so here's what you should know!
We'll start with a special Wednesday night concert preview, as Calgary stoner hard rock quartet Woodhawk will finally play Sault Ste. Marie for the first time TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! This concert is over five years in the making for Woodhawk, as they were supposed to headline at LopLops Lounge back in April 2020, one of many local concerts scuttled due to the first pandemic lockdown. It's very rare to see a smaller touring band (let alone not a tribute band) reschedule a cancelled Soo show from 2020, so come out tomorrow to party now that things have calmed down! Alongside the retro-influenced stoner and hard rock originals in store from Woodhawk, fans tomorrow can also see local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst and online page-less metal supergroup The Sault Side Squad, which should add up to a diverse but still uniformly heavy night of rock if you can swing coming out on a work/school night!
Tomorrow's festivities run for $15 at the door (no advance tickets), which is up $5 from Woodhawk's planned 2020 show here, but this time, there's no age limit, and bands start at 7:00 PM. Whether you've been waiting for Woodhawk for five years or are new to their sludgy original attack, consider coming to Soo Blaster tomorrow night if you can! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Woodhawk live!
Next up, let's zip over to Sault Michigan for the latest from local hard rock band Exit 808, and we have a new lineup confirmation, as they have welcomed former Tarnished guitarist Nathan Webber back to the fold. While he had first returned on a guest basis in June, he hasn't missed a local gig since, and the band confirmed on their Facebook page on August 26th (Nathan's birthday) that he was 100% back, noting that they were "grateful for round 2 with you". Nathan had been a founding member of the former Double Jack upon their 2023 launch, but quietly left the band in the spring of last year, with Will Robbins replacing him until the fall. After playing with guest guitarists (one being bassist Blaze Beairl) through the spring, it is great to see Nathan back with Exit 808, finally giving them a full six-piece lineup again! Now let's continue playing catch-up on Exit 808's live videos from their summer concert schedule, so where did we last leave off?
Over the last weekend of June, Exit 808 hit the road 4½ hours west to Ewen to perform at the outdoor festival Rally For The Valley, where attendee Angie Hood filmed two videos from their set for her personal Facebook page that the band shared to theirs on June 30th. One is a "Reel" of Exit 808 covering Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' "I Hate Myself For Loving You" with Amy Beach on lead vocals, but embedded below is a proper embeddable video (albeit still vertical) that sees them covering Eminem & Rihanna's "The Monster" with Dillion Semasky and Amy respectively sharing vocal duty. Note that this video begins with Amy introducing the band to attendees in Ewen, even referencing Nathan as their "new guitar player", though one fan's scream does block out some of what Amy says. I wish these weren't vertical, but everyone sounds good here with nice energy and weather, so check everything out above & below, and stay tuned for more from Exit 808 on the SMS soon!
Finally for today, let's head back to Sault Ontario for a new cover from a band that we've talked about but never fully featured here before, namely local country/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels! SMS readers will be familiar with this band for featuring ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno and former Handsome Sandwich bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger (plus fiddle player Todd Webb) in very atypical waters from what we are used to. While they obviously fall outside of our genre range, fans were surprised three weeks ago to hear The Scoundrels cover Motorhead's "Iron Fist" for their YouTube channel! Filmed with multiple cameras by Josh's own Spacebag Productions with Hails frontman Brenton Ellis providing partial camera-work, this cover is certainly a bluegrass take on Motorhead, and while recognizable structurally, there will be an adjustment given the genre switch.
I'm not big into bluegrass, I will admit, but this is a fun and rollicking change of pace (look at Josh rocking the stand-up bass), and the inclusion of some performance outtakes at the end is neat! More local bands should do that, imagine what is left on the cutting room floor that could have humourous value! Well shot and performed, give it a listen below, and if you like what you hear, check out more from The Golden Scoundrels above!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!
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