LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, And Much More!!

(Updated on Friday at 1:00 AM) Before we begin this weekend concert preview post, we have a pair of concert cancellations to take note of, as Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril will not be playing at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino tomorrow & Saturday night. Don't worry, there's no "different direction" excuse, Peril cited a scheduling conflict as the reason on their Facebook page, and the shows have been postponed to an unspecified future date. Disappointing, but stay tuned for word on the shows' new dates! Now, let's dive into a this weekend's concert previews, plus some other stories, and starting with a SHORT NOICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Prolific local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison is staying busy with a return to La Terrazza Franzisi in Richards Landing THIS SATURDAY! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced late on Thursday, after this post originally went online, so I opted to add it while we still could. At least this show has slightly more notice than his previous L.T.F. concert from this past Sunday! This will be the fifth weekend out of seven where Tym has played at least one weekend matinee at the waterfront restaurant on St. Joseph Island, and with the Gliss re-opening date still a mystery, it's nice to see Tym getting some relatively consistent bookings in the interim! Fans in Richards Landing and area can see Tym's skilled blend of hard and classic rock covers on SATURDAY evening at 5:00 PM, and while there is no age limit or cover charge, remember that this is a formal sit-down restaurant. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!




Next up, one of the biggest Sault Ontario punk concerts of the year will finally go down TOMORROW NIGHT, when former Misfits frontman Michale Graves will make his local concert debut as the headliner at The Canadian Nightclub! Though his solo output far outnumbers his Misfits run from the 1990s, Michale's work with that band lives on locally from such fan favourite songs as "Saturday Night", "Helena", and "American Psycho", and his brand of metal-tinged horror punk should get a huge audience at The Canadian tomorrow! It may not be the "secret show", but this one will more than suffice! Michale will be joined tomorrow (as on his Course of Empire tour) by West Virginia "horror death" outfit Argyle Goolsby & The Roving Midnight and Vancouver horror punk artist Nim Vind, and from the former's dark-yet-melodic originals to the latter's hard-edged "electric music", genre fans will find lots to love from this three headed monster! Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades will provide local support in a massive no-brainer.

Given promoter/frontman J.D. Pearce's frequent covers of 1990s Misfits songs in his various bands, who better to open up for Michale himself?! Despite the Facebook event page still advertising "another act TBA", none have been publically confirmed. This 19+ concert has an early 7:30 PM start time listed, and advance tickets are now $20 at this link, The Canadian, and The Rad Zone (the price did drop from $25, but that may still be the door charge.) With 6 months of hype, this concert should be a huge hit for late-period Misfits fans and horror punk aficionados alike, so see the above links for complete details, here's Michale live, and don't miss this one!



Also, we'll head downtown to LopLops Lounge, where Toronto-based Ramones tribute band The Gabba Heys will make their local concert debut THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Fronted by veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon, this will be his first local appearance as a band frontman in almost 2 years, and the first time he's channeled his inner Joey Ramone locally since bringing his prior Ramones tribute The Merves here for the fifth and final time in 2015. Mikey's Ramones fandom is well known, and his effective, fan favourite tribute experience should go over as well on Saturday with The Gabba Heys as it did with The Merves, so don't miss out! Mikey's long-time bandmate Dustin Jones will open with his (online page-less) punk cover quartet The Cover-Up, which is a fitting choice, but may fans get a mini-Surfers or Rising Tide reunion on Saturday? The advertised opener is Mikey's former Merves bandmate Amy "Gabba" Zucchetto with a Joan Jett tribute set, but I have read conflicting reports regarding whether she's opening or playing during The Gabba Heys' set.

If we have any Sudbury readers, keep in mind that all of these performers will be playing there tomorrow at The Townehouse Tavern, so click here for details on that concert. As for Saturday's local show (a presentation of Tidal Records), this is a 19+ event with a 9:00 PM start time and a $10 cover charge. Misfits one night, and Ramones the next, punk fans are definitely blessed with some classic songs this weekend, and with some familiar faces from the past two decades of local punk music, fans won't want to miss out on all of Saturday's action at LopLops! For a preview, here's The Gabba Heys with Amy Gabba live in Toronto last year!



Finally for today here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• New local grindcore solo project Awokest quietly dropped out of Tuesday night's Truth of All Death concert at The New American Pub, as per promoter Chase Wigmore on the Facebook event page. Other than to say Awokest's exit was "at the last second", a reason for their removal wasn't announced, but hopefully nothing bad happened in their camp! Chase himself filled in with a solo set, which should have went over well for assembled fans!
• Local solo metal musician and ex-Bear Hunters guitarist Mike Vincent is looking for other musicians to jam with. Mike says that he's up to play "any genre... literally", and he has a guitar, keyboard, and electric drums. If you're interested in jamming with Mike and seeing where things go, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post yesterday!
• The Soo Zombie Walk will not take place next month, as per organizers on their Facebook page on Tuesday. Despite meetings and plans for the event's 10th installment, funding issues have led the organizing committee to postpone the annual walk until 2019. This popular Halloween season event didn't feature live music last year as it was, but this is definitely an unfortunate announcement, as I know how fun the Zombie Walk was for attendees of all ages. Hopefully they can regroup in time for next year!
• The teased acoustic performers have been announced for the #TeamBear benefit concert at The Sault Theatre Workshop on October 6th, namely Machines Dream frontman Craig West, ex-Blackberries frontman Norm Rosteck, folk singer/guitarist M.D. Dunn, and a mystery act named The Cheesemakers (we'll let you know if we can confirm their identity.) Solid choices overall, so look for some proficient tunes at this event to help Pirie Kaufman through his cancer battle, and click here for more details! As well, local drag queen performer Paris Gore will also have a live performance of some kind that day.
• If you missed the Weekend Warrior Fest concert at The Marconi Club earlier this month, than you can relive the event via this SooToday article from James Hopkin from September 9th. The beer launch is given precedence over the concert aspect, but Northwest frontman Wayne Watkins is interviewed for the piece, given that he works as a sales account manager for Rogers Radio's stations here, including Weekend Warrior Fest sponsors Country 104.3. Hopefully the event was a big hit for craft beer fans and music lovers alike!
• Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will host the weekly open mic night at the M.S. Norgoma museum ship at 91 Foster Drive this coming Tuesday, as per it's official Facebook event page. We don't treat open mic nights as "concerts" for our coverage on the SMS due to the uncertain nature of the lineups and format, but Rob, Jesse, and Christina should prove to be solid hosts with their fan friendly live sets! Ex-Gore Street Cafe owner Nicole Dyble has been hosting open mic nights and night markets at the Norgoma in recent months, and hopefully Tuesday's helps towards keeping the Norgoma downtown long-term!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Amy Ellis Benefit Concert Review!!

Before I head out to TONIGHT'S Biipiigwan show, we have a review of last night's Amy Ellis benefit concert at The Canadian Nightclub, but of course, check out our most recent news post below this one! Despite the cold evening on our hands, there was a solid crowd at the benefit already (there was a preceding dinner at 6:00 PM by ticket admission), and The Canadian (now with a new horseshoe "Welcome" sign above the stage) was decked out for the occasion with plenty of tables for patrons! Now, how about the bands?

Opening the show was new local quartet Late Shift (complete with wigs and sunglasses), the new local band from former Fingerbone singer John Barber, ex-Scary Uncles guitarist Matt Sibilo, North West's Clint Wilson (on bass), and Matt's ex-Groove Commitee bandmate Anthony Gagnon on drums. Fans from the early 2000s may recognize John & Matt from the former local hard rock band Redefined, but did Late Shift sound similar? While not quite as heavy (and with no originals), Late Shift did skew towards a hard/alternative rock sound, with covers of everyone from Pearl Jam, The Stone Temple Pilots, and Led Zeppelin to The Black Keys, Imagine Dragons, and The Pixies. I will applaud them for effectively adding extra punch to some songs that I wasn't a fan of going in (their version of "Radioactive" comes to mind), and they put a fun and often heavy energy on their songs, with John's solid singing voice really impressing, but he needs work on his crowd banter. Very solid debut set from some familiar faces, and hopefully we hear more from Late Shift soon!

Second on the bill was Rockstar Bar Battle winners The Suicide Kings in just their second concert since opening for Airbourne at The Canadian in August, and they were back in form with a fun and crowd-engaged set! If there was a difference from their mid-2013 gigs, it was in the setlist, which eschewed many original songs (only "Into The Fray", "King of the World", and the intros made it), with them tackling many of their more general rock covers (everything from The Killers & Jet to newly learned Lit and Jimmy Eat World renditions), though I'll note that their setlist credited an encore song named "Two More Jag" (possibly an original?) that didn't get played. Musically, everyone was on form from past gigs, and while I know Mike Gaetano's been through a lot to help Amy lately, he was in full frontman mode and delivered strong vocal performances throughout their set! Steven Flint was on fire on guitar too, and it was nice to see The Suicide Kings back, even if their set was a bit more varied then I'm used to!

Closing the night was the recently reunited cover rock band Havadder, playing just their second show since the end of their Turner Up-infused 2012 incarnation, and I have to admit, this was the first time I've seen Havadder live in any form. Their set was honestly a bit more varied than I would have predicted, with their song choices ranging from The Travelling Wiburys, Jason Aldean, and Tom Petty to Godsmack, Ugly Kid Joe, and Green Day, but it fit with the previous bands shaking things up! Frontman Jason Roy shared lead vocal duties with new guitarist Jamie July throughout the night, with both handling their songs pretty well (albeit with the occasional lyric flub), and I appreciate that their set wasn't predictable (I can't name other bands in town who cover Better Than Ezra), so that all worked! It was also nice seeing Lucas Bugyra playing live again, and their talents were clear overall (Jason has a nice command of the crowd), so if you see Havadder's full show, be prepared for a nice mix of rock covers!

Overall, the musical portion of the Amy Ellis benefit went really well, and though I don't know Amy personally, I hope the event raised a lot of funds and support for her cancer battle, so best of luck to her, Mike, and her family going forward! As we've learned with Luke LeBlanc & the late Ray Brown this year, cancer sucks, so any help is much appreciated! Photos and videos from the show can be seen at this link or at our Facebook page, and in terms of videos, here's Late Shift covering Pearl Jam's "Corduroy", The Suicide Kings covering Buckcherry's "Crazy Bitch", and Havadder covering The Beastie Boys' "Havadder - (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)"







That's all for today,but I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Moose Lodge for Biipiigwan, The Bear Hunters, and Bad Back, which is ALL AGES and just $5! Thanks everyone!

Chronic Demonic Updates, New Videos, And Much More!!

Before I head off to take care of Thanksgiving stuff and family dinner, let's touch on some leftover news on this Sunday morning! We have new song postings from a pair of regional solo projects, a bunch of other recent updates, and leading off, some news from a recently debuted local band's camp, so read on below for what you need to know!

Let's start with the latest updates from newer local metal/punk band Chronic Demonic, who are NOT breaking up! Over a month after their status was questioned on their Facebook page, a band member posted there on Wednesday to announce that "sometimes, you just can't keep a good beast down", while confirming that they had found both a new singer (to replace Sabrina "Strange" Lavoie) and a new drummer, which means that Rick "Styles" White has also left. A reason for Rick's departure was not announced, but I do wonder if the injuries from the incident at The Rosie last month are a contributing factor? I have no idea for certain, but hopefully the split was amicable, and best of luck to Rick in the future! An announcement of the new members (joining Frightlight guitarist Kevin "St. Mayhem" Powe and Faithless Sin alum Ryan Gratton) isn't being given away yet, as they said "where's the fun in that?", but all will apparently be revealed soon. I'm curious to see what Chronic Demonic have in store, especially after recent non-activity and the lineup changes, but stay tuned for updates when they roll in!

Next up, here's the newest video from Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock musician Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton, and it's of his new song "The Scorpion King"! Posted on his YouTube channel last week, this is set to footage of the 2002 Dwayne Johnson movie of the same name,  it is an instrumental (at least in this form), and it will be included on SweetKenny's next album "Cracks in the Wall", which is still slated for a Halloween release. Slower overall, it has a good hard rock influence with some blues flourishes, though I will admit it doesn't seem to fit the Egyptian setting of the movie. Check out SweetKenny's new song below, and stay tuned for more on the CD release!



Also today, here's a new song from Sault Ontario grindcore solo project Brutaly Fatal! A cover of The Beatles' "Come Together", it's the only Brutaly Fatal song on their recent split demo with Malignant Neoplasm and Rotopsy (why not include more songs if it's supposed to be "split" between the three acts?) Uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel on Thursday, this maintains Austin McRae's usual "growl & bass only" work, albeit cutting the original song down to 95 seconds in length. If you love death metal & the original song, you might find value in this cover, but it could stand to be longer and more fleshed out. Check out Brutaly Fatal's Beatles cover below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• Suicide Kings frontman Mike Gaetano is looking for artists who can donate their time for an upcoming benefit event for his girlfriend Amy Ellis, who is currently battling cancer. The event will take place at The Canadian Nightclub on Saturday, November 23rd, and tickets will be $25, with live entertainment and a pasta dinner both planned. If you're interested in playing the event, message co-organizer Stephanie Lynn-Poitras at this link, and get more details at the Facebook event page. Hopefully this event's a huge help, stay tuned for updates, and our best wishes go out to Amy, Mike, & her family!
• I've moved local hard rock musician Shane "The Shaner" Solomon's solo project to our inactive band links, as I don't believe he's posted any new material on his Reverbnation page since last fall (though this isn't easy to 100% verify, as Reverbnation doesn't allow you to see the date of song postings.) Shane has guitar talent, so hopefully we'll hear more from his solo work sooner or later!
• Following in singer/guitarist Josh Penno's lead, it looks like his Shit Liver bandmates Mike Kyle & Matt Baic have moved (or soon will be moving) to Southern Ontario, according to personal Facebook posts, with the band beginning work in the Toronto scene afterwards. I hope that this works out for them, but I have seen local bands relocate south and do less as a unit after the fact, so be careful. Stay tuned for updates!

That's likely all until Tuesday, but have a great Thanksgiving weekend, and don't get too stuffed with turkey! Thanks everyone!