Wednesday Concert Previews, Plus Theatre Of Night & Headrush Updates!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for a concert that missed our coverage, but the lone SMS-amenable band on the bill ended up dropping out. Fans of party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty are well accustomed by now to them being on the bill of otherwise-rap-only concerts at Blaster Powerhouse in the 2020s, and they were advertised to open for 94Fatso and Robbie G there on Friday (here's the poster). Between the band's lack of social media promotion and my own busy personal schedule, this fell through the cracks, which I do apologize for, but The AA did not play due to personal commitments (thank you to Paul for confirming.)

Hopefully all is well with him, Mikhal, and Amanda, and that we see them back at it down the line, and I do hope that the rap concert was a big hit! Now to two mid-week concert previews as we fully emerge from the Labour Day long weekend, with some more news and notes in the back half, and we'll start with the always-prolific Tym Morrison, who is slated to conclude his annual Wednesday summer concert arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage TOMORROW! Unless Tym's run is extended (it has been before), this is your last chance to see Tym's unplugged covers on the 1332 Great Northern Road outdoor stage for the 2026 season, so keep tomorrow's show in mind if you enjoy his unplugged classic and hard rock covers! As usual for his shows there this year, Tym will be on at 6:30 PM tomorrow with no cover charge or age limit.

9&10 News is calling for temperatures hovering around 20° tomorrow evening with clouds disappearing as the 2 hour show progresses, so things should be similar to last week. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, we'll have more on his new Reggie's show announcements later this week, and for  a preview, here's Tym live!

Next up, here's a special Wednesday night concert at Beck's Bar, as local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will play their first fully-plugged-in public concert in Sault Ste. Marie in over a month TOMORROW NIGHT, but they won't be alone. For this one-off(?) concert named "Midweek Mayhem", they will welcome Stones & Crows/Jupiter Marvelous guitarist Spencer Pine in a brief reversion to Bone Yard's 2009-2021 form factor. Beck's owner Becky Sawyer was inspired to bring Spencer and your local 225 together after being impressed by Spencer's guitar skills during Stones & Crows concerts there, and given his and Alex's talents on the six string, this should be fun to see what they can cook up together alongside Greg and Warren! Implications in marketing have this being more of a freeform/jam night setup than a typical Bone Yard concert, but if you want their full three-piece shabang, check them out an hour east at the Bruce Mines Fall Fair this weekend, preview forthcoming.

In deference to this being a work/school night, tomorrow's concert runs from 8:00-11:00 PM, though the 19+ age limit and no cover charge remain as expected. It will be very interesting to hear how Spencer fits in with "the dirty three", especially if he is able to sing lead at all, so visit the official Facebook event page for more on Midweek Mayhem, and here's Bone Yard 225 (sans Spencer) live a couple of years back!

Also today, I wanted to acknowledge an event that local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush played at last month at Mulligan's Irish Pub. On August 22rd, the guys played their last summer gig for the year at the afterparty for the sixth annual Andy Buffone Memorial Golf Tournament, which is a fundraiser for Canadian Mental Health Association Algoma held at The Sault Golf Club at 1804 Queen Street East. Click here for SooToday's coverage of the tournament, who Andy Buffone was, and what funds raised here go towards at CMHA Algoma. While nominally held at Mulligan's (the golf club's on-site bar/restaurant), Headrush's concert was outside on the front lawn, and bassist John Amendola heavily implied on the band's Facebook group that they also played at this tournament last year, though they did not publically acknowledge their involvement at all in 2025.

I didn't cover this on the SMS last month because it wasn't open to the general public, just registered golfers and donors, but John praised the event well, from the start to the alleged end-of-night "shenanigans", so hopefully everything was a hit for a worthy organization like the CMHA! A video from the private gig was shared by John to their Facebook group, which sees Headrush playing the back half of their cover of April Wine's "Roller". Sadly, the video is both vertical and incomplete, but they were in solid shape on this big outdoor stage, and John Anderson was hitting the notes you expect on vocals, so give it a watch above! I can't embed it here, possibly due to John Amendola's video privacy settings.

Finally for today, let's head south to Sault Michigan for updates from local/Grand Rapids classical metal band Theatre of Night! While their Facebook updates have been slight since releasing "Christmas Night III" last year, they have been teasing that they might be returning to do another Christmas tour run this year after not playing shows last year. Their website has confirmed two new band members joining Craig, Steve, and Erik, including vocalist Aziza Poggi (replacing their most recent live singer Marquita Bernard) and bassist Alex Darwin (replacing Luke Bernard). Aziza is a Grand Rapids-based classically trained mezzo soprano singer with a strong background in Western Michigan, and while I can't find substantial details on Alex's musical background, he is pictured with a 5 string bass, which is usually a good talent indicator. A reason for the Bernards' departure wasn't announced, but all past live and studio singers with Theatre of Night are listed as "guest singers", regardless of if they were officially advertised as band members.

No, they did not credit Luke or fellow past instrumental members Greg Giles, Chris Webster, or Scott Andringa in the same way. German session vocalist and former full-band member Gaby Koss remains credited as a "featured singer", implying that she will turn up on some future studio material. While we await full band samples with Aziza & Alex, this Instagram-exclusive video from last week sees guitarist Steve Giles and drummer Erik Sales jamming "O Holy Night", which is an effective teaser of what's to come later in the year! I believe the band turned off external embedding on Instagram, so give it a watch above, and stay tuned for more from Theatre of Night soon, let alone on the SMS as the week continues! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck) & Labour Day Weekend Concert Previews!!

Despite this being the Labour Day long weekend, it's quiet for hard rock/punk concerts in the Twin Saults and EUP, so barring a surprise show announcement, our weekend previews fit in only one post! Note that Double Jack are playing at the soon-to-close Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino this weekend, and I don't mean the former Exit 808, as the Bay City-area classic rock cover band of the same name (who the local band changed their name over) are playing there this weekend. Confusing, but good to see the original Double Jack making their way north! 

We'll start our previews in Sault Ontario with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will take the stage at Reggie's Place TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows first came to my attention via personal Facebook postings, and neither the band nor venue have publically advertised the gigs on social media. This weekend's shows will be Soundcheck's first there with their new bassist, as Sidekicks/ex-Double Down bassist Dan Beaupre has joined the group, replacing the now-retired Jim Michaud. I have not seen a 100% confirmation that Dan has also joined their sister band Separate Wayz (whose lineup is 75% identical), but it seems quite likely given how often they play "epic crossover" dates. Of course, this also reunites Dan with his old Hollow bandmate Terry Eaton, so fans of that 1990s group should like that!

Dan was present at their last two weekends at Jay's Piston Broke Pub too. Note that AI-generated artwork on personal accounts is referring to the band as "Soundcheck 7.3", but if they have tacked a Bone Yard 225-esque number onto their name, there hasn't been a public confirmation yet. Dan is a solid and experienced rock bassist who should fit Soundcheck (and Separate Wayz?) like a glove, so welcome him to the fold TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT if you haven't yet! Both shows are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, let's head to The Art Hub At Spring (technically at 504 Queen Street East) TOMORROW NIGHT, where local hard rock quartet The Reeves and space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening will join forces to open for Saskatoon indie rock quartet Autopilot! In something that completely slipped me by when this show was announced, this is actually a sequel to a concert from last fall, as Autopilot and The Spaceship Opening played at Piecing It Together Shows' pop-up venue on Wellington Street West in November, which I didn't cover here because I couldn't verify The Spaceship Opening's genre at the time (that may have been the final hard rock-included concert from the former Dryer Fire). 10 months later, they're rolling it back at a different downtown locale, but this time with The Reeves as a second opener, in what they referred to on their Facebook page as "our 2nd show" (did their debut at Toystock this past November go badly or did it just get forgotten?)

Regardless, their new originals should pair well with Andrew & Ralph's minimalist hard rock before Autopilot's distinct indie/alternative sound hits the stage! Promoted by Hails frontman Brenton Ellis as part of his slate of events and art exhibits at The Art Hub this month, this stop on Autopilot's Name That Tour! 2026 is an ALL AGES concert at 6:00 PM tomorrow, and admission is $15 or "pay what you can", which is down from last fall's $20 door charge (though it did have $15 advance tickets). Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Reeves live!

Now to Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula for the back half of our long weekend previews, and we'll start an hour south in St. Ignace, where Sault Ste. Marie classic/hard rock cover quartet Tarnished will take the stage TOMORROW EVENING for the penultimate night of the town's Music By The Bay concert series at American Legion Park! This annual seasonal run of outdoor concerts daily from June-September wraps up with Nancy Kelel there on Sunday, but Tarnished are back once more before the fall truly begins, having last played at the park at the end of July. Presumably the full band with Chris and Ron in tow after they missed the band's acoustic Bay Mills Casino show last week, you can enjoy Tarnished's old school-leaning rocking covers tomorrow from 7:00-8:30 pm, and this is absolutely an all ages concert with no cover charge. If you can't make it, the guys will be at The Driftwood Sports Bar there in two weeks!

Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for 68-70° temperatures (20-21° Celsius) tomorrow evening with sunny skies, which sounds like a perfectly cromulent way to end the season if you like outdoor concerts. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

Finally(?) for this weekend's previews, we'll head to The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel, where local hard rock cover trio Nate's Chow will play their third post-renaming show TOMORROW NIGHT! Fans may recall seeing Jody, Brett, and Jason debut the former Unfortunate Sun's new name and Skip-less lineup at The Islander Bar last month, with a late notice gig downstate in Alanson in the interim. That show went well, complete with a bachelorette party concurrent with the concert, and now Nate's Chow are back home in the UP, so expect a fun night of hard rocking covers tomorrow! Unless The Islander Bar has had heavy renovations, I wouldn't believe how it's depicted in the AI-generated poster. "Nates Chow" (someone forgot the apostrophe in the prompt) are on tomorrow at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's our first live video of Nate's Chow in concert!

Filmed by an uncredited attendee at last month's Hessel concert and posted to their Facebook page, this sees the band covering The Barenaked Ladies' "The Old Apartment" with Jody on lead vocals, and it's always neat seeing a Sault Michigan area band covering Canadian content! The audio is somewhat muffled, and the video is only 30 seconds long, but the performance isn't bad at all, and Jody's singing suits the original track, so give it a watch below, and don't miss the guys back at The Islander tomorrow night! 

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

A New Local Punk Band, Crush Updates, And More Recent News & Notes!!

As we wrap up the busiest month (for post count) in the 19+ year history of the SMS, here's one more news post for the end of August before we go into autumn, and it includes updates from an EUP hard rock band, clarifications on who played a recent all-day charity concert, and some assorted shorter updates, but we'll lead off with a debuting supergroup that will be intriguing for many local punk and hard rock fans! Here's what you should know!

We have a new local punk band to add to our links, and they are Dead II Society! While their Facebook page was only launched yesterday, they were one of the two mystery bands announced for October's Punk Rock Fiesta at The Rockstar Bar (we are still waiting for details on The Baby Rails). Self-described as "an outlaw punk rock (band) specializing in loud, high energy, foot-stomping songs", their lyrics are planned to revolve around members' personal lives, health, and relationships. The band features former Garden of Bedlam/Changing Lanes singer/guitarist Erik "Buzz" Boissineau alongside former Northwest/Terminal guitarist Mike Yakasovich, veteran local bassist Andrew Torgerson (most recently seen down south in The Epifats and Grant Boyer's backing band), and Billy Bastards drummer Charlie Yanni (he will be pulling double duty with both bands on October 3rd).

Dead II Society are working on original music for major streaming services and Bandcamp, and your first teaser is this video featuring an instrumental track and silent footage of the guys meeting up and jamming. Their first single and full-length video (presumably both for this song) premiere on September 16th, 2½ weeks before their Punk Rock Fiesta debut. Sadly, the video is both vertical and black & white, aspects that I hope don't translate to what we get in two weeks, but it's great to see this promising band full of established names making their debut shortly, and it'll be interesting to hear how Buzz's long-teased original punk songs turn out! See more from them above and below, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, let's bolt across the border to Sault Michigan for the latest updates from local hard rock trio Crush! It's been a few months since we last talked about Tarnished's original-heavy splinter group, who haven't played a local concert in over four months (or downstate since May), but they haven't been completely idle. After jokey posts, AI-generated memes, and more love for Big Boy restaurants over the summer, they have announced two tour dates for September on their Facebook page, one being a show on Friday at Bemo's Bar in Bay City (3½ hours south of here, outside of Saginaw). Best of luck on the road trip for sure! The other gig is technically outside of our coverage range (an hour's drive from the Soo), but it will be their closest show since April at The Merch, and it will see Alex, Josh, and Iggy open for their friends in Rose City metal band Tribe989 at Bates Corner Bar & Grill in Gould City on Thursday, September 24th.

Hannahville "rez metal" band Ghidora (who Heavy Lies The Crown fans will know well) are also playing this show 90 minutes west of the Soo. If you can make the drive to western Mackinac County, this show may be of note, and despite Gould City being pretty small, they can book big names at Bates Corner (Buckcherry played there earlier this month!) Click here for details on the Gould City concert. Lastly, they posted this short teaser video for the Bay City show on Friday, with Iggy promoting it from an... unexpected place, while the caption at the end notes that Crush have been busy in the studio recently working on original material. Hopefully we hear more soon, so get Crushed above and below, and I hope next month's shows go well!

Also today, here's some clarification of the lineup for Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion in Sault Ontario on August 5th! The advertising for the event had conflicting details on who was and wasn't playing, but organizer Paige Dennie listed off performers in a personal Facebook post shared to Maddy's Facebook page the next day to thank everyone for volunteering. Ten acts ended up playing the Wednesday outdoor-ish concert under the big tent, with this AI-generated poster being accurate to the final bill aside from omitting Tex Riviera & The Relix Ride for one reason or another (not only did they play, they were up first!). The acts that dropped out (both for unannounced reasons) were solo musicians Arin Karki and Leslie Cook, with Tym Morrison being a last minute replacement for one of them. Of note, Jason Taillefer's sister Kelly guested for part of his solo set, which was implied to be keyboard-heavy.

Paige noted that 5 Dollar Bribe donated their drum kit and PA system for the day's full band's to use, which was nice of them, while TNT singer/guitarist Travis Sharpe helped with sound and managing set changes, and Bone Yard 225 were the headliners. It does sound like things went well, and Paige was very appreciative of everyone helping out, both from the concert aspect and towards supporting the dog rescue charity itself, so visit the above links for more on what went down four weeks ago!

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

 

• A memorial concert for late local musician Dale Corcoran will be held at the resurgent Rockstar Bar on Saturday, September 19th! Proceeds will go to his widow Clare for her own recent expenses, and the show is implied to largely be an informal and unrehearsed jam featuring friends and former bandmates rather than something with firmly scheduled and advertised bands (though I'd assume that we'll see members of Tex Riviera & The Ride). Could we see throwbacks to his local metal and hard rock work of the 1980s? Tickets cost $20 + processing fees at this link, and I do hope that this celebration of life is a huge hit across the board!
• I apologize for missing this among our backlog clearout, but a demonstration named Navigating the Modern Music Business As An Independent Artist was held at The Art Hub At Spring this past Tuesday. Hosted by local musician and manager Ryan St. Pierre of The Lonely Listeners Club and the upstart music management program Lisinin, the program was to promote his work and help encourage independent artists to explore today's music industry and better network in music communities. All are definitely good plans to help aspiring musicians in their career, so click here for more on what went down last week, and what Ryan continues working on!
• The performance order for the aforementioned Punk Rock Fiesta at The Rockstar Bar on October 3rd has been unveiled via this poster shared on the Punk Canada Facebook group two weeks ago! The running order is mostly what you'd expect given band notoriety, with everyone but headliners Random Killing having a half hour timeslot (the debuting Baby Rails lead off at 6:30 PM), but local crossover thrash trio Hails will surprisingly get the 10:30 PM co-headlining slot over the Billys and Fist Magnet reunions. This will be a huge show no matter when bands are on, so visit the above links for more on what to expect in just over a month!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Hard Rock Revue), Fort Creek Updates, And Much More!!

Here's another packed news post to check out on this Tuesday evening, and here, we have some recent assorted updates, a look at a unique concert from earlier this month, and big lineup changes from a local hard rock band, but let's lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

The day before the Punk Rock Fiesta goes down in October, The Rockstar Bar will signal their return to hosting regular public concerts on Friday, October 2nd when they host the one-off Hard Rock Review! This is a supergroup of veteran local rock musicians led by Dodge This singer/guitarist Jason Taillefer in his first local concert appearance with a plugged-in hard rock band since Phatstick broke up in 2012, so that alone will be a pull for many. Other 1990s local rock veterans will join him here, including guitarist Jeff See, bassist Robert Iacoboni (later seen in Master Steven and the Taiwanese Pink Floyd tribute band In The Flesh), and former Gsis Murphy/Fort Creek drummer Anthony Fabiano, so local rock fans who were around then should be quite interested! As well, they will have a guest singer for six songs, namely Dallas Crockett, a friend of Rob's who sings for the Kelowna-based AC/DC tribute band High Voltage.

Dallas isn't local, but it will be interesting to hear how he does on six AC/DC classics during his planned guest spot in October! Hard Rock Review (isn't "Revue" more accurate in this context?) are advertised to play a 1980s-leaning hard rock set on October 2nd, including acts like The Scorpions, Judas Priest, Journey, The Cult, and even "a couple of one-hit-wonders". Doors open at 8:00 PM for this 19+ concert, and an admission fee or potential ticket sales are not known yet. The first weekend of October is shaping up to be huge for fans of hard rock and punk of the past, and an ideal way to kick off The Rockstar Bar's full relaunch as a proper concert venue, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, we have some big lineup news from local southern hard rock band Fort Creek, who announced two new additions to their ranks via their Facebook page on Sunday! First, they have enlisted Half Past bassist Arthur Lacasse to replace the long-since departed Robin "Bones" Lee. Art is a good fit based on his musical background, though does him joining Fort Creek mean anything negative for Half Past's status? That band has yet to play live this year following drummer Johnny Amendola's departure and move to Soundcheck/Separate Wayz, but we'll let you know if anything is clarified from their camp! Meanwhile, in a surprise, Fort Creek have also brought in former Stillbroke/Borderline Divine alum Sam DeDominicis as their new drummer, replacing Phil Greco. A reason for Phil's departure was not announced, though if you recall Bones and Anthony's quiet departures in 2023, this won't be shocking.

Fort Creek were recording their long-awaited debut album at Phil's own Jettison Studios though, so does this signal anything bad re: the album sessions, or will he still work with the band behind the scenes? Again, we'll let you know! We last heard from Sam when Borderline Divine teased a reunion in 2016 that never got off the ground (the former Stillbroke last played live in 2012), so it's been a while regardless, but it's great to see him in a new local band after all these years, let alone Justin, Shane, and Bill having a full lineup again after almost three years! Stay tuned for more from Fort Creek in live and studio contexts hopefully soon!

Now to the oldest topic in our backlog that we hadn't yet covered in an SMS post, namely fallout from this year's Government Bay Barge Bash in Cedarville, Michigan! As you may recall, three bands play this annual Les Cheneaux Islands summer concert on a floating barge in Government Bay, with swimming and boating to the event and the stage encouraged among the revelry, and for the rain-delayed event on August 2nd, their official Facebook page did get two videos highlighting what went down four Sundays ago. One features quickly cut clips from the Barge Bash, including very brief looks at The Mark Bowen Band's set. Alas, this video is both vertical and 14 seconds long, but it is an effective teaser! The longer of the two captures Cedarville classic rock veterans Shipheads On Shore covering (as best as I can tell) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Running Down A Dream" for 51 seconds.

Shared from attendee William Maloney's personal Facebook page, he panned the camera around in a circle, and you can see that the barge isn't that far from shore, so you can walk around in the water (just don't slip!). The aesthetics alone make this video worth a watch, as you don't often get concerts where boats are parked so close to the stage, let alone the wide forest sightlines, so if you don't mind getting a little wet, this deserves more attention as a summer destination concert. Sadly, no public videos of Project 906's headlining set that I am aware of, but see above for more from this year's Barge Bash, and here's to another big one next year!

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

 

• Local hard rock cover trio Nate's Chow have added a new gig to their calendar, but it will be on the road this Saturday at the Jerk-N Depot in Alanson, which is 90 minutes south of here (give or take Mackinac Bridge traffic) and 20 minutes northeast of Petoskey. According to the band's AI-generated poster, this is a "last minute add on show" due to a previously scheduled band cancelling. This will now be just the second gig since the former Unfortunate Sun rebranded as Nate's Chow, and while anything in the Lower Peninsula is out of our coverage range, hopefully things go well on Saturday night!
• While we await confirmation of who their new bassist is, Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Separate Wayz shared videos of their "epic crossover" gig in Chapleau with their sister band Soundcheck via this batch post on their Facebook page last week! Unfortunately, both videos are 7 seconds long and do not have audio whatsoever, but from what we can see, it looks like a lot of fun was had by the bands and fans alike at the Gold Rush Nationals, and stay tuned for more from both bands!
• Former Spades GT bandmates J.D. Pearce, Matthew "Fang" Voros, and Sean "Skull" MacNab will reunite for the first time since their abrupt dissolution in December this Thursday at The Queens Nightclub in Barrie, when they play a one-off Misfits tribute set as Fiend Club! This show is an all-tribute band affair featuring six bands, mostly punk and emo ones, plus the amusingly named headliners Rage Against The Poutine. Matthew and Sean have remained active this year in their psychobilly band The House of Haunt, and it is good to see J.D. (a.k.a. Johnny Pints) back on stage again with them, but could this lead to more in some fashion?

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard 225, Even Flow, And Tym Morrison), An Inactive Band Note, And More!!

Today's post is mostly focused on LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the fall, and there's some interesting shows ahead to look at here, but we also have a band newly moved to our inactive links and a preview of one more mid-week concert for August 2026, so here's what you should know!

Local acoustic classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post on WEDNESDAY, and in the likely final gigs for him there for the season, he will be back there on September 2nd and 9th as well! I try to go month-by-month for Tym's weekly runs at local venues, hence why I put off the September dates until now. While the September cutoff has varied in the past (and could be added to), ending his annual summer arrangement at the Great Northern Road outdoor stage just after Labour Day makes sense, especially with temperatures starting to drop. Hopefully Tym's unplugged rock covers get a strong reception from assembled fans at The Trading Post on Wednesday and next month! As recently usual, Wednesday's and the last two shows run from 6:30 PM-8:30 PM with no age limits or cover charges.

At press time, 9&10 News is calling for thunderstorms on Wednesday, but this is going up before we'd be in range for an hourly forecast, so I recommend keeping tabs on your preferred local weather source for updates, let alone with Tym on social media. While his Mike Case Stage shows this year have generally avoided bad weather, he has cancelled shows there before due to the elements. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live!

Next up, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 have been booked for a special Wednesday night concert of their own, this time on September 9th at Beck's Bar, but they won't be alone. For this one-off gig (named "Midweek Mayhem"), they'll welcome Stones & Crows/Jackleg Band guitarist Spencer Pine as a guest for their sets! In a sense, this will be a reversion to their original form factor, as Bone Yard had two guitarists before frontman Greg Simpson permanently moved to drums in 2022, though remember that they evolved from country covers into the heavier rock band that Boneheads know and love today by the late 2010s. In her update video on the bar's Facebook page, Beck's owner Becky Sawyer took credit for the idea for this gig, as she "fell in love" with Spencer's playing when Stones & Crows debuted there, and she expressed an interest in getting him and Bone Yard guitarist Alex D'Ettore together for a show where both would play on stage at once.

Emphasis is on this being an "old fashioned jam night" with more of a freeform setlist, but regardless, this will be a unique pull for many! Who knows if it would be repeated if it goes well, but remember that Spencer (also of Jupiter Marvelous and the internet radio network Tomahawk 141) has a lot of irons in the fire. Perhaps in deference to the school/work night scheduling, Midweek Mayhem has an 8:00-11:00 PM runtime, and it will be a 19+ event with no cover as usual. Head to the official Facebook event page for more on this intriguing collaborative concert next month! 

In one more new show announcement, we have our first confirmed Halloween concert for 2026, as local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow will open for local Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute Mellowship Slinky on Saturday, October 31st at Blaster Powerhouse! This year, we are lucky enough to have Halloween on a Saturday, which will be huge, and it will mark the one year anniversary of Even Flow's debut, when they headlined an October 31st, 2025 show at the aforementioned Beck's Bar. They're not seen live as frequently as Mellowship Slinky (led by Reeves frontman Brad Irwin), but the talent is most definitely there, so fans of 1990s rock of two different flavours will enjoy this double whammy of local tribute bands! The grunge and funk rock action goes down at 9:00 PM with no age limit. Tickets are on sale at this link and through the bands for $20, and the price will jump to $25 at door.

This may seem steep for a show featuring two local cover bands, but remember that it is Halloween night, the show is being branded as a Halloween party (so expect seasonal frills for the occasion), and while oddly not stated in text on the Facebook event page, I would assume that costumes are heavily encouraged. There will be competition ahead for your Halloween concert plans, but visit the above links for more details on Mellowship Slinky & Even Flow at the former Soo Blaster!

Finally for today, I have moved local hard rock quartet Sylo to our inactive band links. The band has not issued a public update since they headlined at Beck's Bar on August 20th of last year, with frontman Elijah Russell transitioning to work on his country/indie rock band Eli Russell & The River Fools in recent months, not to mention solo acoustic gigs that hewed closer musically to that band. Launched in 2021 under the name Raincourt (after original guitarist Raine Rancourt), and comprised of then-White Pines Collegiate students/Pine Tones members, the band was seen often at school events and at 2022's Go Skate Day, and even released two studio originals on major streaming services, before Raine left and the group quietly rebranded as Sylo. Sporadic activity followed until they fully relaunched in February 2024, playing at scattered local gigs as both headliners and openers until Eli headed off to university for a year that fall.

Sylo reunited last May for a handful of summer shows, including the aborted Ripcordz concert at The Distraction. Their social media presence was never very active (even as Raincourt), which didn't help their exposure locally, but what I heard of them under either name pointed to a talented group with an indie rock flourish on their harder rocking material, and given their ages, the sky was the limit had they stuck around. Still unsure where they got the Sylo name from though. Best of luck to Eli with The River Fools and Raine with Riverside Stasis, and hopefully we hear more from the Owens, Alder, and Jakob down the line! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Aneurysm), Another Brimley Battle Of The Bands Video, And More!!

Our backlog is almost cleaned out, so to continue towards that goal, here's another news post to check out tonight, including one more video from a battle of the bands last year, some assorted shorter updates, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, so here's what you should know!

It's been two & a half weeks of putting this show off amidst our severe backlog, but its number has finally been called, as Winnipeg-based Nirvana tribute band Aneurysm will make their local debut on Wednesday, September 23rd at Beck's Bar! The first Nirvana tribute in the Soo since The Pixo Control's one-off turn as Like A Pisces over a decade ago, this show actually has more in common with the Rush tribute concert at Reggie's in July 2022, in that the tribute band is the sister group for a touring original band who will be playing the opening set as themselves. In this case, the band is Winnipeg "nu grunge punk n' roll" quartet The Bloodshots, who alone would be an intriguing headliner here with their up-tempo melodic, yet in your face original sound that blurs genre lines, but they do Nirvana justice in available media, so fans of grunge and alt-rock should have a blast, work/school night scheduling acknowledged!

This concert will have a 9:00 PM start time in "Saulte Ste. Marie", it is 19+, and it will have a $10 cover charge (as best as I can tell, there won't be advance ticket sales). If you can swing a Wednesday nighter in late September, this should deliver the goods for Nirvana fans, let alone The Bloodshots' own entertaining originals, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on all of next month's action!

Next up, I wanted to wrap up our look at Dafter, Michigan singer/guitarist Molly Escherich's videos from her sets at the Superior Whitefish Festival in Brimley, as we haven't talked about her "Music In The Park" acoustic set last year! Molly's solo unplugged sets don't lean as heavy as what she plays in bands (perhaps understandably), but she does throw in some hard rock covers in unplugged settings. Before she and The Other Guys played an abbreviated 10 minute long set in that evening's battle of the bands, Molly played a more standard 40 minute set in the afternoon, which was prefaced by the announcement by her mother Tiffany that she had won a major scholarship award for middle/high school music students, allowing her to afford the tuition at the Interlochen Academy For The Arts. She begins her second year there next month, and of course, belated congratulations to Molly on her success as she furthers her musical career and education downstate!

The actual set begins 5+ minutes in with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Still The Same", Radiohead's "Creep", and Eddie Rabbitt's "Drivin' My Life Away", before playing her own original song "Will This Last Forever". After tackling Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is The Deepest" (perhaps the Sheryl Crow version?), Molly next plays her own original "Cheap Cologne" (which she played with The Other Guys in the battle later on), before finishing out with covers of Zach Bryan's "Something In The Orange", The Doobie Brothers' "Listen To The Music", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", and Coldplay's "Yellow". If you're curious, all songs here except the four from "Creep" to "The First Cut..." were played in Molly's Music In The Park set this year. Also, only five songs here were clipped out as indivdual YouTube uploads, so use the links above to see everything.

I'm thinking that the other six didn't get singular uploads to minimize on banter with people off-stage and/or false starts/minor flubs, but for a then-13 year old who had just received extremely exciting news about her further education in music, I'm not inclined to be judgy. Molly performed well here, and covered a lot of musical ground in this set, so give her full 2025 acoustic Superior Whitefish Festival set a watch below!

Finally, here's here's three assorted shorter Sault Ontario news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

 

• A bonus 16th act has been added to the Northern Vibe Festival's Forest Stage lineup this weekend, namely Darius McRae, a teenage acoustic singer/guitarist who you may recognize from local theatrical productions and from performing in Superior Heights Collegiate's student rock band Steel Rock at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2024 & 2025. How will he sound on his own? Be in Ophir this coming weekend to find out! The full two day schedule has been released, but as it's now short notice for us (as usual for this event), stay tuned for our extended Northern Vibe preview next week!
• In yet another example of a local band posting a Facebook "Story" that I can't embed or link to here, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Quite Frankly shared a brief vertical video of them covering The Arrows' "I Love Rock N' Roll" (well, the Joan Jett version) at last week's Outspoken Brewing concert. Actually, the show took place outdoors beside Outspoken, which is honestly for the best, as the space for concerts inside is very small, hence why you more hear of acoustic solo artists and DJs there. Hopefully the concert went well for the band and fans, even if I truly don't like the idea of "Stories"!
• Underground Events SSM posted a "Things To Do In The Soo" events listing on their Facebook page on August 15th featuring upcoming concerts from them and other promoters, even ones that haven't been formally unveiled yet. Of note, the second SOOpfest fundraiser will indeed be on September 19th (bands and location to be announced), and there will be a "mixed bill" Thanksgiving weekend concert on October 9th followed by a "metal show" on October 30th. If they're listing them without info, the latter two must be from Underground Events SSM too, so stay tuned for details on both!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Stones & Crows), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Before we begin our second weekend concert preview post, just a heads up that Beck's Bar briefly advertised Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg "The Ranting Rockstar" Simpson as playing their Sunday matinee timeslot this weekend, but he has quietly dropped out for unannounced reasons, and was replaced by Whiskey Hippy. Greg will be back, with and without your local 225, but hopefully nothing too serious happened with him and/or the venue! Now, here's what you should know for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

New local hard/blues rock quartet Stones & Crows will return to Beck's Bar for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band first announced the show on their Facebook page on July 24th, then said it was cancelled due to "scheduling reasons" a day later, only to re-confirm it on the same day this past Friday. As such, disregard their newest black & white promotional video claiming this show as a "last minute announcement", as we have known about if for almost four weeks in fits and starts! This will be the first concert from the Electric Church successors since they rocked Rotaryfest Stage 2 last month, and their first at Beck's since July 3rd, and hopefully the guys deliver a fun evening of originals and covers, as fans have came to expect so far this year! Bukky, Nikki, and Tony take the stage at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge as usual.

Fresh off of playing with The Big Finish Band at tonight's Downtown Street Party, Drifters frontwoman and karaoke host Elly McWatters will play a solo country rock set as the 3:00 PM matinee performer on SATURDAY, but as usual, she isn't "opening" for Stones & Crows. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Stones & Crows from their Facebook page last month! This video features the guys playing four 10 second snippets of live covers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Rolling Stones songs among them, and while I'd far prefer full songs (let alone in colour, and not heavily letterboxed), it does give a reasonable preview of songs you might hear on SATURDAY NIGHT, so give it a watch for yourselves below!

Next up, let's head south to Michigan for some E.U.P. shows (all of which had advance notice), starting with Traverse City classic metal trio Peril's second and final headlining gig for 2026 at American Legion Park in St. Ignace TOMORROW NIGHT! Just over two weeks removed from their rare Thursday gig in our neck of the woods for St. Ignace's Music By The Bay concert series, Jeff, Howard, and Brooks will rock the park one more time before things wrap up next month, though the series runs daily until Labour Day. With future shows at the Soo Kewadin in flux (more on that in a second), time will tell when we next see Peril north of the Mackinac Bridge after tomorrow, so don't bypass this concert if you like old school metal and hard rock covers, and will be in the region! Music By The Bay shows are all at 7:00 PM with 90 minute run times, they're definitely all ages, and have no cover charge. 

9&10 News is calling for cloudy skies tomorrow with a 30% chance of rain in the 8:00 PM hour, so while the rain and lightning is expected to peak overnight, consider some rain provisions if you're coming to American Legion Park (the stage has a roof for the bands' sake, at least). Temperatures are expected to be in the 69-71° (21-22° Celsius) range. Visit the above links for more on Peril's outdoor St. Ignace show, and here they are live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Tarnished will play The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for the final times TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Don't worry, Tarnished are alive and well, but they said on their Facebook page on Tuesday that The Rapids Lounge "is being remodeled this fall". You may recall that Kewadin had announced a series of renovations at their five casinos in this press release, which did confirm a planned new sports bar for the Soo branch, The press release says that construction of the sports bar (with virtual game bays!) will begin in "summer 2027", with the demolition of the casino's original East Wing structure beginning this fall also, so that may explain an extended closure from live concerts before the replacement lounge actually gets built. Kewadin's entertainment page lists bands at The Rapids Lounge through the end of September, but time will tell if they happen as scheduled.

That doesn't necessarily portend the real timeline for the end of The Rapids Lounge, as St. Ignace's Northern Pines Lounge also only goes that far for their own scheduled bands at press time. We'll keep you posted when more is known about Kewadin's new sports bar, but when you compare The Rapids Lounge to The Northern Pines Lounge, it never looked as detailed and modern, so this should be good in the long term. Don't miss Tarnished two last times there tomorrow & Saturday! Their hard rocking and old school covers are up at 9:00 PM with 21+ age limits and no cover. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live!

Finally for this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, we'll head to Three One Three On Ashmun, as local hardcore punk trio Viscera will be headliining there on SATURDAY NIGHT! Interesting timing in the sense that the Yooper Frankenstein premiere at LSSU is also on Saturday (frontman "Blind" Bob Quinn worked on the soundtrack for the film), but hopefully both events have a good crowd, and that Viscera devastate local fans with their hard rocking and socially charged sound once again! Continuing their recent positive relationships with musicians from the Western U.P., Marquette indie rock/power pop band Addicus will make their local debut on Saturday, and while not as heavy as Viscera can get, this female fronted group should make some fans out east with their well written and upbeat original material! The other opener is a project named Needhealer, so who are they?

As best as I can tell, Needhealer is a new DIY lo-fi project led by former Pick-Me-Ups bassist Trevor Yake, who primarily sings and plays keyboard here. You can hear his debut synthwave "EP" on Soundcloud, and it'll be interesting to hear how this translates at the former Back Door! Regardless, this is shaping up to be an intriguing genre mix. Presented by Viscera's own Soo Tang Records, this show goes down on Saturday at 7:00 PM, it is an 18+ event, and admission is $10 in advance through Viscera members or $15 at the door. Visit the above links for more on this explosive night of original music, and for a preview, here's the headliners live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard 225!!)

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 have announced new concerts for September and October, as per their website's calendar, so where will fans be able to see them next? We'll get into their "uncorked" show on Thursday during our next round of concert previews due to the proximity of the event, as the band did not publically confirm their involvement early enough for us to plug it without being considered "short notice". We already knew about their August 29th show at The Water Tower Pub, and we'll address the band playing there on Friday, August 28th in an upcoming post this week if able, given the ongoing backlog clearout here. The first brand new show will be on Friday, September 11th, when your local 225 will kick off the fall season by headlining the annual Bruce Mines Fall Fair (a.k.a. Central Algoma Exhibition)! Technically, this is the first time that we have covered an SMS-amenable band playing at this event.

However, classic/hard rock cover trio The Sidekicks were among the opening bands for last year's Saturday concert headlined by The Luxury. Apologies for missing that, but remember, I didn't know that they leaned towards hard rock last fall. This year, the band aspect of the Fall Fair an hour southeast of the Soo (basically on the edge of our coverage range going east on Highway 17) will allegedly include a Saturday concert again, even though I cannot find public confirmation of who yet, but Bone Yard will be performing right after the annual demolition derby on the opening Friday night program. If you like seeing cars get smashed up, let alone Bone Yard's hard rocking sound, keep this in mind! Bone Yard's concert and the demolition derby will both take place at the Bruce Mines Fairgrounds at Highway 638 in Bruce Mines, and the only start time given is for the derby at 7:00 PM (implying that they'd prefer if you come for that too and stay for the band.)

This is all ages, but there will be a beer garden on-site, and while admission is $10 for a day pass and $25 for the three day festivities (kids 12 and under are free), the concert tickets specifically are $30, but will include admission to the Saturday concert, whoever is playing. Despite the costs, it sounds like a fun day, so visit the above links for more details, including all of the other family activities at the Bruce Mines Fall Fair in four weeks! Two weeks after this trip east, Bone Yard will also hit the highway (albeit just 20 minutes away) to Echo Bay for a special "End Of Summer Bash" at the Elks Lodge #535 there on Saturday, September 26th! While this really isn't summer anymore by then, the southward equinox is earlier that week, so the shoe fits in that way.  We haven't covered an Echo Bay concert on here since Soundcheck played a couple of shows there in 2024, but alas, I missed one.

As it turns out, Soundcheck played at their slo-pitch tournament again on June 27th of this year, as confirmed via this AI-generated poster on the Echo Bay Elks Lodge's Facebook page. It's tougher to catch some Soundcheck bookings when they update their social media so scarcely, but apologies again, and I hope the guys had a good time and crowd in June! I don't know if there's an official reason for Bone Yard 225's booking next month beyond the end of summer, but hopefully they rock the lodge well and have a strong turnout! The Elks Lodge is located at 96 Church Street off of Highway 17B (that's the old highway.) That concert has an 8:00 PM start time, no stated age limit, and an admission fee of $15 (contact the names on the Facebook event page if you want advance tickets). In terms of typical nightclub gigs in the Soo, Bone Yard 225 will play a rare double header weekend at Beck's Bar in early October!

The former will be a regular nighttime show (their first plugged-in public concert in the Soo in two months) on Saturday, October 3rd at 9:00 PM and the latter will be an "uncorked" matinee on Sunday, October 4th at 3:00 PM. Finally, fresh off of their "uncorked" gig at The Water Tower Pub in two weeks, they will return there for another acoustic show on Friday, October 9th, which will take place on the Thanksgiving long weekend. As always, they exclusively play here "uncorked", so keep Greg, Alex, and Warren's softer side in mind for this upcoming one-nighter, which is 19+ at 9:00 PM with no cover. Busy times ahead for Bone Yard 225 as they round out their summer calendar and enter the autumn, so visit the above links for more on the southern fried hard rock action ahead! Thanks everyone!