LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Demon King, Project 906, And Generations), And More!!

Here's a packed news post for your Monday night reading, which mostly features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next three months on both sides of the border, plus an inactive band note, so let's get things rolling!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced five upcoming concerts for the next month and a half, courtesy of their Facebook group yesterday, so where can you see them next? The band will return to The Kiln at Searchmont Resort for Saturday nighters on January 24th and February 21st, so clearly their debut there on January 3rd was a hit for them to get rebooked this fast! You can also see Valerie, Joe, Pierre, and Tony back at The Full Throttle Saloon for two more concerts on Saturday, February 14th & Friday, February 27th, with the former falling over the Family Day long weekend (and on Valentine's Day). Lastly, their busy February will also include a one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub on Friday, February 20th, and because that venue never books the same band on consecutive nights, and The Kiln only books bands on Saturdays, the two gigs pair well to keep them busy all weekend!

The Kiln and Water Tower Pub gigs are all at 8:00 PM, the Full Throttle Saloon shows are at 9:30 PM, all are 19+ events, and none have an announced cover charge. Fans of this veteran group will want to circle these winter dates on their calendar, so visit the above links for more details! 

Next up, Family Day weekend for Sault Ontario = Presidents' Day weekend for Sault Michigan, and hard rock fans in the E.U.P. won't be lacking either, as local blues/hard rock cover quintet Project 906 will return to Snow's Bar & Grill in nearby Cedarville for a Valentine's Day concert of their own on Saturday, February 14th! The band mentioned this show at the end of their Facebook post thanking everyone for coming to see them at The Merch on Saturday night, but didn't note that the show will coincide with the annual Les Cheneaux Islands Snowsfest, the annual winter festival held jointly in Cedarville and Hessel over the long weekend. Full event details are forthcoming (check back on the Facebook event page), but this will be the (at least) fifth straight year where either The Islander Bar or Snow's Bar included a regional hard rock band playing at Snowsfest that weekend, typically during the annual pub crawl. Project 906 previously did the honours in Cedarville in 2023. 

We'll let you know when more comes out regarding the exact itinerary for Snowsfest and how bands tie in, but it's good to see 906 making the hour's trek again for what should be a busy weekend! Expect a 9:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge on Valentine's Day. See above for more from updates from Project 906 and Snowsfest!

Also newly announced is a big Sault Ontario death metal concert for the spring, as Nashville-based death metal band Demon King will make their local concert debut on Tuesday, March 24th at Soo Blaster! Not to be confused with Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King (though imagine if they were added to the bill!), Demon King bring their own brand of technical blackened death metal to the forefront, and they have a ferocious and punishing sound that should start a good sized pit in two months' time! A multi-national touring roster will also include London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this past May) and Norwegian death metal band Celestial Scourge. Both will deliver the brutality you expect, and how often do bands literally from Norway come here? Local openers will include death/thrash metal trio Pillory and progressive metal quartet Convergence.

Both local bands are making their first announced live concert appearances of 2026, and they are solid choices to set the tone! Promoted locally by Mikhal Muto via his newly created agency Underground Events SSM (more on them soon), this all ages concert has a 7:00 PM start time, and while tickets are not on sale yet, they will cost $15 in advance and $25 at the door, and will be available through the local bands, at The Rad Zone, and online. If yo u love death metal, especially of a technical and complex variety, you won't want to miss out on this concert, so visit the Facebook event page for more details!

Finally, I have moved local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters back to our inactive band links. This may not come as a surprise to many readers given their sporadic updates in the 2020s, but the band was last publically active on January 13th of last year, when they posted a belated music video for their song "Collapse The Sun" on YouTube, one of two new music videos spearheaded by guitarist Mitch Sirie that month. After previously being inactive from late 2021 onward, The Bear Hunters awoke from "hibernation" in July 2023 to play a private event that drummer Johnny Belanger put on at Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn. Despite teasing that they'd be working on new music, no updates followed for almost a year, when Mitch said on their Facebook page that a final album and concert would be in the works, as connected to a contest relating to wearing band t-shirts.

Updates never came on the album or farewell gig, and while the two videos from last January (including a music video for their live favourite "Squirrel Buddy") were welcomed by long-time fans, the "Collapse The Sun" video was 100% archival content, and "Squirrel Buddy" was co-opted from Mitch's 2023 solo project Sir Hell, and only featured Johnny among other Bear Hunters members in audio or video. Mitch did say "slay tuned for more" at the time, and hopefully we do get more eventually, but their activity levels have been slow since the end of 2017, and members have talked about the eventual end multiple times in recent years. Hopefully we do hear from Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny again, even if it's only once more, but stay tuned for more updates on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

HeadF1rst & Project 906 Concert Previews, Plus A Lengthy Livestream!!

Tonight's post rounds out this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, and in one case, we have a very long preview video to share with lots of news and notes within, so here's what else you should know for your Saturday!

Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quintet Project 906 will return to The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Announced on the band's Facebook page early last month, this will be 906's first Hessel stop of 2025, last rocking The Islander Bar in August of last year. This will also be their first show since 100% confirming that hand drummer Brian Duford is an official band member rather than a recurring guest (and he apparently has antlers now!), so keep the double percussion in mind if you haven't seen Project 906 much before. You can enjoy Project 906's slate of fan-friendly hard rocking covers at The Islander Bar tomorrow at the early-ish start time of 7:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Project 906 live!

Next up, the main event of the weekend for hard rock fans in Sault Ontario goes down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster, when local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst (now with a 1 in their name rather than an I) will headline the Steel City CollectorCon pre-party and launch their sophomore album "Road Trippin'"! This stacked event will be an effective teaser for Sunday's bi-annual collectors/comic convention hosted by Vintage Games N' Junque/Steel City Events at the Quattro hotel, and to that end, select vendors will be selling their wares before/during the concert proper, while there will also be an 8-ball pool tournament if you are so inclined. This will be the release party for HeadFirst's new CD and their first show anywhere in three weeks, and discs will be on sale, including a raffle for a chance to win free copies of both "Road Trippin'" and the newest studio albums from tomorrow's opening bands!

The CollectorCon pre-party will feature two opening acts, including local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their first concert of 2025, last seen on stage over seven months ago. Their own sophomore album is still not released, but look for songs from it in their high energy set tomorrow! As well, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his Big Finish Band will open the proceedings in their first gig of the year, last seen at Soo Blaster during The Soo's Got Talent's finals last fall. Always good to see Mike back home, and hopefully everyone delivers his original music as solidly as ever to lead off! While the all ages festivities begin at 7:30 PM tomorrow, bands start at 9:00 PM, so the lead-up may be for the benefit of the vendors. Admission is $20, but $35 V.I.P. passes exist that include door prize tickets and access to a question/answer panel (I don't know specifics on that). The pool tournament separately costs $20 to enter.

Tickets are available at Vintage Games N' Junque in advance, and online at this link, but you can pay at the door. This should be a fun event whether you're invested in HeadF1rst's new album or the CollectorCon (or both), so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more details, but for a preview, I would have embedded this hour+ long livestream from Vintage Games N' Junque's Facebook page on Tuesday! I can't because Facebook content matched songs played in the stream, so click here to watch. This was the "listening party" hyped in advance by the band, and due to Facebook's rule changes on livestreamed videos, this will be deleted on or around May 29th unless re-posted as a normal video, so watch it while you can! This is hosted by VGNJ owner Mike Turcotte (who stars in many of the store's videos) in their physical gaming-centric back room, with his wife Beth present off camera, and features all of HeadF1rst taking part on camera alongside Handsome Sandwich drummer Johnny Belanger.

After some light discussion about members' early guitar work, HeadF1rst revealed that they have joined Mike Haggith's indie label MorningStar Records, and "Road Trippin'" will be released via the imprint with professional packaging, which is great to hear! Extra details are next given on admission and V.I.P. perks, as well as who some of the vendors are. After some reflection on Headf1rst members' prior time in White Pines Collegiate's student band The Pine Tones, the guys noted which merchandise that they'll be selling tomorrow, with frontman Red Jettison taking time to hype local musicians in general, including a Spotify playlist called Soo Rock that he created to help group some of them together. The praise for the Soo, including from Mike (who's not from here originally) is very welcomed! Some discussion of Johnny's long-running local death metal band The Bear Hunters comes up at the 15 minute mark too, so what is said there?

HeadF1rst drummer Anthony Boudreau heavily praised seeing The Bear Hunters live at the former Oddfellows Hall, and Johnny admitted that The Bear Hunters had an offer to play the Sentiment Dissolve concert at Jay's on May 19th, but he said that the band "I think, is done". I wouldn't take that as a firm statement about the band's finality, as guitarist Mitch Sirie was spearheading new Bear Hunters content in recent months and there were hints about more coming, but I think fans understand that they're on the back end of their run regardless. This rolls in with discussion about the local scene in general and the support of each other's projects and different styles, which is great to see! At the 26 minute mark, HeadFirst frontman Red Jettison announces that they're planning a "Road Trippin' Tour" run which will see them play at Goulais Community Days (details forthcoming) as well as Bruce Mines, Sudbury, and more locations to be announced.

Bruce Mines would fit in our coverage range, for the record, we just don't hear of much there in terms of heavier shows. We'll keep you posted on the tour details when they come out, but if you came to the live-stream for the teased listening party of songs from "Road Trippin'", you'll want to jump in at the 29 minute mark. The new album's first single "Slay The Dragon" is played first, and when the interview resumes in the 34 minute range, Mike praises the song heavily, and after some related discussion about production and guest credits, a minute-long sample of a second song from the album is played 37 minutes in (check the album out or come to Soo Blaster to hear it in full!) Afterwards, Johnny gives context as to what Handsome Sandwich will play tomorrow, including at least four cuts from their still-unreleased sophomore album, which may be named "Collage". Two more HeadF1rst album singles are teased next.

The one at the 43 minute mark is named "Story Of Me", and hasn't been played live yet as of this recording. 49 minutes in, Johnny gives "the quick version" of how the Handsome Sandwich name came about, and we then hear HeadF1rst guitarist Raine Rancourt's solo from the last song on "Road Trippin'", as well as a snippet from a drinking/crowd involvement song 55 minutes in.  A few lighter questions from live-stream viewers pop up next, including the reveal that they want to release two more singles from the album, with another teaser clip next featuring very deep vocals. 61 minutes in, Johnny samples the studio version of "All Done Now" from Handsome Sandwich's upcoming album, and that is followed by everyone listening to Mike Haggith's existing song "The Nature Of The Times" (I'll assume that he has no new studio material ready, though frequent fliers may disagree!)

The last real scoop in the live-stream is the band's direct explanation into adding a 1 into their name, primarily to differentiate themselves from other bands named Headfirst elsewhere, and to get their own listing on streaming services. This post has went on long enough, so I'll detail Headf1rst's official website and their MorningStar Records signing in a separate post soon, but this is an entertaining and casual live-stream that fills in a lot of blanks and introduces some new questions that we should know a lot of answers to tomorrow night at Soo Blaster! Watch the livestream above, here's HeadF1rst live, don't miss CollectorCon, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Queen: It's A Kinda Magic & About:Blank), Plus New Music Videos!!

Let's get a new news post on the site on this cold Sunday night, and it's half devoted to new music videos and half to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

A number of alumni from last fall's Lake Superior State University battle of the bands will gather at Pickles Bar & Grill in nearby Brimley, Michigan for the first show of 2025 from local promoter Brighton LeBlanc's agency Serious Business! To be held on Saturday, February 8th, this show (possibly named "We Will Be Music") will be headlined by the live concert debut of About:Blank, the new (according to Brighton in an e-mail) punk trio from former Tarnished bandmates Parker Talentino and Nathan Webber! Their lineup is rounded out by former Letters To Abel/Midnight Logic drummer Kade DesArmo. No hints of their music yet beyond what we know of members' prior band work, but based on About:Blank's lineup, they should fit our coverage! We'll have more on them in an upcoming post. Opening the proceedings in three weeks are newer local indie rock band (and Sole Aggressors side project) The Undecideds, plus local acoustic singer/guitarists Kevin Blakeney and Kaleb Shannon.

With the exception of Kade, everyone played at the LSSU battle last fall, so every act except Tarnished and The Small Town Society will be at least partially represented at Pickles next month (Nathan and Parker left Tarnished prior to the battle, where both played in separate acts). Whether you were at the battle or not, consider driving out to Brimley for what should be a fun night of original E.U.P. music with a nice mix of genres! This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 18+ age limit, and $10 cover charge. Visit the above links for more on this next round of Serious Business!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where Australian tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will return to the Sault Community Theatre Centre for their third local headlining appearance on Thursday, May 8th! It seems like this highly proficient and faithful Queen tribute have played here more often (possibly due to their 2022 debut here being postponed twice due to pandemic restrictions), but this will be their first trip to the former Kiwanis Theatre in two years, skipping the Soo on their 2024 Canadian tour run. From what I heard, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic delivered a great stage show with strong Mercuryesque vocals in early 2020s stops here, so if you are a big Queen fan, you'll be right at home with their return this spring, especially as they're touring in honour of the 50th anniversary of the release of "Bohemian Rhapsody"! All of the action goes down at White Pines' amphitheatre on May 8th at 8:00 PM, with no age limits whatsoever.

Tickets run at this link or at the in-person box office for $69 (adults) or $40 (kids 12 and under), which is actually $3 lower across the board from 2023. Sales have been good even with our coverage not being immediate, as the closest center section seats available are in the twelfth row (fourth in the side sections), so act now to ensure as good as a seat as possible if you don't have tickets already! For more details on Queen: It's A Kinda Magic's return to the Soo, visit the above links!

Now let's look at two newly released music videos from notable local bands, and we'll start with the long-teased debut music video (and studio single) from local southern/hard rock band Fort Creek! As launched yesterday with their non-concert release party at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, the song is "One For The Road", and you can see its video on their new YouTube channel, as well as hear the song on "every streaming platform" (in reality, it's on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Anghami). The band has also launched their own official website in conjunction with the single and video, including an electronic press kit and hype for the current members and their upcoming album plans, but not a lot of detail on their pre-2024 activity. The song was mixed/mastered by Josh MacIntosh, and the video was filmed by Josh Penno at Spacebag Productions.

The music video intercuts scenes of frontman Justin Grayson driving to Jay's with the band setting up for an acoustic performance there, plus Justin singing the song at the bar proper, before everyone is seen playing "One For The Road" together on stage, and ultimately leaving the Korah Road nightclub at the end. I'll hold comment on the song itself pending our review of Fort Creek's long-gestating debut album, but the video is well filmed and edited, and if you like acoustic southern rock, you should take to this song, so give Fort Creek's first video and single a watch/listen below!

Finally, here's a surprise from last week, namely an official music video for local death metal band The Bear Hunters' 2014 single "Collapse The Sun"! The second Bear Hunters-branded music video to be posted to their YouTube channel this month (joining "Squirrel Buddy"), this features assorted clips of the band in concert in the early-mid 2010s, and is not strictly designed to sync up with the original song in terms of performance clips or lineups (as such, look for 2010-2011 rhythm guitarist Mike Vincent here and there). Some of the footage was shot by yours truly, which is neat to see! It took a decade+, but it's great to see the "Eternal Hibernation" lead single get a proper and well compiled music video, even if that album's production quality wasn't as high as on 2020's "The Dead Testament". Give it a watch below, and we'll let you know what other (final?) content that The Bear Hunters have in store for 2025!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Unfortunate Sun) & New Videos From Sault Ontario Bands!!

Now fully out of the holidays, we can settle into some more normal news posts again, and today's features new videos from Sault Ontario acts and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the E.U.P., so here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will return to Huck's Pub & Grill in nearby Rudyard for one night only on Saturday, February 22nd! The show is the only new addition on their most recent concert calendar posting from January 2nd (again featuring the screaming astronaut motif) on their Facebook page, though the poster still includes their show at The Merch last month despite already having occurred. Next month's one-nighter will be Skip, Jody, Tony, and Jason's first stop in Rudyard since headlining a "hunter's widow party" there in November, though no word yet on if this new date will have a theme. If you like varied and crowd friendly hard rock covers, don't miss out on this show if you're in the area or wanna drive to Huck's, but fans will be able to see Unfortunate Sun this month in both Cedarville and the Soo beforehand! Next month's show is a 21+ affair at 8:00 PM with no announced cover. See above for more details!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for a selection of new videos, and we'll start with a new music video from dormant local death metal band The Bear Hunters' YouTube channel! Now, the song in question was released by guitarist Mitch Sirie's inactive solo project Sir Hell back in February 2023, and began life as a novelty song by his prior solo project April Eyes, but it is now being credited to The Bear Hunters, who memorably played it live on occasion in the early-mid 2010s. That song, of course, is the iconic "Squirrel Buddy", and the 2023 version features Mitch on all instruments aside from drummer Johnny Belanger, plus prolific local saxophonist Josh Norling for two solos. The music video appears to have been filmed as a Sir Hell video at first, complete with a (fake?) vinyl record copy of "Squirrel Buddy" being purchased, and the squirrel costume worn by Mitch in the cover art is worn by the musicians in the video.

The only on-camera tie to The Bear Hunters is their logo at the start, and the video doesn't feature Nik or Justin at all on camera (Johnny's Handsome Sandwich bandmate Rafael Medina plays bass in the video). Directed by former Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick, the video stars local folk/indie musician Juliana Regan as the titular squirrel buddy, who is seen working at The Rad Zone and acting like a squirrel, while also getting read the riot act from her boss (Big Finish Band/ex-Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi). The heavy death metal parts are basically presented as the squirrel's existential crisis, with dark mood lighting accentuating the musical performances, including Mitch & Johnny doing vocals in blue lighting, while Josh & Rafael join them to play the song proper in red lighting with the squirrel costume on. Fun little video for "Squirrel Buddy" that has some good imagination and lots of brutality from the original song!

What this video means for The Bear Hunters' 2025 activity and future is not yet public, but Mitch had posted on their Facebook page in July to tease that they were planning to release one more album and play one final concert. Given their massive slowdown in activity since 2017, you can't be too shocked that they're looking towards the finish line, but we'll have to see what the guys have in store ahead! Give the "Squirrel Buddy" video a watch below, and stay tuned for more from The Bear Hunters!

Finally, here's some new videos from local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush's Facebook group! On November 29th, the band played at Pioneer Construction Inc.'s Christmas party (complete with 705Live Sound Co. at the controls), and while this was a private event, bassist John Amendola did post two videos from it, though sadly, both are under a minute long and were filmed vertically. One has the band (minus singer John Anderson) covering Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" with the rhythm guitarist/keyboardist on lead vocals, while the other has them covering Sweeney Todd's "Roxy Roller" with John Anderson back on stage for it. The covers sound good while they last, and lead guitarist Wes Greco gets some good room to shine, but the length and orientation aren't ideal. Props to the guys for playing on despite that night's major snowstorm! If you want to see something from a public concert, Headrush have you covered too!

For their last shows of 2024, Headrush rocked The Esquire Club over the December 28th weekend, and the Friday nighter was filmed twice for their Facebook group, and in both cases, the videos are over a minute in length and horizontal! John Amendola shared their night-closing cover of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" from attendee Audrey Marshall's personal Facebook page, but embedded below is his own upload, which is a montage of clips of them covering Journey, Steve Earle, Eddie Money, and AC/DC songs (the latter is black and white for some reason, and the Steve Earle cover has John Amendola on lead vocals). I'd rather hear full songs, but what we hear sounds good, so check everything out below!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: WeAreTheBearHunters' Channel

After a few days' delay during a very busy month, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we again look at a YouTube channel whose video uploads are at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musicians/concerts! This installment's randomly selected channel takes us to to one of the most prominent local extreme metal band of the 2010s, so here's what you should know!

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WeAreTheBearHunters' Channel (http://youtube.com/@wearethebearhunters)

Owner: A member of local death metal band The Bear Hunters, exact identity unclear (my best guess is guitarist Mitch Sirie)

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 22nd, 2011; Videos uploaded from that day until December 2018

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for The Bear Hunters, it features 33 videos, all but four of which being live videos from three concerts of theirs from the early 2010s, including an Oddfellows Hall headlining date in October 2013. The channel is bookended by three audio demos (including their live favouite "Squirrel Buddy", as later adopted by Mitch's solo project Sir Hell) and their only music video to date.

Why You Should Watch: If you were there for and enjoyed The Bear Hunters' early run as a quintet, you should be very interested in seeing the ample live footage on their channel, and the demo tracks are an interesting look at songs in progress before they saw their final form! Their music video is also a quality realization of earlier activity, though be advised that it's this channel's only upload since 2014, and with the band teasing this summer that they plan to disband after a final concert and album, who is to say that this channel will see any further content.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

The Bear Hunters - Casualties of War (live at the Odd Fellows Hall, 01/28/2011): On January 28th, 2011, The Bear Hunters joined four other local bands for a show at the former Oddfellows Hall in honour of then-rhythm guitarist Mike Vincent's 20th birthday party, with their entire set filmed by yours truly at the band's request! Due to camera limitations at the time, I did have to split some songs in half. The songs recorded include their own "Dominate", covers of Slipknot's "Psychosocial", Amon Amarth's "Guardians Of Asgaard" and "Pursuit Of Vikings", Arch Enemy's "End Of The Line", and Metallica's "Master Of Puppets" (parts 1 and 2), their originals "Bloodthirst" (parts 1 and 2), "Condemned" (parts 1 and 2), "Overthrown", "Succumb To Eternity", "Casualties Of War" (the longest of the single video originals), and "Collapse The Sun", before closing with a cover of System Of A Down's "Fuck The System". The video quality isn't amazing, and singer Nik Deubel is often hard to hear, but this full set is a neat watch, both for Mike's presence and to see where The Bear Hunters basically began, especially via many covers that didn't stick around in their set long-term!

The Bear Hunters - Karma: The Bear Hunters' other concert videos here come following Mike's exit from the band in May 2011, with Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney replacing him. Josh debuted with the band at The Roosevelt Hotel (now Jay's Piston Broke Pub) when they headlined the eighteenth Thursday metal night there on June 2nd. While I was present for this show too, someone else filmed their full set this time, including "Overthrown", "Condemned", "Bloodthirst", "Casualties Of War", "Karma", "Succumb To Eternity", their cover of "Guardians Of Asgaard", "Dominate", "Collapse The Sun", and "Render This Void". A more distant but higher quality angle captured The Bear Hunters in strong early form here, with much more audible growling from Nik to boot, and Josh acquitted himself well on night #1, so fans of prime Bear Hunters should like how brutal they were sounding at this point!

The Bear Hunters - I Fear No God: After Josh moved out of town in 2014 and left the band outright in 2016, The Bear Hunters pressed on as a quartet, whereupon they released their second album "The Dead Testament" in November 2020. However, the advance single and music video for "I Fear No God" was released back in December 2018, becoming their last and most popular YouTube upload (so far?). Also featuring ex-Jack Spades bandmates Justin Lam & Johnny Belanger on bass and drums, The Bear Hunters filmed the music video at Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn, where they'd eventually play a formal set at a private event last summer. Filmed by Johnny's Golden Scoundrels bandmate Josh Penno at Spacebag Productions, it features the guys entering the church and performing among candles for mood lighting. This is an expertly shot and edited video that captures the late-era four-piece Bear Hunters at full power!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series should be more on schedule next month for a post closer to August 26th, when our next randomly selected channel to profile will be DogRun Stray's channel, featuring lots of Chase Wigmore's original music from a few years back! Look for that then, and for much more news and notes this week as we end a very busy July! Thanks everyone!

Bear Hunters, Heavy North Entertainment, And Convergence Updates!!

As we begin what will likely be the busiest week of the year for the SMS, let's dive into some true, unquestionable metal news on this Sunday afternoon! Not punk or hard rock, for better or worse, but fans of extreme and death metal should definitely like the topics discussed today, so here's what you should know!

For the first time in almost a year, local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters posted on their Facebook page yesterday, so what's new in their camp? Guitarist Mitch Sirie posted there last night to firstly indicate that he is planning to give away his extant Bear Hunters t-shirts, limited to two per person (one with their logo, one with the artwork of their debut album "Eternal Hibernation"), though note that he did not reveal what sizes he has. This may seem like a bad omen re: future band prospects, but not imminently, as he noted that if you send him a picture wearing a Bear Hunters shirt, you'll get "our next album" for free, and if you show photo evidence wearing both shirts, you'll also get into their "final show" for free as well! As you may recall, The Bear Hunters were resurrected last summer after a two year hiatus, headlining a technically private summer concert in Leeburn last July, but had been dead silent on social media since.

Given their incredible slowdown in live dates since 2017 (they played live just thrice from 2018-2021 before the Leeburn event), you can't be too shocked that Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny are looking towards the end of the band, especially with how times have changed since their early-mid 2010s heyday. True closure on a big stage would be ideal, especially after the release of 2020's "The Dead Testament" was severely downsized by the pandemic, hence its abrupt Bandcamp posting. The guys did tease that they were working on new music when they came back last year, so hopefully things progress naturally on that front, and we'll let you know when more updates come out on The Bear Hunters' future/final plans!

Next up, here's some updates from a frequent promoter of Bear Hunters concerts during the peak of their run, namely ex-Them frontman Tyler St. Amour's revived Heavy North Entertainment! Best known from promoting all ages extreme metal shows at the former Oddfellows Hall in the early-mid 2010s, H.N.E. was recently brought back after a seven year hiatus. and has been taking new bookings for this and next year for the past month+. Tyler had collaborated in an unspecified capacity with last month's It's The Pits festival in Leeburn, and Heavy North "will be working" the upcoming Ripcordz and Total Chaos basement shows at The Distraction, but again, we don't know specifics as to how involved Tyler/the company are in these events. In terms of their own concerts, Heavy North's Facebook page has strongly hinted at shows coming up on Friday, August 16th and Saturday, September 28th, venues and specific bands unclear.

The only band mentioned by name so far for either/other gigs is Toronto melodic death metal band Selias, who extreme metal fans would definitely welcome to town, but we await further details. If you like true death metal and hardcore music, we have had a lot of lean years as live music goes, so kudos to Tyler for throwing his promotional hat back in the ring for the first time since 2017, and it'll be interesting to see what he has in store!

Finally, here's some brand new updates on local progressive metal trio Convergence, all given to me by guitarist Brendan Christie for release on the SMS before/in lieu of being posted by the band on social media, so kudos to him for the scoops! Apologies for the delay in these making the site too, these aren't as recent as I'd have liked given recent backlogs. Yellow Room Studios (where Convergence records their material) are rebranding to Woodward Avenue Studios due to copyright/trademark issues with the Yellow Room moniker, but social media hasn't been updated on this yet. Brendan has been hyping up his studio for usage by local musicians, so if this interests you, see above for more on what he's offering! Regarding Convergence's third EP "Gemini", he was hoping to have it out "before summer holidays begin", but that timeline has obviously passed.

The EP will have five songs, including an intro track named "Breaking News", "It Ate The F&$%ing Moon" (sic), the title track, "Kraken Mara" (which was Convergence's original name), and "In Bloom", and there is a new teaser video on their YouTube channel for one of those five songs, which we'll touch on in a second. Convergence are reportedly "in talks with two potential singers" but they are still welcoming prospective vocalists to try out, so if you want to sing on their progressive metal material, send them a vocal demo and/or a recording over one of their instrumentals to one of their social media accounts. The guys are definitely leaning towards harsh vocalists with clean singing ability, much like when ex-State of Misery frontman Steve Rhodes guested on "Stratus".  Note that Brendan told me that they intentionally held back on guitar solos on their second EP "Dead & Dreaming" because of the lack of vocal input.

Finally, let's look at that new teaser video for "Gemini", which was uploaded in vertical dimensions despite not being formatted as a "Shorts" video. In what appears to be a sample (if not the full track) of "Breaking News", we see a news anchor delivering a report about an alien threat on Earth on an old CRT TV set up in what looks like an alleyway. Given that this is to be one of the songs on "Gemini", perhaps only partially, I'll hold comment on what is heard, but the mood is definitely set! Check out the video below, and stay tuned for more from Convergence when it goes public!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (BookcluB), New Videos, And More!!

Today's post is roughly evenly divided between the Twin Saults, including some new videos and related updates from two E.U.P. metal acts, but we'll lead off in Sault Ontario with a new punk cover video and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a linked project, so here's what you should know!

Online page-less local alternative/punk cover band BookcluB will perform at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery on Sunday, June 23rd as the headline musical act during that day's teddy bear picnic! Covering an event like this for the SMS is new to me, but the venue isn't, as Thomson Farms hosted a brief weekly series from Tym Morrison at their on-site Wine Barn in the fall of 2019. The event next Sunday is indeed a teddy bear picnic, which Thomson Farms is hosting for the first time this year, and attendees of this family friendly event will get to take part in crafts and activities, a barbecue, tractor rides, and other activities that you'd hope to see at a strawberry farm like this! The performer lineup is oddly not given on social media, but organizers did list it on the Eventbrite page where you can buy your advance tickets. On his personal Facebook page, BookcluB frontman Mikey Hawdon confirmed that they're the 1:00 PM headliners, with the event running until 4:00 PM.

R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers will open at 10:00 AM, reuniting them with Bookclub from last year's Summer Moon Festival. No word on if the bands will be playing outside or in the Wine Barn, but of course, this is an all ages event (and kids are highly encouraged to bring their own teddy bear and a picnic blanket for the occasion). The teddy bear picnic has advance tickets of $10 per person, regardless of age (though infants 2 years old and under will get in free), and you can buy them at this link or presumably in person at Thomson Farms. The door price will rise an unstated amount if you opt not to buy tickets ahead. Very unexpected booking, but it should be fun for all, so visit the Facebook event page for more details! 

Next up, let's stay on a Mikey Hawdon trajectory by looking at the long awaited tenth song in his punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary cover series of Green Day's classic album "Dookie"! Unfortunately, we have just had the longest wait yet between installments of this series, with song #10 only dropping on Wednesday, 36 days after "Sassafras Roots" was posted to the project's YouTube channel. In chronological order, the tenth track on "Dookie" is the album's final released single, "When I Come Around", and here, the guest vocalist is truly from afar, namely Nikola Sarcevic of the Swedish punk rock legends Millencolin. I do like them, so this is neat! Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury returns for his fifth turn in the series (only missing two of the last seven videos), while Goldfinger alum Darren Pfieffer continues his role as the "Dookie" series' only drummer, and he's wearing a hockey jersey again!

The cover is really good, and Nikola's distinct accented voice fits very well on "When I Come Around"! Of note, his scenes were filmed at a snowy cemetery, while Mikey is also seen in scenes paying homage to the original Green Day music video, primarily of him and two young relatives (I assume) walking the aisles of what appears to be Sault College. Everything is professionally shot and recorded, so Green Day fans will be right at home here! It's deep cuts from here on out in this series, with song #11 ("Coming Clean") up next. Based on prior timelines, it should go online between Tuesday and July 18th (the current average would be on June 26th). Check out Mikey & His Uke's new video below!

Let's head south to Michigan for the rest of today's post, starting with the latest from St. Ignace metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown, so what have they been up to in the past month+? In Facebook posts from late April and early May, we saw ex-guitarist Ted Olson in new rehearsal photos, so did he return to the fold? No (the band already said that he left in part because he didn't want to tour anymore), but things are clearly still amicable, as he was jamming with H.L.T.C. to help teach "the new ones" in preparation for the Born Of Osiris show in Pontiac on May 26th. Curiously, the band has only posted once on Facebook since that show despite it being returning guitarist Nathan Switzer's first gig back, so hopefully that's just a sign that they've been busy and not that things went poorly downstate! It's after the fact now (my apologies, even with it being 5 hours away), but they did post a promotional video beforehand to get the final word out!

Drummer Jaxon Massaway filmed this in their tour vehicle while en route to Pontiac on the 24th for their Facebook page, and after initially getting tongue tied, he did plug the show, bands, ticket availability, and more. I do hope that the concert was a success, even with the band being relatively silent on social media in recent weeks, so get more from Heavy Lies The Crown above & below, and hopefully we hear more soon!

We'll close with the latest from local extreme metal solo project X's & Y's' YouTube channel! Just as a refresher, this is the current project from former Life's Eclipse guitarist and Werehold Records owner Jason Mills, who have sporadically posted material over the past couple of years. Two official songs have been posted since we last checked in with X's & Y's in January of last year, including a cover from November of the "Theme Of Solid Snake" from the 1990 video game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which you may recall from modern Metal Gear compilations in the west. Jason is an acknowledged fan of classic computer games (he calls Metal Gear 2 his "favourite video game"), and this is a strong metallized rendition for fans! Embedded below is a brand new song from his long gestating debut X's & Y's album "The Obsidian Dream", entitled "A Flow Of Touch"

Fans of Jason's original material dating back to the Werehold days will take to "A Flow Of Touch", which has some strong djent-laden riffing and some melodic solos to match, along with good production, and it'd be great to see "The Obsidian Dream" get a completed release where Life's Eclipse albums of the past did not! Check out X's & Y's new songs above & below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Hazytones) & Treble Charger Reunion Concert Coverage!!

Keeping our recent string of daily posts up at the SMS, today's post features lots of pre- and post-show coverage of a recent reunion concert that got a lot of attention, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related band lineup note for next month!

Montreal stoner/hard rock band The Hazytones will return to Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday, April 25th when they rock The Distraction! Readers may recognize The Hazytones from headlining appearances at the former New American Pub in August 2016 and April 2017, and it's good to see them back after six years! Developing a heavier influenced sound on newer material, including their upcoming album "Wild Fever", fans of psychedelic influenced hard rock won't want to miss this show next month!  The local openers next month include local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their Distraction debut and their first announced local gig with new guitarist Brandon Ruch, who the band has finally confirmed is replacing Mitch Sirie on guitar, as per a quiet update to their lineup on their Facebook page. A reason for Mitch's departure was not announced, but Brandon did take Mitch's place during their January tour run.

Hopefully all's well with Mitch, and assuming nothing else happened behind the scenes, he and drummer Johnny Belanger are still bandmates in the reunited Bear Hunters! No word on if Brandon will play any role on Handsome Sandwich's upcoming EP, but Mitch did record material for it before leaving. Back to the Hazytones show, the other openers are young local hard rock quartet Sylo (née Raincourt) in their second show since reuniting and since adding Alder Devries on guitar. They're a talented group on the rise, so don't be late for their set either! As usual for The Distraction, this show has a special "$15 or pay-what-you-can" entry model, and doors open at 7:30 PM. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, here's some Sault Star coverage & fallout from this past Thursday's Treble Charger reunion concert at The Machine Shop! Two articles were posted, one from before the show and one after it, and we'll start with Brian Kelly's article from this past Tuesday, featuring interview remarks with singer/guitarist Greig Nori. I will note before we get too far that I, along with Sault Star reporters, have recently noted that the reunion concert was their first show since Rotaryfest 2018. Locally, that is true, but I completely forgot that Greig & Bill played at the final Burger Fest in Vaughan back in July 2019, and you can see pictures from that event at this link. My apologies, but it's still been a near five year wait! That said, in Brian's article, Greig noted "I’ve never gone this long not playing a Treble Charger set", and while that may be true in terms of him alone, Treble Charger's 2012 return was after a near 8 year hiatus from live concerts.

In the article, Greig discusses how hard it was for him to get back in the swing of things re: playing a full Treble Charger set, how exciting it is to play the songs again, and how new music could happen in the future (they had actively teased hitting the studio in the 2010s but clearly not much came of that). Now to the show proper, which was a fundraiser for the Algoma University music program in order to buy instruments, fund scholarships, and bring in touring musicians. The show was covered in this article by newer Sault Star journalist Kyle Darbyson. "Several hundred fans" packed The Machine Shop for the proceedings, which raised over $10,000 for Algoma's music program, which is awesome to hear! Alongside established originals, Treble Charger played Pixies, Golden Earring, and Iggy Pop covers. Official advertising never outlined openers or guests, so who all else played on Thursday?

The opening act was local pop singer/guitarist Tianna Legacy with a backing band of Algoma University music students, including drummer Will Carnes, but full performer credits weren't listed. At least three guests joined Greig, Bill, and (session?) bassist & drummer Frank Deresti and David Peredun, including Greig's daughter Ava on backing vocals and Algoma assistant music professor Andree-Ann Deschenes on keytar. Both joined in on "American Psycho". As well, aforementioned Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch guested with Treble Charger for their set-closing cover of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" (if he, Ava, Andree-Ann, or anyone else played on other songs, they weren't mentioned in the article). Of course, Brandon is an Algoma music program alum himself who has worked with Greig a lot at the Algoma Conservatory of Music, and has further plans with him in the pipeline.

No public videos from Thursday have surfaced (yet?), but I have moved Treble Charger back to our active band links, as this was not a one-off set! They will play their first non-local date since Burger Fest 2019 when they play at Riverfest in Elora (outside of Guelph) in August, though full disclosure, festival organizers have not announced any performers yet. Greig noted in Kyle's article that they have other offers to play in Southern Ontario, and "we’re hoping to get out there a little more". It's great to see that everything went well for Treble Charger and Algoma University alike on Thursday, so read Brian & Kyle's Sault Star articles above, and look for more news this week! Thanks everyone!