LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906, The Sidekicks, And TNT) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

Not the busiest weekend going for SMS-amenable concerts, possibly because Halloween weekend is more of a focus, but there's still enough shows this weekend to warrant two weekend concert preview posts. As such, we'll look at Saturday night's Customer Service and Who Made Who shows tomorrow, as well as Tym Morrison's Sunday matinee. Tonight's post focuses on a big multi-band show in the EUP and SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so let's lead off on the Canadian side of the border!

Local acoustic classic/hard rock cover duo TNT (Soundcheck's Terry Eaton and Travis Sharpe) will return to Beck's Bar for a matinee concert on SATURDAY! Apologies for the short notice, Beck's only announced the show in their weekly entertainment schedule post on Wednesday (two days late due to ownership's work on the Misty's Fifties renovations). Regardless, TNT still don't have a known public social media account to promote their gigs with. Trav n' Terry last rocked Beck's two weeks ago for the Thanksgiving long weekend (you may have seen "Stories" on Facebook from that gig). If you like Soundcheck and don't hate unplugged covers, then you will enjoy what TNT bring to the table! No word on if cajon player Rusty Barrel will join them on SATURDAY, but he is (at least) a frequent guest, and he was supplying percussion two weeks ago, as seen in the aforementioned "Stories".

SATURDAY'S matinee concert is at 3:00 PM running until 7:00 PM, it is a 19+ event, and there is no announced cover charge. No public/permanent and embeddable videos of Terry n' Trav(is) yet, but visit the above links for more on this show, and we'll let you know if more comes out on TNT!

Next up, who is playing at Beck's Bar on SATURDAY NIGHT? Local classic/hard rock cover trio The Sidekicks, and they'll also be rocking The Water Tower Pub for their Halloween party on Saturday, October 31st! Again, apologies for the short notice on THIS SATURDAY's concert, it was announced by Beck's when they announced the TNT matinee. Speaking of which, Travis & Terry welcomed Sidekicks bassist Dan Beaupre into Soundcheck not too long ago, so could there be any crossovers between the two bands at any point on SATURDAY? Fans last saw Dan, Tracey, and Steve together as the closing band at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in July (they are not seen on the weekend nightclub circuit as regularly as many other bands), with SATURDAY'S concert being their first at a standard indoor venue since May. As for next weekend, The Water Tower Pub's Halloween party will be 1980s themed, which will be right up the alley of many concergoers.

The Sidekicks do play their fair share of 1980s covers, and while the AI-generated rendering of the band likely won't represent their 100% attire, costumes referencing the decade are encouraged! There is also a teased costume contest (or "prizes", at least). THIS SATURDAY's Beck's show is at 9:00 PM (TNT aren't "opening" for them, there's a two hour gap between bands), the Water Tower Pub Halloween bash is at 8:00 PM, and both events are 19+ with no cover. Get more details on both events at the above links, and for a preview of THIS SATURDAY's concert, here's The Sidekicks live!

Let's head to Michigan for the back half of the post, and we'll next take the hour's drive west to Eckerman, where local hard/blues rock quintet Project 906 will return to the stage at The Strongs Tavern on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, both the band and venue only announced this show via different AI-generated posters on their respective Facebook pages on Tuesday. After a quieter-than-usual #summerof906, the guys will be playing their first publically advertised gig since the Barge Bash in Cedarville in early August, and their first concert at The Strongs Tavern in four months. Good to see Billy, Joe, Dustin, Jason, and Brian back at it, and this could be a good warm-up gig for their Halloween party in Rudyard next week! The Strongs Tavern doesn't book the same band on back to back nights, though note that Friday's 5:00 PM concert from Will Springsteen wouldn't conflict.

SATURDAY'S concert will take place at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Project 906's entertaining mix of hard rock covers should go over well at one of their favourite venues, so don't miss out on the action in Eckerman on SATURDAY, and here they are live!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #1, we'll head back east to Sault Ste. Marie, where the latest multi-band concert in the basement of Pizza Hut goes down TOMORROW NIGHT! Promoted once again by Serious Business, this show will unite three touring acts from points south and west, including headlining Detroit experimental/progressive duo MRKT, who will keep with the promoters' eclectic multi-genre tastes for sure. The other two out-of-town bands are no strangers to the EUP, including Marquette art punk duo Bimbo (who headlined a prior Pizza Hut show in May) and Muskegon punk trio Violet Scum, who you may recall from a Pickles Bar & Grill show in Brimley last year before Serious Business shows largely moved to the Soo proper. Your local openers are punk duo About:Blank, just two days after frontman Parker Talentino competed at the LSSU Battle of the Bands (fallout coming soon).

Parker & Kade were openers at both of Bimbo and Violet Fuse's past local dates, so they're ideal to call on for this show! Tomorrow's festivities at 2255 Ashmun Street will have a $15 door charge, a 7:00 PM start time, and an 18+ age limit. Hopefully there's a sizable turnout of punk fans at the Hut for this concert, and kudos to Brighton and crew for bringing these touring multi-band shows to the area! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Bimbo live (gotta love the lo-fi VHS 4:3 aesthetic!)

That's all for now, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (PetFest & Bimbo), Plus The Sale Of Misty's Fifties!!

Let's try to quell a new backlog of stories that's growing around here, via two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the coming weeks, plus news on a familiar local nightclub changing hands, so here's what you should know!

The next multi-band concert at the Pizza Hut in Sault Michigan will go down on Friday, October 23rd! Just one day removed from this year's LSSU Battle of the Bands (auditions close on Sunday), this Serious Business-promoted concert will actually feature three touring bands, two of which have been in the EUP in the past. Your headliners here are Detroit experimental/prog rock duo MRKT, while also making the trip to the Soo in two & a half weeks are Marquette art punk duo Bimbo (who headlined at Pizza Hut in May), and Muskegon "weirdo punk" trio Violet Scum, who you may remember headlining at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in May of last year. There's a lot of eclectic sounds from these three bands, so do check them all out for a sampler of what to expect! Local punk duo About:Blank (who opened for both Bimbo and Violet Scum's prior shows in the EUP) will kick off the evening.

Parker & Kade will be less than a week removed from their headlining show at The Merch, and hopefully they keep their recent momentum up well here! This 18+ concert has a 7:00 PM start time, and admission will be $15, identical to the Bimbo show in May. Looks like another intriguing concert on Ashmun Street ahead, so if you're in the EUP or are able & willing to cross the border, don't bypass this action! Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, a huge fundraiser concert will take place at Blaster Powerhouse in Sault Ontario on Saturday, November 21st named PetFest! As the name may suggest, this event will be in support of The Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society, with 100% of proceeds going there, so if you wanna help animals in need and the work that goes into their care and adoption, consider coming out! Based on band stature, I'm assuming that the lineup listed on the poster and Facebook event page is the planned running order top-to-bottom and left-to-right, so if that is true, death metal veterans Eden Plague (the former Bear Hunters) are headlining in a rare appearance at the former Soo Blaster. Expect some "life metal" from these brutal local mainstays next month! Sporadically seen alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will co-headline in their second show of the year, and if you know anything about frontman Chris Nielsen's day job, you'll know that they'll be on board with a pet charity concert like this!

Also scheduled next month are hard/blues rock trio Stones & Crows, alt-hard rock quartet The Reeves, blues rock musician (and mayoral candidate!) Josh "The Preacher" McNally & his Jackleg Band, new local pop punk/emo band Homeroom Hero in just their second concert (interesting seeing Larry sharing a bill with A Dire Setback for the first time since he left that band), and talented young hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe. The show will be opened by former Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci, who is actually promoting this concert, so kudos to him for supporting a great organization and cause like this! Andrew has been slowly re-acclimating into the live scene in mid-late 2026, as fans who recall his wildfire smoke-cancelled open mic appearance at Rotaryfest will be aware, but how does his modern acoustic solo set sound? Find out next month! PetFest takes place eight days before this year's Toystock, in case you were wondering.

Tickets for this all ages event will be $20, and are on sale at this link and presumably at Blaster Powerhouse (no idea if Andrew or the bands can hook you up, or if at-the-door admission will stay at $20). The concert begins at 4:00 PM and will run until midnight, but I don't know if every act gets an hour's timeslot to perform, set up, and tear down, or if there will be variable set times. This looks like a great time and great value for fans of active local bands, especially original ones, so visit the above links for more details!

Finally, here's some big news for fans of a local venue or two, as Beck's Bar owner Becky Sawyer has bought a second local nightclub, namely Misty's Fifties! The news was announced in this SooToday article by Brandon Walker last week. A reason for Lori selling the 658 Second Line West nightclub after 33 years was not announced, but Becky used to work there, and spoke positively of the memories behind the bar there. Of course, she has done a very strong job with the former Vibe Lounge in the past year+, and Beck's is just a 3 minute drive from Misty's straight down Goulais Avenue, so oversight of the two bars should be simple enough. Misty's Facebook page was last updated on September 1st, and Becky has signalled "that there are some amazing changes coming". One appears to be new signage at the building proper, as that was recently taken down (not the proper street sign yet.)

Misty's will be closed "for a few weeks" for the revamp, renovations, and some training, but Becky vows to honour the history of the bar since it opened in the 1990s. SMS readers will best know Misty's from frequent matinee concerts from Tym Morrison and, most recently, TNT, but its size has left it more amenable to acoustic acts (nothing that I was aware of was scheduled there during the renovations). Will that continue? What all is and isn't changing beyond the signage? We'll let you know when the bar reopens, but visit the above links for more details, best of luck to Lori in what's coming next, and stay tuned for more news and notes shortly! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Viscera), The Bimbo Concert Preview, And New Mammoth Concert Videos!!

Today's news post is 100% devoted to Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula, including the last of this weekend's heavier concert previews, a related LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and some new live concert videos, so here's what you should know on this Friday afternoon!

Local hardcore punk trio Viscera will return to Pizza Hut at 225 Ashmun Street for another basement concert on Saturday, May 16th! Taking place on the Victoria Day long weekend (for passport-holding Sault Ontarian reference), this will be their second show in a two week span at the chain restaurant, but unlike tomorrow's Bimbo concert, this is more of a mixed genre event, as they'll be local support for two non-rock, including local/Detroit electronic solo project Priority Waste (check them out on Soundcloud) and Grand Rapids drone rock/shoegaze trio Scanners, both in what I believe is their local concert debut. Definitely a jump in sounds from these three acts, and Scanners' slow and repetitive music may be a particularly acquired taste for some, but even if you include Sault Ontario, how often do you get shows like this? This concert is definitely promoted by Serious Business, who aren't listed by name on the Bimbo poster, but I believe that is their doing also.

This 18+ concert takes place two weeks from tomorrow at 7:00 PM, and admission will be $15 at the door (no word on if there will be advance ticket sales). Should be an interesting night of varying styles of alternative music, so see above for more details, but what about Viscera's next concert?

Well, here's our preview of that very show, as they'll rock Pizza Hut TOMORROW NIGHT when they open for Marquette art punk duo Bimbo and Detroit electronica solo artist Nicholas "R. Solomon" Sapounas for another basement concert! This one leans more towards hard rock/punk territory, with Bimbo's siblings delivering a noise rock-inflected punk attack that delivers a full sound despite their minimalist trappings, and they should make a good impression tomorrow! R. Solomon previously headlined at Pickles in Brimley in 2024, and will be familiar recently for mixing local punk trio The Sole Aggressors' album, and he has some entertaining music for electronica and techno fans! Tomorrow's show will be Viscera's first with new bassist Chris Lovins, so welcome him in style for their hard hitting cuts from their debut EP "From Feast To Famine"! Local punk/hard rock duo About:Blank will open the proceedings, as they did for Viscera last time.

No big updates from their camp as of late, but a Facebook "Story" from their most recent at Three One Three On Ashmun in March was shared on Facebook in the past week featuring Parker and Kade (no new third member yet) playing an aggressive song, but alas, "Stories" vanish after one or two viewings and it wasn't posted on its own as a separate permanent video. Bimbo, R. Solomon, and locals hit the stage tomorrow at 7:00 PM with a $15 cover charge (same as in two weeks), and I'd assume that the 18+ age limit is the same tomorrow as well. After last fall's Permanently Pissed concert proved that Pizza Hut can sustain a local concert, hopefully this one is a hit! See above for more details, and here's Bimbo live!

Now let's move to some new videos from last month's Mammoth concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the local Kewadin Casino, and this is a good time to finally get to them before we get back into GFL Memorial Gardens concert videos on the Ontario side of the border! YouTube user Thomas (a.k.a. topdollar187) uploaded 13 videos from the show to his YouTube channel, and while most of his concert videos are from downstate, we did feature his videos from the Cheap Trick concert in St. Ignace here. Of his 13 videos, all but one are of the headliners, where you can see Wolfgang and crew playing "The End", "Don't Back Down",  "I Really Wanna", "Take A Bow", "Something New", "The Distance", "Resolve", "Happy", "Stone", "Epiphany", "The Spell", and as embedded below, their set openers "One Of A Kind" and "Another Celebration At The End Of The World" in one combined 10+ minute video.

Thomas wasn't in the closest rows, but he was in the center section and well placed to capture Mammoth, the video screen, and the silhouette effect of closer fans' heads, so it's a good view of what has to be most of the (if not the entire) set! Audio is a little muffled at points, but everyone sounds good, and Wolf can sure shred when the songs call for it, so give these Mammoth videos a watch for yourselves above & below!

Finally, Thomas also filmed openers 10 Years playing their song "Now Is The Time (Ravenous)", and no, he did not film (or at least upload) any videos from James & The Cold Gun's set. Not one of their bigger singles, but still a catchy hard rocker here that fans of the Knoxville-based quintet will easily take to, and it has similarly good quality for camera angle and vantage point, so check it out below as well!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon, plus this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bimbo) & Ripcordz Concert Updates!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of veteran radio host Bob Kevoian, who passed away yesterday at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer. Read more about this news at this link. Many readers will remember Bob as the long-time co-host of The Bob & Tom Show, the nationally syndicated morning zoo crew show that locals could hear on Classic Rock: The Bear throughout its 2002-2010 run on the local dial via WIHC 97.9 FM in Newberry. Long before The Bob & Tom Show began out of WFBQ in Indianapolis, Bob and Tom actually started working together much closer to here than you may think, at radio stations in Petoskey in the early 1980s. They moved to Indiana in time to debut their show in 1983, which went national in 1995. The Bob & Tom Show left the local dial when Northern Star Broadcasting took WIHC (now Strong Tower Radio) dark in February 2010 upon selling off their E.U.P. stations.

Save for a 2017-2023 spell where The Bear replaced Bob & Tom with local morning shows (it aired on sister stations then), the program has continued to air on The Bear's network, including its current tip-of-the-mitt home on WWSS 95.3 FM in Tuscarora Township, which gets fringe reception in the Soo. Bob retired from the show in 2015, but it still carries his name, and while I preferred Scott & Brian back in the day, Bob & Tom certainly had their moments, especially if you stuck with the show regularly to get their in-jokes and recurring gags. Along with Tom Griswold, Bob gave so many listeners a lot of laughs over the decades, and he will be missed. R.I.P. Bob!

Today's post otherwise mostly keeps is in the E.U.P., with a brief Sault Ontario detour, but we'll start with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for Sault Michigan, as Marquette art punk duo Bimbo will make their local debut on Saturday, May 2nd at... Pizza Hut? It's hard to be shocked about that conceit when the Ashmun Street chain restaurant hosted Permanently Pissed, Werewolf Jones, and locals in November, so why not an encore? Like then, this is expected to be in Pizza Hut's basement. Bimbo are a brother-and-sister band with noise rock influences and an minimalist yet distinct and abrasive original sound, and it will be neat to see them make their way east in two weeks! Detroit electronica musician Nicholas "R. Solomon" Sapounas will return to the Soo as well, who you may recognize as the mixer of local punk trio The Sole Aggressors' self-titled album, but he also headlined locally at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in August 2024.

Nice to see an extra local connection from R. Solomon, and this will definitely be a diverse bill! Two local bands will open here, including the new local hardcore punk band Viscera, who you may recall making their local debut at Three One Three On Ashmun last month! For this concert, they will expand to a trio, as they have added Chris Lovins as their new bassist, as per their Facebook page. I don't know anything about Chris musically, but hopefully he compliments Blind Bob and Mitchell well next month! Another band who was a duo at the aforementioned Three One Three gig will round out the bill, namely punk/hard rock band About:Blank, though I don't know if Parker and Kade have found a new guitarist/bassist in time for this show. While I don't know if this Pizza Hut show is a Serious Business-promoted event, they did host the last Pizza Hut concert. This concert has a 7:00 PM start time, a $15 admission fee, and will have an 18+ age limit. 

While multi-band, originals-leaning concerts in the E.U.P. have been trending upward in the mid-2020s, this is still now the most common thing, especially compared to Sault Ontario, so come on down to Pizza Hut in two weeks to see this diverse array of musicians rock out! See above for more details!

We'll close this post in Sault Ontario with some notes relating to the previously announced Ripcordz show at Beck's Bar on Saturday, July 18th! The venue confirmed this show months ago, in arguably their biggest touring artist booking yet, but a Facebook event page with the particulars went live this week, including the openers, including Nanaimo, British Columbia pop punk quartet Danger Box, who first played here at the still-closed Distraction in May of last year. Good to see their hardcore punk-tinged original attack back in town this summer, so don't miss them! Local crossover thrash band Hails (who opened last year's Danger Box concert and were playing at The Ripcordz' Distraction show last year when the cops pulled the plug) will fittingly do the honours in July! At press time, this will be Ha!ls' first show of 2026, as well as their first gig since the departure of founding guitarist Mikhal Muto in January.

Unlike last year, this will presumably be a 19+ event, it will have a $10 cover charge, and bands start at 9:00 PM. Some fans will also have two chances to see Danger Box in July, as on the way east on tour before looping back, they'll actually be headlining a private house party concert on Thursday, July 2nd alongside local openers A.S.D.P. (fronted by Mikhal) and 5 Dollar Bribe. While a publically advertised event with an admission fee, the address is not public, so if you want to go, "ask a punk", and click here for more details! See above for more on The Ripcordz' return, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!