2023: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Happy New Year! I apologize for this only hitting the site now, but our year-in-review posts always take a long time to go back through the year that was, so I can catalogue the big events in the local metal, hard rock, and punk scene from pillar to post, and while I'm usually good to get it up on December 31st, time got away from me this year. Everything is done now though, and I hope I got to the biggest and most notable stories, events, and shows of last year, so here's our look back at 2023 on the SMS!

With the pandemic fading even more into the past, we had an even stronger lineup of touring metal, hard rock, and punk bands in Sault Ontario and area this year, including the likes of AMY/DC, B.A. Johnston, Bed Of Roses, Big Wreck, Cory Marks, Darsombra, The Dayglo Abortions, Destroyer, Josey Scott's Saliva, K-Man & The 45s, The Merves, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic, Random Killing, The Ripcordz, and Sponge all gracing a local stage in 2023! Local concert goers could check out multiple bands at events like Rotaryfest, Toystock, The Northern Vibe Festival, and Lopstock, while newer and unfamiliar venues like The Art Hub At Spring, Broers Jansen, The Distraction, The Loft, and The Queen of Hearts Club gave artists some welcomed options to book gigs at last year. Also last year: Storm Rausch won The Soo's Got Talent, four of Mikey Hawdon's past/present bands gathered at Soo Blaster in November in honour of his wedding, ...

...LopLops Lounge welcomed the 12 20 Musicians of Christmas last week, The Sault Community Theatre Centre hosted the Soo Soundcheck & Northern Echoes concerts in June, Mike Haggith joined forces with Brian Tremblay for the Face To Face storytellers' concert in May, and The Apocalypse Afterparty gave another metal shot in the arm to the Madchild and Robbie G rap concerts at Soo Blaster. Look for even more big concerts in Sault Ontario and area in the year ahead!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula had a quieter but still eventful year that was arguably peaked early when Pop Evil returned to The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino in March alongside special guests The Word Alive & Avoid. That was the only heavier Dreammakers Theater show last year, but fans could also see touring acts like The Almas, Cell Rush, Fyrbird, Ledhead, Overdrive Orchestra, Peril, Redburn, The Rock Show, Scarkazm, and Scotty Austin on regional stages. One of the big events of 2023 was the first ever battle of the bands at Lake Superior State University (won by new punk quartet The Sole Aggressors), the first event of its kind in either of the Twin Saults since the pandemic began! Fans could also check out the true public local debut of Heavy Lies The Crown at The 2nd Street Music Festival in St. Ignace in August, as well as many one-band gigs across the year!

In terms of general news events, fans got to see official music videos released from bands like Handsome Sandwich, Heavy Lies The Crown, Spades GT, Jonesy Land, and The Uncanny Valley, while the first three of those bands, Bone Yard, The Northwest, and Tarnished all hit the road for tour dates outside of the Soo area. Now in his new hometown of Barrie, Mike Haggith launched his own indie label MorningStar Records, with local artists signing on to the artist-friendly imprint as the year progressed, 2023 saw the passing of ex-415E drummer Tony Hubbard and Destroilet frontman Mike Hull, the cancellation of the Just Leppard/Saturday Night Special concert, the postponement of Skid Row & Buckcherry's Sault Michigan date, Mike Haggith's freak knee dislocation on stage at Rotaryfest, and the withdrawals of Tantric and a reunited Frightlight from concerts this year, but we also saw the opening of the downtown plaza, ...

...the huge multi-band private concert at Robbie's Church in Leeburn, Soundcheck guitarist Terry Eaton's Great Northern Opry induction, the return of The Rockstar Bar as an occasional live venue, and the debut of Sault Noir into the local concert promotion game. I'm sure 2024 will be just as, if not more eventful, for musicians in the Twin Saults!

As evidenced by our lack of archival album reviews in 2023, last year saw no shortage of album releases by local metal, hard rock, and punk bands! The year was bookended by two new albums from "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage, namely "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of The Stoned Ape" & "69", while early year albums also included the C.T.W./Molten Imp split "Pyrolytic Punishment", Mike McCleary's instrumental EP "Fallout From Midnight Tides", and No Funeral's self-titled EP. Handsome Sandwich's long-hyped debut "Deconstructed" went on sale in May, soon followed by Convergence's debut EP "One", Jonesy Land's singer/songwriter-influenced debut "Zoom-Out", and Jack Spades GT's latest "Sewer City Radio". The summer also gave us rapper Bold Noize's debut punk album "God Save Me", new punk trio Ha!ls' debut EP "Rock and Rolls", and of course, Mike Haggith's long awaited studio album "All The Best In All You Do", including its limited "Rose Edition".

With a new EP from Convergence already on sale, and a teased EP from Handsome Sandwich already in the works, 2024 promises to be another good year for new studio material from heavier local musicians, so be sure to support these and other original local musicians' new & existing music by buying or streaming it where possible!

2023 was a good year for new and debuting hard rock and punk acts, and Sault Michigan was particularly busy in this regard late last year, with punk quartet The Sole Aggressors, hard rock quartet Double Jack, and Dafter-based singer/guitarist Molly Escherich stealing the podium spots at Lake Superior State University's battle of the bands over their far more established competition! Sault Ontario was hardly lacking either, with Generations, Double Down, Silent 9, HeadFirst, and (briefly) The Nostalgic Band all debuting on the weekend nightclub cover circuit in 2023 with many more shows between most of them to come. Also in 2023: Vanity First side project Ha!ls and Nebraska Arms successors Honest Work launched for local punk fans, Hollow Sky and Mitch Sirie's Sir Hell solo project brought some new extreme metal to the table, and Sneaky Pete successors Kickstart debuted at Toystock. Look for more updates from these and other new acts in the new year!

Another year saw lineup changes, additions, and departures in many local bands with none hit harder than Sault Michigan's Tarnished, with Nathan Webber and Isaac Royer breaking off in August to form Double Jack, with Tarnished adding Parker Talentino and carrying on as a trio ever since. Elsewhere in the E.U.P.: Jason VanLuven replaced Odin Osogwin on drums with Project 906, Marquita Bernard succeeded Rachel Mender as Theatre of Night's singer, Chris Leask returned to Rhythm & Brews in lieu of Brent Blackwood, and guitarist Christian Thanasiu left Heavy Lies The Crown. In Sault Ontario (well, Barrie), Spades GT confirmed the additions of James Roy Daley and (sometimes) Jay Sarrazin to their expanded lineup as they continued taking over the GTA. Also on the Canadian side: Jim Michaud replaced Paul Belair as Soundcheck's bassist, Tony Kajnar took over for Brandon Ruch on guitar in Generations, ...

...Mikhal Muto restored a second bassist to The Apocalypse Afterparty, Richard Fullerton returned to That's Chester for their Rotaryfest reunion in lieu of Greg Simpson, and the also-reunited Fuller swapped Nathan Sauve out for David Peredun behind the drumkit. These and a few other bands saw the revolving door for their lineups in 2023!

As far as defunct and inactive bands go in 2023, none made a larger exit from the local scene than Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession, who ended their 18 year run in February due to guitarist Gabe Tessaro's retirement from full-time bands, with the other members splintering off into Soundcheck and Silent 9. Most other bands to be moved to our inactive links this year (or are on the verge of it) did not announce a formal dissolution, but notable names to quietly fade out of activity this year include punk projects These Magnificent Tentacles and Forever Will Be, death metal quintet Exploring Detritus, rising young hard rock band Sylo (née Raincourt), and Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters, among others. Bands like No Funeral, The Bearded Lounge, The Uncanny Valley, and PROV3RB5 are also on our radar for being publically inactive for 6+ months. Here's hoping that these musicians stay active in some form or fashion!

As always for our year-end posts, we'll look at comebacks and reunions to wrap things up, and no event had a bigger public splash than The Inner City Surfers' reunion at Soo Blaster in November, and 2000s punk fans had even more to enjoy a month later when Fuller reunited at LopLops over the holidays (with The Gambit playing their first show in a year as openers!). That's Chester also returned for a one-off reunion set at Rotaryfest in July, while The Bear Hunters returned after a couple years' hiatus this summer, and punk trio Redundant ended a similarly long break at this year's Toystock. The former Jack Spades (GT), Theatre of Night, and The Karstens played their first Sault Ste. Marie concerts post-pandemic last year, while Galactic Alignment returned after a near decade long hiatus, Kraken Mara were reborn as Convergence, and they even brought former State of Misery singer Steve Rhodes back to a local radar as a session vocalist on select material!

2023 was an improvement for concerts and activity over every year preceding it in the 2020s, and here's hoping that the upward momentum continues in 2024 and beyond! I apologize again for the delay in this post making it online, but hopefully it refreshes some good memories of last year, and we'll resume normal operations on the site next! Thanks everyon!

2022: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

As always, let's end the year for our last post of 2022 by looking back at the year that was for The Sault Metal Scene! 2022 got off to a quiet start out of COVID-19 pandemic-related necessity, as a partial lockdown in January and a rollback in indoor capacity measures ground most Sault Ontario concerts to a halt until March. Since then however, things have slowly gotten better, aided by the end of vaccine passports in February and indoor mask mandates in March, and while we're not back to where we were in 2019, this was our busiest year for positive news since then!

This was evidenced by touring acts to play in Sault Ontario and area this year, including names like The AC/DC Show, Alien To The Ignorant, B.A. Johnston, Blessed, Crush, The Glorious Sons, Gutter Creek, Just Leppard, The Killer Dwarfs, Marianas Trench, Pyramid Theorem, Sandman, Taming Sari, The Trews, and White Cowbell Oklahoma, not to mention two Queen tribute bands two months apart! Rotaryfest (Stages 1 and 2) and Toystock both returned to their full pre-pandemic splendor, while The Northern Vibe Festival returned with another stacked lineup in August, the long-delayed Glambition fundraiser finally took place, and the Clusterfolk Music Festival was reborn with a dual focus on music videos and young band promotion. Rap/rock hybrid shows also gained prominence via the multiple $onny Vybe$ benefit concerts and The Apocalypse Afterparty's involvement in rap gigs at Soo Blaster.

Loplops Lounge also resumed hosting in-person concerts in 2022, while Handsome Sandwich made multiple appearances during The Soo's Got Talent, Dryer Fire brought a wide array of genres to their Wilson Street temporary venue, and an impressive lineup of local musicians performed at Outspoken Brewing's second annual Oktoberfest at The Machine Shop. It's a slow process to get back to where we had them before March 2020, but this year had a lot of positive events if you looked for them!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula were not lacking for an uptick in concerts and live gigging bands in 2022 either, with The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino hosting two high profile metal concerts this year, starting with the oft delayed Black Label Society concert on May 6th (with Nita Strauss opening!), followed by Steel Panther's holiday season return show on November 26th. Both were surely aided by the end of the PCR test requirement for Canadian travellers, of course. Touring hard rock bands like Fyrbird, Overdrive Orchestra, Peril, Scarkazm, Spun, and Sunspot made their way to the E.U.P. for multiple dates in 2022, while locals Buddy Repperton & The Camaros and The Nameless debuted at the former Back Door in April, and cover mainstays like Tarnished, Project 906, 415E, and Rhythm & Brews were also seen. Look for much more from hard rock bands in the 12 months ahead.

Pandemic and concerts aside, a lot of important news stories happened in the local scene this year. For concert venues, Reggie Daigle put the wheels in motion to divest his two concert venues, with Reggie's West becoming Jay's Piston Broke Pub and Reggie's Place itself being up for sale. The Oddfellows Hall sold years after ceasing concert promotion in the late 2010s, while The Rockstar Bar put concerts on an indefinite hiatus in June, and The New A and The Canadian both closed, but Shooters Downstairs Lounge opened their concert floodgates, and The Esquire Club resumed nighttime bookings this fall. Local acts like Heavy Lies The Crown, Theatre of Night, Spades GT, Obsession, The Northwest, The Uncanny Valley, Soundcheck, and Tarnished hit the road for gigs outside of our area, with The Northwest's profile beyond the Soo really expanding with press features and airplay on non-local radio stations and even on NHL telecasts last season!

Also this year: the Kim Mitchell and Anvil concerts were cancelled, Metal Morpheus aired its final first-run episodes on The Borderline, Mikey & His Uke relocated to the Soo while continuing their impressive slate of cover videos, Jonesy Land continued their push with multiple music videos, the Marconi Meets World festival debuted this summer, Fort Creek hosted two instrument raffles for charity, and Sault Michigan's Tarnished performed on a float during their Fourth of July parade. With things getting busier in 2022, the outward growth should continue next year, for better or worse!

2022 was a big year for local album releases from heavier and punk bands, as evidenced by 11 of our 12 monthly reviews this year being of new albums from late 2021 onward! While not sold on CD, the biggest in scope would arguably be indie/punk quintet The Northwest's third EP "All In", which got a strong reception here & afar after its release in June! These Magnificent Tentacles, Vanity (First), and Forever Will Be also put out their debut digital EPs for fans on the punk spectrum, while Chase Wigmore, Molten Imp, and the re-emerged Sykotyk Rampage enjoyed a busy 2022 with multiple new album releases this year alone. Metalheads could enjoy local progressive metal project PROV3RB5' debut EP "What Dreams May Come" and Theatre of Night's new Christmas-laden re-release "Dreams of Winter", while The Uncanny Valley factored into this year's Clusterfolk compilation tape. Here's to more new local albums next year!

An intriguing crop of new local metal, hard rock, and punk bands emerged in 2022, if with a surprising lack of online pages for them to promote themselves with. The highest profile one may be new alternative/punk supergroup Bookclub, whose Oktoberfest debut and recent LopLops gig have let the Surfers-laden quintet get off on the right foot! Fans have also welcomed new local metal trio The BAG and Jamie Vincent's new noise duo No Funeral to the stage this year, while the already launched Vanity First and Sylo (née Raincourt) played their first public gigs outside of White Pines, Suicide Kings successors Ravencore debuted at Toystock, and two Skeyes of Seven alums brought the acoustic Short & Sweet to Parabol's return concert. Also, Sault Michigan welcomed both Buddy Repperton & The Camaros and The Nameless to the stage at Three One Three on Ashmun in April. Look for much more from these bands in 2023!

With 2022 being a busier year in general, there was even more lineup changes therein, and none saw more overhaul than the revived Exploring Detritus, with guitarist Dan Souliere adding Ryan St. Pierre, Justin Lam, a returning Anthony Boudreau, and (briefly) Mitch Sirie for their revival. Mitch also was part of the expansion of These Magnificent Tentacles from a duo to a quintet, with his long-time bandmate Johnny Belanger and half of Gnaeus joining Brent & Steve too this summer, and Mitch & Johnny also formed half of the revived Soo Fighters this fall. The Wyld Stallyns confirmed Alex White, Derek Turner, and long-time guest Josh Norling in their expanded six-piece lineup, while 3/5ths of Heavy Lies The Crown was swapped out, with Brandon & Ted now joined by younger St. Ignace-based musicians. Of course, the now-Barrie based (Jack) Spades GT saw J.D. Pearce & Daniel Horton round out their new lineup with GTA musicians.

Also this year: Warren Reville joined (and Brad Stephen & Ric Datson left) the stripped down Bone Yard, Jessica Amadio replaced Valerie Powley as Obsession's singer, Rafael Medeira joined the now five-piece Handsome Sandwich on bass, Bill Brouillard replaced Matt Sibilo on guitar in Fort Creek, and Raine Rancourt left his own namesake band Raincourt (now Sylo). Hopefully all of these changes prove successful for these bands, and that the former members rebound in other projects!

Things have picked up in the scene, but we're still not back to pre-pandemic rates, and it does show in the bands we said goodbye to in 2022, with only one major heavier band (power rock quintet Re:Born) firmly announcing their dissolution in February, without ever emerging from their pandemic hiatus despite their announced lineup additions. However, a handful of familiar bands were moved to our inactive band links after last being heard from late last year, including death metal favourites The Bear Hunters, Buckcherry openers Bad Chug, and punk trio Redundant. Horror punk quintet Frightlight fell inactive with Chris Thompson's passing and J.D.'s move to Barrie in 2021, and notable bands like Parabol, Tripod The Dog, and Sault Michigan's 415E, Buddy Repperton & The Camaros, and The Nameless have all been publically dormant since the spring. Fingers crossed that we haven't heard the absolute last from these bands!

Like in prior year-in-review posts, we'll end with comebacks and reunions, and with things opening up more than ever, we weren't lacking in this area! For bands in concert, The Northern Vibe Festival saw the returns of Jack Spades (now Spades GT), A Dire Setback, and The Soo Fighters after spending a year or more off the local stage, while fellow Northern Vibe performers The Cover-Up had already returned at this year's returning Go Skateboarding Day festivities. Mike Haggith, Parabol, Slumshine, and The Sick Sons (renamed The Gambit) all came back after a year+ away, while (The) Northwest made their own full comeback from the pandemic, and Heavy Lies The Crown did the same while almost exclusively playing in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. This year also saw the rebirth of Great West Falls as Forever Will Be and solo original project Stone Smyth, and the return of Downtown Street Parties, among other returns this year!

2022 was an eventful year, even if things weren't quite at the levels we might be used to from the 2010s, but it's only up from here... right? Have a Happy New Year, please drink responsibly if you're going out, and we'll see you guys back on the SMS next week (and next year!) Thanks everyone!

2021: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Another year is almost in the rear-view mirror, so let's recap all of the highs and lows from the local metal, hard rock, and punk scenes to end 2021 with! Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing malaise with few concerts and minimal public activity from many local bands, this was the slowest year in SMS history, but I promised years and years ago that I would have a new post at least every three days, and throughout this whole pandemic, I have never broken that promise! The pandemic has absolutely affected everything once again, not helped by Ontario being thrown into lockdown from December 2020-February and again from April-June, not to mention the introduction of vaccine passports this fall, and now the omicron variant of COVID-19 running wild. I can only hope that 2022 brings a little more normalcy as we figure out how to keep everyone as safe as possible!

That all said, Sault Ontario did start to see the return of some big concerts this summer as vaccination rates went up and some restrictions started to ease, and there were some very promising signs of activity from established and new bands alike, so hopefully we can touch on most of the big stories and events from the past year below!

In terms of multi-act events, July saw Rotaryfest returning in a temporary(?) drive-thru format later that month with 15 bands playing to attendees at the former Lowe's Plaza parking lot. In August, a near normal concert experience hit nearby Ophir when The Northern Vibe Festival returned with a full slate of local and Sudbury musicians, while the expanded Wyld Stallyns headlined an Entomica fundraiser at The Bushplane Museum, and the debuting These Magnificent Tentacles (among others) opened for Sibling at The Klub in September. A relatively busy October was toplined by the long-delayed Buckcherry concert at Soo Blaster alongside openers Redundant & Bad Chug, while fans could also see Alien To The Ignorant at Mellow D's Underground and The Soo Fighters opening for Lockdown on Halloween weekend at The Rockstar Bar, with Sudbury tribute band Just Leppard playing there in November.

And of course, a number of bands hit the weekend bar cover circuit for shows from February-April and June-December, with Fort Creek, Soundcheck, and Tym Morrison playing multiple times throughout 2021, and bands like The Uncanny Valley and the reunited Handsome Sandwich & Tripod The Dog also headlined a few solo concerts in the past year. Hopefully many of the above bands (and much more) will play live in 2022!

Over in Sault Michigan and the eastern U.P., the biggest hard rock concert of 2021 saw Cheap Trick open for The Goo Goo Dolls outdoors at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino in August, but anything planned for after then from heavier acts was called off, alas. A handful of touring bands hit Kewadin Casino lounges once they started booking live bands again in July, like fan favouites Peril, Scarkazm, and Spun, plus newcomers Fyrbird, and Wisconsin's own Sunspot during the Michigan Paranormal Convention. The busiest local hard rock band on the E.U.P. circuit was Tarnished, who got around to numerous headlining gigs and community events both locally and into the western U.P. and downstate, while 415E & their new sister band Rhythm & Brews also played live in late 2021, and Project 906 got to play a few shows in between their drummer changes. Here's to much more in the new year!

A lot of big news stories hit our news desk in 2021, but a pair of major local musician deaths on both sides of the border rocked each half of the Twin Saults, starting with the loss of former Highway 63/Monkey's Uncle frontman Henry Switzer in February at the age of 49, after dealing with some lengthy health issues. Henry was a very talented singer, guitarist, and instructor who is dearly missed by his family and friends in Sault Michigan and area, and it's still strange to not cover shows from his bands on the site! On this side of the border, fans mourned the sudden death of prolific local rock drummer Chris Thompson last month of complications from a heart attack, at the age of 42. Like Henry, Chris was a committed husband and father who was a mainstay of the local scene from his prolific work in bands like Fitswitch, Eclipse, Project 421, and Giwakwa, and I hope his family and friends kept the good memories close over the holidays!

We also lost veteran local radio DJ, sportcaster, and former Rock 101 news anchor John Bell this year, as well as the late Sault Ontario actor/director Pirie "Bear" Kaufman, who had a well received benefit concert during his cancer battle a few years back. All will be missed by the lives they touched!

In terms of general news stories, the COVID-19 pandemic helped direct the path of many of them, like the cancellation or postponement of more concerts, like Black Label Society and Great White in Sault Michigan, and Queen: It's A Kinda Magic and The Sky's The Limit in Sault Ontario. For venues, The Tech re-opened with ambitious plans, The Canadian Nightclub became The Canuck after being bought by new ownership, and The Harp closed in advance of lockdown #3. Despite all of the obvious issues, The Sugar Island Music Festival (sans heavier acts) returned in August, while Coronafest returned for another go-around in the spring, and the ever prolific Mike Haggith brought back monthly live-streamed concerts in the last quarter of 2021, going along with his increased presence in Thompson, Manitoba, including Shaw TV hosting gigs and even a return to the stage there, complete with a full backing band!

Over in Sault Michigan, Heavy Lies The Crown & Theatre of Night released new music videos in advance of planned albums, while Tarnished entered their 2020 video for "Metalyn" in the Soo Film Festival, and kept busy otherwise with new viral video content and their new single "SDR&R". Project 906 also released songs for a planned EP, while Sault Ontario's Apocalypse Afterparty put out their own smokin' music video for their "List of Demands" cover. On the (internet) radio dial, The Borderline kept up a busy locally-devoted slate of programming on such flagship shows as Sev's Cellar, Across The Tracks, and starting in July, Josh Amendola's own Metal Morpheus, giving metalheads an hour of extreme metal and genre pioneers every Sunday night! As well, Lake Superior State University relaunched their campus radio station on Live365 with a better player and new music rotation. Here's to a bigger and better 2022 ahead with lots of positive news stories!

For new albums, no one had a busier year than Mike Haggith, who put out his delayed 51st canon solo album "Bridges" in November (and on vinyl too!), sandwiched between the expanded deluxe edition of his old local band The Din's 2016 studio album "Give In To The Din" from October, and that group's belated live album "Technically Live" on Sunday from the "Give In..." release party! Vinylphiles got another treat this month when Soolebrity Records re-issued defunct local punk trio Room 206's 1994 album "2 Innies & 1 Outie" in limited quanities! Also this year: St. Ignace, Michigan's Heavy Lies The Crown just put out their self-titled full length album, while earlier in the year, we got digital exclusive albums from Swampgut, solo projects Malignant Neoplasm, Slumshine, and Molten Imp, and as a score for their D&D podcast, the kinda reunited Late & Loud. Fingers crossed there's more ahead next year!

Mercifully, things opened up enough for both Sault Ste. Maries to get a handful of new local metal, hard rock, and punk bands. Arguably the biggest debut was for Jonesy Land, the punk/country supergroup from Rising Tide and Lake Effect alumni that played this summer at Rotaryfest & The Northern Vibe Festival, and even had a music video to show for it! While the band proper isn't new, local/Ottawa hard rock quartet Bad Chug finally played their first local date when they opened for Buckcherry in October, while the eclectic duo These Magnificent Tentacles also played live for the first time. Sault Michigan welcomed 415E sister band Rhythm & Brews to the live stage this summer, while other newbies north of the bridge included promising young punk band Vanity, industrial metal solo project Molten Imp, and the short-lived Dealing Without. Here's to more in 2022!

With bands back to playing live in one form or another, long delays and changes in personal lives did lead to a lot of lineup turnover. Sault Michigan's Tarnished were hit the hardest, with the departure of drummer Gary Croad, bassist Josh Fair replacing him behind the kit, new bassist Donald Alexander's brief stint, frontman Alex Traynor temporarily moving to bass, and ultimately adding Isaac Royer to restore their lineup. Gary also factored into Project 906's drummer shifts, replacing Tommy Korcal this year before ceding way for Odin Osogwin. In Sault Ontario, Taylor Emlaw & Mitch Sirie joined Jesse & Johnny in the new-look Handsome Sandwich, cousins Chris & Elijah Nielsen belatedly replaced Frank & Fred in Re:Born, Arthur Lacasse & the late Chris Thompson joined the revived Soo Fighters, and Ben Garcia joined The Wyld Stallyns on bass, among other lineup changes from the past 12 months!

In terms of notable local bands to announce their demise or breakup, we didn't get much of that in writing in 2021. Sault Michigan's Mackinaw Trail basically ended when Henry Switzer died, Jack Spades as we knew it ended after J.D. moved out of town, Dealing Without were effectively absorbed into the reunited Half Past, and Black Cloud deleted their social media accounts, but most of the apparent dissolutions were via extended periods of inactivity. Notable acts like The Inner City Surfers, Shit Liver, Stegadeth, Foothill Road, Skeyes of Seven, The Bridge Heads, and Sault Michigan's SweetKenny and Hubbard hit our one year inactivity threshhold during 2021. As well, it has been over 6 months since we last heard from the likes of Destroilet, Kraken Mara, Swampgut, and Kush Wood, among others. The pandemic hits hard for many of us, and hopefully some of these bands will return next year!

As always, we'll end our retrospective with comebacks and returns, and given that a lot of bands didn't or couldn't play live between March 2020 and June 2021 (weekend bar cover bands excepted), the summer re-opening did allow for a few months of some bands playing live again, like the new Bad Chug, Handsome Sandwich, Soo Fighters, Uncanny Valley, and Wyld Stallyns lineups, plus the returns of A Dire Setback, The Apocalypse Afterparty, The Bear Hunters, Frightlight, Redundant, Tripod The Dog, and Sault Michigan's 415E. Outside of the live stage, Tool tribute Parabol returned after a pandemic break and social media relaunch, Kraken Mara resumed their EP recording plans, and solo acts like Mike Cliffe, Ted Olson, The Shaner, and Stonesmith GC came back with new original music. Hopefully everyone keeps at it as we enter what will hopefully be a better year ahead!

2021 was a challenging but still newsworthy year that had good stuff to remember and look back on, and 2022 can't be worse and less eventful..... I hope! Like last year, I'm not going to do a post looking ahead to what we may expect in 2022, as frankly, no one knows what to expect, with the COVID-19 pandemic still being quite prevalent in Ontario, Michigan, and elsewhere, but we'll be back with more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone, and have a Happy (and safe) New Year!

2020: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

To end this very strange year, here is our annual retrospective post on the what went down in the local metal, hard rock, and punk scene in the past 12 months! Of course, ⅘ths of it was spent in a pandemic largely devoid of concerts, so I have made necessary changes to how we usually block out our year-in-review posts, but hopefully I hit on every major relevant story in 2020! Now, let's look back at the year that was... such as it was!

Before everything changed, we were lucky enough to have 2½ months of normalcy in the local scene, with three major hard rock concerts taking place in February, including Mr. Big frontman Eric Martin & Trixter bassist P.J. Farley at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on the 15th, Theory of a Deadman & W3apons at The Sault Community Theatre Center the next day, and Tom Keifer, Kix, and Faster Pussycat at The Hair Scare Live at The Dreammaker's Theatre on the 22nd. Sault Michigan welcomed out of town bands like BRKN Love, Peril and Scarkazm to the area for pre-pandemic concerts, while Bon Jovi Forever returned to Sault Ontario on February 22nd themselves. Other notable early 2020 shows included The Apocalypse Afterparty joining other Soo's Got Talent finalists to kick off Bon Soo at The Machine Shop, and Handsome Sandwich & the debuting Bridge Heads helping close Room 21 on Valentine's Day, among other events.

Unfortunately, everything abruptly started changing for the worse on March 13th when the first wave of concert cancellations and postponements were announced due to the arrival of COVID-19 in North America and the beginning of it's spread, leading to the 3 month lockdown through June, social distancing measures, mask mandates, indoor capacity restrictions, and smaller lockdowns in Ontario and Michigan in the ensuing months as case counts rose. The concert calendar locally ground to a halt, costing the Soo area major March-June concerts from notable touring acts like Black Label Society, Matthew Good, Candlebox, Buckcherry, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic, Sandman, Peril, Whoop-Szo, Scarkazm, First Jason, The Anti-Queens, The Lows, Destroyer, Tripp 'N Dixie, and many others. Rescheduled dates are unclear at best, if announced at all, given the unknown climate of 2021 ahead, but we'll keep you posted!

The pandemic also cost the area virtually every annual concert festival and yearly event you can think of, and public concerts only resumed on a limited basis at some venues in the late summer, notably including Tarnished's Rock The Block event at Crooked Music in Sault Michigan in July, and the Blood Shed Productions-organized Squatfest in Heyden in August. Otherwise, the hard rock concert calendar in late 2020 was primarily the domain of weekend bar cover bands playing at the few venues willing to host bands with capacity and business-hour restrictions. Fort Creek and Soundcheck defied the pandemic with concerts at both local Reggie's taverns, while Tym Morrison hit the downtown Reggie's and the new Motley Market in recent months, and The Wyld Stallyns played a one-nighter at The Rockstar Bar in August during that venue's brief return of live concerts. With the new Ontario lockdown, things are pretty dead again, but fingers crossed for a 2021 uptick!

A number of local musicians adapted to the new normal (especially during the first lockdown) by holding live-streamed concerts on social media, with Mike Haggith's #LockdownLive series, Tym Morrison's regular slate of at-home gigs, and Tarnished's numerous acoustic duo concerts (despite ongoing audio difficulties) the most prominent for heavier genre acts. Mike and A Dire Setback also moved their CD release parties to at-home streams to give them the launch they deserved, while some annual events like Rotaryfest and The Sky's The Limit shifted to virtual editions in 2020, The Wyld Stallyns made an unadvertised appearance in The Zonta Club's Purses, Pies, and Pinot gala, and new events like SooToday's Come Together Sault Ste. Marie, Coronafest, and Northern Superior Brewing's Songs & A Six Pack gave musicians an outlet to perform at a difficult time.

News didn't stop in 2020 outside of the pandemic, and there were good and bad stories to report that had nothing to do with COVID! In January, GFL Memorial Gardens welcomed the touring Queen musical We Will Rock You, while The Rad Zone re-opened in it's new Queen Street location. Room 21 closed in February, but the Soo welcomed The Borderline to the internet radio airwaves, giving a much needed local alternative! During the first lockdown, veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon launched his series of daily quarantunes on his uke(lele), which grew to much bigger and better things in recent months! Also this year: Shaun Antler kicked off her local musician archival project, Long & McQuade moved into it's big new location on MacDonald Avenue, Reggie's Place re-opened under new ownership, Tarnished got airplay on 9&10 News' The Four, The Inner City Surfers released their new single...

...frontman Dustin Jones' main band The Rising Tide (and Tarnished) released their own new music videos, Gary Croad replaced Tommy Korcal on drums with Tarnished, and Shit Liver released their long-gestating 2016 Canadian tour documentary. This was a difficult year, but thankfully, it was still a newsworthy one for unrelated reasons!

If being locked down at home did one thing for local musicians, it encouraged them to write and record in studio, and we got a surprising number of local metal, hard rock, and punk albums this year! The aforementioned Mike Haggith ("If Ever Comes The Day") and A Dire Setback (their self-titled album) got their new discs launched via virtual release concerts during the lockdown, while Sault Michigan's Tarnished put out their own EP "Down To The Wire" in July, not long after their Rock The Block concert. Blood Shed mainstays Crucify The Whore released "P.C. Sells... But I Ain't Buyin'!" and their second "A Couple Of Degenerate Bastards" split with Chase Wigmore this year, while Chris Raginskis' debuting 9 Times Dark project released "Vicissitude" in August. 2020 ended with a bang with two long awaited album releases, namely The Bear Hunters' "The Dead Testament" last month and As It Stands posthumous EP "The Lost Tapes" two weeks ago. Here's to even more high profile new albums in 2021!

Given that most bands couldn't play concerts as normal in 2020, the lack of debuting bands was understandable, though we did see the public concert debuts of The Bridge Heads and Fort Creek this year, while The Isolation Sessions leaned into social distancing in their early branding and videos. It would be unfair to call out bands for being inactive in 2020 for obvious reasons, but there were a few notable bands to publically throw in the towel, like Sault Michigan classic rock mainstays Highway 63 this summer, while both X's & Y's and Sault Ontario's Parabol saw their Facebook pages quietly deleted with no public notice then or since. As well, a handful of groups have not been heard from since the second half of 2019, like Treble Charger, AlgomA, Rotopsy, Pillory, Telephone & Address, The Guitar Gangsters, and Coral Fang, who were all moved to our inactive band links this year. Hopefully 2021 is a better one for band activity!

As always, we'll end things with comebacks and returns to activity from prominent bands, and while few had the opportunity to play a concert as part of their resurgences, some familiar faces still made their presences known again in 2020! Acts like Ashoka At The Show, Black Cloud, Foothill Road, Mike Cliffe, Mike McCleary, The Shaner, and SweetKenny all came back to activity this year with new studio material or live performance videos,hopefully presaging more to come in the new year! Also, Ottawa's Bad Chug reunited and relocated to Sault Ontario with a Buckcherry opening slot still waiting in the wings, That's Chester posted a new Pink Floyd cover to honour late bandmate Eugene Orlando, Skeyes of Seven resurfaced to compete in a Corus Radio song contest, ex-No Arrow drummer Joe Falco resurfaced with solo videos on Youtube, and Destroilet came back to sell new t-shirts. Here's to more from them & others in the new year!

2020 was not a great year, but there was enough good in it where you can't completely write it off. That said, 2021 has to be a better year for the local metal, hard rock, and punk scene, how can it be worse? I'll be forgoing our usual "new year forecast" post tomorrow because, frankly, no one knows what 2021 has in store, let alone when we'll have some semblance of a normal concert calendar again, so why waste time when everything could be wrong? In any event, I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and we'll see you back with next month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on Saturday, with more news to follow when available! Thanks everyone!

2018: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

It is now time for our final post of 2018, and as usual, we're closing with a retrospective on the events of 2018 in the local metal, hard rock, and punk scenes, including the good and bad from bands, concerts, and general news from both sides of the border. Hopefully we hit most of the big stories, but this is always a fun post to research and compile, so hopefully this brings back some solid memories of the year that was! As always, we'll start with major headlining hard rock and metal concerts at major local venues, and this was a busy year in that regard!

We first saw Project 906 and a reunited Chord On Bluz opening for Laith Al-Saadi and The Chris Canas Band in the "Best of Michigan Blues" concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on February 10th, while Sault Ontario welcomed Big Wreck & Attica Riots to The Machine Shop three days later, and just a day after that, The Dreammaker's Theater responded with the return of Pop Evil alongside Palaye Royale & Black Map. The same venue hosted touring Boston tribute band Don't Look Back on April 7th, while The Machine Shop responded on April 19th with I Mother Earth, Finger Eleven, and J.J. Thompson. On August 11th, Kewadin Casino welcomed Seether & 10 Years back to the Soo alongside The Dead Deads, while Steel Panther and Wilson rocked the same venue on December 1st, and locals Theatre of Night headlined a special Dreammaker's Theater Christmas concert on December 15th. Look for many more huge concerts at these venues in the new year!

Beyond major venues, Sault Ontario welcomed a number of big concerts to local venues in 2018, with notable touring bands like All The Wasted Years, Alterbeast, Archelon, Beaver Slap, Carried Away, Cross Dog, The Faps, The Gabba Heys, Inferi, Lightmares, Rivers of Nihil, Ten Foot Pole, The Therapists, Who Made Who, and Whoop-Szo all hitting regional stages. Major returning events on the concert calendar included Rotaryfest, Toystock, The Northern Vibe Festival, J.D. Pearce's Halloween Party, Go Skateboarding Day, The Sky's The Limit, and the Oh!No Music Festival in Leeburn, and while there were no true battles of the bands, a few hard rock acts took part in The Soo's Got Talent at The Tech this fall. Fans also turned out for the Joni Radford and Pirie Kaufman benefits, the Rides for Autism & ARCH, the Downtown Street Parties, Soo Blaster's new Indie Music Showcases, and even Joe's Weekend Warrior Fest in September. I'm sure there's much more on the horizon in 2019!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula had it's share of notable concerts in 2018 as well, with Peril, Scarkazm, and Spun returning from out of town for more high profile headlining appearances, while Munising's own Infathom headlined in Brimley in May, and Peril side project Project 6 played a special Kincheloe convenience store set in August! Also this year: Project 906 returned to the Rudyard Musicians Festival (among a wide array of solo headlining gigs), Banned played at the Sugar Island Music Festival while also maintaining a similarly busy schedule, and Highway 63 side project Cousin Eddie played their final concerts at the Kewadin Casino branches. In fact, some of this year's biggest hard rock shows in the E.U.P. took place in December, like Theatre of Night's Pickford church concert on December 14th, and Highway 63's return from hiatus at the Dondee just over a week later. There's a lot of talent in the Sault Michigan area going into the new year!

2018 gave us a lot of general news stories impacting heavier and punk bands. Noted local acts like A Dire Setback, Banned, Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, Id Iota, Jack Spades, Mike Haggith, Redundant, Shit Liver, Soundcheck, Stegadeth, and Theatre of Night all hit the road for out-of-town gigs, while both Shit Liver and The Bear Hunters unveiled long awaited music videos towards their new albums! This year had it's share of bad news, like the passing of Fistmagnet's Chuck Ayotte, the closures of The Gore Street Cafe & PureVolume, the Michale Graves concert cancellation, and a complete lack of heavier Oddfellows Hall shows, but we had good news as well, like the growth of Room 21, Bird's Eye Outfitters, and Soo Blaster as active venues, the rebranding of GFL Memorial Gardens, the debut of Ernest Skinner's Rock Talk column, the return of Punk Rock Bingo in April, and Gliss' successful move to Spring Street, among many others. Here's to another eventful year ahead!

The past year has been unusually packed for new albums from metal, hard rock, and punk acts, with none getting a bigger launch than Shit Liver's vinyl sophomore album "Hitting The Fan", as bolstered by a hit Canadian tour! Redundant finally put out their debut EP in July at their Vans Warped Tour stop in Toronto, and fellow local punk rockers Northwest released their own second EP "Songs From 2015-2017" earlier this month. Mike Haggith stayed busy in Manitoba with two live albums, including his new solo release "From The Nickel Stage" and his old band The Din's posthumous "Suburban Sendoff". A couple of other Mikes put out multiple albums in 2018, like the five studio albums (and one reissue) from Mike McCleary to the debut studio albums from Mike Vincent as well. Also this year: Telephone & Address finally released "Monster", SweetKenny kept his score album releases going, and Sykotyk Rampage resurfaced with "Live at the Paris Hilton", among other new albums in 2018, and more should be on the horizon next year!

2018 was a lean year for debuting heavier bands, but a few notable names turned up! Arguably the most familiar of this year's rookie crop was power rock quintet Re:Born, who picked up where predecessors Project 421 left off with a trio of well received gigs, and hopefully there's more to come in the new year! J.D. Pearce's annual Halloween parties in October gave us a trifecta of new tribute bands, including Stegadeth side projects Coral Fang & Poison Girl paying homage to The Distillers & H.I.M., while a nameless one-off supergroup brought their Tool tribute to The Rockstar Bar stage for 2 show-stealing concerts. Also this year: Veteran classic/hard rock quintet Fluid 5ive finally debuted on stage after their 2016 inception, Chase Wigmore launched his grindcore act Awokest, 415E guitarist Chris Hubbard started his own emponymous solo project, and Halfway Loaded members formed the new acoustic duo Tattoos & Scars. Here's hoping these bands & more keep things going strong in 2019!

A number of local bands saw lineup changes, additions, and departures in 2018, with two of Tidal Records head Dustin Jones' resurrected punk bands seeing big upheaval, from Liam Seymour & Chris Johns joining the revived Rising Tide lineup, to Marshall Jaaskelainen & Aaron Dunn replacing Clint Wilson & Mike Yorke in The Cover-Up. Classic/hard rockers Soundcheck saw Steven Flint, Scott McLurg, and Glen Thomas behind the drumkit in 2018, while Elly McWatters replaced Robert Nevitt on vocals with Re:Born, Robert Sartini took over for Dan Linklater on bass in Id Iota, and that band's drummer Blair St. John joined Robert's existing metal band Pillory as their new bassist! Meanwhile, Sault Michigan saw Highway 63 enlist George Belleau, Justin Lawless, and Brian Drumheller for their return from hiatus, Tommy Korcal replace Will Storey as Project 906's drummer, and Stacie McCarthy depart Theatre of Night after one tour. Hopefully these and more were the right moves for each band!

Unfortunately, a number of high profile heavier/punk bands ended their local runs in 2018 even if there weren't many major farewell shows in the process. Classic/hard rock veterans Stiffler's Mom, The 3 Day Millionaires, and Griphook ceased public updates this year, while hard rock quartet Eclipse abruptly ended their run, indie/alternative bands Vol., Bizotic, and The Noochin' Lanterns quietly dissolved, and Gianni Gagoots' reunion seemed to end before it began, among others. Sault Michigan appeared to say goodbye to Cousin Eddie & Stoned Ape Evolution in 2018, while the Werehold Records roster of metal artists have all been dormant since the spring. Also, a number of notable bands have went over 6 months without a public update, leaving the statuses of acts like Electric Church, Gates of Winter, Skeyes of Seven, Sykotyk Rampage, and Telephone & Address in limbo. It's sad to lose these bands, but hopefully we see them or their members out there in 2019!

That all said, there was no shortage of notable acts making big comebacks in 2018! With Rotaryfest's "Rewind" theme for Stage 1 this year, fans were treated to Treble Charger's return after a year+ break from the local stage, while That's Chester, The Suicide Kings, Tripod The Dog, and Turner Up were just some of the one-off returning bands this year, and fellow performers Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide had ended a lengthy hiatus of their own earlier in the year! Dustin's other punk band The Cover-Up also returned after 3 years away, while The Bear Hunters, Highway 63, Pillory, Redundant, and Shit Liver all resurfaced after taking a year or more off from local concerts. Hard rock trio The Din reunited for a one-off LopLops show in July, with frontman Mike Haggith resuming live performances for his own solo project in Manitoba. Frightlight & Plastic both resurfaced with one-off Halloween weekend sets, and The Billy Bastards, Sykotyk Rampage, and The Sorrow Fields came back for new studio sessions, among many others. Here's to more returns in 2019!

As always, 2018 was an eventful year for local metal, hard rock, and punk acts & concerts, and I know 2019 will provide much more big moments, so be sure to follow along next year for coverage of all that's heavy and punk in the Twin Saults! Thanks to everyone for following along and for their support over the past year, have a fun and responsible New Year's Eve, and stay tuned for our 2019 preview post tomorrow!