LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard 225 & CO2!!)

This post is a bit of a southern fried one given the bands in question, as there's some notable LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE) to take in, so here's what you should know!

The thought-to-be one off hard rock/country cover band C02 will play their second and presumably final concert TONIGHT at Jay's Piston Broke Pub! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page yesterday. As has been long teased for months, former Soundcheck singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver is moving to Nashville, Tennessee this fall to further pursue his solo country music career, and before he heads across the border, he is rocking Jay's all weekend long, starting with a show there last night from his similar but more country-focused short term band Mile 38 (who you may have seen at Rotaryfest Stage 1 last month). TONIGHT'S show will see Cameron back with his more rock-focused band CO2 (who debuted at Jay's in June), and assuming no lineup changes, he should be joined by Handsome Sandwich guitarist Jesse Cook, who also performed with Cameron in Mike 38.

Veteran local cover band bassist Rob Gilmar (who was a frequent fill-in performer with Soundcheck) should be back too, but I don't know who is replacing Elly McWatters and Brandan Glew, who are performing at Beck's with The Drifters instead tonight. Cameron will cap off the weekend at Jay's with an acoustic country matinee gig there tomorrow as well. Hopefully this weekend's shows prove to be a fitting send-off for Cameron, a good and talented guy who is destined for big things, and best of luck to him in Nashville for sure! TONIGHT's C02 show has a 9:30 PM start time, no cover, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and alas, no public preview videos of CO2.

Next up, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 have announced their fall concert schedule through late October via their website's calendar, and after a summer full of charity events, tour dates, and private bookings taking priority, fans of "the dirty three" will have more chances to see them live in bars ahead! We'll save their run of shows next weekend for our next round of weekend concert previews due to the now-short notice, but their next shows afterward will be back at Reggie's Place for a full weekend on September 12th & 13th before returning two weeks later on the 26th & 27th! The guys are rocking Reggie's tonight as well, but keep their impending dates in mind for more southern fried hard rock covers and originals next month! One more Cruisin' The Dub car show for the Algoma Regional Community Hospice will follow on Sunday, September 21st outside of the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road.

Your local 225 are no strangers to supporting ARCH across multiple charitable events involving cars and bikes, so keep this one in mind in three weeks! Expect vendors, family activities, and lots of classic cars, though weather will be worth keeping an eye on closer to. While we await a fall concert calendar posting from The Esquire Club as they prepare to resume hosting live bands, Bone Yard will return to the Second Line West bar for the Thanksgiving long weekend on October 10th & 11th, so if you've missed Greg, Alex, and Warren there since the spring, there's your next chances! One week later, the guys will set up shop for another split weekend at Beck's Bar, where they'll play a traditional plugged-in concert on Saturday the 18th before going "uncorked" for the acoustic matinee there on Sunday the 19th. They will also be doing thusly next week, but more on those next week.

Lastly for this wave of concert announcements, Bone Yard 225 will return to The Water Tower Pub for a one-nighter on Saturday, October 25th, and as usual for their gigs at the Great Northern Road staple, this will be an "uncorked" event, so fans of their acoustic covers (or The Bearded Lounge) will want to keep that one in mind! We'll address next week's show there next week. For reference, Halloween this year is on a Friday, but if Bone Yard have big plans for October 31st, they haven't gotten that far in the calendar yet. With the exception of the A&W car show, all of these are 19+ nightclub dates, and none have an announced cover charge. Start times are 2:00 PM at the car show, 3:00 PM for the Beck's Sunday matinee, 8:00 PM at The Water Tower Pub, 9:00 PM for the Saturday nighter at Beck's, and 9:30 PM for Reggie's and The Esquire Club. Visit the above links for more on Bone Yard 225's busy fall calendar so far, and look for more soon!

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

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

As promised, it's time to wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews by tackling hard rock acts playing shows on Saturday, but all three examples have extra new material to discuss, including new live footage, a new band member, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month! Here's what you should know!

We'll start this preview post at Gliss Restaurant, where prolific local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will continue his ongoing weekly concert arrangement with matinee concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW! After a 2 week run of also playing at The Roadhouse, his only formal public concerts this weekend are at the Spring Street restaurant, but look for more entertaining unplugged covers from this long-standing local music veteran this weekend and through the end of the year! Literally, as in the aforementioned LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, Tym will play a special New Year's Eve concert at Gliss on Tuesday, December 31st, as per his new Facebook event page covering Gliss bookings through early January. If Tym's acoustic stylings are your ideal soundtrack to send 2019 out with, you know where to go! This weekend's gigs and the New Year's Eve show are 6:00 PM affairs with no cover charges or age limits. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!



Next up, local classic/hard rock cover band Soundcheck are scheduled to return to Reggie's West for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, but with a new band member in tow, as they have officially added Cameron Oliver to the band as their new singer/guitarist, replacing Travis Sharpe. A semifinalist in this year's Soo's Got Talent with his own rising profile as a primarily country musician, you may remember seeing video of Cameron joining Soundcheck for a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" at Toystock last month, but as it turns out, that was actually his debut gig with the band, as his addition to Soundcheck's lineup was announced on their Facebook page 5 days prior. Of course, given that Soundcheck covered Guns N' Roses that same day without him, that may have been a sign that he wasn't quite ready for a full night yet. In any event, the Facebook announcement says that Cameron's addition comes as "we finish off 2019 and start a new journey in 2020, with more music variety."

Does this allude to adding songs Cameron plays solo, and/or more country tunes in general? For what it's worth, Soundcheck have not newly promoted this weekend's Reggievelt concerts since the lineup news broke, but we'll let you know if anything changes regarding them. In any event, assuming these shows are still on, expect 19+ age limits, no cover charges, and 10:00 PM start times. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Soundcheck with Cameron live at Toystock!

Finally for this weekend, let's head to Sault Michigan, where local classical metal project Theatre of Night will return for the local stop of their third annual Christmas tour TOMORROW NIGHT at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! The only announced E.U.P. stop for this year from Craig, Steve, Rachel, Scott, and Erik, you can expect another theatrical & grand evening of metallized renditions of Christmas carols tomorrow night, and if prior local stops in 2017 & 2018 are anything to go by, this should be a great way to keep the holiday spirit alive! Presented by the Sault Ste. Marie Lions Club with ticket proceeds going to help that organization, this is an all ages concert at 7:00 PM, and like last year, this is in the Dreammakers Theater's table seating arrangement, with food, drinks, and a cash bar on hand for patrons. Also like in 2018, tickets run for $15 for theatre seating, $25 for tables. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Theatre of Night's talent and scope will ensure a great concert as usual on Saturday, especially for you TSO fans craving something similar on a local stage! It's worth noting that the band is featured in the December 2019 issue of Mackinac Journal magazine via an article by journalist Sharon Kennedy, and you can read most of it via photos shared on the band's Facebook page on December 3rd. The article is well done and very complimentary, and it does include interview remarks from Craig and Steve, who even name-drop their past work in I.S.O.M. and End of Existence for good measure. It may be a tough read given the size of the image, but check it out at the above links or by picking up a copy of the Mackinac Journal! As for a preview video for Saturday, we have four videos from their show in Holland last week to acknowledge, courtesy of the Facebook page of Great Legs Winery, that concert's host venue.

The videos include renditions of "We Three Kings", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Silent Night" in two chunks (linked here & here.) I wouldn't think of a winery first for a concert like this, but everyone makes good use of the space, and the lighting is good, so we can see everyone in action, especially compared to their darker ambiance at theatre and church gigs. Alas, Great Legs Winery's Facebook page's privacy settings do not allow external embedding of their videos, so here's footage of Theatre of Night in the Soo last year instead. Don't miss them back at The Dreammakers Theater tomorrow!



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

Local Concert Video Showcase!!

Today's post is 100% devoted to the latest hard rock and punk covers filmed for SaultOnline's Mike Caruso's YouTube channel, as he has continued regularly posting new videos of local musicians on the weekend nightclub circuit for the past three weeks or so. His Toystock video aside, we now have enough hard rock and punk videos of his to do a whole post today, and we'll start with local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns' set at The Whiskey Barrel's first anniversary bash last month! This features The Stallyns alongside Rob & Jesse's Elements bandmate Jonas Gasperas on guest hand drums, though at the at the stationary camera angle, you'd be forgiven for not seeing him behind Rob. This 10 minute video features everyone covering Prince's "Kiss" (with Christina Speers on lead vocals), Elvis Presley's "Little Sister" (with her husband Rob on lead vocals), and Weezer's "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" (with both of the Speers' singing together.)

"Little Sister" aside, these are covers of theirs that we've seen filmed before, but they are fan favourites that showcase their range, and the video is well shot from multiple cameras! I just wish that the lighting on the stationary camera wasn't so yellow, and the vocals can be hard to make out at times. The Wyld Stallyns are on a break right now due to Christina's commitments in the local production of Cats, but let this video tide you over in the meantime!



Next up, here's two videos of local classic rock cover quartet Obsession at two different concerts from recent weeks! Admittedly a band that's on the fence of fitting our coverage, this talented veteran quartet just happened to cover hard rock songs in the last two videos Mike filmed of theirs, including at their Water Tower Pub show on November 16th, where they covered Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' "I Love Rock & Roll". Solidly done rendition with Valerie putting a little extra grit into the vocals, and everyone handles this classic well, but the shift in audio quality from camera to camera can be more noticeable here than usual. Give this one a look below!



Mike's other Obsession video came from two weeks later when they rocked The Esquire Club, and he filmed them tackling Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You". The very purple lighting isn't optimal, but the audio holds up, and they play this song with ease! Nice to see Valerie, Gabe, Jim, and Steve keeping on with lots of well recieved local concerts, so give these a look, and don't miss them back at The Water Tower Pub next month!



Finally, here's a video of local singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver playing at The Upper Deck Bar & Grill (above The Canadian Nightclub) on November 21st! Mike filmed the Soo's Got Talent semifinalist playing three cover songs that night in this 9+ minute video, including A Thousand Horses' "Smoke", Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)", and Riley Green's "I Wish Grandpas Never Died".  The cover selections do point to a strong country component in his set, albeit without going with the obvious songs, but his more hesitant, slowed down delivery on the Green Day cover isn't my cup of tea. Cameron's on the rise, so give his video a look below!



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

Toystock VIII Videos (Part 2!!)

As promised on Monday, here's the second half of our Toystock fallout, courtesy of the remaining known public video footage from the eighth annual Christmas Cheer fundraiser concert at The Grand Gardens North last month! We'll continue in descending order today, starting by acknowledging belatedly that power rock quartet Re:Born actually uploaded three videos from their set that night onto their Facebook page. We featured them playing the original "Running Away" on Monday, which was part of their Facebook playlist of Toystock bands, but the other two were not put with it. Those videos are of Re:Born covering Black Sabbath's "Children of the Sea" and of two songs in this lengthy video, namely their original "Die Another Day" and a cover of Iron Maiden's "Die With Your Boots On." Apologies for missing those on Monday, but they deliver more solid classic metal from this talented four-some! Remember, these are stationary clips, the filmer of these videos was performing on stage at this point.

Moving to the preceding bands at Toystock VIII, Re:Born filmed veteran classic/hard rock quintet Fluid 5ive covering Cheap Trick's "Surrender", albeit without any camera zooming. Adding to our recent note about lineup differences from this New A set, it looks like keyboardist/guitarist Rob Irving was back with the 5ive at Toystock, with no sign of guitarist Tom Millette, so was Tom just filling in for Rob that night? It looks that way, but Fluid 5ive haven't updated their Facebook page in a few months. The cover's well done and lively, and it's nice to see some more footage, so check it out below!



Re:Born also got this video of classic/hard rockers Soundcheck tackling Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine", a very surprising cover for a band with only one guitarist! The guys have not found a full-time replacement for Travis Sharpe yet, and largely played as a trio here. Terry Eaton's vocal range sometimes struggles to hit Axl's high notes, but he gives it his all, and his guitar solo is solid! And yes, Glen did donate that very drum kit (and two others) to attending children, as he is wont to do each year, which is a wonderful gesture! Check out Soundcheck's Toystock video below!
 


The other videos Re:Born shot at Toystock include this clip of local country singer Brendan Hodgson and his solo band playing his original song "Kiss Me Slow", and young local pop rock quartet L!me covering Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". Both are strong and well filmed performances for country and garage rock fans, so give each a look above! Now, Re:Born were not at the Grand Gardens yet to film the first four acts, but we are not out of luck, as SaultOnline's Mike Caruso caught everyone but the last three bands for this extended 20 minute video for his YouTube channel last month. In order, we have local singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver covering Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)", country duo The Jeff & Jeff Show covering Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", The Case's Music Band of instructors covering The Beatles' "Back In The USSR" (as also filmed by SaultOnline's Megan Pounder), ...

...new local singer/guitarist Kaitlyn Parr (The Carter Family's "When I'm Gone", a.k.a. "Cups"), another take of L!me doing "Are You Gonna Be My Girl", Brendan Hodgson & crew covering Brad Paisley's "Ticks", and lastly, Soundcheck covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" with the aforementioned Cameron Oliver on guest vocals. Well filmed as usual, everyone sounds good in their genres! I'm not fully on board with Cameron's hesitant verses on "Good Riddance", but he fits in well with Soundcheck to end the video. Give it a look below, and see much more from Toystock above!



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

Black Mastiff Concert Preview, New Videos, And Musicians Wanted Facebook Group Updates!!

As promised, let's preview a special Monday night concert today, and to round things out, we also have some new videos from some familiar faces, and some long overdue tidbits from a popular Facebook group. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

If you're looking to blow off some steam and/or celebrate following the election, you have a great outlet to do so TONIGHT, as Edmonton stoner/hard rock trio Black Mastiff will make their local concert debut when they headline at LopLops Lounge! One of the middle stops on their tour in support of their new CD "Loser Delusions", Black Mastiff's alternative rock-tinged take on stoner rock should provide a solid night of original action at LopLops tonight, so give their smooth melodic tunes a listen to see what they bring to the table! The varied opening roster will include local indie-alt rock quartet Man Feelings in their first public concert since the summer, as well as prolific folk punk/metal solo artist Chase Wigmore, whose set you may not want to miss, especially if his teased Devil's Night concert doesn't occur. Promoted by the Oh!No Collective, this 19+ show has a 9:00 PM start time (note that election polls close at 9:30 PM), and admission is either $10 or "pay what you can."

While the Monday night scheduling won't be optimal for most, this should be a fun concert if you can swing attending, with a nice mix of sounds to take in from the night's three acts. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Black Mastiff live!



Next up, here's another new video from Chase's old Strange Coyotes bandmate Mike Haggith, who shared this clip of him playing "The Nature Of The Times" in his Windsor hometown onto his Facebook page last week! Mike flew home last week for a spell, and he was able to perform there at The Dominion House Tavern at a jam night this past Tuesday, joining in with his old S.C.A.R. bandmate Dylon Rabidoux and fellow area musicians. The 7 minute video showcases a loose and casual take on the "Bridges" opening single, and even a late saxophone(!) solo, and it's worth a watch for fans of his Thompson-era output, so give it a watch below!

Also, here's a new video of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck live at Reggie's West this past weekend! This video was posted onto SaultOnline's Mike Caruso's YouTube channel on Saturday, so I presume it was filmed on Friday. The 8+ minute clip features Soundcheck covering Styx's "Too Much Time On My Hands" and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Runnin' Down A Dream" in succession, with Travis Sharpe singing lead on the former song, and Terry Eaton doing the honours on the latter. The warm lighting isn't to the video's advantage, especially the mobile closer angle, but the covers sound good, like how you'd expect from Soundcheck! Unfortunately, bassist Paul Belair is stuck behind that large pillar that's still on the stage, as old Rosie regulars will recall, but at least he shows up on the closer camera. Give this one a look below, and check out more recent live cover action on Mike's channel linked above!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, all as related to musician searches on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Local singer/guitarist and Soo's Got Talent semifinalist Cameron Oliver is looking for a creative bassist and drummer for his new local band project, who will "play mostly country and '80s rock." Of course, he's on guitar and vocals, and while the description isn't necessarily pointed in our direction, remember that he did cover Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama I'm Coming Home" in the second round last month. Click here or message him via his group post from September 29th if you want more details!
• Former Half Past frontman Jordan Rains is looking to start a new local band, who would play hard rock, metal, and alternative music. In this band, he would be playing guitar too, and he is looking for a bassist and drummer. Jordan showed promise in his brief Half Past stint, so if you're interested in working with him, message him at this link or on his group post from August!
• On September 4th, Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie posted on the group to say that he was looking for musicians to join him in a planned Linkin Park tribute band named Bellevue Park for "the upcoming Halloween show", with Mitch himself handling lead vocals and guitar. If he meant J.D. Pearce's annual party, then that ship has sailed, but in the off chance this is still a plan for this month/beyond, message him at this link or above for more info!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Round 3) & Second Round Footage!!

As promised, let's close out this weekend's hard rock concert previews with a full extended look at an ongoing talent competition, and like last week, this is a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT. Here's what you should know!

After two weeks of competition, local rap metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have advanced to the semifinals in The Soo's Got Talent, which goes down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! Apologies for the short notice, we again held our coverage of the following round due to the short turnaround time, though followers of the event knew that the third round was the week afterwards. Last week's action at The Verdi Hall saw the remaining 14 acts perform for the judges, with Marilena Blair, Andrea Dantzer, Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf, and Greg McLeod all not advancing to the final 10, so The Apocalypse Afterparty will continue flying the metal/alternative flag, even if they hate genres! However, "an issue beyond our control" forced organizers to postpone the semifinals from today to TOMORROW, and while it's not clear how related it is, the location has indeed shifted to Soo Blaster, which is a bigger venue fitting the increasing stakes, so keep the changes in mind!

Despite the changes, admission details remain similar from last week, including an 8:00 PM start time (doors at 7:00 PM), and a $10 cover charge for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under. Visit the above links for more information on what to expect at Soo Blaster TOMORROW, and for a preview, here's the second episode of The Soo's Got Talent's televised airing from SaultOnline's YouTube channel! As ONNtv subscribers may already have seen on Monday, this captures all 14 second round performers, though despite the six eliminations since week 1, they still got a 2+ hour video out of the footage shot last week. Better camera usage this time, including multiple angles and a closer primary camera, so that helps accentuate the contest progression! Remember, these performances all feature a singer covering an existing song unless otherwise stated. In performance order, we have The Apocalypse Afterparty (Lorde's "Tennis Courts", surprisingly), ...

...Madison Blair (Rihanna's "Stay"), Marilena Blair ("Amazing Grace", which was performed by Leila Rabanez on night #1), Andrea Dantzer ("A Change In Me" from Beauty & The Beast), The Dancing Divas (Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" with locally relevant lyric changes), Killabeatz doing another original beatboxing performance, Colin Gasparelli (a medley of the jazz standard "Summertime" & a-Ha's "Take On Me"), Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Avril Lavigne's "Head Above Water"), Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf (Meghan Trainor's "Me Too"), Greg McLeod (George Strait's "Write This Down"), Cameron Oliver (Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home"), Coulson Perri (Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up"), Juliana Regan (Donny Hathaway's "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"), and Adrian Sullivan playing an original song, before ending with an improvised bonus Killabeatz performance with a guest rapper, followed by the announcement of who advanced to the semifinals.

Note that singer/guitarist Lauren Kroll is not featured in the week 2 performances, apparently signalling her withdrawal from The Soo's Got Talent after the opening round for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing bad happened, she sounded good! Regarding the metal-spectrum covers, Cameron effectively handles Ozzy's classic ballad in more of a folksy acoustic format, and while I don't assume this is indicative of his complete repertoire, he seems like he can do a wide range of material. As for The Apocalypse Afterparty, the drum beat first had me thinking they were covering Death From Above, but they effectively rocked up Lorde here, and the eclectic costumes continued to surprise in their post-mask era. Barring any more unforeseen exits, they will be back TOMORROW for the semifinals along with the other 8 remaining acts, and with a bigger venue and production quality, hopefully this is another hit! Give the video a look below, and stay tuned for fallout next week!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's CD review in the coming days! Thanks everyone!