LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck, Bone Yard 225, And Dodge This), Plus An Impending Breakup!!

In today's news post, we have a bunch of end-of-year LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to take note of before 2024 is done, with one of the bands in question reportedly disbanding afterwards, so here's what you should know on this Tuesday morning!

Local acoustic classic/hard rock cover duo Dodge This will return to The Water Tower Pub on Friday, December 27th! The band hasn't confirmed this booking publically at press time, with the venue's concert calendar on their Facebook page doing the honours. Unless something else is announced in the interim (Jason's solo gigs aside), this will be Dodge This' first announced concert since rocking The Dive a couple weeks ago, and their first gig at The Water Tower Pub since November 8th. If you want to enjoy some live rock cover action from some talented local music veterans post-Christmas, a trip to the Great Northern Road nightclub later this month will definitely do the trick! Remember, The Water Tower Pub hosts different nightly acts, with new-ish acoustic duo The Dustcovers playing there on Saturday the 28th. Jamie & Jason (and Jeff?) take the stage at 8:00 PM for this 19+ show with no cover. Visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more from Dodge This!

Next up, we have confirmation of two SMS-amenable bands rocking out on New Year's Eve this year, and we'll first head to the YNCU Curling Centre (née the Community First Curling Centre), where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will take the stage on Tuesday, December 31st! The band has not publically confirmed this show yet, but the Anita Boulevard curling rink confirmed it via this Facebook event page on Friday. More details on the event proper are forthcoming, but this is a ticketed event running for $25 a pop (they'll be on sale online at this link in time), but of course, remember that this is a New Year's party with the frills that that entails, including champagne at midnight when we finally begin 2025. Obviously, this would be a 19+ event, and Soundcheck kick things off at 9:00 PM. Importantly, the advertising indicates that this will be "Soundcheck's farewell show", which is definitely big news!

While also not publically corroborated on Soundcheck's Facebook page (which has not seen new updates since October), drummer Glen Thomas has confirmed their impending finality in recent posts on his personal Facebook page. I have not heard a reason for Soundcheck's planned breakup as of this writing, but remember that the band has slowed down their rate of concerts in the past six months, around the time that they ended their run as the weekly jam night hosts at Jay's Piston Broke Pub (at the time, it was said that singer/guitarist Terry Eaton "needs a breather from them"). Soundcheck have been a staple of the weekend nightclub cover circuit since debuting under the temporary moniker Nameus in 2016, and basically merged with the similar Mourning Wood the following year. Though Terry was their only constant member, Soundcheck became a prominent sight locally at bars, festivals, and charity events alike.

Soundcheck have at least three more gigs left this month (including at The Esquire Club next week), but it will be surprising to not have them around in 2025 if what the curling center and Glen are saying is accurate. Soundcheck are a talented and adaptable group of musicians who can entertaining many audiences, as a full four-piece or as a jam trio, and hopefully we'll hear more from Terry, Cameron, Jim, Glen, and their former members in new projects down the line! Visit the above links for more on Soundcheck's apparent farewell show in three weeks!

Finally for this news post, let's head downtown to Reggie's Place, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will end 2024 by headlining their New Year's party on Tuesday the 31st! While not listed on their website's concert calendar, the band and venue have both confirmed the booking publically on Facebook. Of course, Bone Yard will be rocking Reggie's first with a one-nighter on Friday (preview forthcoming), and have steady bookings over the next three weekends, but a good old fashioned New Year's party will be of note for many, so if you wanna ring in 2025 with Greg, Alex, and Warren's hard rocking southern and classic rock covers (and perhaps their two originals), head to Reggie's in three weeks! No word on potential frills for New Year's Eve, but this 19+ event at 9:30 PM has no cover charge or tickets, so if you want a much cheaper night to party with, keep that in mind, and see above for more details!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

The 2024 Lake Superior State University Battle Of The Bands Review!!

Here's a rarity for the SMS that I hope won't be so rare in the future: A review of a concert in Sault Michigan! On Thursday, Lake Superior State University hosted their second annual community battle of the bands at the on-campus Arts Center, and after missing last year's (I was seriously planning on hopping the border for it before getting a cold), I saw a golden opportunity to bear witness to my first local battle since the pandemic began! Just nice to see one take place in the E.U.P., there haven't been many compared to Sault Ontario. For readers unfamiliar, the Arts Center is LSSU's theater/auditorium at the far left of campus, roughly opposite their bookstore, and it remains as nicely laid out and professional as it was when I was a student there over a decade ago! Tickets were at a proper booth with concessions, and while the start was delayed a bit, there was a decent turnout in the auditorium for the battle on Thursday night!

By no means was it sold out, but I'd estimate 100-200 people were in attendance, and they were very vocal and loud for all acts! The MC of the battle was Arts Center director and LSSU assistant theater professor Noah Luce, while the four judges included two deans at the university (Mindy McCready and Steven Johnson), Arts Center business manager Melissa St. John, and Jillian Roush, who I believe was a current student representative. In terms of the judging criteria, this battle was handled very differently than others I've seen, as each judge individually handled one metric rather than judging each band on all points. One judge scored solely on originality, stage presence, and preparation each, while Jillian handled the audience vote. To that end, Noah encouraged attendees to cheer as loud as they could for each act after their sets for judging purposes. Acts competing on Thursday had a 15 minute set like last year, meaning that they got to play three or four songs each

Unfortunately, there was a late band withdrawal, as Traverse City hard rock band Sonic Dayze did not perform on Thursday for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing too serious happened, it would have been neat to see them in action! The stage setup for the bands was quite cavernous with lots of room to roam if need be, while the three solo musicians performed with a curtain behind them, and regardless, a projection screen displayed the band's name or logo above or behind them. The first act on Thursday was new local rock band Small Town Society, who united vocalist Holly Sibbald, ex-Double Jack guitarist Melvin Willis, (stand-up!) bassist Chris Bennett, drummer Daniel Jackson, and in a surprise not indicated in advance, veteran local guitarist "Blind" Bob Quinn Musically, the Small Town Society covered three songs, including Radiohead's "Creep" and Hozier's "Too Sweet".

Nothing too heavy, but they were a talented band with some solid professionalism for night #1 together, and Holly sure traveled the stage on most of their set! It was neat seeing Chris break out a big stand-up bass too (shades of The Rising Tide there), and they seemed to get a solid response, but it'll be interesting to see where things go for a longer show! Second was the night's first solo act, namely Kaleb Shannon, a local pop rock singer/guitarist who played four songs, including "Acceptance" and three that he mostly described the origins of, but didn't directly name. Kaleb had a natural ease about him and a good rapport with the audience that masked some of the hiccups between his songs! He has a good voice and writes some direct and honest, but upbeat, lyrics, and he has a bright future! Third up on Thursday was solo performer #2, namely veteran local folk singer/guitarist Kevin Blakeney, who returned from last year's battle for a four song set of his own.

Kevin played songs named "Thank God For The TV", an instrumental that I think he called "Angry Man", and a short song he wrote for his granddaughter named "Butterfly". Kevin's matter-of-fact folk rock was well performed and had a strong grit to it, with his vocals reminding me of a cross between Tom Waits and Mark Knopfler (which is certainly not a bad thing). It's tough to assess solo musicians against bands at a judged battle setting, but he left a distinct impression! Local metal/hard rock band Tarnished were next, though not as fans have seen them live this fall. Rather than have Chris Leask & Ron Suchey back as the rhythm section, Alex & Josh called in Destini Smith & Molly Escherich (more on her in a bit) to fill in for the night. Kudos for supporting young local talent! Tarnished and crew played a three song set, including covers of Cameo's "Word Up" (yes) and Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight"

Notably, frontman Alex Traynor did not play guitar at all, instead singing in his finest fuzzy white coat. Gotta be honest, I wanted to see him shredding along with Josh Fair (exclusively called Josh Tyler here) on Thursday, but his vocals suited the songs well with good energy! Destini's bass wasn't working on their opening song, but she and Molly acquitted themselves well, and Tarnished got fans going well with good audience involvement and some solid rock throughout! After a brief intermission, the battle resumed with the band advertised as Unsure, but it seems that they were unsure about that moniker, and instead performed as "The Undecideds". So, who are they? Well, if you were wondering why 2023 battle winners The Sole Aggressors didn't come back, this band may explain why! As far as I'm aware, Sole Aggressors frontman Calvin Swedene and drummer Isaac Brindley were in The Undecideds.

They were joined by a keyboardist named Frank, as well as Calvin's dad (I think) Jason Swedene on bass. Jason happens to be an arts, letters, and social sciences professor at LSSU, for the record. Unlike the Sole Aggressors, The Undecideds played a reserved indie/alternative sound, but were the only band on Thursday to play an all-original set, with their four songs including ones named "In Heaven" and (I think) "Strawberry Pond", with Frank singing lead on their closer. I do prefer what I've heard of the Sole Aggressors, but the songs here had merit for indie rock fans! I would heavily encourage the guys to work on their stage presences though, as they were very stiff, and their set ended very abruptly without a thank you to the fans. Promising musicians in this group though, and the crowd response was good! The penultimate performer on Thursday was former Tarnished bassist Parker Talentino.

He played three originals (including "Already Been Said" & "Barter") as well as a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)". Despite a brief technical glitch at the start when there was no microphone for him to use (Noah lent his for the set), Parker performed well with his own brand of alternative rock originals, showing off a good melodic singing voice and a relatability with his lyrics! Definitely a far cry from what he played with Tarnished at this event last year (the 2023 battle was his debut with them), but a strong effort and it came off naturally! Last but not least were Molly & The Other Guys, a one-off(?) live band to support last year's runner-up artist, Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich. She was joined here by former Tarnished guitarist Nathan Webber, founding/current Tarnished frontman Alex Traynor on bass, and Exit 808 drummer Jackie Moon.

I'm not one to make a big deal about musician ages, but Molly is twelve years old, and even if you put aside the ample cheering section that came out to support her and The Other Guys (they even brought signs and t-shirts!), her talents were on full display both here and when she drummed with Tarnished! The crew covered Hole's "Celebrity Skin" and Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" during their three song set, and while the intro to the latter song felt kind of off, everyone performed well, and it was nice to see Nathan shredding with good enthusiasm on stage again! Molly got a strong backing band here, and while her voice did get a bit strained late, she has a very bright future, and again, she's twelve! While judges deliberated and tallied the scores, Noah promoted upcoming Arts Center events, and the prizes were unchanged from last year ($150 for first place, $50 for second, both as gift cards).

The winners of the 2024 Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands are... Molly & The Other Guys, and given the rock attack and fan response, I'm not too shocked by that! It's a solid jump for Molly after finishing second as a mostly solo act last year (fan-only voting acknowledged), and hopefully she rides this momentum well as she develops as a musician! Tarnished claimed second place after missing the podium outright last year, so kudos to Alex and Molly for sweeping both prizes! Like last year, third place was not announced. Everything ended around 10:00 PM, so it was a nice early evening for this all-ages event, and things seemed to go well for all involved! As a relative outsider to Sault Michigan concerts (I really must continue fixing that), there was a lot of strong talent on display from the bands, Kaleb, Kevin, and Parker, and I do hope that the university brings this back next fall!

You can check out our photos from the battle at this link or via our Facebook page, and yes, I did get a video of each band, namely everyone's first song! Given the short sets, that was the easiest way to ensure everyone was filmed, so apologies to Tarnished for filming the one song where Destini's bass wasn't working! If it helps, it wasn't obvious in the moment. In order, here's The Small Town Society covering The Black Keys' "Wild Child", Kaleb Shannon playing an un-introduced original song, Kevin Blakeney playing "Gone Are The Days", Tarnished covering AC/DC's "Highway To Hell", The Undecideds playing an original song that may be named "Sad People Are Beautiful Things", Parker Talentino playing "When I Fall", and Molly & The Other Guys covering Flyleaf's "Fully Alive"!

I hope you guys liked this extended battle of the bands review, and for Sault Ontario readers, don't bypass the bands and musicians in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Its a smaller area, but there's a lot of talented artists who would benefit from getting hits and fans in Canada, let alone attendance at their shows if you've able to cross the border! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Lake Superior State University Battle Of The Bands II)!!

Apologies for this being so delayed to first make the SMS, but the second annual Lake Superior State University battle of the bands will take place on Thursday, October 17th! Around eleven months after the Sault Michigan university's Arts Centre hosted six acts at their inaugural community battle of the bands, things are even bigger for next week's encore edition, with eight acts hitting the stage for unspecified prizes, so who all is playing this year? Only two of last year's performers are returning under the same names, including classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished and local folk musician Kevin Blakeney, neither of which made the podium last year. Obviously, Tarnished will look different this year (with Chris Leask and Ron Suchey currently playing bass and drums), while Kevin hinted on his personal Facebook page when promoting the 2024 battle that "this year, I'm going to go heavy". We will have to see how that goes!

As you may recall, Tarnished's battle set last year was their first public gig with now-ex bassist Parker Talentino, but he will be back this year with a solo set. Parker's own music leans more to acoustic folk/alternative, so a definite leap from what Tarnished play, but it'll be interesting to see how he goes over, especially as a solo musician in a battle of the bands! Of course, that's not disqualifying for an event like this, as seen last year when young Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich was edged out for first place by three fan votes, and she will be back to make another run at the top prize, but not solo! Molly had teased plans to get a band together a few months back, and she confirmed last month that she will be fronting Molly & The Other Guys at the battle, so who are "the other guys"?  Molly was seen jamming with former Tarnished/Double Jack guitarist Nathan Webber and her brother Cayd (on drums) in this "Reel" on her Facebook page.

It seems likely that they'll be her bandmates next week, though no word on a possible bassist. The "Reel" sees them solidly covering Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness", and Molly shows some brutal versatility on that part of the song! I can't embed "Reels" here, but you can watch it above. The other four acts scheduled for the battle of the bands are new to me, one being Kaleb Shannon, a local country/rock singer/songwriter who hasn't posted on his Facebook page since last summer. but has an album ("Light My Darkness") on major streaming services. Kaleb is a talented musician with a very distinct voice, but can he outperform the bands, Parker, and Kevin next week? Of the other three bands, one is named Unsure (possibly The Unsure?), and I can't find anything concrete about them on social media. We'll let you know when we hear something! Also playing is Small Town Society, so who are they?

I can tell you that they're the new rock band from former Stoned Ape Evoluton/Double Jack guitarist Melvin Willis, but tags referencing participation in the battle on Facebook that include him may reflect multiple groups, so I'm not going to jump the gun beyond that. Again, I don't know much on Small Town Society, but we'll keep you posted! The last band is Sonic Dayze, and unlike the other two new bands, they have a Facebook page with lots of content, so I will be talking about them very soon with a proper write-up, as they have a lot more to say that I don't want overshadowed by the battle details. Conspicuous by their absence are defending champions The Sole Aggressors, but I don't know if they declined the chance to compete again or if LSSU has it so winning bands can't come back. Last year's third place band (Double Jack, now known as Exit 808) aren't back either, but only one band remember remains from last year.

I'm unsure on some of the finer details of this year's battle, but last year, the winners were decided by a fan vote, bands had 15 minute sets, and the prizes were $150 for first place and $50 for second. Admission is the same as last year, at $10 for general attendees, $5 for kids 10 and under, and free for current LSSU staff or students with valid ID. It's great to see Lake State trying the battle of the bands again (still waiting on a new Sault Ontario one...), and hopefully any kinks from last year have been ironed out in time for Thursday's encore at their Arts Center! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more details on Sonic Dayze shortly! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Punk Band, Plus More LSSU Battle Of The Bands Fallout!!

On this (American) Thanksgiving eve, we're heading back to Sault Michigan to continue looking at the fallout of a big concert event last week, tied in with a new addition to our band links, so here's what you should know!

In resuming our coverage of the Lake Superior State University battle of the bands from this past Thursday, let's add the winners to our links and full coverage, namely new local punk quartet The Sole Aggressors! While they were already on Instagram and YouTube, it's their new Facebook page that gets them linked on the SMS, though be advised that it was created as a personal account rather than a proper "page", so you have to add them as a friend or follow them rather than "like" them. Oddly, The Sole Aggressors haven't posted their identities online publically at press time, but thanks to an e-mail from the band over the weekend, I can confirm that their lineup consists of singer Henry Boucher, guitarist Brett Siesel, bassist Calvin Swedene, and drummer Isaac Brindley. None are familiar from prior local bands, though most of them get Google hits from their involvement in Sault Area High School sports competition in recent years.

The Sole Aggressors debuted at Bird's Eye Outfitters in August, with the battle at LSSU's Arts Center being just their second concert, and not every band can say that they won a battle of the bands within two gigs of their inception! Yes, it was fan voted, but even if you read that as a popularity contest, they still already have a good following and/or were impressive enough to sway the audience! While not filmed for Molly Escherich's channel (more from her in a bit), a band representative did film The Sole Aggressors' entire set, and partly thanks to punk lending itself to shorter songs, the guys crammed in seven songs into their allotted 15 minutes on Thursday. The set started with original songs named "Reject" & "Kill Thy Neighbor", followed by a trifecta of Black Flag covers ("Six Pack", "Jealous Again", and "Depression"), and two more originals to cap things off with ("State Of The World" & an instrumental named "Fool").

Adding to their surprise victory at the battle is that Henry was unable to perform at the event for unannounced reasons, so Brett handled vocals in his place (reminds me of when the future Bring The Fallen debuted short-handed at a battle of the bands in Sault Ontario and still won it). We'll share their Bird's Eye concert video (featuring Henry) in an upcoming post, but they did pull of a solid set without him on Thursday, and Calvin's loud, crunchy bass was nice to hear too! Seeing teenagers in the E.U.P. playing hardcore punk this capably is extremely welcomed, let alone with originals already, and hopefully The Sole Aggressors have much more ahead, but give their battle set a watch below!

The Sole Aggressors edged out Molly Escherich by three votes to win the battle, and as we already featured her battle set the last time we covered the event, let's jump to the third place finishers, namely new local hard rock quartet Double Jack, who made their live debut on Thursday. Molly's YouTube channel actually got uploaded two different copies of their set (and much more, stay tuned), including the raw vertically shot copy, but I embedded the longer version that was zoomed/cropped to normal landscape orientation to focus on the stage, which looks much better. The last of the six acts to perform at the battle, Double Jack's set started with covers of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild", Seether's "Gasoline",  and a medley of portions of Metallica's "Master Of Puppets", The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" (coincidentally covered in full by Tarnished earlier that night), and Green Day's "Brain Stew", all with bassist Isaac Royer on lead vocals.

In a surprise at set's end, Molly walked out on stage and jokingly shoved Isaac away before taking over vocals for covers of Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box" & "Wonderwall" Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy". We'll have more from the Double Jack/Molly collaboration soon, but the band sounded good for their debut live gig, no doubt helped by Isaac & Nathan's existing Tarnished chemistry, and Isaac was up to the challenge vocally, though it'll be interesting to see how big his range is. Molly fit in well on plugged in rock songs, and it was a neat bonus to cap the battle of the bands with, so give Double Jack's complete set a watch below!

Finally, local singer/guitarist and Rudyard Musicians Festival regular Kevin Blakeney also competed on Thursday, and like Molly and the Sole Aggressors, he had his set filmed for his own YouTube channel. With Molly also filming Tarnished and Double Jack, that just leaves Heavy Lies The Crown without a public video from their set (that I presently know of), but stay tuned in case one turns up! Kevin was the only performer on Thursday who did not play metal or punk, but seeing as this is a battle of the bands that I was actually planning to attend before catching a cold last week, I'll talk about his set here! Kevin started with original songs named "Gone Are The Days", "Won't You Come With Me", and "Thank God For The TV", before covering Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and (I kid you not) Pinkfong's "Baby Shark". If you like gritty acoustic folk music, you'll take to Kevin's set!

Kevin possesses a distinct, deep & weathered singing voice that will appeal to Tom Waits fans, and while the audio quality on his camera isn't as pristine compared to his battle cohorts, you can tell that he has songwriting talent! Unfortunately, the video was mostly uploaded sideways, and between songs, they put the camera down, leading to black screens and shuffling noises, so be advised of technical quirks. Check it out below!

Whether Heavy Lies The Crown's battle set surfaces in video format or not, we're not quite done with LSSU battle fallout on the SMS, so stay tuned for that in the coming days, but for all of our American readers, have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LSSU Battle Of The Bands Results, Plus Videos From Two Acts!!

As you may know, Lake Superior State University held a fan-voted battle of the bands at their on-campus Arts Center on Thursday, marking the first battle of the bands in either of the Twin Saults since before the since the NLFB Meltdown battle in Sault Ontario in 2017. Oddly, LSSU didn't announce the results online after the fact, but we now know who won and how the competitors did, so who won this rare Sault Michigan battle? New local punk quartet The Sole Aggressors, who took home the $150 cash prize after winning the fan ballot! Apparently, they won by just three votes over rising young Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich (who won $50), while the third place band was reportedly new local hard rock quartet Double Jack. The fact that these three acts made the podium and the more established Heavy Lies The Crown, Kevin Blakeney, and Tarnished did not may be seen as an upset, but remember that this was fan voted.

I'm writing this before I see videos from Thursday, so the actual performances should not be discredited, but many would see a fan-voted battle of the bands with no judges as being a popularity contest and not a true measure of each act/set. Still, this is the first local battle of the bands of any kind in over six years, so I'm just glad that one was held, and hopefully more (from LSSU or otherwise) are held in the future! Videos have turned up from half of the competitors on Thursday, not including The Sole Aggressors, H.L.T.C., or Kevin (yet?), and while Kevin didn't knowingly lean to heavier music in the past, we will have more from the two un-filmed bands on the site next week, and congratulations to The Sole Aggressors for their big win! A lot of our post-battle knowledge comes from Molly Escherich, who posted about it a good deal on her Facebook page and also uploaded videos from it to her YouTube channel!

Molly was actually the first performer at the Arts Center on Thursday, and her entire 15 minute set was filmed for her channel, where she covered Eddie Rabbitt's "Driving My Life Away", Pop Evil's "100 In A 55", System of a Down's "Aerials", and Slipknot's "Snuff", before playing an original song named "We Are Still Here". I severely doubt that this will be the last time we talk about Molly on here (check back for our next Sault Michigan/battle post), but she has a good voice and guitar abilities, and has a natural audience rapport, and it is very encouraging to see someone of her age covering songs like these in the E.U.P.! Check out her set below!

Finally for this post (there's more coming next week), let's skip ahead to the fourth band to play at LSSU on Thursday, namely local classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished, in their first gig with new bassist Parker Talentino, who reportedly joined the band a month ago. As it turns out, frontman Alex Traynor is Molly's guitar instructor, which is neat to learn! Molly (or a friend/family member) filmed Tarnished covering Local H's "Bound For The Floor", Van Halen's "Eruption" (naturally leading directly into their cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me"), and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which didn't quite take them to their 15 minutes allotted on Thursday, but I can't confirm if the filmer missed a short song before "Bound For The Floor" or not. I also can't confirm why they only played covers, perhaps to ease Parker into live gigs and/or maybe as a play to grab maximum audience attention with familiar songs?

Performance-wise, everyone sounded good, and if this battle had judges, Tarnished would definitely have won brownie points for showmanship and Alex's guitar skill, especially on the "Eruption" solo! Parker seemed to fit in well on bass too, if a little stiff during this mini-set. The Achilles heel with this video was that it was shot vertically, and while that wasn't a problem for Molly, it rendered Alex, Parker, and Josh very tiny in the background, not to mention that Molly's set had zoom and Tarnished's didn't. Still a very strong and heavy performance for classic metal fans, so give Tarnished's battle set a watch for yourselves below!

We'll have more from the battle and Sault Michigan bands in general next week, but that's all for today, and stay tuned for more from Sault Ontario acts next week as well! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hard Rock Band, LSSU Battle Of The Bands Preview, And More!!

Today's post was supposed to meld a couple of disparate topics, but the more I researched the lead story, the more new details I learned about bands playing this event, so we're basically all in on the first post-pandemic battle of the bands in the Twin Saults in this post! Leading off are details on who one of the competing bands is, and lineup updates on another competing at this event, so here's what you should know!

We have a new local hard rock band to add to our links, and they are Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Double Jack! We alluded to them last week when we first covered TOMORROW NIGHT'S first annual community battle of the bands at Lake Superior State University (where Double Jack will make their live debut), but we now know enough about them to add them to our coverage, as given their lineup, it's a safe bet that they'll be up our alley. This is the new band from ex-Tarnished guitarist Nathan Webber & bassist Isaac Royer, who both left that band in August, and it's great to see them sticking together in a new project! They're joined here by ex-Stoned Ape Evolution guitarist Melvin Willis (sans mask) as well as drummer Jackie Moon (real name or Semi-Pro reference, I don't know), and while the band hasn't put their names in writing publically on their Facebook page, personal Facebook posts confirm their lineup. I don't know which member(s) is/are on vocals.

Aside from teasers and the reveal of their mascot in their logo (named "Doug of the Dead"), Double Jack are clearly waiting for their live debut to give away anything re: their live set, but you can be first to learn more tomorrow at Lake Superior State University's first ever community battle of the bands at their on-campus Arts Center! Six local acts will take the stage tomorrow to try to win the $150 top prize ($50 for second place, everyone gets t-shirts for competing), and conveniently, Nathan & Isaac's old band Tarnished will also be competing in the debut of their own new lineup! The guys confirmed on their Facebook page on Tuesday that they have added Parker Talentino as their new bassist, though they have yet to confirm a new rhythm guitarist. While new to our coverage, Parker has a solo Facebook page where he has posted original material with him on vocals & acoustic guitar that you can check out across multiple videos.

While this folksier material is a far cry from Tarnished's sound, he is a talented multi-instrumentalist who will add to the band! Also, Parker appears to be the son of veteran local rock musician Terry Talentino (ex-Chump Change). Tarnished have teased original material and more shows ahead, but come down to LSSU's Arts Center tomorrow to see how Parker does in his first set! Also playing tomorrow night is St. Ignace deathcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown in their first ever public concert in Sault Ste. Marie city limits, giving an all-too rare taste of extreme metal from a local band on the American side of the border, so don't miss them either! The other full band playing tomorrow is new local punk quartet The Sole Aggressors, who debuted at Bird's Eye Outfitters in August (video here), but their online presence is more cryptic, with no proper social media pages beyond Instagram and no publically listed lineup.

Talented young group, especially given that they play hardcore punk in Sault Michigan, which is not common for that side of the border, so don't bypass them tomorrow night either! The battle lineup is rounded out by two solo singer/guitarists, namely Rudyard Musicians Festival regular Kevin Blakeney and rising young Dafter solo artist Molly Escherich. Can one person outperform four 3+ member bands? Find out tomorrow, but solo musicians winning battles of the bands is not impossible! Tomorrow's battle is a fan voted event with no judges, and votes will be cast by putting your ballots in marked boxes for each act. Bands will get 15 minute sets to perform, and the festivities begin tomorrow at 7:00 PM. This is absolutely an all ages event, with tickets running for $10 (adults) or $5 (kids), while current Lake Superior State University students with valid student ID will get in free. 

It's great to see a battle of the bands in Sault Ste. Marie again, let alone on the Michigan side, and while I do prefer a judges panel with criteria to a popularity contest, beggars can't be choosers given how rare battles are across the river. Most of these acts are not mainstays of public concerts in Sault Ste. Marie, so it will be very interesting to see how things go (especially the Tarnished civil war), and I do hope that someone is filming the proceedings! Best of luck to all six acts, and to avoid any favouritism given the event's nature, I'll refrain from a preview video, but all but Double Jack have live performance video online. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Theatre Of Night & The LSSU Battle Of The Bands!!)

With The Soo's Got Talent now in the rear view mirror as an event and a post topic, let's dive back into regular news and notes, via LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for Sault Michigan later this month! Both are big in their own distinct way, so here's what you should know in chronological order!

For the first time since the pandemic, a proper battle of the bands will take place in Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday, November 16th! Granted, it is in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but that will be an extra plus for readers in the E.U.P.! The battle is being put on by Lake Superior State University in their Arts Center next Thursday, and after competitor registrations closed on October 17th (apologies for missing that on here), six regional acts will take to the stage, so who all is competing? Two bands familiar from our coverage are, including local metal/hard rock quartet Tarnished, in what that band is teasing as the debut of their new lineup after playing with fill-in musicians over the past two months. Quite a way to throw the new guys into the fire, but hopefully Alex, Josh, and crew leave a good impression! In their first ever public concert set in Sault Ste. Marie, fans can also check out St. Ignace deathcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown here!

It's great to see H.L.T.C. finally playing in the Soo, and hopefully this is the start of even more shows north of the Mackinac Bridge rather than south of it! We will have more on their new single/music video on the SMS soon. Two more bands that are new to me take to the stage next Thursday, including Double Jack, a debuting rock band who I know nothing definite on aside from one of the band members being named John (if their Facebook contact e-mail is anything to go by). I have a hunch on who might be involved, but I'll wait for public confirmation before jumping the gun. The other band is The Sole Aggressors, a new local punk band (a rare sight from Sault Michigan), who actually debuted at Bird's Eye Outfitters in August and filmed the whole set for their YouTube channel! Like with H.L.T.C.'s new song, I'll save that for an upcoming post, but The Sole Aggressors cover stuff that you never hear in Sault Michigan!

The other two performers next Thursday are solo singer/guitarists, namely Rudyard Musicians Festival regular Kevin Blakeney (click here to see him covering Buffalo Springfield live) and Molly Escherich (click here for recent live videos of hers). Solo musicians can be disadvantaged at battles of the bands, but as Jesse Merineau & M.D. Dunn can confirm from Sault Ontario battles, solo acts can win it all, and it helps that the LSSU battle is fan-voted! Yes, the community will decide who wins rather than judges, with ticket stubs being used to pick the winners via ballot boxes. $150 awaits the winner(s) with $50 for second place, and the winning act will also get their name on a plaque to be displayed at the Arts Center. Acts will get 15 minute sets each to perform. Everything takes place next Thursday at 7:00 PM, and admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids, and free for LSSU students with valid student ID.

Battles of the bands in Sault Michigan aren't unheard of (I remember Tarnished frontman Alex Traynor playing in at least one with his old group Banned), but historically, they are rarer in the E.U.P. than in Sault Ontario. This makes this battle all the neater to see, and hopefully it's a big hit to encourage Lake State to make this an annual event with bigger prize money! Visit the above links for more details on the battle, and kudos to Tarnished for sharing the poster featuring the final competitor lineup on their Facebook page! Best of luck to everyone next week!

Finally for today's all-Sault Michigan post, local classical metal band Theatre of Night will return to the local stage for the first time since the pandemic on Saturday, November 25th when they headline at The Soo Theatre! The first concert we've covered there since their well publicized renovations, this show will be Theatre of Night's first in the E.U.P. since rocking The Dreammaker's Theatre in December 2019, though they did play three shows downstate last year. As per their new Facebook page (their old one got hacked) and website, Theatre of Night will also be playing six public concerts downstate between next weekend and Christmas Eve, with the Soo Theatre gig being show #2 of their fifth Christmas tour (none was held in 2020 or 2021). This will be their first local gig with new bassist Luke Bernard, while in a mild surprise, they have enlisted Marquita Bernard as their new lead singer, replacing Rachel Mender for unannounced reasons.

Hopefully nothing bad happened with Rachel, as her vocals definitely added to the band, but Marquita is a capable musician with teaching experience, and fingers crossed things go well! No word on how she's related to Luke, for the record. This all ages event has no opening bands, a 7:00 PM start time, and admission by donation (they suggest $20). This will be a fun way to kick off the Christmas season, and if you're familiar with Theatre of Night's two Christmas albums and past live dates, you'll know that their metallized carols will draw a strong response! See above for more details, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Marianas Trench/Trews and A Dire Setback Concert Previews, Plus A New Video!!

A busy concert weekend is upon us, so to spread things out, we'll only cover two shows to start, both with a lot to say and one with a new live video to acknowledge from one of the performers. If you're looking for previews of the late notice Bone Yard show this weekend, plus Soundcheck and gigs in the E.U.P., check back tomorrow, I promise!

We'll start with the big concert for punk and hard rock fans this week, as Vancouver pop punk quartet Marianas Trench and Nova Scotia hard rock mainstays The Trews will make their long awaited returns to the Soo TONIGHT at GFL Memorial Gardens! After dropping out of a planned November 2016 show at the Gardens due to a band member illness, Marianas Trench will finally be back in town for the first time since headlining at the arena in April 2013, so if you've been itching to hear their pop rock staples like "Shake Tramp", "Say Anything", and "Cross My Heart" in person again, the nearly decade-long wait is almost over! Meanwhile, tonight's show will mark The Trews' first local date since an acoustic show here in 2009, last playing in town plugged-in the previous year. I do like The Trews' rootsy hard rock hits like "Tired of Waiting", "Paranoid Freak", and "So She's Leaving", and it's great to finally see them back too!

Local indie punk quintet The Northwest have been tapped as openers, a fitting choice to pair with Marianas Trench in particular, and their brand of heartland-influenced punk originals should warm things up nicely tonight (and what a stage for them to play on too!) Co-promoted by F7 Entertainment, this show is one of three taking place during this week's Mocha Concert Series, put on by the Mocha Shriners Masonic society as a fundraiser event while they host their annual Mocha Fall Ceremonial convention in the Soo, home of the Sault Shrine Club. The ambitious scheduling called for five shows from major Canadian artists at the Gardens in five days this week, starting with Walk Off The Earth & The Monowhales on Monday and ending with Burton Cummings tomorrow, but the planned Kim Mitchell and Paul Brandt shows on Tuesday & yesterday were both cancelled due to "unforeseen scheduling issues".

I won't join the arguing about what that exactly means, but hopefully Kim and Paul try again to play here down the road! As for Marianas Trench tonight, this all ages event has a 7:30 PM start time, and tickets are still available for either $55.94 or $67.24 in the back seven sections (floor seats and the closest six sections to the stage are all sold out). Buy yours at this link, at the in-person box office, or at (705) 759-5251. I'm glad to see that tonight's show is selling pretty well (with the headliners playing here multiple times each back in the day, you'd hope so), and hopefully what's left of the Mocha Concert Series is a hit for the Shriners! Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Marianas Trench live!

Finally for today, local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play their first non-Northern Vibe set of the pandemic era when they take a road trip to nearby Desbarats TOMORROW NIGHT for another benefit concert for late Manitoulin Island rapper Zachary "$onny Vybe$" Cywink! To be held at the Johnson Township Community Center at 1 Cameron Road, this mixed-genre event is the fourth or fifth in our area to honour $onny Vybe$' memory and raise funds for the Ngwaagan Gamig Recovery Centre in Wikwemikong, and hopefully the more easterly location and continued kind thoughts go over well with Zachary's family and friends! Like with the Handsome Sandwich-featured shows at The Rockstar Bar, A Dire Setback are the rock respite in the mixed genre gumbo, with other performers including rappers Rick E, Bold Noize, Oh Zee, and James Stuart, and DJ AngelAzura. Promoted by Sooicide Records, this show starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow, it is all ages, and admission is $5.

Also, there is an attached canned food drive for Harvest Algoma, so keep that in mind if you're making the 40 minute drive. Should be a fun time for hip hop/$onny Vybe$ fans in particular, but hopefully this recently rare A Dire Setback set makes them some more fans on the outskirts of town! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new video of A.D.S. at the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir last month! Posted to their YouTube channel last week, this is a cover of Greta Van Fleet's "Highway Tune", an odd choice for them, but it's still a closer sonic match than OneRepublic are. Bassist Matt Quinn handled lead vocals here, which is cool to see, though the other new things they teased playing during their set haven't made their way to a public online forum yet. I will admit, I'm not a Greta Van Fleet fan, but this version is better because Matt isn't trying to do the Led Zeppelin clone vocals.

I have pointed out in prior concert reviews of theirs that Matt's singing voice is tonally reminiscent of Serj Tankian, and it'd be interesting to see him play into that more, but again, I'll take this over forced raspy Robert Plantisms. Video quality is solid and clear, and the stationary camera is well framed, but the stage seems very cavernous, and Nick seems much further back than he likely was as a result. Solid cover for G.V.F. fans, so give it a look below, and don't miss A Dire Setback in Desbarats tomorrow night!

That's all for today, but stay tuned next for our previews of this weekend's other hard rock concerts next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Marconi Meets World) & A New Video!!

Let's kick off a new week at the SMS with another news post, and while we do have a new live concert video to round things out with, it's mostly devoted to a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT attached to a huge community festival taking place next month! Here's what you should know!

Local acoustic hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will be among the stacked & diverse lineup of musical entertainment at the Marconi Meets World festival taking place outside of The Marconi Cultural Events Center at 450 Albert Street West from Thursday, July 21st to Saturday, July 23rd! Announced back in March with the first lineup details following last month, Marconi Meets World is a special three day event to help expand cultural heritage in the Jamestown area and community, in collaboration with the Missanabie Cree First Nation and the local Elettra Marconi & Guglielmo Marconi Societies, and it looks like The Marconi Club is going all out to make this a big deal! The schedule calls for Thursday the 21st to be focused around cultural celebrations, Friday the 22nd on indigenous celebrations, and Saturday the 23rd on an Italian festival, and there will be vendors, refreshments, and family friendly activites throughout.

What we don't have yet is a full schedule for the bands, but unlike the Northern Vibe Festival last year, organizers have detailed some of the daily lineups. Three out of town touring acts will make up the indigenous celebration lineup on July 22nd, including former Junkhouse/Blackie & The Rodeo Kings frontman Tom Wilson (who plays blues & folk rock solo), Juno winning Toronto folk band Digging Roots, and Sudbury/Toronto roots/folk artist Mimi O'Bonsawin. The Italian fest on July 23rd will be headlined by local pop rock cover band The Killer Hooks alongside Brampton pianist/accordionist Carmen Spada and veteran local classic rock duo Frankly Speaking. The remaining local acts are allegedly playing on the all-local Thursday lineup or on Saturday, not Friday, but dates are largely not out yet. However, Wyld Stallyns singer/guitarist Rob Speers confirmed to me in a Facebook conversation that they will be playing on Thursday the 21st, so we know that much!

Other local acts playing on Thursday or Saturday include country musician Brendan Hodgson, instrumental folk rock trio The Dynowaves, acoustic roots/reggae band Unorganized Township, online page-less folk/indie band All The Tired Horses (featuring Treble Charger's Bill Priddle with Id Iota alumni), and new local indie duo Sainte Marie. We will let you know when full daily itineraries for those days publically turn up! Due to increased local sponsorship, ticket prices have dropped for Marconi Meets World compared to when they first went on sale, and they now run for $17.18 (for one day's admission to the kids zone only), $22.52 (daily general admission for students or seniors with ID), $27.87 (daily general admission for anyone aged 19-59), and a full three day pass for $108.82 (it costs more because you'll also get a festival t-shirt, lanyard, and other goodies.)

Buy your tickets online at this link, and inquire within about availability at The Marconi Club proper or at the door. This obviously all ages festival has daily start times of 10:00 AM, musical artist timeslots to be confirmed. Sounds like a very ambitious and well planned festival, and with so much re-opening and either returning or debuting anew this summer with pandemic restrictions largely ending, hopefully Marconi Meets World is a huge hit! The Stallyns are really the only hard rock respite scheduled, but their sound and cover selection should appeal to many attendees on July 21st, no matter who else is playing that day! Visit the official Facebook event page for full and continuing festival details!

Finally for today, here's one more new video from new local acoustic hard rock duo Short & Sweet's debut set at the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as uploaded to frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel on Friday! This time, he and Kyle covered Seether's "Save Today", which effectively translates to this live format, buoyed by Cory's strong vocals, so fans of his local band work should take to this cover! Give it a look below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Queen: It's A Kinda Magic, Peril, 415E, And Highway 63!!)

Much like on Monday, our newest post is largely devoted to Sault Michigan-area updates, with a Sault Ontario story ending things, but instead of videos, this has only LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS! The Eastern U.P. ones concern the new concert announcements on Kewadin Casino's entertainment pages, as we now know of currently booked acts at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie and The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace through early July. There are more to touch on, courtesy of surprise touring hard rock bands from afar, but visit the above links for heads-up on those events and others from non-hard rock acts. Now, here's what you should know!

We'll start with local hard rock quartet 415E, who have two announced concert weekends in the first half of 2019, one at each Kewadin branch! Firstly, you can see them at The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace on January 24th & 25th, before they play their first announced Sault Ste. Marie dates of 2020 on May 8th & 9th. This month's St. Ignace gigs will be their first there since July, while May's Soo dates will be their first in their hometown since New Year's Eve. The former Hubbard-Menard Band had a very quiet 2019, with only 5 publically announced gigs, so it is encouraging to see them almost match that in the first half of 2020 alone, and hopefully all four shows have great turnouts! You can check out their Van Halen-influenced cover selection on these nights at 9:00 PM with no cover charges and 21+ age limits, as usual. Visit the above links for more details, and hopefully we hear more updates from 415E (and Hubbard) in the near future!

Next up, Traverse City classic metal trio Peril have three regional Kewadin weekends of their own lined up for early 2019! We covered their sister band Scarkazm's Kewadin concerts during this timeframe in our weekend concert preview post on Thursday. Local fans will first be able to see Jeff, Adam, and Brooks on February 14th & 15th when they rock The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace, while they will head north to The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie on May 29th & 30th, with a return to the St. Ignace Kewadin planned for two weeks later on June 12th & 13th. The St. Ignace gigs next month will be Peril's first there in three months, but Soo fans will have waited eight months between Rapids Lounge weekends. It's great to see Peril (and Scarkazm) keep up their regular schedule in the E.U.P., so don't miss their old school cover attack at the above dates! Like with 415E, these are 9:00 PM & 21+ gigs with no cover. See above for more details!

Lastly for the regular local/Northern Michigan hard rock acts with new Kewadin Casino lounge bookings is Sault Ste. Marie classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63, who have four concert weekends booked through July, two at each location! The Jager/Monkey's Uncle successors will return to The Rapids Lounge in the Soo on March 6th & 7th, before playing two weekends at The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace in May, as they're booked there on May 1st & 2nd, and then on the 29th & 30th. They'll close these announced dates back at The Northern Pines Lounge on July 3rd & 4th. For what it's worth, their new side-project Mackinaw Trail are not among the announced Kewadin lounge acts during this timeframe. Highway 63's old school blend of covers should go over just fine at both Kewadin branches, so don't miss the Switzers & company this spring and beyond! Again, these are 21+ gigs with no cover and 9:00 PM start times. Get more details at the above links!

We'll close today's post with a new concert announcement in Sault Ontario, where Australian tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will make their local concert debut on Wednesday, June 17th at the Sault Community Theater Center! An acclaimed, internationally performing band who faithfully recreate the concerts Queen played on their 1986 world tour, Q.I.A.K.M. do appear to live up to their hype in live videos that I've seen, so Queen fans should have a ball with this stage show this summer! It's definitely a good time to be a Queen fan locally, given the success of last year's St. Mary's production of the We Will Rock You musical, plus the touring version later this month, and now a full tribute concert. Tickets for this 8:00 PM event run for $62 a piece for adults, $33 for kids 12 and under, and a group rate for $57 a piece is also available. Get yours at this link or at the Station Mall's box office, and see more from Queen: It's A Kinda Magic at the above links!

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