LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bone Yard 225), Thursday Concert Previews, And New Videos!

(Updated at 9:58 PM) This weekend's concert slate is quite busy again after getting a relative reprieve last week, so let's start things a day early today! After all, two (three?) of the shows are Thursday evening affairs, and have more to say than normal given the setting of them, so here's what you should know to start, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! We'll touch on Friday-Saturday nighters and/or the Northern Vibe Festival in preview post #2 hitting the site tomorrow.

Joining the previously confirmed Soundcheck concert at the Cruisin' The Dub car show at the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road tomorrow, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will indeed be headlining the concurrent motorcycle show at the old A&W at 121 Great Northern Road TOMORROW! Apologies for the short notice on Bone Yard's end, public advertising confirming their involvement only showed up on Facebook earlier today, but remember that they have been busy prepping for the Dragonfly Run on Sunday (preview forthcoming). The dual sets by both bands at the respective A&W car and bike shows is a reprise of last year's Cruisin' The Dub festivities, only this year, Mother Nature isn't going to interfere, as 9&10 News is calling for sunny skies and weather of around 23°. Both car & bike show were rained out in 2023, so things should run smoothly across the board!

As expected, Cruisin' The Dub is in support of Multiple Sclerosis Canada, with lots of classic cars and motorcycles to check out across both Great Northern Road A&Ws, along with family friendly games, prize draws, and refreshments, and a hard rocking local band at both locations, so keep all of this in mind TOMORROW! A much bigger follow-up to the car-only show that Soundcheck played in June, the car and/or bike show will have no cover, they're absolutely ALL AGES, and both run from 5:00-8:00 PM. Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S action, stay tuned for more from both bands this weekend, and here are both bands live, including one of three new videos of Bone Yard 225 live via their Facebook page! Two of them were live-streamed from their concert at the Laird Agricultural Fair on Friday, including one of them covering The Ramones' classic "I Wanna Be Sedated" with bassist Warren Reville on lead vocals.

While it is vertical, the filmer largely only focused on Warren, so the orientation isn't so bad in that regard! Solid cover but the vocals came through very quiet. The other Laird Fair video (which is horizontal) sees them covering ZZ Top's "Tush" with guitarist Alex D'Ettore on lead vocals, and it's a solid cover with good energy! Embedded here is their (also horizontal!) new video from one of their Reggie's Place gigs in July, where they covered The Tragically Hip's "Little Bones" with singer/drummer Greg Simpson handling vocals. Another strong cover filmed in high quality, if slightly to its detriment given the stage lighting at Reggie's, but check this out for yourselves below, and don't miss Bone Yard TOMORROW!

Next up, Hails frontman Brenton Ellis' acoustic punk solo project Slumshine will play a rare live set TOMORROW NIGHT when they return to the Sault Ste. Marie Museum for their third straight set at the annual Fringe North Festival! The only SMS-amenable music act playing Fringe North this year, Slumshine will see Brent break out his acoustic guitar and pink knit ski mask for the first time since last year's Fringe North when he opens up "the Comet Stage", which will be set up outside of & behind the museum tomorrow night (as such, expect the same sunny & 23° weather conditions as at Cruisin' The Dub). The official program outlines all of the details you could ask for re: this year's festival, including a complete performer lineup at the Museum and elsewhere, celebrating art and culture in all of its diverse forms. Like last year, Slumshine's set (named "A Work In Progress") will be themed around Brent's recovery from drug addiction.

Click here to read more about Slumshine's modus operandi and what to expect lyrically from their set, courtesy of Fringe North's website. While Slumshine's set opens tomorrow's program at "the Comet Stage" at 7:00 PM, each individual performer is priced separately at different tiers, with no batch price packages to cover an entire day's musicians on one stage. Brent will be a musical outlier anyway tomorrow, as he precedes sets by Toronto R&B musician Aieysha Haws at 8:00 PM, Thunder Bay rapper O'Rose at 9:00 PM, and rappers from local label Sooicide Records at 10:00 PM. If you want to see Slumshine's set tomorrow from 7:00-8:00, the minimum advertised price is $5, though $15 is the "support the artist" rate (note that the program lists both tiers as being $5 higher than the online ticket page does). It is also worth noting that Brent will be jetting off to Southern Ontario for shows with Hails this weekend!

On Friday and Saturday, they'll be opening for Toronto "hypnofolk" band Twintwa (who also played with Ha!ls at It's The Pits in Leeburn) and Hamilton electro-noise rock band Better Homes For Meaner People, across both nights, the former at Vertagogo in Hamilton and the latter at the third annual Humber River Art & Music Festival in Toronto, where the three bands will be joined by Peterborough rapper Garbageface, the Soo's own Shae Tull, and many others. Hopefully both shows are hits for Brent, the Mutos, and Keeghan this weekend, but don't miss Slumshine tomorrow at the museum first! See above for more details on Fringe North 2024, and for a preview, here's Slumshine live back in 2019!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck), Northern Vibe Festival Updates, And New Videos!!

Here's another news post on this Tuesday evening, which is half devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, but we also have lineup updates for an upcoming festival to take note of too, as well as some new live videos. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will be playing at the annual Cruisin' The Dub car show at the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road on Thursday, August 22nd! The guys had played a car show there on June 30th as well, which had no advance public advertising on social media that I could find, though it did take place, as noted on personal accounts and presumably in person at the restaurant. However, next week's actually is making the rounds for advertising on Facebook, with drummer Glen Thomas sharing a poster on his personal Facebook page on Friday. This will be the annual car show there, with donations going to Multiple Sclerosis Canada, and will also include family entertainment and refreshments. The plan is to have a concurrent bike show at the older A&W at 121 Great Northern Road too, and while Glen said that "I believe" Bone Yard 225 is playing that, Bone Yard have not confirmed that at press time.

This special Thursday outdoor matinee concert(s?) goes down at 5:00 PM and it is absolutely all ages with no stated cover charge, donations aside. Of course, Mother Nature is the elephant in the room here, as last year's Cruisin' The Dub car/bike show was cancelled due to rain that day, so absolutely keep tabs on your preferred local forecast next week just in case. While we're on the subject, Soundcheck will also return to The Water Tower Pub for one night only on Saturday, August 31st! The band has not confirmed this show publically yet, but the venue did via (belatedly) posting their August concert calendar on their Facebook page yesterday, marking their first monthly schedule drop there since May. This will be Soundcheck's first show at the Great Northern Road nightclub in just over two months, and it should be a prime opportunity to hear Terry, Cameron, Jim, and Glen's diverse and often heavy array of covers before the summer season ends!

A one-nighter as is custom at The Water Tower Pub, the band on Friday the 30th will definitely be the aforementioned Bone Yard 225, who already confirmed that "uncorked" gig via their website's concert calendar. Soundcheck will be on at 8:00 PM for this Labour Day long weekend concert, which has a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Soundcheck's upcoming dates, and don't miss them (and Bone Yard) at the Laird Fair this weekend, preview forthcoming!

Next up, here's the latest lineup updates for this year's (final?) Northern Vibe Festival in nearby Ophir over the August 24th weekend! We still don't know the complete band schedule (though organizers did finally unveil it publically last year, if on short notice), but they have been publicizing many individual performers on both the band-centric Forest Stage and DJ-centric River Stage on their Facebook page this summer. Through there, they have confirmed two new Forest Stage acts that were not previously advertised, and still aren't on their website. One is Sudbury psychedelic hard rock trio The Dirty Mystics in their debut (not just locally, anywhere!) and the other is veteran local folk/country singer/guitarist Brian Tremblay, so their diverse sounds should add to the festivities! No word yet on if they're replacing anyone, but note that announced touring acts Hellrager, James Roy Daley, and Medussah have not (yet?) gotten individual Facebook plugs where every other Forest Stage act has.

It's also worth noting that magician Ryan McFarling is also returning for this year's Northern Vibe too, but his Facebook promotional image describes him as a "special guest" and does not tie him to a stage, despite being a scheduled Forest Stage performer last year. Whether this is the last Northern Vibe or not, the lineup is shaping up well, and while we await the complete nightly band schedule, visit the above links for full current details on how to attend next weekend!

We'll close today with two new videos from reunited local hard rock quartet Half Past's Facebook page, courtesy of their second show of the year, which took place at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on August 3rd! One sees the guys covering most of "I Don't Care" by Apocalyptica & former Three Days Grace singer Adam Gontier (interesting seeing that song covered by a band with a guitarist and bassist given that Apocalyptica replace both with cellos), but embedded below is their longer cover of Chevelle's "Joyride (Omen)". Solid covers of these modern hard rock hits, and Jordan is definitely getting more and more comfortable as a frontman via the shared clips from this year! The filmer also made use of the floor to film lots of close (and horizontal) angles, so do check these out above & below, and don't miss Half Past opening for Selias at Soo Blaster next month!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes as we continue playing catch-up tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck), Convergence Updates, And More!!

Today's post was going to be very different, but a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT fell into my lap, so we're changing course by looking at that, a linked new video, and the latest updates from a talented original metal band, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck have one more charity car show gig at the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road for 2023, and it goes down TODAY! I profusely apologize for the short notice, the band has not publically confirmed this gig on their Facebook page (alas, they rarely do for these A&W car shows), and I only heard about it via drummer Glen Thomas' personal Facebook page this morning. This is the rescheduling of the Cruisin' The Dub car/bike show that was supposed to have been held across both of the Great Northern Road A&W locations last month (bikes and Bone Yard at the old one, cars and Soundcheck at the new one), but advertising indicates that everything will be at the new A&W TODAY, with just Soundcheck playing, though be advised that the poster doesn't specify live music. Besides Soundcheck and the classic cars/bikes, expect games, raffles, popcorn, and more family friendly entertainment!

All proceeds go to the Algoma Regional Community Hospice, which is always a very worthy cause. While rain often seems to hit A&W car shows (hence why last month's was cancelled & postponed), 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy weather in the 15° range, so it should be quite comfortable and dry! This all ages event takes place from 1:00-3:00 PM TODAY (again, I'm sorry about the late notice), and there is no cover charge to attend. Click here for more details, and for a preview of THIS AFTERNOON'S festivities, here's a brand new video of Soundcheck live! This comes from Glen's YouTube channel, and it is from a recent Thursday jam night at Jay's Piston Broke Pub that they hosted no later than September 7th. The video features the band sans singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver (who usually doesn't appear at jam nights) alongside an uncredited guest singer tackling Judas Priest's "Grinder".

You can tell that Terry, Jim, and Glen didn't 100% know this song in advance, but such is how these jam nights often go, and it's a fun performance with heavy & committed vocals from the guest! Shame about the vertical video though, especially with the lower half of the frame being just an empty floor. Give it a watch below, and don't miss Soundcheck (with Cameron) at the postponed A&W car show TODAY!

The second half of today's post is devoted to the latest from local progressive metal duo Convergence! The former Kraken Mara have not been idle since we last talked about them in June, and I do apologize for the delay in covering their summer activity, so what's been going on with Brendan & Jake as of late? Well, on July 9th, they announced that they had officially signed as "signature artists" with Halo Guitars, a well known guitar/bass customization company, so keep that in mind when watching the videos! Just over a week later, they posted a new song named "The Ebb", and true to prior teasers, it was belatedly added to the official track listing of their debut EP "One" as song #4, so you'll get it if you buy the EP (if you bought it beforehand, the song costs $1 on its own). Good thing we have an album review backlog, so if anything else gets added after the fact in the coming months, we'll be able to review it/them from the off!

As such, I'll hold comment on the song for now, but it does feature session drums from Kelowna, B.C.-based drummer Cliff Aubut. Still hard at work on new material (whether some/all is added to "One" or not, I can't say), Convergence posted two "Reels" on their Facebook page with teaser clips of new song named "Dredge" and "The Burial", featuring post-production spacey visuals and footage of guitarist Brendan Christie playing the songs in studio. Sounds promisingly heavy and technical, but the jury's still out on the full songs. Another "Reel" on August 16th featured advertising for Halo Guitars alongside footage of their 2021 video of them playing "Stratus" at the Bushplane Museum, but of course, "Reels" remain brief and vertical-only videos that cannot be embedded on external websites or played in background tabs, so they are what they are. Do Convergence have any videos that I can embed here?

Yes, two of them! In August, they posted two abbreviated playthrough videos of their songs "Ishka" and "Chimera", and while neither is brand new, they also aren't (yet?) included on the "One" EP. While both are structured similarly, I've opted to embed "Chimera" here as it's longer (though neither is visibly a full song) and it features guitarist Jake Valois on camera too! Good to see him, as Brendan alone appears in the majority of their performance clips. What we hear is on point for fans of progressive instrumental metal, and I'm curious to see how things progress for Convergence, so give everything a watch above & below!

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