LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) And The First Half Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

A busy concert weekend is upon us, no doubt accelerated by Monday being St. Patrick's Day, so this weekend's hard rock concert previews have been broken into two posts, possibly three if more late notice gigs turn up. As things proceed, I will note if the shows, bands, or venues have blatantly advertised any Irish themes, frills, or drink specials for the holiday (normally, I want the music to speak for itself, as alcohol is an inferred bonus at licensed bars, but urghabháil an lá!). Today's previews focus on bands playing tomorrow in some description, plus a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and we'll touch on Saturday's Tarnished, Exit 808, Dirty Musky, and HeadFirst shows in tomorrow's post.

We'll start with that brand new date, as local acoustic singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will bring his solo classic/hard rock covers to The Fraternal Order Of Eagles Club at 246 Wellington Street West for a matinee gig on SATURDAY! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this concert via its Facebook event page on Sunday. Aerie #3991 (beside RJ's Market) came up on the SMS a few times last year when Piecing It Together Shows booked a handful of shows there, but this is the first in a public sense for Tym, who is filling the empty Saturday between two matinees at Misty's Fifties last week and next week. I don't know if there's a raison d'etre for this show beyond just Tym playing his diverse setlist of classic and hard rock hits at another local venue, but the Eagles Club has been hosting occasional Saturday matinees with local country veteran Al Mooney earlier this year, so this isn't new for them.

Hopefully a willing audience heads down to Steelton on SATURDAY for all of Tym's tunes! No word on St. Patrick's Day themes/frills, but the order's Facebook page will likely outline any that would be taking place. This SATURDAY matinee takes place from 2:00-6:00 PM with no announced age limit or cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live a couple of years back! 

Next up, here's some shows that got advance notice, starting with the return of Toronto melodic death metal band Selias to Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! Less than six months after debuting here in September, this brutal original group will be back for another night of intense and hard hitting music in the lead-off of their Western Canada Annihilation Tour, so if you loved them last fall or missed out, keep tomorrow's action in mind! Spades GT drummer Tyler Reiner (who was in Selias for last year's local date) has since left the band, but we'll have more from them on the SMS soon. Whereas last year's Selias concert had seven opening bands, only three will have the honours tomorrow, including alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (the only returning local band from September), hard rock quintet HeadFirst (whose Shooters date on Saturday will be previewed in tomorrow's post), and folk punk/extreme metal solo musician Chase Wigmore. Nice diverse array there!

Promoted once again by Heavy North Entertainment in their first show of 2025 and second one post-relaunch, this ALL AGES show has doors opening at 6:30 PM, and tickets run for $15 in advance through H.N.E., the local openers, or in person at Soo Blaster, and an Eventbrite page for online sales has finally been created as well. The door charge for this show jumps to $20, and none of the official promotional materials point to St. Patrick's Day themes (inquire within if you're curious). This will definitely be the heaviest show of the weekend in the Soo area, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Selias live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen on Korah Road over the Valentine's Day weekend, they will do the honours for St. Patrick's Day, though be advised that neither the band nor venue have promoted any Irish or green anything on social media (that doesn't automatically mean that nothing is happening, of course). As usual for Generations' recent stops at Jay's, they will be serving as hosts of the Thursday jam night tonight as well, with singer Valerie Powley sitting out once again, though bassist Pierre Anthony Vaillancourt's son/ex-Fluid 5ive bandmate Liam will guest with his dad and the Tonys tonght. Direct promotion for the normal concerts tomorrow and Saturday doesn't credit Liam, but if the guest angle is intriguing (let alone the varied jam night performers), come down to Jay's for tonight's action!

The traditional concerts this weekend (and jam night) are 9:30 PM concerts with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new video of Generations live at Gateway Casino this past Saturday! Filmed by drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn and shared in a batch post on the band's Facebook group, the video sees the band covering Billy Joel's "You May Be Right" with Tony S. on lead vocals and Valerie doing backing vocals & playing tambourine. While the video is sadly vertical, Dawn got solid audio quality here and was able to capture fans dancing on the floor with good energy and enthusiasm, so check out this strong cover below, and don't miss Generations at Jay's!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #1, we'll zip across the border for Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril's return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! While we have seen their sister band Scarkazm up here in the interim, these will be Peril's first shows in the E.U.P. of 2025, last rocking either Kewadin Casino in October. Good to see Jeff and crew back for another weekend chock full of classic and hard rock cover action, so keep their returns in mind in St. Ignace over these two nights! I have not seen any firm reference to St. Patrick's Day promotions on the band's or casino's end, but if you're downstate or up to travel, Peril (and Scarkazm) are taking part in a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl in Traverse City on Monday, so click here for details. The St. Ignace Kewadin gigs are at 9:00 PM with 21+ age limits. See above for more details, and here's Peril live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (HeadFirst), A New Local Metal Project, And More!!

Here's a new news post for you guys on this Wednesday evening, and it includes a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the spring, our first look at a new local band, and leading off, an even newer band to check out (with EP!), so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

We have a new solo project to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely The Realignment Project! This marks the return to original local music of former Dirty Virgin drummer and Riverin frontman Matt Hicks, who we last covered on the SMS in an active band when Riverin posted their last updates in 2014. The Realignment Project hew much closer to Riverin than Matt's better known glam metal band, as they are an industrial metal act. Historically, that's something we never had much of locally, so they immediately stand out from that alone! Matt launched an Instagram page for T.R.P. last month, which has teaser images, AI art, and some short videos, many of which promoting the fact that they released their debut EP "Afterthought" on January 29th! You can buy it on Bandcamp on a "name your price" model, and they also now have a YouTube channel featuring lyric videos for four of the EP's six songs, only omitting "Finger On The Trigger" and "Synthetic".

As this is a brand new album on sale, this will be this month's CD review at the SMS, ending our two month spell of archive album reviews, so while I won't give thoughts on The Realignment Project's music yet, check back in the next week or so. That said, it's great to see Matt back working on new music, and if you were following Riverin in their heyday, you'll definitely want to check out The Realignment Project to hear similar and more fully realized material, so do so at the above links, and here's the lyric video for the EP's opening song "Broken Machine"!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local hard rock quintet HeadFirst have announced a mini-residency of sorts at Shooters Downstairs Lounge that will see them rock the Dennis Street nightclub for three+ upcoming Saturday night gigs! We already knew about their planned shows on March 1st and April 12th via Shooters' own advertising, but the new date will be on Saturday, March 15th, though no word on if it will have any St. Patrick's Day tie-ins. However, these three concerts will be themed across the board, as Shooters will be offering official HeadFirst-branded cocktails, shots, and food items that will only be on sale during these concerts, so click here and here for details on each drink. Fun idea, especially as this is beyond just one themed shot, so keep all of this in mind if you're hungry or thirsty when seeing HeadFirst at Shooters! Red, Raine, Liam, Claire, and Anthony allegedly have "more dates to come" at Shooters, so keep tabs with the band on social media for more concert details as they roll in.

Also, if you buy an official HeadFirst t-shirt, you'll also get a $5-off voucher for one of the drinks, which is a good bonus! In terms of their actual sets, the band will "occasionally be playing a few songs for our next project", with more details coming soon. By "project", are they just making their next CD/EP/album sound more mysterious, or is it something more/beyond just a new album? We'll keep you posted! All three Shooters shows so far have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, but we're not quite done with the raw|lust|hot rockband, as they have been named as one of the local openers for the previously announced Selias concert as Soo Blaster on Friday, March 14th! This is via the official Facebook event page, which also confirms that local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will open as well in their first gig of 2025. At least one more opening act is to be announced, we'll let you know when they are.

Note that Selias' local debut at the same venue in September featured seven opening bands, six being local. Tickets surprisingly aren't on sale for this show yet, but last fall's Selias concert ran for $15. So far, it does seem like next month's concert has more of a varied genre spread (neither A.D.S. nor HeadFirst are full "metal" bands), but with less than a month to go before showtime, hopefully Heavy North Entertainment gets everything in place for a great night of hard hitting music at Soo Blaster! See above for more on this event and HeadFirst's new Shooters dates!

Finally, let's cross the border to look at the first public videos of new Sault Michigan punk trio About:Blank! This union of Tarnished, Lift The Broken, and Midnight Logic alumni debuted at Serious Business' multi-band concert at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley on February 8th, and a bunch of photos from their set can be seen on their Facebook page, confirming that Parker Talentino is their vocalist and bassist. Two videos from that night can be seen on Facebook, both seeing About:Blank playing original songs, one being "Hearse". Despite being shot with the same camera and horizontal orientation, "Hearse" was crammed into a vertical portrait orientation with horrendous pillarboxing, and it was uploaded second (how did that happen?). As such, I've embedded the other song "Fix" below, but it is a lighter and more laid back punk number with a swinging vibe to it. "Hearse" is faster and more all-out, and has pseudo-rap vocals, no less!

It's just two songs so far, but About:Blank seem to be starting off promisingly, and the talent is definitely there! I will say that Parker's clean singing voice is better suited to "Fix", but I'll have to hear more to really judge how he fits in singing on electric material. Check out About:Blank's live debut below, and stay tuned for more from them soon!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Unfortunate Sun) And More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin this preview post, just a heads up that I'm not covering tomorrow's ARCH Bucket List Ball in this weekend's previews. The hospice charity event at The Machine Shop (which was to feature Bookclub as musical entertainment) is no longer listed on the venue's events page, nor has it been promoted on social media remotely recently by organizers or Bookclub, so I am assuming that it was quietly cancelled. Disappointing news, but support ARCH where you can, and as we continue this weekend's hard rock concert previews, there is a Sault Michigan hospice fundraiser tomorrow that you shouldn't bypass! Here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT at The Merchants Bar, but they also have some newly confirmed dates to note on here! The Fake Chow successors revealed shows of theirs into early 2025 via this concert calendar poster on their Facebook page earlier today, and while we knew about their fall dates in Rudyard and Hessel already (including that pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday nighter at The Islander Bar), the winter show are new to us. On Saturday, December 14th, the guys are slated to return to The Merch for one night only, and they'll also return to the downtown Soo staple over the International 500 snowmobile race weekend on Friday, January 30th & Saturday, February 1st! I don't know if these shows are officially tied to the I-500 or not (their past pub crawls acknowledged), but playing gigs with all these people in town for that weekend is never a bad idea!

Long before then, Unfortunate Sun will bring their proficient hard rock cover attack to The Merch for the first time tomorrow, so keep this show in mind if you want to enjoy some solid local musicians! All four of their scheduled Merch shows have presumed 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit tomorrow's official Facebook event page and the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Unfortunate Sun live!

Next up, if you do want to see live rock music while supporting a local hospice, you should consider coming to Sault Michigan to see hard rock sextet Exit 808 live as the headliners of A Night Of Music TOMORROW NIGHT at Three One Three On Ashmun! Tomorrow's fundraiser is in support of the Hospice of the EUP, and they're just as deserving of support from the community as ARCH is on the Canadian side of the border, so don't bypass this event for the musical and charitable sides of it! Exit 808 will be headlining at the former Back Door alongside three acoustic solo musicians, namely Gabe Menard, country veteran Paul Perry, and Project 906 frontman Billy Bernier (no word on if this will basically be an unplugged 906 set or if he spreads his wings moreso). Presented by Team Century 21 (who are also supporting the Hospice of the EUP during next month's Dancing With The Stars fundraiser), A Night Of Music has a 7:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and $10 cover charge.

Note that it is still not clear which of the three distinct stages inside Three One Three will be hosting this event, but it should be a great time for fans of live local music in the E.U.P., and hopefully Exit 808 will end things with a bang and help raise lots of money for the hospice in the process! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new Facebook video of Exit 808 live at The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino last month! The video sees them covering Skid Row's "18 & Life" with Amy Beach on lead vocals and Dillion Semasky backing. It's very fuzzy visually, but at least it's horizontal with clear audio, and the cover isn't badly handled, so give it a watch/listen below!

We'll close this preview post with our extended preview of tomorrow's big metal concert at Soo Blaster in Sault Ontario, which will mark the rebirth of promoters Heavy North Entertainment after a seven year hiatus! For their first show back, they're bringing a very Oddfellows Hall-esque lineup to the stage, and it will be toplined by Toronto melodic death metal quintet Selias in their local debut! Readers should recognize Selias drummer Tyler "Jeeb" Reiner from multiple past local stops with Caym and the Soo's half-own Spades GT, so it will be neat to see him in town for the first time since the Josey Scott concert in August of last year, let along with a much more brutal sound! Note that ex-Spades bassist James Roy Daley also left Selias in July. Barrie blackened death metal trio Out Of Spite will also make their local concert debut as the co-headliners tomorrow night, and their in-your-face original extreme metal onslaught should make lots of fans as well!

Six diverse local bands will open tomorrow's concert, including alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (last seen opening for The Damn Truth at Soo Blaster earlier this month), hard rock quartet Half Past (in their first of two Soo Blaster dates this fall), and the Sault Ste. Marie debut of The Sault Side Squad, the online page-less supergroup that debuted at the all-local metal show in Leeburn in July. New local death metal quartet Bardo will also make their first live appearance here, succeeding frontman/promoter Tyler St. Amour's briefly revived band Them in the process. Bass-less teasers of their more technical sound have been featured on their Facebook page, but how will this union of Fountain of Betrayal and March Into Regression alumni come together in 2024? Grindcore solo project Crucify The Whore (a regular at H.N.E. shows in the 2010s) will also play a rare live concert set tomorrow night as well, so prepare yourselves!

Finally, ex-Winkstinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur's long-gestating rap metal project Without Compromise are slated to open tomorrow night. I am way past overdue to talk about the former Less Than Zero more on the SMS, but it'll be interesting to see how Jason (and crew?) sound live! Tickets for this ALL AGES show run for $15, and can be bought via most of the local bands, at Soo Blaster, The Rad Zone, Rest In Pieces Tattoo Studio nearby, or online at this link, and presumably at the door. Given that there are eight bands playing tomorrow, doors open at 5:00 PM. If you miss the 2010s death metal Oddfellows Hall shows, you will not want to miss this one, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Selias live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned tomorrow for the Dany Laj/Handsome Sandwich concert preview, that new concert coming to the Soo next year, and more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half Past), A New Local Band, The Damn Truth Preview, And More!!

Today's post is full of big news and notes, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, a mid-week concert preview, and a high profile new cover video, but let's lead off with a kinda sorta new local metal band, so here's what you should know on them on this Monday night!

We have a new-ish band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are local "progressive tech death" metal quartet Bardo! I say "new-ish" because they're kind of a renaming and a replacement band all at once. Initial advertising for the Selias-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on September 28th had promoter Tyler St. Amour's mid-2010s death metal band Them returning after a seven year hiatus on this night, but it has since been confirmed on Facebook that they'll instead be going by the name Bardo, and a separate Facebook page was launched to reflect the new-ish band. Given everything, I'm treating Them and Bardo as separate bands (with Them back in our inactive links), especially given the gap since 2017 and that Bardo are not a duo and are playing more technical material, so there has been a clear evolution! No word on what Bardo means, for the record. Tyler aside (who is on vocals and bass), who else is in this group?

The lineup is not given in writing on social media yet, but it looks like two of Tyler's old March Into Regression bandmates are in this group, namely his brother Travis St. Amour (best known from Bring The Fallen) on drums and Christopher Neveau on guitar, but I have yet to identify who the second guitarist is. We'll let you know when things are confirmed publically! Two videos have been shared to Bardo's Facebook page so far, and while both have them short-handed (only one guitarist in the newer clip, and Tyler isn't playing bass in either), but these point to a brutal and more refined sound than Them were known for, and they should turn heads at Soo Blaster! Check out their first original "Blood Moon" below!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local hard rock quartet Half Past will return to Soo Blaster on Saturday, October 12th for a big headlining date! The reunited foursome will actually debut there at the aformenetioned Selias-headlined concert, but they will be the topline attraction next month, in their first headlining gig since rocking Shooters early last month. As far as I can tell, there's no frills or raison d'etre for this show beyond playing some hard rocking tunes live, so don't miss out on Jordan, Alain, Arthur, and Jonny's encore at Soo Blaster two weeks after the Selias concert! Half Past will have an opening act next month as well, namely Bullet Train frontman Cory Murchison, who will break out his acoustic guitar for the occasion. Promotional materials credit him as "Cory Daniel", which is the handle used when he opened for Fort Creek in 2022, despite playing shows since where his last name was used in advertising.

Fans of Half Past's original 2008-2012 run will recall that Cory was active then fronting Sense Of Truth (and he played with Jonny in Skeyes Of Seven afterwards), so they're well acquainted, and it should be a fun atmosphere! Given the large upscale venue, this is a ticketed event, so admission will be $10 in advance at this link (physical tickets are available through the performers and at Soo Blaster), and the door price will jump to $12. This will be an ALL AGES event, and Cory kicks off the night at 8:00 PM. Hard rock fans will get their fill on this night, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on all of the action next month!

Also, here's a special Tuesday night concert preview, as Montreal classic/hard rock quartet The Damn Truth will headline at the aformentioned Soo Blaster in their local debut TOMORROW NIGHT! This retro-styled band have been getting some good local press attention this week, getting a brief write-up by Brian Kelly for The Sault Star (at this link) and some high praise on The Borderline's website, so you know that this female-fronted group will deliver a solid night of 1960s-inspired melodic rock originals, and no less than Bob Rock produced their new material, so you know they're on the up & up! A varied local opening roster includes local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (in their second show of 2024 and first in Sault Ste. Marie city limits in over a year) and alternative rock trio The Haze (née Skinbox) in their first show since they added an unspecified new band member, so find out who is joining Steve, Jordan, and Brad in The Haze tomorrow!

Another show promoted locally by Mikhal Muto, tomorrow's concert has advance tickets running for $20 at this link and presumably at the venue, with the door price jumping to $25. Like the Half Past show next month, the music starts at 8:00 PM, though it was not stated if there will be a 19+ age limit here or not. The Damn Truth should turn heads tomorrow, especially with Lee-La's distinctive Janis Joplin-esque vocals, so don't miss out if you can swing this work/school night event! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Damn Truth live!

Finally for today, here's song #13 in local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of remotely filmed covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Posted to their YouTube channel last week, this video came just two weeks after the previous cover of "Emenius Sleepius", in the quickest turnaround in covers for this series since song #7 ("Basket Case") went up in March, which is good to see! In the penultimate credited song on offer, Mikey & crew tackled the thirteenth track on "Dookie", namely the short deep cut "In The End". As always, Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon is on guitar and (initially) ukelele, with Goldfinger alum Darren Pfieffer back as the house drummer for the "Dookie" covers, complete with another hockey jersey. Vocals here are provided by Authority Zero frontman Jason Devore, while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot returns for his seventh turn on the low end in the "Dookie" series

Aside from Jason putting on a mask during his footage, there's no major frills to note from the filming locations and activity, but it's well edited as you'd expect, and the performance is strong, with Jason's vocals fitting well with the experienced musical hands on offer! Unless they tackle the bonus unadvertised song "All By Myself", the "Dookie" cover series will wrap up with "F.O.D.", which could arrive at any point up to October 21st based on past release timeframes (the current average would be September 27th). Check out "In The End" for yourselves below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Northern Vibe Festival)!!

The ninth (and final?) Northern Vibe Festival goes down this weekend, and as has been the case annually post-pandemic, the full band schedule was not made available before the week of the festivities, so here are some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS re: this year's Forest Stage lineups! Apologies for the short notice, I wish organizers would publicize the schedule much earlier than they do, even if the idea is for attendees to come and camp out for the whole weekend. As of this writing, the band-centric Forest Stage lineup has not been posted publically, but kudos to Mike Haggith for sending me a tentative schedule that he had received in conversations with organizers, so we know who is playing and when! If there are late variances, I'll edit this post to address them if they come up prior. Of course, Northern Vibe returns to the former Hempfest site on Poplardale Road in Ophir (just outside of Bruce Mines) this weekend.

Along with the camping in the forest just outside of town, attendees can expect vendors, food trucks, outdoor activities, and loads of DJs on the Roost River Stage on site. There will even be (paid) wifi this year! Be sure to visit the official website and the Northern Vibe Facebook page for complete non-musical details, and a complete schedule for the River Stage is on the latter if you want party with the EDM musicians playing there. Like in the past three years, Spades GT frontman and former local concert promoter J.D. Pearce will come back home to curate this year's Forest Stage, and bands will again play TOMORROW NIGHT & SATURDAY, with Sunday being a camping/closedown day with no live bands. The band lineup begins TOMORROW NIGHT, and will be headlined at 10:00 PM by new local folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels. They also closed Rotaryfest Stage 2 last month, so they're getting huge endorsements already!

The rest of TOMORROW's lineup is hard rock/punk-themed, including local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his backing Big Finish Band co-headlining at 9:00 PM in their return to Ophir. Mike & crew are fresh off of a successful Rotaryfest set last month themselves, and Mike's got a much better knee than he played through at Northern Vibe last year! Alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play Northern Vibe for their fourth straight year when they hit the stage at 8:00 PM, while Cornwall hard rock trio Don't Tell Sarah will open TOMORROW'S proceedings at 7:00 PM in their local debut. Don't Tell Sarah should leave a big impression with their up-tempo and hard hitting originals, so don't miss them! Admission details for the weekend will be at post's end, but we are looking at cloudy 18-21° weather in Ophir according to 9&10 News, with a slight chance of rain early in the band program.

Hopefully the weather holds off TOMORROW, especially as there's more of a chance of rain on SATURDAY, but Northern Vibe goes on rain or shine (the Forest Stage has a roof), so bring any protective gear you need in the event that the sky starts crying! Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S band lineup, and for a preview, here's Mike Haggith and his band's complete multi-camera set in Ophir last year!

As for SATURDAY's Forest Stage band lineup, the longer six band program will be headlined by Montreal ska punk band K-Man & The 45s in their ninth local concert since 2013 and their second straight year as the closing band outright, and they are slotted for 9:45 PM. Fans of horn-infused ska punk and Ramones covers should be well used to K-Man and crew from their Soo dates, and hopefully their Ophir encore is well received on SATURDAY! Alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich (featuring Golden Scoundrels bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger) will play Northern Vibe for a fourth straight year at 8:00 PM, while Sudbury psychedelic hard rock trio The Dirty Mystics slot in at 7:00 PM for their first ever concert appearance (somehow we got a truly non-local band's live debut!). Local funk/hard rock cover quintet The Wyld Stallyns (the Friday headliners last year) are blocked at 6:00 PM on SATURDAY in what would be their fourth year too.

Now, The Stallyns have not been up to much publically this summer, with singer/guitarist Rob Speers picking up the slack with unplugged solo gigs. The band and/or Rob (who doesn't have a public social media page devoted to his solo project) have not publically acknowledged Northern Vibe on social media in recent weeks, so I don't know what format their scheduled set will take, but we'll let you know if we hear anything! Local folk/country solo artist Brian Tremblay (a late addition like The Dirty Mystics) will play Northern Vibe for the first/only time at 5:00 PM, and the day's program begins at 4:00 PM with a set by local rap collective Fvksxvad. They'll be a good bridge for fans coming over from the River Stage, so don't miss these familiar MCs! Weather-wise, the current forecast has 20-24° temperatures, and while there are currently showers projected for the first couple of bands, clouds are expected to go away as night draws near.

With this being the official lineup, we can confirm that Cornwall speed metal band Hellrager, Spades GT bassist James Roy Daley, and North Bay electronic rock band Medussah have all dropped out of the festival. Reasons for the three touring acts' withdrawals were not announced, but none have been credited in Facebook promotional materials since July 4th, and none have gotten the individual images there to plug their sets. Hopefully all is well with the three groups, especially after Hellrager and James' past local appearances! Also, note that local magician Ryan McFarling (who had a formal Forest Stage set last year) will be back in Ophir as an on-site special guest, but does not have a scheduled set on either stage, so keep an eye out for him! Online ticket sales for Northern Vibe have closed, but if you haven't already bought passes, they are on sale at the gate. Admission on site cost around $150 (full weekend) & $85 (Saturday only) last year.

Note that organizers haven't clearly specified if that price held steady for 2024 or not. Click here for all of the ground rules and directions you could ask for! While not hinted at in recent social media postings, organizers said on Facebook last month that this "will (likely) be the last" festival due to concerns about not being able to make Northern Vibe better each year, and thusly being "time to take a break and re-evaluate". Whether this is the last installment or not, come out to Poplardale Road TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT to enjoy all of the action! Visit the above links for full public details, and for a preview of SATURDAY's bill, here's K-Man & The 45s live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our previews of this weekend's two ARCH benefit motorcycle rallies and Wax Mannequin's return next as we wrap up these previews! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Selias & Wax Mannequin!!)

Now that we have escaped four posts of weekend concert previews and gotten this month's Defunct Local Band Profile up on schedule, let's start playing catch-up for the items that lapsed during the past few days and beyond, and we'll start with two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Eighteen days after their well received local return at "Adrian's House", Hamilton "weird folk art punk" solo project Wax Mannequin will return to the Soo on their way back home when they headline at The Whisky Barrel on Sunday, August 25th! It's been a while since we've heard about a concert at the Gore Street nightclub, let alone one with a touring band, but stay tuned for an even bigger outlier there in an upcoming post! Chris Adeney's creative and genre-fluid originals got a solid reception in their relocated return date this past Wednesday, and now setting up shop at a proper downtown venue again, hopefully there's a good crowd to see Wax Mannequin in action once again in two weeks, in spite of also being on a work/school night! Yes, promoters Piecing It Together Shows did post photos from the show on Wednesday on Facebook, albeit solely as "Stories", so they are impossible to share here.

What I saw pointed to a well laid out locale in this downtown backyard with string lighting, but alas, "Stories" can only be viewed once or twice before vanishing forever, and I really have never seen the point of the conceit. Wax Mannequin's return has a 19+ age limit, no cover (thought tips are welcome), and an 8:00 PM start time. It's not unheard of, but certainly not common, to see out-of-town musicians play the Soo going both directions on tour, so if you enjoyed Wax Mannequin on Wednesday or are sad that you missed out, take advantage of the encore! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this concert!

Next up, a big extreme metal show was announced last week that was announced as we was beginning that busy stretch of weekend concert previews, so what should you know here? On Saturday, September 28th, Toronto melodic death metal quintet Selias will make their local concert debut when they headline at Soo Blaster! A relatively new band, Selias (named for guitarist Steve Elias) do feature two familiar faces, as Spades GT bassist & drummer James Roy Daley & Tyler Reiner are in their ranks, so if you've missed them locally since the Josey Scott show last summer, keep this in mind! Granted, Selias are much heavier with harsh vocals and an assortment of extreme metal influences, and they'll definitely get the pit opened up next month! Note that Spades guitarist Daniel Horton guested on bass for a recent Selias gig in Toronto too, and yes, we will have more on recent Spades GT news soon.

Joining Selias on tour are Barrie blackened death metal trio Out Of Spite in their own local debut, and while also relatively new to the GTA metal scene, their intense and distorted brand of in-your-face death metal should be welcomed by local metalheads with open arms! A healthy & diverse roster of local openers includes alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (in their second Soo Blaster show in under two weeks), hard rock quartet Half Past (in their Soo Blaster debut and their first multi-band concert since Hempfest in 2011), new & online page-less hardcore quintet The Sault Side Squad (as seen in Leeburn last month), and grindcore solo project Crucify The Whore, who have only been seen sparingly at public concerts post-pandemic, so it'll be good for old Blood Shed diehards to see Tyler back at a formal public stage! Also returning next month are local death metal/punk band Them in their first public concert set in over seven years!

Singer/guitarist Tyler St. Amour (who is promoting this concert in his first full booking since relaunching his agency Heavy North Entertainment) had announced last month that Them had reunited with a four-piece lineup and "a list of brutal original works", but they have yet to reveal who is joining Tyler in the new lineup. For reference, current HeadFirst drummer Anthony Boudreau was a constant during their original 2014-2017 run, and while they did have stints as a four-piece band, they were best known at the time as a duo. It's great to see Tyler back as a promoter and musician after seven years away, so stay tuned for more on Them 2.0, and they're back in our active band links! The other band playing next month is Without Compromise, the rap metal project formerly known as Less Than Zero, In The Sun, and Failure To Remain, as continuously led by former Winkstinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur.

It's been way too long since we've talked about Jason's current project on the SMS, so look for more on them on the site soon, as he has been quite busy, but it will be neat to see him back on a concert stage, though in what form? This ALL AGES show has doors opening at 5:00 PM, and admission will be $15, though they are on sale for $10 online on Eventbrite right now, so click here to buy yours in advance! No word on if the price would be hiked at the door. If you have missed a very Oddfellowsy night of extreme metal and local talent, this show should fill the void very nicely, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Early Lineup Details For This Year's Northern Vibe Festival's Forest Stage!!

The initial band lineup is now out for the ninth annual Northern Vibe Festival at the old Hempfest grounds on Poplardale Road in Ophir, so what should you know there? The festival returns on the last full weekend of August once again from Friday the 23rd through Sunday the 25th, and for a fourth straight year, Spades GT frontman J.D. Pearce will return to his old local concert promoter guise to curate this year's band-centric Forest Stage (the DJ-centric River Stage lineup is also out). If past years are anything to go by, the Friday band lineup will be the shorter of the two, followed by a longer Saturday progam on the 24th, while that Sunday will be the camping/wrap-up day with no scheduled bands. As has been custom for Northern Vibe post-pandemic, the daily schedules/timeslots are not out yet, hence why we're not calling this a formal local concert alert, but organizers did announce them publically last year, if on late notice.

While the above poster implies that "more (is) TBA", the currently advertised list of eleven acts equals who played last year on the Forest Stage, including six returning bands, but they do appear to be leaning on touring acts more this year, as three of the five Northern Vibe newbies are from out of town. This year's advertised headliners (presumably the 9:00 PM Saturday act if that holds) are Montreal ska punk band K-Man & The 45s, who were last year's closing band at Northern Vibe, and famously played seven local concerts from 2013-2019. Clearly, K-Man's return to our area was a hit last year, so it'll be good to see their horn-laden punk attack back at the Forest Stage in four months! The other returning touring band is Cornwall speed metal group Hellrager, who still feature part-time Spades GT guitarist Jay Sarrazin. Counting his bass fill-in with Spades in 2022, this will be Jay's third straight trip to Ophir.

It'll be good to see him and Hellrager tear it up again! While Spades GT proper are not playing this year, bassist James Roy Daley will be making his first trip to the festival with an apparent solo set. I don't know if they mean his psychobilly band Killroy A.D. (which he drums in) or if this is purely a solo gig, but we'll let you know if we get confirmation! Also making the trip to Ophir for Northern Vibe IX are two more bands making their local debuts, including Cornwall hard rock band Don't Tell Sarah, a raw & high energy quartet with an old school flair and strong talents that will serve them well with local festivalgoers! The other touring band is Medussah, a female-fronted electronic rock duo from North Bay whose name was misspelled in much of the early festival promotion (omitting the H at the end). Definitely a stylistic jump from other bands playing the festival, but they are talented and will give some zest to the proceedings!

For the six announced local acts playing this year, four are returnees from last year's Northern Vibe Festival, including alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, local/Barrie solo standout Mike Haggith (in his first announced full-band show of 2024 and since Matt Fronzi replaced Jacob Quarrell on bass), sporadically seen punk trio A Dire Setback, and funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns (who headlined the Friday lineup last year). All but Mike are playing Northern Vibe for the fourth straight year, so if you've liked the local aspect so far, you'll be right at home in 2024! The two newcomers from the Soo are new local folk/bluegrass band The Golden Scoundrels (featuring Shit Liver's Josh Penno and Handsome Sandwich bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger) and local rap collective Fvksxvad, who we've primarily covered members of individually on the SMS in the past.

The Golden Scoundrels have gotten positive reviews since debuting earlier this year (Dirtfight fans should like them), while Fvksxvad have talented MCs and they'll add a unique dimension to this year's Forest Stage lineup! Crank Sound Distribution will be on hand once again to keep everyone sounding their best at this year's festival. Once again, Northern Vibe is a 19+ festival, and you can get all the ground rules for attending, camping, and directions to Poplardale Road via their official website. The first wave of early bird tickets completely came and went before the Forest Stage lineup reveal, but weekend passes for wave 2 of the early bird availability are now on sale for $110 ($200 for VIP passes) at this link, and official festival shirts/hoodies are available when buying tickets. At this juncture, Saturday-only tickets are not out yet, but for reference, admission closer to the opening date was $150 for the weekend and $85 for Saturday alone.

It's great to see Northern Vibe back for a ninth year (and tenth anniversary of the original installment), and hopefully things go smoothly for organizers in terms of performers, attendance, weather, and attendee conduct this August! If you're up for the music and/or camping off the grid, definitely visit the above links for more details, and in all likelihood, look for this month's CD review on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Shit Happens Concert Preview, New Videos, And Much More!!

Let's kick off the last week of the month with a new news post, which features some new videos, updates on an upcoming album release, and some shorter recent updates, but first, let's preview a punk concert taking place sooner than you may think!

Here's a special Monday night concert preview for TONIGHT, as Winnipeg punk quartet Shit Happens will make their local concert debut when they headline at The Distraction! The first full metal or punk band (i.e. not a solo project) from out of town to play at the East Street barbershop-turned-concert venue, this female-fronted group are currently touring throughout eastern Canada and even in a few American cities. Shit Happens' up-tempo and in-your-face original attack should find a solid audience tonight, so don't miss out if you can swing coming by on a work/school night! Rising young metal trio The BAG will open in their second show of the year and first ever at The Distraction, and while not a punk band, their intensity should start things off on the right foot! This all ages concert begins at 7:00 PM tonight, and admission is "$5 or pay what you can", as is typical for this venue.

The Monday night scheduling won't be ideal for many, but as an all ages show with two bands at 7:00 PM, it won't be a late night, so consider coming down to The Distraction for some hard hitting punk and metal action! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Shit Happens live!

Next up, here's the latest from local punk trio Vanity First, who have released the second advance single from their upcoming album "Identity Crisis"! Entitled "Habitual Vanity", this partial namesake song can be heard on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and (as embedded below) via YouTube, though at press time, the song is not yet on Bandcamp. If you believe a comment on their Facebook page from Jim McAllister (possibly drummer Keegan McAllister's dad?), Vanity First will release "Identity Crisis" on Saturday, April 20th with a CD release party at Soo Blaster, and he allegedly has tickets. The band has not confirmed this publically, so stay tuned for official word on the album's on-sale date and/or a possible release party when it comes in! It's also worth noting that prolific local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith "played a small part in bringing the album over the finish line", as per his Facebook page.

How involved Mike was, I can't say yet, but this is shaping up to be better produced and distributed than their 2020 "Vanity" EP! Lastly, the album's first advance single "Off With The Heads" somehow got included in Hamilton indie punk label Lockdown Records' brand new compilation "What A Wonderful World We Exist In" alongside 32 other notable bands like The Ripcordz and Broomfiller. Very neat, and there's many other name punk bands from Canada and abroad there, so buy/stream the whole thing above! As before, I'll hold comment on "Habitual Vanity" pending our eventual full album review, give it a listen for yourselves below!

Also today, here's a new live video from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's Facebook page! Despite the thumbnail being at what appears to be last year's Cory Marks show at The Machine Shop, the video was instead filmed at one of their gigs over the March 8th weekend at The Esquire Club, with the band seen covering Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk". Definitely a more poppy cover, and as is usual for Silent 9's Facebook videos, we don't see the full song (just 70 seconds of it), but this horizontal video captures a good angle of Jess and the guys in action earlier this month, and the performance is well done! Give it a watch below!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual for these short-form stories, these are in alphabetical order by band or company name:

 

• Local concert promotion agency Dryer Fire has changed their name to Piecing It Together Shows (or P.I.T.S.), as per their Facebook page, complete with a logo of a peach to tie in with the acronym. Owner Nicole Dyble stated that the Dryer Fire name (inspired by the former Gore Street Cafe's attached laundromat) "was only ever meant to be a temporary name", but didn't give any direct insight into the new name's inspiration. I will admit that the Piecing It Together name will have to grow on me, but look for more shows from them as 2024 progresses!
• Newer local metal duo Hollow Sky revealed on their Facebook page on February 5th that they have a "new track coming soon", complete with a picture of singer Liam Tallon presumably tracking the new song in question. So far, this is their only post in 2024, but hopefully the new song (their second to be released) is coming along in studio as planned!
• I can't embed it here, as it's a "Reel", but Sault Michigan metal band Tarnished posted a clip (a horizontal landscape clip pillarboxed to fit the "Reel" dimensions, mind you) of them playing the guitar solo to Ratt's "Round & Round" on their Facebook page yesterday! It sounds good, but it's not clear who the second guitarist with Alex Traynor is, with Alex even acknowledging in the comment section that "tis a mystery". Stay tuned for updates on their identity, but give the "Reel" a watch above! No sign of their Alpena battle of the bands video yet though.
   

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Recent Local Concert Videos, Plus A Unique Drum Solo!!

Today's post is devoted to some recent videos, mostly from cover-centric musicians, and let's begin with bands recently seen in concert, starting with two live-streamed videos from local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard's Facebook page at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Friday night! One is a 30 second clip of the guys covering ZZ Top's "La Grange", but embedded below is a much longer (if not full) rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man". Alas, both were filmed vertically, but the person behind the camera got good angles of Bone Yard in action, especially on "La Grange" while it lasted, and the guys sound solid overall on both! Give Bone Yard's newest concert videos a watch above & below!

Next up, here's some newer videos of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' show at Shooters on Friday the 13th, as filmed by attendee Monique Chartrand and uploaded to the band's Facebook group the following day! One is a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" with drummer Tony Santoro on lead vocals, but the video embedded below is longer and features frontwoman Valerie Powley on vocals. I admittedly cannot identify this cover, but that's not the fault of Monique or her camera, as there's an abnormal level of audience chatter during it that really complicates trying to hear Valerie's singing in any detail. Like with Bone Yard's video above, these were filmed vertically, but more distantly from a table, so keep that in mind. Well performed all around, if not entirely ideal to viewing quality depending on what you prefer, so give these a watch above & below!

Also today, here's some new videos from local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback's Facebook page in the past week! Well, less videos and more "Reels", as all of their recent uploads are as such, making them all permanently vertical, unable to be played in background tabs, and unable to be embedded on external websites. Interestingly, these "Reels" mostly feature footage shot when they opened for The Nameless Friends at Reggie's Place earlier this month, despite the band never plugging the concert on Facebook. Despite being brand new concert footage, four of the "Reels" just feature edited clips set to audio from their 2020 self-titled debut album ("Faded", their self-titled song, "Kicking & Screaming", and "Everlasting"), along with lyrics for included song snippets laid on screen. Local bands that post exclusive video footage in "Reels" rarely post the raw/full video separately, but it'd be neat if A Dire Setback did!

The only other new "Reel" was made to promote "Kicking & Screaming" music video and their debut album, with a (pillarboxed) clip from the video and more lyrics superimposed. It is great to see A Dire Setback ramp up their online presence this month after largely being quiet on Facebook post-pandemic, and while I've never been fond of "Reels", at least they're giving fans some new media. Check them out above!

We'll close today with a video that I should have covered on here months ago just on novelty factor alone, and it features Double Down/ex-That's Chester drummer Ric Datson playing a drum solo.... inside the Sault Ste. Marie Museum?! Yes, the museum at the corner of Queen & East hosts live concerts occasionally as well as the Fringe North festival, but it's still not the first locale you think of for a drum solo. Of course, Ric is the assistant curator of the museum, so he had an in to get his gear inside! Ric set up his Crush acrylic drumkit inside an empty gallery during a changeover in temporary exhibits, and was mainly filmed for fun to see how this newer kit sounded in a big, empty room. As uploaded to his YouTube channel in June, the video starts with 38 seconds of sped-up footage of Ric setting up his drums, before jumping to him drumming for almost four minutes.

The main view is an overhead shot from behind him, while the other (seen in an inset window in the upper left) is from a straight-on view to his left. This is a neat video for fans of Ric's (let alone drum solos), and while I'm sure you'd better appreciate the acoustics of the room in person, the echo and reverb does come through in the video, and it's certainly a unique way to see a local drummer show his stuff! Give it a watch for yourselves below!

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