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!

Mean Bikini Concert Preview, Plus Spades GT Updates!!

Hey guys, just a heads up that my primary computer is having issues outputting sound, so I've had to use my phone and/or a backup laptop for listening to things addressed in today's post. I sincerely hope that this isn't a prolonged issue, but if anything seems amiss from normal coverage, that is why. Now, we have a mid-week concert preview and some more recent news items to address tonight, so here's what you should know!

Punk fans who don't mind seeing a live concert on a school/work night may want to stop by The Speak Easy at Algoma University TOMORROW NIGHT, where Cumberland, British Columbia skate/hardcore punk quartet Mean Bikini will make their local debut! A unique and somewhat politically charged band who uniquely have a half non-binary lineup, this newer group should definitely turn heads with their upbeat and high energy brand of punk rock originals, so don't sleep on Mean Bikini despite the Wednesday night timing! Online page-less (Instagram aside) local folk punk solo project Agnosticism will open in their first show of the fall, so if you're interested in seeing Vanity First/Ha!ls guitarist Mikhal Muto's unplugged exploits, be there nice and early tomorrow! Promoted by Dryer Fire, it has since been confirmed that this 7:00 PM show will be all ages, so don't worry about the student ID exemption here!

Furthermore, despite initially having an admission fee of $10 in advance ($15 at the door), Dryer Fire have announced that this show is FREE thanks to support from the Algoma University Student Union, so keep that in mind! We haven't seen a public punk/metal concert at The Speak Easy in over five years, with a pandemic and heavy renovations happening in the interim, so it'll be interesting to hear how tomorrow's show goes over! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Mean Bikini live!

Next up, here's the latest from local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT, so what have they been up to over the past month? On September 1st, their new album "Sewer City Radio" got a perfect 5/5 review by John Haseltine of Metal-Rules.com in their "Quick Jabs" series of brief new album reviews. John highly praised the "highly infectious tracks" as being "heavy thrashy rock with that pop-punk feel", and while he's not quite right about calling this their "debut album" (someone send him "The First"!), the praise was well deserved! A week later, the former Jack Spades posted a "Reel" on their Facebook page where frontman J.D. Pearce kinda covers Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know".... kinda! You have to watch it to get the joke. Another "Reel" made its way there on the 17th where drummer Tyler Reiner showed off their new "Sewer City Radio" t-shirts that are now on sale.

The shirts actually show a radio station graphic, so there's a new interpretation! Spades GT's most recent show saw them and other bands open for Random Killing (a band Saultites know very well) at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto on Saturday night, which J.D. and Daniel plugged in two separate "Reels" linked here & here (nothing major to report in either, though J.D.'s has glitchy video effects). Daniel posted another "Reel" on Sunday to thank everyone who came to see them at The Bovine, and he noted there that Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group was filming their set for an upcoming docuseries. Aidan had filmed Spades GT when they opened for Anvil in Toronto in May of last year, and the footage was excellent despite the longer raw video never being posted online. This bodes very well assuming that the docuseries plans go according to plan, and hopefully it does!

One more "Reel" was posted earlier today featuring some of Aidan's footage, and true to form from last year, the quality is very good as we see (most of) Spades playing at The Bovine and talking to the camera beforehand, but why was this uploaded as a "Reel"? Aidan's footage is in landscape orientation (16:9) whereas "Reels" are permanently vertical! I recommend watching in full screen on a computer if you can, and true to form, I can't embed it here. Photos from the Toronto show (which guitarist Jay Sarrazin was absent for) were also posted to Facebook. In terms of new shows, Spades GT have added to their Toronto concert opening for Anvil with dates opening for the "Metal On Metal" icons in Sudbury at The Coulson Entertainment Centre on October 26th & at The Queens Nightclub in Barrie on November 9th (the Pembroke show listed on this poster does not feature Spades GT).

Alas, no Soo date, but it'll be neat for locals there to see both bands, and for father & son Reiner to share the same stage on these nights! Finally, their newest announced show will take them back to The Atria in Oshawa on October 28th when they and eight other bands will open for Random Killing again at the twelfth "In Crust We Trust" concert there. Spades opened for Drew & crew at The Atria in July as well, so this will be a familiar night even moreso if you're in the area! Now we're caught up on what Spades GT have been up to this month, but stay tuned for more on the site soon, including this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Wednesday Concert Previews, Plus Soundcheck/Obsession Concert Videos!!

It's unusual where two concerts that cross our radar take place on a Wednesday, let alone both outdoors, so let's preview those to start this Tuesday evening post, which is capped off with live videos from a unique recent concert. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with Tidal Records' ninth annual Go Skateboarding Day festivities at Queen Elizabeth Park outside of The John Rhodes Centre TOMORROW, and for a seventh year, live music will be on tap for skaters and fans to enjoy! Along with the skating, refreshments, vendors, and games, four local bands will take to the stage atop the big ramp tomorrow, all new to Go Skate Day, with online page-less punk trio Hails (featuring These Magnificent Tentacles & Vanity First alumni) headlining. Their sound is tailor-made for extreme sports like this, so they're a fine pick! Support bands include also-online-pageless alternative/punk quintet Bookclub (featuring event organizer/ex-Cover-Up frontman Dustin Jones), rap collective Sound Syndicate (featuring ex-As It Stands singer Justin "Nadj" Pregent), and young local metal trio The BAG. Nice array of current music for all tastes, including rap for the first time since 2016, so keep this event in mind!

Whether you're skateboarding or not, Go Skate Day is FREE and ALL AGES, and a 4:00 PM start time is advertised. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for sunny conditions in the 25° range, so unless you hate summer, this should be optimal for both skating and seeing an outdoor concert. Go Skateboarding Day is always June 21st, so the Wednesday timing won't be ideal for many on work/school schedules, but at least it'll be an early event with good weather, and hopefully a solid array of established and new skateboarders turn up for all of the fun, let alone the music! See above for more details, and in lieu of a public video of Hails, here's Bookclub live!

Next up, there's more hard rock-leaning live music taking place outdoors downtown TOMORROW, as Baltimore, Maryland psychedelic hard rock duo Darsombra will return to the Soo for a special gig at a pop-up stage on March Street! The second and final concert in Dryer Fire's summer concert series that crosses our genre radar, this will be Darsombra's third local appearance, following indoor gigs at separate venues in 2017 & 2019. Given their audio/visual presentation and extended jams in their set, it will be interesting to see how Darsombra do in an outdoor setting, though at least by the time their set is slated to begin at 9:45 PM, it will be getting darker! Local folk punk/extreme metal solo musician Chase Wigmore will open tomorrow, presumably in acoustic folk punk confines, and his guitar wizardry should be more than welcomed by fans, especially following his Dryer Fire set opening for Hails in March!

As best as I can gather, this show will be held at or near the corner of March Street and Queen Street East (somewhere near The Queen's Tarts), and was moved from the Bellevue Park Bandshell for unannounced reasons. This is also a FREE & ALL AGES concert (the crowd-funding campaign worked!) with Chase opening at 8:30 PM, preceded by a local vendor's market with food by Jiggs & Reels at 6:30 PM. 9&10 News is calling for sunny-clear skies at this later point tomorrow, with temperatures in the low 20s Celsius. Should be a very memorable show on musical and visual fronts, as Darsombra have to be seen to be fully appreciated, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!

Now let's look at a bunch of videos from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck's special Esquire Club show on Saturday, June 10th alongside three former Obsession singers! Drummer Glen Thomas uploaded nine videos from the gig to his YouTube channel last week, all labelled as "Soundcheck with (the) Obsession Angels" (presumably as there were three of them, like Charlie's Angels). A commemoration for the 18 year run of Obsession (featuring Soundcheck bassist Jim Michaud), the videos show Soundcheck playing alongside Obsession's first three lead frontwomen (Kim Liguori, Lorrie Lynn Bolduc, and Valerie Powley), who appear to have sung together on stage for the duration rather than trade off for solo songs. Seven people on stage must have gotten crowded! The nine videos include renditions of April Wine's version of Hot Chocolate's "You Could Have Been A Lady", ...

Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In The City",  Electric Light Orchestra's "Rock N' Roll Is King", The Eagles' "Heartache Tonight", two different versions of Shania Twain's "(If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!" (this one and an updated version with multiple camera angles), Trooper's "Raise A Little Hell", and Janis Joplin's version of Roger Miller's "Me & Bobby McGee", which also had the two upload treatment by Glen, but this time, both versions were composites from multiple camera angles (this is the original, the final updated copy is below). Mileage varies, but it is clear that Soundcheck didn't know all of these songs equally. Still, it is fun seeing them rock out in a relatively unique setting like this, and the ladies pair up well together! You can see why they all were remembered from their tenures in Obsession, though it would have been nice to see their final singer Jessica Amadio also involved here.

Credit to Glen for going the extra mile for the Shania and Janis covers by cobbling together available video footage (as best as I can tell, none uploaded publically on their own elsewhere) so we can see lots of angles of Soundcheck, the Obsession singers, and the audience in action, and even if some footage was vertical, he at least tiled it over horizontal clips! Give everyone tackling "Me & Bobby McGee" a watch below, and look for more from Soundcheck when we hear it!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for formal weekend concert previews on Thursday, and more news and notes otherwise soon! Thanks everyone!

A Renamed Local Band, Their New EP, And Much More News & Notes!!

Before we begin today's news post, I wanted to apologize for not one, but two missed concerts in this weekend's concert previews. Firstly, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard played an unplugged concert at Gateway Casino last night, a show that was only announced on the venue's Facebook page yesterday afternoon. Bone Yard did not promote this show on their Facebook page, and this weekend was left blank in their summer concert calendar, otherwise full for another four weekends, leading me to believe that this concert truly came together on late notice. Interestingly, it was originally advertised for their acoustic side project The Bearded Lounge, who last played live at the casino in March, but was later revised to specify that this was "Bone Yard unplugged". Is this in deference to bassist Warren Reville being present, or have The Bearded Lounge been folded in favour of just using the Bone Yard name across the board?

If the former, no reason has been given for the unplugged switch, but the full electric band will be back at the Queen Street Cruise this coming weekend! The other missed show is from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, who did indeed play a standard concert at The Esquire Club on Friday night before their special gig with three former Obsession singers last night. Initial advertising focused only on the Saturday nighter with guests, and Soundcheck only confirmed that they were playing on Friday too via their Facebook page at 4:24 PM that day. I profusely apologize for missing both bands' shows, I'd have covered them had they gotten more reasonable advance notice, but hopefully they were hits!

Today's post otherwise features some assorted recent updates, and leading off, a surprise band revival, as local progressive metal band Kraken Mara are back, and have a new name to show for it! Only explained by saying "we've shuffled some things around", their new name is Convergence, as per their Facebook page yesterday, and their social media links are changed to match. In case you forgot, the former Kraken Mara was the long-gestating project from ex-Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie and his brother-in-law Jake Valois that was first active in fits & starts from 2015-2018 before resurfacing in 2021 with new EPs (yes, plural) that were streamable but, despite appearances, not buyable from their Wix website, which was oddly the only place where you could access them. While not hyped up on Facebook, Kraken Mara Convergence have finally posted an EP for sale that actually works on Wix, named "One"!

Originally, they had eight songs across two EPs named "Press Start" & "Game Over" that you could stream on Wix in the summer of 2021, but they have been condensed down into this five-track EP, with three prior songs ("Vibe Check" & "Minmaj" from the former and "Escort Mission" from the latter) not present (maybe on "Two"?). Notably, Kelowna, B.C.-based drummer Cliff Aubut is only credited on "The Woodward" this time out, but he is still listed as a session performer on the "About" page on Wix, as well a name we haven't heard much about locally in years, namely former State of Misery/Valentine's Day Massacre singer Steve Rhodes! Steve moved to London with The V.D.M. back in 2012, and has surprisingly not played a local date with his more recent Southern Ontario bands like D3athcharg3r or Prosector. He is not on the Convergence EP, but it'd be great to hear Steve's screaming vocals again in a local context!

"Many others" are teased as collaborators, but not named. At present, this EP is available exclusively on Wix for $9.99 (despite individual tracks costing $1 each), and can be streamed for free there as well. Note that it was produced & mastered at the band's own Yellow Room Studios, but how much of that work is new this year, I can't say. Yes, I do plan to review "One" on the SMS, but alas, we have quite a backlog for our monthly CD reviews, so it won't hit the site until October, as we're booked solid for four months. Still, it's great to see Brendan & Jake back yet again, and hopefully their djent-heavy, ultra technical brand of prog metal takes off as intended in 2023! See and hear much more at the above links!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• The Darsombra-headlined concert from Dryer Fire on Wednesday, June 21st has been moved from the Bellevue Park Bandshell to.... the March Street Stage? A reason for the move was not announced, but this was clarified in Facebook advertising since May 14th, and the new locale will also feature a local vendors market featuring food by Jiggs & Reels Catering from 6:30 PM onward that day. Oddly, they did not specify where on March Street that this pop-up stage will be located, but the event page defaults to the Downtown Association offices, so closer to Queen Street East would be my guess. See above for more on this FREE summer solstice concert!
• We now know who Rotaryfest Stage 1 performers Lands & Forest (not Land & Forest) are, based on personal Facebook posts, and they are a blues/rockabilly quartet featuring Johnny & The Revelators alumni Jason Gasparetto and twins Byron & Marshall Jaaskelainen (the latter of Rising Tide fame), plus Marshall's old Barn Board Trio bandmate Jaime Jacques. This group debuted at The Water Tower Pub last night, and while not a hard rock act, it's good to know who they are! Their Rotaryfest set will be on Saturday, July 15th at 2:15 PM.
  
• I have moved local Tool tribute band Parabol back to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. The band has not issued any public statements or played live since their headlining gig at Soo Blaster on June 4th last year, which is their only concert in the past 3½ years, pandemic acknowledged. Parabol were never a frequent presence on stage, so the potential of them coming back out of the blue for a big headlining date is definitely out there, but best of luck to John, Steve, Al, and Anthony in whatever's next! 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (i.o), A New-Ish Solo Project, New Videos, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Sunday morning featuring some new videos, a new-ish band to tell you guys about, and a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT with some intriguing styles on display, so here's what you should know to kick off another week!

Victoria, British Columbia experimental noise project i.o and new-ish local emo/folk punk solo project Agnosticism will join forces for a concert TOMORROW NIGHT at... The Drawing Club? This is a new arts space at 128 Bruce Street that primarily serves as a community hotspot for artistic expression (click here for more on their mission), but they have been sporadically booking live music in 2023, with TOMORROW'S concert being part of Dryer Fire's summer concert series that was announced in April. As such, apologies for the short notice, I had no idea that any bands on this event would cross into the SMS' primary coverage. Led by drummer Max Patterson, i.o are a hard band to look up online based on their name alone, but their chaotic drum-led brand of instrumental noise rock will certainly be an intense change of pace, so do give them a listen before TOMORROW NIGHT!

If you want to read more on who Agnosticism are, read on below, but to wrap up previewing this concert proper, the opening act will be local/Toronto outsider folk musician Shae Tull (good to see her back in town!) This all ages concert begins TOMORROW at The Drawing Club (where Dryer Fire's 2019 pop-up venue was) at 7:30 PM. While the advertised admission fee is $15, "no one (will be) turned away for lack of funds", so keep that in mind. Tickets are on sale in advance at this link. This will certainly be an eclectic concert that builds in intensity quite rapidly, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's i.o live! Trust me on this, Max puts on quite a show!

As for Agnosticism, they are a solo project from Vanity First/Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto, with him on vocals & acoustic guitar in folk punk trappings that fans of Chase Wigmore's will especially be interested in! We've never considered Instagram pages to be "official" as far as local band pages go on social media, as they're so personal & picture-driven by design, but you can see Mikhal performing as Agnosticism on their Instagram page, including an impromptu live performance at the Fishbowl Festival earlier this year. As it turns out, Agnosticism have quietly been active since 2021, and Mikhal actually put out a debut album for the project on major streaming services last October, entitled "Happy Pills"! He should have had an account on Facebook or something for Agnosticism, as that way, I would have talked about this well before now! You can hear all 12 songs on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, plus their YouTube channel.

There are some standalone singles available above too, while the YouTube channel also has some early Vanity First covers (apparently, Agnosticism was their original name before things splintered into two projects), and one live video, venue unclear. Yes, this album is on sale on iTunes for $9.99, if you want to buy full mp3 copies, but as it's no longer "new", it doesn't get priority for an imminent monthly review on the SMS. When our backlog clears out though, it can easily slot in to tie in with a month where one of Mikhal's bands is playing live! This includes Hails, who (like Agnosticism) only seem to exist on social media via an Instragram page, despite being Vanity First with a different frontman (Brenton Ellis rather than Andrew Beggs). For the record, Hails have even less posted on Instagram than Agnosticism, only uploading pictures that primarily focus on Brent's artistic side.

From what I have seen and heard of Agnosticism, it's clear that Mikhal gets folk punk well and subgenre fans will be right at home with the lyric driven, direct, and unpolished songs on offer! He is a talented guitarist, and while his vocals may be underutilized to an extent on acoustic songs like this, it is supposed to be a separate project from his bands and it comes through well, though existing folk punk fans will have more to like from the off. Give Mikhal's live performance of "Unholy Matrihomie" (sic) a watch below, and stay tuned for more from all three of his current projects!

We'll close today with some new videos from new local hard rock quartet Far From Fine's Facebook page, specifically from their studio time late last month at Mission Control Studios! On Tuesday, they posted two videos of guitarist Mitch Sirie and bassist Matt Fronzi tracking material towards their planned debut album, and while both are short clips hovering around 30 seconds in length, they are our first glimpse of their original material! Click here for Mitch's slightly shorter video, which has him playing a guitar solo. I'm unsure if these are different songs, but Matt's video sounds quite punky, and Mitch's solo seems more dramatic. Promising regardless, so give them a watch above & below!

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

New Cheap Trick 2021 Concert Videos, Plus Updates From Two Solo Projects!!

Before we dive into this weekend's concert previews, here's a new video-heavy post on this Thursday morning, including new preview audio recordings from two solo projects and assorted related updates, but let's start with some very belated new concert videos from  a major concert!

Here's a surprise find many months after the show proper, as seven videos of Rockford, Illinois hard rock/power pop quartet Cheap Trick's opening set at the Goo Goo Dolls concert outside of the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino in August 2021 have made their way online! YouTube user Thomas LaVictor (who also filmed this summer's Bone Thugz-N-Harmony show in the Soo) uploaded these to his YouTube channel in June, and no word on why it took 10 months to post them, but better late than never, especially as he tried to film Cheap Trick's whole set! Despite the pure wattage of content, Thomas' videos aren't fantastic quality, shot from a distant side-stage angle with quiet, muffled audio, but again, he got almost the whole show. The first video (embedded below) features Cheap Trick playing "Hello There", "Elo Kiddies", "Big Eyes", "He's A Whore", and the start of their cover of The Move's "California Man".

The second video features the rest of "California Man", "On Top Of The World", and "She's Tight", while the third video has Cheap Trick playing "If You Want My Love", "Baby Loves To Rock", and a cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" (as led in by a Daxx Nielsen drum solo). The fourth video has the guys playing "Boys & Girls & Rock N' Roll" and "Downed", while the fifth video only has one song, namely their power ballad "The Flame". Similarly, video #6 also has just one song, that being "I Want You To Want Me", with the final video capturing their last three songs, namely "Dream Police" and their encore songs "Surrender" & "Goodnight".  It is worth noting that frontman Robin Zander's son Robin Taylor Zander (who sang lead on "Downed") filled in on bass for Tom Petersson on this tour, who sat out while recovering from open heart surgery. Hopefully he healed up well, and apologies for missing that!

Again, the quality here is mixed, and it's very hard to make out the band on stage from this angle, but kudos to Thomas for filming all of this and uploading it eventually! Cheap Trick are showing their age to an extent but their set was lively and got the crowd on the right foot before The Goo Goo Dolls' headlining set (yes, Thomas filmed almost their whole set too in a similar fashion, but they're not as amenable for the SMS). Give all of his Cheap Trick videos from St. Ignace last year a look above & below!

Next up, here's the latest from Sault Ontario industrial metal project Molten Imp, starting with the surprise reveal on their Facebook page last week that they have pulled out of the Garbageface concert at the temporary Dryer Fire venue on Wilson Street on October 21st. Other than noting that "it's all a learning experience and I promise you I'll be more prepared", project leader Boyd Rendell didn't give a reason for their withdrawal, but note that Boyd never publically revealed Molten Imp's live lineup beforehand. Their exit has been confirmed in new Dryer Fire advertising for the show, and while there's no 100% verifiable metal/punk acts on the bill now (the show has been removed from our listings as such), note that the mystery act No Funeral is a new "indie noise" band from Boyd's old AlgomA bandmate Jamie Vincent, most recently seen with The Dynowaves. We'll let you know if more comes out on them, especially if they trend heavier!

Back to Molten Imp, Boyd turned his personal YouTube channel into a Molten Imp-centric channel (BeeFMouTH content, we hardly knew ye), uploading the six public tracks from their three virtual singles there, so the paid exclusives from the first two remain as such. One non-single track made its way there in August, namely a song named "Kick Rocks" recorded live in studio, and at 6:32, it almost matches each single's full public length alone! A percussion heavy composition with a low grind, guttural Blood Shed-esque growling, and the occasional spacey sound effect, it's an interesting prelude to their third single, so give it a listen below!

Finally, here's some new updates from local hard rock musician Mike McCleary, who has been hard at work on a new instrumental solo album since the spring! Updates on his Facebook page have been sporadic, with Mike making a new home studio along the way, but Mike has reiterated plans to have seven instrumental tracks on the album, three being 7+ minutes in length, with a total length of around 35 minutes. Mike has intentionally not put a timetable on the album, but has praised the writing/recording process and how much fun it has been, which is great to see! Unfortunately, Mike revealed on Saturday that the hard drive he uses to back up his new and old original material (including all of his prior albums) has crashed, and things will be delayed as he tries to recover the files. Hopefully he can get everything saved, it'd be a shame to lose everything so suddenly! Mike doesn't post a lot of videos on social media, but he did post a teaser for the new album back in May, so what can you hear in this one?

The 68 seconds-long video features assorted clips from different songs/phases of the album, as segmented by static so you know when a clip ends and another begins. The image above is a still from the end of the video, heavily implying that Mike is calling the album "Fallout From Midnight Tides" and that this is the cover artwork, but he has not confirmed that in writing on Facebook. What we hear sounds very promising, with some good heavy parts strewn about, so give everything a listen below, and apologies for the delay in mentioning the video on here!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Molten Imp, Slumshine, And Soundcheck), And Esquire Club Concert Details!!

Today's post was going to be totally different, but some interesting LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS dropped for the fall from two sources, namely Second Line West venue The Esquire Club and local promoters Dryer Fire! The former reflects The Esquire's return to proper nighttime weekend concerts from local cover bands after months of pandemic-influenced matinee gigs, while Dryer Fire have four currently announced shows for the fall at three different downtown venues. Genres vary wildly on both fronts, but here's what you should know on their hard rock/punk-featured gigs ahead!

We'll start with Dryer Fire, who have booked the recently revived art punk solo project Slumshine to open for British Columbia folk solo project Ghostly Hounds on Saturday, September 17th! This show will take place at Dryer Fire's temporary venue at 285 Wilson Street, with Nicole extending the lease there into October (more on the second fall show there in a bit). Slumshine just returned to the stage for the first time post-pandemic at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum this past weekend, but one presumes there won't be the same capacity restrictions at 285 Wilson on multiple fronts, so this could be the first chance many of you have to see Brent & his pink ski mask on a public stage in over 2 years! While Ghostly Hounds don't play punk up front, there are darker thematic elements on display, and they should entertain with their personal take on acoustic folk next month in their local debut!

This presumably all ages concert has $15 advance tickets that you can buy online at this link, while the door price jumps to $20. Regardless, doors open at 7:00 PM. Should be an entertaining show for fans of unplugged folk rock hitting multiple genres on the way, so keep this one in mind, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details! The next two Dryer Fire shows don't have hard rock or punk acts, but note that ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno's solo folk project Penno Cash will open for Zachary Lucky at The Elks Hall on September 20th (details here).

Next up, let's leap to The Esquire Club, who have announced a full band schedule through mid-December for weekend nighttime cover band action, and they first dip into primarily heavier waters on Friday, September 23rd & Saturday, September 24th when classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck make their return to this popular venue! Soundcheck were not part of the rotation for The Esquire Club's "Buckets, Bands, and Birds" matinee series earlier this year, so this will be their first set of concerts there since November 2021. Good to see Terry, Cameron, Paul/Rob, and Glen back at a relatively fresh venue, at least as far as recent bookings go, and hopefully their hard rocking covers find a strong audience there next month! Note that in a comment on the Facebook picture of the schedule, singer/guitarist Terry Eaton implied that Soundcheck were at least in talks to return there on November 4th & 5th as well, but are not listed to play those dates.

If the poster is any indication, pop rock cover quartet L!me will be playing that weekend instead, but we'll let you know if the poster is in error or not, especially as Soundcheck only have the one weekend booked there otherwise. Bands playing at The Esquire Club this fall are starting at 9:30 PM nightly with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and look for more from Soundcheck soon!

We'll next head back downtown to 285 Wilson Street for the final of Dryer Fire's fall concert series (as of today, at least), where local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp will make their live concert debut on Friday, October 21st as one of the openers for Peterborough doom rapper Garbageface! Local fans will be no stranger to Garbageface from four regional concert appearances in the late 2010s at both Live705 events and at the former Oh!No festival in Leeburn, and his intense, distinctive brand of hip hop should be welcomed back by fans! Like in Garbageface's prior local stops, this is very much a mixed genre show, but how will Boyd Rendell present Molten Imp as a live act, both as a solo artist now and given the soundscapes he programs? It'll be interesting to find out! Yes, this is the show teased on Molten Imp's Facebook page, and will mark Boyd's first live concert set since AlgomA's final gig in 2019. 

The other scheduled performer on October 21st is Owen MK, a local "dark synth pop" artist who I've never heard of and can't find an online page for. I'll let you guys know if anything else surfaces, but Owen's presence adds to the genre free-for-all! Same as the Ghostly Hounds/Slumshine gig, expect no age limit, doors opening at 7:00 PM, $15 tickets at this link, and $20 door admission. Visit the above links for more details on this and other Dryer Fire-booked events hitting the Soo this fall!

Finally for today, let's take one more look at The Esquire Club's late 2022 concert schedule! First off, if you don't know who Buzzsaw Jaw (playing there next month and in December) are, I do know that they are the current band from former Stiffler's Mom bandmates Michael Davies & Jon Ferguson. Whether they play heavier songs on average or not, I don't know (I can't find an online page for them yet), but keep that band in mind! You may also have seen that local classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession (now featuring Jess Amodio on vocals) are booked for two weekends ahead there, but the band already confirmed those dates on their website and we listed them already from there. Also, the poster clearly shows the weekends of October 7th-8th & November 18th-19th as having a replaced band with the original band name taped over, but a G is poking out from the November listing.

I may be wrong, but this does look like Tripod The Dog were originally booked for one/both weekends (Mark and crew had mainly been seen at The Esquire Club in the pandemic era), but according to the poster's Facebook caption, "one of the bands cancelled dates". If this was Tripod, hopefully nothing bad happened, and that we see them back on stage in due course! You'll note that the November 18th weekend gigs do have a replacement actively covered on the SMS, but we'll cover those shows in an upcoming post, as this one has been going on a bit long already. See above for much more from Dryer Fire & The Esquire Club, and that's all for today, but stay tuned for more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison) & Mid-Week Concert Previews!!

The pandemic is definitely not what it was, given how busy the SMS has been for posts as of late, and that we have enough mid-week concerts taking place tomorrow and on Thursday to warrant a special mid-week concert preview post today! We'll start with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock solo artist Tym Morrison will indeed play at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post for a third straight Wednesday concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via its Facebook event page yesterday. With three straight late notice Wednesday concerts announced thusly, a pattern is established, and while he hasn't firmly stated this publically, it does appear that Tym has an arrangement to play weekly at The Mike Case Memorial Stage, not unlike his pre-pandemic agreements at Gliss and elsewhere. No word on how long we'll see Tym weekly at The Trading Post, but note that the stage only operates through September on a seasonal basis. As we did for Tym's prior weekly arrangements at indoor venues, I'll approach his presumed future Mike Case Stage gigs month-by-month, so I've added June 22nd and 29th to our concert calendar until/unless otherwise stated.

In any event, Tym's prolific and proficient brand of hard rocking vocal/guitar covers should deliver a fun couple of hours for fans TOMORROW NIGHT and likely on Wednesdays to come, so don't miss out! TOMORROW'S and other Wednesday night shows have 7:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and no age limits, but be advised that 9&10 News is calling for scattered thunderstorms from around 8:00 PM onward (the show is slated to end at 9:00). See above for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, let's preview two more mid-week concerts in Sault Ste. Marie, both getting lots of advance notice, starting with the local debut of British Columbia post-punk quartet Blessed when they headline at Dryer Fire's temporary pop-up venue at 285 Wilson Street TOMORROW NIGHT! Old fans of the late lamented Gnaeus will want to site up and take notice of Blessed and their indie/art rock-tinged brand of original post punk, complete with Talking Heads-influenced vocals, and they should be an intriguing early attraction in Dryer Fire's summer concert series! Local "triumphant rock" quintet These Magnificent Tenatacles will bring their alternative and punk hybrid attack to the stage as openers tomorrow, marking their third live appearance since expanding their lineup, and their second at 285 Wilson. The Tentacles have been making positive waves locally this year, and seeing as two of their new band members are Gnaeus alums, they will fit even better!

Tickets for this ALL AGES, 7:00 PM show will run you $10 at this link and presumably at the door. Barring a late show announcement or band switch, this will be the most punk/hard rock-friendly show Dryer Fire has all summer, so if you can make it to 285 Wilson (near The Breakfast Pig) tomorrow, you should get a strong night of talented live music! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Blessed live!

Lastly for this atypical batch of mid-week concert previews (we'll start addressing the Friday-Sunday crowd in a couple of days), local indie punk quintet The Northwest will take the stage for the first time since December 2019 (and since becoming The Northwest) when they open for Toronto alt-country trio Elliott Brood at the re-opened LopLops Lounge on THURSDAY NIGHT! A lot has changed and improved for Wayne, Greg, the Mikes, and Marc since the pandemic began, but a lot of patience and hard work led to the release of their third EP "All In" last week, with this show serving as the de facto release party. I can't confirm if they are imminently selling physical copies (their last two EPs were strictly digital), but this will be your first chance to hear these songs live regardless! Curiously, The Northwest still have not confirmed their involvement in this show on their Facebook page or the official Facebook event page, but members' personal Facebook accounts have been plugging this one a great deal.

As for the headliners, Elliott Brood are a Juno winning group whose brand of dark country & roots rock originals have been seen multiple times (generally at LopLops) in the Soo area since the 2000s, most recently at 2018's Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing. While not a hard rock or punk act, Elliott Brood are a talented outfit who may provide a more amenable sound for readers who don't like traditional country music, so don't bypass them if you're not familiar with them already! Thursday's concert will be the first held inside LopLops on Queen Street East since they were forced to close in March 2020 for very obvious reasons. Stephen & crew stayed active with craft beer deliveries and promoting off-site events, but being back in their home base will be awesome, and hopefully this show is a huge hit to kick things off again! A thankfully early 7:00 PM start time is in effect for this 19+ event.

Advance tickets cost $32.84, and you can buy them at this link and presumably at the door. This show is a big deal whether you're a fan of Elliott Brood, The Northwest, LopLops, or any combination therein, and while the Thursday scheduling isn't ideal, hopefully a sizeable crowd turns out for all of the action in a couple of days! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's (The) Northwest live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Blessed & The Northwest), New Videos, And More!!

Keeping our steady stream of regular posts going as the month of June rolls along, we have some new videos to check out today, plus updates on an upcoming CD release, and the latter ties into one of two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next week, so here's what you should know!

Abbotsford, British Columbia art-rock/post-punk quartet Blessed will make their local concert debut on Wednesday, June 15th when they headline at Dryer Fire's temporary pop-up venue at 285 Wilson Street!  Of course, "post-punk" and what many would traditionally call "punk" don't have a lot of obvious modern links, but Blessed's upbeat wall-of-noise approach and Talking Heads-inspired rhythms and vocals should appeal to a wide array of listeners next Wednesday, so definitely give them a listen to see what you think! Be advised that their newest EP is solely of remixes. Local punk/alternative quintet These Magnificent Tentacles will open in their third show with this lineup, and first appearance at 285 Wilson since the open house last month, and with 2 members of the band coming from the now-defunct local post punk stalwarts Gnaeus, their inclusion makes a lot of sense!

While this concert is technically part of Dryer Fire's summer concert series, it was only publically announced yesterday as a "bonus show", hence why we're only mentioning it now. This all ages event has a 7:00 PM start time, and admission runs for $10 at this link or presumably at the door. Of all of Dryer Fire's shows this summer, this one next Wednesday is the most punk-leaning, so we're starting with a bang in that regard, and visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details!

Next up, local indie punk quintet The Northwest will play their first public concert set of the year when they open for Juno Award winning Toronto alt-country trio Elliott Brood on Thursday, June 16th at the re-opening LopLops Lounge! Last seen at the same venue in December 2019 (you can probably guess why they haven't played live for 2+ years), this will be The Northwest's first show since tacking "The" to the beginning of their name, but more importantly, it will be the de facto release party for their brand new EP "All In", which is full steam ahead for its public release on Friday! This is the cover art, and you can pre-save it on Spotify at this link, but the band has not firmly stated if the EP will be available in physical copies or on paid mp3 download platforms at press time. If they had to take such a long break (planned or not), The Northwest are returning with a bang, and expect to hear new and old original favourites then!

Be advised that official public online sources have not confirmed The Northwest as opening, but guitarist Greg Callaghan revealed the news on his personal Facebook page yesterday, so they may be a late addition (the show was announced with just Elliott Brood last month). Speaking of Elliott Brood, while not a metal/punk act, their dark brand of "death country" has been entertaining audiences for two decades, including at multiple local dates (mostly at LopLops), last playing in our area at the Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing in July 2018. If you're not a country fan, Elliott Brood may be an exception to the rule, so don't bypass them! As for LopLops, the popular Queen Street East venue has remained active during the pandemic with craft beer deliveries and hosting events off-site, but they closed their actual doors to the public in March 2020, so this should be a great way to come back!

An early 7:00 PM start time is in effect for this 19+ show (good thing too, given the Thursday scheduling), and with Elliott Brood's existing profile, tickets next Thursday will run for $32.84, and you can buy them at this link and presumably at the door. Whether you're in this for the alternative country or alternative punk, this double bill should deliver the goods next Thursday, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Finally for today, let's get caught up on a couple of new videos from local/Barrie crossover thrash quartet Spades GT's Facebook page from last month! Both promotional clips for when the former Jack Spades opened for Anvil (more on them soon) in Toronto, one is a jokey video made by guitarist Daniel Horton where he used a website named www.talkobamato.me to use clips of former U.S. President Barack Obama's speeches to make him promote the Toronto concert, leading into clips of Spades GT's post-relaunch debut and fake videos of Obama dancing set to the studio version of "Rise". If you recall Jimmy Fallon's bit where he made NBC News anchor Brian Williams "rap", it's edited similarly, albeit by a program reading your text, not staff. Cute idea, but the speech goes so fast, it can be hard to hear what Obama is "saying". At least it's not overtly political or leaning toward any heavily partisan opinions!

Embedded below is their newest video, which is actually embeddable publically (Daniel's video isn't as it has longer audio to content match). This was uploaded the day of the Anvil concert, and features all four current members of Spades GT outside seemingly preparing to enter their vehicle to the venue, before jumping to studio audio and relevant posters/logos. Short but effective promotion, so give it a look below, see more above, and stay tuned for more from Spades GT when it rolls in!

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

Glambition Festival/Concert Preview, Plus New Videos!!

As promised, our weekend concert previews conclude today with an extended look at a very intriguing (if somewhat cryptic) community festival tomorrow, plus some new videos of relatively new band lineups to round things out with. Here's what you should know!

Local party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty will play their first public concert set of the year TOMORROW NIGHT when they take part in the oft-delayed Glambition fundraiser festival at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre! Readers and interested parties may recall hearing about this event dating back to its original date on November 20th of last year, but pandemic capacity restrictions, COVID-19 case count rises, and unforeseen circumstances forced it to be postponed to December 18th, January 30th, April 23rd, and ultimately, tomorrow. Glambition is a benefit event for local youth homeless shelter Pauline's Place and in support of community togetherness, a very important idea as we start Pride Month, so the right intentions are present throughout, and kudos to the organizers for sticking with Glambition for six & a half months rather than just giving up on the idea! 

This is presented as multi-cultural community festival with musicians, singers, dancers, fashion shows, stand-up comedy, food/drink vendors, and a raffle of some kind, but organizers have surprisingly not listed a performance schedule on Facebook, let alone a list of the scheduled artists. Pauline's Place fundraising manager Karam Singh was quoted hyping Glambition in this SooToday article by new reporter Alex Flood, while Karam was also interviewed on ONNtv's First Local on Monday about Glambition, again without citing performers by name. Apocalypse Afterparty frontman Paul Stanghetta did tell me in a Facebook conversation that a young local jazz band was performing too, but unfortunately, that's all I've got. The A.A. have been hyping their involvement in Glambition right along though, and hopefully Paul & Amanda make some more fans at this diverse family-friendly festival tomorrow!

A 6:00 PM start time is in effect for this all ages event, and tickets run for $11.34 at this link. Door entry is presumably an option of capacity allows, but Glambition will reportedly be capped at 300 attendees, so get yours A.S.A.P. just in case. Despite the cryptic nature of the performer lineup, it is awesome to finally see Glambition going forward tomorrow night (assuming there's no sudden postponement again), and helping Pauline's Place is a wonderful idea, so don't miss out at the Bushplane Museum tomorrow! Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Apocalypse Afterparty live!

Next up, here's some new videos from both of Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie's newest local band projects, starting with the first publically posted clip of the expanded five-piece These Magnificent Tentacles lineup! Shot by Dryer Fire's Nicole Dyble at their Wilson Street open house last month (apologies again for missing that in our weekend concert previews at the time) and shared to the company's Facebook page on May 23rd, it was joined by a video of fellow performers The Dynowaves that same day, plus a short video of vendors at the open house. As for the T.M.T. video, it was uploaded in square dimensions, and it sees The Tentacles playing an instrumental piece for one minute, all looking very determined and serious in the moment (except maybe Brad, who's largely obscured by Steve at this angle). As such, this may not be an ideal look at the new lineup, but what we hear sounds promising enough!

Surprisingly doomy but still melodic piece that deviates well from their punk-leaning base of old, and it will be interesting to see how the guys progress throughout mid-late 2022! Give it a look below, and see more from Dryer Fire's open house above, and also keep tabs on their summer concert series, which is largely hard rock-devoid, but certainly not lacking in musical talent! Give Nicole some support and check them out!

Finally, here's two new jam session clips of local death metal band Exploring Detritus, as posted to their Facebook page on Wednesday and earlier today, though neither features Mitch, who hasn't been seen in any of their videos since he was announced as their singer/guitarist last month. Busy personal schedule, or have they not reported his exit yet? Click here to watch the former Kaepora Gaebora playing for a minute, but I'm actually embedding the shorter 30 second clip below, as guitarist/founder Dan Souliere is handling lead vocals in it, and he sounds suitably brutal while it lasts! We'll let you know if there's any clarification about their frontman status, but give these four-piece jam videos a watch above & below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's delayed "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!