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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Handsome Sandwich & Soundcheck), Spades GT Updates, And More!!

Plans for today's SMS post changed when a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (and missed show needing an apology) fell into my lap this morning, so that leads off today's post along with one more new show and some other recent updates. Here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will rock Jay's Piston Broke Pub TONIGHT after previously playing there last night! I profusely apologize for the short notice and for missing yesterday's show, the band did not publicize them on their Facebook page, while the venue only announced them on theirs yesterday morning. I really must do a better job at checking out venue pages when bands don't get the word out themselves, I apologize again, and hopefully yesterday's show was a hit! Same for jam night at the former Reggie's West on Thursday, but we've never covered those as "concerts" here. If you'd prefer to hear Soundcheck's classic and hard rock covers outdoors, then good news, as they'll reportedly be the musical entertainment at TOMORROW'S returning Cruisin' The Dub car show at the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road! Again, apologies for the short notice, official promotion does not mention a band.

Late notice or not, Soundcheck have played at multiple car shows at this A&W, and hopefully they deliver the right soundtrack for all of the classic cars, especially as proceeds go to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada! Both TONIGHT'S (and last night's) Jay's shows are/were 9:00 PM events with no cover charge and 19+ age limits, while TOMORROW'S car show gig is a 1:00 PM matinee affair for the entire family with no cover. 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy weather at 22° during the car show, which isn't as hot as we have had lately! Visit the above links for more details, apologies again for missing last night's show at Jay's, and here's a brand new video of Soundcheck (with no guests)! Uploaded to drummer Glen Thomas' YouTube channel last week, this was filmed at The Esquire Club the night before their Obsession tribute gig there, where they covered Kenny Chesney's "Young".

A staple of their set since Cameron Oliver joined the band, he is solely on vocals here and is not playing guitar. Unfortunately, the filmer of this video was shooting vertically, leading to a lot of panning between 3/4ths of the band and Terry from where they were standing, but this cover comes through well, at least from what I know of this song! I'm not a big country fan, but it sounds on par with Soundcheck's prior filmed versions for the performance quality. Give it a watch below, and don't miss them at Jay's TONIGHT and at the car show TOMORROW!

Next up, local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich will make their Water Tower Pub debut on Saturday, July 8th! Their first true solo gig with no support or external headlining bands of 2023, this event will come fresh off of their appearance at the Poutine Feast one week from tomorrow, so these two gigs will literally bookend July's first full week. Still riding the momentum of their "Deconstructed" album release, look for a long night of originals and covers not unlike what fans would have seen from the Sandwich in early-mid 2022 gigs, albeit before Rafael came on board! This is definitely a one-night-only gig, as The Water Tower Pub historically books separate acts on Fridays and Saturdays, but if you're curious as to who's playing on Friday the 7th, keep tabs on the venue's Facebook page, where announcements are usually made a few days prior. This 19+ show has an 8:00 PM start time and no cover. Visit the above links for more details!

We'll close with updates from Handsome Sandwich members Jesse Cook & Johnny Belanger's old band (Jack) Spades GT, who play their first concert in Sault Ste. Marie since 2019 tonight at The Machine Shop! In terms of their recent daily run of (to me) annoyingly restrictive "Reels", those ran until June 14th, with the last four including three more Indie Night In Canada videos from the same filmer (one focused each on singer J.D. Pearce, guitarist Daniel Horton, and bassist James Roy Daley), closing with this preview "Reel" to hype the "Sewer City Radio" album being on "all streaming platforms" (quite an accomplishment if "all" is true!) Again, "Reels" can't be embedded externally, are only uploaded vertically, and can't be played on background tabs, so click above to see them! In terms of the Indie Night In Canada gig proper, Spades GT's set was highly praised by Jay Broderick of LoudTO in this article.

If this doesn't sell Spades GT on the unitiated, I don't know what will! While they said that Indie Night In Canada on June 5th would be their last Toronto show for "some time", I guess "some time" is code for "thirteen days", as they played at See-Scape there this past Sunday to open for Dogo Suicide. Hopefully that later notice gig went well! Lastly, Daniel hyped their show in Cambridge that night using this "Reel" with lots of mirrored and rotated copies of the same footage. Was the chef's kiss well placed? Click here to see, but hopefully the show was a hit! Stay tuned for more on their July plans soon, don't miss them at The Machine Shop tonight, and look for more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & Tym Morrison), Slumshine/Ghostly Hounds Preview, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, yet another concert cancellation to take note of, this time for a short notice gig we hadn't yet covered on the SMS. Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck were supposed to return to the A&W at 659 Great Northern Road tomorrow as part of the planned Cruisin' The Dub charity car show, but it was reportedly cancelled due to tomorrow's poor weather forecast, as per drummer Glen Thomas' personal Facebook page. Truth be told, 9&10 News are currently calling for thunderstorms all day, so clearly this is a "better safe than sorry" approach, especially given how Soundcheck were rained out after an hour the last time they played an A&W car show gig.

Look for Soundcheck back on stage next week, but as for today's post, we have the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews (one being a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), and we'll start there, as local acoustic classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for a matinee concert TOMORROW! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via its Facebook event page earlier today. If you want an indoor respite for some live cover action on TOMORROW, this will do the trick, with this being Tym's first announced show since his apparent 2022 finale at The Mike Case Memorial Stage last week. Should be a solid concert for fans of his unplugged classic and hard rock covers, so don't miss this Sunday matinee despite the late notice! This show has a 3:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, here's one more LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month, as Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished will make their debut at Northern Light Cannabis Co.(?!) in nearby Dafter on Friday, September 30th! Not every day you hear of a local band playing at a marijuana dispensary, but this is hardly a new proposition for Tarnished, who had previously planned to play there back in July, only for the show to be cancelled without ever being 100% publically finalized. How a live band will go over at Northern Light (Michigan's first tribally-owned provisioning center) is to be determined, but the show coincides with the dispensary's Fire Up Fridaze events, including an open consumption lounge, board games, and product discounts. Located at 2736 West M-28 in Dafter (15 minutes south of the Soo) this 21+ event has no cover charge, and I'm unsure when exactly Tarnished's set begins given the event timeframe of 12:00-8:00 PM.

That seems inflated to match the Fire Up Fridaze timeframe, and Tarnished's solo gigs usually have them blocked for four hours, so I'd expect this to be a 4:00 PM matinee, but we'll let you know if that was an incorrect guess. Given the venue, this show will surely play more towards active marijuana users than people who don't partake, but it'll definitely be a unique locale for Tarnished's hard rocking covers & originals at month's end, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Back to Sault Ontario now for one last weekend concert preview, this time with plenty of advance notice, as local acoustic punk solo project Slumshine will open for British Columbia folk solo project Ghostly Hounds at Dryer Fire's temporary rental venue at 285 Wilson Street TONIGHT! This is effectively a sequel to a September 2017 concert that both acts played at the former Gore Street Cafe, so it is neat to see Brent and Francesca pairing up on a local stage with Nicole promoting once again! Unlike there, Ghostly Hounds are a solo act now, and their darker, highly personal brand of folk rock should fit the Dryer Fire oeuvre well tonight! Slumshine had just returned to the stage for the first time in well over two years at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum during Fringe North, but attendance was highly restricted over pandemic safeguards there, so hopefully Brent's ski mask-clad originals find a solid audience here!

Tonight's all ages concert has a 7:00 PM start time, and admission runs for $15 in advance at this link or $20 at the door (a sharp increase from 2017, where it was a $10 or "pay what you can" affair). Not the heaviest show out there, but Ghostly Hounds honest and affecting originals and Slumshine's unplugged punk stylings should keep Wilson Street rocking tonight, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Slumshine live!

Finally for today, here's the latest from revived local hard rock quartet Half Past! After seven months of public dormancy aside from a couple of picture uploads, they posted the Facebook video embedded below on August 28th, giving us our first new audio of the band's current lineup, here covering Chevelle's "Joyride (Omen)". It's not an overly polished cover, but Jordan Rains handles the vocals well, and new drummer Jamie Labreche fits in throughout! Nice hearing a local band covering Chevelle too, you don't see them tackled a lot. Be advised that a Facebook page surfaced last week for a different band featuring Jamie and bassist Arthur Lacasse named Fade Out, with them joined by singer Drew Borchardt and former Fitswitch guitarist Lee Slater. That band's Facebook page was launched after the Half Past video went online, so I don't know if Fade Out is an entirely separate project or if Art & Jamie left.

In any event, Fade Out played a private event earlier this month where they covered Weezer's "Say It Ain't So", with Jamie using his Half Past (or "Past Half") drumkit for the gig, and the video is up to watch. Not a bad rendition! Again, no word on what Fade Out's existence means for Half Past, let alone if Fade Out lean heavier in their set, but get the early details above, and give Half Past's Chevelle cover a listen below!

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