LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & Downtown Street Party #3!!)

A surprisingly busy weekend (perhaps the last really busy one for hard rock concerts before Halloween) is upon us, so we'll have to break up this weekend's previews into three posts! This one looks at SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and/or concerts taking place later today, while our previews of this weekend's Fefe Dobson, Oz, Dorene/Mike Haggith, and Separate Wayz concerts will be in our next post, and Tym Morrison's Sunday matinee show will be in a news post following. Here's what you should know as we enter the weekend concert preview fray once again! 

While we still don't know have the complete schedules and locations, we basically have to call it, as the third and final Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East (featuring Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band) goes down TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, I was waiting to hear a firm public announcement from Mike or You Belong SSM as to whether they'd be performing on the Dennis Street Stage or the Gore Street Stage, but such an announcement was not made before yesterday. In any event, this will be the last Downtown Street Party from the City of Sault Ste. Marie for 2026, and will feature loads of family entertainment at the western end of Queen Street East (bus terminal to Ernie's), including food and drink vendors, games, Queen Street businesses open en route, an outdoor vendor market at Queen & Tancred, and much more, so click here for full non-musical details!

The "stages" at the this year's Downtown Street Parties have tended to have three acts apiece, but only five were announced last month, and without specifying the exact locations. Mike confirmed in a personal Facebook reply that he and The Big Finish Band will be headlining the Gore Street Stage at 9:00 PM, while Hustle Brothers frontman Jay Case did the same to confirm that the jazz cover quartet will be opening for Mike & crew at 8:00 PM. At press time, we do not know if all of the other three advertised acts (country solo musicians Brian Tremblay & Jeffrey Wright and Dustcovers frontman "Just" Tom Peer) will all be on the presumed Dennis Street Stage or not, but one would assume that one of them (or "and more!") will be the 7:00 PM opener at Queen & Gore, For what it's worth, Tom opened for Mike at last month's street party on The Canopy at Village Media, and Brian is signed to Mike's MorningStar Records, in case those are indicators.

Downtown Street Party #3 goes down from 6:30-11:00 PM TOMORROW, it is absolutely FREE & ALL AGES, and 9&10 News is calling for clear skies with temperatures ranging from 13-19°. This Downtown Street Party somewhat feels like an afterthought with the Vivid Art Fest, the Soo Greyhounds season opener block party, and more taking up similar outdoor events attention in the same timeframe, but these street parties are fun for families and music fans alike, and Mike and crew will have a solid way to prime the pump for their hour's road trip this weekend (more on that in our next preview post). Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S street party, and for a preview, here's Mike & The Big Finish Band live!

Next up, we'll head to Michigan, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Tarnished have a busy weekend in St. Ignace during this weekend's Richard Crane Memorial Truck Show, which will see them play three shows in two days. We knew about two of the gigs already, but the first of them is a brand new confirmation, as the guys will rock The Little Bear East Arena & Community Center at 275 Marquette Street TOMORROW! Again, apologies for the short notice, Tarnished only confirmed this added gig on their Facebook page on Tuesday. Based on the St. Ignace city website, Tarnished will be among the "live music at (a) variety of downtown locations", and the schedule implies that musicians will be playing outdoors to go along with the truck show at multiple spots downtown. Hopefully things go well for the kinda-matinee TOMORROW before Alex, Josh, Chris, and Ron back their gear and take the two minute drive to The Driftwood Sports Bar at 590 North State Street TOMORROW NIGHT for their second concert of the evening!

Tarnished have played at The Driftwood before on similar weekends, so hopefully tomorrow night's previously announced gig is a hit! As for SATURDAY, the band already confirmed that they would return to Kingston Kitchen at 250 South State Street, so if the timing or Jamaican restaurant setting suit you better, keep the finale of their St. Ignace weekend in mind! TOMORROW'S Little Bear Arena show is at 5:00 PM and all ages, the Driftwood show afterwards is at 9:00 PM, Saturday's Kingston Kitchen show is at 8:00 PM, the latter two are 21+, and if outdoors TOMORROW from 5-8, 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy skies in the 60° (15° Celsius) range. See above for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #1, this isn't all for Richard Crane Memorial Truck Show concert action this weekend at The Driftwood Sports Bar, as they'll play host to Manistique hard rock cover duo Fyrbird TONIGHT! Yes, tonight, it's at the end of the post because there's no short notice local gigs from them alongside it. While Fyrbird have dialed back on shows in our coverage range this year (shows in Gould City acknowledged), tonight's Driftwood gig will be Fyrbird's third this year, following shows this summer coinciding with the St. Ignace Car Show and Bronco The Mac. Hopefully this proves to be another entertaining night of live hard rock from Jamie and Rikk, with a packed house to boot! The Driftwood will host live DJs tomorrow, which has been common Friday procedure for their vehicle show weekends this year. Like with Tarnished on Saturday, tonight's Fyrbird show is at 9:00 PM, 21+, and has no cover.

It feels like 2026 has been ramped up in terms of concerts (genre irregardless) in St. Ignace to fully capitalize on car shows, but when your town gets a huge influx of tourists to both show off and see the vehicles, why not make the most of it? Tarnished and Fyrbird both deliver the hard rock goods in different ways, so consider seeing both TOMORROW and tonight as the truck show goes down! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Fyrbird live at The Driftwood this summer!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Fefe Dobson, Oz, Dorene/Mike Haggith, and Separate Wayz previews next! Thanks everyone!

News & Updates From The Realignment Project & Viscera!!

Now that our weekend concert previews are done and dusted (for now), let's spend some time digging out of our still-massive backlog of stories from the past month, and tonight's post looks at new updates and media from a band on each side of the border, so here's what you should know!

Let's start today with the latest from local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project, so what have they been up to in the past two months? When we left off with the Matt Hicks-led project, he had just released their first full-length album (as opposed to EPs) "Long Cold Winter", and was in the process of uploading individual YouTube lyric videos of its songs. On June 13th, Matt revealed on their Facebook page that "album 2 is starting to develop some decent bones", so his rapid recording schedule hasn't slowed down just because he's working on longer studio albums! Said post was accompanied by a black-and-white photo of his tracking computer, even. Two days later, two T.R.P. songs were featured on The Tuesday Pump Session show with Jeff Tucker on the Georgia-based internet station Front Row Radio, and it's great to see that Matt's solo music is spreading far beyond the Soo area!

The Realignment Project got some more far-flung internet radio coverage on July 22nd when they and other labelmates at East London Recordings were featured as part of a "takeover" of British internet station Coastal Breeze Radio, so add some more international exposure, and it's good to see Matt's label promoting his music well! Lastly for the recent T.R.P. updates is that they released their second proper music video (not a lyric video) to their YouTube channel. There's less to this in terms of filming, as it's a one-take video of Matt singing the song from the shoulders up, but there was a heavy filter put on it in post-production that looks like the Stylize "Glowing Edges" filter from Adobe Photoshop. I'll hold comment on the song pending our review of "Long Cold Winter" (allegedly available on "all streaming platforms"), but it's a distinct looking video for sure, so give it a watch for yourselves below, and stay tuned for more from Matt soon!

Next up, here's some new updates from Sault Michigan hardcore punk trio Viscera, starting with the reveal on their Facebook page on July 22nd that they have had a print run of their debut EP "From Feast To Famine" made on CD, and they are now on sale via their Bandcamp page for $12 USD (as of this writing, $16.73 CAD). That is certainly good news, even if there isn't an obvious brick-and-mortar location to sell them at in the Soo post-Crooked Music, so buy it above if you want a physical copy! Bands have been added to both of Viscera's announced Soo Tang Records concerts here in the coming weeks, as per updated concert posters on their Instagram page. For their August 22nd headlining concert at Three One Three On Ashmun, they have added Marquette indie rock/power pop quartet Addicus in their local debut, so this show will definitely lean punk, if not have a genre variance.

A female fronted band with a strong upbeat sound and fun lyrics, hopefully Addicus provide a good counterbalance to Viscera's attack in two weeks! A second opening band, local or otherwise, is being sought, so message Viscera above if you wanna join this bill at the former Back Door. As for their show in the basement of Pizza Hut on September 26th, that show has had its lineup capped off with a third touring band, namely Marquette progressive/deathcore quartet SilentLife, also in their Sault Ste. Marie debut. Brutal yet atmospheric sound from them, and definitely not a style of original metal seen often in the EUP, so keep this show in mind for them and much more next month! Finally for tonight's news post, new live videos were filmed at Viscera's most recent gig, a headlining date at Superior Culture in Marquette last week, as shot by a members of other Marquette bands, one being Particle Thrower, who were the first announced openers for next month's Pizza Hut show.

I can't embed these videos here because they are tiled in a batch post, and videos uploaded thusly aren't embeddable on external websites, but the first three feature Viscera live, including their first public footage with new bassist Chris Lovins that I am aware of. Looks like an animated crowd for their hard hitting attack, and the guys look in good spirits (was Blind Bob wearing camouflage face paint?). The third video notably has an overhead view of Mitchell drumming, and if you have the means of a second floor or balcony to make that a reality, you take it! Sadly, these videos are all vertical and reasonably short, but give them a watch above, and stay tuned for more news & notes on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Viscera), The Second Downtown Street Party Preview, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Wednesday morning, which includes a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month and a clarification on what's airing on one of our two local rock radio stations, while this post also serves as a bit of a soft launch for the busiest weekend of the year around these parts via a preview of a big outdoor concert tomorrow night. Let's get things rolling!

Sault Michigan hardcore punk trio Viscera will play their next local gig on Saturday, August 22nd at Three One Three On Ashmun! Announced via their Instagram page on Monday as part of this concert calendar (also confirming a new return to Marquette on August 1st), the local date will see Viscera headline at the former Back Door, in what is being branded as from "Soo Tang Records". Is that Viscera's own in-house promotion agency, and is Soo Tang for the children? Viscera made their local debut at Three One Three in March, and for their encore there, they are looking for support bands, so if you're interested in hopping on this bill, message their Facebook page or above for more information! This concert takes place at 7:00 PM, it is presumably 21+, and while admission fees aren't given yet, the March show there (which featured Marquette metal band PonyWorm) cost $10 in advance & $15 at the door.

While we're on the subject, Viscera released their first ever music video to their new YouTube channel on June 6th! Their first studio original song since adding bassist Chris Lovins to their ranks, this is entitled "Chinga La Migra" (Spanish for "Fuck Immigration"), which sets the tone for a politically charged anti-ICE music video, though it's more of a lyric video, as you don't see Bob, Chris, or Mitchell on camera. In your face with strong opinions that will especially resonate with many Yoopers, and it leans into hardcore punk well, though the slower, more melodic choruses kinda stunt the momentum. Give it a watch/listen below, and stay tuned for more from Viscera and their Three One Three show next month soon!

Next up, here's our preview of TOMORROW'S second Downtown Street Party in Sault Ontario for 2026! As these move west along Queen Street East, Street Party #2 takes place on a closed block of Queen from Brock Street to Elgin Street (the former RBC to the courthouse), but as this stretch is adjacent to to the Downtown Plaza, there will be more going on during the festivities. Local vendors will be on site, along with beverage gardens, food for sale, kids activities and games (in a proper Kids Zone, no less), and numerous Queen Street businesses will be open en route. The Downtown Plaza will play host to Nicole Does Trivia at 7:00 PM, followed by a free screening of Jaws 1 at 9:30 PM, and of course, this all happens concurrently with day #1 of Rotaryfest at nearby Clergue Park. Visit You Belong SSM's Facebook page for complete details on the non-musical portions of the second Downtown Street Party!

Like with last month's inaugural party since the City took over booking these from the former Downtown Association, there will be bands on two "stages", one at Brock Street, but the other will be at the turnoff for March Street (near The Queen's Tarts) rather than Elgin. Not as a far of a walk that way! The Brock Street Stage will play host to this event's likely only SMS-amenable act, namely acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos, who claimed on their own social media to be playing at 8:15 PM. The apparent headliners there are classic rock trio Flathead Ford (who said that they'd be on at 9:30 PM), and You Belong SSM have curiously not said who the third/opening act will be, referring instead to "more hometown heroes" and "so much more". We'll let you know if anyone is clarified! As for the March Street Stage, local country musician Brendan Hodgson is headlining there at 9:30 PM.

Classic country band The Stumpy Coldwater Trio gave their start time as 7:00 PM, leaving Rusty McCarthy (now alongside his regular partner Maja Bannerman) to likely be playing in the 8:00 PM hour. Remember, this is not an official Rotaryfest event, but as there's no Stage 2 bill tomorrow, the shoe kinda fits, even if this isn't on the same block of Queen as the Second Stage used to be held on! Downtown Street Party #2 is FREE & ALL AGES with a 6:30 PM start time, and 9&10 News is calling for mostly-partly cloudy skies tomorrow with no chance of rain, and temperatures ranging from 17-21°. Should be a fun time for all, with a dash of punk to boot, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Dos Amigos live!

Finally, I wanted to follow up on a brief note from last month where I mentioned that 104.3 The Fox and their sister Rogers Radio rock stations in Kingston and Northern Ontario have stopped airing the Winnipeg-based Sunday Night Vinyl Series, let alone on-air theme weeks. Based on what I have heard listening to 104.3 FM in recent months, as well as listings on the station websites and lack of promotion therein, it looks like Rogers have quietly dropped three more scheduled programs from the air no later than January. These include the Classic Rock Lunch with Lew McDonald (weekdays at noon), This Week In Rock with Adam Kane (Saturdays at 11:00 AM & 6:00 PM), and The Church Of Rock with Cosmo Grant (Sundays at 9:00 AM). All of the above hosts (including Howard Mandshein of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series) remain as on-air talent with Rogers rock stations, and Lew is still our afternoon DJ.

This leaves just the two zoo crew shows (Brock & Dalby and Biggs & Barr), individual DJ blocks, and Classic Rock Sundays as the only regularly scheduled programs on 104.3 The Fox, though if you miss Howard, Adam, and Cosmo, you can still hear them on Seekr via 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg or CHEZ 106.1 in Ottawa. Losing these shows is clearly a Rogers call and not the Soo's fault, and I haven't seen a public statement as to why these shows all ended at around the same time, but variety of the spice of life, and I do hope that Rogers try again with new scheduled programming in the future! That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Downtown Street Party #2), A New Album Release, And Much More!!

Here's another packed news post to check out on this Tuesday night, which features a newly released album from some familiar faces, clarification on private events, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning a community event next week, so here's what you should know!

Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will be the only SMS-amenable band playing at this year's second Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East on Thursday, July 16th!  This will come three weeks after the first Downtown Street Party of 2026, and with these monthly events progressively moving west, next week's will take place on a closed section of Queen from Brock Street to Elgin Street (basically from the former BMO building to the courthouse). Like last month's street party and the two to come, there will be vendors, family activities & games, beverage gardens, and deals and events at Queen Street businesses open along this stretch. As the Downtown Plaza is facing this block, there will be events there too, including live trivia and a screening of the first Jaws movie. Click here for full details on what to expect in a non-musical sense! Now, who all is performing next Thursday?

As was the case for street party #1, there will be two distinct music stages on/near Brock & Elgin respectively, but as of the most recent public promotion from You Belong SSM, they haven't firmly specified who is playing where. Five acts are confirmed, and Dos Amigos confirmed in this poster for their remaining summer dates (more on those in this weekend's concert previews) that they'll be playing at the Brock Street Stage at 8:15 PM. Classic country band The Stumpy Coldwater Trio confirmed on Spaces that they'd be on the "Spring Street Stage" (the same block, in any event) at 7:00 PM, while classic rock trio Flathead Ford will perform at 9:30 PM, stage unclear. Veteran local/Toronto blues musician Rusty McCarthy and country musician Brendan Hodgson will also perform during next week, and at least one more act is implied (note that the June street party had three acts on each stage).

What is unsaid here is that this street party coincides with the opening day of Rotaryfest, so downtown will be hopping, and as Stage 2 doesn't operate on Thursdays anymore, could you call the street party the de facto Second Stage for night #1? Not the right block of Queen from where Stage 2 used to be, but still! Next Thursday's festivities take place from 6:30-11:00 PM, and it is absolutely a FREE & ALL AGES event. Sounds like another fun time for the whole family, with a dash of punk from Dos Amigos, so visit the above links for more details on one part of a stacked Thursday in the Soo!

Next up, I wanted to acknowledge a recent private house party concert (and another to come) that got some attention on social media. With some exceptions, I don't tend to cover private concerts here (let alone give the address publically) out of deference and respect to the location, often someone's home. On occasion though, you'll see a show advertised that, while not containing a public address, is definitely marketed publically, which was the case this past Thursday when Underground Events SSM brought Nanaimo, British Columbia pop punk quartet Danger Box back for a "Not A Canada Day Show", two weeks before they swing back through here opening for The Ripcordz at Beck's next Saturday. The garage concert also featured Duncan, B.C. alt-punk band Red Lenses (who aren't playing at the Ripcordz show) and locals A.S.D.P. and 5 Dollar Bribe. If you wanted the address, you had to "ask a punk"!

That general rule will apply to Underground Events SSM's next private gig on Friday, July 24th (I cannot 100% confirm if it will be at the exact same locale), but despite being private, it is actually a benefit gig. Entitled "SOOpfest", it will feature a special acoustic set from A.S.D.P. plus rap group Fvksxvad, unspecified guests, and a freestyle/open jam block. Alongside a backyard barbecue, admission is by donation, either cash for the Ken Brown Recovery Home and the $onny Vybe$ memorial or food for the Soup Kitchen. Despite the private trappings, these are three wonderful causes, so see above for more details, and I do hope last week's Danger Box show was a hit! "Ask a punk" for SOOpfest location details later this month!

Finally for today, here's a surprise new album release, as veteran local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage put out their 72nd studio album yesterday via their Bandcamp page! In their first release in almost a year, this is entitled "No Neutrals Allowed: Double Live In Japan At The Boobikhan", which is not the first time that they have released a faux live album purporting to be from a far flung locale. If released physically, this would indeed be a double album, and it's oriented as such, as the first half of the 39 track album is comprised of re-recordings from their lengthy back catalogue (presumably as if they were performed live) with nineteen new songs in the second half. "No Neutrals Allowed" is dedicated to original SKR bassist Dennis Becker (brother of Paul & Dirk), who lost his battle with cancer in September 2024, and as "Ned", he was represented in their "Waerlogas Sagas I" concept album from that same year.

Performer credits for "No Neutrals Allowed" weren't given in text, but ex-bassist Brian Cattapan (Paul's son-in-law) was Photoshopped into the cover artwork sitting behind Dirk on the Boobikhan stage, implying that he guested on at least one song here. If true, it's good to see him working with the masters of the crash again! This album is on sale on Bandcamp for $15 and can be streamed for free there as well, though with our massive backlog of new album releases still to review, this won't be up until early 2027. It is great to see the Beckers, Shane, and Tony back with another huge array of new music, so check everything out above, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

Downtown Street Party & St. Ignace Car Show Weekend Concert Previews!!

Thanks in part to the St. Ignace Car Show and Canada Day being mid-week this year, the last weekend of June 2026 is very busy, so much so that I'll have to break up this weekend's hard rock concert previews into three posts! As such, our previews of this weekend's Peril, Stones & Crows, Tarnished, A.S.D.P., Bone Yard 225, and Generations shows will be in our next two news posts, with today's focusing on shows taking place tonight and tomorrow. Let's get things rolling with tonight's festivities in Sault Ontario!

The first downtown street party on Queen Street East for 2026 goes down TODAY, so what can you expect? While the City of Sault Ste. Marie has taken over development of these events from the former Downtown Association, things will be similar to past downtown street parties, with Queen Street being closed from Pim to Brock Street to enable vendors, bands, family activities, and beverage gardens to pop up for the occasion, with business in this block also opening, many with deals. Click here for full details on what to expect! Musically speaking, there is only one SMS-leaning band playing today, specifically newer local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow in just their third public concert, so if you want to check out this supergroup's take on the grunge/alternative icons, head downtown! They'll be playing on the "Brock Street Stage" and are listed as the middle band in social media promotion.

Also playing tomorrow are Half Scoundies (Josh & Todd from The Golden Scoundrels in an acoustic folk/country set, as last seen at Go Skate Day) and classic rock veterans The Cloud Bandits. Meanwhile, the "Pim Street Stage" will feature sets from rocakabilly cover trio The Steeltown Playboys, classic rock staples Angry Joe & The Growlers, and Mustang Heart keyboardist/singer Vito Tassone, and they are spaced far enough apart where music won't be fighting to be heard at either end. The street party goes down tomorrow from 6:30-11:00 PM, this is absolutely an all ages event, and it has no cover charge. 9&10 News is calling for temperatures of 14-17° tomorrow night, and while there is a chance of rain through the 9:00 PM hour, the You Belong SSM Facebook page assures everyone that the party will go on rain or shine. I'd say be prepared for the elements regardless, but hopefully things stay dry!

Visit the above links for more on what should be a fun evening of entertainment, and for a preview, here's the first public video of Even Flow, courtesy of their Facebook page on Monday! The jam session clip sees them covering Pearl Jam's "Animal", as filmed by singer/Riverside Stasis bassist Rob Speers while singing. The tight camera angles mean that Rob has to pan around for the duration to capture everyone in view (including himself), but it's a well handled cover of this early Pearl Jam classic, and not an obvious song that gets modern radio over-play, so look for this(?) and more tonight!

Next up, let's take an hour's drive south to St. Ignace, Michigan for some of the concert action taking place this weekend in conjunction with the St. Ignace Car Show! As this is the 50th anniversary of this popular car show, there's lots of activities happening in town for the next few days, and The Driftwood Sports Bar is capitalizing again like they did for Bronco The Mac, with three days of live music at their 590 North State Street headquarters. Coinciding with TONIGHT'S cruise night, The Driftwood will welcome back Manistique hard rock cover duo Fyrbird for a Thursday night encore almost three weeks later, and with lots of folks in Mackinac County for the car show alone, hopefully there is another sizeable crowd at The Driftwood for Jamie and Rikk's hard hitting slate of rock favourites! Like earlier this month, tonight's Fyrbird concert is at 9:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Fyrbird live there!

Finally for today's preview post, we'll stay at The Driftwood Sports Bar, who are tripling up live music this weekend like they did for Bronco The Mac, and like then, this includes DJs on Saturday night. However, they will have another familiar hard rock band gracing their stage TOMORROW NIGHT, namely Sault Michigan cover quartet The Nameless! Leading out from tomorrow's annual Down Memory Lane Parade of classic cars, this is the first show on their most recent schedule posting on their Facebook page, and marks their first publically advertised show in St. Ignace in two years, believe it or not. Hopefully their Driftwood debut proves to be a success for Josh, Mike M., Mike E., and Jamie, and that it sets the tone well for their private booking on Saturday night! Their next currently advertised public show is in the Soo late next month. The Nameless will also be up at 9:00 PM tomorrow with a 21+ age limit and no cover. See above for more on The Driftwood's car show weekend slate, and here's The Nameless covering Chevelle live!

That's all for now, but barring a late notice announcement of some type, our next post will preview this weekend's Tarnished, Stones & Crows, Peril, and Bone Yard 225 concerts, so look for that next, with Generations and A.S.D.P. to follow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Even Flow), A New Local Band, And An Inactive Band Note!!

June is here and so is the summer for all intents and purposes, so let's kick off another month with a packed news post, including a major band moved to our inactive links, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a big outdoor community event later this month, and first, a familiar new group that will be debuting on stage in a few weeks, so here's what you should know!

We have a new band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are Riverside Stasis, the new alternative band that is debuting at the all-local Blaster Powerhouse concert on June 27th! We knew going in that this was the new band from former Handsome Sandwich singer Tea Emlaw and former HeadFirst guitarist Raine Rancourt, but as it turns out, 3/5ths of HeadFirst are back in this project, with guitarist Liam Dinsmore and drummer Anthony Boudreau also involved. Rounding out their lineup is ex-Jack Spades bassist Rob Speers, who played with Tea in the short-lived cover rock band The Barbarians last year. Riverside Stasis' new Facebook page describes them as an "indie/pop rock band", but given this lineup and the show they're debuting at, I'd be hard pressed to not cover them. Their first original song is named "The Fool", which you can sample in this performance video edited by A Dire Setback bassist Matt Quinn.

While the band has more HeadFirst DNA, post-pandemic Handsome Sandwich fans will be drawn to this via Tea's vocals, which remain as distinctive and cutting as they were on "Deconstructed" and "Collage". The song proper only gets to a harder rock sound on the chorus, but we only get the first 99 seconds of what is clearly a longer song. Given members' diverse musical backgrounds, there's a lot of potential sounds that Riverside Stasis could draw from, but it's good to see many familiar faces joining forces in this new band, so get more details above, and check out their first video below!

Next up, new Riverside Stasis bassist Rob Speers will pick up the microphone to join his other active local band (Pearl Jam tribute quintet Even Flow) when they play at this year's first Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East on Thursday, June 25th! Specifically, Rob and crew will be among the performers at the corner of Queen and Brock for one of two outdoor stages for this street party, the first since the City of Sault Ste. Marie took over management of downtown events & development from the former Downtown Association. Queen Street will be closed from Pim to Brock Street (i.e. The Rockstar Bar to the former RBC), with each street party (all on Thursdays) progressively moving their way west each month, though specifics and music lineups for the other three are to be announced. As best as I can tell, Even Flow (in just their third public concert since debuting last fall) are the only hard rock-leaning band playing on either the Brock Street or Pim Street stages on June 25th, but who else can you look for on this Thursday evening? 

I don't know if the You Belong SSM Facebook page has bands listed in performance order, but Even Flow are listed between "Half Scoundies" (frontman Josh Penno and fiddler Todd Webb of local bluegrass/folk band The Golden Scoundrels in a stripped down acoustic set) and veteran classic rock cover trio The Cloud Bandits. Meanwhile, the other stage at Queen & Pim will play host to blues/rockabilly trio The Steeltown Playboys, classic rock mainstays Angry Joe & The Growlers, and former(?) Mustang Heart keyboardist Vito Tassone. The two stages should be far enough apart where music shouldn't bleed over between ends of the block party! Attendees can also expect beverage gardens, deals from Queen Street businesses open during the event, a vendor market, and family activities, including a rope walk course in front of the Sault Ste. Marie Museum. Click here for full details!

Downtown Street Party #1 goes down on Thursday the 25th from 6:30-11:00 PM (if Even Flow are indeed second, I'd expect them to be playing in the 8:00 range), this is absolutely an ALL AGES and licensed event, and there is no cover charge. Despite the contentious end of the Downtown Association last year, it is good to see the City picking up the ball to keep bringing community events to the downtown core like this, and hopefully Even Flow's brand of grunge and alt-rock classics from the Pearl Jam catalogue add to the festivities later this month! See above for more details!

Finally, I have reluctantly opted to move local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT to our inactive band links. While not at our one year inactivity threshold, activity in their camp abruptly stopped on December 18th after what I would characterize as "sudden personal differences" arose on social media. Things got fairly divisive, and it's out of my depth to wade in on this discourse on a music site, so I'll let you find out what exactly happened five months ago if you want. The band has not made any official public statements or online updates since then, but none of their 2025 band members directly list Spades in their Instagram bios now, and they dropped out of all scheduled bookings into 2026, including the annual Walterstock in Toronto in January. Barring a revival, this ends a successful 12 year run for the former Jack Spades, who relaunched in the GTA in late 2021 after frontman J.D. Pearce and guitarist Daniel Horton both moved out of town during the pandemic.

While J.D. hasn't signalled work with a new public band as of yet, Dan is still in The Fast Life and is also now playing in a classic rock cover band named Tonehenge, guitarist Matthew Voros and bassist Sean MacNab are still performing together in the Toronto psychobilly band The House Of Haunt, and drummer Tyler Reiner is working as a session drummer and podcaster. Spades accomplished a lot in their four years down south, including two album releases, some wide tour runs and high profile gigs in the GTA and beyond, and lots of fun video content, plus two return trips for local concerts in 2022 and 2023. Best of luck to all prior (Jack) Spades members in the future, and hopefully we see the band again in some form!

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

Queen Street Block Party Review!!

An impromptu decision with a friend led us to the block party on Queen Street East yesterday to see the last two bands, so here's a surprise review of what I was able to catch! Hosted by downtown artisinal soap store Wood, Resin, and Lye, everything looked well organized and maintained on the blocked off Heritage Block of Queen Street (Pim Street-East Street) with lots of vendors and a decent crowd despite this being later in the day. Bands performed on a stage set up in front of Precious Blood Cathedral, so just about halfway into the block party zone, and 705Live Sound Co. made sure everyone sounded good yesterday. I guess the block party proper was delayed to a 2:00 PM start but we only arrived at around 4:30 (again, going at all was decided late). As such, I apologize for missing the opening acts, but there was indeed a Soo's Got Talent alumni set to kick off the day, albeit not strictly "last year's finalists", rather half of them.

Last year's winner Amanda Phillips, fellow finalists Ali Nisbett & Xavier Pelletier LeBeouf, and non-finalist Greg McLeod (all singers) represented the annual local talent show here, and if you want to see videos of their performances, then head over to The Soo's Got Talent's Facebook page! None of their videos feature metal, hard rock, or punk covers, but at least as far as the video goes, Amanda & Ali joined forces for at least two songs. T.S.G.T. judge Darren Robertson also served as the on-stage MC yesterday. Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations were second up yesterday, where they revealed that Dorian Grey/Flat Stanley guitarist Tony Kajnar is the newest addition to the band, replacing Brandon Ruch. Tony was one of two guest guitarists that Generations have played with in the past month+, and clearly his gig with them at The Water Tower Pub went well for him to get the fill-time position!

For a first look at Generations with Tony Kajnar as a full band member, drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn did film a video of them covering Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" with Tony K. on lead vocals, though it's easy to miss, as it was tucked at the end of a batch post of her photos from the day on their Facebook group. The 2:33 clip is sadly shot vertically, but at least she zoomed, and it sounds good while it lasts, with both Tonys handling this more modern power pop song well! Give it a watch below!

Arriving downtown (as in, to park my vehicle), we heard pop rock cover quartet Lime covering Joan Jett, while they were doing a Beatles song while walking to the stage. As such, I only saw them perform two songs live, including a cover of The Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" with guitarist/Rising Tide alum Liam Seymour on vocals, and the song that I filmed, as embedded below. Though Lime never plugged their involvement at the block party on their Facebook page, a sideways live-streamed video of them covering Linda Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved?" can be seen there. Liam, frontwoman Madi Schomogyi (a 2018 Soo's Got Talent finalist), and bassist Dan Linklater (ex-Id Iota) did show good chemistry and musicianship in what I saw, and Madi's voice is quite distinct! I couldn't immediately confirm the identity of their guest drummer though (normal drummer Braiden Bryant was unavailable).

The headliners of the block party were online page-less punk/alternative cover quintet Bookclub, who feature 3/4ths of The Inner City Surfers in mostly shuffled roles alongside guitarist Dave Bahun's old Room 206 bandmate Allan Watson on drums, and trumpet player Erin Antonello (who also plays tambourine and sings backup as song needs dictate). This was my first time seeing Bookclub live, and their set honestly hews closer to Mikey & His Uke than The Surfers, if with a more commercial range, but still with punk themes given that Mikey Hawdon is fronting this band. Though jokingly referencing their set as all-original, they only played covers from such acts as The Greg Kihn Band, The Travelling Wilburys, Lindsay Buckingham, Huey Lewis & The News, and John Fogerty, among others. With this group of musicians, talent and chemistry is no issue whatsoever, and the crowd was definitely into it!

You could tell that they were trying to move things along quick for time reasons, but Bookclub impressed in playing a diverse array of all ages-friendly songs (they knew their audience), and while I do lean more to their earlier collaborative bands for my musical preferences, their adaptability is commended! Erin's backing vocals were almost inaudible, but I don't know if that was an issue with the sound setup or not. Fun set for fans of Mikey's frontman work and The Surfers, and you can see our photos from Bookclub and Lime's sets at this link or at our Facebook page! Apologies again for the small number of Lime photos, I was lucky to arrive when they still had a full song to play at set's end, and good thing that I filmed it, as that was my last shot! As for our videos, here's Lime covering The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" to end their set, and Bookclub covering Doug & The Slugs' "Making It Work"!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bookclub & Generations), And More!!

Before we begin today's post, just a late heads up that there will actually be one more band joining Bone Yard and Skinbox at the Dragonfly Run (nee the Ride For ARCH) at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TODAY, namely a new local rock band named Nicky & The Southpaws, featuring Soo Fighters/Bourbon Blue alum Jules Cote. This is via Jules' personal Facebook page, as organizers have only confirmed Bone Yard's involvement publically. No word on what Nicky & The Southpaws play, but look for them TODAY during all of the festivities! Now, here's two big SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS & details on a familiar radio show's cancellation!

I spoke too soon about Slumshine being the only SMS-amenable act to play at the Fringe North Festival, as online page-less indie/punk cover quartet Bookclub will actually be the opening band on TODAY's program! Apologies for the short notice, I completely missed their inclusion on the program when doing the write-up on missing Slumshine's show there on Thursday (not helped by Bookclub not having known social media pages to plug gigs with, alas). TODAY's set will be the very first performance on the third day of Fringe North, with Bookclub playing on the outdoor stage outside of the Sault Ste. Marie Museum, and you can read some biographical information on the band (like how they formed and got their name) on page 35 of the official program. As you can see, Bookclub aren't really "opening" for anyone directly on the outdoor stage, with DJ Manskirt and drag performers The Haus of Gore playing under the tent well later.

The Inner City Surfers/Room 206 alum-laden Bookclub take the stage TODAY at 2:00 PM for this all ages set, which has a "pay what you can" model ($10 is suggested, $20 if you really want to support the band), and 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy conditions with a temperature of 24°. Hopefully things go well outside of the museum for Bookclub and Fringe North at large, and keep this one in mind if you want some afternoon punk and alternative covers! Apologies again for missing this one until now, and for a preview, here's Bookclub live!

Next up, Bookclub aren't done there for the weekend, as they and classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will join forces again for a block party on Queen Street East, this time TOMORROW! Again, I apologize for the short notice, confirmation of the bands only came this week, and not entirely from organizers. This is not a Downtown Association-held street party like the one that Bookclub and Generations played last week, as it is being put on by Wood, Resin, and Lye, a store on Queen Street East that sells handmade soap and artisinal products. The block party is 1980s themed and will be held in the Heritage Block, with Queen Street closed from Pim Street to East Street. Dozens of local vendors, refreshments, games, a beer tent, and much more will be on hand for the festivities, so for complete details on the non-musical aspects of the block party, visit Wood, Resin, and Lye's Facebook page to see what's in store TOMORROW!

Organizers only confirmed Bookclub by name as playing TOMORROW, where they will be the headline act, but Generations confirmed their involvement on their Facebook group, as well as that local pop rock quartet Lime will also be playing, though be advised that Lime have not publically acknowledged their involvement in this event. Also no public word yet on who will be on guitar for Generations here (key word: public). Curiously, Wood, Resin, and Lye said that "last year’s finalists from the Soo’s Got Talent competition" will be performing TOMORROW too, but they did not offer individual names. In case you forgot, six singers made the finals of The Soo's Got Talent last year, so click here for more on them in case that is true. It would be interesting to see them back on stage like this! Worth noting that Lime frontwoman Madi Schomogyi was indeed a finalist in The Soo's Got Talent in 2018, in case some promotional wires were crossed.

The block party is FREE and ALL AGES, with festivities taking place from 11:00 AM-6:00 PM, with Bookclub on last and Generations playing at 3:00 PM. 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy weather with a high of 25°, so the weather will be optimal for most TOMORROW! I wish organizers were more detailed about the lineup, but this should be a fun time for the whole family, so see above for details on TOMORROW'S block party, and for a preview, here's Generations live!

Finally for today, this has no direct bearing on our local radio market anymore, but the nationally syndicated radio show Nights With Alice Cooper will end its run during the first full week of September, as per radio news websites like this. The cancellation is due to syndicator United Stations "going in a different direction" (I hate that excuse) after the company was sold to new management, and Alice did not end the show on his own accord. Alice was heard locally weeknights on Classic Rock: The Bear's old Newberry, Michigan affiliate (WIHC, 97.9 FM) from the fall of 2008 until WIHC was closed in February 2010, but remained on The Bear through early 2013, when you may have picked up their Cheboygan feed locally on 97.7 WCHY. Nights With Alice Cooper returned to The Bear in February 2019, by this point airing regionally on 95.3 WWSS out of Tuscarora Township.

Nights With Alice Cooper only aired on truly local radio for just over a year, but as one of the last vestiges of The Bear's Newberry affiliate beyond station branding, the playlist, and the recent return of The Bob & Tom Show, I wanted to acknowledge it here. Alice's playlist skewed towards classic rock more than metal, but you got to hear an eclectic variety within, plus his own songs, and lots of great stories from his career, and hopefully he continues hosting a radio show in some form elsewhere! If you can't pick up 95.3 FM over the air, you can hear Nights With Alice Cooper on The Bear's free online stream. That's all for today, but stay tuned for lots more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Bone Yard Concert Previews, Plus Recent Live Concert Videos!!

As promised, let's cap off this weekend's known hard rock concert previews today, with some live concert videos featuring some very familiar faces to round things out with, so here's what you should know!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return to the public stage for concerts at Shooters Downstairs Lounge TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! After spending the past month playing at private gigs and via an oddly un-promoted Sudbury road trip (unless that was cancelled), these will be Bone Yard's first truly public gigs in the Soo since the Canada Day long weekend, and their first stops at Shooters since playing there in late June. Fans may recall that Bone Yard similarly had a public dry spell late last summer as they plied their trade at private bookings, so it's good to see Greg, Alex, and Warren back at it in a normal sense, and their hard rocking selection of covers should draw a good crowd! Yes, their infamous Bone Yard alcohol shots will be available. Tonight & tomorrow's shows are 9:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Bone Yard live at Shooters earlier this year!

Next up, here's some new videos from local classic/hard rock cover band Generations' Facebook group that we have yet to address on the site! As you may recall, the Jus' Chillin successors debuted at The Water Tower Pub two weeks ago alongside Flat Stanley guitarist Tony Kajnar as a temporary fill-in, and videos were posted from that one-nighter the following day, with drummer Tony Santoro posting two videos shot by an uncredited attendee from a sharp side-stage vantage point. These are covers of David Wilcox's "Riverboat Fantasy" (with bassist Pierre Anthony on lead vocals) and Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" with frontwoman Valerie Powley singing, and both come through well on the audio front! Tony K. slots in well with the band, and Valerie's vocals are predictably strong on "Black Velvet", but the daytime glare from the windows of the pub is very sharp (the filmer should have waited until nightfall in order to negate that).

And yes, these are vertically shot, which is rarely ideal, but at least zoom is used to focus on everyone at different points. As covered on the site in our first weekend concert preview post for this week, Generations returned to the stage as part of yesterday's Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East, where they and Bookclub played on the so-called March Street Stage, but unlike the Darsombra show there in June, the bands played facing Queen Street rather than the OLG building (only natural given the event). For this gig, Generations welcomed back Smokehouse's Michael Yurich (who sat in with them over Rotaryfest weekend) as their guest guitarist, and Tony Santoro's wife Dawn filmed their cover of Linda Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou", which is embedded below. Sadly, this video is also vertical, not helped by slightly jittery camerawork, but Dawn picked a spot to film with everyone in view and stuck with it.

Musically, everyone sounds fine on this classic rock ballad, and it is nice to see that the weather held up too, if with a bit of wind. Give Generations' newest concert videos a watch above and below, and stay tuned for more news, updates, and media from them when it rolls in!

Let's close with a video that will be a partial preview of our continuing Lopstock III live-stream coverage (resuming this weekend), namely a video of Treble Charger singer/guitarist Bill Priddle's online page-less indie rock band Pointless! Now, this band isn't punk or hard rock-centric (Bill was largely against Treble Charger's shift to pop punk on their last two CDs), but they do in fact cover Treble Charger songs that he sung lead on in their live dates. He took Pointless on the road for rare Southern Ontario gigs in June, where they opened for Juno Award winning Toronto alt-rockers Rusty and Sudbury punk trio Lightmares (who you may recognize from all three Oh!No festivals in the late 2010s, plus a 2018 date at LopLops). Attendee TheViolentVegan filmed Pointless' set for YouTube, and their set included covers of two Treble Charger deep cuts, namely "Forever Knowing" (song #3) and "Trinity Bellwoods" (as their closer).

Bill is joined in Pointless nowadays by Pillory frontman Robert Sartini on guitar, Id Iota/Pixo Control alum Dustin Goodall on bass, and ex-Ashes To Dust drummer David Peredun (Robert also plays in Bill's cover band All The Tired Horses). Hearing some familiar Treble Charger songs is nice, especially compared to some of their more drone-leaning originals, but of course, we'll have a much closer (and multi-camera) look at Pointless from their Lopstock set next week. Kudos to TheViolentVegan for capturing Pointless' 35 minute set at The Corktown Irish Pub in Hamilton two months ago, and give it a watch for yourself below!

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