LSSU Battle Of The Bands Lineup Updates, Plus A New-Ish Local Rock Radio Station!!

For a second straight day, we're focusing squarely on Sault Michigan and the Eastern U.P. for today's post, which fills in some blanks for a major upcoming concert event and looks at a regional radio station that some readers may not be aware of, so here's what you should know!

Here are some clarifications for the lineup of next Thursday's battle of the bands at Lake Superior State University's Arts Centre! First up, you may recall in our initial coverage that I held off on talking about hard rock band Sonic Dayze pending a proper write-up, but as it turns out, they're actually from Traverse City, which may explain why I'd never heard of them! A band travelling out of market to compete in a non-local battle of the bands is not a foreign concept, as Tarnished competed at two battles downstate earlier this year, inclding the Rock Recovery one in Alpena that fellow local hard rockers Double Jack (now Exit 808) played at. However, non-local bands coming here is more of a novelty as the Soo goes, and it'll be interesting to see how Sonic Dayze go over next Thursday, especially if the battle is fan voted again! They've been active since at least February, and multiple live videos can be seen on their Facebook page.

While based out of Traverse City, Sonic Dayze's new guitarist Jeremy "Wylde Child" Gates was born and raised in the Soo, so they're not completely devoid of local ties. I'm not familiar with Jeremy beyond Sonic Dayze media, but they have a good handle on grunge covers and have some deceivingly diverse originals and instrumentation, so don't bypass Sonic Dayze next Thursday at the battle! Regarding the local bands, we can confirm a little more on the debuting Small Town Society, as per personal Facebook postings from band members. Former Stoned Ape Evolution guitarist Melvin Willis will be joined in this group by singer/guitarist Holly Sibbald, bassist Chris Bennett (no word on if he's bringing his stand-up bass), and drummer Daniel Jackson. Still a lot of unknowns on this band, but it'll be interesting to hear how the Small Town Society do next week! Finally, we can confirm that I was 50% right on who's joining Molly Escherich in her band!

This is per a comment reply on our Facebook page when first plugging the battle of the bands yesterday, so thanks to Molly for the kind words! Her comment is ambiguous as to whether she meant that Nathan & Cayd are 50% of "The Other Guys" or if only 50% of those two (as in, only one of them) will be in the band next week, but the full lineup will reportedly be unveiled next week before the battle occurs. I'm still unsure of who Unsure are, but stay tuned in case we get more updates on the second annual LSSU battle of the bands in the coming week!

Let's close this post by acknowledging a new-ish and local-ish rock radio station on the FM dial! Readers who live/travel often in the central Upper Peninsula may be familiar with the McMillan-based radio station (WMJT) once known as Eagle Radio 96.7, which was owned by Darby Advertising from 2006 until 2018. That year, veteran local radio personality Tim Ellis bought their sister station WUPN (95.1 FM) in Paradise, and has since rebranded it as Bridge FM while maintaining its classic hits format, but WMJT 96.7 was sold at the same time to Travis Sumbera, who ran it initially as a hot adult contemporary station named 96.7 Flash FM, named for his dog. Starting in 2022, Flash FM started branding itself on social media as "Luce County's Rock", and fully filed to change their format to a rock station earlier this year. If you've wanted a local alternative to Rock 101 since The Bear left the E.U.P. in 2010, is Flash FM what you've been hoping for?

Maybe if you're located in western Chippewa County or Prince Township, Ontario, but from Sault Ste. Marie, I can't pull it on FM using normal equipment. A couple of stations technically based out of Newberry in Luce County (most notably Oldies 93) pick up here, but WMJT is not as powerful and is 15 minutes west of Newberry, and I recall not having luck in pulling WMJT here back when The Eagle was only on 96.7. If you try to scan 96.7 in Sault Ste. Marie now, you will likely instead pick up Kalkaska rock station KLT, which simulcasts at WRGZ 96.7 out of Rogers City for the Alpena market. When tuning into 96.7, I thought I had picked up Flash FM until I heard KLT bumpers, which was mildly surprising given that KLT's Boyne City affiliate (93.5 FM) picks up better here from past experience. Without travelling west, you'll likely need higher end equipment and/or a large directional antenna to pick up WMJT, especially given that WRGZ is nearby.

Barring that, you can always hear the live-stream on 96.7 Flash FM's mobile application and/or on Live365 (when it's on air), and it's interesting to hear their rock rotation along with sometimes familiar but mostly unique commercials! When I tuned into Flash FM, I heard songs by Matchbox Twenty, Chevelle, Europe ("Superstitious", believe it or not), The White Stripes, and Modest Mouse, among others, but I'll let you decide how their rotation compares to Rock 101, KLT, or any other stations. Flash FM truly is meant to serve the central U.P. but it's great to see another rock radio option up here, and hopefully Travis continues finding success with WMJT! See above for more details on 96.7 FM in McMillan, and stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest Video Showcase (Part 4!!)

I profusely apologize for the two week delay (life and other SMS posts got in the way), but here is our fourth all-video post from last month's Rotaryfest, as there are even more videos from hard rock acts/covers to address! We'll start with, at long last, videos from the returning Stage 2 beside the Art Gallery of Algoma at Clergue Park, where prolific local concert filmer Christopher Paci was on hand to film just one act for his YouTube channel, namely local genre-hating (but functionally punk/alternative) quartet Handsome Sandwich! He filmed them playing an original song (possibly named "I'll Be Fine") from a good central location, and if the stage looks familiar despite the two year hiatus for the Second Stage, remember that Rotaryfest used it at Lowe's Plaza for the condensed drive-thru stage last year. Presuming that this song will be on their forthcoming album "Lettuce", I'll hold comment on it for the time being.

That said, the Sandwich have a fun & lively performance to check out, and the bright sunny conditions sure do help the ambiance, so give Chris' video of Handsome Sandwich's Rotaryfest debut a watch below!

Unfortunately, the Second Stage was not filmed nearly as much as Stage 1 (more performers & a Thursday lineup acknowledged), but there are a couple more known videos out there. Local hard rock solo guitarist Mike Cliffe did film this video of young pop rock band Jupiter Marvelous on Stage 2, but as far as heavier or punk acts go, the only others I'm aware of feature classic hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley, who played Rotaryfest for the second straight year last month, but first with this stage officially being used as Stage 2. The band's own YouTube channel posted this video of them playing a cover (ironically given the stage) of Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction", as filmed by attendee Brian Sequeira, which may have been their set opener. Fun rendition of this song by the psychedelic garage rock veterans, and Brian had a good angle with zoom used where needed, so check it out below!

The other known video of The Uncanny Valley actually comes from a festival highlights video by attendee Pushpendra Singh, whose YouTube channel has a lot of informational and recap content to spotlight events, attractions, and perks of living in/visiting Sault Ontario, especially to Indian immigrants. The video is all-encompassing for Saturday events at the festival, so you'll often hear music where you can't see it, but Pushpendra does get lots of panning shots of  the festival grounds, concert attendees, and more, so it's a good excuse to see everything in a brief span! Clips of The Uncanny Valley can be seen in the first couple of minutes and especially for a minute+ at the very end, but he also filmed featured Stage 1 performers Queen Flash for about 90 seconds of clips in the middle. Pushpendra isn't always easy to hear, but his video is excellent, and I'd love to see more of the footage! Give it a look below!

We'll close today with more videos of the Montreal-based Queen tribute band that was this year's featured touring band, and we're coming full circle via returning to the aforementioned Chris Paci's YouTube channel to show them! Chris filmed five videos of Queen Flash on Stage 1, including them playing both "We Will Rock You" & "We Are The Champions", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Radio Ga Ga", "I Want It All", and as embedded below, "Bohemian Rhapsody". It is worth noting that Queen Flash actually perform the entirety of "Bohemian Rhapsody" live rather than do what the real Queen does, omitting the acapella intro and using a recording of the operatic "Scaramouche" bridge, so it's up to you if you want to scrutinize extra. Regardless, it's a tough and complex song, and Queen Flash do an admirable job! Very solid work by Johnny Zatylny and crew on these six classic songs, so give them a look!

We are still not done with Rotaryfest videos, so Bone Yard and Mustang Heart fans, do not worry, but that's all for today, and stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest Video Showcase (Part 2!!)

After a couple days spent previewing local concerts, we're back to the Rotaryfest concert video grind on this Saturday afternoon, as we have even more videos to share from the Sault's summer festival, specifically bands who played at Stage 1 at Clergue Park on Saturday the 16th! There is absolutely more coming, including from Stage 2, so look for those next week. We'll pick up where we left off on Wednesday, via former SaultOnline reporter Mike Caruso's new YouTube channel, but Mike was only present for the first two bands on the final day, neither being or playing hard rock. He filmed Pegasus covering Billie Holiday and The Jeff & Jeff Show covering Garth Brooks, but the video is having issues for me, with Pegasus audio bleeding over top of Jeff & Jeff video, some of it slowed down. Mike did re-upload his Thursday and Friday videos, so this could be why, to eliminate issues like this.

Keep tabs on Mike's channel to see if this gets fixed, but kudos to him for filming what he did! Now heading to videos of some of the hard rock acts on Saturday, starting with a video of Montreal-based Queen tribute band Queen Flash's featured set! This comes from the Facebook page of local talent competition The Soo's Got Talent (which allegedly returns from its pandemic hiatus later this year), who shared it from co-organizer Mario Naccarato's personal Facebook page. The video features Queen Flash playing "We Are The Champions", and singer Johnny Zatylny definitely has the look and tone of Frreddie Mercury down well (even with a crown and robe!), but you can tell this was later in the set, as he is struggling on some higher and longer notes. Solid performance of this Queen staple all around, so give it a look below!

Also, Rotaryfest's own Facebook page has posted hundreds of photos from the weekend and assorted posts about the festivities, but only one video from the band lineups was posted there, namely this remarkably short (only 13 seconds long!) video of Queen Flash's set. The focus seems to be less on the band and more on the fans, as the filmer had a corner-of-the-stage angle of the crowd clapping along mid-song, and yeah, quite a solid turnout for Rotaryfest's return to normalcy!  If you got the latest Sault This Week in your mailboxes, you'll have noticed a neat overhead shot of the 2,500 person crowd for Queen Flash, which is really good to see! Check out this quick video for yourself below, and more videos are coming soon!

We'll close today with the band that actually followed Queen Flash, namely local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard, who closed the festival on Saturday night! Attendee Marcy Catherine live-streamed two videos from their set onto her personal Facebook page, with the band sharing them on their own Facebook page after the fact, and they include covers of The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up?" (seriously) and, as embedded below, the back half of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son". Solid covers with good camera angles given Marcy's location, and while the former cover is unexpected, it's light and amusing! Check out both of Bone Yard's Stage 1 videos above & below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Fort Creek) & More Rotaryfest Concert Previews!!

Keeping our busy, busy slate of weekend concert previews going, today's post will be devoted primarily to bands playing at Rotaryfest's second and third nights, so here's what you should know about most of the remaining action at Clergue Park, plus a linked SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook event page on Wednesday. Last seen opening for Sandman this past weekend, TOMORROW'S show will be Fort Creek's first at the Dennis Street nightclub in three months, and is a one nighter due to or resulting in TONIGHT's also short notice Handsome Sandwich show there. However, this will be Fort Creek's second show TOMORROW, following their previously announced Rotaryfest Stage 1 debut at 3:00 PM at Clergue Park (preview ahead), so to account for the busier schedule, the Shooters show will take place an hour later at 9:00 PM. Otherwise, this is a normal date with a 19+ age limit, no cover charge, and yes, another merchandise giveaway.

Fort Creek are ones to stay busy, as TOMORROW'S double booking shows us, and with their own rising profile and solid hard rock sound, they should deliver at Shooters to end the night! Hopefully they can successfully pull in a strong crowd opposite Queen Flash and Bone Yard way down Bay Street. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Fort Creek live!

Next up, let's look at night #2 of Rotaryfest's Stage 1 entertainment beside the Centennial Library, as TONIGHT's six band lineup includes a couple of heavier-leaning acts! Headlining tonight at 10:00 PM are veteran classic rock quartet Angry Joe & The Growlers in their festival debut, while Stage 1 mainstays Mustang Heart will hit the stage at 9:00 PM, having only missed the festival once (in 2019) since debuting at Rotaryfest back in 2004. Mustang Heart do have some heavier covers in their back pocket, so don't write them off! Prolific local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith will make his Stage 1 debut at 8:00 PM in the long delayed full-band show he's been hyping since the pandemic began, with A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen & Matt Quinn and ex-Din drummer Brandan Glew backing him up on cuts from his newest solo albums. This'll be a big one, don't bypass Mike's big homecoming tomorrow evening, and plugged-in too!

Fresh off of the Downtown Street Party, classic/hard rock quartet Obsession (with guest musician Jessica Amadio) will play their twelfth Rotaryfest set since 2008 at 7:00 PM, so they should have a strong block of hard rocking covers then! Classic rock quartet RPM will play their second Stage 1 set at 6:00 PM, while Obsession frontwoman Valerie Powley's classic rock/R&B side project Ladies Sing The Blues will make their festival debut at 5:00 PM. Definitely a stacked and diverse lineup as usual, with a heavier middle for SMS diehards, and this is FREE & ALL AGES once again, with 9&10 News calling for partly cloudy weather from 18-24°. See above for more details, and here's Mike & crew jamming!

Before we move on to Saturday, just a reminder that the returning original-focused Stage 2 beside the Art Gallery of Algoma will kick off tonight with Friday Night Blues sponsored by the Sault Blues Society! This is the only stage lineup this year with no hard rock or punk acts, but blues fans can enjoy Rusty McCarthy, Smokehouse, Big Wheel & The Spokes, and The Swamp Cats from 5:30 PM onward, and with Rusty and The Spokes involved, it especially feels like Second Stages of yore! See above for full details on tonight's Stage 2 action, again free and all ages!

As for TOMORROW'S Stage 1 lineup, it is the longest as usual, with ten scheduled acts playing all day long, and the night ends (as it did last year) with southern hard rock band Bone Yard at 10:30 PM, and their slimmed down trio lineup should end things with a bang via their classic cover set! After not bringing in featured touring bands last year, Rotaryfest will welcome Montreal-based Queen tribute band Queen Flash to Stage 1 at 8:30 PM, just two months after Queen: It's A Kinda Magic played here at the former Kiwanis Theater. Queen Flash are a distinct and also very talented tribute that will deliver the goods for Queen fans, so don't bypass them tomorrow! Local classic rock notables Mid Life Crysis will make their ninth Stage 1 appearance at 7:10 PM, following a set by former Staggered Crossing frontman Julian Taylor, whose Toronto-based Juno nominated roots & folk music will be sure to turn heads at 6:00 PM!

Country musician Brendan Hodgson will play Rotaryfest for the second straight year in the 5:00 PM timeslot, while Stage 1 musical director KT Antler and Machines Dream guitarist Keith Conway will play a special duo set at 4:00 PM, replacing The Sidekicks. The aforementioned Fort Creek will make their Rotaryfest debut at 3:00 PM, and while I can't confirm another merch giveaway, their upward trajectory and hard rocking covers should find an audience before they head to Shooters! New classic rock/blues cover trio All The Tired Horses (featuring Treble Charger & Id Iota alumni) will also play Stage 1 for the first time at 2:00 PM, as will classic country duo The Jeff & Jeff Show at 1:00 PM. Lastly, 1970s nine-piece classic rock group Pegasus will reunite again to kick things off at 12:00 PM with their horn laden cover set, as you may have seen here in 2018 for the Rotaryfest Rewind schedule.

Another stacked lineup of bands to end Rotaryfest with tomorrow night, with a little something for everyone and some hard rock sprinkled throughout! Again, this is free & all ages, the Take Your Pick drawing will take place after Bone Yard's set, and 9&10 News is calling for very similar weather as tonight, but it will peak higher at 26°. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Queen Flash live!

That's all for today, but our weekend concert preview crush continues tomorrow morning with Rotaryfest Stage 2 on Sunday, plus extra shows taking place Saturday and Sunday outside of the festival, so stay tuned for them then! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rotaryfest Stage 1!!)

As you may have seen since last week, the official lineup for Rotaryfest's Stage 1 at Clergue Park has officially been unveiled! The festival's Facebook page did so via separate Facebook event pages for each act, primarily between Tuesday and Friday, but I held off on announcing anything in an SMS post until the last open timeslot (Saturday at 2:00 PM) was filled, which belatedly occurred earlier today. After being reduced to a delayed virtual concert setup in 2020 and a drive-in format at Lowe's Plaza last year due to pandemic restrictions, Stage 1 is back at the familiar pop-up stage at Clergue Park outside of the Centennial Library from Thursday, July 14th-Saturday, July 16th, and with the pandemic at a much better state in 2022, it looks like we're back to normal or close to it for live music at Rotaryfest! Of course, visit the official website for continuing non-musical details, and we are awaiting the reveal of the returning Second Stage's full lineup (the Friday schedule is out already).

Like every year from 2001-2019,  Stage 1 (presented by the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation) will have three days of covers-leaning live music, though as has been the case since 2018, select scheduled bands will have original music in their repertoire and are not stuck on Stage 2 as a result, though I believe original acts remain the Second Stage's focus. This year's Stage 1 lineup has 20 acts, up from 15 last year at Lowe's Plaza, so here's what you should know via three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Unless there's a late addition, Thursday, July 14th will only have four bands this year, the first time Stage 1 at Clergue Park hasn't had five announced acts since 2014, and this is the only night without a 10:00 PM act. As such, the advertised 9:00 PM headliners are classic rock cover quartet L!me in their second Stage 1 set, last seen there in 2019. Featuring Id Iota and Rising Tide alumni, L!me are a talented young group seen often in the Soo, and while not a hard rock band, don't bypass them! Co-headlining that night are local funk/hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns in their second straight Rotaryfest appearance, though no word on if they'll be plugged in again or back to acoustic. The Speers and company should entertain fans with their accessible but often heavy cover range! Vintage classic rock trio Flathead Ford will hit Stage 1 for the fifth time and first since 2017 with a set at 7:00 PM, while The Northern Jazz Ensemble will open the day at 6:00 PM.

The only band to play the last three Stage 1s, this jazz/pop collective have entertained Rotaryfest attendees twelve times since 2001, and they should kick things off well on the former jazz night for the main stage! Thursday's action is FREE & ALL AGES as usual, so visit the above links for more on the opening evening's musical entertainment!

Friday, July 15th's lineup is back to the six act setup of 2017-2019, and will be headlined at 10:00 PM by Rotaryfest newcomers Angry Joe & The Growlers, an established classic rock quartet who you may have seen on the weekend cover circuit since 2018. The most common Stage 1 band in the modern era will co-headline, as classic rock quintet Mustang Heart are on at 9:00 PM in their seventeenth Stage 1 set in the past eighteen years! Mustang Heart do cover hard rock in their vast setlist, so don't write them off! In a surprise reveal last week, local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith will return home for his Stage 1 debut at 8:00 PM! This is effectively the long delayed realization of his planned 2020 full band concert at LopLops, with the same band from his Steeltown Sessions video (A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen & Matt Quinn plus his old Din bandmate Brandan Glew) backing him up.

It's great to see Mike back home for a non-acoustic gig, and with the Stage 1 platform to boot (The Din only got to play Stage 2), so fans won't wanna miss this one! Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession precede Mike in the 7:00 PM timeslot, in their twelfth Rotaryfest set in the past fourteen years, but first public concert in over two months after two cancellations. A special guest named Jessica Amadio will be joining them for at least part of the set, though I don't know what instrument she'll handle. Hopefully Valerie, Gabe, Jim, and Steve deliver a strong and hard rocking set once again! Classic rock cover veterans RPM will return to Rotaryfest in the 6:00 PM slot for their second appearance, last playing Stage 1 in 2016, The opening band at 5:00 PM will be Stage 1 newcomers Ladies Sing The Blues, a classic rock/R&B project led by Obsession's Valerie Powley and Spyder's Web's Shirley Kominos.

Both ladies are obviously talented singers and they should set the tone well on Friday, if a change of pace from the heavier set that Obsession will bring in a couple of hours! Again, everything is FREE & ALL AGES for music fans on Friday, so see above for more details!

Like usual, the Saturday, July 16th lineup is the longest and has the featured touring headliners, so what ten acts can you expect? As has been the case since 2015, a local band will actually close Saturday night, and like last year, it'll be southern hard rock cover band Bone Yard, in their eighth Stage 1 set since their festival debut in 2010, but first with their current trio lineup. Another solid opportunity for Greg, Alex, and Warren to rock out on the big stage, so don't miss them at 10:30 PM! This year's featured touring headliners are Montreal-based Queen tribute band Queen Flash in their local debut, but Queen fans are quite spoiled locally, having just seen Queen: It's A Kinda Magic in May! Two tributes in two months may seem like too much too soon, but Queen Flash will be free, and while still very faithful to the Queen sound, they are their own animal entirely, so don't miss them at 8:30 PM!

Classic rock cover veterans Mid Life Crysis will hit Stage 1 for third straight year & ninth time overall at 7:10 PM, but before them at 6:00 PM is a surprise second touring act, namely Toronto roots/folk musician Julian Taylor, a Juno Award nominee who you may recognize from the rock band Staggered Crossing, as seen locally at the former Foggy Notions and on 2003's "Foggy Style" compilation CD, so it'll be neat to see him back in town with his accomplished solo material! Local country singer & Summer Thunder alum Brendan Hodgson will return to Stage 1 for the second straight year at 5:00 PM, while four consecutive Stage 1 newcomers precede him, including new local classic rock cover trio The Sidekicks (featuring ex-Griphook bassist Dan Beaupre) at 4:00 PM. Also playing Rotaryfest for the first time are local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek at 3:00 PM in one of their biggest shows yet, though no word on another merchandise giveaway.

New local classic rock/blues cover band All The Tired Horses (featuring Treble Charger's Bill Priddle and Id Iota alumni Robert Sartini & Blair St. John) will hit the stage at 2:00 PM, while local country duo The Jeff & Jeff Show (who opened for Bone Yard at the Queen Street Cruise) will perform beforehand at 1:00 PM. Saturday's lineup opens at 12:00 PM with a surprise reunion of nine-piece horn-laden classic rock band Pegasus, who debuted in 1973, and came back for the Rotaryfest anniversary year in 2018. Once again, Saturday's music is FREE & ALL AGES, so absolutely check the above links for more on this stacked Stage 1 lineup, and stay tuned for more news & notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!