LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sandman, The Wyld Stallyns, And The Uncanny Valley), And Fort Creek Updates!!

Here's a new news post for your Tuesday night reading, and while it does feature some new videos and updates from a rising local band, we're mostly diving into three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS over the next two months! Here's what you should know!

New local hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley will play their third public concert on Friday, February 28th when they make their LopLops Lounge debut as the opening act for two touring indie rock bands on their upcoming Ontario tour! The headliners are Kawartha Lakes alternative quartet Heaps, whose melodic and atmospheric originals should be a great fit at LopLops, so genre fans will want to give them a look! The other featured act is Hamilton indie/shoegaze quartet Basement Revolver, who will bring their own dream pop-inspired original set to a local audience at (almost) month's end, so don't bypass them either! The Uncanny Valley aren't a perfect genre match, but this should be a solid opportunity for Adrian, Matt, Adam, and Dylan to get lots of local fans at this early stage of their run! This concert has a $10 cover charge, doors open at 8:30 PM, and you must be 19 or older to attend. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will be the featured musical entertainment at the second annual Docs & Food & Beer & Bands fundraiser event at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre on Saturday, March 7th! I admittedly can't find a reference to this event in 2019, but hosts Northern Superior Brewing have hosted events like this in the past, and the event in question is a fundraiser featuring pairings of their beer along with a selection of food, and live music for accompaniment. In this case, the fundraiser will support the upcoming Docs on Ice hockey tournament in April, as partnered with Algoma Family Services to fund youth mental health and addictions support locally. Great causes to be sure! Despite the event name, The Wyld Stallyns are the only "band" on the bill, with their support act being relocated local solo musician Ben Saunders, whose public material is extremely varied, but I assume we'll see his acoustic singer/guitarist mode here.

A 7:00 PM start time is advertised for Docs & Food & Beer & Bands, and tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning at this link, price not yet publicized, though it includes 3 food & beer tickets each. An age limit isn't stated, but given the heavy emphasis on beer and the presenting sponsor providing it, you can take things from there. This sounds like an intriguing event for worthy causes, if somewhat atypical as concerts go, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details as they roll in!

Lastly for new concert announcements, Toronto-based Metallica tribute band Sandman will return to The Canadian Nightclub on (Good) Friday, April 10th! Despite what the Facebook event page may tell you, this is not their debut in Sault Ste. Marie, as Sandman played here in March 2015 at The Rockstar Bar, and previously at The Canadian in June 2008, which is personally notable to me as it was my first ever 19+ concert. Still featuring Helix alumni Rick Van Dyk & Paul Fonseca in their lineup, Sandman achieved extra notoriety in 2016 after briefly getting a cease & desist letter from Metallica's lawyers over their promotional material, before the real Metallica set things straight and officially endorsed them. It's great to see Sandman keeping at it with their faithful sounding and looking stage show, and they should provide some hard hitting thrash action over the Easter weekend! An opening band is to be announced. Presented by Cabin Media Entertainment, tickets go on sale on Friday for $20 at The Canadian Motor Hotel's front desk.

The event page's write-up implies that tickets "start at $20", so prepare for a jump at the door, at the very least. This is a raise from the 2015 admission fee, but it is a different venue and Sandman are higher profile now. Also, note the oddly early start time of 7:30 PM, despite being on a holiday weekend. Metallica fans won't want to miss out on Sandamn's return after 5+ years away, so visit the above links for more details!

We'll close today with some new videos from new local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek, starting with this brand new promotional video on their Facebook page. Featuring just still images (often heavily filtered and with some shaky motion), it introduces all 5 band members in a roll call of sorts, while also teasing that updates will be coming soon on their debut EP, marking their first public confirmation of what they're doing in studio right now. Very ambitious to already be recording an EP before ever playing a formal public concert (jam night appearances aside), but the guys have the talent and experience! I don't know who's doing the narration here, but is anyone else getting vibes of the DJ from The Warriors? Embedded below is their newest studio clip from February 2nd, featuring bassist Robin "Bones" Lee playing bass while at a tracking computer. The music on offer has a slow southern rock vibe, but there are still a lot of unknowns yet from Fort Creek's camp. In the meantime, give everything a look above and below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Plus Lots Of New Videos!!

Here's another news post for your Saturday afternoon reading, so what's on offer today? Mostly new videos from artists on both sides of the border, but leading off, let's start with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Fresh off wrapping up another week of Gliss shows, local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will head to The Water Tower Pub TONIGHT as one of many performers at their eighth annual Blues For Food fundraiser concert! Profuse apologies for the short notice, this has been announced since at least November 8th, but we only learned of it via a mention on Tym's personal Facebook page this morning, and given the genre theme, it's never been something to hit our direct radar before. This annual concert features a stacked cadre of blues-leaning local musicians, with all admission fees being either cash or non-perishable food donations to the Soup Kitchen, which is an excellent cause, and hopefully year #8 is another huge success to that end! This is Tym's first publically credited appearance at Blues For Food, so expect a bluesier set from him TONIGHT, while 10 other artists are advertised on the poster. These include (in listed order) Catherine Taddo, blues rockers Five Below Zero, Obsession frontwoman Valerie Powley, Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle...

...Stuart Bolduc, Barn Board Trio/ex-Gianni Gagoots guitarist Liam Seymour, Rusty McCarthy, Rick Wysynski, Mark Gough, and Steve Quesnele. Very talented lineup with many familiar faces from the local blues community and past Blues For Food events, so don't miss them and more special guests TONIGHT! This show starts at 9:00 PM TONIGHT, and you must be 19 or older to attend. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym Morrison live a few years back!



Next up, here's the latest from local punk trio Stegadeth, starting with a surprising lineup shift, as they announced the addition of Bear Hunters/Handsome Sandwich drummer Johnny Belanger to their lineup last month, replacing Daniel MacDonald. The band cited unspecified "health reasons" for Daniel's departure, so hopefully it's nothing too serious, and that we see him back on stage down the road at some point! Of course, Johnny was a bandmate of guitarist Tiffany Stocco's with Jack Spades (Mk 1) through last summer, and he should fit in fine with her and Bill going forward, starting at the Guy Thiffault memorial concert at The Canadian on the 27th! In our first look at Stegadeth Mk 2, the band posted this video to their Facebook page last week featuring their cover of Diarrhea Planet's "Ghost With A Boner" (I didn't title the song or band, don't shoot the messenger!) Filmed by frontman Bill "Orthae" Bennett while playing, the performance is raw and promising, but not a lengthy look at the new lineup yet. Still, check it out below, and don't miss them live after Boxing Day!



Also today, here's some long overdue new videos from Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night's Facebook page, in advance of TONIGHT'S Soo Theater concert! Apologies for the delay in these making the site, they fell through the cracks far too often. All via shares from keyboardist Craig Harrison's personal Facebook page, one comes from November 21st, and it's just a 10 second clip of their version of "The Little Drummer Boy" played through a computer. Sounds good, but very brief! Another one from November 6th is this video filmed at Grooters Productions in Holland featuring ominous instrumentation, though the dark lighting doesn't accentuate things well, especially with no one visibly performing live. Also that day was this video showcasing the beginning of their version of "Silent Night" (again, via computer tracking), though this does reveal that they have pre-taped spoken word introductions on certain songs. Again, this is short, but it's a good preview!

An earlier video from November 2nd features just tracking background instrumentation. Embedded below however is this weekend rehearsal video from the 20th that opens with Craig performing a section, before translating to instrumental performers at Grooters. Arguably the heaviest non-concert video yet from Theatre of Night's Christmas tour cycle, this is a nice preview of what to expect tonight at The Soo Theatre or tomorrow in Pickford, despite the vertical camera angle, so check out these new-ish Theatre of Night videos above & below, and stay tuned for more next week!

 
Finally, here's the first video posted to Sault Ontario hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary's new YouTube channel! An original song called "Childish Leaders", this is Mike's entry into the Serj Tankian Challenge, a contest by System of a Down's frontman where musicians must make a 3 minute-or-less original song that starts with a a provided 7 note progression. Very well put together video with lyrics and animations, and if Mike did this all himself, kudos for a great job! Catchy song with a laid back feel yet serious lyrics, and hopefully it makes listeners think about what's on offer below!



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