'80s Rock Invasion Concert Video Showcase!!

Today's post takes us back to Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula, and while we will get to more fallout from last week's battle of the bands in Sault Ste. Marie, we're actually going to focus on St. Ignace today via a long overdue look at the other non-addressed public YouTube videos from July's '80s Rock Invasion concert outside of the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! I apologize for the delay in these making the site, it was a busy summer and these fell through the cracks. Surprisingly, the remaining extant videos from the show do not include footage of Ace Frehley's headlining set, but three of the supporting bands had videos yet to be featured on the SMS, including co-headlining Los Angeles hair metal band Great White, so what else can you see from them? YouTube user Big Talk (who also filmed Ace's full set) got two videos of Great White playing  "Save Your Love" and, as embedded below, "House Of Broken Love".

Unlike Big Talk's video of Ace's set, the Great White videos were shot with two cameras, including the high quality angle from their good front row spot, as well as a second camera at floor level to the stage that had to have been shot by a second person. No word on why the second camera wasn't used for Ace's set, but it's good to see multicam footage for some of Great White's! Everything looks and sounds good for fans of their classic glam metal sound, with Brett Carlisle doing justice to Jack Russell vocally, so check these out above & below!

Next up, the remaining known public YouTube videos from the '80s Rock Invasion come by way of YouTube user Greg Miller, whose channel features almost two dozen more concert videos from classic rock and hair metal shows downstate, so keep those in mind as well. For one reason or another, Greg didn't post anything from Ace Frehley's set nor Vixen's opening set (I haven't found any public videos of Vixen here), but he did upload three videos from the other three bands' sets, so what all can be seen here? From the aforementioned Great White, Greg filmed them covering Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and playing their originals "Desert Moon" and "Lady Red Light" in one video, but embedded below is them playing "Rock Me". While similarly close to the stage as Big Talk was, Greg had a sharper angle and a lower quality camera, but his footage is still strong and captures lots of good views in the moment! Check these out above & below as well!

Now to two bands whose St. Ignace sets haven't had videos featured here yet, starting with Las Vegas glam metal quartet Slaughter, who Greg filmed playing "Fly To The Angels", "Burnin' Bridges", and as embedded below, "Spend My Life". In their (at least) fourth gig in the Sault Ste. Marie area, Slaughter still sound solid, with Mark's voice holding up very well over the years on these classic singles, so don't bypass Greg's videos from their set above & below!

Finally, Greg got three videos of original Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler and his solo band in action! Casual fans may have wondered what his solo concerts are like, and with one original exception, his set was entirely comprised of covers of Guns N' Roses songs centered around his time in the band. To that end, the assembled band (filmed here covering "Welcome To The Jungle", "Sweet Child O Mine", and as embedded below, "Paradise City") are effectively a GNR tribute band, but a very talented and energetic one with very Axlesque vocals, so fans will have got a kick out of Steven's band, especially if you loved "Appetite For Destruction"! Check out Steven & crew above and below!

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

Ace Frehley & Great White Full Concert Videos From St. Ignace!!

Now that my two outdoor concert reviews from this past weekend are now up, it's high time to cover some news and media as normal, and while we will be looking at Rotaryfest fallout this week, I can't ignore the main event in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula last week, namely the '80s Rock Invasion outside of the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! If there were less passport-holding hair metal fans for the evening/night bands at Rotaryfest on Saturday, this concert may have been why! Five glam metal acts descended upon St. Ignace for this huge outdoor concert, and you know it was big, as not one, but two attendees filmed founding Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's headlining set! I had to double check the videos, as the angles seemed very similar, but the two attendees who shot the whole thing were almost side by side. Both are nearly identical for featured content, so I'll only embed one here just to avoid redundancy, but both are timestamped on YouTube.

The slightly longer (but lower quality) video was shot by Jordan's Rock Vault, a YouTube channel that shoots hair metal shows across Michigan and even outside of the state. While I'm not embedding Jordan's video here, kudos to him for filming what he did, as it's still a solid hour+ video for Kiss Army members, and we will end this post with Jordan's other band video from this night! Jordan also clipped out Ace's trademark smoking guitar solo from the full video as a separate upload, so give that a look if you don't want to skip through the full thing. You can't go wrong with Jordan's footage, but embedded here is the higher quality video shot by the YouTube channel of Big Talk, a classic rock podcast that similarly films videos at hair metal shows in and out of Michigan. Both Jordan and Big Talk were in the front row pit to film Ace and his solo band, so what all did they play?

This set was heavy on Kiss classics, and all are Kiss songs unless otherwise stated. In order, Ace & crew played "Shock Me", "Deuce", his new album's title track "10,000 Volts", "Shout It Out Loud", "Love Gun", "Rocket Ride" (with "Hotter Than Hell" interlude), his classic cover of Russ Ballard's "New York Groove" (with "God Of Thunder" intro), his Kiss-era original "Rip It Out", "Detroit Rock City" (followed by a "Love Her All I Can" interlude), "Cold Gin", the aforementioned smoking guitar solo, and "Rock & Roll All Nite". Perhaps wise to his own vocal limitations (and Kiss having multiple singers), Ace's guitarist and bassist take turns on lead vocals for many of the Kiss songs. To a point, I'd rather see Ace play more of his solo material (nothing from "Frehley's Comet"?) than Kiss songs that he wasn't the singer on, but he and his band sound good, and Ace's singing has held up when utilized. He can still shred with the best of them too!

Both videos capture the action from a close and horizontal angle, and you see everything you need to see on stage (the good weather helped in that regard), so do check them out above and below to relive Ace's first E.U.P. show in fifteen years from Saturday night! 

There's more from St. Ignace to come, but to close, let's go back to Jordan's Rock Vault for his other video from Saturday night, as he filmed Los Angeles hair metal band Great White's co-headlining set for another lengthy video! No sign of the other bands from this channel, alas. Notably, Great White's set took place at dusk, so it started in daylight and ended at night, which is a neat transition if you watch the whole thing! In their own first E.U.P. set in fifteen years (Jack Russell's Great White in 2017 aside), you can see them here playing "Desert Moon", "Lady Red Light", "House Of Broken Love", "Stick It", "Gonna Getcha", "Save Your Love", "Rock Me", and finally, their classic cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". Fans shouldn't have anything to complain about from Great White's set in St. Ignace on Saturday, with everyone performing well to bring their classic singles back, and Brett Carlisle is a quality choice as their current singer that nicely embodies their material!

I should note briefly that original singer Jack Russell (who sang with both Great White versions up here in the past) retired from touring earlier this month after being diagnosed with dementia, and you can get more details here. Our best wishes go out to him in his fight, and it is great that he played in the Soo and St. Ignace when able! As far as hair metal goes, I tend to like bands a little heavier, but Great White put on a solid show for Hair Scare diehards, so check things out above & below!

We will have more from this show in the coming days, but with how backlogged things are now (especially post-Rotaryfest), I'm not immediately making guarantees on when and where. A new post, likely Sault Ontario-centric, hits the site tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

Ace Frehley, Vaegon, and Pridefest Loud & Proud Concert Previews!!

Alright, it's time to finally conclude our previews of this weekend's hard rock, metal, and punk concerts in the Twin Saults and surrounding area! Thanks to Rotaryfest, this weekend is always super busy, but there's a huge show in Michigan's E.U.P. to look at in this post, along with two special Sunday concerts north of the border, so here's what you should know for this weekend's uncovered heavier concerts!

We'll pick things back up with the main event in the Eastern Upper Peninsula this weekend, as the '80s Rock Invasion descends on St. Ignace TOMORROW NIGHT outside of their Kewadin Casino! If you love hair and glam metal, you will definitely want to make the hour's drive south for this huge outdoor concert, headlined by original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley in his first local date since rocking Sault Michigan way back in 2009. Fans will surely get a full set's worth of Kiss classics and Ace solo hits like "New York Groove" and "Shock Me" tomorrow, so if you're in the Kiss Army, brace yourselves! Also playing up here for the first time since 2009 is Los Angeles hair metal band Great White (the version seen in St. Ignace in 2017 was the now-defunct splinter version led by ex-singer Jack Russell). Guitarist Mark Kendall and most of their classic lineup are keeping the Great White train rolling!

With hits like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "The Angel Song", don't miss their return! Las Vegas glam metal quartet Slaughter will also make their local return in their (at least) fourth concert in our area, last seen here via an indoor headlining date at the St. Ignace Kewadin in 2019. Mark and crew still have the goods, so look for hits like "Fly To The Angels" and "Spend My Life" tomorrow evening! Classic-era Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler and his solo band will make their local debut tomorrow with a set full of GNR hits from his run in the band, so fans will want to see his talented band bring those songs to life tomorrow as well! Opening are all-female Minnesota hair metal band Vixen (of "Edge Of A Broken Heart" fame), who notably switched out singer Lorraine Lewis for former Headpins/Trans-Siberian Orchestra vocalist Rosa Laricchiuta after this concert was announced.

Rosa has a very strong voice (as fans of La Voix know), so don't be late! Also, Steven Adler's band starred in the third and final Friday shoutout video on Kewadin's Facebook page to promote this concert, which notably has all of his band members trading off for the plugs. Results are inconsistent, but it's neat to see everyone involved! No shoutout videos from Ace or Vixen that I am aware of though. This all ages concert takes place tomorrow night at 6:00 PM, and tickets remain on sale at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. Tickets are still on sale in rows 13-15 ($95), rows 16-30 ($85), and in the general admission lawn area ($65). Weather-wise, 9&10 News is currently calling for partly cloudy conditions at 68-76° Fahrenheit tomorrow night with partly cloudy skies, so the bands should beat the potential rain forecast for much of tomorrow afternoon (that's new information in the forecast for you Rotaryfest-goers).

Incidentally, the St. Ignace Kewadin will also welcome Sault Ste. Marie classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished to The Northern Pines Lounge tomorrow night at 9:00 PM, so if you wanna keep the Hair Scare going after Ace's set ends, head inside the casino! Still surprised that they didn't have Tarnished as local openers for the big concert when they'll already be there tomorrow. If you love hair metal, St. Ignace is absolutely the place to be tomorrow night, so visit the above links for more on this stacked lineup of bands, and for a preview, here's Ace Frehley in the Soo last time out!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for two big concerts taking place on SUNDAY, starting with this year's Loud & Proud family fun day as part of day #1 of this year's Sault Pridefest! This annual (pandemic aside) event moves from the Bushplane Museum to the Roberta Bondar Pavilion for an afternoon of family friendly entertainment, including vendors, kids games and activities, refreshments, and much more! Unfortunately, advertising for Loud & Proud's band lineup has never been consistent, as they often don't even mention the scheduled musicians on social media, this year included, but this year will feature three musical acts alongside unspecified drag performers. The acts in question are headlining local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty (who only confirmed their involvement on personal Facebook accounts), singer/guitarist Gimiiwan Ikwe, and the previously confirmed hard rock quintet HeadFirst opening. Thanks to Mikhal Muto from The A.A. for filling in the blanks!

Notably, this will be day #2 of HeadFirst's early release of physical copies of their debut EP "Head Trauma", so if you didn't buy one tomorrow at Rotaryfest for $15, here's your second chance before the wide release next week! Loud & Proud is FREE & ALL AGES, and runs Sunday afternoon from 1:00-4:00 PM. The current weather forecast calls for partly cloudy weather with a high of 23° and no chance of rain, tent acknowledged. If you want to celebrate Sault Pridefest and LGBTQ+ awareness with some entertaining live bands, head down to the Pavilion on Sunday for all of the fun! Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Apocalypse Afterparty live!

Finally, this very busy Rotaryfest concert weekend ends with an extreme bang at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on SUNDAY NIGHT, as they basically revert to The Roosevelt Hotel for the night to host touring technical death metal bands from out west! In their local debuts, metalheads can enjoy Edmonton's Vaegon and Vancouver's Exterminatus on Sunday, and both are sufficiently brutal in their own ways, and your faces will melt if the summer humidity didn't do that already! Do check out both Vaegon and Exterminatus' original groove-inflected material on major streaming services, they'll be a good antidote if you've been wondering why the Soo hasn't had a lot of death or extreme metal bands in the 2020s so far (promoter availability, venue closures, local bands' own evolution, and the pandemic all helped in that). Local openers on Sunday are young local metal trio The BAG in their first show in three months before heading to Leeburn next week.

The guys have been busy in studio as of late, and released a teaser of their new original song "Suckatit" (no spaces) as a "Reel" on their Facebook group yesterday. I can't embed "Reels" here, but the clip is at least framed in post-production to fit the vertical dimensions. Ripping speed metal number in this jam session phase, and the dog definitely seems to be into it, so check it out above! Admission is $10 at the former Rosie on Sunday, this is a 19+ event, and it starts at 8:00 PM. Work/school night or not, definitely consider coming out to this show if you want to encourage Jay's/The BAG to bring more touring metal bands here! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Vaegon live!

I believe that is now officially all for the Rotaryfest weekend metal, hard rock, and punk concert previews! We'll be back at it this weekend with more news and notes in all likelihood, so look for much more news and notes on the SMS in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

The Nameless Concert Preview, Plus New Videos!!

As promised, let's conclude this very busy weekend concert preview stretch in this morning's post, filled out with some new videos from acts from or playing on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know on this warm Saturday morning!

First in this post, we'll wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews by heading to Sault Michigan for local hard rock quintet The Nameless' return to The Merchants Bar for one night only TONIGHT! Fresh off of their Cedarville debut last week, this will be The Nameless' first hometown show in just over a month, and hopefully their hard rock covers go well as usual for Saultite fans at The Merch! If you can't make it or you live further south, The Nameless will make their Kewadin Casino debut at The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace in two weeks. No frills to speak of at The Merch tonight, just a night of music beginning at 9:00 PM with no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 or older to attend. While The Nameless still only have the one (unembeddable) public video from way back in their debut concert, they are a talented young band, so don't miss out on tonight's concert if you're in the E.U.P.!

Next up, let's hop to Sault Ontario, where we have a brand new live video from local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225's unplugged (sorry, "uncorked") concert at The Water Tower Pub last night! Live-streamed directly to their Facebook page just after 10:30 PM, the horizontal video (a welcome rarity for Bone Yard) sees them covering Kid Rock's "All Summer Long". I won't pretend to like the original song, but it's strongly performed with good enthusiasm, and it's a well recorded clip, so fans of Bone Yard's acoustic gigs will take to it! Remember, they are not playing at Rotaryfest next weekend, but bassist Warren Reville will return as a member of The Associates during the Friday Night Blues program on Stage 2. Also, your local 225 revealed on Facebook on Thursday that "we got another one coming out soon", namely their second studio original song, and a 45 seconds-long teaser is on their website!

The song in question will be named "Gypsy Spell", and while I'll hold comment until the full song is released, it shouldn't be too long now. Give it a listen for yourself above, check out their new concert video below, and don't miss Bone Yard 225 re-corked at Reggie's Place in two weeks!

Also, let's head back to the E.U.P. for two teaser videos for the Ace Frehley-headlined '80s Rock Invasion concert outside of the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace, Michigan next week! Yes, it's the same night as the last night of Rotaryfest in Sault Ontario, so how's that for a big day of live music in the area? Kewadin have teased having "epic shout-outs" every Friday in the lead-up to the concert from musicians playing it, but the first one was just last week, so unless they add in bonus videos in the next week, only three of the five acts will be represented. Yesterday's shout-out video was from Slaughter frontman Mark Slaughter, who did a very professional job plugging the show and bands, almost radio DJ-esque, so that's definitely welcomed! The one from last week is embedded below because it features all of Great White (the original Mark Kendall-led version) plugging the festivities. Rare when the whole band is in one of these!

While emphasis is oddly put on the "nace" in St. Ignace in the plugs, Great White hit the necessary notes for next week, and hopefully Hair Scare diehards have a blast with good weather next week! No word on whether Ace, Steven Adler('s solo band), or Vixen would be in the presumed final shout-out video on Friday, but we'll keep you posted when it's uploaded. Check out Great White's video below, see more from the show above, and tickets are still available at this link from the tenth row and back!

Finally, here's a surprise: A new demo original from defunct Sault Ontario hard rock band Foothill Road! If they had extant social media pages, I wouldn't be rushing to add them back to our active band links, as the description says that the song was recorded in 2021 and there's been no credited recent work from them, but thanks to ex-bassist Ron Pyette for letting me know that this was uploaded to guitarist Mark Oliverio's YouTube channel on July 4th! While not recording on this new song (named "Desperate Times"), Ron co-wrote it, which also features Mark (now of Tragically Hip tribute band The Luxury) alongside singer Ken Luxton, bassist Steve Cardiff, and drummer Rick Bain. These are the same credits given to their 2020 single "Heard Of It", and both songs can be heard on Mark's YouTube channel. Like on "Heard Of It", this is a lyric video. This song is a little heavier and will please fans of Foothill Road's mid-1990s run!

Not as bluesy, but it sounds like something that they realistically would have recorded during their original run with a good alternative edge and solo to boot. Even if the song is three years old now, kudos to Mark for uploading it and Ron for telling me about it, so give it a listen below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck, Bookclub, And Generations), And Weekend Concert Previews!!

Another concert weekend is upon us, if not with much going on tonight for hard rock/punk fans, but we do have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to address, some on SHORT NOTICE! Due to the amount of shows this weekend, our preview of Sunday night's Matthew Good concert will hit the site tomorrow. Now, here's what you should know for your Saturday concert plans (and beyond in one case!)

Local alternative/punk cover supergroup Bookclub will return to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre TOMORROW as the headline musical performers for this year's Great Lakes Outdoor Show! Apologies for the short notice, we only heard above Bookclub's involvement via Facebook advertising earlier this week, complicated by Bookclub's continued lack of an online page to publically promote shows with. While an outdoors expo might not seem like a traditional event for a concert, Bookclub are no strangers to playing at community events and festivals, and hopefully their unique retro covers fins a receptive audience TOMORROW! Folk/pop singer/guitarist Matthew James (who you may have seen last year at Rotaryfest Stage 2) will open the proceedings. While this concert is taking place as part of the Great Lakes Outdoor Show, it is being treated as its own event with its own separate admission fee.

The Outdoor Show is an all ages event with $10 passes for the weekend (including the band-less Sunday program), and while doors open at 10:00 AM, the concert proper is at 5:00 PM. The concert proper is also $10 and does not require Outdoor Show tickets to attend, but $20 packages that get you entry to both are also available. It'll be interesting to see how Bookclub and Mathhew Matthew do as a post-show attraction rather than mid-show entertainment, but the talent is definitely there, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Bookclub live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this show via their Facebook page on Tuesday, and at press time, Shooters have not confirmed the booking on social media. After an off week (Thursday jam nights at Jay's aside), Soundcheck are back for a traditional concert on SATURDAY, which will be their first show at the Dennis Street nightclub since the winter, and it may serve as the lead-out entertainment following Shooters' showing of game 2 of the Soo Greyhounds' second round playoff series against the Saginaw Spirit, assuming that Shooters keeps with their recent trend of showing the road games on the TVs there (the game is in Saginaw). Hockey or not, Soundcheck's mix of classic and hard rock hits will find a receptive audience TOMORROW!

This show has a 9:30 PM start time (possibly later if the Hounds game dictates), no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. If you can't make it, Soundcheck have a full weekend at Jay's next week, and of course, they are hosting jam night there on Thursday as usual if you want to count that. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will celebrate their one year anniversary when they rock The Water Tower Pub for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT, but they will also make their first ever stop at Gateway Casino on Saturday, May 18th! The latter show was newly announced by drummer Tony Santoro on their Facebook group on Tuesday, and it's good to see Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre spreading their wings to a new (to them) venue, so don't miss them at Sault Ontario's casino over the Victoria Day long weekend! Before then, the band will rock The Water Tower Pub as previously announced tomorrow, marking one year since they succeeded Jus' Chillin, so head to the central nightclub for lots of classic and hard rock cover favourites! This is a one-nighter as is standard for The Water Tower Pub, with classic rock trio The Sidekicks playing there tonight. 

Tomorrow's Water Tower Pub show is at 8:00 PM, next month's Gateway Casino show is at 9:00 PM, both are 19+ events, and neither has an announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Generations' upcoming concerts, and for a preview, here they are live!

Finally for today's previews, you can also check out local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's continuation of his bi-weekly run at Misty's Fifties TOMORROW! His first of two April matinee gigs at the venerable Second Line West nightclub/restaurant in this current arrangement, tomorrow's show does not fall on a major holiday weekend, so expect a standard block of well produced acoustic rock hits from the former Caveman Morrison frontman tomorrow! If you can't make it, Tym returns to Misty's on April 27th, and the series is advertised to continue once every two weeks until the end of June. Tomorrow's matinee concert has a 4:00 PM start time, it's presumably a 19+ event given the locale, and there is no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live in concert last year!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Matthew Good preview and more next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT ('80s Metal Invasion) Plus Wyld Stallyns Lineup Updates!!

Today's post is largely devoted to a huge LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this summer that you 1980s glam metal fans are definitely not going to want to miss, and we also have some new band lineup announcements to round things out with. Here's what you should know!

A massive hair metal concert (and outdoors, at that) is coming to the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Saturday, July 20th for the '80s Rock Invasion! Presumably formatted identically to the Cheap Trick/Goo Goo Dolls show on the waterfront in August 2021 in terms of staging, this show will be even bigger for scheduled bands, with five name acts coming to St. Ignace for Hair Scare diehards, including the long awaited return of original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley! Last seen at the Sault Michigan Kewadin in 2009, expect the Spaceman himself to break out Kiss and solo classics like "Shock Me", "New York Groove", and "Rock Soldiers" in his first E.U.P, date in almost fifteen years! Two hair metal bands who are no strangers to this part of the world will also be making their way to St. Ignace in July, with Los Angeles' own Great White co-headlining in their local return! Now, Great White are one of those bands that split in two, L.A. Guns style, but this time, we are getting the original band led by original guitarist Mark Kendall.

While this Great White has most of their classic members from the "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" days, you may recall that Jack Russell's Great White (the splinter version featuring their classic singer and bassist) headlined outdoors at the St. Ignace Kewadin back in 2017, so discounting that, the original Great White also have not played here since rocking The Dreammakers Theatre in 2009. A little confusing, but hair metal fans will be right at home with Great White's return in July! The other returning band is Las Vegas glam metal quartet Slaughter, who last played here via an indoor headlining date at the St. Ignace Kewadin in June 2019, preceded by support gigs in both of the Twin Saults in 2008 & 2012. Expect classics like "Fly To The Angels" & "Up All Night" in their (at least) fourth regional concert! Also coming in July is "Appetite For Destruction"-era Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler in his local concert debut!

You may be familiar with Steven's exploits in recent years with bands like Adler's Appetite, but he currently tours under his own name with a solo band playing a set primarily made up of GNR classics from his time in that band. Steven's still got the chops, and he found strong musicians to bring these songs to life, so don't bypass his set either! Opening on July 20th is Minnesota hair metal band Vixen, notable as the biggest all-female group in the genre, and from hit songs like "Edge Of A Broken Heart" and "Cryin'". Only drummer Roxy Petrucci remains from their heyday, but they still deliver some talented hard rock with their current lineup, so don't be late for them kicking things off! Pre-sale for this 6:00 PM & all ages concert kicks off tomorrow, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Friday. Tickets will start at $65, and if the Cheap Trick show in 2019 is anything to go by, there will likely be two higher tiers.

That show had tickets at $50, $75, and $85 depending on location, with the two higher price points being in seated areas. You can buy yours starting on Friday at this link, at the in-person box office, or by calling 1-800-KEWADIN. Given that this Saturday's Skid Row/Buckcherry concert at the Soo Kewadin sold out (preview forthcoming), I wouldn't take my chances that Ace and crew will have good tickets for long, so get yours A.S.A.P., and visit the above links for more on what will be a huge concert for hair and glam metal fans this summer, especially if the weather cooperates!

Finally, we have big lineup updates from Sault Ontario funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns, as they have a completely new rhythm section! They have enlisted former Id Iota/Far From Fine drummer Blair St. John as their new bassist (replacing Alex White), while former Din/Re:Born drummer Brandan Glew has replaced Derek Turner behind the kit. Blair & Brandan debuted for The Stallyns at The Kiln at Searchmont this past Saturday, though both have sat in as guests with the band before. Reasons for Alex & Derek's departures were not publically announced, but the post on the band's Facebook page announcing the changes painted things in amicable terms, and that "you'll see them around, so keep showing them the love". Hopefully that's true, as Al and Derek are talented musicians who would be assets in newer bands! Blair and Brandan are strong musicians with multi-genre experience, so they'll fit in fine as well!

For what it's worth, The Wyld Stallyns' next concert has been announced on at least one band member's personal Facebook page, but I'll wait for a public announcement from the band or venue before covering it here (unless it doesn't get a public plug thusly, but I do know where & when it is for weekend preview purposes). It is great to see Christina, Rob, Jesse, and Josh re-fill out their lineup, and hopefully we'll hear more from the new-look Wyld Stallyns soon! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: panzertera's Channel & Orb Hearthstone

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, where we again shine the spotlight on YouTube channels whose content is at least 50% devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts, all randomly selected as usual! This month's installment is of two channels, as the first only had three audio uploads, so a second channel that I could source two distinct videos from was added to fill things out. Here's what you should know in this all E.U.P. installment, of which the same musician coincidentally factors in both channels!

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panzertera's Channel (http://youtube.com/panzertera)

Owner: A member of defunct Sault Michigan metal band Great Bodily Harm (exact identity unclear)

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 15th, 2009; Videos uploaded in March & April 2011

Channel Summary: This is the de facto official YouTube channel for the short-lived Great Bodily Harm, who you may remember seeing at a couple of local gigs in early-mid 2011 (including that year's Lemmafest). Their only extant online footprint of note is panzertera's channel, which features audio demos of their songs "You Don't Even Know", "Cuntrol" (sic), and their most popular track, "Jaw Breaker". G.B.H. featured vocalist Kirk Labadie (ex-Hammerspace), guitarist Doug Reed (ex-Half A Man), and future Power Slug bandmates Chris Leask (ex-Highway 63) and Bob Helsten (ex-I.S.O.M.) on bass and drums respectively. It's a shame that extreme metal bands from Sault Michigan never have a long shelf life, as Great Bodily Harm's very Pro-Pain-esque take on groove metal was very much welcomed 12 years ago, and these songs are all entertainingly heavy with some hardcore touches, but follow members' other bands to see what else they've done in the E.U.P. before and since 2011!

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Orb Hearthstone (http://youtube.com/orb609)

Owner: Prolific local metal musician Bob Helsten, a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone, who you may recognize as a vocalist with bands like Integrated System of Machines, End of Existence, and Mugwort, and as a drummer in bands like Clownsack, Power Slug, and Great Bodily Harm, among others

Channel Timeline: Launched on November 25th, 2006; Videos uploaded from April 2012-December 2019

Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Bob has posted six videos here in the past eleven years, including a gag video of a horse-style laugh, while the other five has his own original solo metal music. In the four latter cases, he uses the songs to soundtrack video game footage that he captured, though not always naming the game (the newest one was Teiravon).

Why You Should Watch: While the channel has nothing from Bob's prior local band work, this will be worth checking out for fans of his metal vocals, as the solo material on offer is reminiscent of I.S.O.M. and End of Existence in style and approach! Odd that he would post most of his new original songs this way though, just as soundtrack fodder for gameplay footage, and not always titled with the song's name (let alone that "Dirty Dingos" was only posted as an excerpt), but gamers may feel differently!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Destination: Credited under his I.S.O.M. stage name, Bob's first upload and only song with no video game ties is "Destination", which reminds me of I.S.O.M.'s more melodic material with him not singing in a harsh/extreme style, but adding grit where needed. The song bounces along in a style not unlike something you'd hear out of Sweden, but the thin production is a drawback compared to his band work. Good stuff for fans of his vocals!

I'm not as Eco as I used to be: The most popular video here that isn't of horse laughing, this song is set to video footage from the PC MMORPG game Entropia Universe, and features guest bass from "Refuge MirrorBlack Denied" (no clue who that is). "I'm Not As Eco As I Used To Be" is more of a straight-forward metal song that has a good lively energy and less of the European influence heard elsewhere. Nice change of pace that shows that Bob (a.k.a. "Opeth of Blackwater") can just rock out without going extreme, and Entropia fans seem to like how he edited the gameplay footage too!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around July 27th for another two profile installment, as the first randomly selected channel only had two videos from two different events, so I added a single band channel to fill things out with. We're staying in Sault Michigan with YouTube user 2010abstract's channel (featuring two videos of the future Tantrym Tyme) before heading back to Ontario to look at ander101's channel (featuring three performance videos from ex-Bring The Fallen guitarist Andrew Chiarello). Look for those then, and for more news and notes on the site toon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck & Go Skateboarding Day), New Videos, And More!!

With a couple of big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS coming to my attention in the last few days, let's spotlight those in today's news post, as well as clearing out some backlogged news items and videos. Here's what you should know!

Tidal Records' annual Go Skateboarding Day festivities return to Queen Elizabeth Park outside of the John Rhodes Centre on Wednesday, June 21st, and live music is planned once again! As announced via a "Reel" shared to Tidal Records' Facebook page yesterday, this will be the seventh installment of the local Go Skate Day to have bands playing atop the big ramp, and all four bands are new to the event this year, so who can you expect? In advertised order, they include two online page-less local bands, namely punk trio Hails (in just their second announced gig) and alternative/punk supergroup Bookclub. Members of these bands played last year with The Cover-Up, Vanity First, and These Magnificent Tentacles, so there will be some familiarity there! For the first time since 2016, hip hop will be part of Go Skate Day via local rap collective Sound Syndrome, who feature ex-As It Stands frontman Justin "Nadj" Pregent in their ranks.

I'm a bit surprised that it's taken this long for rap to return to this event, but hopefully the Sound Syndrome crew delivers a fitting soundtrack during their block! Rising young metal trio The BAG will open in their first show since rocking The Esquire Club in March, and they should set things off on a heavy foot later this month! As always, expect food, local vendors, games, and more at Go Skate Day on Wednesday the 21st, absolutely an ALL AGES event with all skaters welcome of any skill level, plus general attendees too! This remains a FREE event, which starts at 4:00 PM. Should be a fun time as always, so visit the above links for more details!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will make a rare trip to The Moose Lodge on Friday, June 30th when they honour singer/guitarist Terry Eaton's induction into the Great Northern Opry this fall! The ceremony is in November, but inductees traditionally get celebration concerts set up by the Northern Ontario Country Music Association a few months prior where they are the sole guest of honour. Of course, Terry has a long history as both a rock and country musician in the Soo, notably playing with Asylum Country and as a backing musician with other artists, and he still covers select country songs in Soundcheck's setlist. Thusly, this show will no doubt skew quite heavily towards Soundcheck's country covers, but it's a big platform regardless, and Terry deserves this honour after all of his work in the local music community! He will join SMS-familiar names like Kyle McKey and Ric Datson in the Opry once inducted at The Quattro Hotel in November.

Given the purpose of this event, there will be advance tickets running for $20 (call the number on the poster if you don't want to chance getting them at the door), and a 6:00 PM start time is advertised. My late step-grandpa Len Nevin was an Opry inductee in 2003, so I'm familiar with the honour even without covering local music, so this will definitely be a big night for Terry, and don't miss out on Soundcheck's presumably quite country-centric set at 543 Trunk Road for the occasion! See above for more details!

We'll close today with SaultOnline's coverage of both the Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre on May 6th! Heidi Ivany was on hand to cover this event, via an article you can read at this link, Her comments on the Festival of Beer bands were summatively general, if positive, but she does give good insights into the craft beer and local vendor aspect, so fans on that wavelength will like her coverage! Nine pictures are included, with two of the aforementioned Bookclub's headlining set and one from The Wyld Stallyns (though none of The Hollow Heads). That sure looks like Odd Man Out/ex-Sense of Truth guitarist Steve Myers filling in for Jesse Cook in the Stallyns picture, but I have heard nothing about any lineup changes, temporary or otherwise. No sign of Josh Norling either, but he has missed Wyld Stallyns gigs before. Also, there was one concert video shot for SaultOnline's Facebook page!

Heidi (I presume) shot 9+ minutes of Bookclub's set, with Mikey, Dave, Dustin, Al, and Erin's cover of Sloan's "Everything You've Done Wrong" in progress when recording began (watch for The Northwest's Wayne Watkins on guest backing vocals). The only full song captured is Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk" (with Mikey just singing), and they closed with most of Doug & The Slugs' "Making It Work". Despite the unfortunately vertical camera and just the middle song being complete. True to their early descriptions, they had an eclectic group of covers here that you don't hear covered locally very much, if at all, and it's a lively performance with good crowd response, so check it out below, and look for more from SaultOnline soon!

From a Go Skate Day band this year to the 2016 headliners (then as Jack Spades), we'll close with the latest from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, so what have they been up to this month, album release aside? Well, "Reels" have come hard and heavy on their Facebook page, starting with this one to hype "Sewer City Radio" being on sale, even on platforms like Tidal, Google Play, and Deezer, so if you'd rather stream it there, you know where to go! A clip of the title track can also be heard. Starting on Wednesday, they've gotten in the "one reel per day" mode again, including this montage of live footage set to the studio copy of "Black on Black", followed by three videos shot by attendee William Wai Yun Lum at the Indie Night In Canada concert in Toronto on Tuesday, including clips of their cover of Turbonegro's "All My Friends Are Dead" and their original "Negative Headspace", ...

...and in today's "Reel", another song from that night with the camera focused on singer J.D. Pearce and drummer Tyler Reiner. William's footage is really solid, but they were uploaded as "Reels", of which my complaints are unchanging until Facebook lets you embed them externally, play them in background tabs, and let them be longer and horizontal... but then it's just a video, right? Speaking of which, they did upload just a video on May 31st of them playing "Final Girl" at the Anti-Queens show in Barrie in April (the same footage was used for the "Black on Black" "reel"), which has excellent side-stage footage of the full song at The Rec Room, so give it a look below, and look for more from Spades GT soon!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tripod The Dog & Soundcheck), Concert Cancellations, And Much More!!

Before we get into today's post, just a heads up on two more concert cancellations for later this month. First, the planned Jack Russell's Great White acoustic show at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino next Friday has been cancelled outright "after meeting with Tribal health professionals", which appears to be how Kewadin explains shows called off due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic & related rises in positive case counts. No word on why they're not trying to reschedule it, but it is a shame to lose an intriguing hair metal show like this, and hopefully either version of Great White comes back down the line! All tickets will be refunded, contact kewadinboxoffice@saulttribe.net if you have any extra concerns. Meanwhile, in Sault Ontario, the Glambition fundraiser for Pauline's Place next Saturday at the Bushplane Museum has been postponed a month to December 18th.

As per this SooToday article yesterday, the date change was "due to unforeseen circumstances", though they did not elaborate on if COVID was part of the reasoning or not. Tickets bought for next Saturday will be honoured next month, but refunds are available on request. While the postponement pushes Glambition out of Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, it will now be seasonal reflecting Christmas for the homeless community, which is a great idea! All other aspects of the event will be unchanged, though aside from The Apocalypse Afterparty, a performer list is not public yet anyway. Stay tuned for Glambition updates as they roll in!

Now, today's post is mostly comprised of new videos, but it appears that I can't escape SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS this weekend, as we have four more to take note of in the west end, so let's start there, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's West TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, Soundcheck only announced these shows via their Facebook event page this morning, as recently usual for their non-Esquire Club gigs. Fans may have seen Soundcheck at Reggie's West last night too as hosts of their weekly open mic night (which is they only sporadically promoted online), but TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S shows will be their first proper concerts at The Reggievelt since Halloween weekend. Despite the late notice, their brand of hard rocking covers should go over fine with attendees this weekend!

TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S shows have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits, but vaccine passports are mandatory to attend, and please respect and follow any social distancing and public health guidelines. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new video of Soundcheck live at The Esquire Club last week! Posted to their Facebook page on Sunday, this features the guys covering The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" with guitarist Cameron Oliver on lead vocals. Honestly, I hate this song, but Soundcheck do liven it up a fair amount compared to the original, and the recording quality is solid! Give it a look below, and don't miss these shows!

Next up, veteran local alternative hard rock trio Tripod The Dog will play their first concerts of the pandemic when they return to The Esquire Club TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, we only heard about these gigs via bassist John Amendola's Facebook event page late last night (remember, Tripod The Dog have not launched any social media accounts to reflect their 2018-present activity, and their 2000s Facebook group is not administrated by current members). Note that John only refers to the band as "Tripod" on the event page, no word on if he's just using the common short form or if the band actually changed their name. Tripod The Dog had last been seen on stage at the same venue in February 2020 before the pandemic ground their live schedule to a halt, but after 21 months, they're back and ready to roll, and hopefully their pace of concerts isn't as sporadic as it was in 2019!

Yes, they are back in our active band links too. You can see Mark and the Amendolas TONIGHT & TOMORROW at 10:00 PM with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charges, but please respect any and all social distancing and public health measures at The Esquire Club, and you must show your vaccine passport to get in the building. See above for more details, and here's a classic Tripod (The Dog) original!

Finally, I have regrettably moved local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers to our inactive band links. After previously falling inactive in 2013, The Surfers reunited for a highly successful show at LopLops Lounge on August 3rd, 2019, and followed that up by hitting the studio to record three new songs, but only one ("Excess Express") has seen a public release to date, and the pandemic stopped plans to hold a Toronto reunion gig last year as well. The band proper has not updated their Facebook page since wishing fans a happy Halloween last year by way of a Poison parody, so we're well past our standard one year mark. Given their further music commitments and half the band currently living out of town, activity seems to be a bonus when everyone's available, and hopefully they'll return when the time is right, especially given the pandemic! However, I hate to end a Surfers topic on a low note.

Instead, here's a new video from when bassist Brad "Example" Lacell was recently in town, featuring him, frontman Dustin Jones, and Dustin's daughter/frequent guest performer Jett covering the late great John Prine's song "Angel of Montgomery"! Uploaded to Jett's YouTube channel on November 3rd, this is obviously a huge departure musically from The Surfers, but the entire band are huge fans of John Prine, and it's nice to see Dustin & Brad playing together again, if acoustically. The audio quality isn't crystal clear, but everyone performs well, and Jett's developing a strong voice herself, so give their cover a watch below!

Unless there's another hard rock band with short notice gigs this weekend, that's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!