Matthew Good & Hazytones Concert Video Showcase!!

Today's post is devoted to recent concert videos shot for Christopher Paci's awesome YouTube channel, as he was in attendance for two big hard rock shows in April, but surprisingly only uploaded the videos earlier this month! No word on why they were delayed so much, but better late than never, and at least he got them up at last! Chris also filmed two videos at Giovanni's Italian Festival earlier this month, but neither are of heavier artists. The first of the two April concerts that Chris filmed at was the Matthew Good concert at The Machine Shop, where he filmed seven songs from the headlining Coquitlam, B.C. musician alt-hard rock musician's set. Songs from his old Matthew Good Band that were recorded include "Apparitions", "Load Me Up", "Hello Time Bomb", and "Tripoli", while solo songs filmed include "Born Losers", "Alert Status Red", and as embedded below, "Weapon".

Matthew's voice did show some strain at points, but the performances here are generally solid with a quality backing band! The audience seems healthy and enthusiastic, especially singing along with "Hello Time Bomb", and while Chris did have to content with many audience member heads from his spot on the floor, he did have a reasonably close vantage point to capture things as clearly as possible! Check out his Matthew Good videos above & below, and I am glad to see that the demons of 2007 have finally been exorcised after over 16 long years!

Next up, Chris also filmed two songs from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's opening set, where they were late replacements for Vilivant for the local stop. While the band did post an unembeddable "Reel" of clips from their set at the time, Chris' videos are of Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve covering Blink-182's "All The Small Things" and, as embedded below, most of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" (he comes in during the first verse but it's still longer than the Blink-182 cover). Chris was standing at a different spot to film Silent 9, thankfully where that pole isn't in the way of the band, but he still had a good view of their lead-off set, so check these out above & below, and look for them back this fall!

Chris' other new rock concert videos come from Montreal stoner/hard rock band The Hazytones' local return on April 25th, this time at The Distraction on East Street! For their first local set in seven years, Chris filmed them playing "Night Is Young", "Light Of The Day", this sub-two minute clip that is either the end of a song or an instrumental jam, and as embedded below, "God Told You". The Hazytones' doom rock sound has definitely gotten heavier since fans last saw them at The New A, and while the lighting in the old barbershop is quite red, you get a good look at the unique surroundings as the guys pound out these cuts from their new album "Wild Fever", so definitely give them a look above & below!

Finally, the local openers on this night were local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their Distraction debut and their first local concert with Brandon Ruch on second guitar, though he is often hidden behind that post with the mirrors and coat hooks. Chris filmed two songs of theirs, namely "No Entry", and as embedded below, a heavier song that I couldn't successfully title (it's likely one of the songs on their upcoming EP, if not newer still). Looks like Handsome Sandwich had a successful first gig at the barbershop here, and they put in lots of clear energy and enthusiasm to go along with their original rock attack, while Brandon fit in well, if often not in view! Check out their videos above & below!

That's all for now, but look for more news and notes on the site soon, including this month's CD review, and thanks again to Christopher for filming all of these videos! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Wyld Stallyns & Soundcheck) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

(UPDATED AT 5:57 PM) One final update for today's weekend concert preview post, as an announced pair of concert cancellations was reversed, and you can read details on the still-on shows at post's end. The write-up on Tym Morrison's matinee show on Saturday will return to tomorrow's post alongside the Bone Yard 225 preview and more items, so don't worry, it will return! Now, here's what you should know to lead off most of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and I apologize for the frequent edits!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the shows were only announced on the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday, and at press time, the band has not confirmed the bookings publically. Fresh off of rocking Jay's this past weekend and via hosting that venue's weekly jam night tonight, TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows will be Soundcheck's first at Reggie's since the St. Patrick's Day weekend. Hopefully their classic and hard rock cover blend (including select country renditions) go over well as usual at Reggie's this weekend despite the late notice! TOMORROW & SATURDAY's concerts take place at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will play their second announced show of 2024 when they return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page last night, and like Soundcheck, the band proper has not publically confirmed it. SATURDAY'S concert is effectively a re-booking of their planned Shooters gig on April 6th, which new drummer Brandan Glew advertised on his personal Facebook page in March, but it was never publically confirmed by the band or venue, and was quietly cancelled with no replacement band. It's great to see the new Stallyns lineup back at it, and if you missed them three weeks ago, you'll get your fill of fun rock covers! No word on why Shooters used that photo for the Stallyns though. Either they made a mistake, or Brandan, Josh, and Blair got huge makeovers!

Shooters are experimenting with hosting a matinee band on SATURDAY as well (a'la Reggie's) with blues rock veterans Smokehouse playing at 4:00 PM, but this is a case of two separate concerts on the same day, not Smokehouse "opening" for The Wyld Stallyns, whose first set begins 90 minutes after Smokehouse are projected to end their last one. The Stallyns will be on at 9:30 PM on SATURDAY with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's The Wyld Stallyns live in concert a couple of years ago!

Moving to shows that had advance notice, we'll next head to The Distraction, where Montreal stoner/hard rock band The Hazytones will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a concert TONIGHT! Two-time local headliners at the former New American Pub in 2016 & 2017, The Hazytones have slowly gotten heavier in the seven years since we last saw them in town, and hopefully their songs from their new album "Wild Fever" and older originals go over well with local fans in their long awaited return! Local support will include alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their Distraction debut, their first local date since Brandon Ruch replaced Mitch Sirie on guitar, and their first concert of any kind since their Ottawa & Cornwall shows in January. It'll be interesting to see how the new lineup does, especially with their new EP still in the works, so don't miss out on the Sandwich's set!

Rising young hard rock quartet Sylo have quietly dropped out of this show for unannounced reasons and were not replaced, as per the hand drawn alternate poster on the venue's Facebook page from this morning. Hopefully nothing too serious happened, and that we see Sylo back at it soon! This all ages concert has doors opening at 7:30 PM tonight and admission is via a special $15 fee (or "pay what you can" as usual for The Distraction). Should be a good time for hard rock fans, and with a psychedelic tinge thanks to The Hazytones, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's the headliners live!

Finally for today's concert preview post, local hard rock quintet HeadFirst are indeed playing at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! The band has originally announced the cancellation of these shows via their Facebook page due to an unspecified health issue (specifically afflicting drummer Anthony Boudreau), but due to "a lot of outcry", they scrambled to find a replacement drummer for the two dates, and they have one! The band has heavily implied that the guest drummer is Celeste Bond, the model for the silhouette in their official logo on the left (they confirmed her identity in an Instagram "Reel" months ago). Celeste isn't known to me from local music, but she has multi-instrumental talent and was a multicultural project officer for last year's Fringe North Festival, so hopefully she fills in well tomorrow and Saturday! This weekend's shows mark HeadFirst's... first Jay's shows since the end of March.

Drummer aside, these are standard concerts for HeadFirst, with 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges for their classic-leaning slate of hard rock covers and select originals. Visit the above links for more details, I apologize for the rapid edits on my part for this post, and here's HeadFirst live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison and Bone Yard 225 previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

Vanity First's New Album, Mikey & His Uke's New Cover, And More!!

News hasn't been super fast as of late, but here's a reasonably stuffed post on this Monday evening, leaning more to punk acts, including some new videos and big details on a new album, so here's what you should know!

As promised, local skate punk trio Vanity First released their new studio album "Identity Crisis" at their release party at Soo Blaster on Saturday night, and if you didn't attend to pick up a CD copy, you can also stream it online! No word on videos from the show, but Honest Job alum Drew Armstrong did snap photos at the concert, and a black & white one of drummer Keegan McAllister has already been posted to the band's Facebook page, with more promised to be coming. The band claims that "Identity Crisis" is available on "all streaming platforms", a claim immediately disproven by not being uploaded on Bandcamp yet (despite "Off With Their Heads" being posted there). In actuality, you can stream it on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Deezer, while mp3 copies are on sale on Amazon and iTunes for $8.91 if you'd prefer actually owning the mp3 files. 

As hyped in detail on MorningStar Records' website, the album can be bought via Kunaki's print-on-demand method on CD ($10) or vinyl ($40) at this link, though at press time, I cannot confirm if Vanity are stocking the album at The Rad Zone or another local physical retailer (members do have CDs if you contact them directly). "Identity Crisis" is effectively an expanded re-recording of their 2022 "Vanity" demo, now including the three advance singles posted this year, their late 2022 single "Get Out", and one more new song named "When I Fall". All songs from "Vanity" were redone for "Identity Crisis" except "Breathe", a campfire jam-esque acoustic ballad which ended that demo. Quite frankly, if one song had to be scrapped, they picked the right one, as it doesn't jive with their skate punk base, but it wasn't a bad song, if more suited to guitarist Mikhal Muto's folk punk solo project Agnosticism than a full plugged in band.

At present, I have "Identity Crisis" pencilled in for review on the SMS in June, as this month and next are already committed for the newest albums from Convergence and the aforementioned Agnosticism. Stay tuned for that, but local punk fans will definitely want to give Vanity First's brand new album a listen (or optimally buy it) above & below!

Next up, the long awaited eighth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie" finally dropped on their YouTube channel earlier today! Four weeks removed from song #7 in this 30th anniversary series (the longest wait yet between songs), project leader/Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon and crew are back to tackle the next song on "Dookie", that being the single "She". On this one, vocal duties fall to K.J. Jansen of Calgary punk mainstays Chixdiggit, while Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury (in his fourth appearance in the last five covers) is back here, as is ex-Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer, who has yet to miss a "Dookie" cover in this series. Once again, Mikey plays guitar after his usual ukelele intro. Everyone delivers as you'd expect on this classic cover, and K.J.'s vocals are a great match for a Green Day rendition!

After last month's "Basket Case" cover had no real visual frills, we do get more variance here, with K.J. notably singing while shaving his beard, which is a new one for me to cover! Granted, Sault Michigan readers will appreciate Darren's choice of hockey jersey more than Sault Ontario ones. Next up in Mikey & His Uke's "Dookie" cover series is the deep cut "Sassafras Roots", which could drop at any point between Sunday and May 20th (the current average would be May 4th), so keep an eye out for that, and check out "She" for yourselves below!

Finally for today, here's a brief new promotional video from local alternative/hard rock band Handsome Sandwich's Facebook page to plug their set opening for The Hazytones at The Distraction on Thursday! The 12 seconds long & vertical clip sees the entire band (all wearing sunglasses) promoting the concert, with each member handling a part of the sentence. No new information, but hopefully it helps get the word out, so give it a watch below, and check above for details on the concert! And of course, our best thoughts go out to drummer Johnny Belanger following the passing of his brother, the obituary is linked here. I went to high school with them, and I can't imagine losing a loved one so young like this.

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Hazytones) & Treble Charger Reunion Concert Coverage!!

Keeping our recent string of daily posts up at the SMS, today's post features lots of pre- and post-show coverage of a recent reunion concert that got a lot of attention, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related band lineup note for next month!

Montreal stoner/hard rock band The Hazytones will return to Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday, April 25th when they rock The Distraction! Readers may recognize The Hazytones from headlining appearances at the former New American Pub in August 2016 and April 2017, and it's good to see them back after six years! Developing a heavier influenced sound on newer material, including their upcoming album "Wild Fever", fans of psychedelic influenced hard rock won't want to miss this show next month!  The local openers next month include local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their Distraction debut and their first announced local gig with new guitarist Brandon Ruch, who the band has finally confirmed is replacing Mitch Sirie on guitar, as per a quiet update to their lineup on their Facebook page. A reason for Mitch's departure was not announced, but Brandon did take Mitch's place during their January tour run.

Hopefully all's well with Mitch, and assuming nothing else happened behind the scenes, he and drummer Johnny Belanger are still bandmates in the reunited Bear Hunters! No word on if Brandon will play any role on Handsome Sandwich's upcoming EP, but Mitch did record material for it before leaving. Back to the Hazytones show, the other openers are young local hard rock quartet Sylo (née Raincourt) in their second show since reuniting and since adding Alder Devries on guitar. They're a talented group on the rise, so don't be late for their set either! As usual for The Distraction, this show has a special "$15 or pay-what-you-can" entry model, and doors open at 7:30 PM. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, here's some Sault Star coverage & fallout from this past Thursday's Treble Charger reunion concert at The Machine Shop! Two articles were posted, one from before the show and one after it, and we'll start with Brian Kelly's article from this past Tuesday, featuring interview remarks with singer/guitarist Greig Nori. I will note before we get too far that I, along with Sault Star reporters, have recently noted that the reunion concert was their first show since Rotaryfest 2018. Locally, that is true, but I completely forgot that Greig & Bill played at the final Burger Fest in Vaughan back in July 2019, and you can see pictures from that event at this link. My apologies, but it's still been a near five year wait! That said, in Brian's article, Greig noted "I’ve never gone this long not playing a Treble Charger set", and while that may be true in terms of him alone, Treble Charger's 2012 return was after a near 8 year hiatus from live concerts.

In the article, Greig discusses how hard it was for him to get back in the swing of things re: playing a full Treble Charger set, how exciting it is to play the songs again, and how new music could happen in the future (they had actively teased hitting the studio in the 2010s but clearly not much came of that). Now to the show proper, which was a fundraiser for the Algoma University music program in order to buy instruments, fund scholarships, and bring in touring musicians. The show was covered in this article by newer Sault Star journalist Kyle Darbyson. "Several hundred fans" packed The Machine Shop for the proceedings, which raised over $10,000 for Algoma's music program, which is awesome to hear! Alongside established originals, Treble Charger played Pixies, Golden Earring, and Iggy Pop covers. Official advertising never outlined openers or guests, so who all else played on Thursday?

The opening act was local pop singer/guitarist Tianna Legacy with a backing band of Algoma University music students, including drummer Will Carnes, but full performer credits weren't listed. At least three guests joined Greig, Bill, and (session?) bassist & drummer Frank Deresti and David Peredun, including Greig's daughter Ava on backing vocals and Algoma assistant music professor Andree-Ann Deschenes on keytar. Both joined in on "American Psycho". As well, aforementioned Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch guested with Treble Charger for their set-closing cover of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" (if he, Ava, Andree-Ann, or anyone else played on other songs, they weren't mentioned in the article). Of course, Brandon is an Algoma music program alum himself who has worked with Greig a lot at the Algoma Conservatory of Music, and has further plans with him in the pipeline.

No public videos from Thursday have surfaced (yet?), but I have moved Treble Charger back to our active band links, as this was not a one-off set! They will play their first non-local date since Burger Fest 2019 when they play at Riverfest in Elora (outside of Guelph) in August, though full disclosure, festival organizers have not announced any performers yet. Greig noted in Kyle's article that they have other offers to play in Southern Ontario, and "we’re hoping to get out there a little more". It's great to see that everything went well for Treble Charger and Algoma University alike on Thursday, so read Brian & Kyle's Sault Star articles above, and look for more news this week! Thanks everyone!