LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Apocalypse Afterparty), A Tribute Song, And More!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Die Mannequin frontwoman Caroline Kawa (a.k.a. Care Failure), who just passed away according to numerous social media postings at the age of 36. Read her obituary at this link. A standout presence on the Toronto alt-rock scene from Die Mannequin's launch in 2005 onward, Care will be familiar to SMS readers from her set with Die Mannequin at the former Roosevelt Hotel in May 2012, when they and Dearly Beloved stopped in town on their Danceland Tour, but a planned June 2014 return gig at The Rockstar Bar was cancelled. Die Mannequin peaked in the late 2000s and early 2010s with songs like "Bad Medicine" and "Dead Honey", and would land songs on the final two Big Shiny Tunes CDs in the process. Care also had a well received turn as an actress in the 2010 film Hard Core Logo 2, with the band factoring into the plot & soundtrack of the long-awaited film.

I wasn't at Die Mannequin's local concert, nor can I find public videos from it, but Care was an original and a very talented musician who crossed punk and alternative genre boundaries to strong effect, and it's a shame to lose her at such a young age like this. Do check out Die Mannequin's original material and live videos, and consider donating to Musicares in her name to pay tribute. R.I.P. Care! Now, here's a new tribute song to another musician we lost, and first, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local rap/party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty will be among the openers at TOMORROW'S Madchild-headlined concert at Soo Blaster! Apologies for the short notice, organizers R-Evolution Media only confirmed The A.A. for this show in promotional materials posted online this week, though the Stanghettas were previously teasing their involvement on their personal Facebook pages. This marks a trilogy for rap concerts at Soo Blaster with The Apocalypse Afterparty as the lone rock band outpost, following their appearances at last fall's Tech N9ne and Afroman gigs, and clearly things went well for Paul & Amanda's minimalist hybrid sound to get called back TOMORROW NIGHT! Madchild is the Vancouver rapper best known from the Juno and MuchMusic Video Award winning rap group Swollen Members, who were easily one of the biggest domestic rap acts of the 2000s, so fans will want to note that aspect!

I don't know that Madchild does many Swollen Members songs live, but it'll be interesting to see him in town TOMORROW, and he has a deep solo catalog that dips into horrorcore now, even! Guelph rapper Robbie G (who also opened for Tech N9ne & Afroman here) is the top billed opener, and the other opening acts include Sound Syndrome, Sawbe & Stoney, RyxnNick, Ille$t, and Superskunk Lucas. For reference, Sawbe & RyxnNick were also seen at the Afroman show, and there may be other ties to the Tech N9ne and Afroman lineups if you count solo rappers who were seen in groups or ensembles (and vice versa). While uncredited on the poster, Madchild's own Facebook promotion of TOMORROW'S concert confirms that his DJ on this tour is Dow Jones. A later 10:00 PM start time is in effect, and tickets run for $34.11 online at this link or $25 if bought through local openers. 

Note that at there are higher priced VIP packages for meet & greets and signed posters and whatnot, plus a deal on a booth for 6 people, while at least The Apocalypse Afterparty were selling two tickets for $40. Also note that the online sale page says that this is all ages, but use your best judgement on that given the locale and timing of the concert. Should be a fun night for hip-hop fans, with The Apocalypse Afterparty back to bridge the gap between the rap and bass-led metal worlds, so keep TOMORROW'S show in mind, and here's The A.A. live at Soo Blaster!

We'll close today with a tribute song to a local musician who passed away two years ago, namely former Highway 63/Monkey's Uncle frontman Henry Switzer. A staple of the Sault Michigan scene since the 1990s, Henry died in February 2021 after a heart ailment at just 49 years of age, and he would have turned 52 this past Monday. In honour of his birthday, Soundcheck drummer Glen Thomas (who played in a band with Henry back when he taught guitar across the river & remained friends long afterwards) posted a song in tribute to Henry named "Forever Highway 63" on his YouTube channel. Glen had actually been working on this song since the spring of 2021, as Facebook friends of his may recall, and he elaborates about how quickly the song came together and what he went through writing it in the description (yes, it is a lyric video too). His old Flat Stanley bandmate Tony Kajnar provides lead guitar in the outro.

Other than some directly music-centric lyrics late, the song isn't hyper specific to Henry, but it comes from a place of loss and respect, and it shows in Glen's voice. He's not a skilled vocalist and he admits as much in the description but the mood is right and I'm sure Henry would appreciate Glen's gesture here! Glen has other original songs with him singing on his YouTube channel, and while they're generally not musically heavy, his talents are present! Give "Forever Highway 63" a listen below!

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

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Highway 63

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, continuing our monthly spotlight features on defunct or inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk bands from our band links! This month's band is our first Sault Michigan of 2021, but I just want to emphasize that the band in question was randomly selected when we wrote up last month's installment on February 9th, eight days before frontman Henry Switzer's passing. The timing is entirely coincidental, but hey, this does give us a chance to look back on his mid-late 2010s band work once again, so here's what you should know!

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Highway 63

Genre: Classic/Hard Rock
 
Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last known lineup in italics)

Henry Switzer (Monkey's Uncle), vocals/guitar
Nathan Switzer (Heavy Lies The Crown), guitar/formerly bass
George Belleau (Full Throttle, Hawk Junction), bass
Ron Suchey (Monkey's Uncle, RamWagon), drums)

Ryan Kitzmiller (RamWagon, Full Throttle), guitar
Chris Leask (Power Slug, Blind Baby), bass
Justin Lawless (Absolute, NoXcape), drums
Russell Mayer (The Mama's Boys), drums
Brian Drumheller (The Mama's Boys, The Hixx), keyboard

Audio/Video: Though Highway 63 did tease working on original material in studio (including a demo in early 2015), surviving material from Highway 63's run is largely in the domain of live concert videos, which you can find on the band's Facebook page, both via official postings and via comments from fans & shares from personal Facebook pages. Here's Highway 63 covering John Mellencamp at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin in 2016!

Info/Analysis: Succeeding frontman Henry Switzer's short-lived band Sir Charge upon their public launch in March 2014, Highway 63 was Henry's last major local band before his death last month, with him and his son Nathan the only constant members. Named after the H-63 highway from the Soo to St. Ignace, Highway 63 fittingly played both communities frequently at their respective Kewadin Casino lounges, as well as select other E.U.P. venues, and even taking a road trip outside of the area on occasion. Their best known lineup (the Switzers, Chris, and Ron) were frequently seen from late 2014-early 2018, before a series of personnel changes occurred into the following year. Highway 63 updates slowed entering 2020 due to the pandemic and Henry's health issues, with their last concert taking place outside of Henry's business Hank's Body Shop in August to send off Nathan before he moved downstate.

As fans of Henry's extensive local music work (especially the very similarly comprised Monkey's Uncle) will attest, Highway 63 were a fun band with a strong handle on their range of covers, and always had a fan-friendly nature suited to both heavy rockers and dance floor hits. Henry's vocal and guitar abilities were always top notch, Nathan was a fine compliment to his dad, and they always had solid bassists and drummers throughout their run. Highway 63 had a good run, but hopefully we hear more from their surviving members in the near future, and R.I.P. Henry!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We'll return to Sault Ontario to kick off a new 2-1-3-1-2-1 cycle between the Twin Saults next month, but as the first randomly selected band doesn't have much information or media, I have picked another band with a similar lack to round things out. As such, we'll be looking at late-2000s thrash metal band Time Of Ruin and 2010s punk band Programmed To Fail! Look for these on or around April 10th, and for more news on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

R.I.P. Henry Switzer

The Sault Metal Scene sends it's deepest condolences to the family and friends of veteran local singer/guitarist Henry Switzer, who suddenly passed away earlier today, according to numerous postings on Facebook from friends and family. A staple of the Sault Michigan music scene dating back to the 1990s (if not further) as both a musician and guitar instructor, Henry will be more familiar to current readers from his work fronting the 2014-2020 classic/hard rock cover band Highway 63 and their sister group Mackinaw Trail, but bands of his have been a staple of our E.U.P. coverage as long as I've been following Sault Michigan. You may have seen Henry live with local favourites The Mama's Boys, his 2006-2012 band Monkey's Uncle (née Jager), and their successors Sir Charge through 2013, with his son Nathan (now of Heavy Lies The Crown) a regular bandmate of his throughout the 2010s.

I don't feel comfortable going into great detail here about Henry's health battles in the past year or so, but he was candid on Highway 63's Facebook page in March about wanting to come back to live performances following a heart ailment (obviously before the pandemic began), and the band ultimately cancelled a planned Rudyard Days festival in June. Highway 63 would return for one more concert in August, when they played outside of Henry's automotive business Hank's Body Shop to send off Nathan before he moved downstate, and his last public music work was in a series of classic rock studio covers that you can check out above and on his YouTube channel. I never had the honour of meeting Henry, but the outpouring of condolences definitely paint him as a kind soul, a devoted husband and father, and a great music teacher, and his strong vocal range and guitar skills were apparent throughout his local music career.

As of this writing, details on services are not online, but I would keep tabs on The Sault Evening News' obituary page for further information. My kindest thoughts are with Nathan (I can relate to losing a parent) and to Henry's wife Kristina at this difficult time, but from everything I've read, it's apparent that he was a fighter, and he will be sorely missed. R.I.P. Henry!

New Videos & Lots Of Assorted Updates!!

News has continued to be slow as of late, so let's tackle a bunch of shorter stories today, along with some new videos! We'll start with the first live concert footage of new-ish local southern/hard rock quintet Fort Creek, courtesy of their one-off gig at the newly re-opened Reggie's Place on Friday, September 4th! Filmed by attendee Justyne Gilbert and shared from her personal Facebook page onto the band's Facebook page, this has Fort Creek covering Thriving Ivory's "Angels On The Moon", which is in tribute to frontman Justin Grayson's grandmother, who passed away in 2007. The performance is well done and suitably emotional, if not a showcase of their heavier chops, and everyone tackles their instrument nicely! However, the vertical camera angle isn't ideal, and Robin's usually obscured from view. The new Reggie's looks good, though I assume the band is cordoned off due to social distancing. Give it a watch below!



Next up, here's a new acoustic cover video from Guitar Gangsters bandmates Erik "Buzz" Boissineau and Tiffany Stocco, courtesy of Buzz's YouTube channel on August 28th! Some viewers may have caught this on CTV News Northern Ontario two weeks ago at the end of the 6:00 PM newscast, but it's on YouTube for all to see, and it has the ex-Garden of Bedlam frontman and Stegadeth frontwoman covering Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" with Buzz on vocals. Nicely done cover of this dark ballad, and Buzz's singing is a nice match, so give it a watch below, and hopefully they have more in the works!



Finally, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, company, or website name:

• Blood Shed Productions have announced that they will be hosting a private bonfire jam this Saturday entitled "For Bunk Sakes & Headaches". The event will take place at "the park", but you have to contact the label for the specific address. Message Blood Shed at this link or above for full details if you are interested in attending!
• Despite a shared Facebook post on February 4th indicating that frontman Henry Switzer wasn't ready to play a full concert due to health issues, now-defunct Sault Michigan classic/hard rock quartet Highway 63 did play at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Friday, March 13th, which was the last weekend before the full-scale lockdown, as per a comment thread by ex-Full Throttle guitarist Jason Lamoreaux on their Facebook page. Given Henry's earlier post, I opted not to cover this concert at the time on the SMS, which I learned went forward too late. My sincere apologies, hopefully it was a good show!
• Sault Ontario/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith was interviewed by Camille Mola of the Philadelphia-based lifestyle blog Positive Publicity last month, where he discussed his experiences during the pandemic, his musical background, what inspired his new album "If Ever Comes The Day" (he's more candid than ever about it here), and his future plans. Entertaining and informative read, so give the interview a look at this link!
• SooToday's James Hopkin posted this article onto the local news website on August 28th, which discusses the transition back into hosting live music for local nightclubs. The article features interview remarks with the owners of Soo Blaster (which has resumed live music) and Coch's Corner & The Whiskey Barrel (both of which hadn't at press time), and it is a good read to see how different venues are adjusting to "the new normal" and social distancing limitations when trying to host even one band on a given night. This has been a rough year, but hopefully things will ease up before we know it!
• Sault Michigan hard rock trio Tarnished announced yesterday that their planned live-streamed concert on Facebook on Wednesday has been put on hold, due to concerns about reported changes to Facebook's terms of use agreement that would penalize or take down accounts that included copyrighted music in videos. News articles since seem to have cleared up the concerns of many Facebook content creators (covers seem to be alright, but not the original recordings), but in any event, Tarnished indicated that they'd look into doing live-streams on other platforms. Stay tuned for updates either way!
• I have deleted local extreme metal solo project X's & Y's from our Sault Michigan band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page at some point in the past two months. Led by Werehold Records founder and ex-Life's Eclipse guitarist Jason Mills, X's & Y's had sporadic updates between December and June, including a handful of videos. I was glad to see Jason working on new music again, and hopefully he resurfaces in some form!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Highway 63 & The Wyld Stallyns!!)

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali, who passed away earlier today at the age of 68, after a year+ long battle with pancreatic cancer. The longest serving member of the pioneering Los Angeles metal band, and the face of the group since their 2010 reunion, Frankie drummed on all but Quiet Riot's first two albums, and was behind the kit for their platinum selling LPs "Metal Health" & "Condition Critical". Local fans will recall seeing Frankie & Quiet Riot with Dokken & Skid Row at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in October 2005, and perhaps earlier still, though I won't get into everything surrounding their cancelled March 2017 Sault Ontario date. Frankie was a skilled drummer who fought cancer bravely, and Quiet Riot's role in metal's commercial explosion in the 1980s cannot be understated. R.I.P. Frankie, you will be missed!

Now, today's news post deals with (believe it or not) LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on each side of the border, one a SHORT NOTICE one for this weekend, and one coming next week from a familiar group we've only seen in videos as of late! With all of that said, here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 will end their local run with one final public concert set on SUNDAY outside of frontman Henry Switzer's own business Hank's Body Shop! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced via the band's Facebook page on Monday. After an over 6 year run on the local scene, Highway 63 are reportedly disbanding due to guitarist Nathan Switzer (Henry's son) moving out of town, so this event will serve as a send-off party for him. This "farewell jam" will be Highway 63's first live set as a band since the pandemic shutdowns, and this is absolutely a public event despite the non-traditional locale. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, refreshments are strictly on a "bring your own beer/food" model, but admission is free, and a 12:00 PM start time is advertised. This show is weather permitting, and while a lot can change before then, note that 9&10 News is calling for scattered thunderstorms that day.

For curious attendees in the E.U.P., Hank's Body Shop (who fix, buy, and sell used vehicles) is located at 3757 South Mackinac Trail, just down the road from Dondee Lanes, and the band will be set up behind the shop. Now, what does Nathan's big move mean for his St. Ignace-based progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown? I don't expect it will change a lot, honestly, as personal Facebook postings indicate that he's moving downstate to Holland, where drummer Cale Krist already lives. H.L.T.C. have never been a regular sight on local stages, and so far, they've managed to run just fine with Cale not living up here. However, Nathan's move will definitely take adjusting for local fans familiar with his cover repertoire with his dad, not to mention his original output in prior solo and band projects. He's a talented guitarist, and I know he'll be a musical asset wherever the road takes him!

Note that Nathan was never a member of Highway 63's side project Mackinaw Trail, who also promoted this event on Facebook, but will Henry, George, and Ron continue forward in that band? Time will tell, but Highway 63 had a good run locally and achieved a solid fan base with their hard rocking covers, and hopefully the weather cooperates to give Nathan a strong send-off THIS SUNDAY! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Highway 63 live in Sault Ste. Marie last fall!



Finally for today, here's that other new concert, as Sault Ontario acoustic hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will end their live concert drought with a one night only event on Friday, August 28th at The Rockstar Bar! After 5 months without live bands at The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub, they are starting to bring back live music this weekend with jam-encouraged solo shows by ex-Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer (details here), but next Friday's show will be their first with a band. The Stallyns have not played a Rockstar Bar show since 2019, with a February date there called off due to a band member falling ill, so if you've been waiting to see the Speers', Jesse, and Jonas together in person for the first time post-shutdown, next Friday is your next chance! Venue advertising does not blatantly outline the bar's social distancing rules for this event, but it's safe to assume that face masks are mandatory to enter the building.

I would imagine that they'll be operating at reduced capacity given the ongoing pandemic, and of course, please use common sense if you are thinking about attending. Hopefully Jason's shows and next weekend's will be a good harbinger of things to come at The Rockstar Bar! Otherwise, expect a 19+ age limit, no cover charge, and a 9:00 PM-ish start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From Mikey Hawdon & Tym Morrison, Plus More Updates!!

Today's news post is video-heavy, but we do have some assorted recent updates to wrap things up with. We'll start with the two newest solo vocal/ukelele cover videos from local punk musician Mikey Hawdon's YouTube channel, as his daily quarantunes have hit their 97th installment! In fact, both of the two new installments have a local relevance, including yesterday's cover of Jimmy Martin's "Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone", which was inspired by hearing the song live in Nashville when he and his mom vacationed there two years ago. The rendition features three of Mikey's Tidal Records colleagues, including Jay Case on the banjo, Frank Deresti on the bass, and his old Rising Tide bandmate Sheldon Jaaskelainen on the fiddle. Nice rendition with poignant lyrics, so give that a listen above! Embedded below is today's quarantune, where Mikey covers U2's "With Or Without You" with members of 1990s local punk band The Spigots!

The cover choice is fitting, as Mikey saw The Spigots in his first ever local concert back in 1993 at The Windsor Park Hotel, and "With Or Without You" was a staple of Spigots setlists. Mikey is on ukelele, guitar, and drums for this cover, alongside Spigots alumni Trevor Hartless on vocals and Frank Guidoccio on bass. The Spigots are well before my time, but this is a solid yet loose cover, albeit with a very repetitive chorus, and it must have been a thrill to revisit the dawn of Mikey's local punk fandom here! Give this quarantune a watch below, and look for more tomorrow!



Next up, local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison live-streamed his 22nd at-home concert on his YouTube channel on Thursday, so let's do another full recap on the SMS! You may notice that I skipped over Tuesday's show, which Tym did attempt to start, but he doesn't get to play any songs due to technical difficulties. No, the video feed wasn't glitchy, but he was clearly having problems hearing the guitar and his setup on his end, and he attempted to fix it for 17 minutes before giving up on the stream. At home, we could hear his guitar, but Tym will know better than I if things aren't working right. This is the third straight Tuesday stream of Tym's to be abbreviated due to technical difficulties, which is a very odd coincidence, but hopefully next Tuesday's isn't cursed! He did resolve the issues in time for Thursday's live-stream (embedded below), though "Starting Soon" card aside, it falls 15 minute shy of 2 hours.

In order, Tym starts by covering The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers" & Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)", before playing an instrumental composition. Afterwards, Tym tackles Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" (which the feed abruptly cuts off), Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise", Supertramp's "The Logical Song", Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle", Phil Collins' "One More Night", 10cc's "I'm Not In Love", Tom Petty's "Yer So Bad", another instrumental, Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)", Richard Marx's "Hold On To The Nights", his Spanish guitar instrumental, and an original song named "The Reason Why", with lots of anecdotes about it's composition and how he recorded it in high school, though it's not on his CD. Tym's set closes with Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver", Billy Joel's "You May Be Right", and Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", before thanking everyone and apologizing for Tuesday's show.

Strong set overall, and Tym performed to his usual standards despite the obviously warm temperatures! His story about "The Reason Why" and working with ex-Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer was nice too, especially if you followed Tym's original career. However, if you're not instrumentally inclined, you may not appreciate the three vocal-less songs here, and Tym just did the Richard Marx & Billy Joel songs this past Thursday. Give the whole show a watch below, and fingers crossed Tuesday's live-stream is glitch free!



Finally, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• Mikey's Inner City Surfers bandmate Dustin Jones sent an acoustic cover of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colours" to SooToday for this article on Monday, which is tied into Pride Week festivities and for something the whole community can enjoy. Nicely done rendition for a great cause, so give it a look above! The video host SooToday used here does not allow external embedding. 
• Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 have announced that they are cancelling their planned Rudyard Days event and all other upcoming dates "until further notice" due to a (non-COVID) health issue with one of their members, as per their Facebook page on Wednesday. The band had no shows left in our calendar as it was, but I believe Rudyard Days was the community gathering/concert that Highway 63 had discussed in April, to be held once the shutdowns ended. Hopefully we see Highway 63 back on stage in some way, shape, or form down the line!
• It goes without saying at this point, but the Northern Vibe Festival in nearby Ophir, Ontario will not take place as scheduled next month due to the coronavirus outbreak, as per their Facebook page earlier this week. The Northern Vibe Festival only features heavier and punk bands sporadically, but their diverse entertainment on the old Hempfest grounds is always a great time, and hopefully they can return better than ever in 2021!

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

Michigan COVID-19 Updates & Concert Cancellations, Plus Sault Ontario News & Notes!!

Here is our 80th straight daily post at the SMS, and it includes some assorted recent news and notes, details on an ambitious project to catalogue local music history (something readers should all care about), and leading off, the latest updates on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan. Here's what you should know!

On Tuesday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer lifted the state's stay-at-home order, and if you want to read into the minutia about that announcement, there's plenty of articles about it on state news websites. The Sault Evening News outlined what you can and can't do now in this article published yesterday, and sadly, concerts as we know them are still prohibited for the time being. Indoor gatherings of more than 10 people and outdoor gatherings of more than 100 are still not allowed in Michigan, and even if something were to be booked, social distancing measures of 6+ feet remain in effect. The announcement doesn't change anything re: restaurant and bars in the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan, which were previously allowed to open with appropriate social distancing measures and can still do so (the rest of the state can open these businesses on Monday.) As for casinos, the closure of Michigan casinos until June 12th actually only applies to those under state jurisdiction.

Specifically, this means that tribal casinos (like the Kewadin Casino branches and Bay Mills in Brimley) could begin re-opening this past weekend, but both appear to be exercising caution, as both have clearly announced on social media that they will also remain closed until June 12th. The short term future of concerts at these casinos still doesn't look good, and they took another hit on Friday, when Kewadin formally cancelled the Tripp 'N' Dixie show at The Rapids Lounge in the Soo on June 13th, as per that show's Facebook event page. Also, Kewadin's website's entertainment page has announced that "all events are temporarily postponed until further notice", which covers any concerts booked through at least the Fourth of July. As such, I have removed Tarnished's Signatures Lounge dates in the Soo on June 18th & 24th from our calendar, as well as Highway 63's Northern Pines Lounge shows in St. Ignace on July 3rd & 4th.

As such, our Sault Michigan calendar is now empty until the rescheduled Black Label Society concert at The Dreammaker's Theater on August 8th, but if I was a betting man, I wouldn't be gambling on the new date holding up, alas. Stay tuned to the SMS and your preferred Michigan news source for further details on the coronavirus pandemic and it's effect on concerts as they roll in!

Next up, let's move to Sault Ontario, where Rotaryfest music director Shaun Antler is working on a big project, specifically to catalogue and archive a list of as many local bands as possible. The project was covered in this Sault Star article by Brian Kelly on May 28th, and began in  conjunction with Rotaryfest's Rewind anniversary stages two years ago, but recently resumed work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shaun plans to wrap up things by the end of the month and share her results with the Sault Ste. Marie Museum, with plans to create a music exhibit at the museum in the future using her data. This is definitely a daunting project, especially when trying to catalogue and cite information on local bands before social media. I've given 2005 as my cutoff for reasonable online materials before, but as websites close and overhaul their layouts, that gets harder too. If you can help Shaun add bands or musicians to her database, message her at santler@shaw.ca!

A handful of SMS-relevant bands are cited in the article as needing member information, such as Free Beer, Smeltzer, and Them. I have helped Shaun with this project, and while members of those bands have been covered on the SMS in the past, social media aliases and common names may be tripping up some of her leads. I hope to send her some more info shortly, but contact her above if you want to help out! Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• This probably goes without saying, but this year's Algoma Ride For Autism (scheduled for June 20th) has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers confirmed this on their Facebook page on Tuesday, but they do hope to bring the event back in 2021. This is SMS relevant because live music has been a staple of the charity motorcycle rally's festivities, including a run of annual sets by local punk veterans Redundant. Hopefully the Ride does return next year, it's a great event for a great cause!
• Local guitarist Michael McCormick is looking for a singer for his current hard rock band project, who take inspiration from bands like The Foo Fighters, Halestorm, Metallica, and Poison. Specifically, he wants someone with "good frontman skills", but singing ability isn't necessarily his primary concern. I'm not familiar with Michael musically, but his post is attracting interest, so message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on Sunday for more details! Just use common sense given the pandemic.
• Had an active social media account existed for them, I would have recently moved Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie's solo project The Sorrow Fields to our inactive band links. This project last saw a public update via Mission Control Studios' Facebook postings on their unreleased debut album's sessions in January 2019, and Mitch's personal Facebook page (which saw occasional Sorrow Fields updates) was quietly taken down in recent months as well. Hopefully nothing bad happened, as Mitch is a very talented musician, and I hope we'll see The Sorrow Fields and Bear Hunters' long-gestating albums on sale down the road!

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

Northern Superior's Latest Songs & A Six-Pack Concert, Show Cancellations, And More!!

On this 55th straight day of SMS posts, we have new videos to check out from some familiar veteran faces, but let's lead off with some more updates to our concert calendar, albeit negative ones as usual. We'll start in Michigan, where Kewadin Casino announced on their Facebook page yesterday that their branches will all remain closed through the end of the month, with June 1st tentatively slated to be their re-opening date. As such, this wipes out the final May concerts we listed in the E.U.P., namely the May 29th weekend shows from Peril in the Soo and Highway 63 in St. Ignace. In Sault Ontario, nothing that we currently have listed has been visibly cancelled by the bands or promoters on social media, but I am reluctantly delisting the Anti-Queens concert at The Rockstar Bar on May 23rd, as everything around it this month has been called off, and many of The Anti-Queens later concert dates are getting postponed or cancelled elsewhere.

For full disclosure, the local show has not been publically cancelled by the band, promoter, or venue, but the likelihood of this concert and no others in May taking place seems slim-to-none, and there are definitely more cancellations and postponements ahead. If I happen to be wrong, I will redact this, but these are funny times that we're living in right now.

Next up, Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s sixth weekly "Songs & A Six-Pack" live-stream concert took place last night, and this week's host was Bone Yard frontman and (Choose) Maxx Entertainment head Greg Simpson! For the record, last week's show was headlined by country musician Brendan Hodgson, so genre fans will definitely want to check that one out at this link. Simultaneously, Greg's performance is the de facto sequel to his "Songs From The Smoke Room" live-stream last month, with it's planned follow-up on April 8th cancelled on short notice due to his father-in-law being in the hospital, which he acknowledged in last night's video, but thankfully, he is doing better now. Of course, it's great to see Greg back in the smoke room for more covers, albeit with Northern Superior advertising and plugs thrown in! Like last month, this set is more reflective of Greg's past work in classic/hard rock bands.

The 82 minute video starts with his slowed down acoustic cover of Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite", before moving to renditions of Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee", Black Label Society's "Spoke In The Wheel", Kid Rock's "All Summer Long", Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", The Tragically Hip's "Fiddler's Green", Cinderella's "Shelter Me", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", Ray LaMontagne's "Jolene", The Band's "The Weight", Jamey Johnson's "High Cost of Living", The Barenaked Ladies' "The Old Apartment", Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain", The Five Man Electric Band's "Signs", and Guns N' Roses' "Used To Love Her". If you get deja vu from Greg's live-stream last month, then I cannot blame you whatsoever, as only two songs from that set ("Wheat Kings" & "I Took A Pill In Ibiza") were not reprised last night, and only the last five covers were brand new.

That all said, this is still an entertaining concert set, and Greg injects a lot of these songs with good energy and optimism, complete with more entertaining banter with his wife Kerry, helping out off-camera once again. Hopefully there's more on the horizon from Greg, but give his "Songs & A Six-Pack From The Smoke Room" a watch below!

Finally, here's a newly shared video of Greg's old classic/hard rock cover band That's Chester, albeit before he joined the group! This comes from Rotaryfest's main stage at Clergue Park in July 2006, and was uploaded onto drummer Ric Datson's YouTube channel on Tuesday. This features That's Chester with their original frontman Richard Fullerton (now of the Ottawa-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Mothership), and the video opens with an amusing intro by MC/local radio DJ James Warner-Smith where the guys get introduced as the "next" band in an increasingly silly list of musicians, and we even hear their early stage names too (all have "Chester" in them). Musically speaking, you can see Ritch, Eugene, Gabe, Aubrey, and Ric cover a number of different songs, though these were edited into a clip montage in post-production, so no full songs are presented. Fans will hear Sammy Hagar, The Tragically Hip, and AC/DC songs, among others.

I wish the song fragments were at least longer, and the editing quality gives me the impression that this isn't a brand new video, but it's nice to hear the original That's Chester lineup at their height before Richard left! Everyone sounds good, so fans of theirs would be well served to give this video a watch, and visit Ric's YouTube channel for more archive video uploads of his!



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

More Concert Cancellations, SooToday's COVID-19 Benefit Concert, And More!!

For your Friday reading, we have some new at-home concerts, one from a prolific local mainstay, and the other featuring over a dozen local entertainers joining forces for great and relevant cause. However, we're leading off with some news on more upcoming concerts getting called off for sadly predictable reasons, so here's what you hould know!

This was inevitable the way things are going, but we have some more concert cancellations to take note of today, mostly related to Michigan's stay-at-home order, as Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended it to May 15th this morning, and click here or visit your preferred Michigan news outlets for more details. While some of the restrictions were loosened at the same time, concert venues and restaurants are still closed during this time, so don't look for any concerts there in the near future. The new May 15th cutoff will definitely cancel Highway 63's concerts at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on May 1st & 2nd, plus 415E's Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin shows the following week. All that's left for our Sault Michigan-area hard rock concert calendar in May are a pair of hard rock concert weekends at the Kewadin branches at the end of the month, and we will let you know when/if anything is firmly stated about them. At this time, the Sault Ontario shutdowns have not been similarly extended.

From what I have seen, neither the Numbing nor Anti-Queens concerts in May have been visibly cancelled or postponed by local promoters or the headliners, but their status is precarious as best, especially as Numbing's would have been cancelled by the Michigan government today had it been across the river. It's also worth noting that the Downtown Association has cancelled all events through the end of July (source here), but none of those had regularly established concerts. We'll keep you guys posted!

Next up, local news website SooToday hosted their own YouTube concert event yesterday, entitled Come Together Sault Ste. Marie, featuring 17 musical and entertainment acts performing from home. Of course, this was organized as a coronavirus pandemic benefit event, and viewers are encouraged to donate money to the Algoma COVID-19 Response Fund and the Sault Area Hospital Emergency Fund. Wonderful causes at this time of need, so definitely consider donating to one or both! This event seemed to come together quickly, but a wide swath of talented local artists took part, and while the roster does not primarily feature hard rock or punk acts, there are a handful of familiar faces for long-time readers. Some of the artists performing yesterday included the rap collective Sound Syndrome featuring Conika, folk musician/promoter Jackson Reed, the always prolific Jay Case featuring Frank Deresti & Sheldon Jaaskelainen, and veteran local rock musician Tracey Hilderley with Steve Cardiff, among many others.

The 93 minute run time limited musicians to a song each, and introductions by host Jasmyn Rowley & remarks from local dignitaries were also included, but give the whole thing a watch to see some great local talent coming together, if from afar, at this really strange time! There was one punk act on the bill yesterday, they being local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide (in Sheldon's first of two appearances in Come Together Sault Ste. Marie), so what should you know here? The Tide are actually the second entertainment act on yesterday's bill (after The Musical Comedy Guild), and due to social distancing, the guys perform remotely in each other's homes, with the five miniature videos arranged together in the frame. I'm surprised more musicians aren't doing that locally! Dustin and company performed "Lost & Found", the first single from their forthcoming fourth studio album, and while audio variance is inevitable due to the different camera setups, everyone sounds great!

I have no idea how the pandemic has affected the album recording and release plans, but it's good to see The Rising Tide in fine form here, and hopefully everyone's safe and healthy in their camp and families! Visit the above links to go directly to their performance (or go to 11:04 in the video below), but don't bypass the rest of Come Together Sault Ste. Marie!



Finally for today, here's all of the latest on local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's seventh live-streamed concert from his YouTube channel last night! This time, his 2 hour set begins about 18 minutes into the video, and Tym starts off with his regular Spanish guitar instrumental. He dives into covers after that, and in order, they include The Steve Miller Band's "Abracadabra", Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman", The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny", Kim Mitchell's "Patio Lanterns", Eric Carmen's "All By Myself", Aerosmith's "Dream On", Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love", Toto's "Africa", Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", Abba's "The Winner Takes It All", Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", The Beatles' "Something", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane", The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes", Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me", Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"...

...Journey's "Open Arms", Starship's "We Built This City", The Bangles' "Eternal Flame", The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Fishin' In The Dark", Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", Amanda Marshall's "Trust Me (This Is Love)", and The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun". Nice selection of classic rock-leaning covers here, including a handful of new songs for his live-streamed series, and his performances remain as solid as ever, so give Tym's newest show a watch, and look for more next week, one presumes!



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

New Sault Michigan Videos And More Recent News & Notes!!

Before we post this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles and hopefully add some stories to talk about on the site this weekend, here's a new news post for your Friday afternoon, including some overdue b-sides and unreleased music, new solo performance videos, and leading off, big post-pandemic plans from some familiar faces! Here's what you should know!

Here are some big updates and videos from active Sault Michigan projects, starting with the latest from classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63! Yes, they are still technically scheduled for two different weekend sets at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino next month, we will keep you posted on the statuses of those concerts when word rolls in from the band, venue, or the state government. Last week, a post from frontman Henry Switzer's personal Facebook page was shared on the band's Facebook page, where he outlined plans for an outdoor community gathering and concert when the pandemic ends. To be co-organized by Henry and the owners of two other local vehicle service shops, this planned event would likely have a barbecue, involvement from an array of local businesses, and live music, and they are seeking volunteers, advertising, and any other assistance to make the event happen. Highway 63's sister band Mackinaw Trail also shared this post on their Facebook page.

This sounds like a great idea to help get the community back together in a safe and friendly environment, and fingers crossed that isn't too far into the future, but flattening the curve should be our priority right now. One or both of Henry's bands seem likely to be involved given the Facebook shares, but there's a lot of unknowns yet, so follow the above links for continuing details! As for that new video, this is also shared from Henry's personal Facebook page, and it features him covering Kiss' '"Sure Know Something" on vocals & guitar. Unlike his prior solo video postings, this features three different videos of him performing (two with him singing, one on guitar), as edited together in post-production. The video's well made, and Henry's vocals are very effective on this Kiss classic! If you've missed his bands as of late, give this cover a watch below, and stay tuned for more updates!



Next up, here are the first videos from newer local metal solo project X's & Y's' Facebook page! Both uploaded there on February 18th, these feature project leader Jason Mills (ex-Life's Eclipse/Werehold Records) demonstrating riffs for their new material, including this 17 second video of him dialing in a tone on his 9 string guitar. Embedded below is the longer 30 second video of him demonstrating an old riff he's brought back for his new songs. The green tint seems unnecessary, but these riffs are promising, so give them a look, and I hope we hear more from X's & Y's in the near future!



We'll close today in Sault Ontario with a long overdue find on local punk supergroup The Inner City Surfers' Soundcloud page! For site research, Soundcloud has proven useful in the past, but it's not a service I actively use, so the upload of this content in May 2016 has absolutely fell under the radar until now. Fans of the Surfers probably know that their four studio albums (including the elusive "Time To Travel On") are available to stream on Spotify, but they are also on their Soundcloud page (ran by bassist Brad Example), and an extra collection of songs is there too, entitled "BSides & Rare", which features unreleased original songs, covers, and alternate versions from their heyday. This is not a for-sale album, but it's a nice collection of extra material, including the original versions of "Step Back" (from "Laughing On The Outside") and their cover of Stompin' Tom Connors' "Algoma Central 69", an acoustic version of "10 Commandments", and many other unreleased songs.

As this never received a paid release, it's not eligible for our monthly CD reviews, but given that some of these songs are clearly rough demos, the band may have always intended for these to be a free bonus.  For completionism, the "Bsides & Rare" playlist is definitely worth a listen to hear some lost Inner City Surfers tracks, and you can do so at the above links! That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Bridge Heads Concert Preview, Cancellations For This Weekend, And New Videos!!

Before we begin today's post, just a heads-up that tonight's Wyld Stallyns concert at The Water Tower Pub has been cancelled. The band confirmed the news on their Facebook page this morning, but did not give a reason publically for their withdrawal. Veteran local blues rock band Smokehouse will step in on short notice, so genre fans might want to consider seeing them instead! This means that two separate Stallyns' concerts this weekend were called off, which is very unfortunate, but keep reading for details on a late notice gig from them! Now, here's one more hard rock concert preview for this weekend, more apparent cancellations, and new videos!

New local hard rock quartet The Bridge Heads and guitarist Daniel Horton's new acoustic pop rock band Big Mistake will join forces for their second announced concert TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Fans saw both bands at the Acoustic Heartstrings event at the now-closed Room 21, and while this sequel event will not feature Handsome Sandwich, it will have new songs from both bands, and (for the first time) electric instruments for The Bridge Heads, so old Haggith, Eclipse, and Project 421 fans will definitely not want to miss out on their set! Of course, Big Mistake are the advertised headliners, and while not a heavy band, they have familiar faces with established names locally in prior musical pursuits, and this should be a well received second gig for them as well! Plus, in an update that just broke this afternoon, the aforementioned Wyld Stallyns will play a set as well tomorrow, helping fill the void from the postponement of tomorrow's Docs & Food & Beer & Bands event.

Fitting choice to add to the bill, albeit on late notice, and they compliment Big Mistake's unplugged format and The Bridge Heads' heavier sound well each! Visibly promoted by Daniel once again, this is a 19+ show with a $5 cover charge and a 9:30 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's The Bridge Heads live last month!



Next up, I was planning to tackle Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63's advertised return to The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino branch tonight & tomorrow night, but I am reluctantly opting not to cover them on here, as the most recent posting on their Facebook page does not paint an optimistic picture for the short term. As shared from frontman Henry Switzer's personal Facebook page, he noted that he recently had a heart ailment repaired that apparently remedied a vocal issue that had been persisting for 9 months. While Henry was hesitant about getting back on stage, his bandmates convinced him, and he called it "the best therapy anyone could give me." The post ended by saying that "it's gonna take some time before I can do a full show, but you can expect to see Hw63 in the near future." Highway 63 last played an advertised concert (that I know of) in November, and haven't played at The Rapids Lounge since October, a weekend split with side project Mackinaw Trail.

Henry's health is a priority first and foremost, so unless otherwise stated, I'm not going to formally call these shows as taking place (Mackinaw Trail wouldn't be the replacement act either, as Henry is their frontman too.) We'll let you know when Highway 53 resurface, but here's a new solo cover that he shared to the band's Facebook page in December! Here, you can see him sing Dishwalla's ballad "Angels & Devils" (selected for a challenge by his cousin), and it's a strong showcase of his vocal range, even if his voice was still impaired when this was filmed! Give it a watch below!

Let's head back to Sault Ontario now to cover some new videos, starting with a long awaited update from The Wyld Stallyns' funk/hard rock sister band The Elements, who have finally shared a studio track from their long gestating debut EP! Almost four years after frontman Rob Speers first told me about their CD plans and gave the green light to mention them on the SMS, the guys quietly shared their studio copy of their original "I Need A Friend" onto their Facebook page last month, itself their first posting there (a cover photo update aside) since March of last year. Given the band's spotty Facebook usage, I don't know how much they'll post there (or how fast) regarding the EP, but band members' personal Facebook accounts have elaborated more, so if you know the guys, you may want to seek them out. I don't want to step on their toes regarding the EP plans, so I won't divulge the meat of those discussions without permission, but I think I can say a couple of things that wouldn't get me in any trouble.

For one, "I Need A Friend" won a poll among Facebook friends to determine the first full song release, and the tracks appear to have been produced in-house by bassist James White, presumably at White Wreckords or it's modern-day equivalent. Hopefully more information goes public soon, but it's great to finally see The Elements' EP taking public shape, and fingers crossed it makes it's way onto physical and/or digital storefronts soon! I'll hold comment on the song proper for now, pending a possible album review, but give "I Need A Friend" a listen below!



Finally for today, here's the latest from local power rock quartet Re:Born, who we haven't heard from since Toystock in late November, so what's new to report from their camp? As per their newest Facebook page post on February 26th, the guys revealed that personal life circumstances "forced us into hibernation for the winter", but they are getting back into activity in time for the spring, and they plan to have "a rock n' roll summer." They teased a return to the stage in May, since confirmed to be the final opening slot for the Anti-Queens concert at the aforementioned Rockstar Bar on May 23rd, which will end a six month stage hiatus. While not a punk band, Re:Born are a fitting choice to open, as guitarist Blair Burch did open for The Anti-Queens locally back in 2016 with Project 421, so they should deliver a hard hitting set of their own in two months! To cap off their new updates, Re:Born posted a new (if belated) video of them at the Killer Dwarfs show at Soo Blaster in April!

A cover of Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" (one of my favourite songs of theirs), this is a well done rendition, if somewhat laid back and reserved, but this was just their second live concert. Everyone performs strongly, and it's nice to see this video finally, so give it a look below!



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