LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Finals) & Saturday Night Concert Previews!!

Alright, let's close out this weekend's concert previews, but to fill things out, we also have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning the finals of an ongoing competition, and fallout from it's semifinals! Apologies for erroneously crediting the finals as being part of this week's preview slate, I forgot that they were taking a two week break between the last rounds. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

After a very talented semifinal round this past Saturday, local rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have punched their ticket for the finals of The Soo's Got Talent, which go down next Friday, October 11th at Soo Blaster! As attendees of the semifinals will already know, judges sent The Apocalypse Afterparty, Killabeatz, Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf, Juliana Regan, and Adrian Sullivan through as the five advertised finalists, but like last year, two wild card slots were also granted, this time to The Dancing Divas and Coulson Perri. With that said, Madison Blair, Colin Gasparelli, and Cameron Oliver were eliminated from the competition last week. As the only true band with instruments left in the competition, The A.A. definitely stand out in the crowd, but can they carry that to a surprise victory next Friday? We'll find out then, but look for another great night of rising local entertainment at Soo Blaster next Friday at 7:00 PM! Again, admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under.

Along with the finalists, organizers have announced that ONNtv morning host and veteran local entertainer Tim Murphy will return as a guest judge and performer, while 2018 Soo's Got Talent champion Daniella Brewer will also perform next week, as well as "a surprise celebrity tribute artist." Should be an exciting finals, but before then, SaultOnline's footage of the semifinals aired on ONNtv on Monday and is now up on their YouTube channel in a 1 hour, 40 minute+ video, so what can you see here? Again all sung covers unless otherwise stated, the acts include Cameron Oliver (The Eagles' "Hotel California"), The Dancing Divas ("A Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman), Killabeatz with more of his skilled beatboxing, Coulson Perri (David Bowie's "Heroes"), Madison Blair (KT Tunstall's "Other Side Of The World", Juliana Regan (Sia's "Death By Chocolate") both Colin Gasparelli & Adrian Sullivan playing original songs, Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Miley Cyrus' "Party In The USA"), ...

...and The Apocalypse Afterparty playing a brand new original, possibly titled "Going To California." Very dark lyrics, but the upbeat hard rock sound is a nice contrast, as are their bright summery outfits! The video ends with another bonus Killabeatz and guest performance, followed by the results announcement, complete with dramatic music. Everyone performs well for their given songs, and despite some visual glitches during Colin's judges feedback, everything looks great at Soo Blaster, so give the footage a look below, and stay tuned for more when we preview the finals next week!



Next up, let's finally wrap up this weekend's metal & punk concert previews by looking at two shows taking place TOMORROW NIGHT, including the Arts Against Homelessness fundraiser concert at The Rockstar Bar! A collaboration between Live705, Celeste's Art & Photography, and Suzie DePlonty, this special concert event will see all proceeds go to the St. Vincent Place men's shelter on Albert Street East, which is a wonderful cause, and hopefully they get lots of much needed aid as a result of this fundraiser! I am unsure of the official lineup order, but this will be a rock vs. rap mashup of sorts, with Live705's flagship punk trio A Dire Setback and power rock quartet Re:Born (fresh off of a summer break) joining forces with Christian rapper Bold Noize and hip hop duo Planet Rock for the occasion. As well, Planet Rock's own DJ Seith and deep house DJ Bobby Lawn will be on hand to spin tunes between bands.

An increasingly rare all-local concert from Live705, this event has a $10 admission fee at the door or at this link, while there will be raffle draws for the cause, with tickets available via canned good donations, and you can see some of the prizes at the Facebook event page. This is a 19+ event, and a 9:00 PM start time is advertised. This should be a fun concert to help out St. Vincent Place with, and with some rock and rap for both tastes, what's not to like? See above for more details, and here's A Dire Setback live!



Finally, if you're looking for a more extreme headline act TOMORROW NIGHT, or a pseudo encore from Oh!No III, then head to Room 21 above Low & Slow, where Thunder Bay "pisscore" trio Femur will make their Sault Ste. Marie debut! As fans who saw them in Leeburn last month can vouch for, this brutal hardcore punk band should deliver another devastating performance full of fast paced original material, so if you want more Femur action or missed out at the festival, here's a second chance! In a quiet opener switch earlier this week, local alt-folk solo project (and fellow Oh!No performer) Slumshine will now kick off this concert, replacing cybergrind solo act Malignant Neoplasm. A reason for the change was not publically announced, and while there was briefly a private social media post on Malignant Neoplasm's end this week that indicated that they weren't happy about being removed, I could not find it today, so I hope things were reasonably smoothed out between Tyler and organizers.

Slumshine aren't as obvious of a genre match to Femur, but Brent's a talented musician and he should set the tone well before things get heavy! The first metal concert promoted by the Oh!No Collective since retiring the Six, Two, Oh. name, this 19+ show has a 10:00 PM door opening time, and admission is either $10 or "pay what you can." Should be a solid concert for fans of hardcore punk and masked folk rock, so visit the official Facebook event page for full details, and here's Femur live!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (A Dire Setback), Treble Charger Updates, And New Videos!!

Let's tackle some big recent news and updates on this Saturday night post, so what's on tap? An unexpected live cover video from a recent private event, a teaser for an upcoming music video, a very prominent local band's long awaited album confirmation, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month! Here's what you should know!

A special fundraiser concert named "Arts Against Homelessness" will hit The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, October 6th featuring a number of familiar faces! Presented by Live705 in association with Suzie Deplonty and Celeste's Art & Photography (who you may recall from 2017's Guy Thiffault tribute concert), this event is being put on to raise money for St. Vincent Place, the men's shelter on Albert Street East. Very worthy cause that I'm surprised hasn't had more concerts held in it's name, hopefully this is a smash hit! As you can see on the poster, the performing acts aren't laid out in a way where I could state the lineup order, but here's who to look for. Naturally for Live705's non-death metal concerts, their resident alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play this event, as well as power rock quartet Re:Born in their first show in almost three months. The rest of the lineup is of the hip-hop/DJ oeuvre, including DJ Seith and his duo project Planet Rock in separate sets, plus Christian rapper Bold Noize and deep house DJ Bobby Lawn.

A $10 admission fee is set for Arts Against Homelessness, either at the door or at this link, while canned food donations will net you raffle tickets, with multiple prizes promised. Yes, this is a 19+ event, and it starts at 9:00 PM. Live705 haven't put on an all-local concert with no touring acts since 2017, so this concert is welcomed on that note alone, but with a great charitable cause and a diverse lineup of rock and rap music to take in, I am hopeful this is a huge success for St. Vincent Place! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and Celeste's Photography is belatedly now linked on the SMS! She does great work, check out her page for lots more!

Next up, here's the latest from local/Toronto indie/punk standouts Treble Charger, who we haven't heard anything from publically since Rotaryfest last year, so what are they up to? Well, according to this new Sault Star article from Brian Kelly last month, they are indeed working on a new studio album! This had been teased in prior shows and interviews for a while, but the article confirms that they began work on the follow-up to 2002's "Detox" about six months ago. Four or five demos are recorded, though the sessions are on hold until the new recording studio at the Algoma Conservatory of Music (that frontman Greig Nori is managing) is completed, with Greig wanting the album proper to be recorded there. The article also notes that Bill Priddle's Pointless bandmate Dustin Goodall is recording bass for the album, which is a huge feather in his cap to be sure, but it's not firmly stated whether he's just a session musician or if he is their first full-time bassist since their original breakup.

No sign there regarding who's drumming on the album, but recent candidates may include their most recent live drummer Ian McKay, Richard Mulligan (who Wikipedia still lists as their drummer without credited sources), or Bill & Dustin's Pointless bandmate David Peredun. I will be honest, I had briefly moved Treble Charger to our inactive band links early last month due to their year+ wait for public updates, but it's a good thing I didn't write anything about that before this broke! It's great to see Treble Charger hard at work on a new CD, so stay tuned for updates as they trickle in!

We'll close today with new videos, starting by going back to the aforementioned A Dire Setback, who released a teaser for their first ever music video to their YouTube channel on Thursday! The song in question is "Kicking & Screaming", and this was shot by rising local filmmakers Poindexter Productions with editing by the aforementioned Celeste Maurer. This just a one minute teaser for the full video, which will apparently be released in two weeks on September 21st. Curiously, it's just a 6x repeated clip of frontman Chris Nielsen throwing a toilet out of the second floor of a building for yet-unknown reasons, as set to the opening/chorus of the song. As such, if you've seen the first 10 seconds, you've seen the whole thing, but getting to hear a brief snippet of the final studio copy of the song is cool! Note that the video description says that A Dire Setback's debut album "will be released at the end of 2019." Will that hold? Time will tell, but give the teaser a look below, and watch for the full video in two weeks!

Finally, here's a surprise cover that just popped up on Facebook on Tuesday. Some readers may recall The Freshwater Sirens, a mid-2010s alternative/indie rock duo featuring ex-Danger Cats frontwoman Kate Hatherley (nee Drew) and her old Apocrytha bandmate Cody Gagnon. The Sirens weren't a hard rock band, so we didn't actively cover them in their heyday, but they had talent & chemistry, and are worth a look for genre fans. I bring them up here because their Facebook page is still used for updates on members' solo pursuits, and their newest update comes from Cody's recent wedding, where the band hired for the occasion were local pop rock cover quartet The Killer Hooks. For at least one song, Cody (still in her wedding dress, mind you) joined the band to cover The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", and the solid quality video captures everyone firing on all cylinders!

Cody's got a nice voice that hits all the high notes on this glam rock throwback hit, and Killer Hooks fans know they have the heavier chops when need be, and it's great to see this guest spot come together on a huge night! Give the full video a look below, and congratulations to Cody on the nuptials!



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