LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) & Most Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

Due to a trifecta of hard rock concerts later today in Sault Ontario, this round of weekend concert previews is up on the site nice and early so that there's time to get info on them! Well, most of them, as I'll cover Bone Yard 225 and The Nameless' gigs on Saturday in tomorrow's post. Here's what you should know, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Joining his previously announced matinee concerts at Misty's Fifties on SATURDAY and at Beck's Bar on SUNDAY, local classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison will also hit The Dive Gastro Pub for this week's "Think It Over Thursday" concert TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on TONIGHT's show, it was only announced via the venue's concert calendar on their Facebook page on Saturday. Last seen at Misty's two weeks ago after his Eagles Club show last week was cancelled, this unusually busy stretch (at least as far as publically advertised gigs go) will see Tym rock three different local venues in a four day span. Hopefully all three shows go well for Tym, including at Beck's, marking his first show at the former Vibe Lounge since his early 2010s gigs there with his band Caveman Morrison! TONIGHT'S show at The Dive's "Naughty Corner" is at 9:30 PM, but the two matinees are at Misty's at 4:00 PM on Saturday and at Beck's at 3:00 PM on Sunday.

None of these shows have an announced cover charge. Visit the Facebook event pages linked here for more details, and for a preview, here's a new original song on Tym's YouTube channel from last month! Entitled "Hypocrisy", this is about the hypocrisy of religion (Tym is a devout Christian), and features a video with lots of stock and AI footage relating to his viewpoints. I won't go into detail on all of that, but this is an intense classic metal song that will play well for fans of his "Solo Project" CD and 1980s speed metal, complete with a quality solo! Not that this will be very indicative of his acoustic concert sets, but check out "Hypocrisy" below!

Next up, there's two big touring headiners hitting Sault Ontario TONIGHT, starting with the long awaited return of Victoria, British Columbia hardcore punk legends The Dayglo Abortions, who will be taking the stage once again at Soo Blaster! Punk fans will have seen The Cretin and gang at Soo Blaster two years ago, with tonight's show being their fourth in the Soo in the past fifteen years, out of town gigs with Spades GT acknowledged. The Dayglos' hard hitting and in-your-face brand of hardcore punk always draws a local crowd, and while the mid-week timing will be difficult for some, I fully expect a strong turnout! Joining The Dayglo Abortions on tour are Vancouver "west coast skacore" band Dirtnap and Prince Edward Island folk punk outfit The Devil's Punchbowl, who bring their own distinct styles to the table in their first Soo concert appearances, though Dirtnap have a more aggressive punk base.

Don't bypass either group tomorrow, nor the local openers, namely crossover thrash quartet Hails (featuring this show's promoter Mikhal Muto on guitar) in their first public concert set of 2025, and while they're getting a later start to the year, what a way to get back at it! No word on if they'll have copies of "Punk Canada Vol. 4" on sale though. This ALL AGES concert has admission of $20 in advance through Ha!ls members or $25 at the door (online sales have ended) and doors open at 6:30 PM. You won't want to miss out on this diverse punk attack at Soo Blaster tonight, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Dayglo Abortions live here in 2023!

Also taking place TONIGHT is the third local concert appearance of Australian tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic at the Sault Community Theatre Centre! After not stopping here for their 2024 tour run, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will rock the former Kiwanis Theatre tonight for the first time in two years, and if you are at all a fan of Queen's, you won't want to miss their faithfully presented and performed take on the British hard rock legends' back catalogue, particularly what was played on their 1986 world tour! This concert at White Pines Collegiate & Vocational School's on-site theatre takes place tonight at 8:00 PM, and tickets have sold very well, with just two floor section seats still available as of this writing, along with a selection of gallery seats. Regardless of location, tickets cost $69 in advance ($40 for kids 13 and under) at this link or at the Station Mall box office, and presumably at the door if any are still available then.

QIAKM have proven to be a steady local success in their prior local stops, and with their huge stage show and replication of Queen's music (let alone touring to support the 50th anniversary of "Bohemian Rhapsody"), you won't want to bypass this one if you're a huge Queen fan! Visit the above links for more details, and here's a kinda magic live!

Finally for this preview post, let's head to The Esquire Club, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will set up shop TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen at Northern Superior Brewing Co. last month, these will be the first shows at this Second Line West staple from "the Sault's premier party band" since late March, and according to their Facebook page, "our last one until the fall". By that, they mean bookings at The Esquire Club, as Silent 9 will again take the summer off from regular bar/nightclub concerts in favour of festivals and private events, as per their website's concert calendar. They are scheduled at The Water Tower Pub in two weeks, but that'll be their last normal bar gig for the spring, and their next public concert afterwards will be at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Thursday, July 17th. I traditionally wait to cover all of that for when the full schedule is dropped, but it's good to note that they'll be back there in two months!

For now, you can enjoy Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve's eclectic mix of classic and hard rock tunes at The Esquire Club tomorrow and Saturday 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 Silent Nin9 live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Bone Yard 225 and The Nameless previews and more on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Queen: It's A Kinda Magic & About:Blank), Plus New Music Videos!!

Let's get a new news post on the site on this cold Sunday night, and it's half devoted to new music videos and half to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

A number of alumni from last fall's Lake Superior State University battle of the bands will gather at Pickles Bar & Grill in nearby Brimley, Michigan for the first show of 2025 from local promoter Brighton LeBlanc's agency Serious Business! To be held on Saturday, February 8th, this show (possibly named "We Will Be Music") will be headlined by the live concert debut of About:Blank, the new (according to Brighton in an e-mail) punk trio from former Tarnished bandmates Parker Talentino and Nathan Webber! Their lineup is rounded out by former Letters To Abel/Midnight Logic drummer Kade DesArmo. No hints of their music yet beyond what we know of members' prior band work, but based on About:Blank's lineup, they should fit our coverage! We'll have more on them in an upcoming post. Opening the proceedings in three weeks are newer local indie rock band (and Sole Aggressors side project) The Undecideds, plus local acoustic singer/guitarists Kevin Blakeney and Kaleb Shannon.

With the exception of Kade, everyone played at the LSSU battle last fall, so every act except Tarnished and The Small Town Society will be at least partially represented at Pickles next month (Nathan and Parker left Tarnished prior to the battle, where both played in separate acts). Whether you were at the battle or not, consider driving out to Brimley for what should be a fun night of original E.U.P. music with a nice mix of genres! This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 18+ age limit, and $10 cover charge. Visit the above links for more on this next round of Serious Business!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where Australian tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will return to the Sault Community Theatre Centre for their third local headlining appearance on Thursday, May 8th! It seems like this highly proficient and faithful Queen tribute have played here more often (possibly due to their 2022 debut here being postponed twice due to pandemic restrictions), but this will be their first trip to the former Kiwanis Theatre in two years, skipping the Soo on their 2024 Canadian tour run. From what I heard, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic delivered a great stage show with strong Mercuryesque vocals in early 2020s stops here, so if you are a big Queen fan, you'll be right at home with their return this spring, especially as they're touring in honour of the 50th anniversary of the release of "Bohemian Rhapsody"! All of the action goes down at White Pines' amphitheatre on May 8th at 8:00 PM, with no age limits whatsoever.

Tickets run at this link or at the in-person box office for $69 (adults) or $40 (kids 12 and under), which is actually $3 lower across the board from 2023. Sales have been good even with our coverage not being immediate, as the closest center section seats available are in the twelfth row (fourth in the side sections), so act now to ensure as good as a seat as possible if you don't have tickets already! For more details on Queen: It's A Kinda Magic's return to the Soo, visit the above links!

Now let's look at two newly released music videos from notable local bands, and we'll start with the long-teased debut music video (and studio single) from local southern/hard rock band Fort Creek! As launched yesterday with their non-concert release party at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, the song is "One For The Road", and you can see its video on their new YouTube channel, as well as hear the song on "every streaming platform" (in reality, it's on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Anghami). The band has also launched their own official website in conjunction with the single and video, including an electronic press kit and hype for the current members and their upcoming album plans, but not a lot of detail on their pre-2024 activity. The song was mixed/mastered by Josh MacIntosh, and the video was filmed by Josh Penno at Spacebag Productions.

The music video intercuts scenes of frontman Justin Grayson driving to Jay's with the band setting up for an acoustic performance there, plus Justin singing the song at the bar proper, before everyone is seen playing "One For The Road" together on stage, and ultimately leaving the Korah Road nightclub at the end. I'll hold comment on the song itself pending our review of Fort Creek's long-gestating debut album, but the video is well filmed and edited, and if you like acoustic southern rock, you should take to this song, so give Fort Creek's first video and single a watch/listen below!

Finally, here's a surprise from last week, namely an official music video for local death metal band The Bear Hunters' 2014 single "Collapse The Sun"! The second Bear Hunters-branded music video to be posted to their YouTube channel this month (joining "Squirrel Buddy"), this features assorted clips of the band in concert in the early-mid 2010s, and is not strictly designed to sync up with the original song in terms of performance clips or lineups (as such, look for 2010-2011 rhythm guitarist Mike Vincent here and there). Some of the footage was shot by yours truly, which is neat to see! It took a decade+, but it's great to see the "Eternal Hibernation" lead single get a proper and well compiled music video, even if that album's production quality wasn't as high as on 2020's "The Dead Testament". Give it a watch below, and we'll let you know what other (final?) content that The Bear Hunters have in store for 2025!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Hails), Crucifest's Cancellation, And New Videos!!

Happy Canada Day to all readers who celebrate, and I hope everyone enjoyed having an extra long weekend this year via it being on a Monday! In our first post of what is surely to be a busy July, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, linked cancellation, and new concert videos from last month, so here's what you should know!

The planned Crucifest extreme metal concert at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn on Friday, July 26th has been cancelled. According to promoters Deciduous Events & Decor on their Facebook page yesterday,  "our main organizer has been dealing with ongoing health issues", which has forced her to give up promoting the festival. Definitely a shame, as I know how many metalheads and Robbie's church fans were looking forward to this, but hopefully D.E.A.D. can try promoting a similar event in the future when health allows! Tickets already purchased through Eventbrite will be refunded. However, not all is lost, as the show must go on, if in a reduced capacity! While the five touring Ontario metal bands (Beguiler, Salem Trials, Seagrave, Drugwolf, and Dead Roots) are no longer playing here this month, the four local bands have banded together to keep the July 26th booking, so fans can still prepare to bang their heads then!

This is considered to be a replacement concert with separate admission pricing, but camping that night is still encouraged. Punk/thrash trio (quartet?) Hails have seemingly taken on the promotional banner in their return to Leeburn following last month's It's The Pits Festival, and they will be joined by the reunited Pillory's first public concert in almost five years, rising young metal trio The BAG, and the debuting Sault Side Squad (featuring As It Stands, A Dire Setback, Jack Spades, The Haze, and Winkstinger alumni). It's not entirely clear who is headlining now, as the presented band order is not consistent in promotions. This new all-local metal concert has no stated age limit, a 7:00 PM start time, and a flat admission fee at the door of $20 (Crucifest was $25 for the Friday and $45 for the full weekend, including camping). We have seen local bands salvage cancelled bookings like this before, so kudos for doing so here!

I just hope it doesn't rain on the 26th like it did for It's The Pits, but if you're up for the hour's drive east to rock out (and/or camp out) at the church, visit the official Facebook event page for more details! While we're on the subject, the aforementioned Ha!ls were filmed at It's The Pits for a video publically posted to their Facebook page on Wednesday! Be advised that I have seen more videos than this from It's The Pits, but regrettably, as Facebook goes, they all were either on private accounts or were exclusively shared as "Stories", which means that they can only be seen once or twice before vanishing. A brief separate video of Hails was shared by P.I.T.S.' Instagram page in a batch post covering videos from the whole day, with bubbles a-flying, and it has a better angle than the Facebook video, if square by necessity given that it was uploaded to Instagram. Ha!ls are third in the rotation there, so don't bypass those clips!

As for the Facebook video, it features Hails playing their non-album original "Bipolaris" from a unique high camera angle, clearly from an open second floor locale. In this case, I'll forgive the vertical orientation given that it better accentuates everyone's placement on the stage! Note that guitarist Carmen Muto was present in both the Facebook and Instagram clips, but as he was in the promotional imagery for the festival, you can't be shocked (Ha!ls still haven't confirmed that he's joined the band on their own social media). A little cymbal heavy, but this 39 second clip thrashes along well, so give it a watch below, and see more from It's The Pits above!

Finally for today, here's a brand new video from local alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB live at this year's Poutine Feast yesterday! The first video uploaded to their new (if almost two years-belated) Facebook page, it captures 41 seconds of their cover of Doug & The Slugs' "Making It Work". Filmed roughly side-stage, this (thankfully) horizontal video doesn't have the crispest clarity, but the guys sound good, and it does give us our first public visual look at an SMS-amenable band rocking the Village Media Stage at the Downtown Plaza. For what we see of this band-focused clip, things look professional and open for fans (some were dancing), but I'm curious to see how the video screen above the stage looks in conjunction with performers below it, and of course, this was a community festival moreso than a formal ticketed concert. Check out BookcluB yesterday below, and don't miss them at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Saturday the 20th!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post and more soon! Thanks everyone!

It's The Pits, Inconsistent Me, And BookcluB Concert Previews!!

Before we finally cap off this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews, just a friendly tip that Wyld Stallyns/ex-Elements frontman Rob Speers will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for another acoustic show on their patio tomorrow night. I'm still not 100% sure if his solo dates are similar to his bands in set/sound or not, hence why I'm not covering it as normal here, but keep it in mind if you want some downtown unplugged music! Now, let's wrap up this weekend's previews by looking at a big festival an hour or so outside of town, plus two Sunday events, so here's what you should know!

We'll start at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn, where local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their biggest ever concert TOMORROW, namely the It's The Pits! Yes, live music returns to the site of the late 2010s Oh!No fesitvals and last year's private Bear Hunters reunion event, and P.I.T.S. (peach pit motif fully intact) will be bringing a wide array of styles to the church tomorrow, and while the former Dryer Fire have never been known as a metal/punk-first promotion agency, two of the ten acts tomorrow are SMS-amenable! Half of the bill is comprised of touring artists, and while it's not clear if the poster gives away the performance order (we don't know set times anyway), Toronto electronica duo LAL are definitely the headliners tomorrow night. Also making their way here are Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, who genre fans will definitely take to with their melodic sound!

Other touring acts tomorrow are Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton (who played in the Soo in October), Toronto "deep Earth folk" project Twintwa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan "dark folk" duo Rabbit Fur. The local contingent tomorrow includes crossover thrash/punk band Hails (who will be back in Leeburn for Crucifest next month), DJ Seith (who joined Ha!ls at the private Leeburn event last July), Chris West's local/Quebec indie solo project Tampa, lo-fi "anti-folk" singer/guitarist Shae Tull, and the cryptic regional Americana project Tye Lawless Co.. Note that ex-Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's folk project Sibling dropped out of It's The Pits last month after deciding to step away from music, and they were not replaced on the bill. Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is tomorrow's host, and numerous arts and culture vendors will be selling their wares on site.

It's The Pits (which has no stated age limit) takes place tomorrow at 2:00 PM into the night at 5756 Highway 638 outside of Bruce Mines, and attendees are welcome & encouraged to camp out on site and leave on Sunday if they so choose. Just respect the space, and mind tomorrow's rainy weather forecast (though the concert proper is indoors). Tickets cost $45 in advance at this link or via P.I.T.S. staff, and the price jumps to $50 at the gate. Hopefully It's The Pits is a huge hit for Nicole and crew, so that they make this an annual event, and punk fans will enjoy The Mendozaz and Hails in particular among this talented lineup! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Mendozaz live!

Next up, let's head back into Sault Ste. Marie city limits for two concerts taking place on SUNDAY, starting with a matinee performance by online page-less local alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub as the headliners during that day's teddy bear picnic at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery! Last crossing our radar when Tym Morrison had a weekly run there in late 2019, the 4057 Third Line West mill/winery will host their first ever teddy bear picnic on Sunday afternoon, where families and their kids are encouraged to come down (with picnic blankets and plush toys in tow) to enjoy refreshments, family entertainment, games, prize draws, local vendors, and of course, music! BookcluB will be headlining at 1:00 PM (running for three hours), while veteran R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers will open the picnic with a few sets starting at 10:00 AM. What's unclear is if they'll be playing inside at the Wine Barn or fully outdoors.

Regardless of age, tickets run for $10 at this link or presumably upon entry, though if you have a baby 2 years or younger, they'll get in free. The Weather Channel is currently projecting partly cloudy weather in the 22° range on Sunday afternoon, but showers do bookend the 10 AM-4 PM timeframe, so if you are at all concerned about the rain messing with the picnic, keep tabs on your preferred local weather reports closer to Sunday. It'll be interesting to see how things go at Thomson Farms, both for the atypical concert setting, the potential weather impairment, and just how the teddy bear picnic goes, but BookcluB should get a good response! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!

Finally for this very busy slate of weekend concert previews, let's head to The Distraction, where Detroit pop punk solo project Inconsistent Me will headline on SUNDAY NIGHT! One of a surprising number of Michigan-based touring bands to play in Sault Ontario in recent months (if only Sault Michigan bands were similarly crossing over), Inconsistent Me's brand of up tempo & nostalgic pop punk should draw a good response from fans at the old barbership on East Street, so don't miss out if you can swing coming on a work night! No word on if Brendan will be playing solo with a backing track or if he has a band with him (both have happened in the past). Local support will come by way of punk trio Vanity First, capping off a busy weekend for Mikhal and Keeghan (and Carmen?) following their sister band Hails' sets at Go Skateboarding Day tonight and at It's The Pits yesterday! Also, this is their first show since releasing "Identity Crisis" in April.

Oddly, Vanity haven't been promoting this show much in recent weeks, but it does appear to be on for Sunday as scheduled, and as usual, this is an all ages concert. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and admission is via a "$10 or pay-what-you-can" model. If the rain scared you off of Go Skate Day, and if Leeburn is a little too remote for tomorrow, punk fans may find that Inconsistent Me is what the doctor ordered, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Inconsistent Me live!

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

New Punk Videos & More Recent Updates!!

Let's dive back into recent news and notes on the SMS today, and in this catch-up day, it just so happens that we're leading off with Mikhal Muto-featured projects for a third straight day! Gotta go where the content is, as both of his current punk bands have new Facebook videos to check out, but for variance, let's start with his skate punk/thrash trio Hails, who were filmed at their headlining concert at The Distraction on May 19th for two videos posted to their Facebook page in the past week. Notably, both appear to feature Mikhal's brother Carmen as a guest guitarist, but Ha!ls did not credit him in either video's description. The two videos run for under a minute in length (Hails rarely post videos of full songs), and feature the guys and Carmen playing "Down For Life" and, as embedded below, "The Drifter". The former song is on their "Rock And Rolls" EP, but the latter is not.

The filmer (I believe it was the same person) shot Ha!ls from two different angles on the 19th, with "Down For Life" being in a normal front-on placement, and "The Drifer" being shot side-stage. I still think that the stage lighting here is too purple, but the setting at the former barbershop is certainly unique, and Hails rocked out as well as you'd expect here, so check out their abbreviated new live videos above and below!

Next up, let's trade Brent for Andrew and look at Ha!ls' sister band Vanity First, who posted one more video from last month's album release party at Soo Blaster onto their Facebook page two weeks ago! In this case, it's of the guys (and the aforementioned Carmen Muto) playing their original song "Off With Their Heads" from the same camera and vantage point as their Choking Victim cover posted on May 8th. Lively performance with "cool guitar stuff" that faithfully captures this song in a good way for fans who heard it on "Identity Crisis", which I will be reviewing on the SMS next month! It's worth noting that Vanity First's introduction on their Facebook page now calls them a "local three (sometimes four) piece punk outfit", implying that Carmen will be back for more Vanity concerts in the future, if not necessarily all of them or for entire sets. Check out their new "Off With Their Heads" video below!

Also, let's move to an entirely unrelated punk act next, namely inactive indie/lo-fi punk solo project Telephone & Address! You may recall this Christopher Shoust-led group from a series of independent album releases & sporadic live dates in the 2010s, and he recently launched a new YouTube channel to collect short films that he has made over the years, including the previously seen F.F.B. documentary trailer. In two of his newest YouTube uploads, Chris posted 2015 skateboarding footage there under the title "Skate Army", with both featuring a full song from Telephone & Address' seventh album "Rust Orchid". The first one is embedded below and uses their song "Seven", but "Skate Army 2.0" instead uses the song "Sunrise". Credited skateboarders here are his old Red & Black bandmate Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, ex-Id Iota/Free Beer frontman Christian Lemay, Man Feelings/ex-Bizotic drummer B.J. Swire, and Chris Leclerc (who's not a musician that I can recall).

Chris Shoust considers these to be "half skate video and half music video", so it is neat to see these songs get some love nine years on! Now, "Rust Orchid" is an interesting choice of album to source the music from (that album also being from 2015 acknowledged), as that album was entirely made up of dark ambient instrumentals that were a far cry from the drum/bass and folk punk material on Telephone & Address' albums before and after this. Not badly composed, but not my first thought of a skate video soundtrack, especially with no visual effects to match the music. Well edited overall though, so give the skate army's work a watch!

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 store name:

 

• According to this SooToday article by Alex Flood on their recent purchase of rare instruments, long-time Queen Street East music store Case's Music is now fully owned by ex-Blues Harvest frontman Jake Rendell and his wife Lee, with Jake previously holding a co-ownership stake at Case's since at least 2018. Case's had been co-owned by Carrie Suriano since 2010, initially with her ex-husband Jay Case (Mike Case's nephew). Hopefully the Rendells keep things going successfully long term, and Jerry's instruments seem to be in great hands!
  
• In a quiet change to the lineup for the It's The Pits Festival in Leeburn on July 22nd, local acoustic folk solo project Sibling have been removed from event advertising. A public reason for Sibling's exit wasn't announced, but project leader Mike Kyle (better previously known as Shit Liver's bassist) had made personal Facebook posts to the effect that he was stepping away from music for personal reasons. Hopefully all's well with Mike and that we'll hear from him again in time! As of this writing, Sibling have not been replaced on the bill, but we'll let you know if they are.
  
• It is rare to see a touring band announce a lineup change between the announcement of a local concert and showtime, but Minnesota hair metal band Vixen have parted ways with singer Lorraine Lewis due to the band "going in a different direction" (I hate that excuse), as reported on music news websites like this. Now, Vixen only had one classic-era band member (drummer Roxy Petrucci) left anyway, so it's not like Hair Scare listeners will get a dramatic shift from their classic studio material here, but it is worth noting given their upcoming set opening for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 20th. Stay tuned for updates!
  

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (It's The Pits) And Mikey & His Uke's New Cover!!

As teased at the end of yesterday's post, we are looking at the other new summer concert festival announced for the same venue via an extended LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and a new high profile cover video rounds things out. Here's what you should know for this punk-leaning post!

Make it two summer concert festivals hitting Robbie Adamson's church in nearby Leeburn in the coming months, as local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their own festival named It's The Pits on Saturday, June 22nd! Playing into the whole peach pit motif as seen in their post-renaming materials (has Nicole explained the inspiration behind that?), It's The Pits will beat the metal-centric Crucifest to the stage by over a month, but the two festivals do share a common band. Of course, the former Dryer Fire are hardly metal/punk-centric promoters, but many events have featured some heavier crossover, this festival included, so who all is playing next month? Apologies if I err on any band identities, P.I.T.S. did not share social media links for the bands, they just listed them on the official poster. As best as I can gather, five of the bands are from out of town, so who's making the way to Leeburn?

The touring acts are Toronto ambient/house duo LAL, Toronto/Minnesota "deep Earth folk" band Twintwa, Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton, Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, and Grand Rapids, Michigan folk duo Rabbit Fur. A lot of talent for genre fans can be found with these artists, and for you punk fans, The Mendozaz will get things amped up with a strong and melodic brand of modern punk, and with distinctive vocals!  Local performers include skate punk/thrash trio Hails (the only band also playing at Crucifest in July), DJ Seith (who played at The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last July along with Ha!ls), local/Gatineau, Quebec surf/indie rock solo project Tampa (led by Mulch & The Mire alum Christopher West), indie rock singer/guitarist Shae Tull, former Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's acoustic folk solo project Sibling, and the cryptic anti-folk/Americana act Tye Lawless Co.

Note that Sibling and Tye opened for Catriona Sturton at Case's Music in October for Dryer Fire, so if you liked that concert, here's your encore! Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is slated to host It's The Pits, while local artist/photographer Chandra Barnett of Lady Of The Glue will be selling her art here. Partially brought to you by the Ontario Arts Council, tickets for this all ages festival are on sale this month for $40, but the advance fee jumps to $45 on June 1st, and tickets at the gate will cost $50. Like at Oh!No before it and Crucifest after it, camping is encouraged, so keep that in mind if you want to stay the night and head home on Sunday the 23rd! You can buy your tickets in advance at this link. While the festival is slated to begin at 2:00 PM, bands are expected to start playing at around 4:00 PM. More details on It's The Pits are forthcoming.

It's The Pits has to be the biggest event that Dryer Fire/P.I.T.S. have ever put on, and hopefully it's a huge hit for Nicole and crew so they can do this again next year, or at least something of a comparable scale! It's not a punk haven, but genre fans will be satiated by The Mendozaz and Hails, and while not everyone will be into the remote camping appeal, it's very much in this year. The two Leeburn festivals at 5756 Highway 638, Go North on St. Joseph Island, and Northern Vibe in Ophir are all scheduled for the summer, so keep all four in mind if you wanna go off the grid and enjoy some high energy local and touring music! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on It's The Pits!

We'll close tonight's post with the ninth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Just over two weeks removed from their rendition of "She", song #9 from "Dookie" was posted to the project's YouTube channel this morning, and keeping with the album's running order, this cover is of the Green Day deep cut "Sassafras Roots". Bookclub/ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon is back on guitar and (initially) ukelele here alongside former Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (wearing a baseball jersey here for a change), while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot is back here for his fifth "Dookie" cover in this series, after missing the last two. Vocals are provided here by Jeff "Kepi Ghoulie" Alexander of the Sacramento horror punk veterans The Groovie Ghoulies, who is seen painting something while singing the song.

Kepi does reveal what he painted at the end, but I won't spoil it here. Perfectly sound cover with strong melodies, and well edited from the remote filming locations, though aside from Kepi's painting in a very blue room, there's no quirks in settings or on-camera activities to note. Green Day diehards will like the cover though! Tenth in this series will be the classic "When I Come Around", which is the final yet-covered single from "Dookie" before they hit a home stretch of deep cuts. Given past timeframes, it should turn up at any point between Monday and June 4th (the current average would be May 19th). Check out Mikey & crew covering "Sassafras Roots" below, and look for more soon!

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

Coch's Corner Halloween Party Review, Plus News On Our Next CD Review!!

Happy Halloween! Hope you guys have a great night, whether you have party plans, are taking the kids out, or are going out for candy yourself! I'm handing out candy tonight, but I had my fun last night at Coch's Corner's fifth annual Halloween party! So today's post is largely dedicated to reviewing that. Stay tuned afterwards for news on our next CD review, but let's first go over what went down last night!

First off, I should say that the $5 cover was warranted, as Coch's Corner was more than made up for the Halloween season, with spider webs, skulls, spooky lighting, and more covering the interior! There was a great turnout for this show, which I was very pleased to see! And many fans in attendance were in the Halloween spirit, including a few local band notables decked out in costumes! There's too many to count, but I'll give huge metal points to Adam Chillman from Papa Fogals Chair for his Zakk Wylde costume! There was a costume contest later in the night, but we'll get to that in a bit. For the record, I was Mr. Hat from South Park, but when the bands played, I removed the hat to avoid an obstruction of view. The opening band of the evening was The Mothermakers, who traded in their Glamoween persona from last year for an old school punk look and theme this year. They got a warm reception from the crowd, and people did dance to their tunes, which included covers of bands like The Dead Kennedys, The Buzzcocks, The Ramones, The Clash, and more!

I have to say, they underwhelmed me a bit. Though they looked the part, much of their songs didn't have a lot of the punk aggression that I was hoping to hear, and the singer seemed to be a bit lost when trying to improvise backing vocals. Their double covers of Radiohead's "Creep" seemed especially odd given that it wasn't a punk classic, and they played it twice in the normal style AND in a punk fashion. They're not bad, but they need to have a bit more aggression to their stuff. Also, this is just a personal remark, but it'd have been nice to hear some Black Flag covers!

Following them on the bill was horror punk/metal band Frightlight! The fact that they weren't headlining seemed odd to me given their local profile and what they were selling at the show, but hey, it gave WinkStinger a nice high profile! Keeping with the Halloween spirit, the band members were mostly in their usual Frightlight stage makeup, though drummer Jeff De Rose played the first chunk of their set dressed as The Count from Sesame Street! As usual, we got a bunch of great originals like "Fright Night", "C.H.U.D.", and "She Screams", along with some Fitswitch and Misfits covers like "Rust Angel" and, fittingly, "Halloween", among others! Plus, Andrew McDonald (in his bag of weed costume) joined in once again to cover GG Allin's "Bite It You Scum" as well! I felt that they were playing a couple of songs faster than they have on earlier performances, and you could sure see in Rick "Styles" White's guitar playing. His right hand seemed to be on fast forward at points! The great thing about Frightlight is that their songs are easy to get into, and are hard to mess up, so you tend to know what you're getting, and that's good! Johnny Pints has a great handle on aggressive punk singing, Eddie Fright's bass work stands out well, and Jeff's coming into his own on drums! Great set, I can't wait to see them again!

Oh yeah, the costume contest? Some of the best costumes were called up to the front of the stage to be judged by crowd reaction as to who won a free pizza from Coch's Corner! There were some great ones up front, including Freddy Kreuger, Beetlejuice, Magnum P.I., and a pair of contestants on The Price Is Right (complete with Contestants Row), but the prize easily went to a guy crossdressing as Cher from her video for 'If I Could Turn Back Time"! If you've seen that video, you'll know why seeing a guy dressed like THAT would turn heads, and he deservingly won!

Headlining were local hardcore metal band WinkStinger in just their second live performance, and you want to know my biggest disappointment of their set? No costumes, save for Jonas Gasperas' tiny top hat. But really, when that's my only real complaint, that says a lot for them, cause they were awesome! They sound just as brutal as they did last week, and they have a great handle on their originals so far! This time around, I tried to pick up more of their music and their stage presence, and Jesse Cook really stood out on guitar! His solos were great, and he played with a lot of technical savvy and melody! Alan Wells' vocals are awesome, high pitched yet very aggressive, but I have to say, he needs work on his stage presence. Much of the set saw him looking sideways and not moving around much, but hey, that will likely improve over time! Jason Ladouceur's riffing was spot on, and Ryan Sherman's bass lines sounded good as well, even if neither were front and center. And Jonas is just as good on drums as he ever is, and he really seemed to enjoy himself! After just two shows, these guys have a very bright future if they keep on the same path, but the crowd response for them was VERY surprising. Compared to the Zombie Walk afterparty, it was almost night and day. Where was the enthusiasm? They ruled, they're brutal as hell, and I can't wait to see them again!

Overall, that was a fun first trip to a Halloween show at Coch's Corner, and hopefully I'll be at next year's! They pulled out all the stops and delivered a great night of Halloween entertainment that was worth the $5 cover! For my photos from last night, including a couple costume shots, head to this link or visit The Sault Metal Scene's Facebook page! And yes, I have videos, so here's Frightlight's new original "World War Z" and Winkstinger's "Fuck The Rest"!





Now, you guys may be aware that with November beginning tomorrow, we have another CD review to get to next month. So what are we reviewing? I honestly wasn't sure, but now we know! Last night at the Halloween show, Frightlight announced that their new album, "It's A...Live!" was on sale! That news was not promoted in advance, so that was a nice surprise! It went for $10, and features 6 of the songs that they performed at their July 10th concert at Coch's Corner, including their originals "Fright Night", "She Screams", "Dead Town Anywhere", "They All Float", "C.H.U.D.", and their cover of Fitswitch's "Rust Angel"! Note that their original "Dead Skin Mask" didn't make the cut, along with their various other covers. The packaging is fold out cardboard, and it features acknowledgments, credits, band members, internet links, and the track listing on the interior. No lyrics though, sadly. Nice of them to thank me in the acknowledgments too! I should also note that the artwork, as you can see on the left, is NOT of any of the public entries in the album art contest, for whatever reason. I thought Kevin Powe's should have won, but hey, what can you do? As for the songs themselves, I'll wait until the CD review before I make judgements, but the quality is fantastic, so kudos to Nick Jackson for the great production! Remember to buy "It's A...Live!" at Frightlight's concerts, and stay tuned for my review of the album THIS WEEK!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a load of big stuff this week! On Tuesday, our newest entry in the "Where Are The New Albums?" series returns, while I have some news to share and get to over the next couple of days as well. And yes, we'll review "It's A...Live" too, hopefully sooner than later! Stay tuned for all that very soon! Thanks everyone, and have a great Halloween!