LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 421, Mourning Wood, Highway 63, And The 3 Day Millionaires), And More Previews!!

Before we begin this second weekend concert preview post, I wanted to alert readers that Canadian Nightclub DJ and former local concert promoter Jay Perron's obituary is now up on SooToday. Therein, it confirms that his final services will be held at the Arthur Funeral Home at 492 Wellington Street East on Sunday at 2:00 PM (no presiding reverend indicated), with the celebration of life fittingly continuing at The Canadian at 5:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations in his name be made to The Heart & Stroke Foundation's local branch and/or The Animal Assistance Group. Jay is survived by his wife Helen, his five children, his mother, his sister, and his extended family, and he will be dearly missed by his many friends and colleagues in the local music community.

Whether you're familiar with him as "DJ Reverend J" or as a fixture at Canadian Nightclub concerts, Jay's loss is still very sad and shocking, so definitely consider going to his services on Sunday to pay your respects, and our continued thoughts are with all affected. R.I.P. Jay!

Now, let's get to our concert previews, all being SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, starting with the marathon to end all marathons for local classic/hard rock cover quartet Mourning Wood, who are scheduled to rock Reggie's Place on Queen Street East TONIGHT, TOMORROW NIGHT, SUNDAY NIGHT, MONDAY NIGHT, AND TUESDAY NIGHT, and they played there last night too! Apologies for the short notice (and for missing last night's show), we only heard about them via drummer Glen Thomas' personal Facebook page last night, which was too late to rush this post for. You'd think a SIX NIGHT run of concerts would get advance notice, but alas, the band almost never publically promotes stops at the downtown Reggie's, and this weekend was no exception. Obviously, Reggie's is going all out for live entertainment over the Halloween weekend, and I'd assume costumes would be encouraged at least on MONDAY, so keep that in mind too!

You have five more options to see Mourning Wood's often heavy and requests-laden sets over the weekend, and start times of 10:00 PM, 19+ age limits, and no covers can be expected TONIGHT, TOMORROW, SUNDAY, MONDAY, and TUESDAY, and it'll be interesting to hear how this marathon goes, in case it recurs there or elsewhere! Apologies again for missing yesterday's show, we'd have plugged it had we had advance word, but keep this Mourn-a-thon in mind through November 1st, and here they are live!



Next up, Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 will return to The American Legion for a third straight Halloween weekend concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, the band only just announced this show via their Facebook page on Thursday. A very rare concert appearance for the Monkey's Uncle successors that isn't at a Kewadin Casino branch, this continues what's becoming an annual tradition for this talented veteran outfit, so if you're looking for a hard rock show in the E.U.P. over the Halloween weekend, head to 3 Legion Drive (off East Water Street) TOMORROW NIGHT! A costume party (with a $75 top prize) and pig raffle are also in effect for this publically-attendable concert, which is a 21+ event at 8:00 PM with no announced cover charges. Despite the extremely late notice, Highway 63 should be at their usual entertaining for this Halloween party, so keep it in mind in Sault Michigan for TOMORROW!

For a preview, here's a new video of Highway 63 from their weekend at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino earlier this month! Filmed by by fan Leann Ross and posted to their Facebook page on Sunday, this 30 second clip is of Highway 63 covering Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", with a band member (presumably frontman Henry Switzer) adding that this was "my favourite song we do." Powerful voice on the intro here, and while the instrumentation sounds good, we don't hear enough of the song to really make a judgment. Check out this new video below, and don't miss Highway 63 TOMORROW at The American Legion!



Also, Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet The 3 Day Millionaires will debut their new lineup TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar, and will then return for a Halloween night concert THIS MONDAY! Once again, apologies for the short notice, the shows were only announced via the official Facebook event page earlier this week. TOMORROW'S show will be The 3 Day Millionaires' first live appearance since replacing guitarist Travis Sharpe with Sneaky Pete alum Bill Brouillard, so how will Bill fit in with the Millionaires? You have two chances this holiday weekend, as this veteran quartet will also provide Halloween entertainment on MONDAY, and after having Sunday to rest, they should be ready to conjure up some spooky good times! I do imagine costumes are expected for Halloween's show, but I can't confirm if the venue has a costume contest or anything like that planned. Both TOMORROW & MONDAY'S shows have 10:30 PM start times, no announced cover charges, and 19+ age limits in effect.

For reference, The Millionaires are not playing tonight due to a previously announced concert by The Boatload Killers' new spinoff country rock band The Barn Board Trio. While The 3 Day Millionaires have been mum on Travis' departure, Bill's a strong guitarist who was a key member of Sneaky Pete during their local run, and he should fit in well with Steve, Jeremey, and Scott going forward! Welcome him to the fold at one/both of this weekend's shows, see above for more details, and here's The 3 Day Millionaires live!



Finally, four local bands will hit The Rednecks Saloon for their own Halloween night concert THIS MONDAY! One more time, apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced via it's own Facebook event page earlier this week. Entitled "Halloween Nightmare", this PaperClip Productions show features a varied but mostly heavy lineup of bands, and while the lineup order isn't consistently stated, we'll go by the poster here. Classic metal quartet Project 421 are advertised there as the headliners, just over three weeks removed from a solo gig at the former Nicolet, and they'll be joined by funk/hard rock quartet The Elements and 421's modern hard rock sister band Eclipse, with both bands fresh off of their Halloween Party set at The Algonquin Pub on Saturday. They aren't advertised to reprise their tribute band themes from that show, but just in case, keep an eye out! The opening band is the live debut of new indie rock trio The Autumn Roots, featuring former March Into Regression bandmates Jeremy Hannah and Travis St. Amour (ex-Bring The Fallen) alongside bassist Greg Carscadden.

Despite the presence of local extreme metal alums, The Autumn Roots appear to be spiritual successors to Jeremy's old indie projects like The North Shore (formerly Like Father Like Son) and Ocean View. This new band should be interesting to see debut on MONDAY NIGHT, even if they're not as heavy as what's to come, so check them out early! "Halloween Nightmare" has NO COVER CHARGE and a 19+ age limit, and will start at 10:00 PM. Sounds like a fun and heavy way to cap off Halloween, so don't miss out on MONDAY, and here's Project 421 live playing "Am I Evil", fittingly for the season!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes later today, plus this month's CD review! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Live 705 Local Show), New & Returning Local Punk Bands, And More!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Canadian Nightclub DJ and former local concert promoter Jay Perron, who reportedly passed away earlier today at the age of 43. Given the sudden word, we don't know details about final services yet, but will get them to you when announced. A familiar sight for fans of club nights and dance parties at The Canadian under his handle "DJ Reverend J", Jay frequently hosted such events under the Total Package Entertainment and Edge Entertainment brandings, including planned Halloween events this weekend, while he also has DJed at venues like the former GLOW, Vibe Lounge, and Docks locations in the past. Jay had also dabbled in rock concert promoting in the past, and in The Sault Metal Scene's early years, he was extremely helpful in letting me know about concert cancellations and lineup clarifications for shows at The Canadian, and was still friendly and reliable when needed even after the venue cut back on solely-local concert bookings.

Though we weren't in as much contact in recent years as we had been, Jay was a very nice guy and always willing to help when clarifying or confirming news on the site, and he even gave social advice beyond music coverage. As a personal aside, his mother was the maid of honour at my parents' wedding in 1988. No word yet on the status of Jay's planned Halloween parties at The Canadian this weekend, but visit the above links for information in that regard, and our thoughts and best wishes are with everyone affected by this sad news. R.I.P. Jay!

Now, today's post features an intriguing LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, but as it involves a debuting local band, we'll lead off with that! The new local band in question is A Dire Setback, who feature some familiar names in their lineup, including former A Fall From Innocence singer Larry Babic, ex-The Fallout/Shore guitarist Chris Nielsen, bassist Matt Quinn, and ex-State of Misery/Stealing Kisses drummer Nick Kainula. The members' past bands may hint towards a punk/alternative genre, but in personal Facebook conversations, Nick has told me that they have "a different sound" and aren't "super punk", while their Facebook page lists their genre as "TBD", so take that for what it's worth. A Dire Setback have been recording in some form or another since August, and have already ordered a stage banner, so they're on their way to a public launch, so when will that be?

How about at The Oddfellows Hall on Saturday, November 19th? Courtesy of the band's new in-house concert promotion agency Live 705, the band and company will debut that night for "The Live 705 Local Show", whose lineup calls more to the late 2000s punk/alternative Oddfellows shows than more recent death metal/grind events there. A Dire Setback are the listed co-headliners, with indie rock quartet K.I.C.K. headlining in a rare Oddfellows appearance (perhaps their first?) Other listed bands on the 19th include a pair of bands that played at the Sky's The Limit fundraiser at The Tech in May, including online page-less classic rock trio Electric Church (in the Spencer Pine-led band's Oddfellows Hall debut) and alternative/hard rock trio The Din, so if you liked that event, keep this one in mind! Also, here's an unexpected surprise for punk fans, as late-2000s punk quartet Talk Shit have reunited and will play their first show in seven years on the 19th!

No online pages yet (or then), but singer/drummer Adam Sauve, guitarist Marc LaFrance, and bassist Ian Robinson are back alongside new guitarist Steve Shaw, who is replacing the relocated Andrew Angelic in their new lineup. This is an unexpected surprise (increasingly so if you miss members' earlier band Renderware too), so it'll be interesting to hear how Talk Shit sound in their return, and hopefully they finally launch an online page of some type! The lineup is rounded out by hard rock quartet Eclipse and local rapper Jasmin "Jizzy Baby" Sky, who you may recognize from recent Soo York City rap events. I'm not familiar with her musically, but we have seen rappers open Oddfellows shows in the past, so she should set the tone well! This ALL AGES show next month has a 5:30 PM start time, and tickets are now available for $8 at Case's Music, The Rad Zone, the Thomas Walls School of Music, and directly from band members (if there's a planned price hike at the door, it's not publically stated.)

This is a very intriguing concert for punk and alternative fans, including a nice balance of established, returning, and newer faces, and it does call to mind the more varied punk shows at The Oddfellows Hall from the mid-late 2000s! Absolutely stay tuned for updates, both A Dire Setback and Live 705 are in their appropriate sections for our links now, and stay tuned for more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!