LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Headrush & Tym Morrison), Plus Fuller Updates!!

I hope everyone is having a good Family and/or President's Day! For this cold Monday morning, we have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for Sault Ontario in the coming months, as well as big news from a reunited band's upcoming plans, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has announced a run of bimonthly matinee concerts at Misty's Fifties via his most recent Facebook event page for shows there! He just added dates to it, including a reported return to the Second Line West bar/restaurant this past Saturday. I profusely apologize for missing that date, but when he just added it to an existing event page, there won't have been the same alert that the show was happening at all. Hopefully there was a strong turnout for his unplugged hard and classic rock covers on Saturday! That show aside, Tym has six matinee gigs ahead at Misty's, all on Saturdays, including shows on March 8th & 22nd, April 5th & 26th, and May 10th & 31st, none of which fall on Canadian holiday weekends. Not a rigid schedule pattern here (shows are 2-3 weeks apart), but it is good to see Tym playing more frequently in the coming months!

All six of Tym's upcoming Misty's shows (as well as this past Saturday's, apologies again) are 4:00 PM matinees with likely 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and hopefully we hear more from Tym's covers here and elsewhere as 2025 continues!

Next up, here's a special memorial concert taking place at Soo Blaster on Friday, June 27th, as local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will topline Socch-Fest! This is a celebration of life event for Mark Gigliotti-Socchia, who died last month at just 51 years of age. While not a musician, you may recognize Mark as a chef, film industry lighting worker, and bartender, and you can read his obituary at this link. I normally have reservations about plugging events this personal in nature, but the Facebook event page is public, and organizers are hoping to make this "the party of the summer and a night to remember" that will hopefully be a reunion for many of the "1990s Soo crowd". As such, this will likely be Headrush's Soo Blaster debut. Socch-Fest has an 8:00 PM start time, I assume it will be 19+, and organizers have not announced a cover charge or ticket price. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and R.I.P. Mark!

Finally, let's talk about inactive(?) local emo/punk band Fuller, who famously reunited for a headlining concert at LopLops Lounge in December 2023. There were teasers at the time that they wanted to record their Mark-era originals in studio, but little was said publically, not helped by Fuller only existing on social media in 2023-beyond via their Instagram page (I don't use Instagram for band links on the SMS due to its limitations for band profiles, even though a handful of current local bands only have Instagram). That said, Instagram does have three new-to-us videos that Fuller fans will want to check out! The newest one from last week has bassist Mark Rand revealing that they have indeed completely recorded an album that has also been mixed and is currently being mastered. The album will be released "as soon as possible", and Mark was gauging whether fans would be interested in physical copies being produced.

Regardless, the Fuller album will be available on digital platforms "really soon", and Mark hinted that there may be a release party concert to go alongside it. This all lines up with what frontman Jamie Vincent revealed in his Afterparty live-stream last month, which is encouraging for Fuller and midwest emo fans! A year+ prior, Fuller's Instagram page also uploaded this video of drummer David Peredun tracking drums for one of the album's planned eight songs, and while we only hear drums, it does sound promising, which isn't a surprise given David's skill level! Embedded below is the other new-ish video that I hadn't mentioned on the SMS, and it features Fuller playing an instrumental section with very strong energy at the LopLops reunion gig a year+ ago. This is not from Jimmy Polnick's live-stream (which was framed vertically and not shot this close), so kudos to whoever filmed this high-quality clip!

It's not that long and has no vocals, and it's a horitzontal landscape video forcibly shrunk down and pillarboxed into vertical dimensions (why do it like that?) but it's a tantalizing glimpse of what Fuller brought to the table after a two decade absence, so give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more!

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

Unfortunate Sun Concert Preview & New Honest Work YouTube Videos!!

Today's SMS post mostly wraps up some unfinished business from a YouTube channel that was first featured here not too long ago, but leading off, here's one more hard rock concert preview for this weekend, so here's what you Yoopers should know!

We'll start by wrapping up this weekend's known local hard rock concert previews, and that means a trip south to Rudyard, Michigan, where newer local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will return to Huck's Pub & Grill for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! This will be the first stop for the Fake Chow successors at the former Joe's Bar since rocking their Halloween party three weeks ago, but there will still be a theme tomorrow, as the concert will be a "hunter's widow party". Basically, a hunter's widow is a spouse or significant other temporarily "widowed" when their partner goes on extended hunting trips, so this is essentially being marketed as a ladies night to coincide with the beginning of firearm deer hunting season in Michigan today. Of course, Unfortunate Sun aren't "widowing" anyone tomorrow, so they'll entertain with their nicely varied and performed covers, and hopefully there's a solid turnout!

Note that the official Facebook event page also refers to this as a "comeback celebration", but as three weeks isn't a huge turnaround to call something a "comeback", I don't know what Unfortunate Sun are referring to. Tomorrow's concert is a 21+ affair with no announced cover charge and an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Unfortunate Sun live!

The rest of today's post concerns the other SMS-relevant videos from veteran Sault Ontario punk drummer Adam Sauve's YouTube channel that didn't fit into our last post covering his videos from his old bands Talk Shit and Nebraska Arms. The four newest (public) videos on the Skwunch channel are of his current band Honest Work, who are essentially Nebraska Arms with Rising Tide alum Sheldon Jaaskelainen on vocals & guitar in place of the late Guy Thiffault. Only really active on social media via TikTok and Instagram, Honest Work have played just two public concerts to date, and the first one was filmed for videos on Adam's channel! As you may recall, this band (also featuring guitarist Dave Prendergast and bassist Wayne Watkins) debuted when they opened for the one-off Fuller reunion at LopLops Lounge this past December, and three videos from that night were posted on Adam's channel, though all three of them publically exist elsewhere. 

One was cribbed from Jimmy Polnick's Facebook live-stream of their set, while the other two (of Honest Work playing their own "Dead Friends" and covering Nebraska Arms' "Lighthouses") were originally uploaded to Dave's YouTube channel last year. Adam only chose to upload part of the full content though, with Jimmy's full half hour live-stream still being on Facebook and Dave's channel featuring seven videos from that night. Also, Adam curiously chose to save them for his own channel via screen capturing a smartphone, not via a Facebook video downloader client, so they have in-app controls and buttons that appear in frame. All three videos have been acknowledged on the SMS in their original context, but I will embed Jimmy's copy of "Dead Friends" here because, for one reason or another, external embedding of his live-streams from the Fuller concert was quietly disallowed at some point in the past year.

To see Jimmy's full-set videos of Honest Work, Fuller, and The Gambit from this post-Christmas concert in 2023, click here! The visual quality isn't ideal given the vertical dimensions and Jimmy behind behind a lot of attendees, but he got some solid footage regardless, so check out "Dead Friends" below and more from Honest Work's live debut above!

We'll close today with the sole video of Honest Work on Adam's channel that I haven't seen publically elsewhere, which sees them playing "Dead Friends" at an apparent jam session. Uploaded in July, this video puts the camera at high vantage point, looking down at Sheldon, Dave, Wayne, and Adam, which is a unique visual, especially when they're placed where they are! A little cymbal-heavy in the audio mix, but this is a fun performance of a song clearly inspired by the loss of too many friends of theirs, so give it a watch below, and hopefully we hear more from Honest Work soon!

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

Updates & Videos From Theatre Of Night, Convergence, And Honest Work!!

A bunch of notable YouTube videos have turned up in recent days, so let's focus on them and the stories that led to them in today's post, which includes a highlight video of a band's recent tour, a musician search and album uploads, and first, lots of details on a new local punk band! Here's what you should know on this Sunday night!

Remember how the surviving members of Nebraska Arms joined forces with Rising Tide alum Sheldon Jaaskelainen in a new local punk band named Honest Work at last month's Fuller reunion concert? Well, their online presence in their own accord is starting to crop up! The band has launched official pages on both TikTok and Instagram, though note that I've never listed bands in our links solely based on TikTok or Instagram because of how restrictive and photo/shortform video-focused they are. If you want to follow these "four dudes making tunes to beat that Northern Ontario gloom" until(?) they get a Facebook page or more elaborate online presence elsewhere, you know where to go! In his first YouTube channel uploads in 13 years, guitarist Dave Prendergast posted seven videos from their debut gig at LopLops Lounge there, and two of these were cross-posted (in edited & pillarboxed form) to TikTok, but we'll focus on the full YouTube copies here.

During their half-hour-long debut, Honest Work (not to be confused with Honest Job) were filmed by a representative covering Nirvana's "Aneurysm", Alkaline Trio's "Radio", Dead To Me's "Die In Los Angeles", and in a fitting tribute, Nebraska Arms' "Lighthouses" (R.I.P. Guy!). Their own originals were titled "Rock + Paper", "Dead Friends", and as embedded below, "Be Better". It wasn't 100% clear from Jimmy Polnick's live-stream of their set given the distant & vertical camera angle, but Sheldon is Honest Work's lead singer, with bassist Wayne Watkins (also frontman of The Northwest) handling backing vocals. I don't know if they opted to not revive the Nebraska Arms name out of respect to Guy/deference to Sheldon, but it's great seeing Wayne, Dave, and Adam back together on stage again in any form, and Sheldon does have good vocals to show off now that he's up front! Also, kudos to the filmer for shooting these videos horizontally and from a central front row placement for an optimal first look.

Honest Work definitely hew closer to Nebraska Arms than The Northwest, especially in terms of punk influence, which is something that The Northwest have seemingly been phasing out with time, so genre fans won't want to bypass this talented veteran foursome! Give their debut videos a watch above and below, and stay tuned for more from Honest Work!

Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan for our first video look at local classical metal band Theatre of Night's new lineup! Following their Christmas tour last month, the band uploaded the demo video embedded below to their YouTube channel on January 4th, giving fans who missed the live dates their first look at the band since Marquita & Luke Bernard replaced Rachel Mender and Scott Andringa on vocals & bass corurtesy of their Gun Lake Casino show in Wayland. Marquita has the vocal chops to fit right in with their existing metallized carols, and Luke's a solid bassist, so musically, fans don't have much to worry about! The biggest change otherwise is that (at least) this show had a live narrator between songs, namely Sandi Bernard (quite a family affair all of a sudden!), who played the character of "Mother Christmas" and provided backing vocals on some songs. Note that her attire is not unlike the Ghost of Christmas Present from A Christmas Carol.

The idea of Theatre of Night featuring two singers in concert is not new, as their first ever Christmas tour in 2017 had Rachel joined by Stacie McCarthy on co-lead vocals, but this is a distinct touch, and Marquita & Sandi doubled up well on "Silent Night" in the video! If you missed the "Reels" on their Facebook page featuring unembeddable highlights, you'll definitely want to watch this high quality footage from Red Wolf below, and hopefully there's more from last year's tour to come!

We'll close this post with the latest from local progressive metal duo Convergence, who are looking for what appears to be a permanent lead singer! While they did work with State of Misery alum Steve Rhodes as a session vocalist on "Stratus", the band posted this "Shorts" video on their YouTube channel on Friday to plug the search for a vocalist who is capable of fry/false chord screaming, clean vocals, and songwriting. If you're interested in trying out for the former Kraken Mara, message them above and they'll send you a demo instrumental track so you can show what you've got! In the meantime, Convergence have uploaded both of their EPs (last year's "One" and this month's "Dead & Dreaming") to their YouTube channel, as single video uploads and broken up into individual songs, so whatever your preference, you can stream both for free there now. "Dead & Dreaming" is embedded below in full, but see above for more music from Brendan & Jake, and look for our review of the "One" EP in April!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Brendan Garlick

It's now time for our first YouTube Channel Profile of 2024! This monthly feature series is back for another year of shining a spotlight on YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musicians/concerts, and this time, we've randomly selected a bountiful channel for fans of the indie rock scene of a decade or so ago. Here's what you should know for this month!

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Brendan Garlick (http://www.youtube.com/@brendangarlick43)

Owner: Former Gnaeus/These Magnificent Tentacles drummer Brendan Garlick, currently known as the owner of local concert promotion agency Sault Noir

Channel Timeline: Launched on July 30th, 2013; Videos uploaded from December 2014 until August 2015

Channel Summary: Brendan's channel is almost entirely devoted to fifteen videos shot at the first two Lopstock concerts that he co-promoted at LopLops Lounge in 2014 & 2015, including the full set of every band from Lopstock II (except that year's opening band Id Iota), and videos from four acts that played at this "bohemian conclave" the previous year. Brendan's last (and sole non-Lopstock) video is still from a LopLops concert, this time featuring inactive indie rock band Great Chamberlain in mid-2015. 

Why You Should Watch: This channel is a great watch for fans of the local indie music scene in the mid-2010s, with some heavier flourish among them, and while none of these bands had staying power into 2024, there's a lot of talent and familiar faces to be had, as well as the featured sets by two touring acts (The Galacticats and Kirby) at Lopstock in 2015! Despite its ample usage at the time, Brendan has not visibly used this channel since 2015, roughly coinciding with his departure from Gnaeus and eventual spell living out of town. The revived Lopstock III from last year had ample video coverage as well, but via SooToday and not on Brendan's own accounts.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

The Pixo Control - Reasons (Live): In a few respects, defunct local grunge/hard rock trio The Pixo Control were the stars of Brendan's channel, garnering the longest full-set video from Lopstock II and three of the seven videos from Lopstock I, with two of those being his most watched videos period. Of them, his first video (of them playing "Reasons") is by far the most popular video on offer. Filmed by Jason Lloyd (as with the other videos posted from 2014), The Pixo Control were represented here by singer/guitarist Michael Mikus, future Skinbox frontman Steve Edwards, and drummer Keeghan Rosso. The camera-work is excellent with nice quality audio of this very grungy and hard hitting original, so it's easy to see why this video caught on at the time, and it's a shame that The Pixo Control didn't last longer! Watch for edited in bits of LopLops' interior and some attendees in the middle of the video.

Caroline Divine - Lopstock II: One of the heavier bands at Lopstock II in June 2015 was the recently debuted Caroline Divine, a hard rock/power pop band featuring Frasiers alumni Anthony Marcello, Brenden Fitzgerald, and Devin Williamson, all later of Jesse Merineau's live band. Caroline Divine proper only graced local stages in 2015 (gigs with Jesse aside), with Brendan Garlick's 40 minutes long full-set video being the best extant video from their local run in terms of audio. The stationary angles used for the bands on this night were largely the victim of obscured vantage points due to fans on the floor, which is unfortunate, but Caroline Divine had a tight and energetic sound on their original material, and it'd have been nice to see them exist on their own in 2016 and beyond!

Gnaeus - Lopstock II: Brendan's sole channel appearance as a member of a band comes via his set with defunct post-punk quartet Gnaeus at Lopstock II, where he was joined by singer/guitarist Aaron Alessandrini, future Far From Fine bassist Matt Fronzi, and synth player Brad Irwin (now also of Skinbox). Their 45 minute set includes their songs "Lovers", "Exercise In Self Awareness", "Fire", "Crave", "Mountains", "Circles", their cover of The Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Out To Dry", "The Edge", "Lacking", "When You're Gone" , and "The Sound". This included every song from their 2016 album "Mediatations" except "Calling Out", plus the non-album cuts "Crave" & "Lacking". Attendee heads remain a liability towards actually seeing Gnaeus in full, but this is a strong performance from the peak of Gnaeus' local run, and they got a deservedly strong reception from the fans!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Our next randomly selected channel in this series will be that of YouTube user justfrenchie, which primarily features old Scary Uncles videos, so look for that on or around February 26th, and for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From Late 2023 Of Fuller & Silent 9!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family & friends of veteran Toronto punk bassist Phil Page, who passed away earlier this week, as per numerous personal Facebook postings. While not a local musician, Phil was known to many in the local punk scene via his friend and long-time bandmate Mikey Hawdon, with the two collaborating musically for the past 15 or so years during Mikey's time living in Southern Ontario. SMS readers will best recognize Phil as the bassist in Mikey's first Ramones tribute band The Merves, who played five concerts in the Soo from 2010-2015 before reuniting at Soo Blaster in November during Mikey's pre-wedding concert. Original music-wise, Phil played with Mikey in The Fairmounts, who came here for a single show at The Algonquin Pub in 2012. Mikey also drummed in Phil's band Teenage X, who I don't believe ever played up here.

Phil was also known from GTA bands like The Outbred Inlaws and The Downbelows, and was also an avid skateboarder. My interactions with Phil during his local concerts were limited, but he was a good man and a proud father, and my thoughts are absolutely with his wife Hollie and their kids at this difficult time. If you're a fan of modern skate punk and/or The Ramones, do check out Phil's back catalog to hear some very solid performances both on stage and in studio. R.I.P. Phil!

Today's post otherwise focuses on new videos, and we'll actually start with another ex-bandmate of Mikey Hawdon's, namely his old Lion Ride/Detroit cohort Mark Rand & his emo/punk band Fuller, who reunited after an 18-ish year hiatus for a one-off concert at LopLops Lounge in December! As I noted in our post last week about Jimmy Polnick's live-streams from that night, the Facebook event page saw an abnormal usage as a bulletin board for videos from the event (remember, the bands that night either don't have a Facebook page or barely post on theirs), with two more attendees posting videos there from the show! Ashley Lace also filmed Fuller's entire set for the event page, posting her footage on January 2nd. Now, her videos were split in two chunks (the second video begins with their Moneen cover with guest vocalists), but thankfully, hers were shot horizontally!

It's always more ideal to shoot a band in landscape orientation, so kudos to Ashley for going widescreen for her footage! Even beyond that, I'd say that her videos are better quality for visuals and audio than Jimmy's, but of course, thanks to both for filming everything that they did! I won't do another blow by blow of the set, as I covered that ground last week, but definitely give Ashley's Fuller videos a watch above & below!

The other video was posted by Mark on New Year's Eve, but was shot by his wife & Cross Dog bandmate Tracy Ashenden. It features their last song (whose name was obscured in the setlist picture from his personal Facebook page), which was more of an extended jam compared to what came before it. Tracy got more of a central angle than what Ashley filmed concurrently, and while the audio is a little muffled by comparison, you can't go wrong with the crystal clear visuals and horizontal orientation! It does feel like there was a stabilization setting added to it, based on how some of the motion looks, but it's another solid video, so throw back to Fuller's long awaited return concert again below!

We'll close with a new video from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's Facebook page! Filmed at one of their Rockstar Bar fundraiser gigs from late last year (they did not specify which one), the video features guitarist Ryan Robb playing 19 seconds of the guitar solo from their cover of Metallica's cover of Thin Lizzy's "Whiskey In The Jar". Note the fan laying on his back giving "moral support", which hopefully was sent accurately! The drums are a little loud given the camera setup and focus on the guitarist, but what we see is well performed, so give it a look for yourselves below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Fuller Concert Video Showcase!!

I apologize for the delay in this making the site, but remember the Fuller reunion show at LopLops Lounge on December 28th? Well, almost the whole thing was live-streamed on Facebook! The Facebook event page (something usually forgotten about after a concert begins) ended up being a hub for videos from the event, possibly aided by the fact that 2/3rds of the bands that night don't have Facebook pages (and the one that does only posts there on occasion). These still made the rounds on personal Facebook pages, hence the comments/views on each. The videos were shot live by concert co-promoter Jimmy Polnick, and just to get this out of the way now, yes, all were shot vertically. I wish they weren't, but kudos to Jimmy for getting this much footage at all! We'll start with the 66 minute video of the reunited emo/punk trio Fuller, featuring founding frontman Jamie Vincent, late-era bassist Mark Rand, and guest(?) drummer David Peredun, who was heavily thanked during the set.

The set proper begins after six minutes of setup, with Jimmy talking to viewers watching on Facebook in the lead-up. Song names are partially sourced from a picture shared on Mark's personal Facebook page of him writing out the setlists used on stage on the 28th, though the name of the last song was obscured by Mark's arm, and I know that some were credited under short-form names. Also, as far as I know, none of these songs come from Fuller's 2002 EP, which Mark did not play on, and which infamously had no titled songs. I have yet to review it for the SMS, but I know that it was relatively softer than they eventually got. In order, their setlist led off with original songs labelled as "Batts", "And I End", and "Crush", before covering "Honestly?" by the Midwest emo band American Football. Further songs included "Image" and "Love Is Always", whose full name I know thanks to this YouTube video from back in the day.

Free Beer/Id Iota alum Dustin Goodall and Honest Work's Wayne Watkins take the stage next to do guest vocals on a cover of Moneen's "The Passing Of America", and the set ends with songs labelled as "Embarrass", "Kerosene", and the one whose name is obscured in Mark's image, which was more of an extended jam. While I was never a massive emo fan, Fuller turned in a fun set here with lots of energy, and it was nice seeing Jamie and Mark singing on stage together again! Jimmy did leave his prime spot in the front row for the last few songs, but you get a good look at the sold-out crowd as a result, and the recording quality is solid (vertical camera aside). Give Fuller's return set a watch below!

The middle band was local punk supergroup The Gambit in their first public concert set in exactly one year and just their second under this name. Jimmy's 40 minute live stream begins relatively promptly with the set proper. I'm admittedly struggling to identify all the songs on offer, which was a problem when trying to catalogue old Sick Sons/Gambit videos, partially due to vocal clarity with this audio setup and partially due to the band not introducing all songs by name. That said,  I am 100% positive that they covered NOFX's "It's My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite", Gob's "I Hear You Calling", and Pup's version of Grandaddy's "A.M. 180", plus original songs named (I think) "Lonelier Tomorrow", "Lucky Seven", "Depth", "Clickbait", and "Faultline". In practice, fans can expect some solid indie-inflected punk covers and originals from The Gambit, complete with multiple band members taking vocal duties, and the variety is definitely welcomed!

Jimmy is stationed further from the stage in a stationary spot, and you can only see three band members with any frequency, but The Gambit's set was entertaining, and hopefully the original compositions are a good sign! Hopefully they ramp up their online presence too, and credit the full lineup by name on social media, but check out The Gambit's full LopLops set last month out for yourselves below!

Finally, the opening band (new and online page-less local punk quartet Honest Work) were joined in progress, with Jimmy's live-stream beginning late in their opening song, possibly an original named "Straight To My Heart". Honest Work (not to be confused with defunct indie rock band Honest Job) is basically the former Nebraska Arms with guitarist Wayne Watkins (also of The Northwest) now on lead vocals, and with bass now handled by former Rising Tide fiddler Sheldon Jaaskelainen, who also sings on some songs. Dedicating their half-hour set to fallen local musicians, their set otherwise included songs named (I think) "Left Friends" and "Be Better", among others, plus covers of Dead To Me's "Die In Los Angeles" and Alkaline Trio's "Radio". Entertaining set that restores some of the punk that has been phased out of newer Northwest material, and Wayne and Sheldon handle vocals well, so give their debut a watch!

With the Facebook event page intentionally being used to host videos from the event, more have been uploaded that we will touch on in an upcoming post. Thanks again to Jimmy for filming everything last month, so definitely give these a look to see what you missed out on (or want to relive) from Fuller's first show in almost 20 years, and hopefully those teasers of more activity in the future do lead somewhere positive! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Fuller & 20 Musicians Of Christmas Concert Previews, Plus New Northwest Videos!!

With this year's New Year's Eve weekend being busy as ever, especially post-pandemic, we have to break our weekend concert previews into three posts! We'll start today with two upcoming shows at LopLops Lounge, then we'll look at Friday-Saturday nighters elsewhere, before capping things off with New Year's Eve shows proper, so there's a glimpse into the upcoming post timeline, and we also have a YouTube Channel Profile, this month's CD review, and our year-end recap post ahead, so expect some busy times at the SMS to end the year! Let's lead off with those LopLops previews, with some new live videos from there to cap things off with!

For punk and emo fans of the early-mid 2000s, the New Years weekend begins in style TOMORROW NIGHT when Fuller reunite at LopLops for their first public gig in at least seventeen years! On this night, Fuller will be represented by founding singer/guitarist Jamie Vincent (last seen with No Funeral) and late-era bassist Mark Rand (now of Barrie's Cross Dog), with Pointless/All The Tired Horses drummer David Peredun taking over for the absent (and also blonde) Nathan Sauve. It will be great to see Fuller back for the holidays, and hopefully the promise of their jam session teaser videos spill over into tomorrow's set! Local punk supergroup The Gambit (née The Sick Sons) will return to the stage for their second gig as a quintet and under their current name when they take the stage tomorrow, in their first live set in exactly one year. Good to see them back after way too long, and they should have a fun set in store for old school punk fans tomorrow!

The opening band tomorrow is the debuting Honest Work (not to be confused with the defunct Honest Job), who feature the surviving members of Nebraska Arms alongside Rising Tide alum Sheldon Jaaskelainen on guitar. It's not clear who's singing here (Wayne?) or if they will sound similar to Nebraska Arms, but it'd help if they launched an online page! Regardless, they'll be a talented lead-off to tomorrow's SOLD OUT and 19+ concert, which begins at 8:00 PM, though tickets were $20 when still available. This should be a great time for punk and emo fans, especially those around in the 2000s scene, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Fuller live back in the day!

Next up, the holiday season program at LopLops ends on FRIDAY NIGHT when many familiar faces take part in the return of the 12 20 Musicians of Christmas! Since we first covered this special concert event on the site two weeks ago, when it was already inflated from the traditional 12 artists to 16, organizers have added four more local musicians to inflate this event to its biggest state yet! As you may recall, The 12 Musicians of Christmas was a holiday season-tradition at LopLops from 2005-2018, where musicians were (at least at the time) given three song sets where they were joined by assorted other participants for some tantalizing one-off supergroups throughout the night. How that format will look with an extra eight people involved is to be determined, but with this performer roster, you won't want to miss out! Unlike in the earlier installments, there are a number of punk and hard rock alumni performing, so who can you expect?

Fans of Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide will be curious to check this out, as Dustin, Mikey Hawdon, Liam Seymour, Chris Johns, and new addition Marshall Jaaskelainen (good to see him back in town!) will all be taking part. No word on if we'll get a mini-Tide reunion or not, but don't bypass their involvement! Readers will also recognize Treble Charger/Pointless guitarist Bill Priddle, Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling, and ex-Generations guitarist Brandon Ruch among the roster of performers on Friday. The other twelve Musicians of Christmas are Frank Deresti, Al Wood, Lindsay Pugh, Cliff Alloy, Shannon Moan, Juliana Regan, Hannah Lindsay, Andree-Ann Dechesne, Chris Belsito, and new additions Gabrielle Dumas, Craig West, and Vince Feletti. That is a stacked lineup of local talent covering a wide range of styles, so it'll be very interesting to see who plays what and with whom!

This special concert begins at 7:00 PM on Friday, it has a 19+ age limit, and admission is $50 at the door or in advance (+ processing fees & taxes) at this link. Yes, it's a pricey event, but that is on par with past installments, and look at the value you're getting. While the 20 Musicians of Christmas are gathering four days after the fact, it'll be a big night for fans of local music to see this much talent together for the holidays, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details! Given the nature of the event, I'll forgo a preview video, as everyone is advertised on an equal playing field and it'd be tough to find one video to sum up 20 people!

We'll close today by staying at LopLops, where Honest Work's Wayne Watkins performed on Friday with his primary current indie/punk band The Northwest! Attendee Christopher Paci filmed three videos of their set from their 10th anniversary concert for his excellent YouTube channel, and for the record, I do not believe that Far From Fine (who were advertised as opening in some personal Facebook plugs) played on Friday night after all. A reason for their apparent withdrawal wasn't publically announced, but be advised that the band never confirmed their involvement on social media (granted, The Northwest didn't even promote the show publically on Facebook). Hopefully we see Far From Fine in the new year! Chris filmed The Northwest covering The Who's "Baba O'Riley" and playing their own originals "Unsober October" and, as embedded below, "Walls".

In a nice touch, Chris shot each Northwest video from a slightly different angle, and while I chose "Walls" to embed because of its length, it was also shot from the most central locale of the three. It's also one of The Northwest's punkier originals, and the guys sound good and lively across all three videos, though be advised of very purple lighting for most of the combined runtime. Give these a watch above & below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for non-LopLops concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

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

The Christmas weekend is upon us, and true to most Christmas holiday seasons, the slate of hard rock concerts has bumped up as people come home/have time off! As such, we have to break this weekend's previews in two, with Saturday's late notice Tym Morrison show coming in our next post, perhaps with more if anything else turns up on the heavier side. Here's what you should know to start the weekend, leading off with some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

 

Local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook event page yesterday, and the band has not publically confirmed the booking on social media at press time. TOMORROW'S booking will see The Stallyns replace Tex Riviera & The Ride as the planned entertainment at Shooters, as per the venue's December entertainment calendar, though a reason for The Ride's withdrawal was not publically announced. Worth noting that The Ride actually replaced The Wyld Stallyns at Shooters on November 10th, but I have no idea if they traded dates or if the band switches both ways are coincidental. Regardless, it's good to see The Wyld Stallyns' fan friendly and often heavy cover array back over Christmas weekend, and hopefully there's a good turnout TOMORROW!

 

A one-nighter due to Shooters' continuance of Saturday DJ nights, TOMORROW'S concert has a 19+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, and no cover charge. See the above links for more details, and here's The Stallyns live!

 

 

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these shows were first announced on Reggie's Facebook page on Sunday. With TOMORROW & SATURDAY being added to Soundcheck's schedule, that means that they will be playing at Reggie's three times in a ten day span, joining their previously announced New Year's Eve gig one week from Sunday. so if you've missed Soundcheck here since the summer, you have lots of seasonal options! Notably, Soundcheck have enlisted Double Down's Ric Datson as a guest drummer TOMORROW & SATURDAY, as regular drummer Glen Thomas agreed to fill in with pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue this weekend at Jay's before Soundcheck booked this weekend's gigs. Mildly confusing, but Ric is more than capable of handling Soundcheck's set!

 

For the record, Bourbon Blue have parted ways with drummer Brent Royer and are looking for a permanent replacement, so message them A.S.A.P. if you're interested in trying out! Yes, Glen will be present for their Cameron-less jam night hosting duties at Jay's tonight as well, but remember, we don't cover jam/open mic nights as "concerts" due to their in-built unpredictability. TOMORROW & SATURDAY's concerts have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

 

 

We'll move to shows that had more than a few days' notice next, starting with local indie/punk quintet The Northwest's return to LopLops Lounge TOMORROW NIGHT! While the band has oddly not promoted this show on their Facebook page whatsoever, and LopLops' own promotion drops the "The" from their name in every case, personal Facebook postings from Northwest band members indicate that this show will be in honour of their 10th anniversary as a band. We haven't seen The Northwest on stage since the Go North Music Festival on St. Joseph Island in July, so it'll be good to see their upbeat heartland rock and punk originals back in city limits tomorrow! Some personal Facebook advertising for this show indicate that local punk/hard rock quartet Far From Fine are scheduled to open tomorrow's concert, but they, The Northwest, and LopLops have not publically confirmed or denied their involvement on social media that I have found.

The lack of public advertising for this show aside from LopLops' batch coverage of their December slate is very odd, but hopefully the personal approach is doing the trick and that everyone is happy with the turnout regardless! This 19+ event has an 8:00 PM start time, and admission is $10 (higher with taxes & processing fees on Eventbrite), and yes, the 10 person "party ticket" with added drinks also exists for $100. See above for more details, don't miss The Northwest (and Far From Fine?) tomorrow at LopLops, and here's The Northwest live!

 

 

Finally for today's previews, we'll head west to The Esquire Club, where local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard will take the stage for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen at this Second Line West staple five weeks ago, look for another solid weekend of southern-fried classic and hard rock covers from Greg, Alex, and Warren over these two nights, and as these will likely be their last fully electric shows of 2023, come on down to plug in with the full Bone Yard experience! No word on if they'll have merchandise for sale or not though. Tomorrow & Saturday's concerts take place at 9:30 PM with no cover charges and 19+ age limits. Live music fans have a lot of options locally for Christmas weekend entertainment, but Bone Yard's hard rocking ways and crowd-friendly set should bode well for fans in the west end, so visit the above links for details, and here they are live!

 

 

That's all for now, but look for our Tym Morrison preview (and more) on the site next! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Hard Rock/Punk Concert Previews!!

A healthy weekend for hard rock concerts is ahead in Sault Ontario, and while there may be some late notice announcements ahead, all of today's concerts had prior word. Here's what you should know!

We'll start at LopLops Lounge, where online page-less local alternative rock/punk cover quintet Bookclub will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT! One of many concerts booked at the Queen Street East nightclub as part of their stacked December schedule (but the first that truly crosses the SMS radar), this will be Bookclub's first gig since opening for The Inner City Surfers' reunion show last month, and yes, video of their set is forthcoming on the site! Of course, Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon and bassist Dustin Jones will be back at LopLops in two weeks for The 16 Musicians of Christmas, but if you want a full evening of their eclectic but punk-flavoured covers, you know where to be tomorrow! While they shared the stage with The Wyld Stallyns at LopLops last year, advertising for tomorrow's concert does not mention an opening/second act. We'll let you know if one is confirmed!

This 19+ concert has an 8:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and ticket fees of $20 at the door or (with taxes/processing fees) via Eventbrite. A $180 "party ticket" for 10 attendees + 10 drinks is also available if you are so inclined. A ticket price like this for one band may seem like a little much, but remember how LopLops puts their all into Christmas season bookings, and might there be some surprises in store? No idea, but Bookclub's talent and chemistry is no secret, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live last year!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will return to The Rockstar Bar for another special gig TOMORROW NIGHT! The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub has only been open for select bookings since it indefinitely paused daily operations in mid-2022, but this will be (at least) the second for Silent 9 this year, following the Searchmont Ski Runners' fall social in October, which was publically attendable. So is tomorrow's event, a fundraising pub for Soo City United's 2010-2011 birth year girls soccer teams, so if you are linked to or want to support the teams, consider a trip to The Rockstar Bar tomorrow, with lots of fun rock covers from Silent 9 as well! With the Christmas season in full swing, an ugly Christmas sweater theme is also promoted, though no word on if this will have an attached contest or not. An 8:30 PM start time is advertised for this 19+ event, which has a $35 ticket price.

Scan the QR code on the poster if you want to buy yours in advance without chancing the door, and if you can't make it but still want to support Soo City United, they suggest donating $20. Silent 9 will be back playing normal nightclub gigs next month, but if you're up for enjoying their rock cover attack, helping out the girls' soccer program, and/or taking in an all too rare concert at The Rockstar Bar, consider coming out! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Silent 9 live!

Also this weekend, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard have two shows at two different venues in as many days, starting with their return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Their first show at the Dennis Street nightclub in three weeks, this is a one-nighter due to Shooters' continuance of DJs on most Saturdays. Instead, fans can check out Greg, Alex, and Warren at Gateway Casino on SATURDAY NIGHT, in what will be another acoustic concert as has been recently common for Bone Yard at this locale. They last played at the casino three weeks ago as well, and whether you want to see them in their full electric splendor or acoustic, you have options downtown this weekend regardless! You can take in the southern, hard, and classic rock action at 9:00 PM tomorrow and 8:00 PM on Saturday, these are 19+ events, and neither has an announced cover. See above for more details, and here's Bone Yard live!

Finally for known hard rock concerts in the Twin Saults this weekend, new local classic/hard rock quintet HeadFirst will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! The fourth and fifth gigs from this rising young band (following a Reggie's weekend last month & Toystock), hopefully they continue to naturally build up their profile with solid hard rocking tunes and chemistry over these two nights! Official band merchandise will reportedly be on sale as well, though HeadFirst did not specify what kinds. Like their return gigs there at month's end, these are 19+ affairs with no cover charge and 9:00 PM start times. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's some new "Shorts" videos on HeadFirst's new YouTube channel! Three "Shorts" yet addressed on the SMS were cross-posted from TikTok in recent days, and they include one of the model of the woman's silhouette shown in their logo from when the shot was rendered, alongside an instrumental recording.

If that's a sign that HeadFirst are working on studio material, then hopefully they give more details the soon! The other two are jam session recordings, one with the guys covering The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" (albeit focusing on Raine Rancourt's guitar solo). Embedded below is the band covering Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade", and for the record, neither features singer Red Jettison (the fragments shown were always instrumental, but maybe he was filming?) The short length and vertical angle aside (these came from TikTok, after all), HeadFirst sound good here, and hopefully fans will get much more to enjoy at Reggie's, so check them out for yourselves above & below!

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