LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Curtis McLenzie & Tarnished), Concert Previews, And A Big Cancellation!!

Before we begin this post, we have a major concert cancellation to note here, as Saturday night's Headstones/Fortunate Losers show at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion is no longer taking place, as per this SooToday article by Greg McGrath-Goudie last night. A reason for the cancellation wasn't announced by the bands or promoters Cabin Media Entertainment, but I sensed something was up, as I was literally writing up my preview of the concert when I noticed that ticket links and advertising had dried up in the past week. An obvious major concern with the show as scheduled was that it was booked opposite Rotaryfest's final day, as this ticketed concert (individual tickets ran for around $75) was up against the free bands at Clergue Park, five of which were scheduled across Stages 1 & 2 during or after the Headstones show was to have begun at 7:30 PM, including touring AC/DC tribute band Who Made Who on Stage 1, which was also getting advertised on local radio. Headstones ticket refunds are available from Cabin Media at point of purchase.

Very disappointing to hear that The Headstones aren't coming here (yet), especially as they're getting a lot more rock radio airplay now that we have 104.3 The Fox in Sault Ontario, so hopefully Hugh and company will try again down the road, as it's been 28 years already! Otherwise, for this second weekend concert preview post, we're leaving Clergue Park to look at hard rock shows this weekend outside of the Rotaryfest umbrella, and while we'll knock most of those out today, our previews of Tym Morrison's shows this weekend will be lumped in with Friday's Stage 2-led preview post, so don't miss all of that then. Here's what else you should know for this weekend, including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Sault Michigan classic/hard rock quartet Tarnished will reportedly return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these dates were included in updates to Kewadin's entertainment page reflecting who's playing at their on-site lounges through the end of August, and while I missed that when first announced there, Tarnished have yet to corroborate these bookings on their own Facebook page. These will actually be Tarnished's second and third shows in St. Ignace this month, having rocked the Music By The Bay summer concert series there as well. Note that Tarnished were once advertised to play at The Northern Pines Lounge over the May 16th weekend, but the band never confirmed those bookings on social media, so while I do apologize for not acknowledging them in our previews that month, I don't believe they happened either. At least they're back this weekend!

Between the casino, the Music By The Bay gig, and their shows at the Driftwood Bar, Tarnished have been spreading their wings in St. Ignace a lot this year, but hopefully their hard rocking covers and originals find a strong audience at The Northern Pines Lounge once again this weekend! TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live! 

Next up, let's head north of the border for another late notice gig, as former Haggith/Project 421 frontman Curtis McKenzie will play a matinee concert at Beck's Bar on SATURDAY! Again, apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday morning (we'll address Tym Morrison's also-short notice SUNDAY matinee there in our next post). As far as I'm aware, Curt has never played at Rotaryfest, but it will be interesting to see how his show there on SATURDAY does when there's the festival running concurrently, but there should be west end fans eager for something a little lighter musically! As usual at the former Vibe Lounge, they're doubling up with a separate nighttime concert at 8:00 PM, with this week's late band being blues rock veterans Smokehouse (fresh off of their Friday Night Blues set on Stage 2), but Curtis isn't "opening" for Smokehouse. These are two distinct concerts on the same day.

Curt takes the stage at Beck's on SATURDAY at 3:00 pm with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. This should be a fun change of pace if you want to enjoy some unplugged hard rock and alternative covers far from the downtown events, so check the above links for more details, and here's Curtis live! 

Finally for today, we'll head back to Michigan, as local hard/blues rock quintet Project 906 will return to The Strongs Tavern in Eckerman for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT! First announced via
the venue's Facebook page last month, this will be Project 906's first stop at this favourite venue of theirs in almost two months, and is the only advertised July event there if this poster is anything to go by. This should be a fun night of hard rocking covers from this familiar and well-tested local hard rock band, so keep things in mind if you're out west or want to take the hour's drive to Eckerman! The guys should be whole again on Saturday after drummer Jason VanLuven missed their Cedarville matinee gig last week due to a scheduling conflict with his other band Unfortunate Sun, so keep his return in mind as well. Saturday's concert is at 8:00 PM with no cover and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's 906 live!

That's all for now, but we'll wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews next with Rotaryfest Stage 2 and Tym Morrison (and more?) tomorrow morning. Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Headstones & Tarnished), New Videos, And More!!

With a big new show announcement within, today's post features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on both sides of the border, along with new videos and a couple of other recent notes, so here's what you should know on this Wednesday night!

Sault Michigan classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished are scheduled to rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, February 21st & Saturday, February 22nd! Our source is Kewadin's entertainment page, whose schedule is updated through the end of the month. These will be Alex & Josh's second and third shows of 2025,  and their first at the Soo Kewadin in over four months, when they were late fill-ins for Risque there in early October. Good to see the guys back with some advance notice, and hopefully everything goes smoothly for their hard hitting classic covers and originals next weekend! No word on if Chris Leask and Ron Suchey will sit in as the bassist & drummer again, as they have at every non-battle of the bands set of Tarnished's since the fall, though be advised that the band has not corroborated these bookings on social media at press time.

We'll let you know if anything changes! As usual for bands rocking The Rapids Lounge, expect a 21+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, and no cover charge across both nights. Visit the above links for more on Tarnished's next two headlining dates as they continue what should be a big year!

Next up, here's yesterday's big concert announcement for Sault Ontario, as Kingston punk/alternative quintet The Headstones will headline at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Saturday, July 19th! While this show is presented by Sault Michigan's Rock 101, local radio listeners tuning into 104.3 The Fox will have heard a lot of The Headstones in the past month thanks to their 1990s hits like "Smile & Wave", "When Something Stands For Nothing", and their cover of "Tweeter & The Monkey Man". Fronted by Canadian Screen Award-winning actor Hugh Dillon, this will be their first known local concert appearance since 1997, when they headlined at Algoma University's T-Bird Lounge, which is a long time coming. Thanks to 104.3, I've gotten a crash course in The Headstones in recent weeks, and their sound jumps well from darker themes to punk rock to Tragically Hip-esque commentary, and it'll be neat to see them under the big tent this summer!

Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers (who opened for Monster Truck at Soo Blaster in 2019) will make their long awaited return as openers on July 19th. Solid band who don't play out here enough, so don't bypass them in five months! Presented by Cabin Media Entertainment, tickets for this 7:30 PM and outdoor-ish concert go on sale on Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, though I have not seen a clear reference to ticket prices as of this writing. Between this, Our Lady Peace, and Big Sugar headlining the Go North Festival (more on that soon), 2025 is proving to be a big year for domestic rock music here, and hopefully The Headstones' show is a huge hit! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, here's a new video from Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun's Facebook page! Posted last week, this comes from one of their headlining dates at The Merchants Bar over the I-500 weekend (either Friday, January 31st or Saturday, February 1st), and it sees them covering Seether's "Remedy". Filmed from side-stage to what looks like a good audience, this cover is well handled for the video's minute+ long runtime, but Skip's vocals are higher than I'm used to for Seether songs, so adjust accordingly. Check out Unfortunate Sun's newest video below!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last little while, and as usual for these short-form items, these are in alphabetical order by artist or show name:

 

• This was surprisingly never mentioned on the SMS when it happened, but Sault Michigan rock radio station Rock 101 quietly replaced The Core with Meltdown on Sunday evenings with hardDrive with Lou Brutus at some point in the last few years. As opposed to the 1990s-centric The Core, hardDrive is a bigger syndicated show focusing on modern hard rock, and Lou gets some big scoops and interviews, so it'll be some welcome variety on Sundays, especially if you want newer stuff than the Classic Rock Sundays rotation on 104.3! You can hear hardDrive on Sundays from 7:00-9:00 PM, while The Core can now be heard online at this link on Sundays at 9:00 PM.
  
• I have moved local/Winnipeg classical metal project Sell This! to our inactive band links, as they have not issued a public update since their release party for their album "Empires Everywhere" at The Distraction in January of last year. Led by former RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski, Sell This! were previously active in Winnipeg in the early 2020s, where they put out three EPs, before Pete moved home with Sell This! in 2023. While his vocals weren't always that rangy, Sell This! were a unique entry into the local scene with their industrial influences & politically charged lyrics, and hopefully we hear more from Pete soon!
• I can't embed it here because it is a "Reel", but local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 posted a highlight video of songs from their Bon Soo set at The Machine Shop this past Friday onto their Facebook page! In order, you'll see fragments of their covers of Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams" (with Jess dancing with Mr. Bon Soo!), Post Malone & Morgan Wallen's "I Had Some Help", Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", Walk The Moon's "Shut Up & Dance", and Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Despite being a "Reel", the clips within have were strong performances with good energy, so click here to see everything!
   

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), Plus The First Half Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

An exceedingly busy concert weekend is upon us in the Twin Saults, possibly due to timing with Canada Day and the (mid-week) Fourth of July, so here's how we're blocking things out for this week's hard rock concert previews. Today's post will focus on bands playing tomorrow in some respect, with Saturday's Re:Born-headlined concert joining remaining Sault Michigan-area previews in a post tomorrow. That all said, here's what you know to start this busy weekend, including a SHORT LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Yet another busy concert weekend for local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will see him continue his long-term Gliss Restaurant concert arrangement TOMORROW & SATURDAY, sandwiching a nighttime concert at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill TOMORROW NIGHT! However, that's far from all for this talented solo artist, as Tym will return to La Terraza Franzisi in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island for a special Canada Day concert THIS MONDAY, so if you missed him there last week, and want some live entertainment on the holiday, keep MONDAY'S show in mind! Apologies for the short notice, the gig was only announced via it's Facebook event page this morning. Now, Tym's personal Facebook page also lists upcoming dates at such diverse locales as the Pointe des Chenes campground, The Old Stone House, and The Duty Free Shop, but as none of these have been plugged on his Facebook group, I am treating these as private bookings unless stated otherwise.

Yes, I will get to his July slate of Gliss shows on the site within the next week, but on a weekend this busy, I don't have the space to fit them in without making today's or tomorrow's posts too long. Stay tuned! The Gliss shows are 6:00 PM matinees, tomorrow's 19+ Roadhouse show is at 10:00 PM, while his La Terraza Franzisi show on MONDAY is at an early 5:00 PM timeslot. None have announced cover charge, but mind the restaurant locales for the matinee concerts. Visit the official Facebook pages linked here, here, and above, and here's Tym live a few years back!

Next up, let's head to Soo Blaster for a very big show taking place TOMORROW NIGHT, as Hamilton southern hard rock band Monster Truck will make their long awaited local concert debut! Winners of the Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year in 2013, Monster Truck have since became one of the biggest newer hard rock bands on Canadian rock radio thanks to hits like "Sweet Mountain River", "For The People", and "Old Train", and it'll be great to have their bluesy yet hard hitting brand of original music on a local stage to kick off their 2019 "Canadian Bonus Round" tour, so be sure to check them out! Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers are advertised to make their own local concert debut tomorrow, 2½ years after dropping out of a Blackwood Sinners show locally, and their own entertaining originals would be fun to hear locally! A Musicians Wanted Facebook group post by Fortunate Losers bassist Brent Boileau indicates that a local opening band is being sought on short notice.

Message Brent A.S.A.P. at this link or above if you want in on this big opportunity! A presentation of Thunder Bay promoters Loffredo & Associates, this 7:30 PM concert has $35 tickets available at Soo Blaster and/or at this link, albeit with a $5 service fee, and this is a 19+ event. Also, note the contest on the Facebook event page where attendees could win tickets to see "Weird" Al Yankovic in Toronto, which would be a great show in & of itself! I am very curious to see how Monster Truck goes over locally, as they're a big deal for modern Canadian hard rock, so don't miss out, see above for full details, and here's Monster Truck live!

Also this weekend, a couple of more bands are playing TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, including local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, who will return to The Esquire Club for a couple of nights! After two weekends straight at the re-opened Reggie's Place and a Sunday matinee outside of the new A&W, gigs that largely didn't get much in the way of advance notice, fans may be happy to note that Travis, Terry, Paul, and Glen announced these shows in February via this concert calendar, so we've had lots of time to prepare! This is Soundcheck's first advertised concert weekend at the Esquire this season, so if you've missed their hard rocking yet diverse range of covers, you know where to go this weekend! 10:00 PM-ish start times are in effect for these 19+ shows, which have no announced cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!



Finally for this preview post, let's take a trip south to the Eastern Upper Peninsula, where Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quintet Highway 63 will rock The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT themselves! This will be just the second concert weekend for this veteran band since they enlisted ex-Mamas Boys drummer Russell Mayer into their lineup, and it's a good weekend for them to be hitting up the St. Ignace Kewadin, as Saturday night's show will coincide with the Slaughter/Autograph concert there (preview coming tomorrow), so hopefully fans can hit up the on-site nightclub after the hair metal wraps up and get a double concert for their trouble! Fans can see the Switzers, George, Russell, and Brian at The Northern Pines Lounge at 9:00 PM both nights, these are 21+ events, and there are no announced cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Highway 63's old lineup live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Slaughter, Project 906, and Re:Born concert previews (and more?) tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bobaflex & Black Crown Initiate), The River Jacks Concert Preview, And More!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Kayge Fowler, who passed away last night after a brave and courageous battle with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (or DIPG) over the past year. He was just 6 years old. As well documented on the Prayers For Kayge Facebook group and local news media, Kayge fought valiantly against this terrible and aggressive form of brain cancer, and numerous people (locally or elsewhere) helped donate and contribute to the Kayge Fighters Against DIPG Foundation through many campaigns and special events, including last week's Music 4 Kayge fundraiser concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, which featured acts like Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide and Stiffler's Mom successors The Tilrays. While we had covered his dad Paul's brief work with the local band Keep It Lit in the past, I didn't know the Fowler family, but I can't imagine what they're going through right now.

From what I've learned about Kayge in the past year, he truly was a superhero, and fought this horrible disease with a bravery and compassion that we all should take the example of. I send my best thoughts and wishes out to Paul and Mandy, Kayge's siblings, and their extended family at this difficult time, and at least he's no longer in any pain. R.I.P. Kayge!

Now, today's post features a special Monday night concert preview, but first, here's a pair of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for you metalheads over the coming months! We'll start at The Rockstar Bar, and if you liked last July's Rivers of Nihil-headlined concert there, you might want to circle Saturday, August 3rd, as another Reading, Pennsylvania metal band will be there on this night, namely Black Crown Initiate! A technical death metal trio in their own right, Black Crown Initiate's melodic yet aggressive brand of material should whet any extreme metal appetite when they make their local concert debut later this summer, so be sure to check them out to see what they bring to the table! In fact, if you love melodic and technical death metal, this show will be a sonic feast, with B.C.I. also joined for this show and tour by Denver quartet Vale of Pnath, Nashville quartet Inferi (who played at last year's Rivers of Nihil concert), and Chicago quintet Warforged.

It's hard to differentiate the four bands briefly, but each has their own explosive original attack and lots of brutality on hand, so don't miss out on these four bands, and it's great to see Inferi back in the Soo, especially after almost stealing the show in July! At press time, there has been no local openers confirmed.Promoted by Live705 in (surprisingly) their first show since Rivers of Nihil, tickets for this 19+ concert will be $15 in advance or $20 at the door, with details on advance presale tickets forthcoming, while a 10:00 PM start time is advertised. This should be a great time for melodic death metal fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, West Virginia nu metal/hard rock quintet Bobaflex will make their own local concert debut on Tuesday, September 10th when they headline at Soo Blaster! A familiar sight to nu metal diehards over the past 2 decades (or for anyone who owns the Gigantour compilation live album), fans may recognize Bobaflex from such rock radio charting singles as "Bad Man" & "I'm Glad You're Dead". This hard touring, diverse, and aggressive band should deliver a solid set for local fans, and I'm curious to see how well they draw this fall! Like the Black Crown Initiate show, this lineup also features four out of town bands, including one we've seen before. The other local newcomers include Minnesota female-fronted hard rock trio City of the Weak (whose catchy modern hard rock sound should strike a solid chord), as well as Baltimore hard rock quartet Silvertung, who've also found some chart notice in the States with their aggressive yet accessible original material.

Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers will also be on the bill, just over two months after opening for Monster Truck at the same venue, and they should get a strong response in their Sault Ste. Marie return! A local opening band is to be announced. Presented by Thunder Bay's Loffredo & Associates (who are also bringing The Cancer Bats to Soo Blaster two nights later), tickets are $20 at the venue and at this link, plus a $5 service fee. I believe this is a 19+ show, and a 7:30 PM start time is advertised. Kudos to Frank for another big show at Soo Blaster, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this intriguing lineup!

Finally, here's our preview of a special concert THIS MONDAY NIGHT, as Calgary punk quintet The River Jacks will return to the Soo for a third time when they rock The New American Pub! Fans may recognize The River Jacks from their Algonquin Pub headlining show here in 2015, before debuting at The New A two years ago when they opened for The Old Wives. With their well-written lyrics, strong punk attack, familiar brand of punk rock (perhaps with accordion?!), The River Jacks should deliver another fun set of original material on Monday, so genre fans won't want to miss out! In a surprise confirmation last week, both of the local openers were replaced, as DJ Seith and local acoustic folk solo project Slumshine are in, while Jack Spades and Shit Liver drummer Matt Baic are out, as per the Facebook event page. Reasons for the opener switches were not publically announced, but hopefully nothing bad happened, and remember that Matt as a solo artist wasn't a familiar concept for our coverage as it was.

Having openers of such a wildly different genre is a little surprising, but Slumshine's Brent Ellis has the punk chops from his various old bands, and DJ Seith has been known to throw some heavier tunes into his mixes from time to time! Presented by Six, Two, Oh. for a second straight River Jacks show, this 19+ concert has a $5 cover charge and an early 8:00 PM start time, presumably a help given the school night scheduling. This should be a fun concert with a now-nicely varied range of sounds, so keep it in mind for your Monday plans, see above for more details, and here's The River Jacks live!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Monster Truck) & Dopethrone Concert Videos!!

After a few quiet days, we're back with a new news post on this Wednesday night, and while it mostly focuses on new concert videos, we're leading off with a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you should know!

Juno Award winning Hamilton southern hard rock quartet Monster Truck will make their local concert debut on Friday, June 28th when they rock Soo Blaster! Staples of Canadian rock radio since the early 2010s with hit singles like "Sweet Mountain River", "The Lion", "Seven Seas Blues", and "Evolution" (among others), Monster Truck's fan favourite blend of heavy rock aggression and a bluesy southern touch has served them well over the years (as NHL fans know from their cover of "Saturday Night" on Hockey Night In Canada.) If you ask me, it's long overdue to welcome Monster Truck to the Soo, and hopefully they deliver a huge concert late next month! Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers will open in their own local debut, though readers may remember them from briefly being scheduled to open for The Blackwood Sinners locally in October 2016 before dropping out of that concert. After a 2½ year wait, it'll be nice to see these Northern Ontario standouts back with the accessible yet heavy original attack at Soo Blaster!

Promoted by Loffredo & Associates out of Thunder Bay (much like this fall's Cancer Bats show), advance tickets run for $35 at the venue or at this link, albeit adding a $5 service fee. Sadly, this is a 19+ show, but an early 7:30 PM start time is advertised on the Facebook event page. This should be a great concert from one of Canada's best known modern hard rock bands, and while you're more likely to hear them on 92.7 Rock in Sudbury than on any local radio station, their reputation and talent speaks for itself! Visit the above links for more on Monster Truck's local concert next month!

Next up, we'll focus on videos from Monday night's Dopethrone-headlined concert at The New American Pub for the remainder of this post, as promoters Six, Two, Oh. live-streamed videos of all three bands on this Victoria Day event to their Facebook page! Seven videos were shot and posted during the show, including three of the headlining Montreal "slutch metal" band, though I apologize in advance for not titling the songs, I had a fair amount of trouble attempting to title them by myself. This clip comes in during a song (mid-mosh pit, even), while the other two (one linked here, one embedded below) come in before the song does. Dopethrone's sludgy, doomy, and downbeat original onslaught is well captured here, even if the dark lighting helps to obscure the visuals, and attending fans definitely look into the music! Give Six, Two, Oh.'s Dopethrone videos a look above & below!



In a mild surprise to the lineup order, local doom metal trio AlgomA got the co-headlining slot over Shit Liver, so we'll look at their videos next. Marking their return to the stage after 19 months off on this night, a Six, Two, Oh. representative filmed them in two videos, including this 4:29 clip, and as embedded below, a full 16 minutes of AlgomA playing multiple tracks. Watching these, you can hardly tell that AlgomA haven't played live since 2017, as their intense and crushing music (plus their serious stage presences) hold up as well as in their heyday, so give their videos a look also!



Finally, Six, Two, Oh.'s first two videos were of local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver's first local set in over a year, with two short videos of their blisteringly fast originals, one linked here, one embedded below (note the audio sample from My Dinner With Andre.) Fans of Shit Liver's grimy and crusty attack will be right at home with these performances, and what a way to start the night before the contrastingly doomy backs to come! Give Shit Liver's videos a look above and below as well, and hopefully we see them and AlgomA back in the area soon!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Blackwood Sinners), Local Fringe Rock Radio Updates, And More!!

Let's get our first news post of October up on the site, and yes, if you're wondering about why we haven't covered the Project 421 or Moon Tan shows yet, they are coming in this weekend's concert previews! They weren't covered last week in the midst of a slow news period, forcing their delay. In this post, we have some friendly information for fans of rock radio stations on the fringe of this market, and a new video from a local band, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next week! (Updated at 1:42 PM)

A double whammy of Sudbury hard rock is hitting The Rockstar Bar on October 15th (one week from Saturday), as rock & roll quartet The Blackwood Sinners and alternative rock quartet Vintage Slang will each make their local debut! Sudbury bands don't make their way out west nearly like they used to, so kudos to both bands for hitting the Soo next weekend! Featuring alumni of Set in Stone and Long After Dark, The Blackwood Sinners' bluesy hard rock sound has been making waves in the past year, including from many high profile concerts and album plans. Similarly, Vintage Slang (replacing fellow Sudbury rockers The Fortunate Losers) harbour an entertaining alt-rock sound inspired by mamny Canadian artists, which helped them win this year's Q92 Rock Rumble, so don't miss either band next week! A local band is advertised to open this show as well, but they have not been publically announced yet.

Doors open at 9:00 PM for this 19+ show, which has a $7 cover charge. This should be a fun concert for hard rock fans, especially if you want to see Sudbury bands playing here, so check the official Facebook event page for more details, stay tuned for updates, and hopefully nothing bad happened with The Fortunate Losers, it'd be nice to see them play here!

Next up, here's a new Facebook video from local alternative hard rock trio The Din! Uploaded to their Facebook page on Wednesday, it's another of their comedic clips that doesn't feature a live music focus, this time as a black & white parody of charity commercials for helping feed the poor (a'la UNICEF or The Christian Children's Fund of Canada), only the needy here are starving musicians (The Din), with frontman Mike Haggith portraying the representative talking to the camera. I'm sure some viewers might not entirely agree with the parody basis here, but if you can take it lightly, it has it's moments, so check it out below, and watch for the surprise ending!

Finally for today, I wanted to give a long overdue update to our listings of Michigan rock radio stations that, while not locally based, get fringe reception in the Twin Saults. Fans familiar with Northern Michigan radio will likely recall the Cheboygan stations Classic Rock: The Bear (WCHY, 97.7 FM) & Rock 105 (WGFM, 105.1 FM), and Petoskey's KLT: The Rock Station (WKLZ, 98.9 FM), but in recent months, I've discovered through bandscans that two more classic rock stations in Michigan can be received here on a typical FM radio if all lines up the right way. One is WRUP in Manistique, which airs at WRPP 92.7 FM (not to be confused with the former Q92 in Sudbury), repeating from it's main station in Marquette. WRUP airs "real classic rock", and from what I've seen, it's playlist is a little heavier than The Bear, plus it broadcasts Green Bay Packers games if you're a fan of that team. I picked it up locally on a smartphone's FM radio last night (Ozzy Osbourne was playing), and it might be worth checking out if you want some variety!

The other fringe classic rock station that you might want to take note of is Thunder 100.7 (WWTH) in Oscoda, which has broadcast classic rock since dropping their country format in 2013. Information isn't too prevalent online on Thunder 100.7 (their online pages are largely assimilated into their parent company's True North Radio Network sites), and it's tougher to pick up here reliably, but I have heard and streamed it a few times in the Soo, and if you're closer to St. Ignace or have a larger antenna, you may have more consistent luck. WWTH notably airs the syndicated morning drive show Free Beer & Hot Wings, which has aired on Rock 105, 93 Rock in Marquette, and on AM radio in Petoskey, so keep that in mind too. I don't believe any other non-local FM rock stations will pick up here without a big external antenna or atmospheric quirks, but for fans who don't like Rock 101, wish WLSO aired heavier stuff more frequently, or just want some rock radio variety in this market, it's well worth remembering these 5 stations!

From my experience, the easiest of these to pick up in the Soo is KLT, followed by The Bear, Rock 105, WRUP, and then Thunder 100.7. The Bear is similar to it's old local affiliate in Newberry (no more Nights with Alice Cooper though), KLT reminds me of Rock 101 mixed with The Bear, and Rock 105 airs a heavier and more modern selection (a'la WRIF in Detroit), in case you need a refresher on those three. You may need the right antenna, weather, or position, but don't let these pass you by for some rock radio variety on the FM dial! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!