More Likely Concert Cancellations, Plus Tarnished's Newest Live-Streamed Shows!!

For this 69th straight daily post at the SMS, we do have new video content, but let's start with the latest on the local concert calendar and the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended the state's stay-at-home order until Friday, June 12th, and you can read more about this announcement at this link or your preferred Michigan news sources. Businesses cleared to re-open in the Sault Ste. Marie area can still do so, but this order means that casinos must remain closed through at least this date, Kewadin Casinos included. As such, I have removed The Lows' concert at The Rapids Lounge in the Soo on June 12th from our calendar, as well as Peril's scheduled June 12th weekend shows at The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace. The one-nighter at The Rapids Lounge on June 13th from Pontiac hard rock band Tripp 'N' Dixie will remain in our listings for now.

Note that Tripp 'N' Dixie have not posted on their Facebook page at all since February, so if the show is publically cancelled, it may be through Kewadin or the state government before the band. In Sault Ontario, the only remaining concert scheduled this summer in our calendar is the Alienator-headlined show at Soo Blaster on June 4th (next Thursday), and I have reluctantly opted to remove it as well. As of this writing, Soo Blaster have not announced that they'll be re-opening in time for this show, and even if, I can't see this going on when everything else around it has been cancelled. In any event, neither Alienator nor local openers The Bear Hunters have publically acknowledged the show on their Facebook pages. If I am wrong, I'll redact this! Lastly, I have to give a huge apology, as a hard rock concert (obviously now cancelled) was scheduled for yesterday in the Soo that we completely forgot to cover on here, to be headlined by Toronto-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer!

To have been held at The Canadian Nightclub, this show was announced back in January via it's Facebook event page, and it would have been Destroyer's fifth local concert appearance since 2010, and first since rocking the same venue in March of last year. Promotion of it didn't visibly get far (ticket prices weren't even listed), and while I definitely regret not covering this one in the winter, it never took place anyway for sadly obvious reasons. Hopefully Destroyer return to the Soo when things settle down!

The second half of today's post takes us back into live-streamed concert territory, as Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished held their 13th & 14th at-home concerts on their Facebook page on Friday and yesterday! After switching to a two hour set for the prior two installments, and dealing with a mid-show power outage on night #2, Alex & Josh has originally planned to do two hour sets again last week, but both only ran for an hour (or so) due to warm temperatures during recording. That said, the audio quality remains poor across both live-streams for my setup, so Audacity manipulation and maximum volume may be necessary. Friday's live-stream again has the wide-screen video letter-boxed in standard definition, but they finally corrected the aspect ratio problems in yesterday's live-stream, so that one is embedded below. Starting with Friday, that set features 2/3rds of Tarnished covering Three Doors Down's "Kryptonite", Incubus' "Drive", ...

...Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World", Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black", Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love", Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll", Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me", Bob Seger's "Turn The Page", Skid Row's "18 & Life", and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising". As for yesterday, Alex & Josh tackled Sublime's "What I Got", REO Speedwagon's "Take It On The Run", The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Fishin' In The Dark", and Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box", before Josh swapped out his guitar for his acoustic bass. Afterward, the guys play a new original song named "Cabin Fever" from their upcoming EP, Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5", Billy Idol's "White Wedding", Alex's own solo track "Crazy World", Green Day's "Basket Case", Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust", The Romantics' "What I Like About You", and Cameo's "Word Up". This was a nice selection of tunes overall from these two nights!

The audio quality remains a deep concern, but the guys seem to have a strong handle on these covers, new and old alike, and the stage lighting does add some visual flair to the performances! No word on when we'll see Tarnished back with more live-streams (and for how long), but give these a watch above and below, and stay tuned for more from their camp!



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

The Rest Of This Weekend's Concert Previews, Cancellations, And New Videos!!

Before we begin this post, just a heads up that Traverse City, Michigan hard rock band Scarkazm are not playing at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino this weekend, and are instead playing two Lower Peninsula dates in Thompsonville (source here.) As best as I can tell, Scarkazm themselves never advertised any concerts for this weekend in the Soo, with those dates originally being reported on Kewadin's entertainment page when they announced early 2020 lounge bookings here and in St. Ignace. This weekend's scheduled act was quietly changed by the venue to local classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63, but given frontman Henry Switzer's own shared post on their Facebook page last month referring to his own recovery from a heart ailment and being unsure when he will be able to play a full show, I will err on the side of caution and not cover Highway 63 as playing this weekend unless they publically confirm the dates.

Whether Scarkazm had a scheduling conflict or Kewadin simply made a mistake, this is disappointing, but Adam, Dave, and Jeff will be back in the E.U.P early next month at the St. Ignace Kewadin, so if you can't wait until their next advertised Sault Ste. Marie gigs in October, keep the St. Ignace stops in mind! Now, we do have two more weekend concert previews to tackle today, plus some videos of note, so here's what you should know!

We'll pick things back up with Sault Ontario hard rock solo artist Tym Morrison's ongoing weekly concert slate at Gliss Restaurant, as he'll be back there like clockwork for dinner-time matinees TOMORROW & SATURDAY! That's not all though, as Tym will be playing two other relatively unfamiliar venues from his recent live slate this weekend, including an afternoon matinee at Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s on-site Taproom on SATURDAY (sandwiched between the Gliss shows), before capping off the weekend with a return to The Kiln at Searchmont Resort for one more matinee concert on SUNDAY! No late nights over the St. Patrick's Day weekend for Tym's upcoming shows, but his acoustic hard & classic rock covers should find another strong audience, and might you still see green beer given the impending St. Patrick's Day festivities? The Gliss shows tomorrow & Saturday are at 6:00 PM, the Northern Superior gig on Saturday is at 3:00 PM, and Sunday's Searchmont concert is at 4:00 PM.

None of these four dates have age limits (all are matinees anyway), nor do they have announced cover charges. Sounds like another entertaining weekend of music from Tym Morrison, a skilled guitarist and singer with years of live experience, so keep these four shows in mind if you want some early unplugged hard rock cover action! Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here, here, and here for more details, and here's Tym live!

Lastly for this weekend's concert previews, we'll head to LopLops Lounge, where local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide will play their first announced concert of 2020 THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! This concert will have a two-pronged raison d'etre, including a big pre-St. Patrick's Day bash, as is customary for The Tide each year. Given the seasonal angle, expect green beer and holiday frills for the occasion! The other big occasion on Saturday is that this show will take place on LopLops owner Stephen Alexander's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than with a popular and talented group of local music veterans playing Celtic-tinged punk music? Of course, we should hear some new material from The Rising Tide's upcoming new album, so keep that angle in mind too! There are no advertised openers for this 19+ & 10:00 PM concert, which has a $10 cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Dustin & crew live!

Finally for today, here's a belated acknowledgement of a collection of videos that Lansing, Michigan promoters Meridian Entertainment have posted online as of late to hype their recent major headline concerts bookings at the Kewadin Casino branches in the Soo, St. Ignace, and Manistique. These occasionally find their way onto Facebook, and we have featured a few here in the past, though these often get deleted from there once the concert in question comes and goes. However, Meridian's YouTube channel has a bunch still online if you are at all interested! I won't spend hours discussing them all, as most are under 30 seconds and just feature members of a band playing here hyping up a concert that has already occurred, but these do include a number of recent hard rock bands that played here, including members of Autograph, Buckcherry, Faster Pussycat, Kix, Pop Evil, Tantric, and Theory of a Deadman, plus Chris Jericho promoting Eric Martin's show here.

Two upcoming hard rock concerts have a similar shoutout video, including clips from members of Tripp n' Dixie and The Lows (who each play at The Rapids Lounge in June for their Rapids Sessions series), plus the video embedded below, which features Candlebox frontman Kevin Martin hyping up their Dreammakers Theater show on April 18th, which The Lows are also opening, but their video above is specifically for their June gig. These videos can often seem cookie cutter, but it's nice to see artists directly plugging local dates, and hopefully they help drum up interest and ticket sales! Give these a look above and below, and get your tickets A.S.A.P.!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Barely Covered & The Wyld Stallyns), CBC Searchlight Info, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, just an acknowledgement that members of Soundcheck (specifically guitarist Terry Eaton, drummer Glen Thomas, and ex-drummer Steven Flint) hosted local blues rock trio Mojo's weekly jam night at Reggie's West last night, due to members' commitments with Maxx Entertainment running sound at the Jack DeKeyzer show at The Machine Shop. We don't consider jam and open mic nights to be "concerts", but had this had more notice, I'd have at least mentioned it on here, and I do apologize! Now, here's some recent news and notes, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE!

Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will reportedly return to LopLops Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, we only learned of this concert via personal Facebook postings earlier this week, though it was quietly listed on the venue's website's events calendar (albeit spelling "Stallions" the non-Bill & Ted way). A one nighter due to the recent run of Friday concerts there by local folk/blues duo The Town Criers, this will be The Stallyns' first show since their Rockstar Bar cancellation last week due to a band member illness, but in longer terms, this will be their first announced show here since April. Unlike then, this show isn't on "Bad Idea Thursday", and there isn't an advertised "pizza and a pint" deal, but the Elements side project's wide array of covers should fit LopLips well TOMORROW! Expect a $5 cover for this 19+ show, which has a 9:30 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Wyld Stallyns live!



Next up, the aforementioned LopLops website's events calendar also listed a show on Saturday, February 29th by a new local band named Barely Covered, so what should you know in this regard? This show does have a Facebook event page, which describes this band as playing "rock, punk, and pop covers" from the 1980s-2000s. Meanwhile, LopLops' website lists a wide array of acts ranging from Nirvana to The Descendents to The Matthew Good Band among their live cover selection. In other words, they definitely fit our coverage, and I'd link them on the SMS if they had a known online page! Lineup-wise, this band is effectively succeeding the mid-2010s cover rock quartet Changing Lanes, though sound descriptions for that band were softer. Returning from that group are guitarist Steve Myers (ex-Sense of Truth/Parabol), bassist Josh Norling (of numerous other bands on bass & saxophone), and drummer Roy Kreutzberger (ex-Startlefish/Leaves Off Trees.)

In lieu of the relocated Buzz, the lead singer of Barely Covered is Maggie Gasparetto, who I am unfamiliar with from prior bands, though you may have seen her with the guys already, as Barely Covered made their live debut at LopLops on September 21st. I profusely apologize for missing that show on here, but now we know about them, and look for an entertaining show on Leap Day at month's end! Expect a 9:30 PM start time, $5 cover, and 19+ age limit once again. See above for more details, and hopefully we hear more from Barely Covered soon, online page or otherwise!

Also today, it's that time of year again, as CBC Music's annual Searchlight competition is back in it's annual quest to find Canada's best unsigned and undiscovered musical talent! Partnering with The Juno Awards this year, first round voting opened on Tuesday, and will run until next Thursday at 3:00 PM, with the 50 highest voted bands and 50 judges panel selections moving on to the second stage, which will be eventually whittled down to a first place winner on March 5th. The top prizes this year include a placement and industry showcase at this year's Allan Slaight Juno Master Class in Toronto, a week's residency at Studio Bell in Calgary, slots at JunoFest at this year's Junos in Saskatoon and at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto, and tickets to the Juno Awards proper. There's a lot to look forward to, but of course, this is the Sault Metal Scene, and there is a lot of local representation in the Ontario province to vote for, so who should you search & show your support for?

As usual, indie punk quintet Northwest have thrown their hat in the ring, as have alt-rockers Man Feelings once again, and other locally relevant acts this year include Hannah Nicoletta, M.D. Dunn, Renee Landry, and former Shattervox frontman Eric Brombacher's current Toronto rock project Eric & The Soo. I could be missing others, but it's great to see this many local musicians alone in the running! Again, I think exposure for Searchlight would be greater locally if CBC Music had an FM signal in Sault Ste. Marie, but hopefully some local connections make the top 100! You can vote once a day per artist, so click here to search for and check out all of this year's entrants!

Finally for today, here's a lineup update for an upcoming Sault Michigan concert, as Detroit hard rock quintet The Lows have been added as the openers for the Candlebox concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the local Kewadin Casino on April 18th! The news was broken on the Facebook event page, and this will give The Lows an earlier than expected local debut before their "Rapids Sessions" gig at The Rapids Lounge on June 12th. Very nice platform for this band, and hopefully the Candlebox show boosts their attendance when they come back north! To promote the concert, Lows frontman Angelo Coppola shared this video on the event page on January 4th where he plays a solo blues rock song all about this particular concert. This goes above and beyond the usual plugs you see from touring acts toward a specific tour date here, and it's a well done (if short) while it lasts! Give it a look below, and get your tickets for $30-$35 each at this link!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tripp 'N' Dixie, The Lows, And Tarnished) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

It's now time to dive into another batch of weekend concert previews, but on the hard rock front, this is a very quiet weekend, with only two heavier acts to speak of playing live in the area (at least, with advance notice.) To round things out, we have some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, two for the summer and a pair for later this month, so here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished will play their first Kewadin Casino gig of 2020 when they rock The Signatures Lounge in the Soo TONIGHT in acoustic format, but they also have new shows in the works for later this month! While not yet advertised on the band's own online pages, the Banned successors will reportedly return to The Double D Bar & Grill at Dondee Lanes on Friday, January 31st and Saturday, February 1st, as per the venue's Facebook event page. These will be Tarnished's first Dondee gigs in two months, and their first full-band electric concerts of 2020, so don't miss out on their hard rocking covers then! Expect 7:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover there, and see above for more details. In the meantime, Tarnished will be at The Signatures Lounge tonight for a Thursday unplugged matinee (no word on if Alex will be playing solo or with Josh/Nathan), so if you like our acoustic hard rock a little Tarnished, you know where to go!

This is a 6:00 PM event with no cover charge and a likely 21+ age limit. For what it's worth, frontman Alex Traynor did in fact play an afternoon matinee at Biggby Coffee this past Thursday (his birthday), as per the coffee shop's Facebook page, though it was announced on short notice, Tarnished haven't advertised a Biggby show since December 12th, and no one has publically confirmed that Alex/Tarnished is still playing there "every Thursday". If you want to see if he'll be there, visit between 12:00 & 2:00 PM, and my apologies for missing last week's gig! Now, for a preview, here's Tarnished live!

Next up, here are a pair of new Kewadin Casino concerts for later this year, marking the last of our Rapids Lounge hard rock show announcements from their entertainment page, which is updated for lounge gigs through early July. As you may know by now, the Sault Ste. Marie branch is trying a new "Rapids Sessions" series in 2020, with touring bands (as in, not cover acts from Northern Michigan) playing there on select weekends, like BRKN Love last week. Most of the currently scheduled bands are not hard rock or metal, but two such acts will split the June 13th weekend at The Rapids Lounge, starting with Pontiac classic/southern hard rock sextet Tripp 'N' Dixie on Friday, June 13th! Very old school-inspired sound from this band, who would have been right at home in the 1970s, and they have enough harder edged material to go around while also delivering some down-home soul at the same time, so don't bypass Tripp 'N' Dixie!

Unlike other "Rapids Sessions" concerts this year, Tripp 'N' Dixie are not playing on that Saturday, as the June 14th spotlight will instead fall on Detroit hard rock quintet The Lows, making their own local concert debut here. This group brings a more modern, alternative-influenced sound to the stage, and with distinctive vocals, a solid groove, and strong musicianship, The Lows should attract a good audience of their own on this Saturday nighter! It'll be interesting to hear how these and other Rapids Sessions concerts go, so visit the above links to learn more on the acts from abroad playing at the Soo Kewadin this year! Both Tripp 'N' Dixie and The Lows are on at 10:00 PM each night, with no cover charge advertised, and 21+ age limits are to be expected. See above for more details, and keep these two gigs in mind for your live concert plans this summer!

Finally, we'll wrap things up for today by finishing off this quiet weekend of hard rock concert previews, as prolific Sault Ontario hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will continue his ongoing weekly concert arrangement at Gliss Restaurant with acoustic matinee shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! As usual, Tym will deliver another entertaining weekend of classic and hard rock covers to patrons and fans alike at the Spring Street restaurant over these two evenings, so if you're up for some supper-time acoustic action on the Canadian side of the border, you know where to go this weekend! Like any other week for Tym's long-term run at Gliss, expect both of these shows to have no age limit or cover charge (but mind the locale), and each gig will start at 6:00 PM. For more details, visit this new Facebook event page (covering Gliss shows through March), and here's Tym live!



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