Studio Updates & New Material From Three Local Bands!!

Before we begin this post, just a heads up that Brutally Fatal frontman Austin McCrea's obituary was posted on SooToday yesterday, confirming that he sadly passed away on Boxing Day. While it doesn't go into the specifics that the GoFundMe campaign did about his medical battles, it does detail his courage & resilience, as well as his love of music, even noting some of the projects he was involved in in the 2010s. He is survived by his parents, son Richard, sister Jasmine, and many friends. Among those he was predeceased by was his brother Matthew Nadon, who you may remember was supposed to get a tribute concert in the winter of 2022-2023 that Austin's band Far From Fine were scheduled to play at. Visitation will be on Friday from 1:00-3:00 PM at the Arthur Funeral Home's Barton & Kiteley Chapel, with a celebration of life at the Holiday Inn Express from 4:00-8:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Algoma Autism Foundation would be appreciated by the family. Hopefully there's a good turnout on Friday to pay their respects, and we'll let you know when more comes out on the tribute concert that's in the works. R.I.P. Austin!

Today's post otherwise looks at new studio material from three local bands, starting with newer hard rock quartet Maynard Hayes, who I didn't even know were in studio! In their first post on their Instagram page in five months (remember, that's their only social media account), the band revealed that their debut single would drop on December 20th, accompanied by this teaser video featuring rare public video of them in concert at Soo Blaster. Why not post that in a fuller and not pillarboxed form factor somewhere with the raw audio? The song in question is named "No Security", which you can now stream on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Anghami, Boomplay, and embedded below via YouTube, and the lyrics (seemingly about empowering someone to stop using drugs and better themselves) can be read at this link. How is Maynard Hayes' first original song overall?

It's a melodic hard rock number with Damon King using some deeper clean singing to good effect, even if the song is more casual sounding than the pointed lyrics would suggest. Musically, I was kinda reminded of Avenged Sevenfold structurally, but the vocals definitely don't match. Solid enough first track, and we'll have to see if Maynard Hayes have more in the works! Also, thanks to artist credits on streaming sites, we can now confirm that their bassist is Gabrielle Abulencia, an Algoma University student that I'm unfamiliar with from prior local bands. Stay tuned for more from Damon, Nathan, Gabrielle, and David when it comes in, and here's "No Security"!

Speaking of active bands featuring drummer David Peredun with new original songs from last month, his progressive metal band Convergence released the updated version of their song "The Ebb" on Christmas Day as promised! As long-time fans may remember, this song was originally seen on their 2023 debut EP "One", but Brendan & Jake have since wiped their two instrumental EPs from streaming services in order to basically relaunch as a full band with David and singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio now in the fold, with their first full-band EP (possibly still named "In Bloom") still in the works. You can stream the new version of "The Ebb" on YouTube Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Anghami.. I'll hold comment on the song for now, as unlike Maynard Hayes, we do know that an album or EP from Convergence is on the way, even if we don't know many current specifics.

This is our first full song sampler of Convergence with Stephen on vocals outside of live videos, so don't bypass it above and below, especially as they posted this lyric video to their official YouTube channel on the 25th! Stay tuned for more from Convergence as the year continues!

Finally for this post, we have a studio teaser clip to share from local southern hard rock quartet Fort Creek's Facebook page! After a very quiet 2025, the band resurfaced with their first proper new update in four months on New Year's Eve via this 13 second sample of their second original song from their long-gestating debut album. As teased in the summer, it's for their song "Sweet Rosie", and while there's not enough here to comment on even without knowing that an album is in the works, what we hear sounds promising, especially as it's a full electric song compared to last year's acoustic "One For The Road". Check out Fort Creek's new teaser video below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard 225), Hails Updates, And More!!

Before we get too far in today's news post, I wanted to update folks on memorials for the two local metal musicians that we lost last month. I normally wouldn't mention this without a public posting, but a tribute concert to late Brutally Fatal frontman/Far From Fine drummer Austin McCrea is in the works, and the family has asked his friend Taylor "Tea" Emlaw (Handsome Sandwich's singer) to put it on. She is currently looking for performers, so contact her via her personal Facebook page if you want in, and we'll let you know when formal public details go out! No sign of an obituary yet for him or Rebel Priest/Glass Statues guitarist Ben Kemp-Reynolds, but the surviving members of Rebel Priest are hosting an open memorial for Benny tomorrow at The Moose, the Vancouver bar that he worked at. I know that most SMS readers aren't in British Columbia, but in the event that you did know Ben, are out west, and want to pay tribute, keep this in mind!

An earlier post by Rebel Priest did say that they were working with Ben's family towards giving him the right sendoff, but I don't know if any public memorials in the Soo or Central Algoma are being planned, let alone ones that would involve music (note that Rebel Priest never played a show here). We'll keep you posted when anything extra comes out regarding Austin or Ben, and they are continually missed!

Now, today's post features some new videos and updates, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 have more shows ahead this month, all courtesy of their website's concert calendar! We already touched on TONIGHT's and TOMORROW'S short notice gigs at Beck's Bar on the site on Thursday, but "the dirty three" will be seen thrice more later this month, starting with their first Water Tower Pub show of 2026 on Friday, January 23rd! Even though electric bands routinely play at the Great Northern Road nightclub, Bone Yard always play there "uncorked", so if you prefer seeing their acoustic shows there, keep this one-nighter in mind! Their next regular plugged-in concerts after this weekend take place on January 30th and 31st, when they take over The Esquire Club for a full weekend, in their first stops there in over two months. Keep all three shows in mind if you love your local 225!

Neither venue has corroborated these late-January bookings on Facebook, but we'll let you know when either posts a 2026 concert calendar. The Water Tower Pub show is at 8:00 PM, the Esquire Club gigs are at 9:30 PM, and these are all 19+ affairs with no cover charges. See above for more details, but while we're on the subject, what else have the guys been up to lately? In a jokey video on their Facebook page from December 3rd, we see Greg and Alex "grinding", but let's just say it's not on a new song! The following day, bassist Warren Reville starred in this video reflecting on "the 225 life", which at that moment, amounted to being "in the studio finishing shit". It was taken in jest, but it's good to see work on new songs is ongoing! Frontman Greg Simpson also starred in two different vertical videos (linked here & here) to promote each of their last two shows of 2025 and reflect on each prior day's weather.

In terms of performance videos, we have more plugged-in concert videos of Bone Yard 225 to share, but let's pause for now with this clip from their "uncorked" gig at Beck's on December 14th, which was uniquely filmed during a lull in the matinee when Greg's battery died mid-set. While that was sorted out, Warren played an impromptu vocal/bass original song to narrate those proceedings. Fun way to fill time, and kudos to whoever filmed this clip, which you can watch below!

Let's close with the latest from local crossover thrash band Hails, and they started 2026 with some very surprising news, as they have parted ways with guitarist Mikhal Muto. A reason for his departure wasn't announced, but in yesterday's post about his exit on their Facebook page, they did call him a "guitar wizard" and they thanked him for helping them move forward in developing their sound, so things do seem amicable. Mikhal had been a key member of Ha!ls since their early 2023 debut, but he does have many irons in the fire as it is, with The Apocalypse Afterparty, his Agnosticism solo project, and his new ska punk band A.S.D.P. all being active concerns, so we'll be seeing lots of him ahead! No word yet on if Hails will be replacing Mikhal, but remember that they were a trio before his cousin Carmen joined the band in the spring of 2024, so they could easily move forward as one again. With all of that said, what else is new from them?

This slipped us by last month, but the long-teased physical release of Ha!ls' self-titled album is getting closer, with the band sharing this image on Facebook of a test pressing of the album on vinyl. No word yet on when copies go on sale, but it is encouraging to see them making full vinyl records! At one point, other formats were also teased (remember Brent's old projects getting DIY cassette tapes?), but no finite word on CD or tape copies yet. Stay tuned for more from Hails, including videos from their last show with Mikhal next week, along with more recent news and notes! Thanks everyone!

R.I.P. Austin McCrea (1995-2025)

The Sault Metal Scene would also like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of local metal musician and rapper Austin McCrea, who just passed away in the past week, as per a number of personal Facebook postings. He was just 30 years old. This didn't cross my radar at the time, but Austin (a.k.a. Jayrald Micky) had been in hospital since September due to pancreatitis, and endured a number of devastating medical setbacks in the ensuing months, which you can read more about via this GoFundMe campaign that was launched on his behalf by his sister two weeks ago. As a local musician, Austin is arguably best known as the frontman of the goregrind/death metal band Brutally Fatal (once intentionally spelled "Brutaly Fatal"), who had two different incarnations between 2012 and 2019, and had brief and more mainstream turns under the names Re-Born and The Revolution.

Austin was a co-founder of the local goregrind/death metal/rap label Blood Shed Productions alongside his late-era Brutally Fatal bandmate Tyler Gibson, and his bands turned up multiple times at Blood Shed-affiliated concerts in the 2010s, be they late-era Oddfellows Hall concerts or house parties, while they also performed at the 2014 & 2015 Swampstravaganzas. Austin also dabbled in hip hop in the early-mid 2010s, rapping under the handle Miracle Man. While Austin primarily provided vocals, guitar, and bass in his best known bands, his most recent public music work was as the original drummer for local hard rock band Far From Fine (née Ravencore), performing with them at the 2022 Toystock and helping on their original material for their unfinished album, but he left that band by June 2023. Austin was also tapped to drum with Frightlight at The Northern Vibe Festival in 2023, but the horror punk band dropped out of that event and fell inactive afterwards.

I didn't know Austin well, but he was a talented and improving multi-instrumentalist who played the music he wanted to play without apologies, even if the imagery & lyrics weren't always to a wide audience's taste. When we profiled Brutally Fatal on the SMS four years ago, I linked to much of their known public music, including their demo EPs, while you can hear the originals he was working on with Far From Fine (albeit after he left) via their Lopstock 2023 set linked here. Losing someone over the holidays, let alone after this prolonged fight, is something I can't even imagine, and our thoughts are with the McCrea and Nadon families at this time. When details on services go public, I will let you know. R.I.P. Austin!