For our last monthly feature post of September 2025, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, and for our latest spotlight on a YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and punk artists/concerts, we're heading back almost two decades to one of the biggest metal concerts to hit Sault Ontario. Here's what you should know!
Owner: YouTube user Vern03, a.k.a. j.vernz, but I don't 100% know his full identity
Channel Timeline:Launched on September 11th, 2006; Videos uploaded on March 21st & 22nd, 2007
Channel Summary:Intended as a channel to host videos from both concerts that he attended and his then-band, Vern03 only ever uploaded six videos here, all from the Heaven & Hell/Megadeth concert at the Steelback Centre (now GFL Memorial Gardens) on March 20th, 2007, capturing footage of all three bands on this night.
Why You Should Watch: As a window to one of the first major rock concerts at the new Gardens, this is a fun look back, especially given that there hasn't been much (if any) heavier shows there since! I was there and it was a really good concert, and it's hard to believe that it was over 18 years ago now, though be advised of the scratchy and poor audio quality with hindsight. Note that Vern03 explained in the description that he had a 100 MB file size limit to stay under at the time, implying that he filmed some videos longer than 4:50 that he couldn't upload at the time, though there are a few other videos from this show floating around YouTube.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Black Sabbath LIVE: Mob Rules: Despite headlining this concert, Vern03 only got two videos of headlining metal supergroup Heaven & Hell at the Gardens, and just to get this out of the way now, he always labelled them as "Black Sabbath" on his channel. Heaven & Hell were a reunion of Black Sabbath's "Mob Rules"-era lineup fronted by Ronnie James Dio, renamed afer Dio's first album with Sabbath to avoid confusion the then-still active Ozzy Osbourne-led Black Sabbath. Alongside footage of Vinny Appice's drum solo, Vern03 shot Heaven & Hell playing "The Mob Rules", which has had over 19,000 views in the process. That is quite a feat given the poor audio quality, but you have to remember where digital cameras were in 2007 compared to now. It was a very loud show, but excellent to witness live, and Vern03 had a good side angle of the stage from where he was!
Megadeth LIVE: Hangar 18: Co-headlining on this night were Los Angeles thrash metal legends Megadeth, who Vern03 must have liked more than Heaven & Hell (or Black Sabbath) as he filmed them thrice for his channel, including playing "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Symphony Of Destruction". Featured here is the last uploaded video on this channel, of Dave Mustaine and crew playing "Hangar 18", which is the longest and most complete of his three Megadeth clips. Audio-wise, the Megadeth videos survive better than Heaven & Hell's thanks to quieter audio levels, and it doesn't hurt that Dave's singing voice wasn't impaired by the metal plate in his neck yet, so fans should take to Dave, James, and the Drover brothers' performances after adjusting for the camera quality!
Down LIVE @ STEELBACK: Vern03's only video of New Orleans sludge metal band Down's opening set is of them playing "Bury Me In Smoke". Down's presence on this tour notably meant that the still-surviving members of Pantera's classic lineup (Phil Anselmo & Rex Brown) played in Sault Ste. Marie, alongside alumni of Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, and Eyehategod, which is very neat! Unfortunately, even if the audio quality here was better, Phil's voice was really rough due to a recent illness. I prefer Pantera to Down, but there's a lot of talent in that band, and they set the tone well for who was to come on this night!
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! The joys of our random selection model, as after one month looking at something else, we'll be dipping back into the waters of local "blue Chinese metal crash rock" quartet Sykotyk Rampage via another auto-generated YouTube Music channel featuring some of their studio material for the second time in three months! Like last month, this one features two recent albums of theirs, so look for that on or around October 26th, and for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
So did you remember to check the SMS out at 10:00 PM last night for the all-concerts auto-post? I hope so, cause there was a lot there to get through, and even still, that's not all! Before I review Ultraviolence & The Big Four, we have another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!
Just four months after they last came through here, Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC will be back in Sault Ontario in exactly ONE WEEK! Sorry for the short notice, I was only alerted to this show today. AC/DC fans sure have had a lot to cheer about locally in 2010, after seeing Who Made who at Nite-Life Dance Club in February and then seeing ANOTHER AC/DC tribute band, Hells Bells, at The Canadian Nightclub just last month! And just like at their May 2009 concert here, Who Made Who will be back at The Canadian themselves! What can you say, Sault Ste. Marie loves AC/DC and AC/DC tributes love coming here! The Ontario-based tribute band will bring their own authentic AC/DC sound and look once again next week that will be sure to impress, just as they did in their last shows here! The show will be on June 30th at 10:00 PM, there is a $5 cover charge, and you must be 19 to get in. You can never get too much AC/DC, so what excuse do you have to NOT go? Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page, and check out more from Who Made Who by clicking here!
Now, onto reviews of what happened last night! Well, as you guys were probably aware, me and a few dozen other local metalheads found ourselves at Galaxy Cinema in Theater 1 for The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, live from Bulgaria! Well, it didn't turn out to be completely live, though that was probably to quicken things. Before the bands started, we didn't have to sit through trailers and ads, luckily, we actually got to see Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, Dave Mustaine, and Kerry King talk about music and their influences and stuff, it has a nice casual interview feel! Anthrax opened to a huge raucous crowd, and I can see why, but I didn't expect them to be so into Anthrax and know all the songs! The band were fantastic and looked to be enjoying every minute of the show, especially singer Joey Belladonna, who went all out with his energy, including running around like a maniac with his Indian headdress during the song "Indians"! The highlight of their set was when they stopped mid-song to cover "Heaven and Hell" in tribute to Ronnie James Dio, that was just awesome! My biggest complaint about Anthrax was the vocals, probably cause I'm a huge fan of John Bush, and I never thought Joey's singing fit a thrash band, though I will say his voice has held out the best of the current Big Four frontmen!
Megadeth were next, and they sadly had to play about half their set during rain. I would have blamed Lars for trying to sabotage Dave and them, but that sounded cruel. Musically, they were on top of their game, with just an onslaught of thrash metal with no chit chat needed between songs! Again, like with Anthrax, my big complaint lied with vocals, it sounded like Dave Mustaine was straining his voice a lot of the time to hit higher and angrier notes. It's also awesome seeing David Ellefson back, and Chris Broderick's guitar work is just awesome, Dave did good to get him! Following them were Slayer, and I have to say, they still sound as good as ever! I was actually going into this thinking Tom Araya's singing would be the worst, cause last I heard, his singing was shot. Not last night, he sounded pretty close to their recent albums! Musically, I can't complain one bit, Kerry King's guitar mastery was obvious, Dave Lombardo laid waste to his drums (for my money, he's the best "Big Four" drummer), and the whole band played with an obvious intensity combined with joy to be playing!
Before Metallica played, we got a surprise tribute segment to Ronnie James Dio, who was supposed to play this festival with Heaven and Hell as well before he died. Lars, Scott, Dave, and Kerry reminisced about Ronnie and their memories meeting him and playing with him, which was really cool! Everyone at the theater responded to that nicely! When Metallica hit the stage, they had an awesome stage setup with a huge video screen and pyro and all kinds of bells and whistles, and luckily, their music lived up to the presentation! They played many of their greatest hits, and they sounded very tight, though I do have complaints. The fire in James Hetfield's voice isn't there as much, and it sounded like he tried too hard at various parts. Also, the downtuning was really evident on a number of songs. Still, they were awesome, and thankfully didn't play anything from their mid-90s albums or "St. Anger"! There was a moment where we could see what was on James' guitar pick, which I won't spoil, but everyone loved that! And then, to kick off the encore, Metallica were joined on stage by Megadeth, Anthrax, and Dave from Slayer (where were the rest of them?) to play Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?", and that was a surreally awesome moment! Never would I have thought I'd see James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine share the stage again, I think Hell froze over!
Overall, that was a fun way to see the four kings of thrash, and I definitely think Galaxy should show more metal concerts there, cause if something else huge is there, it'll be worth seeing too, I think! There were some general camera issues, a glitch during Slayer, and it ran long, but no worries! Hopefully The Big Four tour together in North America in the future! Can you imagine if they all played HERE? One can dream!
However, because "The Big Four" ran long (it ended around quarter to 11), I actually missed the first half of Ultraviolence's first set at Coch's Corner, but that wasn't going to stop me from going! I've missed seeing them too often already as it was! I made it there mid-song and settled into the closest booth possible and got ready for some filthy dirty drunk n' roll! Now you know how I've said that Ultraviolence have an AC/DC-ish sound? Well, guess what the first full song they played when I got there was? "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)"! And I have got to say, frontman Turi Mercuri has a great Brian Johnson-esque voice, I can see him fronting an AC/DC cover band if he wanted to go that route! But good thing they don't, cause they have some great originals and covers of other bands to go around! Their set had a number of covers from many different bands, ranging from Twisted Sister and Motley Crue to Led Zeppelin and Motorhead (bassist Jordan Beer'd handled vocals there) to even some Elvis Presley! Plus, they threw in their originals like "Hey Li'l Mama", "Queen Heartbreaker", and "Devil's Little Girl", that are full of raw hard drinking energy that the crowd ate up!
Turi Mercuri's a great frontman, and not just vocally, he was all over the place, jumping on tables, singing to and with the fans there (I got to sing along with the chorus of "Rock N' Roll"), and engaging in some funny on-stage banter! Actually, he and the rest of the band are all very nice guys, they're class acts and I got to chat with them during their first break, which was really awesome! I even got my CD autographed, thanks guys! Andrew Postlethwaite was great all night on guitar, though it seemed like he was hidden a lot of the time, maybe it was just my angle of the stage. Jordan Beer'd ruled on bass, he's gonna go far himself, and Phil Elliot kept the beat nicely on drums, he had some great licks! The crowd, thought not humongous, were great considering this was a Tuesday night concert, and everyone there was getting into it and having a good time, singing along and talking with the band, it was a great environment!
I'm dead honest when I say this: I haven't had this much fun at an out-of-town-headlined bar concert since Ministry of Zen were here last, and even then, there might be some dispute! Ultraviolence are entertaining, they have a great sound, they're nice guys, and they'll get you moving and grooving! The horns and beers were flying, and rightfully so! At points, it didn't even feel like some Tuesday concert! If you weren't there last night, you missed out big time! But keep in mind that Ultraviolence end their summer tour here on July 31st, so go to that concert, you'll thank me later! As you can tell, I took lots of photos, though excuse the quality, the lighting in Coch's Corner wasn't great for photo taking, so the setting made them grainier than I'd like. Click here to check them out, and yes, I got a video too! Here's what I got, Ultraviolence playing their original song "Devil's Little Girl"!
I'll leave this post there for today, but here's what to look out for on the SMS! Tomorrow's post is solely dedicated to previewing this weekend's local metal concerts, including the big Tesla show at Kewadin Casino on Saturday! Friday will have a news post with lots of updates that I need to get through, and also, keep an eye out for my newest profiles of out-of-town bands with local members (this month: The Disciples of Rock & Violet Fuse) between Saturday and Wednesday! And remember, the SMS' 3rd anniversary is ONE WEEK FROM SUNDAY! Stay tuned for more news and updates as they come in!
I just knew I had to get a second post in today, I don't generally like doing that, but considering that tomorrow's post will likely solely deal with weekend concert previews, I thought I should at least space out this post from my last one. But just in case you didn't read the post from earlier, check it out below this one, it has news on Turner Up's show THIS WEEKEND, new videos from Stillbroke, Silver Dream, and Nixxon Dixxon, and pics from one of Rush's shows here in the 1970s! So, let's get into some more news!
And what better way to start with more news that's sure to produce a reaction from certain skeptics. We have more confirmation that Kiss are still planning to come to Sault Ste. Marie! SooToday's David Helwig posted an article exploring the topic, which includes reassurances from Essar Centre events manager Trevor Zachary that discussions are "absolutely" going on to bring Kiss here, and a date in September is being held for them just in case! David points out in the article that there is that long break between the September 5th and 9th shows in St. Paul, Minnesota and Toronto that could hold a Sault Ste. Marie show. Craig Huckerby from SooNews has also jumped on this story for an article there about the Kiss situation, which says stuff we've mostly already heard, but it does contradict the SooToday article by saying that the arena is holding TWO potential dates for the Kiss show. Either way, this show is far from being cancelled and proving skeptics right, so we'll have to wait and see!
Closing today's Kiss show updates, SooToday has a poll up on the front page with this question: Has your opinion of the band KISS changed over the past year?" Three choices are given to vote on: "No, my opinion hasn't changed", " Yes, it has changed for the better", and "Yes, it has changed for the worse". Click the above link to vote if you want to, and how do the current results look? 59.84% of the 1,016 votes cast picked "Yes, it has changed for the worse", with in second with 36.32% and "Yes, it has changed for the better" in third with 3.84%. This is about what I expected, though I figure that once Kiss does in fact play here, general opinions on them will climb back up!
Next up, we have updates from your favourite internet radio station (and our only Sault Ontario-based rock radio station), Energy Rock Radio! Ryan McQueen and the guys over at ERR have been keeping busy with the station in recent weeks, here's some of the recent updates! I didn't cover this on here (wasn't locally based), but they ran a contest where the winner got tickets to go see Drowning Pool, Seether, Hellyeah, and Five Finger Death Punch live in Detroit! The winner, Sault Ontario's own Dustin Grimard, also won backstage passes and got to meet Drowning Pool, which must have been awesome! Ryan McQueen also was there, and there's lots of photos from the show and backstage experience at ERR's website, including getting a video message with Drowning Pool drummer Mike Luce! Also, Ryan's definitely been loading up on Sense of Truth at the station, adding songs from their forthcoming E.P. to the playlist rotation! Nice snag there, I have to say! So make sure to listen to Energy Rock Radio for your potential first glimpse at their new album! Also, remember to read Energy Rock Radio's current playlist to see what all they currently have to play on the station! Lots of great songs there, and don't be concerned with the non-metal stuff, that's only for special occasions!
...but that's not all Energy Rock Radio related today! Starting next Friday, the station is holding live karaoke nights from 8:00-10:00 PM, click here for details! Any metalheads out there wanna show off their singing voice? Or how about your best metal face, cause that contest is ongoing until September! And, Energy Rock Radio now has a YouTube channel! It features a contest promo video for the Drowning Pool contest, a live clip of Ryan McQueen at The Fillmore Theater in Detroit for the show, an initial greetings video, and a live Sense of Truth video from their show with Lion Ride on Saturday! I've embedded the Sense of Truth video below, it's actually of the same song I filmed, "Land of Greed"! He got closer to the action than I did, not bad work! Of course, click here to listen in live to Energy Rock Radio and enjoy, it's a great station that needs more listeners! And, of course, huge thanks to Ryan for recording a promo commercial for The Sault Metal Scene, which you can check out by clicking here! That's awfully nice of him!
Next, another new video from a local band, and this time, it comes courtesy of local hardcore band Detroit! This comes from a show at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto on January 19th of Detroit playing what I think (I stress "I think") is an unreleased original called "Crowned By Giants"! This comes from the Youtube channel of a user named dnahahaha, who has uploaded 16 other live Detroit clips from shows at The Bovine Sex Club since January of last year, click here and search for "Detroit" to check them all out! The video and sound quality is really good, though I don't know if having a stationary camera is best, it doesn't capture angles that'd be worth seeing, and you can barely see Mikey Hawdon behind the drumkit. Good video even still, hopefully we'll see more from Detroit sooner or later, I miss seeing Brenton on stage!
And finally, here's a little query for you thrash metal lovers. We've seen Megadeth here, right? (March 2007 with Heaven and Hell.) Well, how would you like to see Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, AND Anthrax LIVE in Sault Ste. Marie?! Well, our chance is coming....sorta. As first alerted to us in a SooToday article entitled "Hey metal heads! You really wanna click here", it has been announced that on June 22nd, Galaxy Cinemas at The Station Mall will be showing The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax live as it happens via satellite from night one of The Sonisphere Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, along with over 65 other Cineplex theaters across Canada! This will be the very first time EVER that the Big Four thrash bands will share the same stage on the same night, and knowing that this is a historic occasion, I bet there's a bunch of you intrigued by this! If you want to attend, tickets are $18 and go on sale online and at the box office at Galaxy downtown on FRIDAY. The concert streams live at the theater on Tuesday, June 22nd, so make sure you get your tickets early, who knows what kind of turnout this will get! Click here for online purchasing details, and make sure you consider a ticket, cause this could be a once in a lifetime event! I might just stop by Galaxy and pick one up on Friday!
That's all for tonight, tomorrow's post will have previews of this weekend's metal concerts, and maybe some extra news stories for good measure, we'll have to see! Stay tuned for much more, and remember, I'll see you guys at The Oddfellows Hall AND Foggy Notions on Friday!
Hey there, metalheads! Another exciting post chock full of local metal news today, including three new videos that should interest you all, the first audio samples from a new local band, and starting things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!
They're baaaaaaack! St. Catharines metal band Phatstick, featuring Saultites Jason Taillefer and Joe LaVergne, are coming back to Sault Ontario near the end of the month! They'll be back at Foggy Notions on May 28th for what has to be their first local show in at least a couple of years! I can't tell you much else about the show yet, the Facebook event page does not go into detail, but it looks like a done deal! A 10:00 PM start time is listed, and knowing shows at Foggy's, I would expect a cover charge of around $3. After hearing about Jason's solo show here on April 27th, I never would have guessed Phatstick would be back so soon! And you can guaran-damn-tee I'll be there! I'm a fan of Phatstick's, I've never had the chance to see them live before (thank you, drinking age), and this show's over my 21st birthday weekend to boot! I'll keep you guys posted as I here more on this special show, and of course, I recommend heading to Phatstick's official website to check them out!
Next up, the first audio recordings from new local hard rockers Sneaky Pete have been posted online! Recorded on a mounted handheld recording device, the songs are not of any amazing quality, but these are our first glimpses into the Sneaky Pete sound! The band uploaded four audio clips onto their Facebook page, including AC/DC, Velvet Revolver, Kiss, and Neil Young covers! On first listen, I do see some promise, these guys are definitely good musicians and handle the covers pretty well, though I don't know if AC/DC is the best band for them to cover vocally. I like their version of "Cold Gin" especially! I also think the band were too hard on themselves for the recording quality, it's not like we were expecting Stereo Soul-esque production on live covers from a jam session. Pretty good stuff, I can't wait to hear more from Sneaky Pete, hopefully they'll take the live stage before you know it!
The end of today's post will have three new local metal videos! There's been no shortage of new videos lately, has there? The first new video I have today is a performance from Thursday's Derelict-headlined death metal show at Foggy Notions, which I heard went very well by most accounts! I haven't seen video of Derelict, Thekillingfield, or Bring The Fallen yet, but there is video online from Beyond Within's set, courtesy of their official YouTube channel! It's of their performance of their song "Mechanical Infection", and it makes me wish I was there for it even more! Sound is slightly muddled at parts, but I'm impressed, as always! I miss seeing Beyond Within live, can't beat Northern Ontario death metal! Check out the clip below, hopefully there's more from the show floating around!
Secondly for new videos is the clip I promised a few days ago before a bunch of new news stories got bunched in the way. And this is newly posted video footage from Megadeth's set from their March 2007 show with Heaven and Hell and Down at the now-Essar Center! YouTube user exyurock uploaded this just 5 days ago, and he got the year wrong on dating the video, but it still has pretty good audio quality, and not just because Megadeth are an awesome band! The video's far from the stage though. The clip includes Megadeth's performance of "Symphony of Destruction", followed by the very beginning of "Hangar 18", and you can check it out immediately below! Nice to see more video pop up online from this show, I wonder what else is floating around from older shows like this?
Finally for today's update is another new Woods of Ypres live video, courtesy of frontman David Gold's YouTube channel! Amongst some new videos of his vacations to Vietnam and Finland is a new clip from the band's Western Canada tour last August, this time coming from their show in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan! It's mostly of their performance of the song "Crossing The 45th Parallel", but it also features a lighthearted opening "warm-up" segment where David goes...a little bit country? I won't spoil it, just watch it! Oh, and it's pretty good quality. I've always enjoyed this song too, so that helps!
That's all for today, my next post (which in all likelihood will be after I get home tomorrow night) will include news on a local band's return, Bret Michaels' health, what appears to be some local hard rock/metal mention on CBC Radio One, and more! Stay tuned, everyone!
Good afternoon, everyone! I've piled up a few assorted updates to share with everyone today, enough to fill up a post! So let's get started!
Sault Ontario glam/punk band Dirty Virgin have parted ways with drummer Matt Hicks. No official word as to what happened, but still disappointing. As such, Dirty Virgin are looking for a replacement drummer! If you, or someone you know, would be interested in possibly joining Dirty Virgin, message the band at their official Facebook group! Looks like, from the various wanted posts band members have made, that they want someone around their age range (21-25), so keep that in mind. Hopefully there's an interested drummer out there, cause Dirty Virgin are a good band, and it's been too long since we last saw them live in Sault Ste. Marie (they last played together live in July, but the last actual "concert" was in March.) If you're not sure of their sound, check out some concert clips at this location, straight from bassist Lionel Quinton's YouTube channel!
Next up, I found some cool new videos from some local metal concerts of recent years! Typically, I only find videos on YouTube (which I've favourited and you can find at the SMS' YouTube channel!), but I've found some more videos that should be shared! One that I've found is from the Heaven and Hell concert from March 2007, posted by kluasklaus1 on Vimeo! I don't believe he's a local person, but there is one video from the Heaven and Hell show here, and you can check it out at this location!
The rest that I've found come from a man by the online handle of WawaDuane. He's posted videos from various local concerts he's attended in recent years, some metal, some not. On his YouTube channel, he has clips of Megadeth from the Heaven and Hell show and Kiss' July 2007 performance at Kewadin Casino to check out! But he's also uploaded more clips on other sites, and they're very much worth mentioning! His pages on Flickr and Photobucket have even more concert videos from shows like the ones featured on his YouTube account, but also from The Scorpions' concert at Kewadin Casino in September 2007, and Alice Cooper at the same venue from August of that year! Video quality on Duane's clips are better than the audio, but it's great to see videos of these shows! I just wasn't expecting them to be on photo websites! I'll show you guys one of the clips, here's The Scorpions peforming their classic "Big City Nights" right here in the Soo!
And finally, three short news stories, in order by band name!
By The Gods, the solo project from Lorax/Eyes Set Fire/Armistice guitarist Mitch Sirie, have uploaded some brand new tracks to their official MySpace page! This includes a new 12 minute instrumental, "Angel", and a preview of a heavier new song! I especially like the preview, though "Angel" is solid as well! Check them out!
In a MySpace status update, Woods of Ypres have announced that now is your last chance to pre-order "Woods IV: The Green Album", as it begins shipping THIS WEEK! Only pre-orders recieved this week or earlier will come with a second bonus disc! Get full pre-ordering details at this location! Here's hoping my pre-order went through!
More news to come very soon, hopefully I'll have a review of Stillbroke's debut E.P. "Never Enough" in the coming weeks, along with all the local metal news fit to post! Also, notice the new banner image? Ace Frehley at Kewadin Casino on Saturday night! Should be a great show! Stay tuned for more news, everyone!
Vern03's Channel (http://youtube.com/Vern03)
