Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Mojo

After a weekend concert preview-induced delay, here is this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, continuing our monthly features on randomly selected local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands from years gone by! This month's selection is a band that we only belatedly rolled into our coverage earlier this year, but will be familiar to mid-late 2010s fans who frequent the weekend cover band circuit, so here's what you should know!

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Mojo

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Classic/Hard/Blues Rock

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics)

Alex D'Ettore (Bone Yard), vocals/guitar
Brad Stephen (Double Down, Bone Yard), bass
Ric Datson (Double Down, That's Chester), drums
Tyrone Souliere (5ive Below Zero), bass
Josh Norling (The Wyld Stallyns, The Hustle Brothers), saxophone

Audio/Video: A covers-only band, most official videos of Mojo in concert come from their Facebook group, but be advised that they largely come from their numerous Thursday jam nights, and thusly feature guest musicians and don't necessarily reflect how the band sounded in their traditional gigs (which were very much reminiscent of members' contemporary work in Bone Yard, if with a reduced southern rock influence). A more representative batch of songs can be seen here, albeit from a show featuring Soundcheck's Glen Thomas filling in for Ric. Here's Mojo at their lone Rotaryfest Stage 1 set in 2016, where they covered The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See"!

Info/Analysis: Debuting as jam night hosts at the former New American Pub in August 2014, Mojo are arguably best known locally for their lengthy run hosting jam nights on Thursdays there and more prominently at Reggie's West (now Jay's Piston Broke Pub). Alex D'Ettore and Ric Datson were originally joined in Mojo by bassist Tyrone Souliere, who left the band for medical reasons in February 2016 and sadly passed away just three months later. He was succeeded by Brad Stephen, uniting 3/4ths of Bone Yard's then-lineup in what effectively became their sister band for the next four years, with the two groups (and Alex and Bone Yard frontman Greg Simpson's acoustic side project The Bearded Lounge) often playing triple header weekends at Reggie's West. Alongside jam nights & normal concerts, Mojo also played festivals & charity events, including two Toystocks and multiple Rides For ARCH.

Mojo last played an acknowledged public concert in January 2020, and never resurfaced from that year's pandemic lockdowns despite Bone Yard returning to the stage with the same lineup until Brad & Ric's departures in January 2022, later reuniting in Double Down earlier this year. Between Double Down and Bone Yard (who feature Alex on vocals occasionally), Mojo fans are hardly out in the lurch for similar music in 2023, but Mojo's blues-leaning set did help them stand out, and their talented lineups (even with Josh on the sax) proved to be a reliable crowd favourite, be they at jam nights or normal sets. Follow members' current projects to see what they're up to nowadays, and R.I.P. Tyrone!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around September 10th when we look at another randomly selected band, this time late 2010s local hard rock quartet Halfway Loaded! They may not have enough surviving material for a solo profile, as they never played a true public concert (jam nights aside), but if I have to add a second band (also from Sault Ontario given our rotation), we'll approach that bridge next month. Stay tuned then, and for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

A Belated Addition To Our Band Links, Plus A New Cover Video!!

Two topic post on the SMS on this Sunday morning, including a new cover from a familiar local singer/guitarist, but first, let's finally add a prominent local cover band to our full coverage, if late!

We have a now-inactive local band to belatedly add to our links today, and they are local blues/hard rock cover trio Mojo! Active from 2014-2020, they never made our full coverage at the time because I understood them to be more blues rock-centric than anything else, not helped by largely plying their trade as hosts of jam nights, but from looking at their extant videos over the years, any variance from the sound of their sister band Bone Yard (especially by the late 2010s) was more based on jam night performers and the songs they wanted to play than anything else, so keep that in mind when looking up Mojo videos. Their best known lineup comprised of the members of Bone Yard's 2013-2022 lineup sans Greg Simpson, including singer/guitarist Alex D'Ettore, bassist Brad Stephen, and drummer Ric Datson. Their original bassist was Tyrone Souliere (ex-5ive Below Zero) until he left the band in February 2016.

Unfortunately, Tyrone lost his battle with cancer just three months after leaving Mojo, and you can read more about him and his work as a political activist & First Nations advocate at this link. Some posts on their Facebook group cite Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling as a band member in 2015, while others say he's just a guest, but he did appear at a number of dates in that period. Mojo's bread & butter was as hosts of Thursday jam nights, doing so at the former New American Pub from their August 2014 debut through June 2015, before shifting to Reggie's West (now Jay's Piston Broke Pub) until the end of their active run, with Soundcheck now doing the honours there. These often opened triple header weekends featuring them, Bone Yard, and The Bearded Lounge. Mojo were also seen at many standard concerts over the years, including sets at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2016, Toystock in 2015 & 2016, and at multiple Rides For ARCH.

Like every other local band, Mojo's concert slate was ground to a screeching halt in March 2020 with the first pandemic lockdown, but Mojo never resurfaced once capacity limits and such eased up, even though Alex, Brad, and Ric did resume gigging with Bone Yard until Brad & Ric left last January. Again, Mojo's sound and full performance will be skewed by the high amount of videos from jam nights on their Facebook group, but Bone Yard fans will be right at home with their old school hard & heavy cover slate when you find videos of just the core trio, such as these videos from when Soundcheck's Glen Thomas filled in for Ric (albeit all focusing on Glen), and the bluesy side of their covers comes through well! Remember that Alex does sing lead on occasion with Bone Yard, so you'll get your Mojo that way even still. I decided to go for a higher profile video of Mojo's run to embed here, ideally from a standard concert set, but which one?

How about from their sole Rotaryfest appearance in July 2016, where Bone Yard (with Josh Norling guesting on the sax) covered The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See", a song that carried over to Bone Yard sets with Alex still singing lead. Uploaded by YouTube user John Naccarato, this is a strong performance drawn out to 8+ minutes for full effect, and Josh's contributions don't feel tacked on, but the sunny outdoor conditions do kinda overexpose the visuals a bit. Quality work as you'd expect, so give it a look below, and get your Mojo running (if belatedly) at the above links!

Finally for today, here's a brand new cover video from Short & Sweet/ex-Sense of Truth frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel! Unlike his other recent music uploads that either were from Short & Sweet's live debut or feature heavily personal videos about his family, this acoustic cover of Shinedown's "Daylight" focuses on Cory performing on camera, so I can embed it here without reservations about the personal nature. Shot with two different cameras to focus on him playing guitar and singing, this is a well recorded cover that shows off Cory's strong voice in particular! I'm admittedly not a fan of "Daylight", but if you do like this recent Shinedown ballad, you'll definitely enjoy this one below!

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