Band Together To Rock Cancer Video Showcase!!

On September 20th, four local cover rock bands joined forces at The Tarentorus Sports Club at 56 Avery Road for Band Together To Rock Cancer, a fundraiser concert to help support Mustang Heart guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri through his ongoing cancer battle. Based on what I've seen and heard from the event, it sounds like it was a huge hit, but don't take my word for it, as we have videos from that night to show today! Attendee Audrey Marshall (a frequent sight at local cover rock concerts) was present, and she filmed three songs from each band for this batch post that was publically shared by both Mustang Heart and Generations on their respective Facebook pages after the fact. Audrey also got a handful of pictures throughout the event, and we'll start with the band of the hour, classic rock cover veterans Mustang Heart in their first show of the year! Lorenzo himself was unable to attend physically, but they made sure that he could still be there!

A monitor was set up to the right of the stage so he could watch the show/talk to attendees over a video call, moved as needed to change what he could see. Very nice idea to involve the man of the hour! In his place, former Mustang Heart guitarist Adam King returned to fill in as a special guest, while Lorenzo's Stages bandmate Sam Spadafora guested on keyboard, meaning that he and Vito Tassone both played keyboard at the same time during this set. Shades of modern day Guns N' Roses doing that, but it's great to see Sam showing his support! Audrey filmed Mustang Heart covering three songs on the 20th, including Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble's "Pride & Joy", John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good", and as embedded below, Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind Of Wonderful". It is good to see Mustang Heart back on stage, if under these circumstances, but they sound good on these familiar covers, with hard rock fans benefitting via the Grand Funk one!

Crank Sound Distribution was on hand to make all four band sound as good as possible, and everyone performs well in the three filmed videos on what had to be an emotional night, with a lively crowd response and good energy, so check out all three Mustang Heart videos above & below!

Next up, Adam's old band Double Down took the stage beforehand, with Audrey filming the classic/hard rock cover quartet covering three songs featuring three different singers! Embedded below is their cover of Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Let It Ride" with guitarist Joel Syrette on vocals, but she also got videos of their covers of The Cars' "Just What I Needed" (with guitarist Beej Syrette singing) and The Temptations' "Shakey Ground" (with bassist Brad Stephen on vocals). Nice little cross-section of Double Down's vocal capabilities here, let alone a very surprising cover choice for Brad's song, and fans of their hard rocking shows should enjoy these clips, so check them out above & below as well!

Audrey also filmed three songs by fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations, but with guitarist Tony Kajnar unable to attend for unannounced reasons, they called in Muckrakers frontman Mike McDonald (one of their 2023 fill-in guitarists before Tony joined full time) to return for the evening. Their videos filmed at The Tarentorus Club include covers of The Tragically Hip's "Blow At High Dough" (with bassist Pierre Anthony on vocals), Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" filmed in two chunks (here and here), and as embedded below, The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There". Solid and casual yet well played across the board, so give Generations and Mike's videos a watch above & below!

Finally, classic rock cover quartet RPM were also in attendance for Band Together To Rock Cancer, with Audrey filming them covering The Romantics' "What I Like About You", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Lookin' Out My Back Door", and as embedded below, Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like A Knife". Some of the vocals aren't a complete tonal match for the songs in question, but they're a talented group for classic rock fans, and it's great to see them showing their support for Lorenzo here, so check out their videos too!

That's all for now, but I'm very glad to see that the concert was a success, and of course, our continued best thoughts and wishes are with Lorenzo and his family and friends as he continues his battle! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 2)!!

Let's continue our fallout from this year's Rotaryfest in today's post, and with public videos and coverage of the two closing bands on Stage 1 (so far) dealt with yesterday, we'll start today with the third-to-last band on Saturday, namely classic rock veterans Mustang Heart! Their third straight and eighteenth overall appearance on Stage 1 (a record for the post-2000 festival format), these videos come courtesy of keyboardist Vito Tassone's solo Facebook page, which he uses to plug Mustang Heart and his own adult contemporary solo music. Five public videos of their set can be seen here, three being shared from relative Connie Tassone Mazzuca's personal Facebook page, where she (vertically) filmed covers of Honeymoon Suite's "What Does It Take", Journey's "Stone In Love", and Styx's "Babe". These aren't badly shot, and the audio holds up, but the vertical angle from this far away isn't ideal.

Vito's other two videos are posted directly to his page, and were filmed by an uncredited attendee from a closer, more central vantage point (and shot horizontally!), with the covers being of "What Does It Take" again and, as embedded below, Mustang Heart's apparent set opening cover of Van Halen's "Jump" (complete with the "1984" instrumental beforehand), which features guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri on lead vocals. While not as hard rock-focused as some of their local cohorts, Mustang Heart deliver a fun time when they take the local stage, and there's a reason why they've only missed Rotaryfest once since 2004, so classic rock fans will enjoy their lively covers linked above & below!

 

Right before Mustang Heart's set on Saturday evening, fans saw the Stage 1 debut of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations, but while we're on the subject, we have two news items to note from them. Firstly, you may recall that they also played at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Friday in a one-nighter, but the entire band wasn't idle on Saturday night. Instead, their predecessors Jus' Chillin returned to play that night in their first show since February! This implies that singer Valerie Powley was unavailable for one reason or another that night, so the guys decided to make due and bring their old guise back for a one-off (Tex Riviera from local country cover veterans The Ride was credited as a guest musician for this show too). Hopefully that went well for all involved! Remember, Jus' Chillin were not a hard rock-focused band, Generations (who took over their Facebook group) developed more of that since adding Valerie.

The other big news is that Generations have parted ways with guitarist Brandon Ruch, as announced by drummer Tony Santoro on their Facebook group on Monday. Brandon's exit is 100% amicable and was prompted by "a busy summer schedule and prior commitments", but Tony praised Brandon's work with Generations and noted that he hoped to jam with him again in the future. Brandon had been Jus' Chillin's final guitarist in their last concerts earlier this year, but had sat out Generations gigs in the past, as seen above with Smokehouse's Michael Yurich filling in on guitar at The Esquire Club in April. Michael did the same at Rotaryfest on Saturday (I'm unsure about the Jay's show on Friday), and you can see him with Generations on Stage 1 via three videos shared to their Facebook group courtesy of attendee Angela Wilcott's personal Facebook page!

Her videos include this song with Michael on vocals (I couldn't match the lyrics to anything... maybe it's an original of his?), Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" with Valerie on vocals, and as embedded below, The Tragically Hip's "Blow At High Dough" with bassist Pierre Anthony on vocals. Angela had a nice and close spot to capture Generations and Michael rocking out, and everyone performs strongly, though I'd never have expected to see Valerie sing Miley Cyrus. Give these a watch above & below, and look for a late notice show from Generations in this weekend's concert previews!

 

The only other public videos that I know of from Saturday's Stage 1 program are from party rock cover quintet Encore's lead-off set, and you can head to their Facebook page to see their covers of Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" and The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" (an oddly popular cover choice among local bands). Nothing heavy here, but Encore (featuring ex-Tripod The Dog bassist John Amendola and ex-Obsession drummer Rich Trevisanut) have loads of talent in their ranks! Dipping back to night #2 on Stage 1 on Friday, newer local classic rock cover band The Way Backs posted two videos on their Facebook page of them covering Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and the spiritual song "Down By The Riverside". Definite change of pace, but seeing as this band originated from the local production of the musical Million Dollar Quartet, you know that it wouldn't be quite on par with other bands that day.

 

We'll close by noting that the uncredited Sault Star photographer got pictures of both Stage 1 band Bookclub and Stage 2 headliner Rusty McCarthy on Friday that you can check out at this link. Solid shots as usual, but it is still kinda odd seeing members of The Inner City Surfers on the main stage (not because they don't deserve it, just for its long-time covers focus). We'll have more from Rotaryfest in the days ahead, but stay tuned for a non-Rotaryfest news post next! Thanks everyone!

Mid-Week Concert Previews, Plus The Last Hard Rock Videos From Rotaryfest 2022!!

To kick off another work/school week, here's a new news post on this Monday night, which is divided into two halves. In a bit, we'll have the last of the videos of hard rock bands/covers at Rotaryfest last month, but first, here's a couple of mid-week concert previews for the days ahead!

We'll start at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion TOMORROW, as local funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns will hit there for a special Tuesday evening gig as part of the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Summer Concert Series! This will be their first show under the big tent downtown since their hybrid gig on Canada Day, with Mitch & Johnny from Handsome Sandwich joining the Speers' and Jesse (also of Handsome Sandwich) for a Stallyns covers set. The band only updates their Facebook page sporadically, but this should prove to see their full current lineup in place, including Al & Derek on bass and drums. Look for a fun night of hard rocking and fan friendly covers from The Wyld Stallyns downtown tomorrow evening, and at least it'll end early on a school/work night! While the show will be covered, 9&10 News is calling for sunny weather tomorrow with temperatures from 23-24°.

This is a FREE & ALL AGES event as usual for this series, a 7:00 PM start time is in effect, and if you're wondering, we'll preview Thursday evening's Uncanny Valley show there later this week. Visit the above links for more on tonight's Wyld Stallyns show at The Pavilion, and here they are live!

Next up, here's another mid-week concert preview, as local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison is expected to return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post for another gig THIS WEDNESDAY! While there is no Facebook event page yet to promote this show, the vast majority of Wednesdays in this seasonal weekly arrangement have got one, so follow Tym's Facebook group and personal Facebook page for updates if you're at all concerned. Tym's deep setlist of classic and hard rock covers, coupled with his own vocal and guitar talents, should prove to be another entertaining combo, so don't miss out if you're able on Wednesday! This show has no cover charge or age limit, and it again starts at 7:00 PM. 9&10 News is calling for similarly sunny weather, but with cooler 18-19° temperatures. See above for details, and here's Tym live!

Let's close today's post by finally concluding our Rotaryfest video coverage, as we're down to footage from the last two outstanding bands, and while I've covered 2022 videos from both, not these videos! We'll start with local classic rock quintet Mustang Heart, as keyboardist Vito Tassone uploaded six videos from their Friday night set on Stage 1 at Clergue Park to his YouTube channel just last week! Vito has posted more there from other events, but as far as Rotaryfest went, his videos include covers of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", Harlequin's "Innocence", Autograph's "Turn Up The Radio", Honeymoon Suite's "What Does It Take", and two Bon Jovi covers, namely "It's My Life" and, as embedded below, "Born To Be My Baby". Unfortunately, only the Autograph cover is filmed horizontally, but the videos have good sound quality, and zoom is used to help show more of the stage and fans dancing.

Of note, the "Born To Be My Baby" cover features guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri on lead vocals with usual frontwoman Marci Chindamo on backing vocals. He gets the job done on this Bon Jovi classic, but if you want to hear Marci singing up front, other videos on Vito's channel will have you covered. Strong performances from the modern Rotaryfest's most frequently seen band, so give these videos a watch above & below!

At long last, let's finally wrap up our Rotaryfest hard rock video coverage in a fitting way, with the last band who played Stage 1 this year, namely local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard, who had a video filmed by the ever-prolific Christopher Paci for his YouTube channel! During their festival-closing set, Chris filmed them covering The Eagles' "Life In The Fast Lane", and while I admittely am not an Eagles fan, Greg does add some welcomed energy and exuberance into the vocals and drumming, so that should help for anyone who isn't into the original band! Solid crowd up front & nighttime ambiance, so check out Bone Yard at Rotaryfest one more time below!

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

Rotaryfest Video Showcase (Part 3!!)

As promised, here is our third Rotaryfest video showcase post, and we're sticking with Stage 1 at Clergue Park today with bands that played on the Friday (with one exception), so let's lead off for a second straight day with Mike Haggith, as his long-awaited full-band concert in the Soo took place on day #2 of the festival! This was live-streamed to his YouTube channel on the 15th, and captures his entire 45 minute set on the main stage, alongside A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen & Matt Quinn and his old Din bandmate Brandan Glew. Also capturing stage MC Andrew Steutz's introductions and pre-set announcements, the video is shot in front of the stage, so ignore the sharp angle of the thumbnail. In order, Mike's original-heavy set included "If Ever Comes The Day", "MorningStar", a cover of The Barenaked Ladies' "Too Little Too Late", "Twist Of Fate", "Back Away Slowly", a cover of The Foo Fighters' "Times Like These"...

...a cover of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", "I Seen It Before", and "The Nature Of The Times". Covers aside, this was definitely a showcase for Mike's Thompson-era originals (no Din carryovers whatsoever), and while the video quality is washed out, things sound good! I honestly didn't expect to see Mike just singing two songs with no guitar (very odd), but the band mesh together nicely, even if Matt isn't always in frame! Definitely give this a watch to see Mike's newer original material in a fully realized form, but there's more from his set to look at too!

The ever-prolific Christopher Paci was also in attendance for Mike's set on that Friday, filming "Twist of Fate" and, as embedded below, "The Nature of the Times" as part of his eleven videos across both stages on his YouTube channel. I didn't mention this above, but Brandan's old Re:Born bandmate Elly McWatters joined the band for the closer as a backing vocalist, and she does add some good harmonies! Chris' videos of Mike & crew were further away in the seating area, and the sound is tinnier than on Mike's full-set clip, but the extra angles are welcomed, especially to capture Matt in steady frame. Check these out above & below!

Chris also filmed two extra bands on Friday, including closing classic rock band Angry Joe & The Growlers covering Tony Joe White's "Bayou Woman" from a closer angle, but embedded below is a glam metal cover from classic rock veterans and modern day Rotaryfest mainstays Mustang Heart, namely Autograph's "Turn Up The Radio". The location and quality is no different from Chris' videos of Mike's set, but performance-wise, it's solidly handled, and Marci hits all the right notes on vocals, so fans will want to give this one a watch below, and look for Chris' Saturday videos soon!

Finally, let's jump to Saturday the 16th for a video of local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek's Stage 1 set, as attendee Tom Thumb (that can't be his real name) filmed them covering Thriving Ivory's "Angels On The Moon"! Uploaded to the band's Facebook page that night, this was shot from the lawn close to the stage, and it's a solid quality video capturing this smooth cover with nice rich audio quality! Solid work, if not their heaviest cover going, so check it out below!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

A Full Rundown Of The Virtual Rotaryfest Concert!!

As you likely know by now, this summer's annual Rotaryfest was cancelled as we knew it due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers made due this past Saturday by hosting a delayed "Virtual Rotaryfest", a 2+ hour at-home concert that was posted onto SooToday's YouTube channel! While there are extra segments related to usual festival tropes and personnel, the music is the key focus, with involved artists performing two songs (save for the headliner, who gets a full half hour to close). I guess it's up to you if this officially counts as equal canon with actual Rotaryfest lineups at Clergue Park. but it is certainly better than nothing! Now, none of the performers selected for the Virtual Rotaryfest are hard rock-based, but a few SMS-friendly covers made the cut, and there are lots of familiar faces to be seen, so I want to give this a rundown! As tradition, the usual town criers open Rotaryfest, even in this virtual sense.

Co-hosted by Andrew Steutz and Rotary Club President Megan Wigmore, they introduce the festivities by discussing how everyone wanted to keep Rotaryfest going in a tough year, discussing the history of the festival since 1922, introducing a highlight reel of what the Rotary Club does in the community, and introducing this year's Take Your Pick draw. After Andrew runs through the lineup, he introduced the first act, local country singer Tyson Hanes, who allegedly would have reunited with Asylum Country had the normal Rotaryfest went forward in July. Recorded on location in Alberta, Tyson played two original songs, namely "Watch This" and "Other Than That". Next we get two originals from local folk/indie musician Jackson Reed and his band The Tweeds (ex-Pillory frontman Robert Sartini and Aldous/Vol. alum Shane Storozuk). Performing at Unsalted Audio, the guys played two originals, "Back To Me" & "Go".

After showing classic cars at Border Town Classics (in place of the Wheels on the Water car show), a plug for the Take Your Pick draw, and some remarks by stage managers Shaun Antler & Valerie Pluss, we get our first cover act of the evening, namely classic rock quintet Mustang Heart, who were annual mainstays of Stage 1 for over a decade before skipping 2019. Their at-home set sees them cover The Eagles' "Love Will Keep Us Alive" and, in a welcome bone for hard rock fans, Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine"! This multi-camera video is well shot, and while the cover is slowed down, it's well handled by these local staples, especially with Marci's more than capable vocals! After discussing the annual ribs vendor competition and checking in with Billy Bones BBQ (a frequent prize winner at Rotaryfest), we get a performance from Algo Rhythms member & solo singer/guitarist Kelly McGillivray, who covers Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" ...
 
...and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb", followed by another Take Your Pick plug and a statement about the Rotary Club's goals. Next, we get a joint set from local/Pembroke musicians KT Antler & Kyle McKey, who you'll recognize from bands like Turner Up, Hat Trik, The Pocket, and various other acts separately. Their at-home set sees them cover Miranda Lambert's "Bluebird" and Halsey's "Without Me", preceding a check-in with Silver Bullet BBQ, a thank you message for supporting Rotary, another history moment on the first community parade, another video from Border Town Classics, and another draw reminder. The next set (filmed outdoors, even) is courtesy of prolific local folk musicians Jay Case & Frank Deresti, who play two songs from Jay's new solo album "Foundation", including "Beautiful You" & "Intend To Be". After outlining more of what the Rotary Club offers locally and plugging the draw again, we get the last opening act of the evening.

That band is country rock cover quartet Bone Yard, whose set was filmed on stage at Reggie's West with some semblance of a live audience, so this one truly has the full concert feel more than any other act! Their two songs are covers of The Tragically Hip's "Blow At High Dough" and "New Orleans Is Sinking", and while not representative of their country side, Hip fans will certainly approve! After one last plug for the Take Your Pick draw and an introduction from OLG Municipal & Community Relations Director Jake Pastore, we get our half-hour headline set from Juno Award winning local/Wiikwemkoong country/blues singer Crystal Shawanda, accompanied by her husband Dewayne Strobel on guitar, and their daughter amusingly pops up often as well. Crystal's at-home set features "Hey Love", "Church House Blues", Hank Williams Sr.'s "Your Cheatin' Heart", Patsy Cline's "Crazy" & "Walking After Midnight", "You Can Let Go", ...

...and finally, her own bluesy take on The Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking". Of course, kudos to every musician and sponsor for stepping up and keeping Rotaryfest going in 2020, despite unprecedented challenges! Everyone did a solid job musically in their genres, and while I'd have liked to have seen some more heavy acts (or at least a "Stage 1" & "Stage 2" again), this was well put together! I will nitpick that Megan & Andrew did come across a little stiff in their hosting, especially reading off of notes when cue cards would have been ideal given the circumstances. Give the 2020 Virtual Rotaryfest a watch below, and stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

Local Concert Video Showcase!!

Today's post is 100% devoted to new videos from SaultOnline reporter Mike Caruso's YouTube channel in the past week, as his frequent uploads of videos from local bar cover bands continue with welcome regularity! Of course, there's a lot more than this to see from many different groups, but we'll focus on heavier bands and/or covers as usual, and we'll start with Mike's video of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck at Reggie's West on Friday night, but with a surprise, as former Haggith/Project 421/et al. lead singer Curtis McKenzie joined in as a guest vocalist! We have heard very little from Curt musically since his most recent band Eclipse (and his then-solo project) dissolved in late 2017, so it's great to see him back on stage after 2 years away! The title just says that Curtis is a guest, but Soundcheck's Facebook page's biography was quietly updated last week to confirm the departure of singer/guitarist Travis Sharpe from the band for unannounced reasons.

Travis had previously missed Soundcheck's Water Tower Pub shows earlier this month, as well a date there in September, though I have no word how related those absences were. Travis had been a member of Soundcheck since their 2016 launch, and it's very surprising to see him leave, but hopefully he turns up in a new band soon! As for Mike's video, it's of Soundcheck and Curtis covering Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" and Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box", and the band sound solid, though Curt's voice is a far better fit on the latter cover, and Paul is again obscured by that post on the stage. Solid overall, so give Mike's Soundcheck video a look below

Next up, here's a video of local classic/hard rock quintet Fluid 5ive at The New American Pub on November 8th, where they covered two songs, namely Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Refugee" & David Bowie's "Heroes". It's worth noting that the on-screen captions indicate a quiet lineup change, as Tom Millette is featured on second guitar, with no sign of guitarist/keyboardist Rob Irving. If Rob has left the 5ive permanently, then a reason for his departure hasn't been publically announced, though note that the band's Facebook page (which still lists Rob in the fold) hasn't been updated in over 2 months. I'm unfamiliar with Tom musically, but he fits right in with Fluid 5ive on these well-filmed covers, and hopefully all's well with Rob going forward! And yes, bassist Pierre Vaillancourt is one and the same as Pierre Anthony, highlighting the familial connection with Liam on lead guitar.

The backing vocals are iffy, but these songs are well-handled with good energy, so if you haven't seen Fluid 5ive before, this multi-camera footage will give you a solid preview of what they bring to the table. Give Fluid 5ive's 1ive video a look below, and don't miss them at Toystock!



Also, here's Mike's new video of local acoustic country duo (and Bone Yard side project) The Bearded Lounge covering Roger Miller's "Me & Bobby McGee" and a surprise slowed down version of Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite" at Reggie's West! I believe this was filmed at their matinee show there on November 9th. Of course, Greg and Alex have great chemistry and country chops from their full band work together and vast local experience, as evidenced nicely on the former cover, but the Kiss cover will take some acclimating if you're not a fan of classic country. Nice to see the guys spreading their wings here, so give their Reggievelt video a look also!



Finally, here's local classic rock mainstays Mustang Heart playing three covers during one of their Esquire Club concerts over the November 8th weekend. Here, you can see them cover Heart's "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You", Bon Jovi's "Bed of Roses" (featuring various pictures of couples added in post), and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode". Frontwoman Marci Chindamo sings lead on the first and last songs,  but guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri handles them on Bed of Roses." The audio quality is mixed here, especially with the riffing almost sounding warped on the Heart cover, but Mustang Heart acquit themselves well here, so give them a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Offspring/Sum 41 preview and more on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Halloween Party), A New Local Band, And Much More!!

We're back with a new news post on this Sunday afternoon, and it includes some new video footage from a recent concert, a preview of a special Tuesday nighter downtown, and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for an annual holiday tradition, but first, here's info on a new band playing that event!

We have a new local metal band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are The Guitar Gangsters, who just so happen to be the Volbeat cover band playing at J.D. Pearce's annual Halloween Party on Friday, November 1st! Taking their name from Volbeat's 2008 album and song "Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood", this is a local supergroup if their ever was one, notably featuring ex-Garden of Bedlam bandmates Erik "Buzz" Boissineau and Derek Turner on vocals and drums. Buzz's involvement is a massive surprise, given that I believe he still lives in Southern Ontario (where he fronts Midnight Traffic), but it'll be great to see him and Derek together on stage again after over 4 years away, and remember that Garden of Bedlam covered Volbeat a fair amount, including "Guitar Gangsters..."! Derek's Stanley Hill/Papa Fogals Chair bandmate Mike Bird will also be in this band on bass, as will the twin guitar attack of Jesse Cook (The Elements, Winkstinger, etc.) and his old Jack Spades bandmate Tiffany Stocco.

Tiffany's involvement is also logical given her past work in the T-Rex Manning side project Pools of Booze (who also covered Volbeat frequently), but she did reveal on her personal Facebook page recently that she was moving out of town, though she would come home to at least play with Jack Spades. What this means for Stegadeth and her now three local cover bands isn't clear, but it'd be great to see The Guitar Gangsters thrive while working around Buzz and Tiffany not living here full time, as this is a stacked lineup who should have a great handle on Volbeat hits!

There's not a lot up yet on The Guitar Gangsters beyond the lineup and their first two show dates, including a surprise Sudbury road trip on November 2nd, but their Facebook page's "About" section reveals that The Halloween Party will take place at The Rockstar Bar, seemingly confirming the venue which still isn't listed on that show's Facebook event page. As such, consider this a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! If accurate, this will be the seventh time in 8 years that J.D.'s annual Halloween concert(s) took place on a floor of The Algonquin Hotel, only excepting 2013. This 15th annual installment will harbour a fifth straight year of an all-cover band format, albeit on one night only this time, with costumes and a requisite contest encouraged as always. The Guitar Gangsters will be joined by reunited Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters & their new lineup, though we await a reveal of the third band, who will cover White Zombie & Rob Zombie.

For what it's worth, J.D. himself typically fronts a band at this event, so will he portray Rob Zombie for the evening, or could we be surprised further? We'll let you know! Expect a 19+ age limit, $10 cover charge, and likely 9:00 PM start time on November 1st. This should be a great bash as usual, and with The Guitar Gangsters' very intriguing debut, that just adds to the excitement! Visit the above links for more on them and this concert!

Next up, here's our preview of a special matinee concert THIS TUESDAY, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will rock The Roberta Bondar Pavilion as part of this year's Summer Concert Series under the big tent! This will be the fourth show in a six day span for Soundcheck, following their Esquire Club concerts this weekend, as well as a set at another charity car show outside of the newer A&W on Thursday. I profusely apologize for missing it in our last weekend concert previews, but Soundcheck didn't plug it on their Facebook page until 5:13 PM that day, after their first set began. Had they given this event any kind of advance notice, we'd have covered it, but hopefully it was a great turnout once again! Luckily, if you want FREE outdoor cover action with prior notice, Soundcheck will have plenty of that on Tuesday, so look for Travis, Terry, Paul, and Glen's hard rocking classics then! This is a special 7:00 PM matinee with no age limits or cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Finally for today, we'll stick with concert action at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, as let's finally close out our look at videos from last week's Fringe North/Up The Arts Festival concerts there, courtesy of the Arts Council's Facebook page! Of course, Sunday's performers (primarily acoustic ones and buskers) are up too, as are eight videos of Crystal Shawanda's headlining set on Saturday, but if you're looking for hard rock covers, four clips of local classic rock cover veterans Mustang Heart's opening set were streamed that Saturday! I would normally share a hard rock cover here, as they did tackle one or two that were filmed, but the video qualities are wildly inconsistent. One video is of Mustang Heart covering The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking", Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", and Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel", but the distant vertical camera angle and distorted audio don't help matters.

Also filmed vertically was their covers of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O Mine" and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", but the GNR video was taken from even further away, and while the Journey cover was shot much closer, both of these live-streams are choppy, so if you watch them and wonder why the video is stuttering and stopping, it is not your fault! Embedded here is the only video with decent audio & video quality combined, which is this slower and horizontally shot cover that I can't immediately identify. If you can look past the angles and the two choppy clips, Mustang Heart sound good here, so give their Fringe North videos a look above & below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Frightlight & Banned Concert Previews, Plus Some New Videos!!

As we end one of busiest ever months at the SMS, we're heading full speed into August with this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews! It's a quieter weekend with just two known shows so far, barring late notice heavier concert announcements, and while I have read at least one reference to a Tym Morrison show tomorrow, a more concrete confirmation has yet to come out that I've seen. We'll cover any late notice shows tomorrow if possible, but I've filled out this post with a couple new video discoveries from each side of the border, so read on below for what you need to know! (Updated at 4:53 PM)

Local concert promoter Johnny Pints' eighth Thursday night concert at The Roosevelt Hotel goes down TONIGHT when his local horror punk/metal band Frightlight plays their second show of the year to help fundraise for an upcoming short film! Returning bassist Mike "Eddie Fright" Gingras has been taking filmmaking courses out of town in recent months, and money raised tonight will go towards funding his short film "The Kid Who Made The Face", and as added incentive, all paid attendees will get a credit in the film, so how's that for a different bonus? Originally scheduled for The Algonquin Hotel on July 27th before being moved & postponed, Frightlight and their entertaining Misfits-inspired punk/metal hybrid sound will be joined by local death metal notables The Bear Hunters tonight in what will actually be their last show with rhythm guitarist Josh Stephney, who has not yet moved out of town! My source is lead guitarist Mitch Sirie's personal Facebook page, and if you missed Oddzfest, you have a second chance to send Josh off with their brutal death metal originals! Tonight's other band is local punk trio Redundant, who should put in an entertaining set of their own full of originals and covers, so don't miss them!

Remember, Brazilian metal band Sanitarium are NOT headlining this show anymore, having dropped out around the time of the show's postponement. Admission will be $5 for this 19+ concert with a 9:00 PM start time, and for more details, visit the official Facebook event page and the newly updated concert's commercial to reflect the date & venue change! It'll be great to see Mike/Eddie back with Frightlight (I assume) after a 9 month absence, and hopefully lots of money is raised for his movie with this talented lineup of metal & punk bands! For a preview, here's Frightlight playing "They All Float" last year!

Also this weekend, Kinross classic/hard rock quintet Banned will return to the local stage with a show on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Sundown Lounge in nearby Pickford, Michigan! Last seen playing in the Lower Peninsula at a battle of the bands at the Charlevoix Venetial Festival on July 22nd, they'll play their first Pickford concert in three months on Saturday, for what should be an entertaining blend of hard rock and classic rock covers, so keep it in mind this weekend! There's no announced cover charge, you must be 21 to attend, and a start time of 9:00 PM is likely. For more details, check the above links (though note that this show was announced way back in March if you're looking for a direct source.) This should be another solid show from Banned, so don't miss it for some diverse hard rock originals and covers, and for a preview, here's Banned covering The Black Keys earlier this year!



We'll close today's post with some new video discoveries, including a newly found cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Sault Ontario classic rock cover quintet Mustang Heart! Uploaded to Local2's Mike Caruso's personal YouTube channel on July 6th, 2010, this came from a set that Mustang Heart played downtown at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion for Canada Day that year, and the video combines audio of the song with slideshow photos of their set and video of the July 1st fireworks. It's a good cover with an interesting trade off between male & female vocals, but the fireworks audio does compromise the quality a bit. Check out the full video below, and stay tuned in case more non-metal bands' hard rock covers pop up!



Finally for today, here's another online-streamable copy of a Kewadin Casino commercial for an upcoming hard rock show, this time to promote the Night Ranger/John Waite concert at The Dreammaker's Theater on September 22nd! It is what it is, showing band photos and text effects with a solid voice over, though there's no video footage of the band or John, and the text movements can get in the way a bit. Check out the ad below, and get your tickets at this link, the Soo Kewadin box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN, as there's still plenty of tickets remaining from the second row and back!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Where Are The New Albums? post TOMORROW, and for more news on the site as it rolls in, including possible late notice concerts! Thanks everyone!

Most Of Local2's Rotaryfest Main Stage Hard Rock Cover Videos!!

With some Tesla videos likely forthcoming (and who knows if more Shinedown videos turned up), let's keep things rolling with a showcase of videos from Rotaryfest's main stage at Clergue Park last weekend! As has become a recent trend, Local2's Mike Caruso was on hand to film almost all of the bands for Local2's YouTube channel, exploiting some multiple camera angles and good weather for some great clips! Posted last week, Mike filmed all of the bands from all three days except Coverfly (though they're featured on non-Rotaryfest videos on the channel), and the odd absence of Fusion videos didn't maintain, as I believe Fusion broke up in the past year. Note as well that Mike also filmed a handful of Second Stage bands (though not Sailor's Tongue), and each video features 15 second opening and closing titles crediting the videos as part of a series named "Everything Sault with Mike Caruso", although there's no host segments or features connecting them as such. The videos are also all letterboxed, yet the post-effects aren't, so why is there a letterbox at all?

By my count, Mike filmed 6 hard rock covers at this year's Stage by local bands, and I've saved two for another post to both keep this one from getting too long (conveniently, both videos features a cover of the same band, hence why I'm holding those ones.) Now, let's look at the first 4 hard rock/metal covers from this year's First Stage at Rotaryfest, and check the above links for the non-metal/hard rock covers filmed for Local2, and check out our Oddzfest 2013 Metal Mash-Up review in the post below this one!

We'll go in chronological order starting on Friday, July 19th with local party/cover rock quartet Obsession, as their filmed video was a cover of Heart's "Barracuda"! Mike credited this as their first Rotaryfest appearance "in their present form", and like the past videos of Obsession that I've seen, they have a lot of talent , and Valerie Powley's vocals are impressive and rangy as ever! I've never seen Obsession live, but I remember regretting not coming early for their Toystock set, and I'll have to make a point of seeing them one of these days, as they can definitely pull off some entertaining hard rock renditions when the time calls for it! Note as well that Mike added some post-effects to this video, including some kind of sparkle/brighness effect on the members from the closer camera, and the video fades out before the song fully ends. Check out Obsession rocking "Barracuda" at Rotaryfest below!



Also on the Saturday night was co-headlining local hard rock band The Suicide Kings, whose Local2 video features them covering Three Days Grace's "Animal I Have Become"! This is one of the songs that they played with guest bassist Brandon Uhl (ex-Limelight), so how did he fit in? Pretty well, and I like the fuller sound with Steven Flint & Mitch Sirie sharing guitar duties, but this song isn't a great fit for Mike Gaetano's vocal range, which is odd considering how good his higher register singing usually is. Solid stuff all around though, and this is a good preview of The Suicide Kings' planned quintet expansion and full-time bassist search, so check out The Suicide Kings & Brandon Uhl covering "Animal I Have Become" below!



We'll close this post with the Saturday, July 20th lineup, starting with this video of local classic/hard rock quartet Griphook covering Billy Squier's "Lonely Is The Night"! Featuring guitarist Brian Oja on lead vocals, his range suits the track well, and the guys all seem to have this cover down pat with a good energy and rock sensibility, and hopefully there's more video floating around from their shows last weekend (including 3/4ths of Griphook's turn as The 7 Year Itch later that night.) Note as well that this video also cuts off slightly before the song's actual end. Check out Griphook's "Lonely Is The Night" cover below!

The last video for today comes immediately after Griphook's set, and it's of local classic rock cover quintet Mustang Heart covering Bon Jovi's ballad "Thank You For Loving Me"! (You may remember that their Local2 video last year was a cover of Van Halen's "Jump", so a hard rock cover isn't unheard of for them.) Interspersed with images of happy couples and weddings, and some crowd waving action, it's a solid rendition of the original, and Lorenzo Fabbri's deep clean vocals work well, but fans of Bon Jovi's old hair metal stuff probably won't take to it as much. Check out Mustang Heart's Bon Jovi cover below, stay tuned for another Mustang Heart hard rock cover in an upcoming post, and click here to see Mike Case's Rockers covering another Bon Jovi song ("Who Says You Can't Go Home") on the Friday lineup! Even if it's a country track, the students did a good job!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week, including hopefully some Tesla fallout, more Rotaryfest videos, and much more! Thanks everyone!

More Rotaryfest Fallout, Including Lots Of Videos!!

Hey guys, it's time to take a look at some new videos, as ever since we reviewed some of the Second Stage activities last weekend, a pile of videos have popped up online, including some of a metal/hard rock relevance! We'll look at those today, so read on below for all you should know & watch! First, here's some new videos from Second Stage headliners Garden of Bedlam's set on Saturday night! Another new YouTube channel has been launched for this successful local metal band, adding to the GardenofBedlamBand and GardenofBedlam channels that were launched in 2008, and while I have no idea why they can't just add these to one of the older channels, they have uploaded two nice quality videos from Rotaryfest there a couple of days ago! They are of Garden of Bedlam playing their songs "Everything Will Die" and "Your Disgrace", and the filmer's iPhone got some solid quality footage, though the lighting really looks painted on through this camera. Pretty good videos here, so check out "Your Disgrace" below, and stay tuned later in the post for another Garden of Bedlam/Rotaryfest-related video!



Next up is a hard rock cover from the main stage at Clergue Park, which is one of numerous videos from the main stage that local news website Local2 shot for their YouTube channel (which still has the old SooNews name.) All more or less uploaded yesterday, these were uploaded individually and as one 86 minute long video, so choose your fancy, though note that only the 86 minute video has any footage of the 1812 historical moments, which look to have been short War of 1812 reenactments. Almost every band was filmed for Local2's coverage, aside from the out of town historical bands from Friday afternoon, the non-Katy Perry Pop Idol tributes, Mike Case's Jr. Rock All Star Tribute Band (though the junior country one was filmed), and local classic rock band Fusion, who were strangely not filmed last year either. Do the guys at Local2 have a grudge with Fusion, or is this just a coincidence? Sticking more or less to one cover for each act, I just have one major gripe with the videos, that being the editing. I like the multiple camera angles, but many of the transitions from camera to camera aren't fluid and cut off parts of the songs, and at times, it sounded like they only shot portions of different songs & strung them together. That aside, I'm glad to see them upload these videos, complete with on screen performer credits, and on YouTube, they're easier to spread!

That said, the only hard rock cover of the 24 main stage videos is surprisingly of local cover rock quintet Mustang Heart, who covered Van Halen's "Jump" on Friday night at the main stage! Consisting of singer Marci Chindamo, her husband Dama on bass, Lorenzo Fabbri on guitar (and lead vocals on this cover), John Muise on drums, and Vito Tassone on the keyboard, Mustang Heart are a frequent sight at local bars and shows, and though their general setlist doesn't skew heavier, they do a good job with this cover! I prefer Van Halen's heavier material generally, but they know the track, and Lorenzo's vocals fit well! Also of note for the Main Stage videos: new local indie rock band The Pesto Shirts didn't play on the main stage itself in their video (I have no idea why, but they did play first on the day they played), YouTube user dtwalker79 uploaded Mike Case's Jr. Country All-Star Band's entire set onto his YouTube channel if you're interested, and fellow YouTube user marnac filmed Coverfly's cover of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" as well, so give those and the rest of the links above a look for Rotaryfest Main Stage videos, but below, check out Mustang Heart's cover of Van Halen's biggest hit!



We'll close with short video footage of the two hard rock bands from the Second Stage, starting with some short clips of reunited local hard rock quartet Sailor's Tongue's set! These are part of a Rotaryfest compilation video that local news website SooToday posted onto their YouTube channel last Friday after that day's entertainment wrapped up, and though it mostly concerns the activities and buskers that local attendees saw, there is 36 seconds of Sailor's Tongue cobbled from (I believe) two of their original songs, one of which featured new guitarist Liam Seymour on vocals, which is good to see knowing how strong his singing was with his Superior Heights cover band! It's not a long glimpse at Sailor's Tongue's return, but it'll do for now, so check it out below! (Their part begins about 3:52 in, and part of headliners Hollerado's set caps everything off)



Finally, here's an amusing little video from Garden of Bedlam's set, and though you can hear them in the background, they're not entirely the focus. On Sunday, bassist Evan Belleau's wife Kerry uploaded a video onto her YouTube channel of their son Damien dancing to Garden of Bedlam playing "Around The Bend" during their Second Stage set on Saturday! I say this is a good sign to help him get into metal in the future, and hopefully more kids in the area get some metal 101 at an early age! Cute enough little video, so check it out below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news shortly, along with our review of Theatre of Night's second album! Thanks everyone!