Local Metal/Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

After escaping another busy weekend concert preview run, we have a new news post for your Saturday morning, and it mostly covers new videos relating to local artists and concerts, with related information therein. With all of that laid out, here's what you should know!

I hope to cover last night's Cory Marks concert livestream on the SMS soon (I have to, given that they have a 30 day lifespan now!), but to promote the event, the North Bay country/hard rock musician actually got interviewed on CTV News Northern Ontario on Tuesday! If you missed that night's newscast on cable/satellite (or channel 2 OTA), CTV News' YouTube channel uploaded the segment, which was anchored by Tony Ryma, who was a former Sault Ste. Marie city councillor before moving to Sudbury to work on the former MCTV News there. The interview is more about Hope Air, the remote health care access charity that put on the local concert last night at the Bushplane Museum (on Hope Air Day, of course). Only the last question was directly about the concert, which Cory (who recorded the interview in Sturgeon Falls) revealed there was "a pop up acoustic set". Maybe that helps explain why this didn't get a lot of promotion as a concert?

While Hope Air Day is understandably prioritized over Cory's music (though I guess he played a Hope Air Day concert in Timmins last year too), promotion for both on local network television would have been huge, and hopefully eyeballs watching CTV News Northern Ontario on Tuesday made the point to come downtown for the free concert! Check out the full interview segment below, and stay tuned for more public content from Cory's acoustic show last night, livestream or otherwise!

Next up, remember how local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith was tapped to sing "O Canada" at a couple of Barrie Baycats baseball games last summer, only for rain delays to get in the road? As you may recall, Mike did successfully sing the national anthem on June 13th, but that game was rained out after a few pitches, before Mike eventually did the honours at a game that went ahead in full on August 1st, and I surprisingly never talked about that on here. You can watch that particular Intercounty Baseball League game (which saw Barrie beat the Welland Jackfish 5-4) at this link, and Mike is introduced 6:05 into the livestream. It was a fine rendition, Mike put his voice to quality use on a big stage (well, diamond), but there were some audio dropouts after he finished, so there's an awkward silence on the video that likely wasn't there at Athletic Kulture Stadium. Kudos to the Baycats for bringing Mike back after Mother Nature got in the way!

Incidentally, the Baycats won the IBL championship last fall, so belated congratulations from afar on their playoff success! They also beat Welland in the finals, and the two teams also faced off on Thursday for another game where Mike was the anthem singer! Dressed even fancier this time, Mike's performance is just as good as his two stints last season, but in this game (full livestream here), the audio doesn't drop out after he's done singing, so we can hear the P.A. announcer's copy about Mike at the end. While the Jackfish got their revenge by beating Barrie 4-3, hopefully a good time was had by all in attendance! Mike uploaded just the anthem from Thursday's game to his Facebook page, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's our first public videos of local hard rock quartet Sylo's current lineup! The band debuted new second guitarist Owen Middleton when they opened for Derev at Soo Blaster on May 23rd (itself their first show since Eli left for university last fall), and they posted two brief videos from their set to their Instagram page in the following days. Unfortunately, both are vertical (not even square), but you have to be used to Instagram video limitations on that platform. The band has promised that "full length footage (is) coming up soon", implying that longer videos are coming to a platform that will host them, but I haven't seen it anywhere obvious yet. One of the videos focuses on Owen playing during their cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" with drummer Jakob Fice-Lesage "switching up in the middle of the set", as noted via on-screen text. I don't think that the text was needed, but viral content creation, I know. 

The purpose is to make light of Jakob's change in fills, and Owen got a good laugh, but hopefully we see fuller video of this cover soon! Embedded below is Sylo playing their original song "War Times", and while I wish this was the full song and not shot vertically (you see very little of Owen and Jakob here), it's a strong performance of Sylo's earliest and best known original song! Good stuff, but hopefully we do see the long-form videos that Sylo teased. Give these two Instagram clips a watch above & below!

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Finally for today, newer local industrial metal solo project The Realignment Project posted four more lyric videos from their sophomore EP "The Frustration Sessions" onto their YouTube channel last month! One is for "Static" (which Matt had teased in a Facebook "Reel" in April), but "Minor Outburst", "Fireside", and "Stupid" also got the lyric video treatment. There is not (currently?) a lyric video for the closing song "Medicated (A Spade Is A Spade)", but remember that two songs from their debut EP "Afterthought" didn't get lyric videos either. I'll hold comment on the songs until our review of "The Frustration Sessions" in August, but give these new industrial rock songs a listen (with lyrics) above & below!

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

2024: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Happy New Year, everyone! After a slight delay for personal matters and just the sheer wattage of research and editing that this annual post takes, here is our 2024 year-in-review post, as we take one more expansive look at the year that was before we dive headfirst into 2025 at large! It was an eventful year for local metal, hard rock, and punk musicians, concerts, and related entities, so here's a good chunk of what went down last year!

As always, we'll start with concerts in Sault Ontario, and where there were no major hard rock shows at the Gardens in 2024, lots of familiar and high profile faces rolled through last year on tour, like B.A. Johnston, BALM Squad, Blood Opera, Cory Marks, Cross Dog, The Damn Truth, The Hazytones, K-Man & The 45s, Matthew Good, The Ripcordz, Selias, Teenage Head, Total Chaos, The Trews, Wax Mannequin, and many more! On the festival circuit, the Go North Music Festival, Rotaryfest, the Poutine Feast, Toystock, and The Northern Vibe Festival all came back with stacked lineups, while the inaugural It's The Pits Festival rocked Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn in June. Also this year: Lime frontwoman Madii Schomogyi won the fifth annual The Soo's Got Talent, The Distraction ramped up their upstairs and downstairs bookings to local and touring bands alike, the Downtown Plaza began occasional use as a concert venue, the split between the Dragonfly Run and Jay's Piston Broke Pub leading to the similar ARCH Run that same weekend, ...

...the return of extreme metal to the former Roosevelt Hotel when Vaegon headlined at Jay's in July, the Band Together To Rock Cancer fundraiser for Mustang Heart guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri in September, the debut of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Club as an occasional venue last fall, and many more shows from local and touring artists alike with varying degrees of hype and attention. A lot more is sure to be on the docket in 2025!

Meanwhile, Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula had an eventful year in 2024 for concerts! Three major hard rock concerts hit The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino last year (Saint Asonia & Black Stone Cherry on February 24th, Skid Row & Buckcherry on March 23rd, and ex-Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy on September 21st), while Ace Frehley, Great White, and Slaughter toplined the '80s Rock Invasion outdoor concert at the St. Ignace Kewadin on July 20th. A surprising number of multi-band shows happened in the EUP last year, including the second annual Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands in October (won by Molly & The Other Guys), the H.L.T.C.-headlined 2nd Street Music Festival in St. Ignace in August, and two Serious Business-promoted shows at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley late last year featuring The Nameless, The Sole Aggressors, and touring headliners

Of course, many single-band concerts also happened across the river last year, with touring bands like Fyrbird, Oz, Peril, The Rock Show, Scarkazm, and Sunspot all making their way to our neck of the woods, while many local hard rock bands played solo shows of their own. from Dirty Musky to Unfortunate Sun.  2025 should be another strong year for Yooper bands and their fans alike, so follow along for updates!

There was certainly no shortage of general news items beyond concerts to take note of in the past year! Beyond the local stage, groups like Bone Yard 225, Exit 808, Hails, Handsome Sandwich, Heavy Lies The Crown, Spades GT, Tarnished, and Treble Charger all played shows outside of our coverage range, and Ha!ls' shows were notable in particular, as many of their road gigs were in Michigan (downstate, even!) The border crossover extended to a handful of punk acts from Michigan playing shows at The Distraction and Soo Blaster in 2024, something long welcomed at this scale, and there's more ahead next year, including from Sault Michigan talent! In 2024, we lost veteran local musicians Jeremey Salatuk and Dennis Becker, while we said goodbye to FirstLocalNews (nee Sault Online), Tazzi's Cafe, the planned Crucifest in Leeburn, and Sault Michigan's Crooked Music, but we also saw the complete Mikey & His Uke series of covers of Green Day's album "Dookie", ...

...the rebranding of Dryer Fire as Piecing It Together Shows, the Rendells' purchase of Case's Music, numerous local bands judging Shooters' Talent Quest karaoke competition, Bone Yard tacking "225" to their name, and numerous local musicians releasing new studio material not yet tied to full albums. I'm sure 2025 will be just as eventful as 2024 was, if not moreso!

While our immense two year+ backlog of new album releases to review on the SMS was finally cleared out in November, 2024 was still a very healthy year for new local metal, hard rock, and punk CDs, albums, and EPs! In terms of shows that had release parties, we saw relocated local solo project Sell This!' new album "Empires Everywhere", punk trio Vanity First's full length album "Identity Crisis", and HeadFirst's... first EP "Head Trauma" in early-mid 2024, while Vanity First guitarist Mikhal Muto also put out new albums by his solo projects Agnosticism and Choking On Appendages last year. Progressive metal duo Convergence started 2024 with their new EP "Dead & Dreaming" one year ago, while Late & Loud released their second soundtrack for their D&D podcast Late & Legends, and Sykotyk Rampage released their first "Waerlogas Sagas" concept album with an attached comic book to accompany its triple length runtime!

Meanwhile, Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula wasn't left out for new albums, with Heavy Lies The Crown quietly releasing their second full length album "Built For Us" in January, while veteran metal guitarist Jason Mills put out his solo project X's & Y's' debut EP "The Obsidian Dream" last fall. Good stuff by some very talented artists, and we should see more new albums & studio material ahead this year!

A relatively small but talented roster of new and debuting local metal, hard rock, and punk acts cropped up in 2024, and as a live concern, none were seen more than veteran classic/hard rock cover duo Dodge This, who played often in the second half of the year! Studio-wise, new bands like Bullet Train and Choking On Appendages immediately made a local splash with original music, while the previously Winnipeg-based Sell This! delivered their own politically charged cello punk shortly after making their live debut here in January. We also saw the live debuts in 2024 of online page-less metal quintet The Sault Side Squad, tech metal band (and Them successors) Bardo, and (as a live band) Jason Ladouceur's long-gestating project Without Compromise. Yoopers also welcomed Fake Chow successors Unfortunate Sun to Sault Michigan this year. Look for them and more new bands ahead in the coming 12 months!

The past year saw no shortage of lineup changes in local bands, with none seeing as much of a metric shift as the Sault Michigan band who began the year as Double Jack. After just one 2023 set, they were nigh unrecognizable by the spring, with a new name (Exit 808) and, aside from drummer Jackie Moon, a completely different lineup now led by two singers, and they've showed no signs of slowing down in the EUP and beyond! Frequent Exit 808 guest bassist Blaze Beairl also found himself part of big changes with St. Ignace's Heavy Lies The Crown, as they switched lead guitarists twice and Blaze joined on drums when Jaxon Massaway moved to rhythm guitar. Sault Michigan also saw big changes with Tarnished, as Josh Fair permanently left the drumkit to play guitar and the band parted ways with bassist Parker Talentino, while singer Henry Boucher left rising young punk band The Sole Aggressors. Sault Ontario had its own fair share of turnover!

Among others, Brandon Ruch replaced Mitch Sirie & Dave Bahun in Handsome Sandwich & Bookclub respectively, Beej Syrette replaced Adam King in Double Down, Matthew Voros joined & James Roy Daley left Spades GT, Matt Fronzi & Elly McWatters joined Mike Haggith's newly named Big Finish Band, Frank Deresti & David Peredun became Treble Charger's new rhythm secton, Carmen Muto joined Hails (and maybe Vanity First?) on second guitar, Redundant parted ways with bassist Andrew MacDonald, and Phil Greco joined the new look Fort Creek lineup on drums. Look for more lineup shifts from local bands in the coming 12 months!

2024 also saw a handful of notable local bands and solo projects end their active runs or fall inactive, with none doing so more prominently than classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, who spent much of December on a farewell tour leading up to their final gig at the YNCU Curling Centre on New Year's Eve. The SMS also moved acts like Far From Fine, Tattoos & Scars, and solo artists Bold Noize & Mike Cliffe to our inactive links in the past 12 months. More familiar groups have been publically inactive since early-mid 2024 and could be moved to our defunct links this year, notably including Sylo (with frontman Eli Russell attending college out of town) and The Wyld Stallyns (with frontman Rob Speers focusing on solo gigs for much of the year), not to mention The Bear Hunters, Galactic Alignment, Hollow Sky, Mike McCleary, Molten Imp, The Northwest, and Sell This! as well. Hopefully we see some of these talented artists return to activity in due course!

As always, we'll end things with comebacks and reunions, and in terms of sheer time since we last saw the band in question, none ended a hiatus as long as local hard rock quartet Half Past, who played their first show in 12 years in February, and have followed that up with multiple notable concerts since! A few other acts ended 4+ year breaks in 2024, including Treble Charger at their Algoma University fundraiser concert in March, Pillory with some high profile metal concerts in the Soo and Leeburn this summer, and former Haggith frontman Curtis McKenzie's return as an acoustic solo musician for the first time since before the pandemic. Last year also saw the returns of A Dire Setback, Crucify The Whore, The Karstens, Redundant, and Sylo after a year or more away from the stage, while Heavy North Entertainment returned to local concert promotion after seven years away with the Selias concert in September. Here's to more big returns and reunions in the Twin Saults 2025!

With 2024 now well and truly in the books, we now look ahead to 2025 starting with this weekend's hard rock concert previews and our first "Where Are The New Albums?" post of the year, so look for those next and for much more as we begin another exciting year at the SMS! Thanks everyone, and again, Happy New Year!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rhythm & Brews), A New Local Band, And New Videos!!

As we continue to catch up on news and notes from last month, today's post includes new video discoveries from both sides of the border, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this month, and leading off, a new addition to our Sault Ontario band links, so here's what you should know!

We have a new local metal band to add to our links, namely Hollow Sky! This is the new project from former Uncanny Valley bassist Adam Fahrer, who also played in country musician Brendan Hodgson's backing band. Primarily credited now on guitar, Adam is joined by singer Liam Tallon, who you may recognize from competing in the Soo Youth Songwriting Contest in 2017 and later via recording hard rock material at Tidal Records in 2018, project unclear, but you can sample what he was doing at this link. Hollow Sky publically launched via their Facebook page on December 2nd, and haven't posted there since December 4th, but they did release their first studio original that day, named "The Spiral". They said that the song can be streamed on "all platforms", those being Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer (all handily linked via DistroKid), plus YouTube, Amazon Music, and Boomplay.

At least far as this song goes, Hollow Sky are very promising with a modern metalcore sound including strong clean vocals and some djent influence in the guitar riffs, and the production quality is pretty good too! Again, we haven't heard anything from their camp in over a month, but give Hollow Sky's first song a listen below, and look for more from them this year!

Next up, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this month, as Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Friday, January 27th & Saturday, January 28th! These come courtesy of Kewadin's entertainment page, and mark the only hard rock-leaning shows at the St. Ignace Kewadin this month. These shows will be Rhythm & Brews' first in three months, last seen rocking the Soo Kewadin branch over the Halloween weekend, though given their infrequent usage of their Facebook page, something definitely could have been missed since then. Hopefully Brandon, the Chris', and Ron deliver another entertaining weekend of fan favourite rock covers for fans in a few weeks! Expect 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details!

Let's make our way back north now, starting with a stop in Sault Michigan for a much belated video from the Pop Evil concert at The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino in March of last year! This was actually uploaded to the Muskegon hard rock band's Facebook page right after the show took place, as filmed by videographer Matt Akana from what appears to be the end of their set. The video was uniquely shot on stage with the camera generally pointing towards the audience, with Matt weaving his way through the band while frontman Leigh Kakaty thanks the crowd (admittedly, what he says is hard to hear). Sadly, this was shot vertically, and a film grain was added to it in post-production that doesn't seem entirely necessary, but this is a neat look at a side of major local concerts that you don't always see, and the crowd was definitely receptive, so give this Pop Evil video from their Sault Ste. Marie date last year a watch below!

We'll end things back in Sault Ontario for a video promoting last year's tenth annual Toystock! In advance of the annual Christmas Cheer charity concert at The Grand Gardens on November 26th, Toystock got some deserved hype from CTV News Northern Ontario during their evening newscast, with anchor and former Sault Ste. Marie city councillor Tony Ryma interviewing promoter/Bone Yard frontman Greg Simpson on air! If you missed this on the former MCTV at the time, never fear, as Greg posted the 2+ minute segment to Toystock's Facebook page, and it is embedded below. In the interview, Tony asks Greg about how Toystock came together, the format for this year, how much help families do need in the Soo at this time of year, and about the family friendly aspects of the event. During the interview, we even see some video footage from a prior installment, rather Toystock VIII in 2019, which CTV was there for!

At the time, Jairus Patterson had led this news piece to cover parts of the event, but we only briefly saw a bit of Kaitlyn Parr's set in it. Four years later, the new interview features her set again, but now joined by Brendan Hodgson, Soundcheck, their frontman Cameron Oliver, and the Case's Music instructors' band. That constitutes five of the first six acts in 2019, with only The Jeff & Jeff Show not included in the 2023 interview footage, so kudos for the local CTV crew for staying as long as they did! It'd be nice to see the raw footage, but good on CTV for digging these up to back up some very nice promotion for this year's Toystock, and check it out below!

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

2023: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Happy New Year! I apologize for this only hitting the site now, but our year-in-review posts always take a long time to go back through the year that was, so I can catalogue the big events in the local metal, hard rock, and punk scene from pillar to post, and while I'm usually good to get it up on December 31st, time got away from me this year. Everything is done now though, and I hope I got to the biggest and most notable stories, events, and shows of last year, so here's our look back at 2023 on the SMS!

With the pandemic fading even more into the past, we had an even stronger lineup of touring metal, hard rock, and punk bands in Sault Ontario and area this year, including the likes of AMY/DC, B.A. Johnston, Bed Of Roses, Big Wreck, Cory Marks, Darsombra, The Dayglo Abortions, Destroyer, Josey Scott's Saliva, K-Man & The 45s, The Merves, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic, Random Killing, The Ripcordz, and Sponge all gracing a local stage in 2023! Local concert goers could check out multiple bands at events like Rotaryfest, Toystock, The Northern Vibe Festival, and Lopstock, while newer and unfamiliar venues like The Art Hub At Spring, Broers Jansen, The Distraction, The Loft, and The Queen of Hearts Club gave artists some welcomed options to book gigs at last year. Also last year: Storm Rausch won The Soo's Got Talent, four of Mikey Hawdon's past/present bands gathered at Soo Blaster in November in honour of his wedding, ...

...LopLops Lounge welcomed the 12 20 Musicians of Christmas last week, The Sault Community Theatre Centre hosted the Soo Soundcheck & Northern Echoes concerts in June, Mike Haggith joined forces with Brian Tremblay for the Face To Face storytellers' concert in May, and The Apocalypse Afterparty gave another metal shot in the arm to the Madchild and Robbie G rap concerts at Soo Blaster. Look for even more big concerts in Sault Ontario and area in the year ahead!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula had a quieter but still eventful year that was arguably peaked early when Pop Evil returned to The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino in March alongside special guests The Word Alive & Avoid. That was the only heavier Dreammakers Theater show last year, but fans could also see touring acts like The Almas, Cell Rush, Fyrbird, Ledhead, Overdrive Orchestra, Peril, Redburn, The Rock Show, Scarkazm, and Scotty Austin on regional stages. One of the big events of 2023 was the first ever battle of the bands at Lake Superior State University (won by new punk quartet The Sole Aggressors), the first event of its kind in either of the Twin Saults since the pandemic began! Fans could also check out the true public local debut of Heavy Lies The Crown at The 2nd Street Music Festival in St. Ignace in August, as well as many one-band gigs across the year!

In terms of general news events, fans got to see official music videos released from bands like Handsome Sandwich, Heavy Lies The Crown, Spades GT, Jonesy Land, and The Uncanny Valley, while the first three of those bands, Bone Yard, The Northwest, and Tarnished all hit the road for tour dates outside of the Soo area. Now in his new hometown of Barrie, Mike Haggith launched his own indie label MorningStar Records, with local artists signing on to the artist-friendly imprint as the year progressed, 2023 saw the passing of ex-415E drummer Tony Hubbard and Destroilet frontman Mike Hull, the cancellation of the Just Leppard/Saturday Night Special concert, the postponement of Skid Row & Buckcherry's Sault Michigan date, Mike Haggith's freak knee dislocation on stage at Rotaryfest, and the withdrawals of Tantric and a reunited Frightlight from concerts this year, but we also saw the opening of the downtown plaza, ...

...the huge multi-band private concert at Robbie's Church in Leeburn, Soundcheck guitarist Terry Eaton's Great Northern Opry induction, the return of The Rockstar Bar as an occasional live venue, and the debut of Sault Noir into the local concert promotion game. I'm sure 2024 will be just as, if not more eventful, for musicians in the Twin Saults!

As evidenced by our lack of archival album reviews in 2023, last year saw no shortage of album releases by local metal, hard rock, and punk bands! The year was bookended by two new albums from "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage, namely "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of The Stoned Ape" & "69", while early year albums also included the C.T.W./Molten Imp split "Pyrolytic Punishment", Mike McCleary's instrumental EP "Fallout From Midnight Tides", and No Funeral's self-titled EP. Handsome Sandwich's long-hyped debut "Deconstructed" went on sale in May, soon followed by Convergence's debut EP "One", Jonesy Land's singer/songwriter-influenced debut "Zoom-Out", and Jack Spades GT's latest "Sewer City Radio". The summer also gave us rapper Bold Noize's debut punk album "God Save Me", new punk trio Ha!ls' debut EP "Rock and Rolls", and of course, Mike Haggith's long awaited studio album "All The Best In All You Do", including its limited "Rose Edition".

With a new EP from Convergence already on sale, and a teased EP from Handsome Sandwich already in the works, 2024 promises to be another good year for new studio material from heavier local musicians, so be sure to support these and other original local musicians' new & existing music by buying or streaming it where possible!

2023 was a good year for new and debuting hard rock and punk acts, and Sault Michigan was particularly busy in this regard late last year, with punk quartet The Sole Aggressors, hard rock quartet Double Jack, and Dafter-based singer/guitarist Molly Escherich stealing the podium spots at Lake Superior State University's battle of the bands over their far more established competition! Sault Ontario was hardly lacking either, with Generations, Double Down, Silent 9, HeadFirst, and (briefly) The Nostalgic Band all debuting on the weekend nightclub cover circuit in 2023 with many more shows between most of them to come. Also in 2023: Vanity First side project Ha!ls and Nebraska Arms successors Honest Work launched for local punk fans, Hollow Sky and Mitch Sirie's Sir Hell solo project brought some new extreme metal to the table, and Sneaky Pete successors Kickstart debuted at Toystock. Look for more updates from these and other new acts in the new year!

Another year saw lineup changes, additions, and departures in many local bands with none hit harder than Sault Michigan's Tarnished, with Nathan Webber and Isaac Royer breaking off in August to form Double Jack, with Tarnished adding Parker Talentino and carrying on as a trio ever since. Elsewhere in the E.U.P.: Jason VanLuven replaced Odin Osogwin on drums with Project 906, Marquita Bernard succeeded Rachel Mender as Theatre of Night's singer, Chris Leask returned to Rhythm & Brews in lieu of Brent Blackwood, and guitarist Christian Thanasiu left Heavy Lies The Crown. In Sault Ontario (well, Barrie), Spades GT confirmed the additions of James Roy Daley and (sometimes) Jay Sarrazin to their expanded lineup as they continued taking over the GTA. Also on the Canadian side: Jim Michaud replaced Paul Belair as Soundcheck's bassist, Tony Kajnar took over for Brandon Ruch on guitar in Generations, ...

...Mikhal Muto restored a second bassist to The Apocalypse Afterparty, Richard Fullerton returned to That's Chester for their Rotaryfest reunion in lieu of Greg Simpson, and the also-reunited Fuller swapped Nathan Sauve out for David Peredun behind the drumkit. These and a few other bands saw the revolving door for their lineups in 2023!

As far as defunct and inactive bands go in 2023, none made a larger exit from the local scene than Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession, who ended their 18 year run in February due to guitarist Gabe Tessaro's retirement from full-time bands, with the other members splintering off into Soundcheck and Silent 9. Most other bands to be moved to our inactive links this year (or are on the verge of it) did not announce a formal dissolution, but notable names to quietly fade out of activity this year include punk projects These Magnificent Tentacles and Forever Will Be, death metal quintet Exploring Detritus, rising young hard rock band Sylo (née Raincourt), and Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters, among others. Bands like No Funeral, The Bearded Lounge, The Uncanny Valley, and PROV3RB5 are also on our radar for being publically inactive for 6+ months. Here's hoping that these musicians stay active in some form or fashion!

As always for our year-end posts, we'll look at comebacks and reunions to wrap things up, and no event had a bigger public splash than The Inner City Surfers' reunion at Soo Blaster in November, and 2000s punk fans had even more to enjoy a month later when Fuller reunited at LopLops over the holidays (with The Gambit playing their first show in a year as openers!). That's Chester also returned for a one-off reunion set at Rotaryfest in July, while The Bear Hunters returned after a couple years' hiatus this summer, and punk trio Redundant ended a similarly long break at this year's Toystock. The former Jack Spades (GT), Theatre of Night, and The Karstens played their first Sault Ste. Marie concerts post-pandemic last year, while Galactic Alignment returned after a near decade long hiatus, Kraken Mara were reborn as Convergence, and they even brought former State of Misery singer Steve Rhodes back to a local radar as a session vocalist on select material!

2023 was an improvement for concerts and activity over every year preceding it in the 2020s, and here's hoping that the upward momentum continues in 2024 and beyond! I apologize again for the delay in this post making it online, but hopefully it refreshes some good memories of last year, and we'll resume normal operations on the site next! Thanks everyon!

Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 1)!!

After managing to dodge most of the rain in the weather forecast, Rotaryfest is in the books for 2023, and there is a fair amount out about the Soo's summer festival from its music stages! We'll start with Stage 1 bands at Clergue Park on Saturday night, and while a featured touring band hasn't closed the main stage since 2016, it does make sense on paper to start with Winnipeg-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bed of Roses, who had pictures taken by an uncredited Sault Star photographer that you can see at this link, There are also photos by Ron Jokelainen from First Local News, which is the rebranded and relaunched SaultOnline, whose website was abruptly taken down on June 12th despite posting new articles just two days prior, as well as videos of new local cover band Bourbon Blue on their Facebook page. While site staff were vague on the reason for the change, issues with the prior domain host may have been a factor.

Losing years of site content is not ideal whatsoever, and a little transparency in that regard may have been ideal for SaultOnline readers, but First Local News has improved in the ensuing weeks, and hopefully they can pick things up reasonably well! New name's not especially "local" to the Soo though. As for Ron's Bed of Roses coverage, the photos are not on the same quality as The Sault Star's, but you do get more of a write-up of their set, so click here to see everything of his! The only other Rotaryfest coverage there to touch on the music was this article featuring a photo of The Wyld Stallyns' set on Saturday, coincidentally also the Stage 1 band performing in three photos from Alex Flood's coverage on SooToday (he also got one of Stage 2 performers Distich's set). One more news coverage note, as Renegade/Bed of Roses frontman Darryl Clayton was interviewed by The Sault Star!

In advance of Rotaryfest's kickoff, this article by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly went up on Wednesday where Darryl talked about the differences in paying tribute to both Bon Jovi and Styx, what it was like playing live in front of Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald, and how he first got into covering Styx, among other related topics. Good read for fans, and apologies for being late to the party in addressing it here! As far as videos go, we do have some public footage to check out of the closing bands on Saturday, as the ever-prolific Christopher Paci was back at Rotaryfest to film a few bands this year for his packed YouTube channel, including two clips of Bed of Roses' sister band Renegade in their headline set on Friday. I wouldn't say Styx are a "hard rock" band, but you can check out their faithful renditions of "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto" by clicking there or above, and they had a good turnout!

As for Bed of Roses, Chris filmed three videos of them tackling the Bon Jovi classics "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "It's My Life", and as embedded below, "Living On A Prayer". Chris was nowhere near the stage (a possible consequence of arriving for just the later sets), but he got a good central vantage point and made optimal use of the zoom function. Bed of Roses delivered a solid sound for Bon Jovi fans, especially compared to how the real thing sounded in concert last year, and the crowd was very receptive and eager to sing along, which you love to see! Check out Chris' videos above & below, and stay tuned for more from him soon!

We'll close today with the one-off headlining reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester (yes, their recent Facebook rehearsal video is also coming soon), as Chris filmed them covering Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" and as embedded below, AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock". Of course, this set was fronted by original singer Richard Fullerton rather than Greg Simpson, so mid-2000s That's Chester fans were definitely excited. Everyone performs strongly in both clips, and the Chesters get lots of time to rock out and show off during the AC/DC cover, with guitarist Gabe Tessaro (nice to see pause his retirement for a night) even pulling off some Angus Young moves and a nice extended guitar solo! Whether you prefer Ritch or Greg (or even Jim) is a matter of personal preference, but Ritch had strong enthuasiasm and vocals to match on these covers, so check everything for yourselves out above & below!

That's all for now, but look for more from Rotaryfest and elsewhere on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

2022: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

As always, let's end the year for our last post of 2022 by looking back at the year that was for The Sault Metal Scene! 2022 got off to a quiet start out of COVID-19 pandemic-related necessity, as a partial lockdown in January and a rollback in indoor capacity measures ground most Sault Ontario concerts to a halt until March. Since then however, things have slowly gotten better, aided by the end of vaccine passports in February and indoor mask mandates in March, and while we're not back to where we were in 2019, this was our busiest year for positive news since then!

This was evidenced by touring acts to play in Sault Ontario and area this year, including names like The AC/DC Show, Alien To The Ignorant, B.A. Johnston, Blessed, Crush, The Glorious Sons, Gutter Creek, Just Leppard, The Killer Dwarfs, Marianas Trench, Pyramid Theorem, Sandman, Taming Sari, The Trews, and White Cowbell Oklahoma, not to mention two Queen tribute bands two months apart! Rotaryfest (Stages 1 and 2) and Toystock both returned to their full pre-pandemic splendor, while The Northern Vibe Festival returned with another stacked lineup in August, the long-delayed Glambition fundraiser finally took place, and the Clusterfolk Music Festival was reborn with a dual focus on music videos and young band promotion. Rap/rock hybrid shows also gained prominence via the multiple $onny Vybe$ benefit concerts and The Apocalypse Afterparty's involvement in rap gigs at Soo Blaster.

Loplops Lounge also resumed hosting in-person concerts in 2022, while Handsome Sandwich made multiple appearances during The Soo's Got Talent, Dryer Fire brought a wide array of genres to their Wilson Street temporary venue, and an impressive lineup of local musicians performed at Outspoken Brewing's second annual Oktoberfest at The Machine Shop. It's a slow process to get back to where we had them before March 2020, but this year had a lot of positive events if you looked for them!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula were not lacking for an uptick in concerts and live gigging bands in 2022 either, with The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino hosting two high profile metal concerts this year, starting with the oft delayed Black Label Society concert on May 6th (with Nita Strauss opening!), followed by Steel Panther's holiday season return show on November 26th. Both were surely aided by the end of the PCR test requirement for Canadian travellers, of course. Touring hard rock bands like Fyrbird, Overdrive Orchestra, Peril, Scarkazm, Spun, and Sunspot made their way to the E.U.P. for multiple dates in 2022, while locals Buddy Repperton & The Camaros and The Nameless debuted at the former Back Door in April, and cover mainstays like Tarnished, Project 906, 415E, and Rhythm & Brews were also seen. Look for much more from hard rock bands in the 12 months ahead.

Pandemic and concerts aside, a lot of important news stories happened in the local scene this year. For concert venues, Reggie Daigle put the wheels in motion to divest his two concert venues, with Reggie's West becoming Jay's Piston Broke Pub and Reggie's Place itself being up for sale. The Oddfellows Hall sold years after ceasing concert promotion in the late 2010s, while The Rockstar Bar put concerts on an indefinite hiatus in June, and The New A and The Canadian both closed, but Shooters Downstairs Lounge opened their concert floodgates, and The Esquire Club resumed nighttime bookings this fall. Local acts like Heavy Lies The Crown, Theatre of Night, Spades GT, Obsession, The Northwest, The Uncanny Valley, Soundcheck, and Tarnished hit the road for gigs outside of our area, with The Northwest's profile beyond the Soo really expanding with press features and airplay on non-local radio stations and even on NHL telecasts last season!

Also this year: the Kim Mitchell and Anvil concerts were cancelled, Metal Morpheus aired its final first-run episodes on The Borderline, Mikey & His Uke relocated to the Soo while continuing their impressive slate of cover videos, Jonesy Land continued their push with multiple music videos, the Marconi Meets World festival debuted this summer, Fort Creek hosted two instrument raffles for charity, and Sault Michigan's Tarnished performed on a float during their Fourth of July parade. With things getting busier in 2022, the outward growth should continue next year, for better or worse!

2022 was a big year for local album releases from heavier and punk bands, as evidenced by 11 of our 12 monthly reviews this year being of new albums from late 2021 onward! While not sold on CD, the biggest in scope would arguably be indie/punk quintet The Northwest's third EP "All In", which got a strong reception here & afar after its release in June! These Magnificent Tentacles, Vanity (First), and Forever Will Be also put out their debut digital EPs for fans on the punk spectrum, while Chase Wigmore, Molten Imp, and the re-emerged Sykotyk Rampage enjoyed a busy 2022 with multiple new album releases this year alone. Metalheads could enjoy local progressive metal project PROV3RB5' debut EP "What Dreams May Come" and Theatre of Night's new Christmas-laden re-release "Dreams of Winter", while The Uncanny Valley factored into this year's Clusterfolk compilation tape. Here's to more new local albums next year!

An intriguing crop of new local metal, hard rock, and punk bands emerged in 2022, if with a surprising lack of online pages for them to promote themselves with. The highest profile one may be new alternative/punk supergroup Bookclub, whose Oktoberfest debut and recent LopLops gig have let the Surfers-laden quintet get off on the right foot! Fans have also welcomed new local metal trio The BAG and Jamie Vincent's new noise duo No Funeral to the stage this year, while the already launched Vanity First and Sylo (née Raincourt) played their first public gigs outside of White Pines, Suicide Kings successors Ravencore debuted at Toystock, and two Skeyes of Seven alums brought the acoustic Short & Sweet to Parabol's return concert. Also, Sault Michigan welcomed both Buddy Repperton & The Camaros and The Nameless to the stage at Three One Three on Ashmun in April. Look for much more from these bands in 2023!

With 2022 being a busier year in general, there was even more lineup changes therein, and none saw more overhaul than the revived Exploring Detritus, with guitarist Dan Souliere adding Ryan St. Pierre, Justin Lam, a returning Anthony Boudreau, and (briefly) Mitch Sirie for their revival. Mitch also was part of the expansion of These Magnificent Tentacles from a duo to a quintet, with his long-time bandmate Johnny Belanger and half of Gnaeus joining Brent & Steve too this summer, and Mitch & Johnny also formed half of the revived Soo Fighters this fall. The Wyld Stallyns confirmed Alex White, Derek Turner, and long-time guest Josh Norling in their expanded six-piece lineup, while 3/5ths of Heavy Lies The Crown was swapped out, with Brandon & Ted now joined by younger St. Ignace-based musicians. Of course, the now-Barrie based (Jack) Spades GT saw J.D. Pearce & Daniel Horton round out their new lineup with GTA musicians.

Also this year: Warren Reville joined (and Brad Stephen & Ric Datson left) the stripped down Bone Yard, Jessica Amadio replaced Valerie Powley as Obsession's singer, Rafael Medeira joined the now five-piece Handsome Sandwich on bass, Bill Brouillard replaced Matt Sibilo on guitar in Fort Creek, and Raine Rancourt left his own namesake band Raincourt (now Sylo). Hopefully all of these changes prove successful for these bands, and that the former members rebound in other projects!

Things have picked up in the scene, but we're still not back to pre-pandemic rates, and it does show in the bands we said goodbye to in 2022, with only one major heavier band (power rock quintet Re:Born) firmly announcing their dissolution in February, without ever emerging from their pandemic hiatus despite their announced lineup additions. However, a handful of familiar bands were moved to our inactive band links after last being heard from late last year, including death metal favourites The Bear Hunters, Buckcherry openers Bad Chug, and punk trio Redundant. Horror punk quintet Frightlight fell inactive with Chris Thompson's passing and J.D.'s move to Barrie in 2021, and notable bands like Parabol, Tripod The Dog, and Sault Michigan's 415E, Buddy Repperton & The Camaros, and The Nameless have all been publically dormant since the spring. Fingers crossed that we haven't heard the absolute last from these bands!

Like in prior year-in-review posts, we'll end with comebacks and reunions, and with things opening up more than ever, we weren't lacking in this area! For bands in concert, The Northern Vibe Festival saw the returns of Jack Spades (now Spades GT), A Dire Setback, and The Soo Fighters after spending a year or more off the local stage, while fellow Northern Vibe performers The Cover-Up had already returned at this year's returning Go Skateboarding Day festivities. Mike Haggith, Parabol, Slumshine, and The Sick Sons (renamed The Gambit) all came back after a year+ away, while (The) Northwest made their own full comeback from the pandemic, and Heavy Lies The Crown did the same while almost exclusively playing in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. This year also saw the rebirth of Great West Falls as Forever Will Be and solo original project Stone Smyth, and the return of Downtown Street Parties, among other returns this year!

2022 was an eventful year, even if things weren't quite at the levels we might be used to from the 2010s, but it's only up from here... right? Have a Happy New Year, please drink responsibly if you're going out, and we'll see you guys back on the SMS next week (and next year!) Thanks everyone!