LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rhythm And Brews & Tym Morrison), Plus NLFB Meltdown Updates!!

Here's a rarity for the SMS in the pandemic era: TWO posts in one day! I really wasn't planning on rushing anything this quick, but SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS have hit my news desk today, both only announced today, so hopefully this gets up before both start. To fill things out, we have some fallout from a recent online battle of the bands with local representation, so here's what you need to know, and check out this morning's post for some new videos and a new local band!

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only just confirmed these date via separate Facebook event pages on his Facebook group, though be advised that Bone Yard had previously advertised playing there this weekend. Tym just played a Sunday matinee there on March 13th, but TONIGHT & TOMORROW's shows are more traditional nighttime concerts set for him, mildly unusual given that he's only really played the Sunday matinees at Reggie's as of late. I wish these shows had more notice, but his prolific setlist of classic rock, hard rock, and select country cuts should entertain fans and patrons alike at Reggie's TONIGHT & TOMORROW! If there is an error in the scheduling given that Bone Yard haven't announced that they're out, I'll let you guys know.

Assuming Tym is accurately playing TONIGHT & TOMORROW, then expect a 9:30 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit, and of course, be mindful of the pandemic even with restrictions being loosened. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will reportedly return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, I only heard about these shows this evening via shared posts on frontman Brandon Carr's personal Facebook page, as the band proper has not publically promoted these on their own Facebook page. As best as I can tell, these shows are relatively late notice bookings, as Kewadin's website's schedule lists Traverse City dance rock cover band Risque as playing this weekend instead. Risque did announce that these shows and their planned Petoskey gig last week were cancelled, as per their website, but did not announce why in either case. Hopefully nothing bad happened, but it will be nice to see Rhythm & Brews fill in with their hard rocking covers!

Remember, Rhythm & Brews' bassist Brett Blackwood can also be seen in the new metal band Buddy Repperton & The Camaros, as spotlighted in this morning's post. Expect TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S shows to have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details, we'll let you know when videos of Rhythm & Brews surface, and apologies again for the short notice on these concerts! I'd have covered them yesterday had either been plugged even a day sooner!

Next up, remember how Sault Ontario indie punk quintet The Northwest played at the virtual NLFB Meltdown battle of the bands on Thursday to try and win an opening slot at the Northern Lights Festival Boreal in Sudbury in July? Well, as it turns out, the winner has not been announced yet, as the competition was fan voted this year, and you can still vote! Bit of a surprise given that in-person installments tended to have judges, but even though the competition was held via Zoom and is not publically viewable elsewhere, the fan vote is open to all, even those who can't answer questions specific to the live-stream. Seems odd that they'd do it this way, but I can't speak for what NLFB staffers' rationale was. If you do want to vote for The Northwest, click here, but in case you want to check out the other Northern Ontario artists who competed, who all also took part?

While the NLFB never announced the full performer lineup, the voting form confirms that 8 acts competed on Thursday, and the other 7 are comedy/folk musician High Knuckles, grunge band Nickel City Grunge, classic rock/world music artist Falcon, black metal band For Mother, new folk group The Rascabells, glitch rock/hip hop project Dadb0dd & The Everyman, and alt-rock group Rare-Earth Magnet. With the possible exception of The Rascabells (whose online footprint is very slim), all of The Northwest's opposition is from Sudbury. Based on the range of music that the Northern Lights Festival Boreal usually hosts, The Northwest strike me as a stronger fit than many of their opposition, but the fan vote will tell a lot about what path this slot on the festival takes. No matter what, a lot of talented bands took part, including some surprising heavier diversions, so vote A.S.A.P. above! 

That's definitely now all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

The Northwest's Online Battle Of The Bands Appearance, Plus New Videos!!

I have a new news post for you guys to check out on this Wednesday evening. and while the back half features some recent duo videos from some familiar faces, let's kick things off with big and somewhat late notice news for a prominent local band's big virtual opportunity tomorrow!

In their first Facebook page update since tacking "The" onto their name, local indie/punk quintet The Northwest have announced that they will be taking part in this year's NLFB Meltdown battle of the bands, albeit held virtually, and it goes down tomorrow night at 7:00 PM! Presumably not in person due to the pandemic, readers may recall seeing a local version of this event in 2017 at LopLops Lounge (won by M.D. Dunn), and like then and in the annual pre-pandemic battle in Sudbury, the winner is tapped as one of the openers at the Northern Lights Festival Boreal, which takes place at Bell Park in Sudbury over the July 7th weekend for its 50th anniversary. While the festival is not a hard rock haven, SMS covered acts like The Din and Id Iota competed at the local battle in 2017, and now The Northwest are trying in 2022, but how will they sound in their first pandemic-era public performance together?

Given that this is a battle of the bands not unlike Meltdowns of yore (albeit virtual), this is a ticketed concert, and tickets run for $11.62 at this link, and you'll presumably receive access to the link to view the concert from there. The concert will apparently take place on Zoom, and bands are advertised as performing live, so make of that what you will. No word on set lengths or judging criteria, but note that at the local Meltdown in 2017, bands had 15-20 minute sets, and NLFB representatives served as judges. Also, a performer lineup for the NLFB Meltdown competition has not been publically announced, but again, don't go into this expecting death metal (featured artists at the festival proper this year include The New Pornographers, Judy Collins, and Wax Mannequin, among many others). For other local ties, you may recall hearing that Frank Deresti & The Lake Effect played at the NLFB in 2018, though no local acts performed in 2019.

Without knowing the lineup for the Meltdown, it's hard to say how The Northwest will do, but I of course offer my best wishes to the guys as they make a run at quite a big festival, and it'd be great to see some Soo talent back at Bell Park this summer! A Zoom concert isn't ideal for many, especially at this stage of the pandemic, but the Northern Lights Festival Boreal staff have got to do what's best for everyone involved, as the pandemic isn't over yet. If you wanna see The Northwest and a bunch of other Northern Ontario original musicians battle it out for a spot at the NLFB, get your tickets A.S.A.P. and log into Zoom tomorrow at 7:00 PM!

Next up, here's some new videos of local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek (well, 2/5ths of them) at Reggie's West this past weekend! If you liked the audio cover by singer Justin Grayson and bassist Robin "Bones" Lee of Stone Sour's "Imperfect" (not a Corey Taylor solo song, my apologies) from two weeks ago, then there's more where that came from! However, the first video that they shared to their Facebook page was from a personal Facebook account and the video is either private to non-friends or it has since been taken down. If it's the former, click here to see if it works for you, the guys were apparently doing two songs in it. Over the weekend, the band posted two cover videos onto their page proper, both filmed by a fan named Justyne, and they include unplugged renditions of "Imperfect" again, and as embedded below, Luke Combs' "Beautiful Crazy".

I'm not a country guy, but Justin and Bones handle that song well, and it's a good use of Justin's vocal range in particular! The "Imperfect" cover is also solid as you'd expect from the prior audio recording, and given the nature of the performance, the vertical cell phone camera angle isn't a hindrance. Check out both covers above & below!

Finally for today, here's a short new video from local party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page earlier this month, featuring Paul and Amanda (with dinosaur hat) covering The Format's "Tie The Rope". Despite presumably being filmed at home, the cover features fancy concert lighting that gives the bass-heavy jam a little extra visual zest! I'm not overly familiar with The Format, but this has a good melodic vibe, if somewhat laid back, so give The Afterparty's newest video a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the days ahead! Thanks everyone!

NLFB Meltdown & Handsome Sandwich Videos, Plus Much More Recent News & Notes!!

May is here, so let's kick things off with a busy news post, largely to clear out a lot of shorter recent stories that we couldn't get to over the weekend! However, we're leading off with some new videos, one of a new local band, the other of a recent concert event, so here's what you need to know!

After previously featuring winner M.D. Dunn in an episode two weeks ago, SooToday's music webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper returned with a new episode on Friday featuring more of a look at last month's NLFB Meltdown audition/battle of the bands at LopLops Lounge in full! The episode features Donna's interview with Northern Lights Festival Boreal director Max Merrifield (who MCed and helped judge the event), as they talked about the annual Sudbury music festival, why they're trying to make more of a Northern Ontario outreach to other communities like the Soo, future plans for the festival and Meltdown auditions, and the calibre of local talent on display. Good interview that definitely leaves the door open for a return Meltdown audition in 2018, and hopefully next year's is even bigger and has more advance lineup notice! Performance clips are scattered within the video of M.D. Dunn, The Din, Id Iota, Jackson Reed, and Mike Mikus, though oddly enough, there's no sign of The Autumn Roots. They had a good set, I wonder why they didn't make the cut?

It's great to see a new Tuned episode so soon after the previous (we had been waiting two months for a new one prior to M.D. Dunn's), and it helps sum up and promote the battle and the festival pretty well, so give it a look below, and best of luck to M.D. in Sudbury in July!



Next up, here's the first posted video on new local alternative/punk trio Handsome Sandwich's Facebook page, though sadly, it is not of a full band performance. It's actually of singer/drummer Johnny Belanger wrapping a custom label around a Bic lighter, then writing a somewhat obvious message on it afterwards, while Jesse Cook (I presume) plays backing guitar. There are numerous lighters on the table, so if I had to guess, are they giving out or selling lighters at their shows as sort of a band trademark? If that's the case, it's unique! Check out this new Handsome Sandwich video below, and don't miss them TONIGHT opening for The Gutter Demons at The New American Pub, perhaps with lighters in tow?



Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, event, or venue name:

• Tickets for the April Wine/Lita Ford show outside of the Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace will go on sale this Friday for $18 or $28, and they'll be available at all of the usual Kewadin outlets, plus the gift shop at the St. Ignace branch. Our source is the show's official press release (as seen on SooToday), which also confirms that there will be two more outdoor shows to be announced in this concert series, and the stage will be along Horseshoe Bay on Lake Huron, which makes sense geographically. Sounds good overall, and get your tickets starting on Friday!
• We have changed the link on the SMS for Sault Ontario music promotion/photography company For The Music Inside from their website (which is currently down) to their Facebook page. F.T.M.I. are still active, but most (if not all) of their recent activity has related to concerts in Southern Ontario, where founders Joseph Kargiannakis and Sean Matthews appear to have lived in recent years. Give For The Music Inside a look though to see what they've been up to musically of late!
• Local progressive metal project Kraken Mara (featuring Late & Loud's Brendan Christie) unveiled the cover artwork for their upcoming debut EP on their Facebook page on March 31st, and it's a re-working of their prior photo of clouds over a highway with ominous red triangles. That same day, their website noted that their debut single would be released "very soon", and a Facebook post implied that their posted songs have had "recent edits", but no updates followed in April. Everything sounds promising and djent-laden, so stay tuned for more from Kraken Mara!
• New local private concert venue Mellow D's Underground is taking a hiatus while they move to a new location due to "a plethora of offers and a snowballing reputation", and once everyone knows about the cool spot, "it's just not cool anymore." Our source is power pop quintet The Noochin Lanterns' Facebook page (whose members run the venue) on Friday. The new location is presumably still private, but in the interim, The Lanterns did tease appearances at Harmony Beach and Bellevue Park, and a return of The Apocalyspe Afterparty, though whether these will be public or not isn't known. Stay tuned for more related news when it rolls in!
• After lengthy delays for the lineup reveal, CSA International broke their silence on Friday regarding June 18th's planned Rock The Border Music Fest at The Machine Shop, saying that they were "waiting on approval on various pieces of art work", as per the Facebook event page on Friday. The lineup (expanded to five bands) will now apparently be announced this Friday, with early bird tickets going for $45, general admission for $55-$60, and VIP packages also available. There's been a lot of pessimism in the past two weeks, and I admittedly don't know why artwork approval would delay the lineup, but fingers crossed things work out for Friday!
• Kelowna, British Columbia southern hard rock quartet The Wild have been added as co-headliners for the CKY concert at The Canadian Nightclub on June 8th, as per promoter J.D. Pearce on the Facebook event page on Friday, with The Wild also now joining CKY for their entire Canadian tour tun next month. Reminding me a bit of bands like Jackyl, The Wild should deliver a fun set of hard rocking originals next month on this now five band-concert, so don't miss out, and limited tickets are still available!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

Nothern Lights Festival Boreal Meltdown Review & Results!!

Hey everyone, here's my review of last night's Northern Lights Festival Boreal Meltdown audition/battle of the bands at LopLops Lounge! I haven't missed attending a judged local battle of the bands since the Algoma University Battle in late 2009, so even with late lineup notice, how could I resist? Of course, this event was held and designed by organizers of the NLFB, which is the annual folk/indie music festival in Sudbury each July, which has been going on since 1972, so you know this is a big and established deal. Festival staff were on hand to promote the NLFB, sell tickets, seek volunteers, and sign up attendees on their mailing list (complete with a raffle for festival passes), and hopefully this western outreach pays off come July! Even Sudbury's own Stack Brewery was on hand to dole out beverages for the night. Judging the battle were SooToday's Donna Hopper alongside NLFB executive director Max Merrifield (who MCed the Meltdown), outreach coordinator Krisha Patel, and marketing coordinator Shawn Kosmerly, plus Sudbury music scene veteran Darlene DarlenYa.

Before we begin our review of the performers, just a heads up that one previously announced band dropped out of the event, they being progressive rock veterans Machines Dream, the advertised closing act. The band cited "unforeseen circumstances" for their withdrawal, as per their Facebook page, and though they didn't elaborate further, note that they have been focusing on studio work since their Rotaryfest set last summer, and don't appear to be playing live until their teased CD release party later this year. It's still disappointing to see them drop out, but hopefully Machines Dream are back with a vengeance soon!

Performers only had 15-20 minute sets, so as bands averaged around 4 songs each, apologies if I seem to sum things up quickly. The opening act at the Meltdown was local folk singer/guitarist M.D. Dunn in a rare appearance at a local battle-formatted event from a solo performer. He played a short 3 song set, including originals named "Master of Doubt" and "Solace", plus an instrumental titled "Barnswallowing", and while his style isn't something I hear a lot of, his singing was pleasant and melodic, and he is a solid guitarist in this more reserved, laid back style! I wish he had played longer though, as all of the other bands played at least one more song, and none of them had an instrumental. Next up was alternative/hard rockers Id Iota (the only quartet of the night, believe it or not), and they powered through a 4 (well, sort of 5) song set of newer originals like "Happy Sailor" that got early fans moving!

Their first song had a definite late era-Chili Peppers vibe, while their second song was much faster and heavier, but I wish they announced song names a little more. Christian Lemay handled vocals and the melodica with ease, and everyone had good energy, especially bassist Dan Linklater. Good stuff all around, and it'll be interesting to hear how things shape up for their forthcoming full length CD! Third last night was local pop rock singer/guitarist Mike Mikus, in the first time I've seen his current solo project live, so what can I say? Well, in terms of his backing band, it was a surprise throwback to his old deal's final lineup, as he's replaced drummer Mitchell Harris with Pixo Control bandmate Keeghan Rosso, which was a nice surprise! Nothing bad happened with Mike and Mitch, as you'll see later in the review. Mike and crew (including Id Iota's Dustin Goodall) played a four song set included his debut solo original "Drowning Crown" and three more newer originals.

The latter two had more of an alternative/indie essence, but the second song (possibly titled "Electric Kiss"?) sounded like a Pixo Control outtake, with a very heavy and fast structure, which was really cool to see! I can't say whether Mike is trying to find his solo sound, or if he's intentionally varying things in his current music, but there was a little of everything, and hopefully he keeps at it in 2017! After a 10 minute break (the Meltdown was running ahead of schedule), newer local indie rock trio The Autumn Roots hit the stage in their LopLops debut, where they played a 5 song set including such originals as "Moon Song", "The North", and "Falling Down". A drummer wouldn't come amiss for their quickly expanding slate of material, but The Autumn Roots had a solid set, with Jeremy Hannah's melodic vocals fitting their songs well, and he and Chase Wigmore have a good rapport on guitar! Chase was really getting into it during their set, almost as if there was a metal show going on in his head.

Greg "Carlos" Carscadden needs to be more animated on stage, but overall, The Autumn Roots have a good thing going for their sound, and it'll be interesting to see how things shape up for them as this year rolls along! Local alternative/hard rock trio The Din hit the stage next, looking for their first battle of the bands victory in their fifth try, and they delivered an entertaining four song set including "High Park", "35s The Limit', and "Potato (Should Have Known Better)", with all but the latter expected for their next album. I've seen The Din a lot lately, so I don't have a lot to add (especially with their short set), but they played to their standards, with Tammy Hill's guitar work on point, and Brandan Glew kept the rhythm going well on drums, but be sure to check out The Din at upcoming shows when they're not as time-limited! The audition closed with local folk artist and Ears & Eyes promoter Jackson Reed playing a solo set, as joined by Mike Mikus on bass and his former solo and Fever Tops bandmate Mitchell Harris on drums.

Jackson and crew played a 4 song set largely culled from his "November Gales" cassette EP from last fall, including "Generation Vietnam" and "Welcome Home". I'd never seen Jackson perform live before last night, and if I had to compare his sound to anyone, I sort of got hints of Bob Dylan and Randy Newman from his sincere folksy originals, though he could stand to be a little more confident on stage. Mike's backing vocals could be a little distracting, but overall, Jackson has a good thing going for his genres, and ended the Meltdown in fine form! Afterwards, judges deliberated the winner, and when Max came back to the stage to make the announcement, he did acknowledge that this was a very tough decision, and it was like comparing apples & oranges. With all of that said, who won The Northern Lights Festival Boreal's first ever Sault Ste. Marie audition?

M.D. DUNN! Yes, Mark D. Dunn has claimed the surprise victory in the Meltdown, and has won the all expenses paid trip to Sudbury in July to play at this year's NLFB, as well as opportunities to participate in musical mentorship programs that same weekend. Congratulations to Mark on his victory, he's a talented veteran presence in the local music scene, and this is a nice feather in his cap, so hopefully he makes lots of fans out east! On the surface, this is an upset win given that he had no backing band, played first, and only played three songs, but his talents are clear as day, and Max did note in his introduction that the judging critera also included suitability for the festival lineup. Given their usual genre range, M.D. is a very good fit for the NLFB, and should fit in very well! Runner-up placements were not publically announced, nor were prizes for second place and beyond, but hopefully second place is considered if there's a vacancy at some stage!

For what it's worth, pre-audition advertising noted that there would be two winners in solo and band categories, but that was not the case, possibly as M.D. Dunn was the only true solo performer on the bill (Mike and Jackson had backing bassists and drummers with them.)

Kudos to everyone on strong performances last night, and the turnout was solid too, despite the relatively late notice on the competing bands! After the battle, Id Iota and Mike Mikus played bonus sets, but I couldn't stay for them, though I hope they continued to rock the lounge as well as they did during the battle proper! Surprisingly, this was the first local battle of the bands with judges where I was just a spectator since Downtown Showdown in 2010, so I was in full reviewer/photographer mode, and you can check out my shots from the Meltdown at this link or via our Facebook page! As for videos, I got everyone's first song, so here's M.D. Dunn playing his song "Master of Doubt", Id Iota playing "Intro To American Literature", Mike Mikus playing "Drowning Crown", The Autumn Roots playing "Rock Bottom", The Din playing "Suburban Dream", and Jackson Reed playing "Generation Vietnam"!













That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!