Before we begin today's post, just an apology for not covering local hard rock band Tarnished's acoustic matinee gig at the Sault Ste. Marie Farmer's Market on Wednesday, marking Alex & Josh's first unplugged show there since 2019 (you can guess why they didn't play there last year). The show was only plugged that same morning by both the band and market, when we didn't have enough time or content to rush a post on here, but it was covered on our Facebook page. I do apologize, and I'd have covered it here had it had more notice! Now, today's post mostly deals in some notable Sault Michigan topics, plus a Sault Ontario band reunion, so here's what you should know!
In a promising sign that a more normal concert calendar is ahead, the Black Label Society-headlined concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino has been rescheduled once again, and is now slated to take place on Saturday, November 13th! Now scheduled to take place exactly 20 months after the originally cancelled March 13th date, this show is part of B.L.S.' Doom Trooping Over North America tour in October & November, and Tampa, Florida death metal legends Obituary will be back for this tour run, as they were last year. Last year's planned opening act Lord Dying are not on this new tour, but New York groove metal legends Prong (of "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" fame) will open the proceedings this time around, and it'll be neat to see them in their local debut! Standing-room only tickets remain at $27.50 , and you can buy them online at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, or at the in-person box office.
Nothing is concretely said about if tickets bought for Black Label Society's cancelled March or August dates last year will be honoured, and while I don't see why they wouldn't be, inquire within if you are at all concerned, or if the new date doesn't work for you and you want a refund. Regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ticket page says "masks may be required, more info closer to the event", so keep that in mind, though case counts have definitely been dropping in both Ontario and Michigan as vaccinations become more and more widely available. Of course, the border shutdown is still a concern, especially with how many ticket sales that Kewadin pulls from residents in Sault Ontario and the surrounding area, but Kewadin seems to be optimistic that the border will be opened this summer, as Big & Rich will be playing an outdoor show in St. Ignace on September 4th.
Also, note Kewadin's free Cue The Music series of smaller touring bands at The Dreammaker's Theater taking place on select weekends this summer (including Mac Saturn this weekend), and while none of them feature hard rock acts, it's definitely a good sign that the casino's willing to host live music again. A lot can change (for good and for bad) with the pandemic, but hopefully there's no further waves to worry about, and that we can get back to seeing concerts in the fall and beyond! See above for more details on Black Label Society this fall and other upcoming Kewadin Casino concerts (so far!)
Next up, here's some new videos from Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson's YouTube channel from earlier this week! One video sees Ted thanking viewers and subscribers for their support, as well as plugging Heavy Lies The Crown, and hinting at his future plans & new gear. Sincere words for sure, and you do get a softer instrumental composition to hear during a teaser, but the "Oh wait, there's more!" hype is a little anticlimactic. Embedded below is Ted's newest full song upload, for his instrumental track "Blood Moon", as accompanied by sped up sunset footage on the Mackinac Island waterfront, as shot from a boat (you can even see a window reflection at times). The personal hyperbole in the description is subjective at best, but Ted's progressive metal guitar skill is put on good display here, and you can't say Ted is lacking in confidence! Solid while it lasts, so give Ted's new song a listen below!
Finally for today, we'll head north to Sault Ontario, as local alternative/punk band Handsome Sandwich are back, but with big changes! We were first alerted to their reunion yesterday via their new Facebook page, despite their original Facebook page still being online, and I have no idea why they didn't just update that one. Handsome Sandwich had been inactive since the cancellation of the Jean Paul de Roover show last March that they were to have opened, and the pandemic seems to have been at least a partial factor in their year+ absence. In any event, they will look different when they return to the stage, as drummer Johnny Belanger's Bear Hunters bandmate Mitch Sirie has replaced James White (now of Dealing Without) on bass for unannounced reasons. Surprising, but hopefully we'll see James back on stage soon, and Mitch should have easy chemistry in his new band!
As well, Handsome Sandwich have enlisted Taylor Emlaw as their new frontwoman, replacing Johnny on lead vocals. Aside from her guest parts on a few Haggith songs & her brief tenure singing with Big Mistake, I don't know much about Taylor musically, but it'll be interesting to see what her presence adds and changes to Handsome Sandwich's genre defying sound! Now self-described as "4 weirdos making weirder music than your uncle's Jorts", stay tuned for more on the new Handsome Sandwich when it rolls in, and they're back in our active band links! That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post of some kind by Tuesday! Thanks everyone!
Another busy concert weekend is upon us, compounded with St. Patrick's Day drawing ever closer, so let's begin our latest batch of concert previews this morning! Due to the amount, I am holding our previews of this weekend's Scarkazm, Rising Tide, and Tym Morrison concerts for our next post, coming either tonight or tomorrow morning, so look for those then! Now, here's what you should know to start the weekend, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!
Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will return to The Whiskey Barrel for one night only THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was announced via the venue's Facebook event page for March 2020 concerts last week, which slipped us by at the time, but the band proper have yet to acknowledge it on social media. This will be The Stallyns' first concert since rocking the same venue three weeks ago, and since they dropped out of last week's Water Tower Pub concert for unannounced reasons. Hopefully Christina, Rob, and Jesse are back in hard rocking order for SATURDAY'S unplugged festivities, so don't miss out on all of the action then! No word on the presence of green beer or such St. Patrick's Day frills, but The Whiskey Barrel's proper holiday celebration on Tuesday does not have advertised musical performers. Expect an 8:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge on SATURDAY. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Wyld Stallyns live in concert last year!
Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock band Tarnished are, in spite of a lack of recent advertising, expected to continue their "every Thursday" run of acoustic matinee concerts at Biggby Coffee TODAY! Aside from plugging their new EP's recording sessions last week, we haven't heard from Alex, Josh, and Nathan on social media sine January, and the Ashmun Street coffee shop hasn't plugged recent gigs either, but "every Thursday" means what it means unless otherwise stated. Assuming these are on, this should be another prime opportunity to hear Alex (and company?) tackle more unplugged hard rock covers in a friendly downtown establishment, so don't miss out on their latest matinee gig this afternoon at 12:00 PM! As usual at Biggby, expect no cover charge (tips aside) or age limits. See tabove for details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live!
Staying in Sault Michigan, a huge concert hits The Dreammakers Theatre at the local Kewadin Casino TOMORROW NIGHT, featuring the local debut of Los Angeles groove metal quartet Black Label Society! A mainstay of the modern metal scene from fan favourite songs like "Suicide Messiah", "In This River", "Concrete Jungle", and many others, B.L.S. (led by Ozzy Osbourne's long-time guitarist Zakk Wylde have a devoted following for their hard hitting yet melodic original material and considerable guitar skill, and it will be great to see Black Label Society on a local stage tomorrow! Tampa, Florida death metal legends Obituary will open tomorrow's concert with over three decades worth of established original material, and their brutal and devastating brand of metal should be a fine compliment tomorrow! Likewise, Portland sludge/death metal quartet Lord Dying will bring their own technicality and aggression to the local stage in their own E.U.P. debut, and they should set the tone well tomorrow!
Presented by Lansing promoters Meridian Entertainment (who also put on The Hair Scare Live and other recent Kewadin gigs), this all ages & 7:30 PM concert has tickets running for a flat $27.50, and this is a standing room only event with no seating. Yes, tickets are still available at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, and at the in-person box office. This should be a must-attend concert for Saultites able to make it, with all three bands fully capable of melting faces, and Black Label Society alone are worth the price of admission! Visit the Facebook event page for more, and here's B.L.S. live!
Finally for today's previews, we'll head back to Sault Ontario, specifically at LopLops Lounge, where local alt-punk (yet genre hating) trio Handsome Sandwich and rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty will join forces as local support when Thunder Bay post-pop musician Jean-Paul de Roover returns TOMORROW NIGHT with his new backing band The Bandaid Solution! A veteran of at least 6 past local stops (including at LopLops last fall), Jean-Paul will be familiar to many readers from his one-man solo gigs, but this time, he's bringing a full band in support of his new album "Loss", which is his heaviest release to date. There is more of a progressive hard rock edge to that release, but his eclectic influences and lengthy experience will bode well no matter what tomorrow! Of course, fans just saw Handsome Sandwich at The Rockstar Bar last week, while this will be the first Apocalypse Afterparty show without any direct ties to The Soo's Got Talent in well over two years.
Note that the Facebook event page still lists Jean-Paul and his band in the middle slot between the locals, though if that is indicative of the performance order, it's ambiguous who's opening and closing. A 19+ age limit and 10:00 PM start time are in effect for this concert, which will have a $10 cover charge at the door. This should be an entertaining night of live music, with lots of diverse SMS-friendly sounds to take in, so visit the above links more details, click here for Chris Belsito's SooToday article about Jean-Paul, and in lieu of a Bandaid Solution video (can't find one), here's The Apocalypse Afterparty live during The Soo's Got Talentlast year!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Scarkazm, Rising Tide, and Tym Morrison concert previews on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
Before we dive into this weekend's concert previews, here's a stacked local news post for your Wednesday night delectation, and it includes some assorted updates from the last while, and leading off, two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for both sides of the border! Here's what you should know!
Los Angeles groove metal quartet Black Label Society will make their local concert debut on Friday, March 13th when they headline at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! Fronted by long-time Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, B.L.S. have forged a loyal following in the past two decades with well received songs like "Stillborn", "Parade of the Dead", "My Dying Time", and many others, and with their hard hitting, leather-clad brand of metal and Zakk's considerable guitar skill in tow, you know they'll melt many faces in the E.U.P., this coming spring! Tampa, Florida death metal legends Obituary will open in their own local debut, and they have 35 years of brutality to unleash here, including cuts from one of the best selling death metal albums of all time, 1992's "The End Complete." It's awesome to see the Tardy brothers and company on a local stage, so don't bypass their set either!
This stop on Black Label Society's North American Crusade Tour will be opened by Portland sludge/death metal quartet Lord Dying, whose own technical approach and aggressive material should provide a welcome appetizer in three months! I am unsure if there is a specific local promoter putting this on, but at press time, it's not credited to Allstar Promotions on social media. Tickets for this all ages, 7:00 PM concert run for a flat $27.50, as this is a standing room only concert without seats. They go on sale this Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, and at the in-person box office, and visit the official Facebook event page for further details. I have had the privilege of seeing B.L.S. live in Detroit multiple times, and they are a great live band with loads of familiar originals, and with ticket prices like this, I hope this show does well so that more extreme metal hits the American side of the border down the line. Get your tickets on Friday, as this concert should sell quickly!
Next up, here's another big new show announcement for March 2020, and it's very surprising in different ways, as acclaimed Coquitlam, B.C. alternative rock musician and political activist Matthew Good will return to Sault Ontario on Thursday, March 26th at The Sault Community Theatre Center! This will be the former Matthew Good Band frontman's first local stop since his acoustic Speak Easy show here in October 2007, which had a.... mixed reception, to put it mildly. If you want to relive that story from both sides, click here, but I don't want to dredge up the ill feelings or take sides. I just hope that this concert is better received by both Matt and the audience alike! Of course, Matthew has multiple gold records in Canada from his later, more varied solo work like "Weapon" "Born Losers", and his new CD "Moving Walls", but he still plays many M.G.B. songs live, including such heavier classics as "Hello Time Bomb" & "Load Me Up". It'll be cool to see him and a full band again locally, a'la his 2005 show at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion and his prior Band gigs here, which I know went well!
Opening locally is Halifax pop musician Ria Mae, who has been gaining in prominence on the Canadian charts with singles like "Clothes Off" & "Bend", and she should provide an interesting genre contrast in March! Presented by SL Concerts, this all ages concert has a 7:30 PM start time, and tickets run for $44 plus fees and taxes. They also go on sale Friday morning, albeit at 10:45 AM, and can be bought at this link, at (705) 945-7299, and at the Station Mall's Community Theatre Box Office. In spite of the divisive back-and-forth in 2007, I'm glad to see Matthew coming back to the Soo after over 12 years, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by business name:
The merger of Northland Music and Thomas Walls School of Music into a local branch of the Long & McQuade music store chain will take place as soon as the spring at 647 MacDonald Avenue, the former home of Northshore Sports & Auto and Bazaar & Novelty. For now, both stores remain open with lessons and Long & McQuade stock availability, before they both formally merge into the larger east end location. Sounds like a great location for the expanded operations, so click here to check out SooToday's recent coverage of the merger and "new" store!
The Rad Zone has found it's new home, as the local used record/video game/book/etc. store will move from The Wellington Square Mall in the new year to the old Foch Cleaners building at 721 Queen Street East, near Coch's Corner, as revealed in this Facebook video. A more central, downtown location without mall rent seems to make sense, and I hope Monk and company find continued success there! For now, The Rad Zone remains open at the mall, with continuing close-out sales throughout the holidays before they move, so click here for details on that front!
Apologies for the delay in this making the site, but journalist & writer Ernest Skinner left SaultOnline in February for a new gig with Wawa-News.com, and his columns (Rock Talk included) went with him to the new site. Unfortunately, SaultOnline took down all of his old articles under any banner title afterward, but he has continued anew at Wawa-News.com with even more interviews with notable metal and hard rock musicians, plus Soo Greyhounds coverage. Click here to read his recent articles and interviews there, and the Rock Talk link on the SMS is updated as such!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
I wasn't expecting to have a new news post today, but given our busy Thursday and some new notes on a recent sad story and a late notice lineup change for TONIGHT'S battle of the bands, I thought I should get another up tonight. Today, we also have album updates (including a surprise release) from two Mike Haggith-featured projects, but first, here's some follow-up on a well liked local musician's recent passing.
Former local metal/hard rock drummer Ray Brown's obituary has been posted onto SooToday at this link, where it confirms that his funeral will be held on Saturday at 2:00 PM at the Arthur Funeral Home & Cremation Centre, with visitation taking place Friday from 6:00-9:00 PM and Saturday from 12:00-1:30 PM, and cremation and internment planned at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. The obituary also adds that memorial contributions to the Algoma Residential Community Hospice and the Sault Area Hospital Cancer Care Fund would be appreciated, and he's survived by his fiance Candy, two brothers, and four nieces & nephews, among other extended family. I'll also note that his former The Chosen bandmate Taryn Bugyra has launched this Facebook group as a memorial to him, with the hope of obtaining pictures of him for use at his services, so if you have any pictures of Ray, join the group and share them if you want.
The outpouring of condolences and memories has been really nice to see, and though I won't pretend to have known him, it does reinforce all of the good things I have heard from his friends and bandmates. I hope the funeral on Saturday continues the recent good feelings, and I send nothing but the best out to Ray's family and Candy at this difficult time. R.I.P. Ray!
Moving to some lighter recent stories, a band has dropped out of TONIGHT'S Viva La Battle at The Canadian Nightclub, that being debuting "secret" band Keep It Lit. Promoter J.D. Pearce confirmed on the Facebook event page this afternoon that a band member broke their hand, and though I'm not sure which member it was, note that Keep It Lit's intended secrecy prior to their debut hasn't noticeably bowed despite their exit from tonight's battle of the bands. With their withdrawal being so short notice, a replacement band will not be secured (making this the smallest battle of the bands in recent memory), but J.D. did note that the remaining bands can play up to 45 minutes in their set now if they want. Disappointing news to be sure, especially knowing Keep It Lit's lineup and sound descriptions, but hopefully they'll have some public news or a new show date sooner or later! With that said, we still have The Bear Hunters battling with the debuting North West and Punch TONIGHT to earn the right to open for Fuckface Unstoppable at The Canadian next month, so don't miss out!
With one less band, there's now a 66% chance that a Suicide Kings member will win their second straight battle tonight, but will North West throw a wrench into those odds? Find out TONIGHT, and you can help win by entering your ballot! First band goes on at 9:30 PM, you must be 19 to attend, and the cover charge is $5! See you guys there!
We'll close today with some news relating to albums featuring prolific local hard rock musician Mike Haggith, starting with the latest from Mike's new band, local funk/metal/jam trio The Strange Coyotes! The Project Legion successors recorded a live in-studio album at PaperClip Productions a few days ago and released it to their new BandCamp page
last night after some editing and trimming, and a YouTube upload of
said tracks is also planned. With 7 songs spread across 27 minutes, the
self titled album features all originals by The Strange Coyotes, and I don't think any of
them are expanded versions of Chase Wigmore or James Watterworth's
existing original songs. I'll note that like defunct Sault Michigan band Insipid Bruality's posthumous album, this is up on a name your price model, so while you can buy it free, I'm sure the band would appreciate if you paid a sum for the album! Knowing that it's on sale, I'll confirm that a review of "The Strange Coyotes" is now likely, but when can we expect it on the site?
Probably not until next year, as I've reserved this month for SweetKenny's "Perception", and I tentatively have Haggith's "Apocalypse II" planned for next month to go along with their impending demise (if it does come out for sale, of course), but stay tuned for it in early 2014, and give The Strange Coyotes' self-titled original debut a listen above!
Finally for today, here's some announcements on his upcoming 48th solo album! As per his solo project's Facebook page yesterday, tracking & mixing is underway for this album, which will be called "A Place Of Our Own" (album cover on your right), which will be a concept album. It replaces his original planned next CD "The Tower", which is now on "an indefinite hiatus", though he's pushed back planned album ideas before, so I wouldn't immediately assume that it'll never surface. A release date and samples/indications of the album's sound are yet to be confirmed, but Mike tentatively pointed towards a possible completion date in February 2014. I'll note that if "A Place Of Our Own" comes out on time from that projection, we won't review it (or "The Present Din" if it's heavier) until at least April, as it'll be within our 6 month buffer from our review of "Neighbourhood Watch II", but I fully expect to review a new Mike Haggith album by mid-2014, so stay tuned for updates on it and Mike's other solo work as it all comes in!
That's all for today, but I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Canadian for Viva La Battle! Will The Bear Hunters, North West, or Punch earn the right to open for Bam Margera next month? Find out tonight, and stay tuned at midnight for a special look back at a popular former local concert series that recently celebrated it's third anniversary. Thanks everyone!
