YouTube Channel Profile Series: WeAreTheBearHunters' Channel

After a few days' delay during a very busy month, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we again look at a YouTube channel whose video uploads are at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musicians/concerts! This installment's randomly selected channel takes us to to one of the most prominent local extreme metal band of the 2010s, so here's what you should know!

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WeAreTheBearHunters' Channel (http://youtube.com/@wearethebearhunters)

Owner: A member of local death metal band The Bear Hunters, exact identity unclear (my best guess is guitarist Mitch Sirie)

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 22nd, 2011; Videos uploaded from that day until December 2018

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for The Bear Hunters, it features 33 videos, all but four of which being live videos from three concerts of theirs from the early 2010s, including an Oddfellows Hall headlining date in October 2013. The channel is bookended by three audio demos (including their live favouite "Squirrel Buddy", as later adopted by Mitch's solo project Sir Hell) and their only music video to date.

Why You Should Watch: If you were there for and enjoyed The Bear Hunters' early run as a quintet, you should be very interested in seeing the ample live footage on their channel, and the demo tracks are an interesting look at songs in progress before they saw their final form! Their music video is also a quality realization of earlier activity, though be advised that it's this channel's only upload since 2014, and with the band teasing this summer that they plan to disband after a final concert and album, who is to say that this channel will see any further content.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

The Bear Hunters - Casualties of War (live at the Odd Fellows Hall, 01/28/2011): On January 28th, 2011, The Bear Hunters joined four other local bands for a show at the former Oddfellows Hall in honour of then-rhythm guitarist Mike Vincent's 20th birthday party, with their entire set filmed by yours truly at the band's request! Due to camera limitations at the time, I did have to split some songs in half. The songs recorded include their own "Dominate", covers of Slipknot's "Psychosocial", Amon Amarth's "Guardians Of Asgaard" and "Pursuit Of Vikings", Arch Enemy's "End Of The Line", and Metallica's "Master Of Puppets" (parts 1 and 2), their originals "Bloodthirst" (parts 1 and 2), "Condemned" (parts 1 and 2), "Overthrown", "Succumb To Eternity", "Casualties Of War" (the longest of the single video originals), and "Collapse The Sun", before closing with a cover of System Of A Down's "Fuck The System". The video quality isn't amazing, and singer Nik Deubel is often hard to hear, but this full set is a neat watch, both for Mike's presence and to see where The Bear Hunters basically began, especially via many covers that didn't stick around in their set long-term!

The Bear Hunters - Karma: The Bear Hunters' other concert videos here come following Mike's exit from the band in May 2011, with Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney replacing him. Josh debuted with the band at The Roosevelt Hotel (now Jay's Piston Broke Pub) when they headlined the eighteenth Thursday metal night there on June 2nd. While I was present for this show too, someone else filmed their full set this time, including "Overthrown", "Condemned", "Bloodthirst", "Casualties Of War", "Karma", "Succumb To Eternity", their cover of "Guardians Of Asgaard", "Dominate", "Collapse The Sun", and "Render This Void". A more distant but higher quality angle captured The Bear Hunters in strong early form here, with much more audible growling from Nik to boot, and Josh acquitted himself well on night #1, so fans of prime Bear Hunters should like how brutal they were sounding at this point!

The Bear Hunters - I Fear No God: After Josh moved out of town in 2014 and left the band outright in 2016, The Bear Hunters pressed on as a quartet, whereupon they released their second album "The Dead Testament" in November 2020. However, the advance single and music video for "I Fear No God" was released back in December 2018, becoming their last and most popular YouTube upload (so far?). Also featuring ex-Jack Spades bandmates Justin Lam & Johnny Belanger on bass and drums, The Bear Hunters filmed the music video at Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn, where they'd eventually play a formal set at a private event last summer. Filmed by Johnny's Golden Scoundrels bandmate Josh Penno at Spacebag Productions, it features the guys entering the church and performing among candles for mood lighting. This is an expertly shot and edited video that captures the late-era four-piece Bear Hunters at full power!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series should be more on schedule next month for a post closer to August 26th, when our next randomly selected channel to profile will be DogRun Stray's channel, featuring lots of Chase Wigmore's original music from a few years back! Look for that then, and for much more news and notes this week as we end a very busy July! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Handsome Sandwich), A Mid-Week Concert Preview, And Much More!!

I'm pushing this month's Defunct Local Band Profile back another day, as there's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to address, plus an existing mid-week show to preview, and big updates on a very familiar local concert venue. Here's what you should know!

Local alternative/punk quartet Handsome Sandwich will rock The Roberta Bondar Pavilion TOMORROW NIGHT during the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Summer Concert Series! Apologies for the short notice, this concert was only announced via this poster on their Facebook page on Wednesday. TOMORROW's timeslot was the only vacancy on the concert series' schedule (Brian T & The Sinister Hearts replacing Mustang Heart last week aside), and the new date has not been listed at press time, but it is good to see Handsome Sandwich step in, even with limited notice, so look for a fun set or two of hard rock-tinged alternative music! As usual for the Summer Concert Series, TOMORROW'S show has a 7:00 PM start time, no cover, and no age limit, and again, they're under the tent, so weather shouldn't be an issue. See above for more details, and here's a new Facebook video of them!

Filmed at a private gig at Bell's Point Beach in Goulais River on July 3rd, this features Taylor, Jesse, Mitch, and Johnny playing an original song (slated to be the first single from their forthcoming debut album "Lettuce"), and while the title wasn't given in text or after the song, the title seems to be "Bet It Off" or something similar. Pending our likely album review, I'll hold comment on the song, but the video is well formed with lots of varied angles, which helps alleviate the vertical orientation! Give it a watch below, and don't miss Handsome Sandwich at The Pavillion TOMORROW!

Next up, let's preview another mid-week show while we're in the business, as prolific local classic/hard rock solo artist Tym Morrison will continue his ongoing weekly concert arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post on WEDNESDAY NIGHT! No big changes to note from what I can tell for Tym's latest show there, so fans of his vast setlist of classic and hard rock covers should find a lot to like from his vocal & guitar talents on Wednesday! The musical action takes place at 7:00 PM at The Mike Case Stage once again on Wednesday with no cover charge or age limits, and while the weather forecast will be sunny, 9&10 News is calling for temperatures of 18-19°, and hopefully that's warm enough! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live a couple of years back!

Finally, you may have seen posts since May regarding the fate of The Oddfellows Hall at 124 Dennis Street, which was a popular venue for all ages concerts from at least the 1990s through the mid-2010s. While the local Independent Order of Odd Fellows branch's website was rarely updated, the hall proper closed its doors permanently at some point in the past three years, and was put up for sale in May. You can read its posting on Realtor.ca here, and it's being brokered by James Caicco of Century 21 for a sale price of $199,999. It might not be on the market for much longer though, as an offer has been placed to buy The Oddfellows Hall to turn it into a youth hub, as per this SooToday article by David Helwig. If plans go through, the building would offer services for 12-25 year olds relating to health, counselling, food security, housing & income, cultural & LGBTQ2+ support, and anti-human trafficking.

This proposal was given to City Hall earlier today, with the City Council being asked to contribute funds to improve the site, and Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario are on board to support operating funds & site upgrades. If an agreement isn't finalized, they will look elsewhere for a location. At least as far as metal/punk-leaning concerts go, The Oddfellows Hall was last booked for that purpose in June 2017, when Heavy North Entertainment hosted Ruptured Birth, Thekillingfield, and locals The Bear Hunters & Twistory there, with later known bookings either being cancelled or not concerts (like Joni Radford's celebration of life in January 2019). In my inquiries between 2018 and the onset of the pandemic, local promoters told me hall rentals were either too expensive or more expensive, so make of that what you will. Truth be told, a youth hub is about as good an idea as I can think of to repurpose The Oddfellows Hall!

The idea of a deep-pocketed knight in shining armor arriving to make it a full-time venue is probably unrealistic, so giving it a community purpose that will actually help people and the downtown core is way better than tearing it down. Being right near the bus terminal, Station Mall, and so forth makes it a very accessible location, and hopefully the youth hub plans take hold! One assumes concerts wouldn't be part of the plans there given all of the proposed features, but hey, I'll let you know if I'm wrong! Keep tabs with local news media to see if the Oddfellows site does indeed become a youth hub, and stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile (at long last) tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: The Canadian

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we continue our monthly feature spotlighting YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and punk artists & concerts! This month's randomly selected channel features some early performances from a local promotion agency's first show and it's related band's infancy, so there's some neat stuff to see here, and you can do so below!
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The Canadian (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-ADpsCAFQBMXpWmhI4yOog/)

Owner: A member of local alt-punk band A Dire Setback and their associated promotion company Live705, specific identity unclear

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 24th, 2016; Videos posted from that December through June 2017

Channel Summary: Despite the misnomer of a channel name (though it's last video was indeed shot at The Canadian Nightclub), this was ostensibly the official YouTube channel for Live705, largely featuring video footage from their inaugural concert, plus this computer-generated logo for the company that presumably would have saw usage on future channel content. Two videos on the channel are of A Dire Setback, including from a different concert unrelated to the rest of the channel in location or filmer.

Why You Should Watch: This is a solid channel to check out to see the infancy of Live705 as a promotion company, plus you get some interesting looks at bands who don't have a lot of footage out there, let alone at the increasily unused Oddfellows Hall! However, note that half of the channel's videos run for under 64 seconds in length, and the channel hasn't been visibly used for Live705 or A Dire Setback purposes in 2 years.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

Electric Church: Six of the videos on "The Canadian" are from Live705's debut concert at The Oddfellows Hall on November 19th, 2016, which saw a diverse lineup of young local talent hit the stage, including sets by The Din, rapper Jasmin "Jizzy Baby" Sky, and two bands not filmed for the channel (headliners K.I.C.K. and the debuting Stegadeth.) We'll touch on the other three bands here, including inactive local blues/hard rock trio Electric Church, who made their only Oddfellows Hall appearance on this night. Filmed covering B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby", this cover is well done and showcases Spencer Pine, Elijah Nielsen, and Beau Whitfield's chemistry well, but the vertical cell phone camera angle and side-stage placement don't help.



Talk Shit: A notable hook for this concert was the reunion of online page-less punk quartet Talk Shit after a 7 year hiatus, with returning members Adam Sauve, Marc LaFrance, and Ian Robinson joined by new guitarist Steve Shaw (later briefly of Jack Spades) in place of the relocated Andrew Angelic. Talk Shit's reunion didn't result in many shows before they fell inactive again last year, so this video (of an untitled cover) bears some extra weight, but the vertical angle and extremely distant vantage point do harm the video in retrospect. You can't see a lot, but the performance sounds solid!



A Dire Setback: The channel's most popular video is this clip of local alt-punk band A Dire Setback playing their original song "Catastrophe" in their co-headlining set. Quite a big platform for A.D.S. to have their debut show on! Featuring guitarist Chris Nielsen, bassist Matt Quinn, and drummer Nick Kainula alongside original lead singer Larry Babic, this is a promising performance with good energy, and it's a nice harbinger of bigger things to come, but the scratchy audio quality and dark lighting mean that you can find better videos of this song online. The channel's remaining videos include this brief setup clip from the show above and a cover of OneRepublic's "Counting Stars" at the CKY concert at The Canadian in June 2017, which was filmed by myself and shared on YouTube with permission.


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around July 26th with another randomly selected channel from our subscriptions, and we're heading across the river next month by spotlighting inactive Sault Michigan label Werehold Records' channel! Look for that then, and for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Truth Of All Death, Frightlight, And The Strange Coyotes!!)

Before we round out our Oh!No festival fallout, we have a post completely devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS today, one on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know for your fall concert plans!

Local alt-folk musician Chase Wigmore is returning to the concert promotion game with a special New American Pub show THIS TUESDAY NIGHT, to be headlined by Toronto grindcore band The Truth Of All Death! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced last Tuesday, too soon to fully cover the show without this preview being a rehash. The Truth Of All Death should pique the interest of Blood Shed Productions loyalists with their minimalist grind/noise onslaught, short songs, and provocative subject matter, so if this is up your alley, give The T.O.A.D. a listen above in advance of their local debut on TUESDAY! Blood Shed's flagship solo grindcore project Crucify the Whore will open in a rare New A set, while the only other advertised act is Awokest, who I have no information on whatsoever. The chance exists that this is a new project of Chase's, given that he's not advertised with a solo set, but that's purely conjecture on my part. We'll let you know if public details on Awokest come out, or if potential added acts are confirmed!

Though the venue is not directly cited on the Facebook event page, The New A's Facebook page confirms that they're playing host. A $5 cover charge is in effect for TUESDAY'S 19+ concert, which has an advertised 8:00 PM start time, though that may just be the door opening time. If you've missed grindcore concerts locally, this should whet your appetite for the subgenre, so keep this concert in mind for TUESDAY NIGHT, especially if Chase's talk of bi-weekly concerts comes to fruition! Here's The Truth Of All Death live!



Next up, here's some Halloween season concerts with lots of advance notice, starting with local promoter J.D. Pearce's 14th straight year of Halloween party concerts, as he's back with a second straight double header on Friday, October 27th & Saturday, October 28th at... Soo Blaster?! After spending 5 of the past 6 years at The Algonquin Hotel, J.D.'s Halloween party (alternately known as "The Howling") will move to Soo Blaster for 2018, marking our first ever punk/metal concerts covered at the new restaurant, arcade, and live events venue at 345 Queen Street East, which was previously home to Woolco and the RMH/NCO call center. Soo Blaster has made waves in the past year with hip hop concerts and stand up comedians, but how will it handle aggressive live bands? This year's roster will be tribute-focused for a fourth straight year, with the Friday the 27th lineup featuring unidentified tributes to The Red Hot Chili Peppers, H.I.M., and The Distillers.

I can't confirm complete identities for the three bands at present, but personal Facebook postings indicate that Jack Spades/Stegadeth guitarist Tiffany Stocco will be performing in the H.I.M. and Distillers tributes. Will one/both of her bands take on either guise, or will these be one-off supergroups? Time will tell! Both are relatively unique bands for covers here, but the Chili Peppers aren't as shocking. Will this band share any relation to the late 2000s local tribute Sikamikanico? The lineup on Saturday the 28th will feature tributes to Tool and Weezer, and while HTs bassist Ryan Disano & Redundant frontman Justin Langlois signalled their involvement in each tribute via personal Facebook postings, I again don't know whether the tribute bands will be reskinned existing bands or one-offs. However, we do know the Saturday headliners by name, as defunct local horror punk quintet Frightlight will hit the stage for the first time in four years that night! How's that for a spooky surprise? Will they focus on Misfits covers to go with the theme?

Frightlight were a steady fan favourite band in their original 2009-2014 run, and while I can't confirm the makeup of their 2018 reunion lineup, look for the guys to deliver one more high impact fright night next month! Sponsored by Northern Superior Breweries, this year's Halloween party concerts are 19+ affairs with 10:00 PM start times, and each night's admission is $10, but there will be a $15 weekend pass for both nights. Things are shaping up for a great weekend of live music action at a new-ish locale next month, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and we'll let you know when we hear more on the band identities and ticket availability!

Finally, here's one more seasonal concert for late next month, as the aforementioned Chase Wigmore is bringing live metal music back to The Oddfellows Hall after well over a year away, with a Devil's Night concert planned for Tuesday, October 30th! After the abrupt relocation of his last try at an Oddfellows concert, things have a lot more advance word this time, so hopefully there's no hang-ups next month! A spiritual successor to Blood Shed Productions' Devil's Night concerts at the same venue in 2013 & 2014 (Chase played both), he is hyping up the "mash-up" nature of the lineup, with a variety of metal and folk acts on display next month, so who all is playing? As per the Facebook event page, we'll be blessed with a Haggith-less reunion of 2013-2014 funk metal band The Strange Coyotes as the apparent headliners! Nice to see Chase & James back together after far too long, though no word yet on if this will be a one-off, or if they'll have a drummer present. The remaining performers are all solo acts, though more bands could be added.

Alongside the aforementioned Crucify the Whore, fans can check out Chase's own solo project (with an apparent "folk punk rock opera" in store), creative local pianist Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, and new local alt-folk musician Wes Armstrong (not Anderson), who you may have seen at Chase's Rednecks show earlier this month. This ALL AGES concert has a presumably incorrect start time of 3:52 PM (I'd guess it'd be later), while admission fees have not yet been confirmed. Nice mixture of Blood Shed collaborators coming back for another Devil's Night, plus some new sounds, so visit the above links for current and continuing details as they roll in!

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

Ruptured Birth/Thekillingfield Concert Review!!

For the first time since last summer's Iskra concert, I made it to The Oddfellows Hall to review a show there, as last night saw the return of Ruptured Birth and Thekillingfield to Sault Ste. Marie! Before we get into the bands, here's some other scattered notes from last night. In case you missed our late update to Saturday's news post, this show only featured four bands, as Crucify the Whore quietly dropped out of the show last week due to"technical & equipment difficulties", as per promoters Heavy North Entertainment on the Facebook event page. Disappointing, especially given the wait for a new C.T.W. set at a public venue, but hopefully we see Tyler Gibson back at it soon! A search for a replacement band was unsuccessful, so last night only had 4 bands. Regarding the attendance, the show only bounced around 2 dozen attendees for most of the night, but that number easily doubled for The Bear Hunters' return set, which was encouraging for them, but I wish more people had stuck around for the out of town headliners.

Tyler is an accomplished and reliable promoter, but this needed a lot more advance word, especially with no local poster or announced cover charge until the day of the concert. Hopefully things get ironed out for H.N.E.'s next shows! Also, the new sign outside of The Oddfellows Hall will take some getting used to, but it at least looks newer and more vibrant.

Last night's action was opened by online page-less local death metal duo Twistory in their first public concert set in about a year, and the first time that I've been able to see them live, so what are my thoughts on them? There's work to do, but they sounded promising! Fronted by former Pillory guitarist Josh Amendola (and featuring that band's frontman Robert Sartini on drums), the guys have obvious chemistry and a solidly heavy sound that fit their backgrounds, with Josh even sharing some vocal resemblances to Robert at times! That said, their set was short, didn't have a lot of clear breaks between songs, and often felt more like an extended jam session, and the lack of a bassist was at times noticeable. Josh did admit that they've only jammed a few times to prepare for this concert, but they had a brutal and raw sound that was a perfect fit for the occasion, and I am curious to hear much more from them in the coming months!

Next up was the long awaited return of The Bear Hunters after a 7 month stage hiatus, and they picked up where they left off with a crushing set of old and new death metal originals alike! Alongside newer songs like "The Dying Den" and classics like "Bloodthirst", the guys also broke out their fan favourite "Guardians of Asgaard" cover, and even got an encore to cap off their set with, which was awesome to see! Having missed last fall's Norilsk concert, this was my first time seeing The Bear Hunters live in over a year, and it's great to see that the guys haven't lost a step, and sounded on par with their past four-piece shows! Nik Deubel's vocals were inaudible on their opener, but the sound was quickly fixed so we could hear him, and he was on form from their early 2015 and early 2016 gigs, while Mitch Sirie shone on guitar, and Justin Lam held his own on bass as usual! Very solid return for The Bear Hunters, and here's hoping we're not waiting 7 months for their next show!

Third up in this show full of returns to the local stage was North Bay tech/death metal trio Thekillingfield in their first local concert set in 5½ years, and closer to their first tour in 2 years! It's a shame that this show didn't have more promotion, as Thekillingfield were definitely a favourite touring attraction here in the late 2000s, and they picked up where they left off in 2011 with a blistering set of progressive death and extreme metal! If you're familiar with Thekillingfield, you'll know that they have a lot of instrumental material in their sets, and last night was no exception, with vocal-less songs like "Mass For Shut-Ins" joining familiar tracks with lyrics like "To Be Joedy" for about a 50/50 split, but screaming or not, TKF had remaining fans right where they wanted them! A now-bald Justin Robinson still screams and shreds with the best of them, and Dean K.'s drumming was reliably complex, adding up to a welcome return for Thekillingfield, and here's hoping we see them back soon!

Finally, your headliners last night were Sudbury sci-grind/death metal quartet Ruptured Birth in their first local concert appearance since opening for Vesperia two years ago, and they delivered another heavy and devastating set of originals to send remaining fans home happy! This was my first time seeing Ruptured Birth live, and I definitely enjoyed their set, which was chock full of brutal and well written originals with some technical flourish, and I liked their usage of pre-recorded backing tracks on many songs to help set the mood. Last year's full length CD "Transmutant" was a frequent source for their setlist, including such songs as the title track and "Projectile Copremisis", and former Before the Black Gates singer James Bok gave brutal voice to them all, though his stage presence of mostly walking back and forth can be worked on. Musically, everyone sounded good, including guitarist Shane Scovron and former Archelon bassist Aaron Cividino, and I'd definitely be interested in seeing these guys on a local stage again soon!

Overall, this was a very solid night of death metal action, and while I wish there was a higher turnout, everyone delivered musically, and given that none of these bands have played on a local stage in 7 months or longer, it was extra unique and notable on that basis! You can check out our photos from last night at this link or at our Facebook page, and as for videos, here's Twistory playing "The Retribution", The Bear Hunters playing their newer solng "The Wrath of Angmar", Thekillingfield playing their instrumental "Apple of Eden", and Ruptured Birth playing "Blood Siren"!









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

Ruptured Birth Concert Preview, A Unique Drum Cover Video, Upcoming Concert Notes, And More!!

For the first time in a week, we have a post that's primarily about news and updates at the SMS! Yes, there is one concert preview for an impending metal concert, but also, we have some assorted recent updates, perhaps some bad news for an upcoming concert, and a new drum cover video, so here's what you should know! (Updated on Sunday at 12:20 PM)

Heavy North Entertainment are back for their first concert of the year, and it will see the return of two Northern Ontario extreme metal bands to the Soo TOMORROW NIGHT at The Oddfellows Hall to cap off their Grime Life mini-tour of Northern Ontario! The featured headliners are Sudbury death metal quartet Ruptured Birth in their first Soo stop since opening for Vesperia at The Algonquin Pub in 2015, and with many brutal sci-fi inspired originals in their repertoire, prepare for a face melting good time tomorrow! North Bay extreme metal trio Thekillingfield will make their long awaited local return tomorrow as co-headliners, marking their first local appearance since 2011, with a pair of 2014 sets cancelled in the interim. It's hard to believe we've been waiting over five years for Thekillingfield to hit the local stage again, so welcome them back with open arms and horned fists as well! Local opening acts will include the return of local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters in their first concert of 2017, so how will they sound after their 7 month stage hiatus? Find out tomorrow!

Online page-less death metal duo Twistory will round out the lineup in their first public concert set in almost a year, while a planned opening set by Crucify the Whore has been cancelled due to equipment difficulties, as per the Facebook event page, and they have not been visibly replaced. This ALL AGES show has an 8:00 PM start time (with doors opening at 6:30 PM), and there will be a $6 cover charge at the door. Death metal fans should be very excited by this show, including a number of long awaited returns to the local stage, particularly Thekillingfield's progressive-tinged explosion, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Ruptured Birth live!



Next up, here's a pair of new videos, starting with this unique clip of As It Stands drummer John Mignacca beating the electric drumskins all over Sault Ste. Marie! Uploaded to his new "Flo McNasty" YouTube channel on Tuesday, the video (filmed by John's former A.I.S. bandmate Nathan Bouliane) features John drumming along to his old band Skeyes of Seven's original "Cognitive Dissonance" in various locations, including outside of the "Algoma's Friendliest City" sign, the International Bridge, the Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and inside the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center. Very creative and well shot, this is well worth checking out for fans of local landmarks, John's drumming, and Skeyes of Seven, though after watching, I was also thinking of other places he could drum for a sequel! One outside of concert venues might be interesting, particularly ones John played at frequently. Give it a look below, and don't miss As It Stands return at The Canadian on THURSDAY!



Also today, here's some recent clarifications and updates regarding a teased concert event for later this month. Though there has been no formal confirmation, numerous postings on it's Facebook event page have indicated that the Rock The Border Music Fest at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on June 18th is no longer taking place. Pessimism and unconfirmed personal reports don't paint a good picture, especially as this show was promoted by some of the same organizers behind the called-off Quiet Riot show (CSA branding or not), and while the ticket sale page is still online, there haven't been any public updates to this event from organizers since May 7th. Based on available reports, I'm reluctantly inclined to remove the show from our links, but if there's any official confirmation that it's still on in some form, we will redact this! If true, this is all very disappointing, especially given the hype and the chance to make up for the Quiet Riot concert, but if it's off, hopefully ticket buyers get full refunds promptly!

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

• The Sault Star's Brian Kelly interviewed CKY drummer Jess Margera for this article that went in the newspaper and on their website on Monday in advance of THIS THURSDAY'S headlining show at The Canadian Nightclub.Within, Jess discussed the band's move to a three-piece lineup following Deron Miller's departure, their recent collaboration with Mastodon's Brent Hinds for their new single, fan response in their recent tours, why you won't hear much from their last album "Carver City", and more, and it's a solid read in advance of this highly anticipated show, so check everything out above!
• The previously announced CureCon festival from new local company Ma Lady Menace on August 12th will reportedly not be taking place at The Royal Canadian Legion hall on Great Northern Road, as per the venue's Facebook page earlier today. The Legion apparently has had "NO dealings" with the promoters, and while I won't get into the online rumous and mixed feelings within, note that Ma Lady Menace have not updated their Facebook page in two weeks, when they acknowledged website maintenance. We'll remove CureCon from our concert calendar due to the lack of venue, but if it's still held elsewhere, we'll let you know!
• The Machine Shop confirmed via this press release last week that March's postponed Quiet Riot concert is now officially cancelled, citing a "breach of contract" between the headliners and promoters CSA International, and told people where to get refunds for tickets if they had yet to do so. This story resurfaced because the originally planned rescheduling was for May 26th, but CSA had previously redacted that on their own. The discussion about the promoters and refund process has sparked more pessimistic online debate, but all I'll add here is that I hope everyone still looking for a ticket refund gets theirs soon, if they haven't already.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news as the month of June progresses! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rock The Border Music Fest & Ruptured Birth!!)

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of former Phlashback/Kick Start singer & guitarist Terry Becker, who passed away on Friday at the age of 65, according to numerous personal Facebook postings. Details on his services have yet to be announced, but definitely stay tuned to local news media for updates on that front. Though not known for work in hard rock bands (moreso country and blues rock), Terry will be familiar to many fans as a brother of Sykotyk Rampage mainstays Paul & Dirk Becker, and was once scheduled to join them with a solo set at 2015's Soo Zombie Walk, though he later had to withdraw from that event. I own an autographed copy of Phlashback's 2006 CD "Ride the Wind", on which Terry was the primary songwriter, where you got a sense of Terry's musical & vocal gifts, and he was definitely a talented musician and instructor, so our condolences are definitely with the Becker clan at this difficult time. R.I.P. Terry!

Now, today's post is devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS regarding two concerts taking place next month, one a long awaited festival announcement, and the other seeing returning Northern Ontario extreme metal bands after 2 years away or more, so here's what you should know!

Sudbury death metal quartet Ruptured Birth and North Bay extreme metal trio Thekillingfield will each return to Sault Ste. Marie for a concert at The Oddfellows Hall on Thursday, June 4th! Featuring former members of Before the Black Gates, fans may recognize Ruptured Birth from opening for Vesperia at The Algonquin Pub back in 2015, and their crushing science fiction-inspired originals should brutalize local fans when they make their return to the local stage next month! As for Thekillingfield, this show is a long time coming for them, having not travelled west to the Soo since headlining at the former Roosevelt Hotel back in 2011, with two early 2014 Oddfellows Hall sets being cancelled in the interim. Thekillingfield played here a lot around the turn of the 2010s, and it's awesome to see them finally come back after nearly six years away, so don't miss out on their return on June 4th! Local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore will be among the openers in their first public set of the year, and fans should enjoy Tyler's solo return also!

At least one more opening act is to be announced, so stay tuned for updates on their identity. Promoted by Heavy North Entertainment in that agency's first event since September's Dumpster Mummy concert (and just their second since the fall of 2015), a 6:00 PM start time is currently advertised for this ALL AGES show, but admission prices have not been posted yet. This should be a brutal and heavy good time for local metalheads, including some acts we haven't seen enough of locally, so visit the official Facebook event page for continued updates!

Next up, the long-delayed lineup announcement for the Rock the Border Music Fest on Sunday, June 18th has finally been made, and organizers have confirmed that Buckcherry frontman Josh Todd and guitarist Stevie Dacanay will headline the show in a side project group! The two of them are actually in two side bands, the newer hard rock outfit Josh Todd & The Conflict, and a rap/electronic rock project named Spraygun War, but organizers just said that they will play "a little of everything". I'd be inclined to believe that The Conflict are the band coming, but we won't list them as such until/unless there's confirmation. Josh & Stevie D. are no strangers to the area, as fans who saw Buckcherry at Kewadin Casino in 2011 will know, but how will they sound in this side band next month? Stay tuned! The teased Australian band will be Sydney hard rock quintet The Lazys, who will hit the Soo as part of their Summer Ontario Fun Tour. Lively yet old school sound, they should find a solid audience when they rock the Soo next month, so give them a listen!

Three more bands are to be announced, but aside from at least one being Canadian, none have been confirmed publically as of this writing. Now that the lineup has finally been partially announced, what else should you know on the concert? Well, it's now advertised to take place at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion instead of The Machine Shop, marking a rare local hard rock concert under the tent downtown, and it will be nice to see some live concert action there after too long of a wait! This is an ALL AGES show, though it is licensed, and an early 2:30 PM start time is advertised. Tickets are on sale for $45 for early birds (no word on when the discount ends), $55 for advance admission, $60 for general tickets, and $75 for VIP passes, which allow close access to the stage, a drinking section, and line bypass upon entry. As well, there will be a $100 meet & greet VIP pass that allows you to view the soundcheck and get an autographed poster, so keep all of the packages in mind!

You can get tickets online at this link, though no word on local in-person availability as of this writing. Also, just for clarification's sake, a post on the Facebook event page from organizers indicated that this is not promoted by CSA International (they of the postponed Quiet Riot concert), despite the fact that the "About" tabs on CSA's Facebook page & the Rock the Border Facebook page both list the same phone number. Given that, there must be a common person involved in both, but if they say this isn't a CSA event, who am I to argue? As for the show proper, I know there's already some pessimism online regarding the two week+ delays and the perception of the lineup quality so far, but remember, there are three more bands to be announced, Buckcherry fans should come out in force, and if this concert is a hit, more big hard rock shows will come to the Soo, from these promoters or others! Stay tuned for continued updates on the Rock The Border Music Fest as it comes in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Oddzfest II), Windigo/Id Iota Concert Preview, And More!!

Here's one more SMS post before Easter Sunday, so what's in store for today? A few assorted news updates, our preview of a special Easter Monday concert, and to kick things off, a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this summer, so here's what you should know!

Remember Oddzfest 2013 Metal Mash-Up, the all ages Oddfellows Hall metal concert that helped send off Bring The Fallen's Josh Stephney & Nolan Rainville prior to their moves out of town that July? Well, after a nearly four year wait, Josh is promoting a sequel, as Oddzfest II goes down on Saturday, June 17th! Headlining this show are Toronto death/groove metal quintet Sludgehammer in their local concert debut, and their brutal and fast paced aggression combined with diverse vocals should helped them pick up where West of Hell left off four years ago, so definitely give them a listen! Local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver will return to the local stage for the first time since last April as co-headliners, while local death metal veterans The Bear Hunters will return to the stage themselves for their first concert appearance of 2017, and first set with Josh on rhythm guitar since May of last year. We've definitely missed both bands on the local stage in recent months, and it just feels right to see them sharing the stage at Oddzfest again, so don't miss out in June!

Local death metal quartet Exploring Detritus are also scheduled to play at Oddzfest II in their first concert appearance in about a year, and their first since parting ways with guitarist Daeson Lesage & changing their name from Kaepora Gaebora. No idea where they've been, but it's great to have the guys back, especially with the tie of having Josh's former Bring the Fallen bandmate Dan Souliere on guitar! Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger's new punk/alternative trio Handsome Sandwich will open in their Oddfellows Hall debut, so come early to see what they hype is all about! This is an ALL AGES concert, and while a start time of 4:00 PM is currently advertised, I'd honestly be surprised if that held up, as 2013's Oddzfest I had one more band and started 2 hours later. No word on admission prices yet, but 4 years ago, entry was $5 (though wearing band merchandise got you in free.) I'd also be surprised if that deal recurred, but stay tuned for confirmation on admission in any event!

This sounds like a fun concert for death metal fans, and it's a nice throwback lineup to boot, especially with Shit Liver and Josh Stephney having moved out of town and The Bear Hunters not performing as often as they used to (did you know that they only played live twice in 2016?) Visit the official Facebook event page for more on Oddzfest II, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in, including on recent queries on if this should become a 2 day event?!

Next up, here's that preview of a special concert THIS MONDAY NIGHT, as local alternative/hard rock quartet Id Iota will return to The New American Pub when they open for Calgary psychedelic pop band Windigo & New Jersey surf rock group Dentist in both bands' local debuts! This show will be a nice capper for a busy weekend for Id Iota, who stepped out from the studio on Friday to open for K.I.C.K., and they should have another fun set of new and old originals ready for their first New A stop of 2017! The headliners don't largely fall into our typical genre ranges on the SMS, but Windigo's often trippy and creative pop rock sound should find an audience on Easter Monday, and Dentist do have some punk-influenced material in their sets that will appeal to fans, even if you're not high on surf rock! Apparently self-promoted by Id Iota (though Six, Two, Oh. & Ears and Eyes are given special thanks), this 19+ concert has a $5 cover charge and 9:00 PM start time.

Though officially called an "indie Easter show", there's enough hard rock and punk-tinged material on display to keep SMS readers happy on Monday at The New A, so keep this show in mind to end the season with! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Id Iota live!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last few days, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or venue name:

• In their belated first reveal of a new band member on their Facebook page, local punk/metal favourites Jack Spades have announced the addition of Eclipse guitarist Daniel Horton to their new lineup, replacing the already-departed Jesse Cook. Daniel's a solid choice that should add a lot to the band, so don't miss his debut with Jack Spades at the CKY concert in June! No word though on if his addition means anything for the active status of Project 421, who have not issued a public update since February, or played live since October.
• Pillory bassist Jordan Leach (going under his full last name Leach-Berube) is now offering his services as a session bassist for live concerts and recording projects, and he does have his own gear. Jordan is a talented artist in different rock genres, so message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from last month if you're interested in working with him in some form!
• New private concert venue Mellow D's Underground will host an "Easter Eafterparty" (sic) TONIGHT after Live705's Easter Bash! This is a private event with the the address obtained by personal request at The Rockstar Bar after the show, but it will be a concert with live bands, including The Noochin' Lanterns and mystery guests, plus an open mic component. This is a licensed event, but it is also all ages. Invite-only as it may be, keep it in mind if you want to extend the bash into the wee hours of the morning!

That's all for today, but I hope to see you guys at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for Live705's Easter Bash! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (A Dire Setback) & Lots Of Assorted Recent Updates!!

On this cold and snowy Monday morning, let's see if some new metal, hard rock, and punk news can warm things up a bit! This is mostly an assorted short news story spree today, but leading off, we do have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next year, so here's what you need to know!

The second official concert from new local promoters Live705 has been announced, and it will go down on Saturday, January 21st at The Oddfellows Hall! Seemingly similar in structure to Live705's debut last month, a planned roster of 6 bands will take part in this concert, and the currently listed bands include Live705's own flagship alt-punk quartet A Dire Setback (in their third announced concert set), plus two bands who didn't play in November, namely post-punk quartet Gnaeus (in a rare Oddfellows Hall appearance) and new local indie rock trio The Autumn Roots. The latter band are new to the venue, but frontman Jeremy Hannah was once a frequent promoter here with Big Voiced Records, so it will be nice to see him back on familiar ground! Three more bands are being sought to perform on January 21st, so if you or your band want in, message promoters A.S.A.P. via the official Facebook event page! An $8 cover charge is in effect for this ALL AGES concert, which is planned to begin at 6:00 PM.

After a successful debut last month, complete with a more professional lighting and staging setup than is often seen at The Oddfellows Hall, it's great to see the Live705/A Dire Setback crew back for another go around of more varied all ages action! It will be interesting to see what bands are added to the lineup from here, but there's over a month to go, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in, and see above for current details!

Finally for today, here's ten assorted shorter news stories from the last while, including band link updates, studio recording teasers, and much more! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• We have restored a defunct band to our defunct local band links, they being 20 Pack of Marshmallows, the late 2000s hard rock band from ex-Haggith/Project 421 singer Curtis McKenzie and his brother Travis! This band was originally deleted from our links when their website was "frozen" by host Webs, but their earlier Tripod page under the name Wanko Twist (which we featured here in 2014) is still alive and well, so they're back where they belong! Give their Tripod page a look for a prototype of Curt's later band portfolio!
• In their newest Facebook page posting, local alternative hard rock trio The Din shared a photo from Mission Control Studios, and noted that they were "in a familiar spot... doing familiar stuff with a familiar guy." This heavily implies that they were recently recording music with Dustin Jones of Tidal Records, which they previously did for their song "Alleyways & Apartments", but is a sophomore CD in the works, or is it just a loose recording session? Stay tuned!
• We have deleted mid-2000s hard rock band Downfall from our band links, as their only surviving webpage was taken down with Chris Belsito's Murderfly Entertainment website (which it was hosted through) was closed for unannounced reasons in the past few months. Disappointing to be sure, as their material was solid, but look for guitarist Mike Yakasovich with Northwest!
• Newer local death metal band Exploring Detritus (formerly Kaepora Gaebora) have quietly parted ways with guitarist Daeson Lesage, as per his removal from their Facebook page's lineup. A reason for his exit wasn't announced, but hopefully nothing bad happened, and that we see him in a new band at some point! The newly renamed band have teased that "once the work stops", the metal will begin, so look for more from Exploring Detritus soon, including any potential searches for a new guitarist!
• This is just a housecleaning note given that the festival is no longer held in the area, but we fixed the link for the annual marijuana culture concert festival Hempfest from their Facebook group (which is still active but considered closed) to their official website. The 18th annual installment, and fourth in it's current home of Moonbeam, was successfully held in August, and see the above links for more on Hempfest as it currently stands!
• Local indie/alternative hard rock quartet Id Iota revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that, as the snow comes down, they are sneaking "shelter in the studio", with singer Christian Lemay recording vocals at guitarist Dustin Goodall's home recording studio Unsalted Audio. Is this the first public tease of recording sessions for their first full length CD that they had previously referenced in interviews, or is something else afoot? Keep tabs above for updates!
• We have switched the link for defunct local hard rock quartet Long Shot from their Facebook page (which was sadly deleted recently) to their Bandcamp page, which is thankfully still online and with their only EP still available. I wish bands wouldn't delete their online pages like this, but best of luck to all 4 guys in the future! For reference sake, frontman Evan Dawe moved to Sarnia recently (no word on if this was a direct reason for their breakup or not), and has recently joined forces with fellow singer/guitarist John Pilat in a new indie rock duo named Evan.John.
• In another deletion from our defunct local band links, we have removed 2011-2012 death metal/hardcore band March Into Regression due to the deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page in recent months. Also known as Bring The Misery and the first version of With Blood Build Character (among other briefly used names), M.I.R. played a handful of notable summer shows with a wildly fluctuating lineup, and while it's a shame they didn't last longer, look for alumni in current bands like The Autumn Roots, The Bear Hunters, Exploring Detritus, and Them!
• One more band deletion from our defunct & inactive links, they being Social Suicide, the 2011-2014 punk/death metal band led by March Into Regression bassist Tyler St. Amour, with Ray Cowan from that band also in an early lineup. Despite signing with Blood Shed Productions, Social Suicide never really got off the ground, nor did they post any public media, before their only Facebook page was quietly deleted in recent months. Look for Tyler and Anthony Boudreau in Them, and ex-drummer Keeghan Rosso in the folk rock band Great Chamberlain!
• Remember how an unidentified band from local hard rock musician Steven Flint was scheduled to headline at The Rednecks Saloon this past Saturday, but was never publically confirmed? Well, as it turns out, that night's entertainment became an open jam night, with Steven's Band Camp Rejects bandmates (minus Jamie July) joined by Mourning Wood bandmate Terry Eaton and Lucky 13 guitarist Robin "Bones" Lee as the one-off house band. Sounds like this would have been a fun time, and hopefully there was a great turnout! Our source for this info is Rejects guitarist Mike Muto on the Facebook event page for The B.C.R.s' Rednecks show the previous night.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates later this week! Thanks everyone!

AlgomA/Hooded Menace Split Updates, Plus Live 705 Local Show Videos!!

We're back with a new news post on this cold Wednesday morning, and with weekend concert previews approaching fast, here's our first SMS post without a concert preview or review in over a week! Mostly, we're covering some new concert videos today, but first, here's some long awaited updates on an upcoming (half-)local EP!

Local doom metal trio AlgomA's long-teased split EP with Finnish death/doom metal band Hooded Menace will apparently be released next month! Though originally announced back in January, these are the first major public updates on the split since then, more or less, so what do we know? To be released exclusively on 12'' vinyl records again (similarly to AlgomA's split with Chronobot), the split is still scheduled to come out via Hooded Menace's label Doomentia Records, and this is the final artwork for the cover, as done by Paolo Girardi, with the band logos even having special printing on physical copies. While this is AlgomA's second split release, it'll be Hooded Menace's seventh, and their first release with new singer Harri Kuokkanen. AlgomA haven't given a firm release date yet for the split, though if a release show is planned, note that December 27th's Blood Guy concert at The New A (promoted by AlgomA's own Six, Two, Oh.) is still looking for an opening band. That's just speculation on my part, but you never know!

The full track listing hasn't been given yet, but both bands have released a one minute sample of one of their tracks to their respective Bandcamp pages, with AlgomA's being of their song "Failed Stunt Fatality", and Hooded Menace's of their song "Celestial Dissection". Given how long both bands' songs can be, these might end up being the split's only tracks, but we await confirmation on that (for reference, the AlgomA/Chronobot split had 5 songs, 2 from AlgomA.) We'll hold comment on the samples until the full split comes out for SMS review, but it's shaping up well, despite the months of waiting for new details, and check the above links for much more!

Next up, here's some videos from Saturday night's Live 705 Local Show at The Oddfelows Hall, courtesy of the new local label/promotion agency's Facebook page over the last few days! Live 705 (ran by new local punk band A Dire Setback) filmed or posted a cell phone video of every band that day except headliners K.I.C.K. and debuting punk/metal band Stegadeth, plus this clip of band members setting up for the show in general, which is just 15 seconds long and contains no music. The videos do show the extra work put in to make the show even better, including a stage extension and extra lighting, which does help the often dark and minimalistic staging for many recent Oddfellows shows, and give this one a bigger feel! A Dire Setback themselves were filmed for this 34 second clip of an original song, and while it's not a close or lengthy look at this new band, they sound good and energetic, though watch for a drop in focus at the end. There are more videos elsewhere from A.D.S., so stay tuned for more soon!



Another video from this show features young local blues/classic rock trio Electric Church playing their take on B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby", albeit sadly from a vertical portrait camera angle. This side-stage clip showcases Spencer, Elijah, and Beau in good form on this blues standard, so check it out above, and hopefully we hear more from them soon! Embedded below is a clip of alternative/hard rock trio The Din playing their song "Potato (Should've Known Better)" at The Live 705 Local Show, and while camera focus issues (and a surprise finger) occur in this 40 second clip, The Din sound solid in their first of two shows that day, so give it a look below!

 
The Live 705 page also posted two videos of show-opening rapper Jasmin "Jizzy Baby" Sky, which you can watch here and here. The former is just 20 seconds, but the latter is a side-stage, 6 minute video showcasing her clear rap skills, and especially after a bit of a flub early in the clip, she took it home nicely! Finally for this show, there is one clip of reunited local punk quartet Talk Shit's first live concert in seven years, but for one reason or another, this was filmed both vertically and from the other side of the hall. If they didn't say what band this was in the title, I'd never know who it was! I cannot place the name of this song (it sounds familiar), but Talk Shit sound good from what we can hear, so give their new video a look below, and hopefully they launch a new online page at some point!

  
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!