Rotaryfest 2026 Fallout (Part 4), Plus More From Soo Lens!!

Today's post finally sees us put our recent coverage of an annual summer concert festival to bed (famous last words), with a chaser of photos from a photography company who wasn't just present for this event in 2026. Here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Let's wrap up our Rotaryfest fallout coverage today, after only a month+ after the Sault's summer festival ended for 2026! When we left off this past Monday, we only had three Stage 2 bands left to acknowledge public videos from, but alas, I don't believe external videos from Eden Plague's set were uploaded by the band (not counting Johnny's update video during Brendan Hodgson's set) nor other attendees with public channels or pages. Stay tuned for more from the former Bear Hunters in the fall! Moving to the co-headliners, indie/country rock quartet Eli Russell & The River Fools did post a highlight video from their set to their Facebook page, as filmed by former Chunks of Manh/Soo Fighters bassist Max Ambeault. The video quality here is really nice, which makes the vertical orientation, short runtime, and lack of raw audio just as disappointing. What we get is solid with some nice views of the crowd though!

Still, I can only imagine what all Max shot for raw footage at Clergue Park last month, but click here to see Eli & crew in action regardless, if for 35 seconds! We'll finally close our Rotaryfest Stage 2 fallout by looking at this year's headliners, namely death metal trio Pillory, who drummer Bret Shuttleworth captured the entire set of via a stationary camera mounted beside 705Live Sound Co.'s tent, with the full video then being uploaded to his YouTube channel. In their last concert before a teased break to write for their next album, this 37 minutes-long set features Bret, Robert, and Devon playing their usual "End Of Small Sanctuary" intro track before diving into "Specimen Of Egotism", "Abhorred Apprehension", "The Curse Of Eternal Sickness", "The Angst Of Existence", "The Passing", their newest song "No Beyond", "A Drop Of Shame In An Ocean Of Guilt", and "The Stalker", before closing with a cover of Death's "Pull The Plug".

The resolution isn't super high, but everything sounds nice and brutal with a solid crowd turnout near the front of the stage, and it's still something of a trip to hear death metal on the Second Stage! Note the colour changing Pillory logo in the top left, but it's not in an intrusive place. Also, don't be too picky about the slightly crooked camera angle, remember that the tripod was mounted on the lawn. Give Pillory's entire headlining set a watch below!

Finally(?) from Rotaryfest, Bret just uploaded one more video from Pillory's set to his channel, featuring an attendee's footage of them playing "No Beyond" and "A Drop Of Shame In An Ocean Of Guilt", albeit with dead air removed in between. Note that Bret said in the description that this video was of "us debuting our two newest songs", even though "A Drop Of..." has been played live multiple times before last month. The video quality is much crisper, aided by the filmer being close to the stage, but the audio is definitely more muffled, so keep that in mind. Not a bad video of their recent material regardless, so give it a watch below!

To end things, we'll close today with a page that we alluded to in this past Monday's Rotaryfest post, namely local photography company Soo Lens, who snapped photos of Zed's headlining set on Stage 1 last month, but they actually debuted at Rotaryfest last year. Across photos and highlight videos (with dubbed audio in post in all cases) on their Facebook page, you can see their photos from Billy & Elton: The Legends, Bourbon Blue, and Who Made Who's 2025 Stage 1 sets, a number of performers at last year's Northern Vibe Festival (including HeadFirst on the Friday, multiple local bands on the salvaged replacement stage on Saturday after the storm, and a Roost River Stage DJ), September 2025's My Son The Hurricane concert, Mike Haggith's "Under A Moonlit Sky" concert at The Downtown Plaza, Afrofest at Soo Blaster, Silent 9 at Bon Soo's opening ceremonies, and Stones & Crows at Beck's Bar in June.

Soo Lens' photography is excellent and captures some great (if largely vertical) shots from the above concert events, which are the bulk of their content so far. Highlighting them in videos is a novel way to increase exposure beyond just individual photo albums, but remember, Soo Lens' videos are mostly slideshows with dubbed over audio rather than raw concert audio. A common opening lets us see their owner's arm outstretched pointing the camera at the stage, which still leaves me wondering what kind of videos they're filming with the second camera, and if there's anything there worth sharing. See above for more from Soo Lens, look for them at future local concerts, and here's their "Under A Moonlit Sky" video!

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

Rotaryfest Stage 2 Concert Preview, Including Air Quality Updates For This Weekend!!

This weekend's concert previews continue today with the 19th annual Stage 2 at Rotaryfest, which is scheduled to return to the outdoor stage beside The Art Gallery of Algoma at Clergue Park tomorrow and Saturday. While there was nothing to cancel today on the Second Stage, the widely spreading forest fire smoke from Northwestern Ontario has led to severe air quality conditions in the Soo and area, with Rotaryfest cancelling all events today aside from Ribfest, the midway, and some vendors. At press time, nothing is cancelled musically at Clergue Park tomorrow, but the air quality index is not expected to drastically improve (click here for the current status). Updates from Rotaryfest are expected on their website and social media accounts at 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM (it was at noon today when we learned about today's Stage 1 cancellation), and while nothing is officially cancelled yet on Stages 1 or 2, I'd monitor things.

Even if music does go ahead tomorrow (and it's too soon to guess on Saturday), the possibility of musicians or bands dropping out due to personal concerns with the air quality is very possible. There's a lot of unknowns, as no one could have forecasted this even a week ago, but I'll let you know when I hear any clarification, good or bad! Assuming things proceed as normal, tomorrow's opening day at Stage 2 is slated to be the fifth annual Friday Night Blues program, as curated by the Sault Blues Society. As usual, this lineup does not contain hard rock or punk acts, but assuming things go ahead unchanged, the bands will include newer blues rock cover band Sunday & The Broken Hearts (featuring all members of The Range Lights from today's cancelled Stage 1 program) at 8:30 PM, veteran local musician Rusty McCarthy (again billed as "Rusty McBlues") at 7:30 PM, ...

...the debuting Jay Scali Band at 6:30 PM, blues veterans Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers at 5:30 PM, and Josh "The Preacher" McNally and his new Jackleg Band opening at 4:30 PM. Nothing too heavy, but all five acts have familiar faces from SMS coverage, so hopefully they get a chance to deliver the blues to a willing audience in habitable air tomorrow night!

As for SATURDAY's tenth year of the "Redirected" era of Stage 2, that day's originals-leaning program will again be curated by local guitarist and producer Dustin Goodall, though only one act that day is a returnee from a past Second Stage lineup. Assuming no cancellations or dropouts, your headliners this year are local death/thrash metal trio Pillory, easily one of the heaviest bands to ever play Stage 2, so faces will melt on Saturday night if things are a go! Co-headlining at 7:30 PM are new local indie/folk rock quartet Eli Russell & The River Fools (featuring Sylo and Wild Iris alumni), while the 6:30 PM slot belongs to local death metal veterans Eden Plague. Eleven years after the former Bear Hunters launched a petition & fan campaign to be added to Rotaryfest's 2015 lineup, they finally made good on that plan, but will the forest fire smoke thwart their belated festival debut even still?

New local blues/hard rock trio (and Electric Church successors) Stones & Crows will (hopefully) take the stage at 5:30 PM, preceded by veteran local folk singer/guitarist M.D. Dunn in his fifth Stage 2 set and first in three years. Fresh off of the Downtown Street Party cancellation, local country musician Brendan Hodgson will become the eleventh Stage 1 act to perform on the Second Stage when he performs at 3:30 PM, while new local hard rock/blues quartet The Reeves are slated to debut eight songs from their planned debut EP in their 2:30 PM set. Given the air quality, imagine if Brad & Steve retained their prior band's name (The Haze) for this set! Rather than book an eighth proper act, Stage 2 will experiment with an open mic block (a'la at the last two Swampstravaganzas) at 1:30 PM. The atmospheric conditions are a variable no one expected, but if you do want to throw your hat into the ring as a potential performer, click here.

Temperatures are expected to still hover around 19-22° for Friday Night Blues, which should end before the projected overnight thunderstorm, but rain is possible for much of tomorrow's program if it takes place. As for Saturday, the hourly forecast from 9&10 News actually points to pleasant conditions (not counting the air quality), with temperatures hovering around 18-21° with partly cloudy skies and no likely rain. Saturday is the most important day for Rotaryfest in terms of the bands on both stages, so fingers crossed that the smoke dissipates enough to let Stages 1 and 2 proceed as normal! Visit the above links for more on what to hopefully expect at the Second Stage this weekend, and here's Pillory live!

Our next post (hitting the site likely tomorrow morning) will feature the Bush/Candlebox and Ripcordz previews, perhaps including more late notice gigs? Stay tuned for that, air quality updates re: Rotaryfest, and more on the SMS in short order! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Stage 2!!)

It took a few extra days, but the complete lineup for Rotaryfest Stage 2 has been announced via their website! Sponsored once again by SooToday, this is the tenth installment of the Second Stage since the "Redirected" era kicked off in 2015, and will once again occur at the pop-up stage beside the Art Gallery of Algoma at the festival's Clergue Park homebase. As has been the case since the pandemic hiatus ended in 2022, Stage 2 will take place on two days, starting with the Friday Night Blues lineup on July 17th, curated by the Sault Blues Society. This lineup never has hard rock or punk acts, but the Facebook event page does list many familiar names in the given bands! Newer local blues rock band Sunday & The Broken Hearts will debut on Stage 2 as the 8:30 PM headliners, while veteran local blues/jazz musician Rusty McCarthy (again billed as "Rusty McBlues") will co-headline at 7:30 PM.

This will be Rusty's fourth Friday Night Blues set, and his sixth solo headlining set of any type on the Second Stage, tying Machines Dream for the most ever. The debuting Jay Scali Band (featuring Zak's All-Stars alumni) are up at 6:30 PM, preceded by the third straight Stage 2 set by by veteran blues rockers Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers at 5:30 PM. The day will be kicked off at 4:30 PM by Josh "The Preacher" McNally, though unlike his festival debut last year, he will be backed up by his Jackleg Band. As for the longer program on Saturday, July 18th, this takes a turn from what you may be used to sonically from any era of the Second Stage. With one exception, this year's Stage 2 bands on the Saturday don't lean towards alternative, indie, and/or folk rock. However, while only one Saturday act is a returnee from past Stage 2 lineups, that isn't necessarily strange, as 2024 only had one returning Saturday band as well.

Honestly, the big surprise to me this year is that there are two death metal bands playing on the Second Stage this year, including death metal trio Pillory as the headliners at 8:30 PM! While we have seen Robert Sartini here with All The Tired Horses, The Peach Thieves, and in The Preacher's Jackleg Band, he finally takes center stage next month on Stage 2, so prepare for face melting brutality! Co-headlining at 7:30 PM are Eli Russell & The River Fools, the new southern rock band from (former?) Sylo frontman Elijah Russell and former Wild Iris bandmates Steve Myers & Courtney McDonald. They've been making some waves at headlining gigs this year so far, so keep The River Fools in mind, and we'll let you know if Sylo's status is clarified! Eleven years after launching a petition and fan campaign to get added to the Rotaryfest lineup in 2015, the former Bear Hunters have finally secured a spot on Stage 2 next month!

The now-renamed Eden Plague will finally play at the "Redirected" Clergue Park stage at 6:30 PM,  and while Mitch & Johnny have played Stage 2 since in lighter projects, it will be huge for them, Nik, and Justin to finally brutalize Stage 2 next month! After playing the last two years with HeadFirst, drummer Anthony Boudreau will return with his new local blues/hard rock trio Stones & Crows at 5:30 PM, just three weeks after their live debut. Twenty years after playing at the second annual Second Stage, veteran local folk musician M.D. Dunn will be this year's only returning Stage 2 act at 4:30 PM, in his first set here since 2023 and fifth total. Local country musician Brendan Hodgson will perform at 3:30 PM, and while this will be his Stage 2 debut, he previously performed on Stage 1 from 2021-2024, making him just the eleventh credited act to play both stages. Newer local blues/hard rock quartet The Reeves will debut at Rotary at 2:30 PM.

We'll have more on them soon, but you may recognize them as the Haze/Long Shot successors who publically debuted at Toystock last fall. Surprisingly, Stage 2 will be kicked off at 1:30 PM this year by an open mic block, and while I don't know if this is due to low artist applications or just trying something new, this will be the first Saturday lineup with only seven Stage 2 bands since 2018. This isn't entirely unprecedented, as the last two Swampstravaganzas in 2014 and 2015 also opened with open mic performers, so hopefully some talented folks step on stage to kick off the action by the waterfront! Stage 2 remains a FREE & ALL AGES event as part of another stacked weekend of the Soo's annual summer festival, so visit the above links for full current details on what to expect on Rotaryfest Stage 2 in its 19th installment, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Joe Bedlam

For our last monthly feature post of the month, our newest YouTube Channel Profile is here, and it again features a spotlight of a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk artists/concerts! This month's selection is an official channel for a late lamented band who accomplished a lot and put out some really solid music in their heyday, so here's what you should know!

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Joe Bedlam (http://youtube.com/videosofbedlam)

Owner: A member or representative of 2008-2015 local hard rock quartet Garden of Bedlam, exact identity unclear (though note that no band member was named Joe) 

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 12th, 2010; Videos uploaded from July 2012 through January 2013

Channel Summary: An official YouTube channel for Garden of Bedlam from a six month stretch of the latter half of their active run (succeeding this earlier channel), fans can watch two live performance videos, a rehearsal clip, and a slideshow set to one of their studio tracks here.

Why You Should Watch: While not the largest source of Garden of Bedlam content on YouTube, this channel does feature some good content from shortly before their activity began winding down in the mid-2010s, and fans of theirs should take to the content on offer! I mean, as of this writing, they haven't played live in over a decade, which is hard enough to believe! 

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Garden Of Bedlam - Your Disgrace (live July 21, 2012): The first two uploads here come from Garden of Bedlam's headlining set at Rotaryfest's Second Stage in July 2012, in its penultimate year on a closed off section of Queen Street East before its 2014 hiatus and relocation to Clergue Park. As usual, the band is represented here by ex-Barfly/Changing Lanes frontman Erik "Buzz" Boissineau, guitarist Josh Belleau, bassist Evan Belleau, and future Wyld Stallyns/Even Flow drummer Derek Turner. The guys were filmed here playing two cuts from their 2011 album "Everything Will Die", including the title track and (featured here) "Your Disgrace". Camera work is a little shaky, but the performances are sound, and I miss hearing Buzz's powerful melodic vocals on stage! The Queen Street locale was more unique visually too than how Stage 2 looks now, but your mileage may vary.

 

Garden Of Bedlam - Everything Will Die (drum can rehersal): To help promote their Rad Zone birthday concert on Devil's Night 2012 at The Rockstar Bar, this channel uploaded a rehearsal video of Garden of Bedlam jamming "Everything Will Die" focusing on Derek. Interestingly, this isn't your typical "drum cam" video, as someone (Joe?) was actively filming Derek while holding the camera, not relying on a tripod or stationary placement, so it's quite jittery. The focus on Derek does let us see how solid of a drummer he is (I'm glad that he still performs live in different projects), though you only see part of Josh in frame for the rest of the band. The fan who shows up 30 seconds in sure got a good view of everything!

Garden of Bedlam Around the Bend: The final and most popular "video of bedlam" here is a slideshow set to their ballad "Around The Bend" (also from "Everything Will Die"), featuring ample photos of or related to the band's 2008-2012 activity, including live performance shots, promotional photos, band logos, and album covers. I do like my Garden of Bedlam heavier than this, but the song shows off Buzz's soft pure singing voice really well, and the slideshow gives a nice glimpse at the majority of their run together!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around Boxing Day for one more installment in 2025, and next month, we'll be looking at multiple channels, as the first randomly selected channel only has one video period, so I picked one more channel that had only two distinct SMS-relevant video to fill things out with. As such, we're ending the year with YouTube users kekeitba (featuring a Woods of Ypres song upload) and ChrisHubbard415E (featuring two solo guitar performance videos). Stay tuned for those then, and for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2025 (Stage 2) & Tym Morrison Concert Previews!!

Today's post wraps up this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, and if there's something else on late notice, I'll slot it in where I can. We're mostly looking at the Second Stage at Rotaryfest, but there are a couple more acoustic matinees to take note of, so here's what else you should know for this weekend on this Friday morning!

It's time to preview this weekend's eighteenth annual Rotaryfest Stage 2, as blues bands (tomorrow) and original-leaning acts (Saturday) set up shop at the outdoor stage beside the Art Gallery of Algoma at Clergue Park! In year #9 of the "Redirected" era, this lineup of FREE & ALL AGES music (just a short walk from Stage 1) features thirteen acts for 2025, and in its fourth year on the program, The Sault Blues Society is curating a Friday Night Blues themed lineup tonight that is devoid of hard rock or punk acts. If you're curious to check out the blues rock action, the lineup is headlined at 8:30 PM by local/St. Catharine's blues veteran Rusty McCarthy (credited as "Rusty McBlues") in his fifth solo Second Stage set. The Michael Yurich-led Smokehouse co-headline at 7:30 PM for their third year at Rotaryfest, and one night before they rock Beck's Bar. Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers are in the middle slot at 6:30 PM in their Stage 2 debut.

Fans of Generations may want to see them in their second consecutive year here, as Tony K. and Pierre will join past fill-in guitarist Mike McDonald in their lineup! New local power blues band Dark Eyed Junko (who have a stacked lineup of their own) debut at 5:30 PM, and Josh "The Preacher" McNally will lead off the Friday Night Blues action at 4:30 PM in his own first time at Rotaryfest. Mostly cloudy weather with temperatures of 18-21° is expected, and see above for more details on the Stage 2's opening night!

Veteran local alt-rock guitarist and Unsalted Audio head Dustin Goodall returns as the curator for the regular Second Stage lineup TOMORROW, and an eight band program is in store for fans of (mostly) original rock music! Your headliners tomorrow are local post-hardcore/midwest emo trio Fuller in their Rotaryfest debut and their first gig since their December 2023 reunion at LopLops and since releasing their sophomore album in the spring! You could call this the de facto release party, but A. they haven't confirmed anything about physical copies of "II" going on sale, and B. bassist Mark Rand will not be present for unannounced reasons (though remember that he has lived out of town for years). Former Nebraska Arms guitarist Dave Prendergast will reportedly handle the low end in Mark's stead, so hopefully things go well for Fuller's second post-reunion gig! They're up at 8:30 PM tomorrow.

Preceding them at 7:30 PM is local indie/pop rock band Jupiter Marvelous in their second Stage 2 set, and before them, fans can enjoy Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson at 6:30 PM in his first solo set at Rotaryfest (as in, not alongside Conika or in Planet Rock), and his turntable mixes will be original in their own way! In the heaviest booking on Stage 2 in two decades (if not ever), local progressive/djent metal quartet Convergence (featuring members of The Jazz Cats from tomorrow's Stage 1 lineup) will take over Rotaryfest for the first time at 5:30 PM, while hard rock quintet HeadF1rst will hit the stage at 4:30 as they continue building on their recent momentum! This heavier suppertime block begins at 3:30 PM with the Stage 2 debut of crossover thrash quartet Hails, and before then, we ease into things with two singer/songwriters, including Soundcheck alum Cameron Oliver at 2:30 PM in his first (only?) Stage 2 set.

Fresh off of his covers-leaning set with Mile 38 on Stage 1 tonight, this will be a chance to hear his own solo original material (no idea if he will have a backing band here) before his teased move out of town to further his solo career, so country fans won't want to miss him there! Opening on Saturday at 1:30 PM is folk singer/guitarist Matthew James in his second time on the Second Stage. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is currently calling for mostly cloudy weather with a high of 18°, which is relatively cool as July goes, but be advised that there is a 30% chance of rain that morning, so keep tabs on the forecast if you have any concerns. Visit the above links for much more on Stage 2 this weekend, and here's Fuller live!

Finally, local classic /hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has a busy weekend ahead, as he will double up with two previously announced acoustic gigs this weekend, including at the Fraternal Order Of Eagles Club on SATURDAY NIGHT and at Beck's Bar for a matinee on SUNDAY! As it turns out, we did announce Tym's Sunday stop at Beck's when first announced, it's easy to lose track given how often he schedules similar solo dates. Last seen with a short notice gig at The Dive last week, these two will be a good way for fans to enjoy Tym's unplugged slate of rocking covers from his extensive setlist, especially as he has never played at Rotaryfest that I am aware of. Tym last rocked Aerie #3991 three weeks ago, while it'll be almost four weeks since he rocked Beck's. It is worth noting that, as per Beck's Facebook page, Tym's show there on Sunday is actually taking place on his birthday, so help him celebrate in style, and I hope his show adds to his festivities well!

The Eagles Club show on Saturday is at 8:00 PM, while the Beck's date on Sunday is a 3:00 PM matinee. Both shows are 19+ affairs as far as I'm aware, and neither has an announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details on Tym's two shows this weekend, and here he is live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Stage 2!!)

The eighteenth annual Rotaryfest Stage 2 goes down on Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th, so what should you know there? The Second Stage returns to the pop-up stage beside the Art Gallery of Algoma on Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th for the ninth year of the "Redirected" era, and fourth since adopting the current two day format, including a "Friday Night Blues" program, followed by the usual indie/alternative-leaning lineup on Saturday focusing on original musicians. Thirteen acts will rock Stage 2 that weekend, which is down one from 2024, but there isn't a touring band this year either, so the amount of scheduled local acts is unchanged. Only six acts are returnees from past Second Stage lineups, so there's a good amount of expected and unexpected faces next month! Starting with the Friday Night Blues program, it is devoid of hard rock or punk acts as usual.

Friday's lineup includes veteran local blues musician Rusty McCarthy (billed as "Rusty McBlues") at 8:30 PM in his fifth Stage 2 appearance as a solo act, and third time on a Friday Night Blues bill, while Michael Yurich's blues rock cover band Smokehouse will play their own third Friday Night Blues set at 7:30 PM. Former Generations fill-in guitarist Mike McDonald's band Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers will return to Stage 2 for a second straight year at 6:30 PM, and the day's first two acts are newcomers to Rotaryfest. One is new local "electric power blues" band Dark Eyed Junko, who I don't know much about beyond their sparrow-inspired name, but you can find out at 5:30 PM. The day's lineup will begin with solo blues musician Josh "The Preacher" McNally at 4:30 PM, and he'll be a fitting lead-off for the day's festivities, so visit the above links for more details on the fourth annual Friday Night Blues program for 2025!

As for the Saturday bill, eight acts will hit Stage 2, and in a mild surprise, reunited local midwest emo/post-hardcore trio Fuller will headline at 8:30 PM! This will be their first public concert since their LopLops reunion in December 2023, their second show with drummer David Peredun, and their first gig since releasing their album "II" on streaming services in March, so you could call this the de facto release party (no idea if they'll have a run of CDs or not though). Really cool to see Mark come back home for Rotaryfest, and hopefully the full Fuller end things with a bang! Indie/pop rock band Jupiter Marvelous (led by Caroline Divine/Pixo Control alum Anthony Marcello) will return to Stage 2 for the first time in three years at 7:30 PM, while Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson will surprisingly make his first ever solo appearance on the Second Stage at 6:30 PM, as opposed to joint sets with Conika or Planet Rock.

Local djent/progressive metal quartet Convergence will make their Rotaryfest debut and first ever live appearance beyond Soo Blaster at 5:30 PM, in what you could argue will be the heaviest Stage 2 set ever, though fans of Gates of Winter's 2005-2006 Second Stage sets may disagree! Hard rock quintet Headf1rst will return to Stage 2 for a second straight year at 4:30 PM, preceded by the festival debut of crossover thrash quartet Hails at 3:30 PM. The day begins with acoustic singer/guitarists, including Mile 38/ex-Soundcheck frontman Cameron Oliver's Stage 2 solo debut at 2:30 PM as he continues making the local rounds (while still local) with his own country material, while folk musician Matthew James kicks off the program at 1:30 PM in his second Stage 2 appearance, having also played here in 2023. Notable absences this year include 2023-2024 performers All The Tired Horses and The Hollow Heads, and active three-timers The Northwest, among others.

Sounds like a very strong lineup to me, with Saturday's bill dipping into heavier and punk territory more than we have ever seen on Stage 2 (even when Gates of Winter played here, they were notable outliers), so fans won't want to bypass the FREE & ALL AGES entertainment beside the Art Gallery next month, so click here for details (so far) on Stage 2 in 2025! As for the second year of Stage 3, that will see four DJs/EDM musicians spinning tunes at the Downtown Plaza on Friday only, so click here to learn more. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more (non-Rotaryfest) news and notes on the site over the next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Heavy Lies The Crown) & More Winter Updates From Their Camp!!

It's been two months since we last talked about St. Ignace, Michigan deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown on the SMS in regards to new activity, so what have they been up to as of late? We left off in mid-December, and we'll pick things back up on the 13th of that month with this short Facebook video from singer Brandon West (again introduced here as "Heavy" despite no other band members being present), where he teased the impending delivery of their newest round of official H.L.T.C. hockey jerseys. They arrived three days later, featuring artwork by bassist Christian Cook, and you can see how they turned out at this link! Jerseys were largely made to order with limited extras, but message the band to see about possible availability or to express interest in possible future orders. The band's last proper musical updates of 2024 were their second and third "Studio Update" videos.

Studio Update #2 from December 16th covers similar ground to the first one (footage of guitarist Kaycee Mason and drummer Blaze Beairl tracking material for their forthcoming third full-length album), but does so in colour, while Studio Update #3 from the 21st focuses on Christian (with those hands, though!), albeit in black & white. No sign of Brandon or "travelling" guitarist Jaxon Massaway in either upload, and both continue to use the same clip of "These Walls" as the backing audio. Good to see things progressing throughout the winter, so give the new update videos a watch!

While not featured in the above update videos, Brandon was slated to wrap up vocals "soon" as of January 9th, when the band also teased the possibility of adding more tracks to the album after reviewing what they've recorded so far. The following week, they teased possibly including a featured artist on their new album, and asked fans for suggestions, while they said that "I think these songs are gonna hit different" on January 23rd. Starting later that month, H.L.T.C. began announcing concerts of theirs for 2025, and the first will see them rock Cabin Fever Fest 2 at the From Huron Out Pub in Oscoda (3½ hours southeast of the Soo) over the March 22nd weekend. Twelve bands are scheduled to play this two night festival, including Lansing experimental hard rock band Mr. Denton On Doomsday, who Sault Michigan readers may recall from multiple local gigs in the 2000s. Nice to see them in an SMS post again after 16 long years, albeit not for a local date!

Regarding their new album, they posted a Facebook poll on January 27th to inquire about physical formats to potentially release it on (as far as I'm aware, their two  albums and their debut EP were digitally exclusive). CDs won in a landslide, but we'll let you know if you can actually hold the next album when it's released! On January 28th, Heavy Lies The Crown shared two "Reels" on their Facebook page featuring footage of their set at Fight Breast Cancer With Music at The Delft Theater in Escanaba in October, finally letting us see video footage from that night with actual live audio (they previously only posted a highlight/teaser compilation featuring multiple bands, but with "These Walls" dubbed over). One is of them playing "*69", while the other "Reel" is not labelled as to which song. Click on each to see them, as "Reels" remain unembeddable on external websites and unplayable in background tabs.

While it is great to see actual raw footage from their last concert of 2024, they are horizontal landscape videos forcibly pillarboxed into the vertical "Reel" dimensions, and while they have text captions above, why let these videos be so tiny when they don't have to be? Also on January 28th, H.L.T.C. announced a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for actually local fans, as they will host their third annual 2nd Street Music Festival at 376 North 2nd Street in their St. Ignace hometown on Saturday, August 9th! Like in the past two years, this is being hyped around Brandon's birthday, and further details are to be confirmed, but it's great to see the guys playing a proper E.U.P. show again! We're lucky to see Heavy Lies The Crown in our coverage range twice in a calendar year. If this is similar to the last two installments, this will be a FREE & ALL AGES outdoor event at 7:00 PM with a few extra bands (last year featured Tarnished and Hannahville metal band Ghidora.)

We'll leave things here for now, but they have been quite active posting videos/"Reels" on Facebook in the past three weeks, so it shouldn't be too long before we look at more from Heavy Lies The Crown on the site. 

Rotaryfest 2024 Fallout & Videos (Part 3!!)

It's been almost three weeks since we last posted a recap post from last month's Rotaryfest, and I haven't touched on nearly anything from Stage 2 yet, let alone the closing Stage 1 band, so let's make up for lost time before we enter another month! We left off on Saturday, July 20th before the last band, and for the ninth time in ten years, the last musicians at Clergue Park were a local band rather than the touring Stage 1 attraction. Classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down got the honours in their sophomore year, and they were filmed a lot! Interestingly, it's their original Facebook page (the one formatted like a personal account that they largely stopped using after their guitarist switch) where videos were being shared last month, rather than their newer band-formatted page. Possibly because of the privacy settings on such pages, none of these videos are embeddable externally, so click the song names linked below to see each video.

Attendee Michael Alexander was the first to upload videos in a batch post the day after, getting horizontal(!) videos of them playing "Green Eyed Girl" (which might be an original, but at any rate, it's not the Sugarloaf song like I mistook it for in the past), Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now", and Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "Jailbreak", with new guitarist Beej Syrette handling lead vocals on the Thin Lizzy covers and his cousin Joel singing on the other two. Filmed close to the stage at a slightly skewed angle closer to bassist Brad Stephen, these have good audio, if what inconsistent lighting depending on where Michael was standing combined with the stage effects. Still, fans of Double Down's will like the performances on offer here! Also filming at Rotaryfest was attendee Wanda Wanda, who filmed them covering the Thin Lizzy version of "Whiskey In The Jar", again with Beej on lead vocals.

Wanda was in a similar location to Michael, but alas, this was shot vertically. The lighting is a tad overexposed, and if this clip had to be vertical, I'd have at least centered the band in frame rather than capturing so much of the upper stage, but it's a strong cover for fans of the Thin Lizzy (and Metallica) versions of this Irish standard, and you can tell that Beej is a big fan of theirs! The other two known public videos from Double Down's closing set were live-streamed by attendee Vicky Smith, who filmed them from the opposite side of the stage (if at a much sharper vantage point), though alas, also vertically. Vicky shot the guys covering Simple Minds' "(Don't You) Forget About Me" (with Joel singing), as well as a different angle of their "New Girl Now" cover. Vicky's videos are the most distant from the stage, but the lighting is more level and the audio holds up nicely, so fans should get a kick out of these!

No word on if Double Down themselves had official cameras rolling for their set like they had last year, but these fan-shot videos capture a fun slice of their set, if an unembeddable slice, so click the song names above to hear the Syrettes, Brad, and Ric in action, and yes, we will have some new concert dates of theirs on the SMS soon! Barring some very belated videos or news coverage to come, that wraps up Stage 1 at Rotaryfest 2024 for what has been publically made available, but what about the Friday blues and originals-leaning Saturday lineups on Stage 2 beside the Art Gallery of Algoma? From the former, I haven't seen any public videos (granted, most of the bands on the Friday Night Blues lineup don't have social media pages), but you can see a bunch of photos from Friday on the Sault Blues Society's Facebook page. However, we have a video from the very first band on Stage 2's Saturday lineup to share, and an embeddable one, at that!

The first non-"Shorts" video to ever be uploaded to their YouTube channel (believe it or not), this features hard rock quintet HeadFirst playing their new original "Little Darling" from their debut EP "Head Trauma", which had its pre-release party launch here. The filmer sure made the rounds to get some quality shots of HeadFirst in action from near & far, and while I'll hold comment on the song pending our review of "Head Trauma" (stay tuned by month's end), the performance is lively with good audio quality, and Red is sure putting his energetic stage presence to good use! Give it a watch below, and don't miss HeadFirst at the ARCH Run at Jay's on Saturday!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations & Soundcheck) Plus Our Rotaryfest Stage 2 Preview!!

Alright, here is post #3 of our Rotaryfest weekend concert previews! After looking at Stage 1/Tym Morrison first and Kewadin Casino lounge gigs second, this post covers SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on the weekend nightclub circuit in Sault Ontario, as well as Rotaryfest's Second Stage! This is longer than I would normally like for weekend concert preview posts, but this is a very busy weekend and I really don't want to have to cram a fifth post for that purpose in, especially with other news and content that I want to get to this month. Here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will follow up their Rotaryfest Stage 1 headlining appearance tonight with normal concerts at Reggie's Place TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Reggie's only announced the shows on their Facebook page on Monday, and Soundcheck have not mentioned them publically on theirs (though in their defense, Rotaryfest is obviously first priority given the nature of the festival). TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S Reggie's shows will be their first there since April, and hopefully they ride the momentum of their third Rotaryfest set into some well received hard rocking and country tinged covers further downtown! Due to their headlining set on Stage 1 at 10:20 PM, TONIGHT's Reggie's show will have a special late start time, so don't look for them to begin there until at least 11:30 PM, maybe later than that, so it may only run for half the time or less.

TOMORROW'S show will be full at their normal 9:30 PM start time, and both are 19+ affairs with no cover charge. If you want to keep the party going post-Rotaryfest TONIGHT or just enjoy Soundcheck, head to Reggie's this weekend for even more action, so see the above links for more details, and for a preview, here they are live in concert!

Next up, fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will also have some post-Rotaryfest concert action this weekend, as they'll be rocking Gateway Casino for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, drummer Tony Santoro first announced this gig on the band's Facebook group on Thursday (in this case, the venue has not confirmed any band playing TOMORROW there). This will be Generations' second show at the downtown casino after debuting there two months ago, and is their second gig in a three day span after they kicked off Rotaryfest's live music slate on Stage 1 just last night (photos and videos are already on their Facebook group but I'll save those for our inevitable Rotaryfest fallout coverage next week). Generations will have to compete with Sound Of Sting & Double Down for much of TOMORROW'S runtime, but hopefully there's a good turnout for both events!

Like in May, this one-nighter at Gateway Casino has a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more on the classic and hard rock action there TOMORROW, and for a preview, here's some new videos from their show this past Saturday at Jay's Piston Broke Pub! Filmed by attendee Audrey Marshall for the band's Facebook group, the videos were all included in a batch post on Sunday that also included pictures from the show. In the four videos, Generations covered Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Runnin' Down A Dream" (mostly focusing on Tony Kajnar's song-ending solo), Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" (with bassist Pierre Anthony on lead vocals), and Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" (shot vertically unlike the others). Embedded below is their cover of Nazareth's "Turn On Your Reciever", which showcases a very healthy dance floor, as nicely captured from a stationary angle.

The camera can be shaky at times, and no video captures a full song, but kudos to Audrey for filming what she did on Saturday, and it's nice to see some harder rocking covers compared to what attendees usually film at Generations shows! Check these out above and below, and don't miss Generations at the casino TOMORROW NIGHT!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #3, here's our extended preview of Rotaryfest's seventeenth annual Stage 2, which returns to Clergue Park beside the Art Gallery of Algoma for the eighth year of the "Redirected" era! Like the past two years, Stage 2 is a two day affair, starting with a hard rock/punk-free lineup of Friday Night Blues tonight, as curated by The Sault Blues Society. Bands playing tonight are Mudfoot Mike & The Muckrakers (featuring members of Generations) at 8:30 PM, the debuting That There Blues Band at 7:30 PM and The Associates (featuring Bone Yard 225 bassist Warren Reville) at 6:30 PM, Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle's current classic rock/blues trio All The Tired Horses (one of just two returning Stage 2 bands this year) at 5:30 PM, and new local blues quartet The Eight Seventies (whose sister band The Rhythm Junction play on Stage 1 later tonight) at 4:30 PM. Blues fans will find a lot to like!

As for TOMORROW'S main lineup, this is where the usual Stage 2 format of original-leaning musicians, often of an indie/alternative persuasion, take the stage, and there will be a couple of SMS-amenable acts! Headlining tomorrow are new local bluegrass/folk quartet The Golden Scoundrels (featuring Shit Liver and Handsome Sandwich alumni) at 8:30 PM, while your co-headliners at 7:30 PM are Crystal Falls, Michigan folk/Americana band The Seth Brown Duo in the first post-pandemic Stage 2 set from a touring band. Alternative rock band The Hollow Heads (replacing The Crossroad Magdalenes) will become the fourth band to play Stage 2 in three straight years when they take the stage at 6:30 PM, while the highest slotted heavier/punk band are veteran punk supergroup The Gambit at 5:30 PM. With original material in the works, this union of Bankshot, Downshift, and 12 Gauge Ready alumni should get a strong reception tomorrow! 

The Jacob Valois Group (led by the Convergence/Rhythm Junction guitarist) will bring an original jazz-leaning set to Stage 2 at 4:30 PM. The preceding hour-long set is interestingly split in half for two half hour sets from indie-folk singer Juliana Regan at 4:00 PM and Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch at 3:30 PM. Whether Brandon backs up Juliana or not (he has in the past), he has a very busy day ahead, as he's playing with Bookclub on Stage 1 after this, then heads back to Stage 2 with The Hollow Heads and The Golden Scoundrels, so kudos to him for juggling four (five?) distinct sets tomorrow! The 2:30 PM slot belongs to "Miss Madii", which is essentially pop rock cover quartet Lime, rebranded to reflect that they're playing frontwoman Madii Schomogyi's own original material, meaning that they're jetting from their Stage 1 opening set tomorrow to pull the double. It'll be interesting to hear how that goes for (Miss) Madii and the guys!

Opening tomorrow at 1:30 PM are hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who will release their debut EP "Head Trauma" in limited CD copies at Rotaryfest, so consider buying one for $15 if you want it before it drops on streaming services and/or in wider quantities next week! As always, Stage 2 is FREE & ALL AGES. Currently, The Weather Channel is calling for mostly cloudy weather at 20-24°, and there is a sub-20% chance of rain, but check back closer to showtime for a more accurate projection. This should be a fun time for fans of original and rising local music, with some heavier chasers within, so visit the above links (and your programs) for more on Stage 2, and for a preview, here's The Gambit live at LopLops last year!

That's all for now, but stay tuned either tonight or tomorrow morning for our Ace Frehley, Vaegon, and Pridefest Loud & Proud concert previews to cap off this busy preview stretch! Thanks everyone!