New Videos And More Recent News & Notes!!

Before we dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, here's a new news post to check out on this stormy Wednesday night, which wraps up with some assorted recent updates, but let's lead off with a batch of new videos, starting another new video from local/Barrie punk/metal quartet Spades GT! This comes from Toronto filmmaker Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group, who filmed and edited this seven minute clip for the band, and be advised that while the YouTube video is unlisted there, Spades' Facebook page shared the clip publically earlier today. The video was shot at their set opening for Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, and it features the absolute best quality video footage I've seen of Spades (Jack or GT), but it's not just about that, as Aidan also filmed new band members Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner prepping for the show and driving to the venue (meeting up with J.D. and Dan there).

You also see the guys setting up for their gear & some one-on-one remarks outside The Rockpile before we get soundcheck and performance footage taking up most of the last 2½ minutes. Nice little "Inside Baseball" look at Spades GT getting ready for a concert in their current era, and again, the video quality is excellent for the performance clips, as brief as they are! It'd be awesome if Aidan could post the whole unedited set, but if you want to watch the whole thing from another attendee, check back on the SMS by the weekend. Check things out below, and look for a couple of cameos by Anvil drummer Robb Reiner (Tyler's dad!)

Next up, here's another new video of new local acoustic hard rock (and online page-less) duo Short & Sweet from the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as per frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel once again! Why he's staggering uploads like this, I'm not sure, but it does mean that we're covering Short & Sweet more frequently! This time out, you will see him and Kyle covering another Seether song, namely "Wasteland" (definitely not the same named song by 10 Years). Another strongly handled cover that's effectively pared down to an acoustic duo format, in spite of some jittery camera work, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's the latest from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown, who revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that their second show with their current lineup will take place on July 13th.... in Chesterfield Township, outside of Detroit. Alas, no local dates yet, hopefully at some point soon! Specifically, they'll be opening for Nonpoint (of "Bullet With A Name" and "Left For You" fame) that night at the Diesel Concert Lounge, so click here for details on that show if you're so inclined. In the video proper, singer Brandon West (who randomly loses his shirt midway through) and guitarist Ted Olson are bantering with someone off camera while allegedly signing their contract to open for this concert, before plugging the show proper. They also have tickets to sell for $20 a piece (message them for details), so this may be one of those "openers pay to perform and sell tickets to offset the cost" situations that you see more of in larger markets.

Still a huge deal for H.L.T.C. to open for a name band like this, let alone in their second show with this lineup (this will be huge for Jaxon especially), so give the announcement video at this link! I cannot embed the video here due to Facebook content matching the music in the video, even though it is from Heavy Lies The Crown's own album.

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

• I have moved Sault Ontario alternative/grunge solo project Kush Wood to our inactive band links, having not updated their Facebook page since sharing a meme in May of last year. Project leader Kristien Woodcock had been active recording original content since 2015, and he had a good thing going despite us only discovering his work last summer, so hopefully he picks things back up for Kush Wood in due course!
• As per their Facebook page last month, local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp has left Bandcamp (at least for now) to devote more resources to uploading new material on a perceived overlooked platform, namely Soundcloud, while also introducing a Patreon account for paid backers to get exclusive content. As such, their prior paid virtual singles can now be heard for free on Soundcloud, albeit without the paid buyer-exclusive bonus tracks. Sounds like Boyd's thinking outside the box a little for his imminent music work, but we'll see how things ahead go for Molten Imp!
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will hit the road for DeTour Village (70 minutes southeast of the Soo) this Saturday for a free outdoor concert at their marina as part of DeTour Village's summer concert series! Now, DeTour Village is just outside of our coverage range (it and Drummond Island are really the only parts of Chippewa County that are more than hour's drive away), but if you're up for a drive or live near the southeast tip of the county, you'll see Rhythm & Brews at DeTour's marina on Saturday at 6:00 PM, and hopefully things go well!
   

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Marconi Meets World) & A New Video!!

Let's kick off a new week at the SMS with another news post, and while we do have a new live concert video to round things out with, it's mostly devoted to a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT attached to a huge community festival taking place next month! Here's what you should know!

Local acoustic hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will be among the stacked & diverse lineup of musical entertainment at the Marconi Meets World festival taking place outside of The Marconi Cultural Events Center at 450 Albert Street West from Thursday, July 21st to Saturday, July 23rd! Announced back in March with the first lineup details following last month, Marconi Meets World is a special three day event to help expand cultural heritage in the Jamestown area and community, in collaboration with the Missanabie Cree First Nation and the local Elettra Marconi & Guglielmo Marconi Societies, and it looks like The Marconi Club is going all out to make this a big deal! The schedule calls for Thursday the 21st to be focused around cultural celebrations, Friday the 22nd on indigenous celebrations, and Saturday the 23rd on an Italian festival, and there will be vendors, refreshments, and family friendly activites throughout.

What we don't have yet is a full schedule for the bands, but unlike the Northern Vibe Festival last year, organizers have detailed some of the daily lineups. Three out of town touring acts will make up the indigenous celebration lineup on July 22nd, including former Junkhouse/Blackie & The Rodeo Kings frontman Tom Wilson (who plays blues & folk rock solo), Juno winning Toronto folk band Digging Roots, and Sudbury/Toronto roots/folk artist Mimi O'Bonsawin. The Italian fest on July 23rd will be headlined by local pop rock cover band The Killer Hooks alongside Brampton pianist/accordionist Carmen Spada and veteran local classic rock duo Frankly Speaking. The remaining local acts are allegedly playing on the all-local Thursday lineup or on Saturday, not Friday, but dates are largely not out yet. However, Wyld Stallyns singer/guitarist Rob Speers confirmed to me in a Facebook conversation that they will be playing on Thursday the 21st, so we know that much!

Other local acts playing on Thursday or Saturday include country musician Brendan Hodgson, instrumental folk rock trio The Dynowaves, acoustic roots/reggae band Unorganized Township, online page-less folk/indie band All The Tired Horses (featuring Treble Charger's Bill Priddle with Id Iota alumni), and new local indie duo Sainte Marie. We will let you know when full daily itineraries for those days publically turn up! Due to increased local sponsorship, ticket prices have dropped for Marconi Meets World compared to when they first went on sale, and they now run for $17.18 (for one day's admission to the kids zone only), $22.52 (daily general admission for students or seniors with ID), $27.87 (daily general admission for anyone aged 19-59), and a full three day pass for $108.82 (it costs more because you'll also get a festival t-shirt, lanyard, and other goodies.)

Buy your tickets online at this link, and inquire within about availability at The Marconi Club proper or at the door. This obviously all ages festival has daily start times of 10:00 AM, musical artist timeslots to be confirmed. Sounds like a very ambitious and well planned festival, and with so much re-opening and either returning or debuting anew this summer with pandemic restrictions largely ending, hopefully Marconi Meets World is a huge hit! The Stallyns are really the only hard rock respite scheduled, but their sound and cover selection should appeal to many attendees on July 21st, no matter who else is playing that day! Visit the official Facebook event page for full and continuing festival details!

Finally for today, here's one more new video from new local acoustic hard rock duo Short & Sweet's debut set at the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as uploaded to frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel on Friday! This time, he and Kyle covered Seether's "Save Today", which effectively translates to this live format, buoyed by Cory's strong vocals, so fans of his local band work should take to this cover! Give it a look below!

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

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

All video post on this Tuesday evening, including some recent concert videos from both the Soo and out of town, along with an apology for a recent missed show, but let's lead off with videos from two different bands at the same major venue in recent weeks!

Let's start with lots of videos from The Glorious Sons' headlining concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre last month, and while I've only found YouTube videos from one source, they're thankfully from Christopher Paci's awesome YouTube channel, so you know he got a solid fill of content! Whether he's a big fan of theirs or whether he was adjusting for the lack of an opening band, I can't say, but Chris filmed eleven videos of the Kingston roots/hard rock quintet at the former Kiwanis Theatre, including (in performance order) "I Want Ya", "Mama", "My Poor Heart", "One Church Town",  this song that he couldn't title (the lyrics don't match anything on Google so it may be new), "Lean On Me Love", "Young King", "S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun)", "Everything Is Alright", "Kill The Lights", and as embedded below, their set-closer "Amigo", which is typically extended to 8+ minutes in live appearances like this.

Chris was not in the closest seating section, but he had a good central view of the stage and fans ahead of him, which especially works to the benefit of "Amigo" with all of the clapping in time with the song mid-way through! The audio on heavier stretches can be scratchy, which is nothing new, but softer parts come through nicely, and fans of The Glorious Sons should take to all of these videos, which you can watch above & below!

Next up, here's the latest from young local hard rock quartet Raincourt, and first off, I do have to apologize for missing a concert of theirs, as they played a publically attendable concert at the aforementioned Sault Community Theatre Centre this past Wednesday! The humongous venue is explained by it being on the campus of White Pines Collegiate & Vocational School (which Raincourt's members currently attend), and White Pines has been hosting a Coffee House concert series there during the 2021-22 school year, with last week's being their semester-closing event, including a show for students only at 1:00 PM and a show open to everyone at 7:00 PM. The main attractions were The White Pines Concert Band and their Mustang Sally-esque school group The Pine Tones (who feature all of the guys from Raincourt), but other student artists performed, including Raincourt proper. I profusely apologize for missing this show, hopefully it was a huge hit!

If you missed this event, never fear, as a video of Raincourt (sans face masks!) covering The Beatles' "Come Together" was uploaded to their Facebook page on Friday. Solid cover from a nice and close angle, with Elijah showing some nice grit & swagger with his vocals and stage presence, and everyone has a strong handle on this classic rock favourite! Give it a watch below, and apologies again for missing the White Pines Coffee House show last week on here!

Also, local/Barrie punk/metal quintet Spades GT have launched their official YouTube channel and have posted three performance videos there to check out! Two were also uploaded to their Facebook page, including the jam session clip of "Crossroads" (albeit still with audio from the Jack Spades studio version dubbed overtop) and a brand new video from their set opening Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, where they played "Cenobites", a song that debuted with Jack Spades but isn't on an album yet. Embedded below is their full 28 minute return set in April opening for Random Killing at The Queens Nightclub in Barrie, and yes, it has the live original audio! In order, you'll see J.D., the Daniels, and Tyler play "They Live", "Rise", "Cenobites", "Crossroads", "Fear Corps", "Motorwolf", "Negative Headspace", a cover of Turbonegro's "All My Friends Are Dead", and finally, their own song "To The Left".

Note that in the song introductions, J.D. first calls the band "Jack Spades" still (old habits die hard?), but later acknowledges that they used to be "Jack Spades SSM" before relocating. This set will be very familiar for local Jack Spades fans, as nothing here wasn't seen in their local sets in 2019, only the venue and two new faces will be different. Great video quality with multiple camera angles and a nice crooked angle of the stage and front row fans, and Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner compliment J.D. & Daniel nicely here and on the new Toronto clip! More videos are teased to be forthcoming, but give all of these a look above & below!

Finally, here are three videos of new local acoustic hard rock duo Short & Sweet's opening set for Parabol at Soo Blaster this past weekend! Uploaded to frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel yesterday, these feature him and bandmate/fellow Skeyes of Seven alum Kyle Sweet covering Breaking Benjamin's "Forget It", Slipknot's "Vermilion Pt. 2", and as embedded below, a stripped down version of his old Sense of Truth song "Anything At All". Despite some jittery camera work, the videos are nicely angled and capture Cory and Kyle in a good element with some strong vocal & guitar work, and they'd definitely be added to our links if they got a Facebook page or something! Give these a watch above & below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck) & Most Of This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

Before we kick off this weekend's hard rock concert previews, just a heads up that local classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession's planned Esquire Club matinee show on Saturday, June 11th has been cancelled, as per their Facebook page. This is their second straight concert cancellation following their planned May 28th gig at the same venue, and while that one was scuttled due to "health reasons", they emphasized this time that "we are all OK" and it was "due to unforeseen circumstances". Obsession will reportedly return to the stage at Rotaryfest Stage 1 next month, but we await a formal announcement by organizers on this year's lineup. Stay tuned, and hopefully all is indeed well in the band's camp!

Now, let's dive into most of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, with the exception of the Glambition festival on Saturday, which will topline tomorrow's post due to it's size & nature. Today's shows are all pure concerts, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these dates were only announced via two separate Facebook event pages (one for each night) launched through their own Facebook page yesterday. These will be Soundcheck's first gigs at the downtown Reggie's in just over a month, and come fresh off of their usual Thursday open mic/jam night that they host at Reggie's West. Hopefully Terry, Cameron(?), Paul or Rob, and Glen have a great weekend!

TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S concerts are 19+ affairs with no cover charge as normal for Reggie's, but in what may be a reversion to pre-pandemic scenatios, the start times for both nights are listed as 9:30 PM rather than 8:00 PM. Good sign towards further normalcy, or a typo? Visit the above links for more on Soundcheck's Reggie's Place shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY, and here's Soundcheck's rock attack live!

Next up, here's some shows this weekend that had lots more than a few days' notice, starting with the return of Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! An unusually fast turnaround for these veteran touring favourites in the E.U.P., as fans in Sault Michigan will have just seen Jeff, Adam, and Brooks three weeks ago, but St. Ignace-area fans last saw Peril this past fall. Peril's talented and experienced brand of hard rock, classic rock, and metal covers should go over well as usual tomorrow & Saturday in St. Ignace, so don't miss out on all of the action if you're able to go! As usual for Kewadin lounge gigs, expect 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits. If you can't make it, Peril and their sister band Scarkazm are not advertised for Kewadin dates through July, so keep an eye out for late 2022 dates. See above for more, and here's Peril live!

Also this weekend, let's head back to Sault Ontario, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Dennis Street for a second straight week THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! After surprisingly playing both Friday and Saturday there last week, Bone Yard are back to the usual Saturday-only booking at Shooters this weekend, either due to or resulting in their Warren-less acoustic side project The Bearded Lounge (more on them soon) playing at The Water Tower Pub tomorrow night, and click here for details on that. The new Bone Yard lineup has been impressing since their debut in March, and hopefully the guys deliver more southern fried hard & classic rock favourites on Saturday once again! Expect an 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit as usual. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's some new live concert videos of Bone Yard playing at Shooters last week!

On May 27th, they live-streamed (sadly vertical) videos of covers of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" and (as embedded below), Van Halen's "Eruption" & their version of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", while an attendee named Becky shot them covering snippets of The Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" & Kim Mitchell's "Lager & Ale" the next night in this (also vertical) clip.  Solid performances, if not optimally  angled, and Bone Yard have a good grip on these covers, especially thanks to Alex's very sound lead guitar work, so check these out above & below, and don't miss Bone Yard proper on Saturday night!

Finally for today's previews, local Tool tribute band Parabol will play their first public concert since October 2019 when they headline at Soo Blaster THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! In the 2+ years since this supergroup of Redefined, Odd Man Out, Half Past, and Late Shift alumni last performed, we've sat through a pandemic and the deletion and relaunch of their Facebook page, but hopefully their very faithful brand of Tool's progressive metal staples will be welcomed back with open arms on Saturday night! Soo Blaster may seem over-sized, but their last show before now was held there, and unlike then, Parabol will have an opening act. The band in question is new local acoustic rock duo Short & Sweet, featuring former Skeyes of Seven bandmates Cory Murchison (a.k.a. recent Fort Creek opener Cory Daniel) and Kyle Sweet. No online page or public media samples yet, but Cory & Kyle are well established and should set the tone nicely!

Note that Parabol's Al Fletcher is also a Skeyes of Seven alum, and Steve Myers played with Cory in Sense of Truth, so could we see any sort of symmetry during either band's set? Originally set to be a 19+ event, this concert is reportedly now ALL AGES due to popular demand, which does bode well for Parabol's return! Admission is $15 at the door (alas, this is up from the October 2019 concert), and a 9:00 PM start time is in effect. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Parabol's ultra faithful live Tool experience in video format!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Glambition preview and more next, with this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post following this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (These Magnificent Tentacles), New Videos, And Much More!!

Late news post to check out on this Friday night, including some new video discoveries, a few shorter assorted notes, and leading off, a somewhat unique LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next weekend!

Local alt-punk duo These Magnificent Tentacles will play their first public concert of 2022 when they open for surf rock trio The Dynowaves on Saturday, May 21st at the return of promoters Dryer Fire's temporary venue! In this case, Dryer Fire have been renting space at 285 Wilson Street (off Bruce Street, near The Breakfast Pig), and they're celebrating their recent growth with an open house featuring the aforementioned live bands, and even refreshments from the Sweet Aisle Candy Store that's also set up at this building. It is worth noting that in their promotion of the concert, These Magnificent Tentacles said on their Facebook page that this will be "our first show as a full team", so did their teased search for new band members prove fruitful? In any event, frontman Brenton Ellis will be selling his own art on this event on a pay-what-you-can basis, which you Slumshine fans should like!

The open house proper has a 1:00 PM matinee start time, no cover charge, and is definitely all ages, which goes with the community art/candy sale aspect well too! This should be a fun change of pace if you're up for some Saturday afternoon concert action next weekend, and between T.M.T. and The Dynowaves, you'll get some diverse musical entertainment! Visit the above links for more details on this unique matinee concert!

Next up, here's two new videos from local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek at their Soo Blaster concert last week! Filmed by attendee Eddie Hernando, one is another acoustic interlude just featuring singer Justin Grayson and bassist Robin "Bones" Lee on acoustic guitar covering Luke Combs' "Beautiful Crazy". I'm not a country guy, but it's a solid rendition! Embedded below is the full band clip of Fort Creek covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man", and it's a well done version that builds in the instruments well, and fans on the floor definitely appreciated dancing to it, so give both of these a look above & below!

Also today, here's some videos from former Leaked/Mustang Sally drummer Nic Buckner on his YouTube channel in the last few years! While Nic didn't become a major name as a local rock drummer, he did move to the States to further his career, and his YouTube videos reflect his later musical education! Alongside covers of Maroon 5, Sweet Machine, Michael Jackson, and The Color Black songs, Nic posted a cover of "Rule of Nines" by the Victoria, B.C. metal band Spiritbox in April 2020, complete with an inset second camera showing his foot pedal work. Nic's a very talented drummer and I like how he mixed the backing song with the drums to optimize his performances, so give these a watch above & below!

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

 

• I have moved local acoustic hard rock band The Isolation Sessions to our inactive band links. The band has not issued a public update since posting a cover of Three Days Grace's "Never Too Late" on their Facebook page in January of last year, with members Jordan Rains & Arthur Lacasse since focusing on Dealing Without and the revival of Half Past. The Isolation Sessions seemed like a promising stopgap band in worse pandemic times, and hopefully we hear more from Jordan, Arthur, and Todd soon (and R.I.P. Chris!)
• Prolific local metal musician Mitch Sirie is looking for a bassist for a hard rock/alternative metal band that he's working on with a sound comparable in range to The Deftones or System of a Down. The sonic description implies that this is not for The Bear Hunters, Exploring Detritus, or Handsome Sandwich (where he is the bassist), so Mitch is definitely keeping busy as things pick up locally in 2022! Message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post yesterday for more details!
• A Facebook event page has been launched for the Parabol-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on June 4th, and it happens to feature a new local band as openers named Short & Sweet, who are an acoustic two-man project from former Skeyes of Seven bandmates Cory Murchison & Kyle Sweet (hence the name). I don't think Short & Sweet have an online page yet, but Cory & Kyle should deliver an entertaining set beforehand, and see above for more details on what should be a solid concert!
  

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