LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin this weekend concert preview post, just a heads up that Sault Michigan hard rock cover trio Nate's Chow are not playing at The Merchant's Bar on Saturday anymore, as per this updated concert calendar that removed the gig (but added three more Merch shows for later in the year that we will look at in an upcoming post). A reason for this Saturday's cancellation wasn't announced, but we'll have more on their returns soon, as they'll be back before you know it! Now, here's what you should know for most of this weekend's pre-Sunday hard rock concert previews for this weekend, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only confirmed on members' personal Facebook pages yesterday, and have not been publically announced on their (nor the venue's) Facebook pages at press time. TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows got an AI-generated poster on personal accounts again giving their name as Soundcheck 7.3, which has still not been publically corroborated on the band's social media accounts, but it does promise "live classic rock" and "timeless hits" that are "always loud", among other promotional taglines. The shows will mark Soundcheck's second weekend at the former Reggie's West with new bassist Dan Beaupre, and he has finally been confirmed to have also joined their sister band Separate Wayz, as per a live photo and a "Story" from their Facebook page.

If you Hollow fans have missed this reunion of Dan & Terry so far, then keep TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S Jay's shows in mind! These are not promoted as "epic crossover" gigs with Separate Wayz, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Nicole won't pop in. Also, no word if the song used to soundtrack said AI poster (Three Days Grace's "Just Like You") is a teaser of their planned sets. Both of this weekend's shows are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck (7.3?) live a few years back!

Next up, let's head a half hour or so east of town to Echo Bay, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will headline their Elks Lodge #535's "End Of Summer Bash" on SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen at the Bruce Mines Fall Fair even further east on Highway 17, this Saturday's show will send out the summer (which officially ended on Monday) in style with a night full of classic, hard, and southern rock favourites from "the dirty three", and while I'm not sure if there any other frills or perks to this event, the music may be all you need. If you'd rather see Greg, Alex, and Warren in city limits, they'll be rocking Beck's Bar next Saturday. The Elks Lodge in Echo Bay is located at 96 Church Street off of the old Highway 17B, and admission is $15 via the hosts on the Facebook event page or at the door. There is no stated age limit, and the show starts at 8:00 PM. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Bone Yard live in concert last year!

Also on SATURDAY NIGHT is the latest concert from local promoters Underground Events SSM, as Ottawa extreme metal bands Salem Trials and The Jenova Projekt will both make their first stop in the Soo at Blaster Powerhouse! The former's brutal brand of deathcore and the latter's sharp metalcore sound will be a solid complement on Saturday, so don't bypass what will be a devastating one-two punch for metalheads at the former Soo Blaster this weekend! Local support will come by way of space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening and party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty (kinda sorta making up things after dropping out of the 94Fatso show there last month). Neither is gonna do much yelling or growling, but they're both talented bands, so don't be late! Promoted by A.A. bassist Mikhal Muto, advance tickets are still on sale for $25 at The Rad Zone or through members of the local opening bands.

Admission at the door will jump to $30 for this all ages concert, which is slated to have doors opening at 8:30 PM. The Saturday timing is certainly advantageous for Mikhal and all involved performers, so if you love brutal extreme metal, this show will deliver the goods! Visit the official Facebook event page for more on this stop on the Ottawa bands' Heavy Is The Head Tour, and for a preview, here's Salem Trials live!

Finally, let's head south to Sault Michigan for the latest concert from Soo Tang Records, as local hardcore punk trio Viscera will headline another concert in the basement of Pizza Hut on SATURDAY NIGHT! Now named "Sault Slaughter" on the new poster, this concert will again pair Viscera with touring Michigan bands, but one fewer than we realized, as Marquette "ghostcore" band Particle Thrower dropped out of this concert, as per Viscera's Instagram page on Sunday. A reason for their withdrawal was not announced, but hopefully nothing too serious happened, and that we see Particle Thrower make the 3 hour drive east in the future! Possibly due to the short notice, they were not replaced on Saturday's bill, but there will still be two touring acts here, namely Grand Rapids death metal quartet Life Sentence and Marquette progressive deathcore quartet SilentLife, both in their local debuts. Three bands worth of extreme metal and hardcore punk sounds like a fun way to spend your evening if you wanna head to Pizza Hut!

Doors open at 7:00 PM with a $15 cover charge, and this show is absolutely all ages. Visit the above links for more details on all of Saturday's action, and for a preview, here's a new video of Viscera live! This was uploaded to frontman "Blind" Bob Quinn's personal Facebook page before being shared onto the band's Facebook page by drummer Mitchell Leon on September 3rd, and it features vertical (alas) video clips of their gig at Three One Three On Ashmun last month set to live background audio with some grainy filtering in post-production. No attempt to sync the audio, but it's an effective sampler with some neat panning camera angles of the action at the former Back Door, so give it a watch for yourselves below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a new news post next! Thanks everyone!

News & Updates From The Realignment Project & Viscera!!

Now that our weekend concert previews are done and dusted (for now), let's spend some time digging out of our still-massive backlog of stories from the past month, and tonight's post looks at new updates and media from a band on each side of the border, so here's what you should know!

Let's start today with the latest from local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project, so what have they been up to in the past two months? When we left off with the Matt Hicks-led project, he had just released their first full-length album (as opposed to EPs) "Long Cold Winter", and was in the process of uploading individual YouTube lyric videos of its songs. On June 13th, Matt revealed on their Facebook page that "album 2 is starting to develop some decent bones", so his rapid recording schedule hasn't slowed down just because he's working on longer studio albums! Said post was accompanied by a black-and-white photo of his tracking computer, even. Two days later, two T.R.P. songs were featured on The Tuesday Pump Session show with Jeff Tucker on the Georgia-based internet station Front Row Radio, and it's great to see that Matt's solo music is spreading far beyond the Soo area!

The Realignment Project got some more far-flung internet radio coverage on July 22nd when they and other labelmates at East London Recordings were featured as part of a "takeover" of British internet station Coastal Breeze Radio, so add some more international exposure, and it's good to see Matt's label promoting his music well! Lastly for the recent T.R.P. updates is that they released their second proper music video (not a lyric video) to their YouTube channel. There's less to this in terms of filming, as it's a one-take video of Matt singing the song from the shoulders up, but there was a heavy filter put on it in post-production that looks like the Stylize "Glowing Edges" filter from Adobe Photoshop. I'll hold comment on the song pending our review of "Long Cold Winter" (allegedly available on "all streaming platforms"), but it's a distinct looking video for sure, so give it a watch for yourselves below, and stay tuned for more from Matt soon!

Next up, here's some new updates from Sault Michigan hardcore punk trio Viscera, starting with the reveal on their Facebook page on July 22nd that they have had a print run of their debut EP "From Feast To Famine" made on CD, and they are now on sale via their Bandcamp page for $12 USD (as of this writing, $16.73 CAD). That is certainly good news, even if there isn't an obvious brick-and-mortar location to sell them at in the Soo post-Crooked Music, so buy it above if you want a physical copy! Bands have been added to both of Viscera's announced Soo Tang Records concerts here in the coming weeks, as per updated concert posters on their Instagram page. For their August 22nd headlining concert at Three One Three On Ashmun, they have added Marquette indie rock/power pop quartet Addicus in their local debut, so this show will definitely lean punk, if not have a genre variance.

A female fronted band with a strong upbeat sound and fun lyrics, hopefully Addicus provide a good counterbalance to Viscera's attack in two weeks! A second opening band, local or otherwise, is being sought, so message Viscera above if you wanna join this bill at the former Back Door. As for their show in the basement of Pizza Hut on September 26th, that show has had its lineup capped off with a third touring band, namely Marquette progressive/deathcore quartet SilentLife, also in their Sault Ste. Marie debut. Brutal yet atmospheric sound from them, and definitely not a style of original metal seen often in the EUP, so keep this show in mind for them and much more next month! Finally for tonight's news post, new live videos were filmed at Viscera's most recent gig, a headlining date at Superior Culture in Marquette last week, as shot by a members of other Marquette bands, one being Particle Thrower, who were the first announced openers for next month's Pizza Hut show.

I can't embed these videos here because they are tiled in a batch post, and videos uploaded thusly aren't embeddable on external websites, but the first three feature Viscera live, including their first public footage with new bassist Chris Lovins that I am aware of. Looks like an animated crowd for their hard hitting attack, and the guys look in good spirits (was Blind Bob wearing camouflage face paint?). The third video notably has an overhead view of Mitchell drumming, and if you have the means of a second floor or balcony to make that a reality, you take it! Sadly, these videos are all vertical and reasonably short, but give them a watch above, and stay tuned for more news & notes on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!