The 2024 Lake Superior State University Battle Of The Bands Review!!

Here's a rarity for the SMS that I hope won't be so rare in the future: A review of a concert in Sault Michigan! On Thursday, Lake Superior State University hosted their second annual community battle of the bands at the on-campus Arts Center, and after missing last year's (I was seriously planning on hopping the border for it before getting a cold), I saw a golden opportunity to bear witness to my first local battle since the pandemic began! Just nice to see one take place in the E.U.P., there haven't been many compared to Sault Ontario. For readers unfamiliar, the Arts Center is LSSU's theater/auditorium at the far left of campus, roughly opposite their bookstore, and it remains as nicely laid out and professional as it was when I was a student there over a decade ago! Tickets were at a proper booth with concessions, and while the start was delayed a bit, there was a decent turnout in the auditorium for the battle on Thursday night!

By no means was it sold out, but I'd estimate 100-200 people were in attendance, and they were very vocal and loud for all acts! The MC of the battle was Arts Center director and LSSU assistant theater professor Noah Luce, while the four judges included two deans at the university (Mindy McCready and Steven Johnson), Arts Center business manager Melissa St. John, and Jillian Roush, who I believe was a current student representative. In terms of the judging criteria, this battle was handled very differently than others I've seen, as each judge individually handled one metric rather than judging each band on all points. One judge scored solely on originality, stage presence, and preparation each, while Jillian handled the audience vote. To that end, Noah encouraged attendees to cheer as loud as they could for each act after their sets for judging purposes. Acts competing on Thursday had a 15 minute set like last year, meaning that they got to play three or four songs each

Unfortunately, there was a late band withdrawal, as Traverse City hard rock band Sonic Dayze did not perform on Thursday for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing too serious happened, it would have been neat to see them in action! The stage setup for the bands was quite cavernous with lots of room to roam if need be, while the three solo musicians performed with a curtain behind them, and regardless, a projection screen displayed the band's name or logo above or behind them. The first act on Thursday was new local rock band Small Town Society, who united vocalist Holly Sibbald, ex-Double Jack guitarist Melvin Willis, (stand-up!) bassist Chris Bennett, drummer Daniel Jackson, and in a surprise not indicated in advance, veteran local guitarist "Blind" Bob Quinn Musically, the Small Town Society covered three songs, including Radiohead's "Creep" and Hozier's "Too Sweet".

Nothing too heavy, but they were a talented band with some solid professionalism for night #1 together, and Holly sure traveled the stage on most of their set! It was neat seeing Chris break out a big stand-up bass too (shades of The Rising Tide there), and they seemed to get a solid response, but it'll be interesting to see where things go for a longer show! Second was the night's first solo act, namely Kaleb Shannon, a local pop rock singer/guitarist who played four songs, including "Acceptance" and three that he mostly described the origins of, but didn't directly name. Kaleb had a natural ease about him and a good rapport with the audience that masked some of the hiccups between his songs! He has a good voice and writes some direct and honest, but upbeat, lyrics, and he has a bright future! Third up on Thursday was solo performer #2, namely veteran local folk singer/guitarist Kevin Blakeney, who returned from last year's battle for a four song set of his own.

Kevin played songs named "Thank God For The TV", an instrumental that I think he called "Angry Man", and a short song he wrote for his granddaughter named "Butterfly". Kevin's matter-of-fact folk rock was well performed and had a strong grit to it, with his vocals reminding me of a cross between Tom Waits and Mark Knopfler (which is certainly not a bad thing). It's tough to assess solo musicians against bands at a judged battle setting, but he left a distinct impression! Local metal/hard rock band Tarnished were next, though not as fans have seen them live this fall. Rather than have Chris Leask & Ron Suchey back as the rhythm section, Alex & Josh called in Destini Smith & Molly Escherich (more on her in a bit) to fill in for the night. Kudos for supporting young local talent! Tarnished and crew played a three song set, including covers of Cameo's "Word Up" (yes) and Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight"

Notably, frontman Alex Traynor did not play guitar at all, instead singing in his finest fuzzy white coat. Gotta be honest, I wanted to see him shredding along with Josh Fair (exclusively called Josh Tyler here) on Thursday, but his vocals suited the songs well with good energy! Destini's bass wasn't working on their opening song, but she and Molly acquitted themselves well, and Tarnished got fans going well with good audience involvement and some solid rock throughout! After a brief intermission, the battle resumed with the band advertised as Unsure, but it seems that they were unsure about that moniker, and instead performed as "The Undecideds". So, who are they? Well, if you were wondering why 2023 battle winners The Sole Aggressors didn't come back, this band may explain why! As far as I'm aware, Sole Aggressors frontman Calvin Swedene and drummer Isaac Brindley were in The Undecideds.

They were joined by a keyboardist named Frank, as well as Calvin's dad (I think) Jason Swedene on bass. Jason happens to be an arts, letters, and social sciences professor at LSSU, for the record. Unlike the Sole Aggressors, The Undecideds played a reserved indie/alternative sound, but were the only band on Thursday to play an all-original set, with their four songs including ones named "In Heaven" and (I think) "Strawberry Pond", with Frank singing lead on their closer. I do prefer what I've heard of the Sole Aggressors, but the songs here had merit for indie rock fans! I would heavily encourage the guys to work on their stage presences though, as they were very stiff, and their set ended very abruptly without a thank you to the fans. Promising musicians in this group though, and the crowd response was good! The penultimate performer on Thursday was former Tarnished bassist Parker Talentino.

He played three originals (including "Already Been Said" & "Barter") as well as a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)". Despite a brief technical glitch at the start when there was no microphone for him to use (Noah lent his for the set), Parker performed well with his own brand of alternative rock originals, showing off a good melodic singing voice and a relatability with his lyrics! Definitely a far cry from what he played with Tarnished at this event last year (the 2023 battle was his debut with them), but a strong effort and it came off naturally! Last but not least were Molly & The Other Guys, a one-off(?) live band to support last year's runner-up artist, Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich. She was joined here by former Tarnished guitarist Nathan Webber, founding/current Tarnished frontman Alex Traynor on bass, and Exit 808 drummer Jackie Moon.

I'm not one to make a big deal about musician ages, but Molly is twelve years old, and even if you put aside the ample cheering section that came out to support her and The Other Guys (they even brought signs and t-shirts!), her talents were on full display both here and when she drummed with Tarnished! The crew covered Hole's "Celebrity Skin" and Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" during their three song set, and while the intro to the latter song felt kind of off, everyone performed well, and it was nice to see Nathan shredding with good enthusiasm on stage again! Molly got a strong backing band here, and while her voice did get a bit strained late, she has a very bright future, and again, she's twelve! While judges deliberated and tallied the scores, Noah promoted upcoming Arts Center events, and the prizes were unchanged from last year ($150 for first place, $50 for second, both as gift cards).

The winners of the 2024 Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands are... Molly & The Other Guys, and given the rock attack and fan response, I'm not too shocked by that! It's a solid jump for Molly after finishing second as a mostly solo act last year (fan-only voting acknowledged), and hopefully she rides this momentum well as she develops as a musician! Tarnished claimed second place after missing the podium outright last year, so kudos to Alex and Molly for sweeping both prizes! Like last year, third place was not announced. Everything ended around 10:00 PM, so it was a nice early evening for this all-ages event, and things seemed to go well for all involved! As a relative outsider to Sault Michigan concerts (I really must continue fixing that), there was a lot of strong talent on display from the bands, Kaleb, Kevin, and Parker, and I do hope that the university brings this back next fall!

You can check out our photos from the battle at this link or via our Facebook page, and yes, I did get a video of each band, namely everyone's first song! Given the short sets, that was the easiest way to ensure everyone was filmed, so apologies to Tarnished for filming the one song where Destini's bass wasn't working! If it helps, it wasn't obvious in the moment. In order, here's The Small Town Society covering The Black Keys' "Wild Child", Kaleb Shannon playing an un-introduced original song, Kevin Blakeney playing "Gone Are The Days", Tarnished covering AC/DC's "Highway To Hell", The Undecideds playing an original song that may be named "Sad People Are Beautiful Things", Parker Talentino playing "When I Fall", and Molly & The Other Guys covering Flyleaf's "Fully Alive"!

I hope you guys liked this extended battle of the bands review, and for Sault Ontario readers, don't bypass the bands and musicians in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Its a smaller area, but there's a lot of talented artists who would benefit from getting hits and fans in Canada, let alone attendance at their shows if you've able to cross the border! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LSSU Battle Of The Bands Lineup Updates, Plus A New-Ish Local Rock Radio Station!!

For a second straight day, we're focusing squarely on Sault Michigan and the Eastern U.P. for today's post, which fills in some blanks for a major upcoming concert event and looks at a regional radio station that some readers may not be aware of, so here's what you should know!

Here are some clarifications for the lineup of next Thursday's battle of the bands at Lake Superior State University's Arts Centre! First up, you may recall in our initial coverage that I held off on talking about hard rock band Sonic Dayze pending a proper write-up, but as it turns out, they're actually from Traverse City, which may explain why I'd never heard of them! A band travelling out of market to compete in a non-local battle of the bands is not a foreign concept, as Tarnished competed at two battles downstate earlier this year, inclding the Rock Recovery one in Alpena that fellow local hard rockers Double Jack (now Exit 808) played at. However, non-local bands coming here is more of a novelty as the Soo goes, and it'll be interesting to see how Sonic Dayze go over next Thursday, especially if the battle is fan voted again! They've been active since at least February, and multiple live videos can be seen on their Facebook page.

While based out of Traverse City, Sonic Dayze's new guitarist Jeremy "Wylde Child" Gates was born and raised in the Soo, so they're not completely devoid of local ties. I'm not familiar with Jeremy beyond Sonic Dayze media, but they have a good handle on grunge covers and have some deceivingly diverse originals and instrumentation, so don't bypass Sonic Dayze next Thursday at the battle! Regarding the local bands, we can confirm a little more on the debuting Small Town Society, as per personal Facebook postings from band members. Former Stoned Ape Evolution guitarist Melvin Willis will be joined in this group by singer/guitarist Holly Sibbald, bassist Chris Bennett (no word on if he's bringing his stand-up bass), and drummer Daniel Jackson. Still a lot of unknowns on this band, but it'll be interesting to hear how the Small Town Society do next week! Finally, we can confirm that I was 50% right on who's joining Molly Escherich in her band!

This is per a comment reply on our Facebook page when first plugging the battle of the bands yesterday, so thanks to Molly for the kind words! Her comment is ambiguous as to whether she meant that Nathan & Cayd are 50% of "The Other Guys" or if only 50% of those two (as in, only one of them) will be in the band next week, but the full lineup will reportedly be unveiled next week before the battle occurs. I'm still unsure of who Unsure are, but stay tuned in case we get more updates on the second annual LSSU battle of the bands in the coming week!

Let's close this post by acknowledging a new-ish and local-ish rock radio station on the FM dial! Readers who live/travel often in the central Upper Peninsula may be familiar with the McMillan-based radio station (WMJT) once known as Eagle Radio 96.7, which was owned by Darby Advertising from 2006 until 2018. That year, veteran local radio personality Tim Ellis bought their sister station WUPN (95.1 FM) in Paradise, and has since rebranded it as Bridge FM while maintaining its classic hits format, but WMJT 96.7 was sold at the same time to Travis Sumbera, who ran it initially as a hot adult contemporary station named 96.7 Flash FM, named for his dog. Starting in 2022, Flash FM started branding itself on social media as "Luce County's Rock", and fully filed to change their format to a rock station earlier this year. If you've wanted a local alternative to Rock 101 since The Bear left the E.U.P. in 2010, is Flash FM what you've been hoping for?

Maybe if you're located in western Chippewa County or Prince Township, Ontario, but from Sault Ste. Marie, I can't pull it on FM using normal equipment. A couple of stations technically based out of Newberry in Luce County (most notably Oldies 93) pick up here, but WMJT is not as powerful and is 15 minutes west of Newberry, and I recall not having luck in pulling WMJT here back when The Eagle was only on 96.7. If you try to scan 96.7 in Sault Ste. Marie now, you will likely instead pick up Kalkaska rock station KLT, which simulcasts at WRGZ 96.7 out of Rogers City for the Alpena market. When tuning into 96.7, I thought I had picked up Flash FM until I heard KLT bumpers, which was mildly surprising given that KLT's Boyne City affiliate (93.5 FM) picks up better here from past experience. Without travelling west, you'll likely need higher end equipment and/or a large directional antenna to pick up WMJT, especially given that WRGZ is nearby.

Barring that, you can always hear the live-stream on 96.7 Flash FM's mobile application and/or on Live365 (when it's on air), and it's interesting to hear their rock rotation along with sometimes familiar but mostly unique commercials! When I tuned into Flash FM, I heard songs by Matchbox Twenty, Chevelle, Europe ("Superstitious", believe it or not), The White Stripes, and Modest Mouse, among others, but I'll let you decide how their rotation compares to Rock 101, KLT, or any other stations. Flash FM truly is meant to serve the central U.P. but it's great to see another rock radio option up here, and hopefully Travis continues finding success with WMJT! See above for more details on 96.7 FM in McMillan, and stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Small Town Rivals & Chitamo

It's now time for our first YouTube Channel Profile of 2020, as we continue our monthly spotlighting of YouTube channels whose uploads are at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and concerts! As usual, channels are randomly selected from our YouTube subscriptions, and we're looking at two this month due to the first channel only having one upload, necessitating a second channel selection. This month's choices will kick 2020 off in the punk realm via some high profile and familiar faces, so here's what you should know!
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Small Town Rivals (http://youtube.com/channel/UCpLBDb7tSBomAdeY4MR6QqA)

Owner: Northwest singer/guitarist and ex-Nebraska Arms/Renderware alum Wayne Watkins, launched during his tenure as frontman of the 2010-2013 local/Whistler, B.C. pop punk band The Small Town Rivals

Channel Timeline: Launched on November 9th, 2012; Only video posted on "Stir Friday", April 19th, 2013

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for The Small Town Rivals only saw one video posting, late in the band's life span, where Wayne plays a solo acoustic rendition of their unreleased original song "Algoma Steel." Subtitled as the "late night stir fry edition" (complete with Wayne stirring said dish in his kitchen), this performance is lively and has all the hallmarks of his wider scale work to come with Northwest, with a unique setting to add some flavour, and lyrics are even in the description! However, the video is mirrored, and the channel does not include any other Small Town Rivals content, but click here to see a full band music video of theirs.


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Chitamo (http://youtube.com/chitamo)

Owner: A YouTube user and likely local resident with the last name Chitamo (I am uncertain of their identity otherwise.)

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 3rd, 2006; Videos posted that day and on March 21st, 2009

Channel Summary: Nine of the ten videos come from local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers' headlining concert at Foggy Notions (now Coch's Corner) on September 1st, 2006. The only other video is of an unidentified beatboxer delivering an impromptu performance at a local bar in 2009.

Why You Should Watch: This channel is definitely worth a watch for fans of The Inner City Surfers' mid-late 2000s heyday, though the dark lighting and generally short video run-time will not be to everyone's liking (the nine Surfers videos only run for about 6 minutes total, but there are much more available elsewhere.) As for the beatboxing clip, it is impressive, though Mr. Chitamo's efforts to learn the artist's identity appears to have went cold, and the channel hasn't been visibly used in the 2010s.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Inner City Surfers cover Beastie Boys: Three of this channel's videos have exceeded 500 views, but this 42 second clip of The Inner City Surfers covering The Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" edged out the others. The dark and largely out-of-focus video isn't much to look at, but Dustin, Dave, Brad, and Mikey have a solid and entertaining handle on the last verse of this rap rock classic! The guys also covered The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" here, with Dustin and Mikey trading vocal & drum duties, though the video is uploaded sideways.

Surfers-Won't Belong: Stones cover aside, the channel's only Surfers upload to exceed 1 minute in length is of the guys playing "Won't Belong" from their second album "Laughing On The Outside" and their later self-titled CD. This video has solid sound, and better lighting & clarity overall, albeit at the expense of a jitterier angle, and it's a nice showcase of Brad's singing while it lasts! Other song fragments filmed by Mr. Chitamo include "Perfect Moment", "Commandments", "Booze N' Doobs" in three chunks, and this untitled instrumental fragment.

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! This series will return on or around February 26th when we look at another randomly selected YouTube channel, and we'll be staying in punk mode then by looking at biznasty316's channel, featuring six Treble Charger song uploads from their last three albums. Look for that then, and for more news and this month's CD review this week! Thanks everyone! 

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: The Small Town Rivals

After a slight delay, it's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as part of our ongoing monthly feature series spotlighting inactive local bands (linked on the SMS) who may not be a functioning project anymore, but deserve a spotlight with current readers. This month's completely random selection features a few familiar faces for fans of modern punk rock locally, so here's what you should know on them!
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The Small Town Rivals

Genre: Pop Punk/Alternative

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Whistler, British Columbia (the band later listed Toronto, Ontario in lieu of Whistler as a "current location")

Members: (Members not in their last full lineups in italics. Note that the band featured different live lineups depending on where the band was playing, a'la iT in the late 2000s, with Wayne and/or Jesse joined by bandmates local to their respective hometowns. Bassists and drummers who performed exclusively with the local version of The Small Town Rivals are appropriately credited.)

Wayne Watkins (Northwest, Nebraska Arms), vocals/guitar
Jesse Nelson, guitar
Mike Smykacz (Northwest), local bass
Scott Phillips, bass
Clint Wilson (Bankshot, Northwest, Late Shift), local drums
Liam Murray, drums

Dave Prendergast (Nebraska Arms, Gilmour), local bass
Marc Santos (Northwest, A Fall From Innocence), local drums

Audio/Video: The Small Town Rivals' non-local lineup released one EP to their Bandcamp page on November 9th, 2012, entitled "East vs. West", which is available on a "name your price" model. Video-wise, there's not a lot from this band (there's honestly more of two otherwise unrelated bands of the same name), but at least two videos exist publically, including a solo unplugged "late night stir fry edition" of their unreleased original "Algoma Steel", and as featured here, this studio preview clip from the EP sessions, as set to their song "Heartbreaks & Fairytales"!



Info/Analysis: Formed as a studio project between long-time friends Wayne Watkins and Jesse Nelson in 2010, The Small Town Rivals evolved into a formal live band by the following year after Jesse moved out east, debuting with shows locally (at the original Coch's Corner) and in North Bay in June 2011. Updates were minimal until the band's new lineup began writing for their "East vs. West" EP in 2012. After it's release, the band entered the CBC Searchlight contest in 2013, and returned for a few live concerts that May, opening for The Brains & The Penske File locally & playing at the annual Pouzza Fest in Montreal, while Wayne previously played an S.T.R.-branded acoustic show at Coch's Corner that March. After entering a Hockey Night In Canada song contest that fall, The Small Town Rivals quietly fell inactive and were effectively succeeded by Wayne's new fully local indie/punk band Northwest, which has since featured all but one of the local Rivals in their past or present lineups.

If you're familiar with Wayne, Mike, and Clint/Marc's work with Northwest, you'll be right at home with The Small Town Rivals, whose upbeat punk rock sound, Perry Farrell-esque vocals, and indie sensibility all translated to the later band. The guitar attack isn't as full, and the genre variations aren't as noticeable in studio material, but The Rivals had a strong chemistry and nice recording quality on songs like "Old Hollywood" & "Grave Digger", and they are definitely worth a listen for fans of Northwest and members' related projects! Hopefully Wayne & Jesse pick things up again!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we'll head back to Sault Michigan to close another 2-1-3-1-2-1 cycle between the Twin Saults, and our latest random selection has given us 2001-2008 Cedarville hard rock quartet Oddfellow! Look for that on or around March 10th, and stay tuned for more this week! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: TWCD

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile at the SMS! Like in past months, this monthly feature looks at 1-3 YouTube channels that have at least a 50% concentration of local metal, hard rock, or punk-relevant videos, in order to spotlight them and their content for current readers, and encourage subscription and views therein, with channels still being randomly selected! This month's random choice is a channel from a talented local punk musician, so read on below for this month's YouTube Channel Profile!
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TWCD (http://www.youtube.com/twcd)

Owner: Northwest singer/guitarist Wayne Watkins, also known from prior work with bands like A Fall From Innocence, The Blockade, Nebraska Arms, Renderware, The Small Town Rivals, and Why

Channel Timeline: Launched on December 26th, 2006; Videos posted from September 2008 until August 2014

Channel Summary: An apparent personal use channel for prolific local punk/indie musician Wayne Watkins (though the meaning of "TWCD" isn't clear), he has posted four videos there, including three focusing on two of his successful recent bands, and an Ice Bucket Challenge video from mid-2014 in support of the fight against A.L.S. (or Lou Gehrig's Disease.)

Why You Should Watch: Give Wayne's channel a look for some solid videos from a pair of recent musical projects, as he's a talented multi-instrumentalist with a lot of familiarity! However, no videos of his current band Northwest are featured (nor anything pre-2008) despite the channel's 2006 launch date, and it hasn't visibly been used in almost two years.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

Nebraksa Arms: Wayne's first video on his channel is a live clip of his then-new indie punk quartet Nebraska Arms playing their original song "Lighthouses" live at The Speak Easy at Algoma University on September 5th, 2008. Featuring Wayne on guitar alongside Hangdowns alum Guy Thiffault on vocals & bass, ex-Gilmour guitarist Dave Prendergast, and Wayne's old Renderware bandmate Adam Sauve on drums, this is a lively rendition of one of Nebraska Arms' better known songs, but despite a solid camera angle, the video suffers from grainy audio and inconsistent visuals when zoomed in.



Nebraska Arms: This channel's most viewed video is of a posthumous music video for their song "I Was a Writer", with it's studio version from their album "We'll Never Sleep Again" set to assorted band photos, and live video footage from their set at February 2010's Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts Battle of the Bands (which was professionally shot by organizers) at what's now the Community First Curling Center. Posted online three years after the battle, this is a nice retrospective look at Nebraska Arms' two year run in the local scene, which quietly ended a few months after their battle set, and with a clear & well produced studio track to boot, fans of Nebraska Arms won't want to bypass it!



Small Town Rivals Heart Breaks & Fairy Tales: Wayne's other music-related upload is this preview music video for his defunct local/Whistler, B.C. pop punk band The Small Town Rivals' song "Heartbreaks & Fairytales". Posted a month after the release of the band's only studio album "East vs. West", the video features Wayne and company jamming, hanging out, and rehearsing in studio, with guitarist Jesse Nelson, bassist Scott Phillips, and drummer Liam Murray (all from their British Columbia lineup) representing the band here. Ending with some lighter outtakes and cut segments from the shoot, this is a well edited clip that captures The Small Town Rivals' studio process well, and while the band is now inactive, catch their local wing in Northwest!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we'll again look at a single channel that was randomly selected, and you've gotta love when things line up, as next month's channel actually features more video footage from the aforementioned Sault College Battle of the Bands! Next month, we'll take a look at the original crash band, Sykotyk Rampage's inactive YouTube channel, which has 5 in-house music videos of early studio favourites, so look for that on or around July 26th, and stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Pixo Control), A New Redundant Video, And Much More!!

Just when we thought there wouldn't be a second post today, we came across enough news and updates to populate one, so let's get it up before we tackle the weekend's concert previews! Today, we have a lot of assorted shorter items, a recent concert video, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next week, so here's what you need to know!

Local alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control will make a special Thursday night appearance at  The Speak Easy at Algoma University next Thursday, November 27th! Fresh off of this Friday night's Sault Band-O-Rama (which we're previewing on the site tomorrow), this will likely be the first public hard rock concert at Algoma University's campus bar of the year, at least that we've heard of, though I don't know if there is a special reason for the Thursday booking. Opening for them at this show will be Boxes of Boom, a local project that I don't know a ton on, but their music features minimalist rock overtop of techno beats. Interesting sound, and I know they turned some heads when they played with The Pixo Control at a private house party event earlier this month, so keep them in mind! This show has a 10:00 PM start time & no announced cover charge, and while a 19+ age limit is likely, we'll let you know if it's all ages or if underage Algoma students can get in. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and stay tuned for updates on this intriguing show!

Next up, here's another new video from last week's Rock For Dimes fundraiser concert at The Delta Waterfront Hotel, this time of headlining local punk trio Redundant! Like their Rock For Dimes videos from last spring, this was filmed by frontman Justin Langlois' dad Michel and uploaded to his YouTube channel on Monday, and features Redundant's set-opening cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" (with assists from Justin's sons), though the pre-set encouragement of fans to come onto the floor is left in. Like Michel's Thrill Junkies clip, this is very solid in quality, albeit with fans' heads in the way, so give it a look below, and we'll let you know if Michel shot any more footage at Rock For Dimes!



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

• These Sins of Time frontwoman Alexa LeClair is again looking to jam with other rock musicians, though it's unclear whether she's hoping to revive T.S.O.T. (who haven't posted a Facebook update at all this year) or for a different project entirely. It'd be nice to see her in an active band again, so message her at this link or via her Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from yesterday!
• Former Frasiers guitarist Charlie Derrer is looking for a drummer and second guitarist for  a new "pop funk" band that he's launching, and it's likely that he already has a bassist. In case this will cross over into punk, we'll mention it here, so message Charlie at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on November 5th if you're interested!
• In their first new song posting in two months, local pop punk solo project For July uploaded a new original track named "Go" onto their Soundcloud page on Monday! Medium-paced while retaining a pop punk and emo bite, it's well done for the genre, but the chorus vocals don't strike me as very imaginative. Still, give the full song a listen above for some lively original music!
• New local punk/grunge duo The Red & Black revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that they have a "new CD in the works", which would be their first formal album release. Little else is known at present, but given Chris Shoust's Telephone & Address output, this likely won't be a long wait, so stay tuned for updates!
• Barring an imminent sign of life, we'll be moving the local/B.C. indie punk band The Small Town Rivals to our inactive band links next week due to a year's inactivity, having last posted on their Facebook page in November of last year. This band had a good sound going and some successes, but were arguably succeeded by Northwest, who shared all but one member from their local live lineup. If we hear different, we'll let you know, but best of luck to Northwest, Jesse, Scott, and Liam in the future!
• The new episode of Local2's music spotlight webseries Tuned With Donna Hopper went up yesterday at this link, and while it mostly focuses on a recent concert set and interview from local progressive rock quartet Machines Dream, it does plug this weekend's Sault Band-O-Rama and next weekend's Toystock in the concert calendar segment. It's still a good episode, so give it a look above to see it, especially if you love prog rock!

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

Meet The Local Punk Bands!! Part 3

This morning marks our third and final post to "introduce" active local (non-hardcore) punk bands to our expanded coverage, and check out our feature on Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, Gnaeus, Northwest, and the now-defunct Fist Fighting Stephen Hawking in the post below this one! Also, for clarity, I have not included the yet-to-debut Habitat Shuffle and the secretive ska-punk duo Them in these posts due to a lack of information and public appearances, but if either rectify that, they'll be on here! Now, for our last of the active punk bands, we have one that recently came back, one with out of town ties, and two with Inner City Surfers & Lion Ride alumni, so here's what you should know!

We'll start this feature with a band that, much like Northwest, don't have a known online page, and they are local punk quartet Brad Example & The Role Models! Active off and on since opening for The Revue at the former Foggy Notions in December 2006 (and possibly before), you may best remember this band from a string of 2011 appearances where they opened twice for The Saigon Hookers at The Rockstar Bar and played at the Tailfeathers Music Festival that fall, before falling dormant until last month's Public Animal concert, but I won't rehash that show's unfortunate ending. Similarly to Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide, The Role Models merge two members of The Inner City Surfers with known local artists, in this case featuring singer/bassist Brad "Example" Lacell and guitarist Dave Bahun alongside former Lion Ride bandmates Marco Pedalino (most recently of Glitch) and Marc Muto on guitar and drums, while the prolific Phil Greco was their former drummer, and I may be missing other ex-members.

I don't recall a public video existing from one of Brad and The Role Models' concerts, but Brad did recently tell me that they've been working on original material, so I don't believe last month's show was a one-off. Hopefully we see more of the guys soon, as I remember this band having a solid punk sound with occasional metal covers, effective vocals for the style, and clear on-stage chemistry! If you miss the Surfers, follow both The Role Models and The Rising Tide for their members' current collaborative work, and hopefully some online pages and media from the former turn up soon!

Next up is a band that entertained at many shows at the turn of the 2010s, and are coming back, them being The Fury! Led & fronted by former Smeltzer bassist Paul Stanghetta (last seen with the never-launched Keep It Lit), you may remember The Fury best as the band with two bassists and no guitarists, and though they hated being classified into a genre, punk was an obvious match to their early sound, at least back then. Two time battle of the bands runners-up in 2009 and 2010, The Fury's old incarnation featured RedD Monkey's Joe Bumbacco on drums, while their second bassist was originally Josh McNally (ex-The Crossed) and later Tony Briglio (now of Sykotyk Rampage.) Writing original material and opening for the likes of Upheaval of an Exorcist, Blind Witness, and Broadcast Zero during their first run, The Fury originally disbanded in mid-2011, but after a three year breakup, Paul's working on a comeback, and was looking for a new drummer to join the new Fury (now with a DJ too) as of June 4th, so click here for more information!

It's hard to know how the new Fury will sound (Paul's hinted that they'll be "super heavy, fast, and fresh"), but in their original 2009-2011 run, they had an original yet familiar sound that fans of intense modern punk would have loved, even if they hated being classified as such! Paul's vocals were also a great fit when singing or even pseudo-rapping at times, and after a while, you forgot there wasn't a guitarist on stage with them! We'll let you know when their new lineup debuts or properly launches, but check out old material at their MySpace page, and here they are playing their song "Rebel Scum" at Foggy's in late 2010!

Also in new punk band additions are The Small Town Rivals, a partly local pop punk/alternative quartet that you may recognize as being either the predecessors to or the sister band of the all-local Northwest! Launched in 2010 as a studio project by frontman Wayne Watkins and Whistler, B.C. guitarist Jesse Nelson, The Small Town Rivals (who have also been billed from Toronto) released their debut (and only?) EP named "East Vs. West" in the fall of 2012, which you can buy at this link. Similarly to the partly local progressive rock band iT, The Small Town Rivals had separate lineups in two separate homebases, with Scott Phillips & Liam Murray playing bass and drums outside of the area, and Wayne's Northwest bandmates Mike Smykacz & Clint Wilson handling those roles in the Soo, while Wayne has played solo gigs under this band name as well. Opening for the likes of The Penske File & The Snips here and away, this band has not been visibly active since November 2013 plugs for a Hockey Night In Canada song contest, and Northwest may have replaced them since.

Fans of Wayne's local band projects should like The Small Town Rivals, who take on a lively pop punk sound with well composed original songs, nice vocal harmonies between Wayne & Jesse, and a fun melody, and if you like Northwest, you'll be at home with this band as well! Check out more from The Small Town Rivals on Facebook, Twitter, CBC Music, and Bandcamp, and here's a preview video for their song "Heartbreaks & Fairy Tales"!

Finally for our active punk band features is The Wing-Its, a somewhat newer punk quartet signed to Tidal Records! Though they don't have a proper online page that I've seen, their profile on Tidal Records' website says that they're a "straight forward power pop/punk band" with a "no holds barred... kind of rock 'n roll" that's full of energy and soaked in hooks. Their lineup is comprised of label co-owners Dustin Jones (also The Rising Tide's frontman) on vocals & guitar and Dan Nystedt (also a local filmmaker) on drums, alongside Role Models guitarist Marco Pedalino and former Spigots frontman Trevor Harding (another partner in Tidal Records) on bass. From what I've seen, The Wing-Its don't play live that often, but they debuted at The Rockstar Bar last February, and they were among the bands at Tidal Records' kick-off show at the same venue last November. Live concert footage isn't plentiful online, but Marco did upload three videos of a Wing-Its jam session to his YouTube channel in October, so how do the guys sound here?

Curiously uploaded upside down (with Dan completely out of frame), the songs are either all originals or I can't discern the songs well. The three songs don't strike me as having a lot of the hinted indie rock influences, but the talent is present on these well filmed videos, and there's a familiarity for fans of the members' older bands! Nice solid punk rock, so give the videos a look at the above links and below (though note that "tune 3" has a camera mishap late), and hopefully we hear more on The Wing-Its soon!



I hope you guys liked our recent look at active local punk bands! When we pick things up on local punk features, we'll be looking at defunct and inactive ones in the coming days, so stay tuned for them soon, and look out for much more on our current active punk bands, no matter the subgenre, in the coming months and beyond! Thanks everyone!

"Going Underground: A Brief History Of Punk Rock In Small Town Canada" Review!!

It's now time for our second ever book review at The Sault Metal Scene! After delays from school and other such commitments, I've now been able to sit down and give a thorough read to a book I've had for a while now, and though not metal-centric, is very interesting! The book in question is "Going Underground: A Brief History Of Punk Rock In Small Town Canada", which was written by local photographer Paolo Colasacco and released through Paolo Paolo Media on January 22nd! Printed at Friesens Press, the book features writings from his concert experiences, with the included photos being taken at local concerts, events, and photo shoots from the 1980s through the early 2000s. The book details the stories and images Paolo has about the local music scene (mostly punk, though metal is discussed) during that time period, and clocks in at 408 pages long. "Going Underground" costs $30, and can be purchased at The Rad Zone in their Hole In The Wall section, or you can buy it online via PayPal for $45 ($48 international) at this location. Remember, I'm NOT a professional reviewer by any means, and have no formal experience in literary criticism, so make note of that in case you have critical comments.

I also was neither alive or old enough to experience the events chronicled in the book, so if I make any mistakes or don't add something, I apologize. I admit I'm not the ideal person to review it, but I figured I should give this era and work the attention it deserves, and tell you guys what you should know before you buy it. I'll try to keep comments on each story to a minimum to encourage you to actually buy & read the book as well. With that said, let's begin this review!

The book officially starts with a six and-a-half page story on the "first wave" of the local punk scene in the 1980s, along with Paolo's beginnings as a photographer. He goes into detail about how his love for photography blossomed, his first experiences in getting prints done, and eventually led to how he developed an appreciation of Rush, who friends of his covered in a late 1970s local band named Reefer, leading to some of his earliest band photography. He eventually discussed his experiences surrounding the rise of the local New Wave/punk band The Reggulars, whose hybrid sound wasn't anything you'd hear on the radio, and which quickly gained steam in local music circles. Their rise to playing gigs at the former Centennial Lanes (the old GLOW Nightclub's in that site now) is also followed, which seemed to signal other bands to play there. After brief discussion of slang terms (including calling metalheads "Gorrocks" at the time), Paolo talked about the images and clothing taken on in the early punk years, which was widely diverse depending on the person. He then discussed his first experiences with concert photography and the settings used to get good quality shots, along with his continued evolution as a photographer led to him creating and underground newspaper named "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!", including it's one-off metal parody that didn't work as an insult.

Paolo also added details on it's transformation after being sold, and briefly becoming Zombie A-Go-Go, which had a following but alsowas more restrictive and had issues with fighting in the crowds. This led into his eventual move to London to study other fields, and the nice re-connection he had with some old band acquaintances that I won't spoil here. The rest of the chapter is basically photos and related captions of the early bands, musicians, and concerts of the time, including such bands as The Reggulars, The Vox, Waldo Pepper & The Shakes, and Final Option, among others. The photos, though entirely black and white, are nice and large, and in good quality despite the age and nature of how many were taken. All of the right-hand pages after the included stories has one of Paolo's photos, while the left-hand pages include captions, credits of which band or musician was included & where, and assorted comments relating to their lineups, releases, shows, debuts, and so forth. Though I can't speak for the accuracy of the captions given that I wasn't alive yet, Paolo does give great detail on these photos, even saying what song was being played in certain shots, which is very interesting! The bands here aren't necessarily all punk, but the chapter gives a good insight into the birth of this scene, and the path it would take, and the photos guide everything really well!

The "second wave" is basically Chapter 2 of the book, which details the punk rock shows of the 1990s, where things get more aggressive and hard hitting compared to the early Centennial Lanes shows. Paolo's story for this chapter is only three and a half pages long, and it starts with Paolo's return to the Sault to study graphic design. He talks about meeting a local guitarist named Jeff Nisbet of the punk band The Spigots, and the rush of a revived punk scene he felt when he first saw them live. Paolo discusses how the "second wave" took place at The Windsor Park Hotel on Queen Street (now Algoma University housing), which had few issues despite it's location and motif. He praised the environment of the Windsor Park Hotel for concerts, as well as the advancement of the bands, who had more structure and professionalism compared to the 1908s bands he followed. This helped lead out-of-town bands like The Ripcordz to shows in the Soo, a development rarely seen from Centennial Lanes bands. Paolo would ten discuss the merchandice factor of this run of local bands, including The Spigots' recording sessions, and how they almost ended in disaster. He wrapped up with discussion of his new photo techniques of the time, the improved crowd environment and how they factored into his pictures, his work as a teacher at Sault College, and the Windsor Park Hotel's end as a concert venue.

Bands included in the photos from the second wave include The Spigots, Room 206, The Kite Eating Maples, The Sugarspun Sisters, and more, as you'd expect! These photos are better in multiple ways from the 1980s shots, in both photo quality (newer cameras) and the concert environments, which were larger, had more energetic looking and sounding bands, and had more diverse angles of the crowd and venue! Lots of shots of rowdy and passionate fans rocking out with some very talented punk bands of the time, including a couple with current members of The Inner City Surfers! The 1980s photos were cool, but the 1990s ones made me REALLY wish I could experience the second wave!

The "third wave" is the last and shortest chapter in the book, with it's story only taking up one page. Paolo discusses how the now vacant Club Princess became an active local concert venue for shows in the early 2000s, and it's different environment compared to the earlier discussed venues. He mentions the newer wave of bands and fans and how they were different in approach and age (19+ now) compared to the 1980s and 1990s, and how fans responded to shows there strikes a chord similar to how some are treated at current shows. He also talked about the decline of the punk scene in this wave, with similar sounding bands and shrinking crowd numbers, and closed the story with his nostalgia and rememberances of past waves and their connection to the scene as it then stood. His photos include shots of early 2000s bands like Blend, Suckerpunch, and The Late Night Weirdos, closing with pictures from The Spigots' last ever show. Very nice photos once again, and though the crowds look lively, there's something missing compared to the energy you could detect from photos in the second wave. Best quality photos of the book though, which benefited from newer equipment. The promo photos are great too, though they take up a larger ratio of the photos than they did in the earlier waves.

Paolo closes with two pages of personal reflections on the scene and punk music, including his hope that newer musicians and fans will use "Going Underground" as a do-it-yourself manual to help make an exciting music scene like he experienced locally. I don't know if it will be an instigator for such a revival, but what I do know is that this is a great book and a great time capsule to the local scene's past! You can tell Paolo had a deep appreciation for local music, local bands and musicians, and the punk scene at it's heights! Sure, he wasn't around the metal side of things much, but I give him kudos for mentioning the scene as it existed back then, and I'm sure bands that crossed the metal line played at The Windsor Park & Club Princess at the time! Reading this book, I developed interest in checking out a bunch of these bands, which is a sign that something's working! A few of the included bands have material posted online (Room 206 even have a MySpace page), but many don't have songs or videos that I've seen. Paolo or someone with the right connections should make a "Going Underground" CD about the punk scene, featuring the bands included in the book, I think it'd be successful!

I have some points to stress the book though. Much of the book's layout strikes me as wasted space, as the left hand caption pages are almost entirely blank save for words on the bottom and (sometimes) top. I would have put the captions and comments above & below the photos to save space. I think at least 100 pages could have been shaved if he'd done that. I figure colour photos would have been a good addition if Paolo had them for later shots, but I imagine all black and white would save costs. I also expected to see a wider expanse of bands in the included photographs, with only about 16 getting credited sections in the table of contents. Some names are misspelled as well, like Jeff Nisbet, Dave Bahun, and Brad Lacell, but hey, mistakes happen to us all. The thing that disappointed me the most is the lack of stories. Only about 13 and a half pages of the book feature Paolo's stories on the scene, which seems very small, especially given the fact that portions of a longer Centennial Lanes story were posted by him onto The Internet Archive in 2005, click here to see them (and more photos.) I was hoping to read the missing parts of that story in this book, which suggests that he might have had longer stories about the scene in mind at one point, but the photo heavy nature of it works too!

Still, this is a very entertaining time capsule look at the local punk scene from it's infancy to it's quiet later period, and Paolo offers many well written thoughts and observations from this time period! His photos are great and he helps give a voice and insight into a scene that many newer music fans locally don't know a lot about! Metal isn't the focus, but you'll definitely find connections and references that will get your mind going. I hope this book will encourage fans to get in touch with bands of the past, the musicians that still perform nowadays, how the scene once was, and how we can connect it to the scene of today. Very entertaining book, pick it up today!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news tomorrow, and yes, my review of "Soo Stories" by Duane Roy is coming up hopefully this week as well! Thanks everyone!