After a slight delay complicated by our busy July schedule and internet disruptions, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we again take a look at a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musisicans and/or concerts! This month's channel gives us a talented solo project from a veteran local musician that we sadly lost last year, so here's what you should know!
Owner:Stone Smyth singer/guitarist and veteran local hard rock solo musician Troy Isaac
Channel Timeline:Launched on May 1st, 2022; Videos uploaded from that day until June 2025
Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for Stone Smyth, it features over 140 videos split between his original music for this project and his exploits for his outdoors company Maverick Fish Hunter, who factored into 90+ videos from August-December 2024 focusing on fishing, boating, and cooking. While not ostensibly music-linked, many of the Maverick Fish Hunter videos do feature Stone Smyth music in the background and/or credits, plus plugs and hype for future plans in the descriptions and tags. The fully Stone Smyth-centric uploads include music videos, original songs, and compilations of previously released songs, with band content fully resuming on their channel for its last six active months.
Why You Should Watch: This is the ideal place to watch Troy's 2020s music work and video content, and while a lot of his more ambitious goals for Stone Smyth in terms of releasing albums and going on tour went sadly unrealized due to his death in September of last year, he was a talented songwriter and musician! Outdoorsy readers may also like his Maverick Fish Hunter content, which covers a lot of bases, and folks may also be interested in watching his appearances as a chef on local and morning news shows from Southern Ontario in the early-mid 2000s, which made up his first uploads during his Maverick/cooking stretch in 2024. Note that some of his songs and videos have politically charged lyrics and/or imagery, while some Maverick Fish Hunter videos feature Troy catching, preparing, and cooking fish.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Stone Smyth Compilation video #14: Six early videos on the Stonesmyth channel are compilations of previews of songs from the project's wider catalogue, though based on the numbering, Troy took at least eight of these down for unannounced reasons. The last and longest of them from Halloween 2022 features clips of over a dozen songs from their back catalogue, including some political ones about US president preferences, so mind that going in. Of note, the song at the 8:00 mark is Troy's re-recording of "Cold Rain" from the "Local Steel" compilation CD, while "Heaven Can Wait" (featuring local guest singer Lorrie Lynn Bolduc) has an eerie title given Troy's passing three years later. Note that there are plugs to visit Reverbnation for Stone Smyth's planned concert tour dates in between previews, which unfortunately never happened. These songs are all available in full on this channel, but it's a good sampler of Troy's work!
Hit Hard - Stonesmyth, love all that action stuff thats Linda opening scene at Trout Lake: By far the most popular video on this channel, Stone Smyth's video for "Hit Hard" has logged over 1,900 views since its July 2024 upload. Rather than record performance video or scripted segments featuring himself, Troy was one to assemble videos from stock footage and (sometimes) CGI. This one is focused around outdoor activities and sports, like swimming, mountain biking, parasailing, and scuba diving, though bookended with a friend in the water at Trout Lake. This song will be reminiscent structurally of many of fellow local hard rock guitarist Tym Morrison's solo originals, and while Troy was somewhat limited vocally, he had a good ear for strong and catchy riffs, and the video is well edited!
Maverick Fish Hunter - fishing Lake Whitney Texas, smokers, camp sites, cactus, rodeo, cattle roping: Of the dozens of Troy's Maverick Fish Hunter videos, there's a lot to see for the outdoorsy type, especially anglers and boaters. Not all feature Stone Smyth music either, and a few do include stock audio that Troy didn't perform on. A good starting point for fans of the travelogue aspect of M.F.H. would be this August 2024 video of Troy visiting Lake Whitney, Texas, where he got some fishing in and saw the sights, both in nature and in the town proper, and even at a rodeo! A Stone Smyth instrumental serves as backing music here, and it's a quality composition, though low in the mix. Troy sure got around over the years, and there's plenty more where this came from on this channel! R.I.P. Troy!
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and this month's CD review next, plus a lot of news catchup! Thanks everyone!
After a slight delay to cover an interview with the artist in question that I really should have noticed last year, let's get this month's Defunct Local Band Profile up before we focus on weekend concert previews! This monthly feature again looks at a defunct or inactive local band (as randomly selected from our band links) in order to spotlight them and their content for current readers, and this month's selection is bittersweet timing given that their founder and only permanent member passed away just two months ago. Here's what you should know on them!
Stone Smyth (previously known as StrykerGC and StonesmithGC)
Hometown:Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Genre: Hard/Classic Rock
Lineup:
Troy Isaac (Angel Dust), all instruments
Audio/Video: A studio only project that had aspirations of playing live concerts and going on tour, Stone Smyth posted over three dozen original songs to major streaming services (one being a re-recording of Troy's "Local Steel" song "Cold Rain"), and while a formal album was never put on sale featuring their material, there's lots to hear, especially on their Reverbnation page and their YouTube channel. Songs on YouTube are generally accompanied by stock footage videos loosely themed around their lyrics (and often featuring attractive women), though later videos did feature some newly shot video. Note that the channel's later focus was shared by Troy's outdoor webseries Maverick Fish Hunter, reflecting his love of fishing and boating in particular. Here's one of their better late-era tracks, "My Blue Jeans"!
Info/Analysis: The final active music project from veteran local rock guitarist Troy Isaac (who passed away from cancer in September at the age of 63), Stone Smyth publically debuted in 2014 and began regularly posting new music to various platforms into the early 2020s. Originally known as StrykerGC, the project was named for his home studio & planned guitar company (hence the "GC"), with the Stone Smyth name inspired by blacksmithing, but with altered spelling and a space to distinguish them from Aerosmith. Aiming for uplifting and relatable lyrical content in their songs, Stone Smyth had planned to evolve into a live band with additional members, a full stage setup, and tour plans, but the pandemic curtailed their 2020 work, and despite teasing a future tour and live setlist as recently as the fall of last year, Troy's death came before things could fall into place as hoped, let alone before they could release an proper album.
Troy was a talented guitarist who made the most of his years of experience from B.C. to Germany with a good ear for catchy classic rock-inspired songwriting, and if you like the style of local musicians like Tym Morrison and SweetKenny, you'll be right at home with Stone Smyth's range of material! Not the rangiest singer, but he made the most of what he had vocally, and songs like "Psychonaut" and "Southern Steel" showed his wide range of influences. Stone Smyth even had tentative setlists for live shows planned out, so it's a shame that things didn't work out as hoped, but check out their music and Troy's Borderline radio interview to learn more! R.I.P. Troy!
I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around December 10th for its final installment of the year, but as the first band that I randomly selected has minimal information to utilize to fill out a post, I've added a randomly chosen band in a similar state to round things out. With that in mind, we'll be looking at 2019 Volbeat tribute band The Guitar Gangsters and 2024 hardcore punk solo project Choking On Appendages! Look for these next month and for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Today's post was supposed to be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, with the former local hard rock solo project Stone Smyth randomly selected for the honours last month. However, I am going to slightly delay it so we can belatedly take a look at frontman Troy Isaac's interview with Adrian Vilaca on his series Across The Tracks on local internet radio station The Borderline! This interview premiered on May 29th of last year, fifteen months before Troy lost his battle with cancer, and alas, I didn't knew he did an interview with The Borderline until shortly after his passing. Better late than never, and this will help with additional context and information for when the Defunct Profile on Stone Smyth goes live! Before this interview, Adrian hadn't met Troy before, but he first came to know who he was via his presence on the 1998 compilation CD "Local Steel", where he played "A Long Cold Rain Comin' Down".
Troy starts the discussion by elaborating on how he first got into playing music as a kid in British Columbia, what instruments he played early on, and his early run in the band Angel Dust. In his youth, he lived in West Germany as a time while his stepfather served in the military overseas, and he played in a band named Machine Head (no relation) while living there. He began songwriting at about 15 years old in the late 1970s, and followed a normal career path as opposed to chasing the musician dream, but eventually started recording his own music, and was taking advantage of at-home recording software now that it was much more affordable and accessible than it was. Aside from guest female singers, all of Stone Smyth's music was purely a solo operation. Troy next discusses the recording experience for "A Long Cold Rain Comin' Down", which led to the "Local Steel" release concert at the former Peachy's.
The re-recording of that song by Stone Smyth (now titled simply "Cold Rain") is played in full at the 9:45 mark, with the interview picking back up at around 14:50. After discussing why he re-recorded the track, Troy discusses the sounds and styles he liked incorporating in his music, Troy talks about some of the favourite concerts of his as an attendee, and his far flung times living all over Canada, before setting up the second full song played in the interview, Stone Smyth's "Hanging Onto Fire", which comes on 19:20 into the episode. The second half of the interview begins at 23:20, with Adrian asking about Troy's one-man operation and recording process, with Troy aiming to take Stone Smyth to live concert stages (it is sad that he never got to realize that goal), while addressing how the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns affected his music plans back in 2020.
At this stage of his life, Troy was focusing on doing what he loved artistically rather than money, and this leads into the third song played during the episode, "Last Chance Mountain" (27:15). Adrian picks things back up at 30:40 by talking about how much he likes Troy's new song "Summertime", and asking about what kinds of messages Troy wanted to convey in his original music. He did note that he wanted to have uplifting messages in his music more than political or divisive content. "Summertime" is played on air at 34:15, with the interview resuming at 37:40. When asked about his then-future plans, Troy noted that he had a stage setup built for eventual live gigs, and eight more songs (as of May 2024) ready to release, while also acknowledging the rings that he wore to the interview. After setting up the final song to be played on air ("Hari Cari"), we hear that at the 40:40 mark, and the last segment of the interview beginsat 44:05.
To close, Adrian asks where we can hear Troy online, and he finally addresses where the Stone Smyth name comes from here, specifically a play on "blacksmith" without using the same spelling as Aerosmith, and he used the name for his own studio and planned guitar line as well. Troy was also hoping to begin shooting live videos in the fall of 2024, Nice casual interview that helps explain a bit about who Troy was and what he was aiming for with his music, and it is a shame that he passed at just 63 before some of his bigger future plans could be fully realized. Hearing this finally will be good to fill in some blanks for our Defunct Local Band Profile, but give the full Borderline interview a listen at this link or above, and R.I.P. Troy!
I'd like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Stone Smyth frontman and veteran local hard rock guitarist Troy Isaac, who passed away at Sault Area Hospital on Saturday at the age of 63. Troy is survived by his parents Darlene Nichols and Barry Isaac and his pet Buddy. The obituary notes that he was deeply private, but loved music, the outdoors, independence, and travelling for work and his own thrill of adventure. There will be no public services, but in lieu of flowers, family would appreciate donations to the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society or the Canadian Cancer Society, and arrangements were entrusted to the Northwood Funeral Home. Long-time SMS readers will know Troy from his off-and-on solo project Stone Smyth (f.k.a. StrykerGC and StonesmithGC), who had launched in 2014 but ramped up their activity at points in the early 2020s with original songs & teasers of plans to tour with a full band.
Previously, Troy was the only credited solo performer on 1998's "Local Steel" compilation album via his own original song "A Long Cold Rain Comin' Down", and he performed in multiple bands while not living in the Soo, including in the British Columbia-based Angel Dust. I admittedly slacked too much in covering Stone Smyth on the SMS, bur Troy had posted new music as recently as June (even teasing hopes to tour this summer), and he has 45 songs on most major streaming services, though as of his death, he had not compiled a full album for sale. You can see multiple videos for Stone Smyth songs on their YouTube channel, largely featuring stock and CGI footage, though most recent videos reflected Troy's company Maverick Fish Hunter, where he took part in fishing, boating, and cooking uploads, and there are even television appearances there. While our political opinions differed, Troy was a good and passionate guy, and it's a shame to lose him so suddenly.
Even recently, Troy had big plans musically for Stone Smyth, and he showed a solid multi-instrumental talent range and a good songwriters' ear on their dozens of original songs. There is something ironic in how his last released song is named "Dead And Gone", and how it was written in honour of the passing of his friend Ker. I plan to talk more about Troy and Stone Smyth on the SMS soon (he was interviewed on The Borderline last year!), but give his music a spin, and if you like fellow veteran solo hard rock musicians like Tym Morrison and SweetKenny, Stone Smyth won't be far off in style. R.I.P. Troy!
I have a new news post for your Sunday morning reading, and while it's mostly devoted to new videos, we have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to take note of first, so here's what you should know!
Local classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will play his first public concert of 2023 with an acoustic matinee gig TODAY at Reggie's Place! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this event via its Facebook event page yesterday, though the venue's Facebook page mentioned it on Tuesday. Tym has been unusually quiet as far as live gigs go as of late, last hearing of him belatedly playing at a curling bonspiel in November, with his last Reggie's show coming in October. Hopefully all's well with him, and it's good to see him back out there with his deep setlist of rock classics at this familiar downtown venue TODAY! Remember, Tym tends to play Sunday matinees at Reggie's rather than nighttime concerts, he just hasn't done so since the fall. TODAY'S festivities are at 3:00 PM with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!
Next up, here's the newest collaborative cover video from local punk project Mikey & His Uke's YouTube channel! Uploaded there on Thursday, this sees Mikey Hawdon back on ukelele (at first) and guitar covering Propagandhi's "Back To The Motor League", alongside Belvedere frontman Steven Rawles, Lagwagon guitarist Chris Rest, Pulley bassist Tyler Rebbe, and Papa Roach drummer/fellow Pulley alum Tony Palermo. For pure musical quality & my preferences, this is my favourite Mikey & His Uke cover since Mikey moved back home last year! Steven nails Chris Hannah's vocal style, and everyone handles this cover very nicely, so fans of early Propagandhi (and their October 2005 show at The Oddfellows Hall) will be in good hands! Without spoiling, extra local points for where Mikey filmed his electric guitar scenes. Very well performed and edited as you'd expect, so definitely check this out below, and stay tuned for more from Mikey!
Also, here's a new cover of Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" courtesy of the ever prolific Chase Wigmore's YouTube channel last month! As close to folk punk as anything he's posted to YouTube as of late, this video is heavily filtered as usual, coming across as very grainy with cryptic pictures of the wilderness and deer rapidly changing overtop. This is an intense performance that suits the original's proto-grunge nature, with Chase even layering in some screams and some of his own trademark rapid guitar mastery, but his normal clean singing is often very quiet and hard to hear on normal volume levels. Give this cover a watch below!
Let's close with the latest from local/Toronto hard rock solo project Stone Smyth, who have been keeping busy in the studio since we last talked about them in the fall! As you may recall, the former StrykerGC posts samples of their songs on their YouTube channel accompanied by music videos made up of stock footage, often with teasers towards these songs being featured on an album/their planned debut concert tour, but despite references to posting tour dates on their Reverbnation page, nothing of the sort is public yet. Project leader Troy Isaac had previously teased that they would have 15 songs for their full live setlist, and all 15 can now be heard in full on Spotify. YouTube has the requisite 30 or 60 second music video samples, and since our last write-up on Stone Smyth, Troy has posted seven compilation videos of those samples ranging from 7-12 minutes in length, which is a handy way to watch most at once!
I'll embed "Compilation #14" here, which leads off with Stone Smyth's then-newest song "Lovin' You", as well as the conservative politically themed "Don & Ron For President", a presumed companion to the earlier "Uncle Ted For President". I try and keep the SMS apolitical, so just a heads up that these are partisan in tone and not written ironically. The music on offer is well written and will appeal to classic-leaning hard rock fans, but as I've said before, the processing on Troy's vocals is not ideal. Check out Stone Smyth's 15 original songs, in full or in part, above & below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
Here's another stacked news post for your Friday evening as we enter the long weekend! Below, you'll find some new updates & material from a local solo project, but let's first lead off with three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for you guys to take note of, one on SHORT NOTICE!
Local alternative/punk quartet Handsome Sandwich will rock The Whisky Barrel for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed this date via their Facebook page on Wednesday. After a quiet August apart from their Northern Vibe Festival set (oddly not promoted by the band themselves on Facebook), this will be Handsome Sandwich's first show in city limits since "members of" the band played at Shooters on July 28th, but there's no such "members of" distinction for this show at the Gore Street pub TOMORROW! Should be a fine opportunity to hear the Sandwich's fun and lively originals and covers, so don't miss out if you're able! Note that the poster shows a fifth person with the band, and based on visuals, that looks like Whisky Barrel manager/co-owner Dunbar Thompson, who I don't believe has joined the band in a musical capacity.
TOMORROW'S concert has an 8:00 PM start time according to the venue (though the band says 9:00 PM), no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. If you're up for some Scottish fare and some solid live music from this talented and varied local band, don't miss out on all of the action TOMORROW, and here's Handsome Sandwich live!
That's not all for hard rock/punk fans at The Whisky Barrel this month, as the venue's Facebook page posted their monthly schedule for September 2022 earlier today, confirming that local funk/hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will return to their favourite stomping grounds on Friday, September 16th! Also last seen at Northern Vibe, The Stallyns belatedly made up for their general disuse of their Facebook page by posting loads of recent concert photos there, but have not yet themselves confirmed this Whisky Barrel show in two weeks. Hopefully Rob, Christina, Jesse, Derek, and Alex(?) deliver a fun night of unplugged hard, funk, and other rock coverts for fans on Gore Street then! Like with Handsome Sandwich TOMORROW, The Wyld Stallyns will be on at 8:00 PM with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit on the 16th. Visit the above links for more details on this and other Whisky Barrel shows ahead!
In one more new show announcement, Toronto-based Metallica tribute band Sandman will reportedly return to Soo Blaster for a headlining concert on Saturday, October 8th! This show has not been confirmed by the band nor the venue at press time, but the local openers announced it on their Facebook page earlier today, more on them in a second. Fans will have just seen this Helix alumni-laden tribute rock Soo Blaster on July 9th, itself their third local gig following shows here in 2008 & 2015, so they're really breaking their "one Soo date every seven years" pattern by coming here just three months after the last time! Luckily, Metallica fans know what to expect from Sandman's faithful thrash metal intensity and sly humour, and I can confirm that they put on a solid show in July! The local openers will be Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters in their second date of 2022 and with their current lineup, also last seen at The Northern Vibe Festival.
Good to see Jules, Wes, Mitch, and Johnny back in city limits, and while The Foos aren't a pure metal compliment, they have enough hard rock tunes to fill out a recognizable companion tribute set! If the July show is anything to go by, Sandman's 2022 round #2 at Soo Blaster should have $20 advance tickets once again, a 19+ age limit, and a 9:00 PM start time, so stay tuned to venue and Sandman pages for further details on ticket availability. Between this and the Just Leppard/AC/DC Show event in November, Soo Blaster will be quite a destination for hard rock tribute fans this fall, so don't miss out on all of this action then, and stay tuned for updates!
We'll close today with the latest from local/Toronto hard rock project Stone Smyth (a.k.a. StrykerGC or Stonesmith GC and variants therein), so what's new in their camp? On Monday, they posted a new original song named "Last Chance Mountain" onto major streaming services, simultaneously posting this teaser video of 59 seconds of the song alongside wintry stock footage onto their YouTube channel (Troy did tease making a full video of this, for the record). On their Facebook page on Tuesday, Stone Smyth said that "we're going on tour shortly" and that "releases are going to be happening for the next 2 months". This isn't the first time that a Stone Smyth concert tour has been teased, but what form will it and the live band take? As far as I've known them, this has been a solo project, after all. Also, does this just mean more songs are coming this fall, or do they mean another type of release? We'll keep you posted!
Note that prior postings on Stone Smyth pages teased that they are planning to have 15 songs ready for live sets, and only eight are online at the moment. Speaking of which, if you want to sample all eight songs (albeit via 49-ish seconds-long preview videos with stock footage), Stone Smyth have posted all eight to watch in this also-new video embedded below. Promising hard rock music with an old school touch to be sure, even if I'm not sold on the vocal processing, so check everything out, and stay tuned for more from Troy & company in due course!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thank everyone!
Back to the news backlog clearout on this Tuesday evening, including new updates from the E.U.P., a revived solo project, and leading off, a preview for an expected mid-week concert, so here's what you should know!
As recently usual, local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison should return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage at The Trading Post for another Wednesday evening concert TOMORROW NIGHT, but while we're on the subject, let's add his expected August dates there to our calendar! Unless otherwise stated (like for inclement weather), Tym should be back at the Great Northern Road outdoor stage on Wednesday, August 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st, so fans of his deep setlist of hard and classic rock covers should be amped up for these mid-week events next month, and before then, tomorrow! Remember, the Mike Case Stage is only open seasonally, closing for 2022 in September. Tomorrow's and next month's shows have no age limit, no cover charge, and 7:00 PM start times, but be advised that Tym has not visibly plugged tomorrow's concert on social media, so we'll let you know if it is 100% off or if things are a go as usual.
Weather-wise, if he is back there tomorrow, 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy, 17° weather with the rain likely ending before showtime. Again, we'll let you know if Tym's off tomorrow or if the show just didn't get an event page, but see above for more details, and here's Tym live!
Next up, let's head to Michigan for some more backlogged updates from St. Ignace metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown's Facebook page! Beyond the YouTube video covered the other day, Heavy Lies The Crown uploaded three TikTok style "Reels" videos that are ultra short & repetitive by design after the Nonpoint concert in New Baltimore two weeks ago, but they did post one proper 30 second live video from that event of the guys in action, unfortunately shot vertically. The attendee still had a good angle of the band (minus bassist Christian Thanasiu) as well
as fans trying to get a mosh pit going on the floor, and the video and
audio quality holds up where the aspect ratio may not! Give it a watch
below, and stay tuned for more from Heavy Lies The Crown in due course!
Also, here's a new video of local blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 from their show at The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel this past weekend! Uploaded to their Facebook page on Sunday (with more videos from the show allegedly forthcoming), this features the guys covering Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box". Strong performance of a great song, if a little soft vocally on the choruses, but the visual quality isn't ideal thanks to the overexposed blue stage lighting. Still good stuff all around, so check it out for yourself below, and 906 will be back in Hessel next month!
Finally for today, let's head back to Sault Ontario, as local hard rock solo project Stonesmith GC (f.k.a. StrykerGC) relaunched in May! I almost went with them for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile before noticing, FYI. Led by veteran local guitarist Troy Isaac, Stonesmith GC has been absent from Facebook updates for a year+, but as you can see by the links in their YouTube video descriptions, he sure has a current presence online! Two original songs under the slightly altered name Stone Smyth can be heard on his/their Bandcamp page, entitled "Uncle Ted For President" (a musical homage to Ted Nugent) and "Who's Next MF", while their YouTube channel features 30-60 second samples of those and six other songs, all set to thematically related stock footage. The full songs can be heard on Spotify and/or Apple Music, though no word on if Troy is planning an album or not.
Note that Stone Smyth's Bandcamp description says "Please look me up for up coming
performances" and "I have a full 15 song original show coming to a town near
you", though I have not seen any references to live dates on his pages at press time (also note that pages tend to list the project as being from Toronto nowadays). Good to see Troy back at it with his original music, and his guitar and programming talents are on solid display with these songs, but the vocal processing may not be for everyone. It'll be interesting to see what else comes of the new Stone Smyth, but give their new songs a listen, and here's the preview video for "Cold Rain"!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
