Dead II Society Updates, Plus Our Next Tym Morrison Concert Preview!!

Today's post ended up being more skewed to one band than I imagined, but there's a lot to cover with their recent launch and first major material! However, we are leading off with a preview of a matinee concert tomorrow, so here's what you should know on this Saturday night!

We'll start today with the last hard rock concert preview for this weekend, as local classic/hard rock solo artist Tym Morrison will return to Reggie's Place for another matinee concert TOMORROW! Shifting his unplugged concert focus to indoor venues for the fall, Tym just played at Reggie's last week, with tomorrow's concert being the only time in his confirmed bookings there through December where he is the matinee performer on consecutive Sundays. Hopefully things go well with a good turnout and solid covers from the former Caveman Morrison frontman tomorrow afternoon as usual! Like last week, this is a 2:00 PM concert with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover charge. If you can't make it, he'll be back at Reggie's in three weeks. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live!

Next up, here's a new music video and single from new local outlaw punk quartet Dead II Society! As teased when they publically launched last month, they did indeed release their first studio original "Dead & Buried" onto "all music streaming platforms" (a continually unlikely claim from any band) on Wednesday! To promote the release of it and its music video, frontman Erik "Buzz" Boissineau was interviewed on Scott Cook In The Morning on Rock 101, where the song was also played. It's rare when clips from on-air interviews on 101.3 FM get shared online, but hopefully the interview went well! To promote everything, the band was featured in this SooToday article by James Hopkin on Tuesday, which features remarks from Buzz and guitarist Mike Yakasovich. In it, Buzz details that his plans to write and record a full album with a new band began in 2020, shortly after he moved back to the Soo.

Mike noted that Dead II Society were basically kept secret while they were in development in recent years, so they're not brand new as a unit, just new to the public at large. Buzz's past work with his 2008-2015 metal band Garden of Bedlam is also brought up, especially as he knew Scott Cook following that band's victory in the Rock 101-hosted Kiss Battle of the Bands in 2009. It's a solid and informative interview that helps explain what Buzz and the gang have been up to in the early-mid 2020s, so give it a read above! Now that the cat is out of the bag, the song can be heard on major streaming platforms as well as Bandcamp, which all confirm that the song was recorded at the Canadian Musicians Co-operative Studio in Barrie and at The Loft at the Algoma Conservatory of Music with producer/Golden Scoundrels guitarist Brandon Ruch, with mixing by Jordan Zadorozny of Skylark Park in Pembroke.

Bryan Lowe mixed the song at Joao Carvalho Mastering in Toronto. Buzz did imply wanting to release a Dead II Society album, but is that 100% in the works or is this just step #1? Regardless, the music video (directed by Brandon's Golden Scoundrels bandmate Josh Penno at Spacebag Productions) is the first upload on the band's new YouTube channel. The video intercuts studio performance footage of Buzz, Yak, bassist Andrew Torgerson, and drummer Charlie Yanni (all separately shot) with scenes of actress Jean Becker. The lyrics imply that the song/video is about a woman trying to get out of an abusive relationship, and her hopes for what she wants her partner to deal with as a result. Well edited overall, and left with just enough room for interpretation that there are still some elements of the story to question what happened and why! With all of that said, how exactly do Dead II Society sound as a band on this track?

Their sound was described as melding "skater punk, alternative country and arena rock", and while the soaring Volbeat-reminiscent vocals will remind you of Garden of Bedlam instantly, this is a pure punk song that fans of the 1990s local scene will appreciate! If anything, this fits more with Charlie's back catalogue than anyone else here. I don't really get a country vibe from this song, but if they're implying it, that must be ahead (also, remember that Buzz's other main local bands like Barfly and Changing Lanes weren't as heavy as Garden of Bedlam). A promising start with fantastic production and mastering, so give it a look above and below, and witness their debut at the sold out Punk Rock Fiesta at The Rockstar Bar on October 3rd!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bone Yard 225), A Surprise Band Breakup, And More Recent Updates!!

Before we begin this post, we have a concert cancellation to take note of, as Barrie-based AC/DC tribute band Hells Bells are no longer headlining at the Sault Community Theatre Centre on April 10th "due to unforeseen circumstances", as per the S.C.T.C.'s Facebook page on March 4th. No word on if low ticket sales are those circumstances, but the White Pines theater was a big jump from their 2010s nightclub gigs here. Hopefully Hells Bells try again here down the road! Refunds for tickets already bought are available at point of purchase. Now, here's some updates on a local musician's newest studio material, fallout from a big recent show, a surprise band breakup, and leading off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will go "uncorked" for a special St. Patrick's Day concert TOMORROW NIGHT at... Smitty's?! Apologies for the short notice, this concert was first announced on the band's Facebook page on Friday, March 6th, but I didn't hear about it until last week. Yes, the new chain restaurant in the former Aurora's/Thali building at 384 McNabb Street will be hosting a live band, which is surprising in & of itself, but this won't be the first concert held there, as Smokehouse frontman Michael Yurich was booked there last month. While that show was electric, Bone Yard's debut there TOMORROW will not be, a'la their Water Tower Pub, Gateway Casino, and Beck's matinee gigs. With St. Patrick's Day being on a Tuesday this year, fewer bars are hosting live bands on the actual day, so if you want to wear your best green attire and drink some green beer with some ("uncorked") hard rock, come to Smitty's TOMORROW! The weather will be better!

Beyond your local 225's presence and the sale of adult beverages (including green beer), there will reportedly be some level of giveaways for the occasion. TOMORROW'S central concert takes place at an early 6:00-10:00 PM timeslot, there's no cover, and as that this is Smitty's Family Restaurant, I don't believe there is an age limit, but use common sense given the seasonality. Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S luck of the Irish, and for a preview, here's Greg, Alex, and Warren live!

Next up, here's some very surprising news that broke yesterday, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down have announced that they are disbanding, as per their Facebook page. A reason for the decision was not announced, other than to say that "it was definitely not easy" and that "we cannot carry on as (Double Down) without any one of us", though I will note that they did survive two lineup replacements and Dan's 6 month absence already. They did apologize to local venues for having to cancel scheduled bookings, including March 28th at The Water Tower Pub, which is the only one that had been publically announced at press time. A staple of the bar cover circuit since their live debut in April 2023, Double Down memorably played at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2023 & 2024 (closing the latter year), and they were known for their guest-friendly and Cancon-laden live sets.

Double Down had just played shows on Friday and Saturday at Jay's Piston Broke Pub alongside guest singer Jack Alisat, which makes things even more surprising (I even saw personal Facebook posts implying that she could be joining the band), but I hope things are amicable regardless of what exactly was discussed this weekend. They were a talented band regardless of lineup, and a welcome sight over the past three years, and hopefully we hear more from Joel, Beej, Dan, Ric, Adam, and Brad in the future!

Also today, have you been wondering where videos from last month's Trews concert at The Machine Shop have been? Honestly, I haven't found any public videos from the concert yet, but some media surrounding it has surfaced! Longtime SooToday contributor Donna Hopper returned to cover the show for this article, which features 20 colour photos from February 25th, including 13 of the headlining Nova Scotia hard rock band and 7 of openers Eddy & The Dirty Boys. Donna noted that The Trews' tour bus broke down in Dryden between dates, and that they endured highway closures due to inclement weather (readers of this post on March 16th may relate to that!) before finally making it to the Soo on schedule, and she also revealed a selection of the songs played by The Trews three weeks ago. Solid work with some predictably strong pictures, so give everything a look at this link!

While I have yet to find public videos from the show itself, Trews frontman Colin MacDonald was interviewed earlier that day from the Soo for the news piece below that aired on CTV News Northern Ontario! Conducted by anchor/former Sault Ste. Marie city councillor Tony Ryma, the interview sees Colin talking about how the tour is going, the tour bus & weather issues, their long work together, and their Ontario connections (two band members are actually from Northern Ontario originally). Effective promotion with a regional bent from the former MCTV, and longer than I assumed, so if you missed the piece on channel 2/11, give it a watch below!

Let's close today with the latest from local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary, so how did 2026 start for him? On February 28th, he revealed on his Facebook page that the first single for his next solo album has been recorded and was in the mixing process at that time. Progress was steady, and he hoped to give details "in the near future". The album proper will have 8 songs touching on a variety of topics, and he is still working with Swedish indie label Rexius Records on the final product. We've heard nothing new since, but Mike did post a new teaser video from the recording sessions on Facebook in December, which features 29 seconds of guitar soloing with orchestral dynamics, as filmed from tracking computer monitors. It is obviously way too soon to comment, but if you liked Mike's heavier sounds, you should take to this sample! Give the new video a watch below, and stay tuned for more Mike when it rolls in!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Pop Evil), A New Christmas Album, And Mike Haggith Updates!!

We're back after a quiet weekend with a stacked post on this Monday night, including a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, a brand new album release, and a new concert video & related updates, so here's what you should know!

Muskegon, Michigan hard rock quintet Pop Evil will return to our area on Sunday, April 12th, but this time, they'll be making their debut in Sault Ontario at The Machine Shop! Yes, it is 100% the local Machine Shop, not the one in Flint. Fans have seen these Rock 101 mainstays seven times in Sault Michigan over the years (all but one at their Kewadin Casino), including their most recent date here in March 2023, but if you Canadian readers were previously unable or unwilling to cross the border, then you'll want to circle this date on your calendar! Like last time, Pop Evil are touring in support of their new album, so expect to hear cuts from "What Remains", plus existing hits like "Skeletons", "Trenches", and "Breathe Again" in the spring! This will also be their first local stop since Blake Allison replaced Hayley Cramer on drums. No word on potential openers yet, but this show will not feature Sabaton, who Pop Evil are opening for on much of their early 2026 tour run.

Tickets for this all ages and 8:00 PM concert run for $40 + additional processing fees at this link at presumably at the door. We've been getting a good run of big new rock concert announcements in Sault Ontario for early 2026 so far, and this will absolutely help in that, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, here's a new-ish album release from Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night! On Friday, they released "Christmas Night 3" to their Reverbnation page for $7.99, and it's not on other paid or subscription streaming services beyond their YouTube channel. If you're not familiar, the original "Christmas Night" came out as an instrumental album in 2011, before they re-recorded and expanded it with then-singer Rachel Mender in 2022 as "Dreams Of Winter" (I assume they're considering that to be "Christmas Night 2"). For this third go-around with a seasonal album, Theatre of Night are collaborating again with German soprano singer Gaby Koss, who was once an official (if remote) band member in the early-mid 2010s, and worked with Craig, Steve, and crew again last year for a free  "Celtic Christmas metal EP", but there were teasers at the time that Gaby would be working on more material with them.

The five songs from last year's batch are included on "Christmas Night 3" along with five new additions, and note that of the 10 songs, "The First Noel", "O Come Emmanuel", "Let All Mortal Flesh", and "Good King Wenceslas" are all brand new to Theatre Of Night's paid studio output and did not feature on the two prior albums. How do these sound, and how do the other six compare to prior versions? I think we'll find out this month, as I'm going to bump our album review queue all up a month so this can be reviewed in a timely fashion! Otherwise, it'll be blocked for mid-2026 at the earliest, nowhere near Christmas (No Arrow will 100% come next month). Stream "Christmas Night 3" for yourselves below!

Finally, let's head back to Sault Ontario for the long awaited full concert video from Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band's outdoor-ish headlining show at the Downtown Plaza in September! Of course, this concert was released as a live album named "Under A Moonlit Sky" late last month, but Mike promised right along that the the full video would be posted to his YouTube channel, and that went live on Thursday. 705Live Sound Co. were on hand to provide sound for the concert and this album, while videography was credited to Big Finish Band backing vocalist Elly McWatters (who must have set up one of the stationary cameras), guitarist Chris Nielsen's A Dire Setback bandmate Matt Quinn, and Celeste Maurer. There's at least three stationary cameras on hand here (one pointing directly at the stage, one at a corner angle, and a drumcam for Brandan Glew's sake), while Matt and/or Celeste was roaming to capture various close-up angles. 

For what it's worth, the last two songs are solely featured via the main stationary camera with no switches to other views. Of note, the stage was tarped on three of four sides with a forest/sky motif, but the material wasn't opaque, so natural lighting is reflected in the skyline, and as the show took place during sunset and dusk, things do darken naturally. It is a neat visual! The concert proper is longer than the album, so more of the between-song banter and gaps are left in, but in tagging each individual song in the YouTube description, Mike opted not to credit the guitar adlib or the separated introductions (aside from "The Power of Community") for the video proper. As you may be aware, Mike pledged proceeds from streams of "Under A Moonlit Sky" to Christmas Cheer this month, and that includes 10¢ from every view of the concert video.

Mike was interviewed by SooToday's Darren Taylor for this article about the live album and charity drive, where Mike talks about getting the idea to support his old hometown (remember, he lives in Barrie now), where he focuses his attention for gigs when he comes back north, and the change of plans from the battle of the bands to the full concert on September 25th, apparently on just two days notice! Solidly informative article, even if The Big Finish Band name wasn't given, so read it above! I'll hold my thoughts on the concert proper for our review of "Under A Moonlit Sky" next year, but it's very well shot and edited with some neat views of the plaza stage, so give it a watch below and support Christmas Cheer in the process!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

Our Lady Peace/Collective Soul Concert Fallout & Videos!!

We've put things off long enough (partly to let videos accumulate), so let's cover what went down at Sunday night's Our Lady Peace-headlined concert at GFL Memorial Gardens in today's post! The legitimately sold out concert was covered by newer SooToday reporter Greg McGrath-Goudie for this article that features ten photos from the Toronto alternative/hard rock band's closing set, but the focus isn't on the concert at large so much as one song. When O.L.P. broke into their classic ballad "Life", frontman Raine Maida prefaced it by noting that music programs are "automatically" the first to get cut at schools when they decide to cut costs, so they invited members of Superior Heights Collegiate & Vocational School's student rock band Steel Rock to sing the song with them. That huge opportunity was thanks to the work of Superior Heights teacher Eric Williams reaching out to the band about working with the school.

Kudos to Our Lady Peace for teaming up with Superior Heights and giving the kids one huge opportunity, one that they've been practicing for all winter, and it sounds like it went over well! You can see the performance below in one of (surprisingly) just two YouTube channels who have visibly posted content from the concert so far. YouTube user MasonTheGoat was on hand to film Our Lady Peace's set (nothing of the openers), and along with "Life" embedded below, he also filmed them playing "Clumsy", "Innocent", "In Repair", and "Whatever". Alas, all five videos were shot vertically, but while Mason wasn't especially close to the stage, he has a good clear view of the band in action. Honestly, Steel Rock are hard to hear as the song goes, but it's a solid performance of one of O.L.P.'s bigger hits, and the audio quality across all five videos is pretty good, so give Mason's footage a watch for yourselves above and below!

The only other YouTube video from the show that I've seen comes from YouTube user Mike Malott, who filmed Our Lady Peace playing "Whatever", which some readers will recognize as the 2002-2007 theme song of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit. The band hadn't played it live since 2003, let alone following the Benoit murder-suicide in 2007, but they reintroduced it in this current Canadian tour, with Raine telling fans at their show in Calgary that they wanted to "reclaim it" (source here). Mixed responses are online to the band bringing "Whatever" back, for obvious reasons, but it's a good performance shot from a much closer (and horizontal!) angle, and it is one of O.L.P.'s heavier cuts, so check it out below!

Finally for this post, has anything surfaced in terms of videos from the openers? Not a lot. I haven't seen any public videos of local openers The Northwest yet at all, and as for Georgia alternative rock veterans Collective Soul, the only public clip that I've seen actually comes from Sault Michigan rock radio station Rock 101's Facebook page. The 76 seconds-long clip sees Collective Soul playing one of their biggest hits "Shine", which is frequently heard in 101.3 FM's rotation. While shot vertically, the station staffer filming had a very straight on view of the stage from where they were, and it puts a good emphasis on the fans on the floor enjoying the show. Strong rendition, if slightly slowed down, so give Collective Soul's clip a watch below!

That's all for today, but we'll have more from the Our Lady Peace show when/if it surfaces, and more news on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations), A New Local Album, And Much More!!

Today's post touches on some assorted recent stories, including a big loss for local news media, a new song from a local metal project, and a new album from a reunited local band of sorts, but we're leading off with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced two upcoming dates for next month, both Saturday nighters, as they'll rock Shooters Downstairs Lounge on October 19th and then Gateway Casino on October 26th! Fresh off of their set at this past Friday's Band Together To Rock Cancer benefit (more on that on the site soon), these two dates will be Generations' first at either venue since last month. The shows will also presumably see guitarist Tony Kajnar back after he missed the benefit gig on Friday (Muckrakers frontman Mike McDonald filled in for the night, and if you want a teaser of our upcoming coverage, click here). No word yet on if the October 26th gig at the casino will be Halloween themed or not, but remember that Halloween is a Thursday this year, allowing venues the opportunity to host their party a day late on November 1st rather than five days early.

You can enjoy Generations' classic and hard rock cover array on these Saturdays next month with no announced cover charges and 19+ age limits, and while they'll take the stage at 9:30 PM at Shooters, the Gateway Casino concert is at 8:00 PM. No word on if we'll see Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre anywhere else before mid-October, but keep this talented veteran group's next announced shows in mind, and see above for more details! 

Next up, here's a mild surprise, as defunct local classic metal quartet Late & Loud kinda sorta reunited to release the second score/soundtrack album to their Dungeons & Dragons podcast Late & Legends last week! As you may recall, Late & Legends sees Jonathan Tiberi, Brendan Christie, and Benn Garside (with Josh Hatherley as game master and audio editor) play D&D with their own storylines and characters as they explore/save the city of Renlan, and they released their first score album of songs used in the podcast back in April 2021. It is still available to buy/stream at this link, but has brand new artwork and a slightly amended title. Now, Late & Legends began season 4 in May of last year and hasn't posted a new episode since that month, but "Season Two (Podcast Soundtrack)" reflects the episodes that aired in February-October 2021, and if you want to catch up on the action, click here or visit your favourite podcasting host service.

Unlike with "Late & Legends 1", it seems like Brendan Christie had a much stronger hand in recording this material, with Jon and Benn only getting limited credits, and Josh is not listed as writing or performing at all once again. You can buy the 12 song score album for $8.99 on Bandcamp or stream the whole thing for free there, and it may just get reviewed on the SMS in the coming week! Plans to review Sykotyk Rampage's new album may get delayed, as I was hoping to have the accompanying comic book for full context by now, so it may get bumped to October in lieu of "Late & Legends 2". Stay tuned, but give it a listen above! As this is three+ year old music, Late & Loud are not back in our active band links. 

Speaking of projects featuring Brendan Christie, here's the latest from his active progressive/djent metal band Convergence, who posted the first full song from their upcoming EP "Gemini" onto their YouTube channel on Friday! The song in question is "You Are Not Flesh" (obviously a new/altered title from prior track listing reveals), and it was uploaded there in two copies: an instrumental version and, as embedded below, one with vocals (it's a lyric video, to boot!). You can also buy (for $1) or stream it on their Bandcamp page, complete with altered cover artwork. As best as I can tell, Brendan himself provided the harsh vocals here, as also heard on their non-EP original song "Cancer" from last year, something I surprisingly never clarified on here at the time. I got kind of a Phil Labonte vibe from his vocals, which is neat! I'll hold comment on the song otherwise pending our eventual "Gemini" review, but check out "You Are Not Flesh" below!

Finally for today, I wanted to note the abrupt closure of a long running local news website that, in its various iterations, has crossed the SMS' radar multiple times. On August 30th, FirstLocalNews (née SaultOnline) shut down after just 15 months in operation following their change in ownership and branding. Producer and local news veteran Craig Huckerby revealed in this SooToday article by Alex Flood that the closure was due to low advertising revenue following the relaunch as FirstLocalNews, prompted when Rock 101/et al. parent company Sovereign Communications bought SaultOnline from Superior Media, starting fresh with a brand new site and name. FirstLocalNews had its roots dating back to Craig leaving the former MCTV News in 2003 to launch LTVNews (later SooNews and Local2), before SooToday bought it in 2014. Craig and Superior Media launched SaultOnline in Local2's wake, with ownership also producing local news television content via ONNtv, which also appears to have closed.

As SMS coverage goes, we always got more relevant material from SooToday and their offshoots than from the sites that Craig produced, but I always appreciated having different viewpoints for major concert events when Local2 or SaultOnline sent their own reporters to attend, and they had some good exclusive content that you can (partially) read about on the SMS where dead links allow. Truth be told, them starting completely anew as FirstLocal did them no favours, even if necessitated by the need to rebrand and launch a new website, but hopefully staff lands on their feet with new ventures, as local journalism is important! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2024 Fallout & Videos (Part 1!!)

It's been a week since this year's Rotaryfest concluded, so let's begin looking at the local news coverage and public videos from this past weekend's live musicians at Stage 1 at Clergue Park! Both The Sault Star and SooToday were on hand for day #1 on Thursday, July 18th, with the former's Kyle Darbyson taking photos of Generations and Brendan Hodgson's sets that you can see at this link, while the latter's Dylan Taylor got pictures of Pegasus' set for this article. Both also got other photos of the day's festivities beyond the bands, and the photos are nice as you'd expect! Regarding Pegasus, The Sault Star's Brian Kelly interviewed keyboardist Jeff Holmes for this article last month, where the classic rock veterans revealed that their reunion shows at Rotaryfest and The Water Tower Pub the next day would be their last. Hopefully they had a good sendoff to local fans across both nights! Now, let's look at some videos from a couple of bands on the Thursday program!

I've only found public videos from two of the four Thursday bands, including a clip of local country musician Brendan Hodgson covering Big & Rich's "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy" in this recap video shot by attendee Ron Boulard for his YouTube channel. Not a long glimpse, but it looks like a fine performance for country fans, if not too close to the stage! Their portion is 36 seconds into the video, running for about 20 seconds. The other Thursday videos come from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' set, which were filmed by drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn and posted to their Facebook group later that night in a batch post also featuring photos of their set. Within the post, you'll see Generations covering Concrete Blonde's "Joey", Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" (with guitarist Tony Kajnar on lead vocals), and as embedded below, Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet".

Alas, all three videos are vertical, with "Joey" and "The Middle" being filmed at more a skewed angle at that, but Dawn was right close to the stage, and she had a good look at Generations knocking out these three covers with ease! Check them out above & below, and don't miss Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre at Shooters Downstairs Lounge in two weeks!

Moving ahead to the Friday, July 19th program, the very first artist that day was local/Barrie alternative hard rock musician Mike Haggith in his third straight solo set on Stage 1, but this was definitely a chance to make amends for last year, when he suddenly dislocated his knee in a freak accident early in his set, and had to be brought to Sault Area Hospital by ambulance for treatment shortly afterwards. In advance of this year's return, Mike was interviewed by the aforementioned Kyle Darbyson for this Sault Star article on July 11th, where he talked about his mental processes after what happened (especially for his CD release on a big stage), his physical rehabilitation and recovery since last year's accident, his songwriting process & themes, how he has handled the accident publically since, and how he wanted a "shot at redemption" via returning to Rotaryfest for a full set without a similar mishap. Very solid article, so click here to read it for yourselves!

If you missed Mike's set with his newly named Big Finish Band last Friday, you can watch the complete live-stream below courtesy of Mike's YouTube channel, and I am happy to confirm that Mike played the whole set and his knee did not blow out again! This year, ex-Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi took over for Jacob Quarrell, while past guest backing vocalist Elly McWatters joined as a permanent member on rhythm guitar and/or backing vocals on most songs. Perhaps due to Elly's expanded role, Mike only played guitar himself on the opening song and tracks #7-9 of the 11 song set, though note that Mike was playing guitar when Kneegate happened last year. Brought to the stage by one of the EMTs that helped Mike last year (nice full circle moment), the set began with Mike's original song "Carousel", which did not feature Elly at all, followed by a surprise cover of Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero".

That song featured just A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen on guitar, with Elly on backing vocals only, but she debuted on guitar for the follow-up cover of "Missing" by Mike and drummer Brandan Glew's old band The Din. It was actually Brandan's birthday that day, so what a way to celebrate! The next two tracks appear to be debuting new originals named "I Really Hope This Gets To You" and "No Love", Established originals resume next with "Hot & Cold" (the song that they were playing when Mike's knee gave out last year), with Mike picking up his guitar late in time for "If Ever Comes The Day" and "If Only You Could Hear Me". Mike gave The Big Finish Band a break to do a solo cover of Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "In Your Time" in honour of his aunt, who passed away a few days prior to Rotaryfest. She was a Bob Seger fan, and this was a nice touch on his part to pay tribute to her! 

The band returned to end the set, with Mike setting his guitar back down for a surprise cover of Louis Tomlinson's "Silver Tongues", before closing with his own "All The Best". From what I gathered in this 40 minute set, Mike and crew definitely made up for last year with a fun, energetic, and even poignant set! Mike seemed in good spirits (and on steady joints), and those two new songs had a strong full sound to them! Elly is clearly developing as a guitarist but she certainly didn't detract from the set, which was shot in high quality (and in landscape!) despite being very skewed to not be in the fans' road. Check out the full live-stream below, and don't miss Mike & the band at next month's Northern Vibe Festival!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next, and we'll have much more news and notes on the site next week, including more Rotaryfest fallout! Thanks everyone!

Go North Music Festival & Bone Yard 225 Concert Previews!!

Here's post #2 of this weekend's hard rock concert previews! Due to the high amount of events this weekend, we'll hold our previews of tomorrow's Salty Marie Trails Fest, Neither Could Dylan, and HeadFirst concerts for a post either tonight or tomorrow morning, so don't worry, they are coming! Today's post is devoted to a major returning summer festival and a prominent veteran local band's weekend gigs in town, plus some linked new updates, so here's what you should know on both!

We'll start at Reggie's Place, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to the stage TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! After skipping Rotaryfest for a second straight year, these will be Greg, Alex, and Warren's first traditional plugged-in gigs since rocking the same venue three weeks ago, with their only interim date being an "uncorked" show at The Water Tower Pub on July 12th. Good to see this talented veteran trio back at it, and hopefully they deliver more fun and hard edged classic and hard rock covers for fans downtown this weekend! As usual for their dates at Reggie's, this weekend's shows have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of your local 225 at Reggie's on July 5th! This live-stream from their Facebook page captures the guys covering Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show's "Cover Of 'Rolling Stone'".

Sadly as usual, this video was shot vertically, helping accentuate the lack of fans on the floor at this point in the night (one of my main issues with vertical orientation of concert videos), but the cover is sound, as fans who've seen this song done live or in past videos will know! My mom loved Dr. Hook, so she'd have gotten a kick out of Bone Yard's cover! The overly red/purple lighting won't be for everyone, but check this video out below, and don't miss Bone Yard 225 back at Reggie's this weekend!

Next up, the summer festival season continues with the sixth annual Go North Music Festival, which returns to Centennial Grounds in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island TOMORROW! Well, it actually started yesterday with David Francey's sold out show at Richards Landing Town Hall, as part of the festival's expansion to a multi-day event coordinated with the town's Community Night weekend, but the main multi-band program is tomorrow at the former Cornfest homebase. This annual concert festival features local craft and food vendors, overnight camping, and good vibes in general, so be sure to visit the official website for complete non-musical details on what to expect whether making the hour's drive as a music fan and/or camper! Unusually, organizers have not released timeslots for the Saturday program, but gates open at 3:00 PM, and I can't assume an identical timeslot placement to 2023 given that there's one more band this year, so I'll address the bands in descending order of how Go North promotes them online.

If there's a kids stage again featuring scheduled acts playing mini-sets in an alternate locale, organizers haven't said. Tomorrow night's headliners are Juno Award nominated Nova Scotia alt-hard rock quintet The Trews in their first local date since opening for Marianas Trench in the Soo in 2022, and their first headlining date up here since 2009. With songs like "Not Ready To Go", "What's Fair Is Fair", and "Hold Me In Your Arms" in their back catalogue, it will be great to see The Trews' diverse but hard rocking sound back on a local stage, and I do like many of their songs, so this will sure be a different way to experience them! Orillia garage rock band Bleeker will co-headline tomorrow in their first local date since opening for Airbourne in the Soo in 2013 under their old name Bleeker Ridge, back when they played an overall heavier style of music. They're still talented, and their current sound is a better Go North fit!

Juno nominated musician Daniel Romano and his solo band Daniel Romano's Outfit will also make their way to St. Joseph Island with their Welland-based prog rock stylings, as will Hamilton folk/blues singer/guitarist Terra Lightfoot. Three local bands will take the stage tomorrow, including local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich (last seen at Poutine Feast), indie/pop rock standouts The Hollow Heads, and Central Algoma Secondary School's Mustang Sally-esque student band CASS FM (surprisingly this year's only returning act from any prior Go North Festival). It's worth noting that both Bleeker and Handsome Sandwich took part in local news interviews to promote Go North, the former with Bleeker singer Taylor Perkins by SooToday's Chris Belsito and the latter with Handsome Sandwich drummer Johnny Belanger by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly, so what should you know on each?

The Bleeker article is good to reintroduce the band to local fans, and Taylor sounds excited to play at Go North! In the Handsome Sandwich article, Johnny (credited as "John") talks about their recent push to play more shows out of town, implies that they chose the Handsome Sandwich name to spark audience curiosity (I'd say that worked!), and their recent studio work with Treble Charger members. Brian notes in the article that the seven new songs being worked on at the Algoma Conservatory "will likely be released as singles", but whether that is a shift in approach from earlier EP plans or just noting that they're being released individually alongside, I don't know. Handsome Sandwich will also be playing an Ottawa date on September 12th, which I believe was first announced via this article. Good promotion to get the word out about Handsome Sandwich, even without them at Rotaryfest this year!

Also, the expanded Go North Music Festival will host a free concert at Centennial Grounds TONIGHT featuring local pop rock cover quartet Lime during the main Community Night celebrations, so don't miss that if you're on the island! The main festivities at Go North VI take place tomorrow with gates opening at 3:00 PM, and while timeslots are not out, note that The Monowhales' headlining set last year was at 9:40 PM. Admission tomorrow is $60 for attendees 13 years of age & older (kids 12 and under get in free), while $140 camping passes for two are also available (otherwise, camping is a separate $20 rate for those with a tent, $35 if you are bringing a trailer). If you're not paying at the gate, click here to get your tickets online! Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for 26° temperatures and partly cloudy weather during Go North tomorrow, so it'll be warmer than last year but will have less of a chance of rain.

Between getting The Trews this year and the move three weeks ahead in the calendar to line up with Richards Landing's Community Night weekend, this is shaping up to be a great time for fans of live music, especially indie and folk-leaning bands, but there's enough hard rock on tap to keep a multitude of fans invested! Visit the above links for full details on what to expect on St. Joseph Island tomorrow, and for a preview, here's The Trews live at GFL Memorial Gardens two years ago!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Halloween Concert Updates, A New Cover, And Much More!!

I have a new news post for your Sunday afternoon reading, and it covers a lot of recent ground via shorter stories that have came up in recent months, plus a new cover video and leading off, big updates on a multi-band event at month's end. Here's what you should know!

Remember how a Halloween concert was announced for Tuesday, October 31st at The Art Hub at Spring, but the lineup was only partially known? Well, the full lineup is now out via its Facebook event page and this poster! Local metal trio The BAG announced their involvement on their own, and we correctly inferred that new local rock quartet Skinbox were playing based on members being credited as hosting on the event page, but there will be three more acts. Two are solo acts, namely Vanity First/Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto's folk punk/emo solo project Agnosticism, as well as local folk/pop singer/guitarist Hannah Lindsay, who you may recall seeing alongside The BAG and eight other acts at Lopstock III in July. The fifth act is a mystery band named The Psychic Spies, who I can't find anything definitive on, but note that "psychic spies" are the first words uttered in The Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Californication", so that could mean something (or nothing.)

Now, despite the event page being public, and The BAG confirming the event publically, why does the poster say "private event"? If it was truly "private", the event page and/or location wouldn't be publically viewable. As best as I can tell, that basically means that if you want to come, you have to RSVP, so message Skinbox members Steve Edwards, William Wardlaw, or Brad Irwin (ex-Gnaeus) if you want to attend! Their drummer is not credited as an event host. Costumes are encouraged as you'd expect, and while you have to RSVP, admission is free with a tip jar available to support the bands. See above for more details on this kinda-private-ish Halloween party at the end of the month!

Next up, here's a new cover song credited to defunct local grunge trio No Arrow! Uploaded to frontman Dann Pichette's YouTube channel, the description does give the year 2023, so if this is brand new, my feeling is that it was recorded to send off for consideration on You Rock! with Thomas Christ, which he has submitted back catalog material for. As such, I won't rush No Arrow back into our active band links, but last I heard, Dann doesn't live in town nowadays anyway. Despite the still image being from the music video for Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At", the song is a cover of "Simian Fever" by the post-hardcore band Six Finger Satellite, complete with jokey intro. Whether this is indicative of a return (even if just in studio as a solo project) or not, I can't say, but this is an intense slice of 1990s noise rock and it's good to hear new material from Dann, so check it out below!

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

• I apologize for only discovering this article after the fact, but Jeffrey Ougler from The Sault Star made up this article to promote the Fall Of Earth show at The Queen Of Hearts Club, featuring interview remarks from Fall Of Earth frontman Alex Lye. In the article, Alex talks about his vocals, the Edmonton hybrid metal band's sound, the overall friendliness of the metal music community, and his stage presence, among other topics. While not hyper-local beyond the fact that they were playing here, it's a good read and hopefully it got some more fans to the show!
  
• In recent posts on their Facebook page, local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek have acknowledged that they've been quiet in recent months, "but don't worry, it will all be worth it". The band is selling new t-shirts with an updated logo, and on September 19th, they strongly hinted that they were working on new studio material via this picture of a song being tracked on a computer, complete with a piece of paper that seems to hint at a 4:32-long new original song named "Battlefield". Is Fort Creek's long gestating debut album back in production, or are they just working on songs? Stay tuned for updates!
  
• As a bit of clarification from our recent coverage of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' upcoming concert slate, remember how they were scheduled to play at The Esquire Club on Friday and yesterday on the venue's fall calendar, but confirmed on their Facebook group that they were instead playing there this coming weekend? The switch does appear to have been a straight trade with The Steeltown Playboys, who The Esquire Club originally blocked for next weekend, but did indeed play there on Friday & yesterday. At least no one lost a booking here, and don't miss Generations at The Esquire Club later this week!
  
• The Inner City Surfers' reunion concert at Soo Blaster on November 3rd was promoted in this SooToday article by Chris Belsito on Wednesday, where drummer/event host Mikey Hawdon talked about the event's inspiration as an alternative to a traditional stag & doe (this is in support of his upcoming wedding). He also talked individually about all four bands playing this concert, all featuring Mikey himself on guitar or drums. Nothing too new to report here beyond the personal remarks, but it's good promotion for what will be a huge reunion concert, so check it out above!
  
• In another new SooToday article from August, Chris Belsito spotlighted online page-less punk/folk solo project Jonesy Land's new single and music video for "Old Man", where project leader Dustin Jones acknowledged the positive (and negative) responses he's heard for its debut album "Zoom - Out", the themes and inspirations behind "Old Man", working on the music video, and plans to play a live support concert for "Zoom - Out" with a full band this fall (I have heard nothing on this plan at press time otherwise). Good article for fans of Dustin's, so check it out also!
• On September 11th, Sault Michigan hard rock/metal band Tarnished announced a musician search to find a new lead guitarist & bassist to replace the departed Nathan Webber & Isaac Royer. Candidates must be determined & flexible, they have gigs lined up, and a new album is planned. It's unclear how tryouts have went so far, but they played in Toledo, Ohio on Saturday with frontman Alex Traynor's dad/ex-Banned bandmate Don filling in on drums (one assumes that Alex and Josh Fair handled guitar and bass or vice versa). Hopefully that gig went well, and if you're interested in trying out, contact Tarnished via their Facebook page!
   

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

More Rotaryfest Stage 1 Videos, Plus Ripcordz Concert Coverage!!

After a Labour Day off, we're back with a new news post on this Tuesday morning, including coverage of a big recent punk show before and after the fact, but let's lead off with newly found concert videos from Sault Ste. Marie's annual summer festival!

As it turns out, we're not quite done with live concert videos from Rotaryfest in July! These come from the YouTube channel Camera Travel (a.k.a. tours5571), which is devoted to video footage of local tourism and road travel in Sault Ontario and surrounding areas, so you may want to give it a look on that basis. They did attend Rotaryfest across Friday and Saturday, July 14th-15th, and had cameras rolling at Clergue Park for thirteen videos, nine of which coming from the Buskerville performances there, especially of fire breathers. Camera Travel filmed two bands on Stage 1, interestingly on different days, including Winnipeg-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bed Of Roses on the Saturday playing (as embedded below) "Livin' On A Prayer" as well as the very tail end of their set, song unclear. These are short and relatively distant from the stage, but from what we hear of Bed Of Roses, they have the Bon Jovi sound down well!

Worth noting too that Bed Of Roses' set happened at dusk, so things were getting darker as their set wore on, and it is a neat visual compared to most other bands that played this year, especially ones who got filmed for public videos. Check out Bed Of Roses' videos from July 15th above and below!

Next up, Camera Travel's other Rotaryfest Stage 1 videos come from Friday, July 14th, specifically of classic rock quartet RPM's set, where they filmed guitarists Dino Mazzuca & Marcel Rizzo, bassist Rob Gilmar, and drummer Joseph Bertrand covering Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" and, as embedded below, AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long". Good to see RPM tackle a heavier song, and while still distant from the stage, the audio quality isn't bad, and Camera Travel filmed longer videos of RPM than they did of Bed & Roses. Check everything out for yourselves above and below!

Finally, I hope to have videos to cover from the show in an upcoming post, but let's look at some recent SooToday coverage of Friday night's Ripcordz-headlined concert at The Loft! Apologies for being so late to the party on the first of them, but Alex Flood penned this article on August 13th looking at the show ahead, where he erroneously noted that this was The Ripcordz' first local date since 2016 (they played at The Rockstar Bar in 2017 & 2019). The article features interview remarks from frontman Paul Gott about the fancier and relatively unique venue for this local date, his enjoyment of playing dates in the Soo, and his passion for punk rock. Solid article for Ripcordz fans, so give it a look at above! For what it's worth, while he didn't note the post-2016 dates of their shows in the article, Alex said there that The Rockstar Bar is "now closed", which sadly remains accurate for The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub as of this writing.

The Rockstar Bar has been closed since mid-2022, but as per a comment reply at this link, there were once hopes to re-open in the spring of 2023. I know that the pandemic hit them hard, but hopefully we haven't absolutely heard the last from The Rockstar Bar, which was a quality venue throughout the 2010s! In terms of actual coverage from that night, veteran SooToday journalist Donna Hopper was in attendance on Friday for this article, and it's great seeing her back reviewing a local concert of this kind! The upscale venue upstairs at the Algoma Conservatory of Music was heavily the theme of Donna's review compared to past Ripcordz venues here, including a note that there was less moshing than normal, perhaps in deference to the locale. Things appeared to go over well regardless, though no word on if promoter Matt Waples' $500 raffle if online tickets sold out went through.

Donna did take photos at the show, including five of The Ripcordz, three each of local openers A Dire Setback and Far From Fine, and one of fans, and the quality is as high as you'll recall from her pre-pandemic concert reviews! Worth noting from Far From Fine's pictures that Blair St. John was back behind the drumkit (no word on if he is their permanent drummer now or still just filling in), while an unidentified child (possibly Mike's son?) is seen guesting on vocals on at least one song, 19+ age limit for the show acknowledged. Get more about Friday's festivities at The Loft above, and stay tuned for much more on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Lopstock III Coverage (Part 5!!)

At long last, let's finally conclude our coverage of SooToday's live-stream from last month's third Lopstock concert at LopLops Lounge! For sake of convenience, you can read our posts on the first eight acts via clicking these links: Hannah Lindsay & Bold Noize, Jupiter Marvelous & Juliana Regan, Sawbé & Stoneburgh and The Hollow Heads, and Far From Fine & Handsome Sandwich. The ninth and penultimate act at Lopstock III was online page-less local indie/drone rock band Pointless, featuring ex-Treble Charger singer/guitarist Bill Priddle, his All The Tired Horses bandmate Robert Sartini (Pillory), Robert's old Id Iota bandmate Dustin Goodall (ex-Pixo Control) on bass, and Robert's old Peach Thieves bandmate David Peredun (ex-Ashes To Dust) on drums. Video footage resumes 6:26:17 into the 8+ hour live-stream, with Lopstock MC/promoter Brendan Garlick introducing their set.

Of note, Brendan said that attendees positively compared this year's Lopstock to the last one in 2015, he announced the winner of a surprise raffle for a Lopstock poster signed by all ten acts, and he kinda plugged Pointless on the basis of Bill's Treble Charger work while trying to be low key about it. Oddly, Brendan said that this is the "first time you can hear them in Sault Ste. Marie", despite Pointless having debuted locally in 2017. Their set started with two original songs not introduced by name (linked here and here), before playing a song named "Alright Already". Next is the Treble Charger deep cut "Forever Knowing" (from "Maybe It's Me"), which was the first cover at Lopstock since Juliana Regan's set four hours prior, Bill co-writing it in the first place acknowledged. The following two songs (linked here and here) were also unannounced by name, but the next one ("If It's All The Same") was.

Pointless must have been an exception to the "one cover per band" rule (this is Bill Priddle's band, after all!), as their last four songs were all covers. Next up was Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine", followed by another Treble Charger deep cut, this time "Drive", which was the last song on their last album (to date), 2002's "Detox". A false ending led to an abbreviated rendition of Guided By Voices' "A Salty Salute", before closing with Bill's signature Treble Charger song, "Red" (from both "nc17" and "Maybe It's Me"). Entertaining set that, while not leaning into punk given Bill's musical preferences, had strong musicianship, and his dry humour was present even if he didn't talk to the audience much between tracks, and I do appreciate that the drone/noise element was toned down from early Pointless gigs! If you like early and Bill-led Treble Charger, you should like Pointless' Lopstock set!

Lopstock III surprisingly ended with young local metal trio The BAG, in what I can only assume was due to scheduling needs for them/earlier acts, if not an intentional effort to put the heaviest scheduled band on last. They clearly had fans out for the long haul though, complete with official BAG t-shirts! Be advised that The BAG did not introduce ANY songs at Lopstock by name, so I apologize in advance for only having two original songs (their released singles) titled here. Their set opened with their debut single "Eccentric Refuge", followed by two more original cuts linked here & here. Fourth was their other single "Our Rock", before playing this fast & hard original, a brief instrumental, and, if you believe guitarist Spencer MacGillivray, "the punkiest song we've got". The BAG next played a brand new song that was written for Lopstock, followed by this slower & longer cut and another new song written by drummer Bradley Nixon.

Spencer, Austin, and Bradley finished up with a somewhat funkier original, and after Brendan offered some closing remarks, The BAG got to play an encore song, which was their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" (also not introduced by name, but everyone knows it). If you haven't seen The BAG live yet, then you'll get an in-your-face slice of metal here with lots of subgenre influences and a down & dirty intensity, and while I do wish that the guys would talk more between songs (how did they not introduce even ONE song by name?!), having The BAG around is a promising sign for the local metal scene! Overall, huge kudos to Brendan Garlick & Sault Noir for putting on such a huge concert (especially after an eight year hiatus for Lopstock), and while I don't know how the SooToday deal came together for the live-stream, the professional quality of the footage (with very few technical nitpicks) is great for home viewers who missed out!

Whether I knew the song names or not, every single individual song is linked in our five Lopstock recap posts linked above, so if you want to jump to a specific band or song, you'll know how (the bands are similarly timestamped on YouTube, if not the songs). There's obviously a lot to see here, but it's a fun watch for fans of modern original local music, so check out the entire Lopstock III live-stream below,and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!