Steel City CollectorCon Pre-Party/HeadF1rst Album Release Concert Review!!

After way too long, here's a new concert review on the SMS, as I was in attendance for last night's HeadF1rst-headlined Steel City CollectorCon pre-party at Soo Blaster! Beyond the bands, this was a special event to hype up today's comic/collector's convention at the Quattro hotel, and there were vendors on hand selling clothing, crafts, and even tattoos(!) before and during the sets! Headf1rst and Mike Haggith were selling band merchandise as well (no table for Handsome Sandwich that I noticed), but all three bands' newest CDs were offered in the raffle draw. I can't speak for what was said and took place during the VIP-exclusive function after HeadF1rst's set, but hopefully we'll learn more on that front soon! Good turnout of concertgoers as well! Your openers were local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his backing group The Big Finish Band in their first concert since The Soo's Got Talent finals at the same venue last fall, but they had a slight change.

Rhythm guitarist Elly McWatters recently suffered a rotator cuff injury and was wearing a sling last night, so Mike played guitar instead (aside from the closing song), while Elly still took part on backing vocals and playing the tambourine. Hopefully she gets well soon! Mike & crew blasted through a 45 minute set of recent originals from Mike's solo back catalogue like "The Best You Never Had", "Hot & Cold", and "The Nature Of The Times", plus a couple of newer cuts like "I Really Hope This Gets To You", and everyone fired on all cylinders with an energetic blast of rock led by Mike's deep, melodic vocals and strong lead guitar work from Chris Nielsen, while Matt Froni laid some booming bass lines throughout, and drummer Brandan Glew was up to his usual standards behind the kit. Good stuff all around, and hopefully we see Mike & The Big Finish Band (with Elly healed up) again soon!

The middle band last night was alternative hard rock band Handsome Sandwich in their first own first show of the year, but they played as a four piece, with rhythm guitarist Brandon Ruch absent. I am not 100% sure if he was just not available last night or if he left the band, but note that their current cover photo on their Facebook page (updated in October) is from a show with his predecessor Mitch Sirie. Brandon had joined Handsome Sandwich in January of last year, and seemed to fit in well, but if he has left, hopefully things are amicable, and remember that he is still in new local country band The Golden Scoundrels with drummer Johnny Belanger!

Regardless of what's going on with their second guitarist position, Handsome Sandwich delivered a fun set of new and old originals to wrap up their seven+ month break! Alongside songs from their debut CD "Deconstructed" like "Monkey", "Conquest", and "Bitter", we also got to hear cuts from their upcoming EP (possibly named "Collage"?), including "Partyfuel", "Change A Bit", and "All Done Now". Taylor Emlaw's distinctive, cutting vocals led the way, with a stage presence this time that reminded me a bit of Joe Cocker (this isn't a complaint), and both Johnny and bassist Rafael Medina held up their end of the bargain on the rhythm and low end! The lack of a rhythm guitarist was noticeable compared to their five-piece shows since Rafael joined, as the guitar riffs and melodies were quieter with just Jesse Cook playing, but if you like Handsome Sandwich's unique yet relatable original songs, you'll have enjoyed things! 

Your headliners last night were the newly renamed Headf1rst (with a 1, not an I) in their album release party, so this was your first chance to buy their new studio album "Road Trippin'"! We'll have more on the album proper on the site soon, and yes, it will be this month's CD review on the SMS. All nine songs from the album made their setlist last night (albeit not in track listing order), as well as two holdovers from their 2024 debut EP "Head Trauma" and a surprise cover of The Killers' "When You Were Young". If you haven't seen HeadF1rst live, their hard hitting and classic-influenced brand of hard rock was a crowd pleaser, with Red Jettison's well suited vocals and very active stage presence keeping things lively, making up a lot of the slack during their set! Raine Rancourt's lead guitar work was excellent, shredding it up with the best of them, and while Claire and Liam could be a little stiff up there, they performed well!.

A fun, promise-filled, and adaptable group, HeadF1rst kept the good vibes rolling all night and gave their album the best launch possible, so definitely check them out at their next dates, local or otherwise! This was a fun collection of local talent, and while not emphasized at all in marketing, it is nice to see that all three bands have mixed gender lineups (Elly's injury acknowledged). More women in local rock bands is certainly welcomed! You can check out my photos and videos from last night's concert at this link or at our Facebook page, and as for videos, here's Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band playing "Back Away Slowly", Handsome Sandwich playing "Without You", and HeadF1rst playing "Tour Bus Fantasy"!

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

HeadF1rst & Project 906 Concert Previews, Plus A Lengthy Livestream!!

Tonight's post rounds out this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, and in one case, we have a very long preview video to share with lots of news and notes within, so here's what else you should know for your Saturday!

Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quintet Project 906 will return to The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Announced on the band's Facebook page early last month, this will be 906's first Hessel stop of 2025, last rocking The Islander Bar in August of last year. This will also be their first show since 100% confirming that hand drummer Brian Duford is an official band member rather than a recurring guest (and he apparently has antlers now!), so keep the double percussion in mind if you haven't seen Project 906 much before. You can enjoy Project 906's slate of fan-friendly hard rocking covers at The Islander Bar tomorrow at the early-ish start time of 7:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Project 906 live!

Next up, the main event of the weekend for hard rock fans in Sault Ontario goes down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster, when local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst (now with a 1 in their name rather than an I) will headline the Steel City CollectorCon pre-party and launch their sophomore album "Road Trippin'"! This stacked event will be an effective teaser for Sunday's bi-annual collectors/comic convention hosted by Vintage Games N' Junque/Steel City Events at the Quattro hotel, and to that end, select vendors will be selling their wares before/during the concert proper, while there will also be an 8-ball pool tournament if you are so inclined. This will be the release party for HeadFirst's new CD and their first show anywhere in three weeks, and discs will be on sale, including a raffle for a chance to win free copies of both "Road Trippin'" and the newest studio albums from tomorrow's opening bands!

The CollectorCon pre-party will feature two opening acts, including local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their first concert of 2025, last seen on stage over seven months ago. Their own sophomore album is still not released, but look for songs from it in their high energy set tomorrow! As well, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his Big Finish Band will open the proceedings in their first gig of the year, last seen at Soo Blaster during The Soo's Got Talent's finals last fall. Always good to see Mike back home, and hopefully everyone delivers his original music as solidly as ever to lead off! While the all ages festivities begin at 7:30 PM tomorrow, bands start at 9:00 PM, so the lead-up may be for the benefit of the vendors. Admission is $20, but $35 V.I.P. passes exist that include door prize tickets and access to a question/answer panel (I don't know specifics on that). The pool tournament separately costs $20 to enter.

Tickets are available at Vintage Games N' Junque in advance, and online at this link, but you can pay at the door. This should be a fun event whether you're invested in HeadF1rst's new album or the CollectorCon (or both), so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more details, but for a preview, I would have embedded this hour+ long livestream from Vintage Games N' Junque's Facebook page on Tuesday! I can't because Facebook content matched songs played in the stream, so click here to watch. This was the "listening party" hyped in advance by the band, and due to Facebook's rule changes on livestreamed videos, this will be deleted on or around May 29th unless re-posted as a normal video, so watch it while you can! This is hosted by VGNJ owner Mike Turcotte (who stars in many of the store's videos) in their physical gaming-centric back room, with his wife Beth present off camera, and features all of HeadF1rst taking part on camera alongside Handsome Sandwich drummer Johnny Belanger.

After some light discussion about members' early guitar work, HeadF1rst revealed that they have joined Mike Haggith's indie label MorningStar Records, and "Road Trippin'" will be released via the imprint with professional packaging, which is great to hear! Extra details are next given on admission and V.I.P. perks, as well as who some of the vendors are. After some reflection on Headf1rst members' prior time in White Pines Collegiate's student band The Pine Tones, the guys noted which merchandise that they'll be selling tomorrow, with frontman Red Jettison taking time to hype local musicians in general, including a Spotify playlist called Soo Rock that he created to help group some of them together. The praise for the Soo, including from Mike (who's not from here originally) is very welcomed! Some discussion of Johnny's long-running local death metal band The Bear Hunters comes up at the 15 minute mark too, so what is said there?

HeadF1rst drummer Anthony Boudreau heavily praised seeing The Bear Hunters live at the former Oddfellows Hall, and Johnny admitted that The Bear Hunters had an offer to play the Sentiment Dissolve concert at Jay's on May 19th, but he said that the band "I think, is done". I wouldn't take that as a firm statement about the band's finality, as guitarist Mitch Sirie was spearheading new Bear Hunters content in recent months and there were hints about more coming, but I think fans understand that they're on the back end of their run regardless. This rolls in with discussion about the local scene in general and the support of each other's projects and different styles, which is great to see! At the 26 minute mark, HeadFirst frontman Red Jettison announces that they're planning a "Road Trippin' Tour" run which will see them play at Goulais Community Days (details forthcoming) as well as Bruce Mines, Sudbury, and more locations to be announced.

Bruce Mines would fit in our coverage range, for the record, we just don't hear of much there in terms of heavier shows. We'll keep you posted on the tour details when they come out, but if you came to the live-stream for the teased listening party of songs from "Road Trippin'", you'll want to jump in at the 29 minute mark. The new album's first single "Slay The Dragon" is played first, and when the interview resumes in the 34 minute range, Mike praises the song heavily, and after some related discussion about production and guest credits, a minute-long sample of a second song from the album is played 37 minutes in (check the album out or come to Soo Blaster to hear it in full!) Afterwards, Johnny gives context as to what Handsome Sandwich will play tomorrow, including at least four cuts from their still-unreleased sophomore album, which may be named "Collage". Two more HeadF1rst album singles are teased next.

The one at the 43 minute mark is named "Story Of Me", and hasn't been played live yet as of this recording. 49 minutes in, Johnny gives "the quick version" of how the Handsome Sandwich name came about, and we then hear HeadF1rst guitarist Raine Rancourt's solo from the last song on "Road Trippin'", as well as a snippet from a drinking/crowd involvement song 55 minutes in.  A few lighter questions from live-stream viewers pop up next, including the reveal that they want to release two more singles from the album, with another teaser clip next featuring very deep vocals. 61 minutes in, Johnny samples the studio version of "All Done Now" from Handsome Sandwich's upcoming album, and that is followed by everyone listening to Mike Haggith's existing song "The Nature Of The Times" (I'll assume that he has no new studio material ready, though frequent fliers may disagree!)

The last real scoop in the live-stream is the band's direct explanation into adding a 1 into their name, primarily to differentiate themselves from other bands named Headfirst elsewhere, and to get their own listing on streaming services. This post has went on long enough, so I'll detail Headf1rst's official website and their MorningStar Records signing in a separate post soon, but this is an entertaining and casual live-stream that fills in a lot of blanks and introduces some new questions that we should know a lot of answers to tomorrow night at Soo Blaster! Watch the livestream above, here's HeadF1rst live, don't miss CollectorCon, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: The Side FX & Steel Sour

After a weekend concert preview-induced delay, here are this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Once again, we're spotlighting local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands from our inactive band links, in order to feature them and their run anew for current readers, and this month's first randomly selected band had no surviving public media, so a second group was chosen to round things out. Here's what you should know on these two short-lived 2010s hard rock groups, both with familiar faces!

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The Side FX

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Edmonton, Alberta

Genre: Hard Rock/Alternative/Metal

Lineup:

Rob Speers (The Wyld Stallyns), vocals
Alex Walls (Cody Parks & The Dirty South), guitar
Mike Bird (Papa Fogals Chair, Sulfur), bass)
Derek Turner (Garden of Bedlam, Papa Fogals Chair), drums

Audio/Video: The Side FX never posted any public media to sample their sound with, but they cited Led Zeppelin, Sublime, Volbeat, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers among their covers on their Facebook page. They likely shared a similar sound to frontman Rob Speers' 2014-2020 funk/hard rock quartet The Elements, whose February 2014 debut came a few months before The Side FX's last known concert set took place.

Info/Analysis: Not to be confused with the 2019-2020 classic rock band SideFX nor the early 2000s metal band SIGHdEFECT, The Side FX launched in July 2013, debuting when they opened for Australian ska punk band The Resignators at the former Roosevelt Hotel on July 23rd. However, guitarist Alex Walls moved out of town to work as a studio musician the following month, and a search for a new guitarist did not have any public followthrough. Alex would return to The Side FX when they opened at bassist Mike Bird's stag & doe in May 2014, but they did not play live or post online again after that. With this talented lineup, it's a too bad that they didn't last longer, but do follow Rob & Derek's later local music work!

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Steel Sour

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock/Blues/Country

Lineup: (The presented lineup reflects who performed in Steel Sour's only full performance video, but the seven performers may have included guest musicians, as most local rock cover bands are smaller than this. Robert, Rick, Steve, and James were all separately pictured or referenced by name in social media postings outside of said video)

Robert Nevitt (Re:Born), vocals
Nicole (Ambeault) Bentley (Bourbon Blue), vocals
Rick Atkins (Big Mistake), guitar
Randy Russell (Bourbon Blue), guitar
Fred Dunn (Eclipse), guitar
Steve Bentley, bass
James White (Redundant), drums

Info/Analysis: Presumably taking name inspiration from Stone Sour, this new local cover hard rock band debuted in November 2018, with their first sound sample coming via this 19 minute live-stream of covers by Robert and Rick in January 2019. That May, they posted their cover of The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" on YouTube featuring all seven performers (love Steve's wig!), but the band quietly fell inactive afterwards, with later bands like Big Mistake, Lockdown, and current pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue all featuring multiple Steel Sour members. We don't have a ton to go on, but Steel Sour had good energy, a distinct sound despite the seven people, and solid vocals, and it's a shame they didn't do more!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! We return to single band profiles next, but still in the 2010s, by way of defunct local hard rock group Acention, who you may remember from their social media presence in the early 2010s. Stay tuned for that on or around May 10th, and for more news and notes on the site next 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!

Live705 Updates, Plus Lots Of New Video Uploads!!

Let's tackle some big recent updates and media on this Tuesday morning, including new live videos from two E.U.P. bands, and our first look at a new Sault Ontario band on a public stage. However, we're leading off with the teased return of a once prominent concert promotion agency, so without any further ado, here's what you should know!

It looks like local concert promoters Live705 are gauging interest in returning to concert promotion after a 2+ year hiatus! On November 13th, they posted on their Facebook page to see if any local bands would be interested in opening for Orillia experimental/progressive band Tangents on their upcoming tour. They didn't specify the intended date or venue, but Live705's Matt Quinn did message me last month to bounce some ideas around, though I'll hold on any of the specifics until they say something. Tangents are a solidly brutal and proficient extreme metal band who would surely be welcomed on a local stage by genre fans, but of course, touring shows like this are still a work in progress in many respects post-pandemic. Live705 (the promotion agency founded by the members of local punk trio A Dire Setback) were very active from their 2016 launch through helping bring an Elton John tribute to The Rockstar Bar in November 2019.

Live705's planned shows in 2020 (including A Dire Setback's own CD release party) were all cancelled for obvious reasons, but the guys have kept the page active by plugging and hyping other local concerts, album releases, and musicians sporadically since then, which they had also done between their own events previously. They also still provide live audio and DJ services at other promoters' events, not unlike the confusingly named but separate 705Live Sound Co.. It is great to see Live605 kicking the tires on getting back to their late 2010s normal, but message them A.S.A.P. if you want to open for Tangents next year!

Next up, here's the first public videos of new local metal trio The BAG, courtesy of their Facebook group! Despite not posting there at all in over three weeks, The BAG did indeed play at The Esquire Club this past weekend, and attendees Jordan Dubois and Val McGillivray (likely a relative of Spencer's) both posted videos from the Saturday nighter to the Facebook group that are publically viewable! Unfortunately, all four of the videos are shot vertically, and none capture the full song. Jordan posted this clip of the guys playing a very familiar instrumental breakdown, with his other two videos (a cover of Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name" and Spencer playing a guitar solo) being lumped in with pictures from that night. The longest of the four videos is Val's, who filmed their metallized cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", as uploaded below.

While it is a shame that these are all vertical (primarily focused on Spencer as such) and don't capture full songs, you get a good sense of their sound and talent, and he, Austin, and Bradley are definitely on their way locally with a tight, heavy sound! Very strange hearing a band this heavy at The Esquire Club though, could this be a positive sign for 2023?  Good stuff, so check out The BAG's new videos above & below!

We'll close today's post with new videos from two bands in Sault Michigan and area, starting with a highlights video of local hard rock quartet Tarnished's experiences opening for Steel Panther at The Dreammakers Theatre at the local Kewadin Casino last month! Uploaded to their Facebook page on Sunday, this video was edited together by former drummer Gary Croad, and features footage of them playing "Shortcut", as uniquely shot from behind the stage. I don't believe this video has been posted without the post-production edits, for the record. You'll also see clips of Tarnished being interviewed by Rock 101's Scott Cook at the venue for that night's episode of The Hair Scare, them getting ready backstage, their meetings & pictures with 3/4ths of Steel Panther (no Spyder, alas), plus the actual photos, including one with their merchandise crew, and some great concert pictures by Kayla Kirkwood (hopefully those get posted separately!)

The video ends with some thank yous to everyone who made this experience happen. Gary did a very professional job compiling everything, and while the raw footage of "Shortcut" would be nice to see (especially given the angle), it sounds good and Tarnished look like they had a blast, so fans won't want to bypass this one below!

Finally for today, a surprising amount of live videos from St. Ignace metalcore quintet Heavy Lies The Crown have surfaced on drummer Jaxon Massaway's new YouTube channel in the past two weeks! These primarily come from their Summerbash gig in Gaylord (2 hours south of the Soo) in July, where an attendee filmed ten videos of H.L.T.C.'s set, including them playing "Friend", "Every Step Of The Way", "A Hell Bound Heart", "A Sold Soul (A.S.S.)", "Voices", "Knucklebutter", "*69", "Time Diffuser Or Something Else", and "Choke". That's every song from their full length album except "Princess" and "Interlude", for the record. The videos are all shot from a side-stage angle and given the poor lighting at this outdoor camping-friendly event, it kind of looks like the guys are playing in a void, first row fans with cameras aside. The audio holds up for fans though!

Embedded below is the only new video on Jaxon's channel from a different event, namely them playing "Choke" at the French Road Bash in Alpena in August. While incomplete, this is the best video I have seen yet of the current Heavy Lies The Crown lineup, with the filmer getting a nice front row angle of the guys in action, aided by the daytime setting and neat forest backdrop. Cool to see all of these videos, so kudos to Jaxon for uploading them, and also check out his two solo vocal/guitar covers on his channel, as they're not bad either! Give "Choke" in Alpena a watch below!

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

Steel Panther Concert Videos, A Full AlgomA Concert Set, And Much More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert in this past weekend's previews, as local classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison returned to the stage for a special matinee concert on Saturday at... the Community First Curling Centre?! The gig, Tym's first since the end of his bi-weekly Shooters run, was as musical entertainment during day #2 of the Anita Boulevard curling rink's Labatt Ribeye Cashspiel tournament, but the venue never plugged Tym as the Saturday performer, and Tym only announced the gig via his Facebook event page an hour before showtime. I apologize again for missing this one, it was just on too late of notice, but I hope Tym's set was well received by music & curling fans alike!

Now, today's post is mostly devoted to recent Sault Michigan updates, plus a newly uploaded Sault Ontario concert video, but let's start across the river with the first known public video from The Dreammakers Theatre at the local Kewadin Casino this past Saturday night! From what I have heard, the concert was a hit on musical and humorous levels, so it's great to see that Steel Panther picked up where they left off here four years ago! The video comes from YouTube user splatfreak's channel in his first upload from a local event, though he has previously posted videos from concerts in northern Wisconsin. Despite the 10 minute+ runtime, this video only features one song, namely "Asian Hooker", with the first six minutes comprised of the band introducing each other as only they can.

Featuring Steel Panther's brand of 18+, sex joke-heavy adult humour in both the banter and the song (plus some Rick Allen jokes and a preceding brief Def Leppard cover), this is definitely NSFW but very fun for hair metal fans in on the gag, and underneath the comedy exterior, Steel Panther are a strong glam metal band! The video quality is quite good too, with Josh on first row, almost side-stage angle, and everything looks and sounds clear, to a point where I could even recognize some attendees! Check this out below, and hopefully more videos from the show turn up!

At press time, this was the only video from the concert that I've seen on a public source, but local openers Tarnished did post this short video onto their Facebook page a half hour before showtime, as filmed by a band associate backstage at the casino. Here, the guys give final hype for the show, noting that there were still a few tickets available, and if you didn't come out, Isaac and Josh were going to come to your place and.... well, watch the video to find out what! Amusing final push, and it sounds like the local hard rock band had a good set based on what I've heard since, so give their pre-show clip a watch below!

Also today, here's something that I apologize for forgetting to talk about on the SMS when it went live, namely a full concert set from inactive Sault Ontario doom metal trio AlgomA! This was shot during their appearance at Dank Fest, an 11 band all-ages concert marathon put on by Heavy North Entertainment at The Oddfellows Hall in April 2014, which was actually AlgomA's debut appearance at the late lamented Dennis Street venue. Uploaded to guitarist/vocalist Boyd "Darby Wigwaus" Rendell's current project Molten Imp's YouTube channel last month, the 42 minute set (eighth in the performance order) was filmed by a stationary camera behind assembled fans, so the view isn't optimal of Boyd, Kevin, and Jamie (a.k.a. Darby, Marty, and Geezer), but the sound mostly holds up! The songs performed include "Extinct Volcanoes", "Bedsores", "Electric Fence", "Phthisis", "Go On, Git!", and "Tertiary Syphillis".

Yes, only six songs, but the first two alone eat up half of the set! If you're curious, their set included all but two songs from their 2014 debut EP "Reclaimed By The Forest" plus both tracks from their 2016 split with Chronobot. The video is oddly slanted to the left (not a tilted angle, the video is skewed), and the red stage lighting can be overpowering, but AlgomA's slow, punishing ferocity is well captured, especially at this early stage of their local run, and fans are into it, even getting a few mosh pits going! Give it a look for yourselves below, and check out my review of Dank Fest in its entirety at this link, including my video of "Electric Fence"!

We'll close today back in Michigan for some of the latest from St. Ignace metalcore quintet Heavy Lies The Crown, who have been busy in studio as of late but got surprisingly busy posting videos and assorted teasers related to the sessions on their Facebook page, plus some fan engagement and meme sharing. As of November 12th, they were almost done recording two songs and were working on more riffs, so things are on their way! In their first new video of the month on the 11th, H.L.T.C. posted this 5 second clip with their duck mascot Iggy inserted into another meme, while this 7 second video of guitarist Ted Olson playing a riff through heavy video filters followed two days later. On November 21st, this video was shared to showcase the official Heavy Lies The Crown hockey jerseys that were ordered, albeit only ten, but they look sharp for hockey fans! Definite Mighty Ducks (movie) vibes from them for multiple reasons.

The buyers will look sharp in them, too bad they're limited edition! A video from singer Brandon West's Facebook page was shared yesterday featuring their song "Voices" set to that Belvedere vodka commercial with Daniel Craig, with teasers about new music ahead. Embedded below is their newest prior video that doesn't have any music to content match, namely this 19 second video from Saturday night where Brandon noted that they're "finishing off the recording (and) doing some sweet things". Time will tell where this leads, but give it and more a look above & below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the days ahead! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: quasarwaves, These Magnificent Tentacles - Topic, and steelsour7319's Channels

Here's this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, continuing our monthly feature spotlights of YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts! As the first channel that we randomly selected only had one video, and the second only had four songs (one a re-recording) primarily from one EP, we're tripling up this month, but there's an interesting array of performances to take in, so here's what you should know! 

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Lee T Maines (http://youtube.com/quasarwaves)  

Owner: Former Gates of Winter frontman and Woods of Ypres guitarist Lee Maines

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 8th, 2010; Only surviving video posted on December 2nd, 2011

Channel Summary: As fans should remember, local progressive death metal band Gates of Winter slowly worked on a third album named "Perihelion" from their 2010 return from hiatus as a studio project through their last public activity in 2016, with most teaser clips from the sessions being taken down as the guys worked on perfecting the material. Alas, the album never came out, but one of the few surviving clips is Lee's only remaining video on his YouTube channel, where he played 51 seconds of the riff from a song tentatively named "Wormhole Mechanics" to test track mirroring. It's a shame that "Perihelion" was never finished, as Gates of Winter's pure technicality was excellent on their 2010s sample media, and Lee's in fine form here, but hopefully we'll hear completed songs in some form down the line!

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These Magnificent Tenatcles - Topic (http://youtube.com/channel/UCJIHHa1lrPJwMyCeErf9k8g)

Owner: An original member of local alternative/punk band These Magnificent Tentacles, identity unclear, though the uploaded music was from their run as a duo

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 23rd, 2022; All videos uploaded that same day

Channel Summary: This is an auto-generated YouTube channel made to host songs submitted by Brent & Steve to YouTube Music, thusly featuring their debut EP "Surfacing..." from the previous month and the original (but very similar) studio version of its opening song "The Abyss", which is actually the most viewed upload there. These Magnificent Tentacles have since expanded to a full five-piece band, but have been publically dormant for four months now, so it remains to be seen how fast they could put out new material for streaming services. Still, these are entertaining and varied songs that point to a promising future, and hopefully that will be realized in 2023!

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Steel Sour (http://youtube.com/steelsour7319)  

Owner: A member of 2018-2019 local hard rock band Steel Sour, identity unclear

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 9th, 2019; Only video uploaded that same day

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for this short lived group, their jam session video cover of The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" was their final public act before dissolving later that year. Steel Sour featured a massive seven piece lineup (at least for this jam), including Robert Nevitt on vocals, backing vocalist Nicole Ambeault, guitarists Rick Atkins, Randy Russell, and Fred Dunn, bassist Steve Bentley (with impressive wig), and drummer James White, notably featuring multiple members of Re:Born, Lockdown, Big Mistake, and Dealing Without. Despite the manpower in this basement, the cover is lively, energetic, and doesn't feel rushed, and it's a shame that Steel Sour didn't keep going!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! To end 2022 in this series, we're doing multiple channels again, as the first randomly selected channel only has one video, and the second only has a handful of similar uploads. As such, we'll be looking at the channels of YouTube users AtYourC3rvix (featuring a live Uncanny Valley video) and mikemccleary3123 (featuring five original songs of his, some with accompanying videos or lyric tracks). Look for them on or around Boxing Day, nd stay tuned for more news & notes (and this month's CD review) in the coming days! Thanks everyone!