LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (WestFest & The Nameless), Plus The Virvum Concert Preview!!

We're not quite done with this weekend's concert previews, as a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT came to my attention earlier today, and there was a long-since-known-about Sunday nighter yet to be addressed! To fill things out, we have extended details on a debuting local concert festival later this month, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet The Nameless will rock The Islander Bar in Hessel for the first time TONIGHT! I profusely apologize for the short notice, the band first announced this show via their Facebook page this past Saturday, and it slipped me by until this morning when there was time to slot it into our regular previews. Regardless, The Islander Bar has not publically confirmed TONIGHT's show on their own Facebook page, instead focusing on food & drink specials in recent weeks. It is somewhat hard to believe that The Nameless haven't played in Hessel before, but hopefully their hard rocking cover slate draws a good crowd TONIGHT despite the late notice! This concert takes place at 8:00 PM, has no announced cover charge, and a 21+ age limit as usual for E.U.P. bar gigs. Visit the above links for more on The Nameless' Hessel debut TONIGHT, and for a preview, here they are live earlier this year!

Next up, let's talk about WestFest, a newly announced Sault Ontario community festival on Saturday, July 26th, so what should you know about this? The name does imply the location of the event, as it will take place at Anna Marinelli Park at 169 James Street, off of Albert Street West near the Soup Kitchen. In terms of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, you can't get much further west without hitting Algoma Steel! WestFest is being described as "block party meets music festival", with aims of being a safe, inclusive, and family friendly event, according to the hosts, the West Village Revitalization Project, and you can read more about their plans to give new life to the Steelton and Jamestown areas of the city at this link. The implication is that WestFest will be an outdoor event, but I'm unsure how it will be staged (Anna Marinelli Park is literally a park, after all), so stay tuned for updates on that end.

Six acts will hit the WestFest stage, and the headliners are SMS-amenable, namely local alternative hard rock band Handsome Sandwich in just their second public concert of 2025! Good to see them back playing live a little more regularly, and they'll cap things well at 8:00 PM on the 26th! The band bios on the WestFest website do not mention rhythm guitarist Brandon Ruch, seemingly confirming that he has left the band for unannounced reasons (he wasn't present when they opened for HeadF1rst in May, though nothing was said publically about his status at the time). However, things are amicable, as he is co-headlining at 6:00 PM alongside drummer Johnny Belanger in their bluegrass/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels! Pop rock quartet Jupiter Marvelous performs at 4:45 PM, preceded by folk singer/guitarist Matthew James at 3:45 PM & indie rock quartet Lucy's Diner (who recently changed their name from The Hollow Heads) at 2:45 PM.

Former Soundcheck singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver will continue his summer farewell run before his teased move out of town when he kicks off WestFest at 1:45 PM. Various local vendors and businesses will be on hand in three weeks as well, so click here to see who will be at the park for this debuting festival. As best as I can gather, WestFest has no admission fee, and it is absolutely all ages, but it is a licensed event with an on-site beer garden. This all sounds like a good time for local music fans and families alike, almost like a Rotaryfest encore (all six acts will have played Stage 2 at least once since 2023), so visit the above links for more details on the first annual WestFest!

We'll close this post with one more weekend concert preview, as two death metal bands from Switzerland (yes, really) will make their local debuts TOMORROW NIGHT at Jay's Piston Broke Pub! This one-off return to the glory days of Rosie metal nights will be headlined by Zurich progressive death metal band Virvum and Geneva blackened death metal quintet Stortregn, who will bring their own crushing brutality to local audiences! Virvum's more technical and punishing originals will compliment Stortregn's more black metal-influenced sound well, so definitely don't miss either band if you can swing coming out on a work night! Local support will be provided by thrash metal trio The BAG in their first public date since opening for Sentiment Dissolve in May, and they should set the tone off well with their heavy originals and covers! I am unsure if this show is being put on by The BAG, Jay's, or a separate promoter.

This stop on Virvum & Stortregn's Canada Takeover tour begins at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit, and tickets run for $15.99 at this link and presumably at the door, though I don't know if the price will jump there. Kudos to Jay's for occasionally booking true metal concerts after they largely vanished in the Reggie's West era, and despite being on a Sunday night, hopefully there's lots of headbanging and moshing tomorrow! After all, Virvum and Stortregn are from Switzerland, show them some love! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Virvum live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Virvum & Convergence), Derev Concert Updates, And More!!

Before we begin this post, we have a concert cancellation to take note of, as The Raygun Cowboys are not playing at The Whisky Barrel tomorrow night due to "an artist scheduling error", as per promoters Piecing It Together Shows' Facebook page yesterday. The show is still being advertised by the Edmonton psychobilly/punk band on social media, but note that they are scheduled to play in Ottawa tonight, and did not have a show lined up afterwards until Thursday in Alberta. Hopefully all is well with The Raygun Cowboys and that they try here again on a future tour! Remember that this show was always going to have no cover charge or tickets.

Now, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and related updates on the heavier side of things! Firstly, if you missed the all-local metal concert named The Pit at Soo Blaster on Good Friday, then you'll want to take note of its sequel, named The Upheaval, and it goes down at the same venue on Saturday, June 28th! This is a very similar show, with two returning bands both making their second local concert appearances on this night, including headlining progressive/djent metal quartet Convergence and new local hard rock quartet Maynard Hayes! No word yet on the former's teased tour run, but we can now confirm (most of) Maynard Hayes' lineup, which features singer/guitarist Damon King (ex-Infamous) and Convergence drummer David Peredun alongside guitarist Nathan Snider and a bassist who uses the handles "gabdontlike" and "gabnolike" on social media (I don't know his real/full name to my knowledge). 

Maynard Hayes still have no public videos on social media, but there is some personal media out there! The third and final band at The Upheaval will be The Sault Side Squad, the online page-less (not even Instagram) metal supergroup that played three shows in mid-late 2024, most recently opening for Cross Dog in October. Good to see them back in the new year, but hopefully they get some public online material soon! Despite having one fewer band than at The Pit, this show has a $15 ticket cost and $20 door charge, $5 higher in both cases. Click here to get your tickets for this all ages show, which has a 7:00 PM start time. Another intriguing show for metalheads, so see above for more details!

Next up, here's some more extreme metal action taking place deeper into the summer, as two Swiss death metal bands will be rocking Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Sunday, July 6th! Yes, as in from Switzerland! The bands in question are Zurich progressive death metal quintet Virvum and Geneva blackened death metal band Stortregn, obviously both making their local debuts. Fans of extreme and death metal will be very interested in this show, with Virvum's technical brutality and Stortregn's more atmospheric intensity both boding well, so definitely check both groups out to prepare for this intriguing concert! Local support will come by way of metal trio The BAG, who are also opening for Sentiment Dissolve at Jay's on Monday, preview hitting the site tomorrow. I don't know if The BAG are the promoters/facilitators for the former Roosevelt Hotel's return to hosting touring extreme metal bands, but hopefully things go well both tomorrow night and in July!

This 19+ concert on Virvum's Canada Takeover tour starts at 8:00 PM and has an advance ticket cost of $15.99 at this link (I don't know if you can buy advance tickets at Jay's or via BAG members, or if admission fees will jump at the door). Just from being hosting two European metal bands alone, this show will be of note, even on a work/school night for many, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more on this huge death metal show!

Also today, promoters Heavy North Entertainment finally announced the local openers for the Derev-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on Friday via the new official Facebook event page on Tuesday, so what familiar faces are opening for the Toronto progressive metal band next week? One will be local hard rock quartet Sylo in their first public concert set since their Soo Blaster headlining date in August, and if you want to know more about them, bassist Alder Devries actually has launched a website for them on Wix! As such, we can finally give them a proper link here that doesn't reflect their original run as Raincourt (though their two singles from then are linked there). The site hasn't been updated to reflect new guitarist Owen Middleton joining the group yet, but if lack of content and information on Instagram has stymied you on Sylo, do check out their website! A video of Sylo is also there, so what should you know on that?

The clip sees Eli, Alder, and Jakob playing "War Times" at Soo Blaster last summer, and it has a good casual hard rock groove that will serve them well during their (summer?) return! You can watch the video at this link, but be warned that, while Sylo aren't on Facebook, this is basically a Facebook "Reel", as it's vertical, unplayable in background tabs, and unembeddable on external websites. Also, why would the filmer have shot it vertically to accentuate the crowd levels on the floor like that? Back to the Derev show, your other openers on Friday are party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty in a rare Soo Blaster appearance opening for an actual band as opposed to a touring rapper, while prolific local folk punk/extreme metal solo artist (and new Eagles Club jam night host) Chase Wigmore will open in an increasingly rare appearance at a multi-band concert like this. Solid lineup of diverse opening local talent!

Note that, as of Tuesday, Heavy North Entertainment were openly looking for a co-headlining band for this concert (none of the three openers were labelled as such), but at press time, one had not been added. We'll let you know if they find one late! As for other specifics that this show didn't have when it was first announced, a start time of 6:30 PM is listed on the event page, and tickets run for $15 in advance at this link or $20 at the door. Nice to get some big specifics about the "mayhem" in store on Friday, so visit the above links for more on this concert, and stay tuned for more news and notes over the long weekend! Thanks everyone!