New Videos And More Recent News & Notes!!

Before we dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, here's a new news post to check out on this stormy Wednesday night, which wraps up with some assorted recent updates, but let's lead off with a batch of new videos, starting another new video from local/Barrie punk/metal quartet Spades GT! This comes from Toronto filmmaker Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group, who filmed and edited this seven minute clip for the band, and be advised that while the YouTube video is unlisted there, Spades' Facebook page shared the clip publically earlier today. The video was shot at their set opening for Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, and it features the absolute best quality video footage I've seen of Spades (Jack or GT), but it's not just about that, as Aidan also filmed new band members Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner prepping for the show and driving to the venue (meeting up with J.D. and Dan there).

You also see the guys setting up for their gear & some one-on-one remarks outside The Rockpile before we get soundcheck and performance footage taking up most of the last 2½ minutes. Nice little "Inside Baseball" look at Spades GT getting ready for a concert in their current era, and again, the video quality is excellent for the performance clips, as brief as they are! It'd be awesome if Aidan could post the whole unedited set, but if you want to watch the whole thing from another attendee, check back on the SMS by the weekend. Check things out below, and look for a couple of cameos by Anvil drummer Robb Reiner (Tyler's dad!)

Next up, here's another new video of new local acoustic hard rock (and online page-less) duo Short & Sweet from the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as per frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel once again! Why he's staggering uploads like this, I'm not sure, but it does mean that we're covering Short & Sweet more frequently! This time out, you will see him and Kyle covering another Seether song, namely "Wasteland" (definitely not the same named song by 10 Years). Another strongly handled cover that's effectively pared down to an acoustic duo format, in spite of some jittery camera work, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's the latest from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown, who revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that their second show with their current lineup will take place on July 13th.... in Chesterfield Township, outside of Detroit. Alas, no local dates yet, hopefully at some point soon! Specifically, they'll be opening for Nonpoint (of "Bullet With A Name" and "Left For You" fame) that night at the Diesel Concert Lounge, so click here for details on that show if you're so inclined. In the video proper, singer Brandon West (who randomly loses his shirt midway through) and guitarist Ted Olson are bantering with someone off camera while allegedly signing their contract to open for this concert, before plugging the show proper. They also have tickets to sell for $20 a piece (message them for details), so this may be one of those "openers pay to perform and sell tickets to offset the cost" situations that you see more of in larger markets.

Still a huge deal for H.L.T.C. to open for a name band like this, let alone in their second show with this lineup (this will be huge for Jaxon especially), so give the announcement video at this link! I cannot embed the video here due to Facebook content matching the music in the video, even though it is from Heavy Lies The Crown's own album.

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

• I have moved Sault Ontario alternative/grunge solo project Kush Wood to our inactive band links, having not updated their Facebook page since sharing a meme in May of last year. Project leader Kristien Woodcock had been active recording original content since 2015, and he had a good thing going despite us only discovering his work last summer, so hopefully he picks things back up for Kush Wood in due course!
• As per their Facebook page last month, local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp has left Bandcamp (at least for now) to devote more resources to uploading new material on a perceived overlooked platform, namely Soundcloud, while also introducing a Patreon account for paid backers to get exclusive content. As such, their prior paid virtual singles can now be heard for free on Soundcloud, albeit without the paid buyer-exclusive bonus tracks. Sounds like Boyd's thinking outside the box a little for his imminent music work, but we'll see how things ahead go for Molten Imp!
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will hit the road for DeTour Village (70 minutes southeast of the Soo) this Saturday for a free outdoor concert at their marina as part of DeTour Village's summer concert series! Now, DeTour Village is just outside of our coverage range (it and Drummond Island are really the only parts of Chippewa County that are more than hour's drive away), but if you're up for a drive or live near the southeast tip of the county, you'll see Rhythm & Brews at DeTour's marina on Saturday at 6:00 PM, and hopefully things go well!
   

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Marconi Meets World) & A New Video!!

Let's kick off a new week at the SMS with another news post, and while we do have a new live concert video to round things out with, it's mostly devoted to a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT attached to a huge community festival taking place next month! Here's what you should know!

Local acoustic hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will be among the stacked & diverse lineup of musical entertainment at the Marconi Meets World festival taking place outside of The Marconi Cultural Events Center at 450 Albert Street West from Thursday, July 21st to Saturday, July 23rd! Announced back in March with the first lineup details following last month, Marconi Meets World is a special three day event to help expand cultural heritage in the Jamestown area and community, in collaboration with the Missanabie Cree First Nation and the local Elettra Marconi & Guglielmo Marconi Societies, and it looks like The Marconi Club is going all out to make this a big deal! The schedule calls for Thursday the 21st to be focused around cultural celebrations, Friday the 22nd on indigenous celebrations, and Saturday the 23rd on an Italian festival, and there will be vendors, refreshments, and family friendly activites throughout.

What we don't have yet is a full schedule for the bands, but unlike the Northern Vibe Festival last year, organizers have detailed some of the daily lineups. Three out of town touring acts will make up the indigenous celebration lineup on July 22nd, including former Junkhouse/Blackie & The Rodeo Kings frontman Tom Wilson (who plays blues & folk rock solo), Juno winning Toronto folk band Digging Roots, and Sudbury/Toronto roots/folk artist Mimi O'Bonsawin. The Italian fest on July 23rd will be headlined by local pop rock cover band The Killer Hooks alongside Brampton pianist/accordionist Carmen Spada and veteran local classic rock duo Frankly Speaking. The remaining local acts are allegedly playing on the all-local Thursday lineup or on Saturday, not Friday, but dates are largely not out yet. However, Wyld Stallyns singer/guitarist Rob Speers confirmed to me in a Facebook conversation that they will be playing on Thursday the 21st, so we know that much!

Other local acts playing on Thursday or Saturday include country musician Brendan Hodgson, instrumental folk rock trio The Dynowaves, acoustic roots/reggae band Unorganized Township, online page-less folk/indie band All The Tired Horses (featuring Treble Charger's Bill Priddle with Id Iota alumni), and new local indie duo Sainte Marie. We will let you know when full daily itineraries for those days publically turn up! Due to increased local sponsorship, ticket prices have dropped for Marconi Meets World compared to when they first went on sale, and they now run for $17.18 (for one day's admission to the kids zone only), $22.52 (daily general admission for students or seniors with ID), $27.87 (daily general admission for anyone aged 19-59), and a full three day pass for $108.82 (it costs more because you'll also get a festival t-shirt, lanyard, and other goodies.)

Buy your tickets online at this link, and inquire within about availability at The Marconi Club proper or at the door. This obviously all ages festival has daily start times of 10:00 AM, musical artist timeslots to be confirmed. Sounds like a very ambitious and well planned festival, and with so much re-opening and either returning or debuting anew this summer with pandemic restrictions largely ending, hopefully Marconi Meets World is a huge hit! The Stallyns are really the only hard rock respite scheduled, but their sound and cover selection should appeal to many attendees on July 21st, no matter who else is playing that day! Visit the official Facebook event page for full and continuing festival details!

Finally for today, here's one more new video from new local acoustic hard rock duo Short & Sweet's debut set at the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as uploaded to frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel on Friday! This time, he and Kyle covered Seether's "Save Today", which effectively translates to this live format, buoyed by Cory's strong vocals, so fans of his local band work should take to this cover! Give it a look below!

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

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

All video post on this Tuesday evening, including some recent concert videos from both the Soo and out of town, along with an apology for a recent missed show, but let's lead off with videos from two different bands at the same major venue in recent weeks!

Let's start with lots of videos from The Glorious Sons' headlining concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre last month, and while I've only found YouTube videos from one source, they're thankfully from Christopher Paci's awesome YouTube channel, so you know he got a solid fill of content! Whether he's a big fan of theirs or whether he was adjusting for the lack of an opening band, I can't say, but Chris filmed eleven videos of the Kingston roots/hard rock quintet at the former Kiwanis Theatre, including (in performance order) "I Want Ya", "Mama", "My Poor Heart", "One Church Town",  this song that he couldn't title (the lyrics don't match anything on Google so it may be new), "Lean On Me Love", "Young King", "S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun)", "Everything Is Alright", "Kill The Lights", and as embedded below, their set-closer "Amigo", which is typically extended to 8+ minutes in live appearances like this.

Chris was not in the closest seating section, but he had a good central view of the stage and fans ahead of him, which especially works to the benefit of "Amigo" with all of the clapping in time with the song mid-way through! The audio on heavier stretches can be scratchy, which is nothing new, but softer parts come through nicely, and fans of The Glorious Sons should take to all of these videos, which you can watch above & below!

Next up, here's the latest from young local hard rock quartet Raincourt, and first off, I do have to apologize for missing a concert of theirs, as they played a publically attendable concert at the aforementioned Sault Community Theatre Centre this past Wednesday! The humongous venue is explained by it being on the campus of White Pines Collegiate & Vocational School (which Raincourt's members currently attend), and White Pines has been hosting a Coffee House concert series there during the 2021-22 school year, with last week's being their semester-closing event, including a show for students only at 1:00 PM and a show open to everyone at 7:00 PM. The main attractions were The White Pines Concert Band and their Mustang Sally-esque school group The Pine Tones (who feature all of the guys from Raincourt), but other student artists performed, including Raincourt proper. I profusely apologize for missing this show, hopefully it was a huge hit!

If you missed this event, never fear, as a video of Raincourt (sans face masks!) covering The Beatles' "Come Together" was uploaded to their Facebook page on Friday. Solid cover from a nice and close angle, with Elijah showing some nice grit & swagger with his vocals and stage presence, and everyone has a strong handle on this classic rock favourite! Give it a watch below, and apologies again for missing the White Pines Coffee House show last week on here!

Also, local/Barrie punk/metal quintet Spades GT have launched their official YouTube channel and have posted three performance videos there to check out! Two were also uploaded to their Facebook page, including the jam session clip of "Crossroads" (albeit still with audio from the Jack Spades studio version dubbed overtop) and a brand new video from their set opening Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, where they played "Cenobites", a song that debuted with Jack Spades but isn't on an album yet. Embedded below is their full 28 minute return set in April opening for Random Killing at The Queens Nightclub in Barrie, and yes, it has the live original audio! In order, you'll see J.D., the Daniels, and Tyler play "They Live", "Rise", "Cenobites", "Crossroads", "Fear Corps", "Motorwolf", "Negative Headspace", a cover of Turbonegro's "All My Friends Are Dead", and finally, their own song "To The Left".

Note that in the song introductions, J.D. first calls the band "Jack Spades" still (old habits die hard?), but later acknowledges that they used to be "Jack Spades SSM" before relocating. This set will be very familiar for local Jack Spades fans, as nothing here wasn't seen in their local sets in 2019, only the venue and two new faces will be different. Great video quality with multiple camera angles and a nice crooked angle of the stage and front row fans, and Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner compliment J.D. & Daniel nicely here and on the new Toronto clip! More videos are teased to be forthcoming, but give all of these a look above & below!

Finally, here are three videos of new local acoustic hard rock duo Short & Sweet's opening set for Parabol at Soo Blaster this past weekend! Uploaded to frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel yesterday, these feature him and bandmate/fellow Skeyes of Seven alum Kyle Sweet covering Breaking Benjamin's "Forget It", Slipknot's "Vermilion Pt. 2", and as embedded below, a stripped down version of his old Sense of Truth song "Anything At All". Despite some jittery camera work, the videos are nicely angled and capture Cory and Kyle in a good element with some strong vocal & guitar work, and they'd definitely be added to our links if they got a Facebook page or something! Give these a watch above & below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck) & Most Of This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

Before we kick off this weekend's hard rock concert previews, just a heads up that local classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession's planned Esquire Club matinee show on Saturday, June 11th has been cancelled, as per their Facebook page. This is their second straight concert cancellation following their planned May 28th gig at the same venue, and while that one was scuttled due to "health reasons", they emphasized this time that "we are all OK" and it was "due to unforeseen circumstances". Obsession will reportedly return to the stage at Rotaryfest Stage 1 next month, but we await a formal announcement by organizers on this year's lineup. Stay tuned, and hopefully all is indeed well in the band's camp!

Now, let's dive into most of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, with the exception of the Glambition festival on Saturday, which will topline tomorrow's post due to it's size & nature. Today's shows are all pure concerts, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these dates were only announced via two separate Facebook event pages (one for each night) launched through their own Facebook page yesterday. These will be Soundcheck's first gigs at the downtown Reggie's in just over a month, and come fresh off of their usual Thursday open mic/jam night that they host at Reggie's West. Hopefully Terry, Cameron(?), Paul or Rob, and Glen have a great weekend!

TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S concerts are 19+ affairs with no cover charge as normal for Reggie's, but in what may be a reversion to pre-pandemic scenatios, the start times for both nights are listed as 9:30 PM rather than 8:00 PM. Good sign towards further normalcy, or a typo? Visit the above links for more on Soundcheck's Reggie's Place shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY, and here's Soundcheck's rock attack live!

Next up, here's some shows this weekend that had lots more than a few days' notice, starting with the return of Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! An unusually fast turnaround for these veteran touring favourites in the E.U.P., as fans in Sault Michigan will have just seen Jeff, Adam, and Brooks three weeks ago, but St. Ignace-area fans last saw Peril this past fall. Peril's talented and experienced brand of hard rock, classic rock, and metal covers should go over well as usual tomorrow & Saturday in St. Ignace, so don't miss out on all of the action if you're able to go! As usual for Kewadin lounge gigs, expect 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits. If you can't make it, Peril and their sister band Scarkazm are not advertised for Kewadin dates through July, so keep an eye out for late 2022 dates. See above for more, and here's Peril live!

Also this weekend, let's head back to Sault Ontario, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Dennis Street for a second straight week THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! After surprisingly playing both Friday and Saturday there last week, Bone Yard are back to the usual Saturday-only booking at Shooters this weekend, either due to or resulting in their Warren-less acoustic side project The Bearded Lounge (more on them soon) playing at The Water Tower Pub tomorrow night, and click here for details on that. The new Bone Yard lineup has been impressing since their debut in March, and hopefully the guys deliver more southern fried hard & classic rock favourites on Saturday once again! Expect an 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit as usual. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's some new live concert videos of Bone Yard playing at Shooters last week!

On May 27th, they live-streamed (sadly vertical) videos of covers of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" and (as embedded below), Van Halen's "Eruption" & their version of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", while an attendee named Becky shot them covering snippets of The Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" & Kim Mitchell's "Lager & Ale" the next night in this (also vertical) clip.  Solid performances, if not optimally  angled, and Bone Yard have a good grip on these covers, especially thanks to Alex's very sound lead guitar work, so check these out above & below, and don't miss Bone Yard proper on Saturday night!

Finally for today's previews, local Tool tribute band Parabol will play their first public concert since October 2019 when they headline at Soo Blaster THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! In the 2+ years since this supergroup of Redefined, Odd Man Out, Half Past, and Late Shift alumni last performed, we've sat through a pandemic and the deletion and relaunch of their Facebook page, but hopefully their very faithful brand of Tool's progressive metal staples will be welcomed back with open arms on Saturday night! Soo Blaster may seem over-sized, but their last show before now was held there, and unlike then, Parabol will have an opening act. The band in question is new local acoustic rock duo Short & Sweet, featuring former Skeyes of Seven bandmates Cory Murchison (a.k.a. recent Fort Creek opener Cory Daniel) and Kyle Sweet. No online page or public media samples yet, but Cory & Kyle are well established and should set the tone nicely!

Note that Parabol's Al Fletcher is also a Skeyes of Seven alum, and Steve Myers played with Cory in Sense of Truth, so could we see any sort of symmetry during either band's set? Originally set to be a 19+ event, this concert is reportedly now ALL AGES due to popular demand, which does bode well for Parabol's return! Admission is $15 at the door (alas, this is up from the October 2019 concert), and a 9:00 PM start time is in effect. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Parabol's ultra faithful live Tool experience in video format!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Glambition preview and more next, with this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post following this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (These Magnificent Tentacles), New Videos, And Much More!!

Late news post to check out on this Friday night, including some new video discoveries, a few shorter assorted notes, and leading off, a somewhat unique LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next weekend!

Local alt-punk duo These Magnificent Tentacles will play their first public concert of 2022 when they open for surf rock trio The Dynowaves on Saturday, May 21st at the return of promoters Dryer Fire's temporary venue! In this case, Dryer Fire have been renting space at 285 Wilson Street (off Bruce Street, near The Breakfast Pig), and they're celebrating their recent growth with an open house featuring the aforementioned live bands, and even refreshments from the Sweet Aisle Candy Store that's also set up at this building. It is worth noting that in their promotion of the concert, These Magnificent Tentacles said on their Facebook page that this will be "our first show as a full team", so did their teased search for new band members prove fruitful? In any event, frontman Brenton Ellis will be selling his own art on this event on a pay-what-you-can basis, which you Slumshine fans should like!

The open house proper has a 1:00 PM matinee start time, no cover charge, and is definitely all ages, which goes with the community art/candy sale aspect well too! This should be a fun change of pace if you're up for some Saturday afternoon concert action next weekend, and between T.M.T. and The Dynowaves, you'll get some diverse musical entertainment! Visit the above links for more details on this unique matinee concert!

Next up, here's two new videos from local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek at their Soo Blaster concert last week! Filmed by attendee Eddie Hernando, one is another acoustic interlude just featuring singer Justin Grayson and bassist Robin "Bones" Lee on acoustic guitar covering Luke Combs' "Beautiful Crazy". I'm not a country guy, but it's a solid rendition! Embedded below is the full band clip of Fort Creek covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man", and it's a well done version that builds in the instruments well, and fans on the floor definitely appreciated dancing to it, so give both of these a look above & below!

Also today, here's some videos from former Leaked/Mustang Sally drummer Nic Buckner on his YouTube channel in the last few years! While Nic didn't become a major name as a local rock drummer, he did move to the States to further his career, and his YouTube videos reflect his later musical education! Alongside covers of Maroon 5, Sweet Machine, Michael Jackson, and The Color Black songs, Nic posted a cover of "Rule of Nines" by the Victoria, B.C. metal band Spiritbox in April 2020, complete with an inset second camera showing his foot pedal work. Nic's a very talented drummer and I like how he mixed the backing song with the drums to optimize his performances, so give these a watch above & below!

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

 

• I have moved local acoustic hard rock band The Isolation Sessions to our inactive band links. The band has not issued a public update since posting a cover of Three Days Grace's "Never Too Late" on their Facebook page in January of last year, with members Jordan Rains & Arthur Lacasse since focusing on Dealing Without and the revival of Half Past. The Isolation Sessions seemed like a promising stopgap band in worse pandemic times, and hopefully we hear more from Jordan, Arthur, and Todd soon (and R.I.P. Chris!)
• Prolific local metal musician Mitch Sirie is looking for a bassist for a hard rock/alternative metal band that he's working on with a sound comparable in range to The Deftones or System of a Down. The sonic description implies that this is not for The Bear Hunters, Exploring Detritus, or Handsome Sandwich (where he is the bassist), so Mitch is definitely keeping busy as things pick up locally in 2022! Message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post yesterday for more details!
• A Facebook event page has been launched for the Parabol-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on June 4th, and it happens to feature a new local band as openers named Short & Sweet, who are an acoustic two-man project from former Skeyes of Seven bandmates Cory Murchison & Kyle Sweet (hence the name). I don't think Short & Sweet have an online page yet, but Cory & Kyle should deliver an entertaining set beforehand, and see above for more details on what should be a solid concert!
  

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

A New Local Metal Project & Album, Skeyes Of Seven Updates, And More!!

Before we dive into another weekend's concert previews, here's a new news post on this snowy Wednesday, so what's in store for today? Well, we have some assorted notes regarding three local acts' active statuses, lots of recent updates from a prominent hard rock band, and first, here's a surprise new band and album to take note of!

We have a new local metal solo project to add to our links, and they are Abhorrent Forest, the newest endeavour from ex-Despised Eyes/Death Rise guitarist Will Tholberg! Going by the stage name "Old Man Wyrn" or simply "Wyrn" for this project, Abhorrent Forest launched their Facebook page in October, but only commenced with major public postings this month. Musically, Abhorrent Forest are an instrumental black metal act, and in a surprise reveal just on Monday, their debut album "The End of Life" is already on sale via their Bandcamp page! You can download it free there, but it is available for purchase too via Bandcamp's "name your price" model. It's not every day that you see a new black metal album release in this area, let alone one this abrupt, but kudos to Will for putting this out! Without giving too much away, it's a huge departure from his past public band work, and should appeal to fans of underground minimalist black metal.

As this is a brand new album release available for paid sale, "The End of Life" is very possible for a CD review on the SMS this month, so keep that in mind, and you can also stream the whole album below via Old Man Wyrn's new YouTube channel, so check out Abhorrent Forest above & below!



Next up, here's the latest from local hard rock band Skeyes of Seven, who have been busy as of late, so what's new from their camp? First off, the band has finally confirmed the quiet reveal from last fall of a new second guitarist, that being Kyle Sweet, who you may recognize from performing with frontman Cory Murchison during his solo set at March 2014's Medifest fundraiser, and previously with The Sault Ste. Marie Pipe Band. This gives Skeyes of Seven two guitarists for the first time since Alain Fletcher moved to bass in 2014, and Kyle was a good fit in last year's initial cover video with him! The band still has a drummer vacancy though, and be sure to message them above or guitarist Ron Baxter at this link if you're interested in trying out! As for Skeyes of Seven's long-awaited debut EP "Stare at the Sky', we are still awaiting a full paid release, but the whole EP is now online to stream via Skeyes of Seven's YouTube channel, so what should you know?

Confirming a 6 song run-time, "Stare at the Sky" will feature their songs "See The Truth", "Pretend", "Enough", "Fallen Faith", "Cognitive Dissonance", and as embedded below, "Crawling Back Into Reality" (yes, they did delete two of their older studio tracks and re-post them.) No word on if the night sky motif on most videos will be the album cover, or on when that will see it's paid release, but the instrumental "Crawling Back Into Reality" notably differs by having a slideshow of shots from the band's run so far. It includes pictures dating back to their first show, even including ex-members Mike Mannarino & Jonny Amendola in some shots, and closing with outtakes from their introductory video with recent drummer John Mignacca (who drums on the EP.) My biggest problem with this video is that they include never-before-seen clips of Skeyes of Seven jamming and in studio, only to dub them over with the studio track, even ones with Cory visibly singing, despite the song having no vocals.

I wouldn't want the song broken up, but I'm sure fans would want to see these clips on their own, so hopefully they make their way online at some point! Still, it's great to see things finally nearing completion and release for Skeyes of Seven's debut EP, especially given how sporadically they've played live since debuting in 2012, so check out the songs on "Stare At The Sky" above & below, and stay tuned for updates!



Finally, here's some shorter assorted news items from the last while, all via our latest scan of our active band links, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• We have moved local punk supergroup Killer to our inactive band links, as they have not made a public posting of any kind since January 6th of last year. A non-seasonal sister band to Toystock 2015 performers The Rude-Offs, Killer themselves have never played live, despite a strong lineup comprised of Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Stiffler's Mom alumni. For what it's worth, The Rude-Offs dropped out of last year's Toystock, but their lack of activity also coincided with much of Destroilet's year-long stage hiatus, so take those however you want. Hopefully we see Greg, Greig, John, Christian, Adam, and Matt back in some form!
• In a post on his solo project's Facebook page in May of last year, Din frontman Mike Haggith noted that with The Din "making some pretty big waves" in recent months, his next solo album (the "Neighbourhood Watch" re-recording) isn't currently a priority, despite him teasing that album that same February. At least Mike acknowledged why his solo project hasn't been active lately, but hopefully he can complete "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited" at some point, and of course, follow The Din for his high energy current original band work! We'll leave his solo project in our active links until May, unless there's new activity beforehand.
• We have also moved Mourning Wood drummer Glen Thomas' hard rock studio project The Mourning Glory (named before he joined the former) to our inactive band links, as he hasn't posted anything public on that project since his New Year's forecast post on his message board one year ago today. The Mourning Glory had promise, but don't miss Glen and Tony Kajnar in their current active projects The Peace Vibe and Flat Stanley!

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

Annex Theory Lineup Change, New Videos, And More!!

On this extremely snowy Tuesday, why not stay in with a new news post? Today, we have new videos from recent Kewadin Casino events (one you'd expect, and one you wouldn't), along with a few assorted shorter stories from recent days, but first, here's a big update relating to an upcoming metal show!

There's been a big change to the lineup of this Thursday's metal concert at The Roosevelt Hotel, as headlining Winnipeg progressive death metal band Annex Theory have been forced out of the show due to weather-related road closures, which have shut down the highways where they currently are (my source is their Facebook page.) This is extremely disappointing, especially for local metalheads who enjoyed Annex Theory's show here in 2011, but hopefully we'll see them back in the area at some point soon! Never fear though, as a replacement band has already been found, that being the original crash band, Sykotyk Rampage! As confirmed in comment replies on the Facebook event page, this will be Sykotyk Rampage's first live concert appearance of 2013 & their first show at The Rosie in over 6 months, and with their addition, they'll now take the middle slot on Thursday, likely making The Bear Hunters the new headliners at the concert.

It's great to see Sykotyk Rampage back in the new year, and while they are a stylistic change from The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver, they should entertain with their varied improvised hard/alternative rock originals! Plus, if guitarist Dirk Becker's doing sound already, that'd make the choice even more fitting! Stay tuned to the SMS tomorrow or Thursday for more on this show when we preview the weekend's metal & hard rock shows!

Next up, we finally have a video from a recent Dreammaker's Theater hard rock concert, as this video of the Steve Priest version of Sweet at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino is now online! Uploaded by YouTube user yoopergraywolf43 on Friday, this is of the April Wine openers playing their song "Love Is Like Oxygen", and it's a decent video! The filmer had a good angle of the band, though the quality is very mixed, with cell phone camera dimensions and staticy audio, but at least the filmed song isn't overly heavy (if yoopergraywolf43 had filmed "Ballroom Blitz", I imagine it wouldn't have came out as well.) This version of Sweet sounds good though, and it's great to finally see any videos from the April Wine concert, so check out this new video below, and hopefully someone has more waiting to be posted!



Also in the realm of new Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino videos is something a little different. On Saturday, this video was uploaded to YouTube by Grand Rapids live entertainment act Piano Party, who specialize in solo and dueling piano concerts at corporate and private events. Such appearances make the audience the stars of the show, with almost entirely audience-requested setlists and crowd participation combined with humour and widely varying songs, and it all definitely sounds like a fun time, but where's the direct metal connection? Piano Party performers Charlie Bauman and Nick Ayoub were recently booked for an event of some kind at the Soo Kewadin, and they were filmed during their performance of the Queen classic "Bohemian Rhapsody", which is very well done for an impromptu duo version! Great singing, and piano work, though some parts of the song definitely work a lot better than others (i.e. the opera part suffers, despite solid audience call & response.) Different, but fun in it's own way, so check out Piano Party's local Queen rendition below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• I've deleted Sault Ontario metal project Meatplow from our inactive Sault Ontario band links. One of the more recent local projects from ex-Amethyst drummer Phil Temporao, they were active from 2009-2011, but with the deletions of their videos and almost all online pages, there's very little surviving online at present to document them. Hopefully Phil revisits the project down the road, or at least re-posts their videos, as their industrial tinged sound was a neat addition to the scene!
• A new instrumental demo song has been posted onto Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night's Reverbnation page! Entitled "Dreams of Winter Symphony", it's a slower and more emotional sounding track compared to some of their more recent output, but it's very well performed and still has an epic feel, so check the link above to hear it!
• An interview from last fall with ex-Woods of Ypres guitarist Joel Violette for Thunder Bay college radio station LU Radio's Iron Maple radio show was just posted online this month, so click here to give it a listen! It's largely about his New Brunswick black metal band Thrawsunblat & their upcoming 2nd album, but Joel does briefly address the reception to "Woods V" and the David Gold tribute shows last spring, and it's a solid interview overall, if patchy for audio quality!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more as the week rolls along, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Thanks everyone!

Most Of This Weekend's Local Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews, Including April Wine!!

Finally, we're back with a new post today! This week's been oddly quiet (especially with so many big events and happenings in the coming months), so I apologize for the recent lack of updates from the SMS camp, but I strive to never go 3 days without a new post, and I'm keeping to that today with this weekend's concert previews! Well, most of them, as I'm moving the Banned preview to our next post to spread everything out and give proper emphasis to the April Wine concert. There's a solid lineup of local metal & hard rock bands in the area tomorrow and Saturday night, so let's get right to it with the first of this weekend's shows!

We'll start with two Sault Ontario hard rock bands playing all weekend, including local classic metal trio Caveman Morrison's return to The Roosevelt Hotel tomorrow night & Saturday night! The band's first shows of 2013, these come three weeks after a cancelled concert weekend at The Rosie that would have been among the first regional metal shows of the year, so it's great to see Tym and company back on the live stage despite the delay! I'd expect them to have a lot of great metal and hard rock covers in store, as usual if you've seen Caveman Morrison before, so keep a trip west to The Rosie in mind for your weekend plans! Admission should be free for both tomorrow & Saturday night's gigs, you must be 19 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It should be a nice weekend of metal covers from Caveman Morrison, so go check them out if you can tomorrow or Saturday, and for a preview, here's their current lineup covering Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" at what's now Coch's Corner!



Also in Sault Ontario this weekend is the next two shows from newer hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings, who'll make their Docks Riverfront Grill debuts tomorrow & Saturday night! Originally scheduled to play their first gigs at the higher end Foster Drive venue on January 12th & 13th, those shows were quietly cancelled on the 12th (possibly due to singer Mike Gaetano falling ill), but a month later, they'll finally rock Docks this weekend with their fast rising blend of originals and varied hard rock covers! It'll be good to see the upcoming Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands competitors back on stage, and hopefully the Docks crowd and their fans all have a great time! Admission for these shows should be in the $4 range, with 10:00 PM start times and 19+ age limits to be expected. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Hopefully this weekend's shows are a huge hit, and maybe it'll help open the door for more heavier bands at Docks? For a preview, here's The Suicide Kings playing their original song "Into The Fray" last fall!



We close today's post with the third hard rock/metal show at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Saturday night, including three 1970s hard rock pioneers that are ready to rock! The headliners are the Juno nominated multi-platinum Halifax hard rock quartet April Wine, who'll bring their classic repertoire of hits like "Just Between You & Me" and "Enough Is Enough" for what should be a long awaited appearance in the area! After all, I don't think they've played in the region since rocking Sault Memorial Gardens on their 1985 "farewell tour", so this has been a long time coming! Their widely varied and often hard-edged sound should be easily welcomed to the area, and with the great Myles Goodwyn still up front, expect a great set! Support bands include the Steve Priest-led version of British glam/hard rock trailblazers Sweet (not the original version led by Andy Scott), who helped define glam rock in the 1970s with hits like "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox On The Run", and even if this is a new version of the band, the lineup is promising, and the songs should rock all the same!

The openers on Saturday will be Illinois hard rock veterans Head East, who saw their own successes in the mid-1970s with songs like "Since You've Been Gone" and "Love Me Tonight", and their classic take on fun hard rock should be hard to beat this weekend! This should be a huge concert if the ticket availability is any indication, as just 19 tickets are left for the show (all but one in the 6th-8th rows), so if you don't have your tickets yet, get them A.S.A.P. at this location, in person at the Kewadin Casino box office, or by phone at 1-800-KEWADIN! This is an all ages show, everything starts at 7:00 PM on Saturday, and I'd call ahead in the event of a meet & greet, as you rarely hear advance online word for them. Classic hard rock fans should be all over this event, and with good reason, as these bands combined to give us a lot of well remembered and catchy original songs in their heydays, so don't miss April Wine, Sweet, and Head East at The Dreammaker's Theater on Saturday night! For a preview, here's April Wine playing "I Like To Rock" live in Montreal in 2010!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow or Saturday for a new news post featuring the Banned concert preview and more recent updates! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Powerslug), Recent Sault Star Hard Rock Interviews, And Much More!!

As promised, here's our first news post of February 2013, so what's on tap? Today, we have a lot of assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, along with a new solo original song, and some catching up on hard rock band interviews from a major local news source, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT (and check out this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post below this one!)

There are indeed heavier concerts this weekend in the Sault Ste. Marie area, courtesy of Sault Michigan hard rock trio Powerslug! Their second announced concert weekend of the year, the band featuring I.S.O.M., Kilacel, and River Witch alumni are playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT, following a first concert either yesterday or Thursday. When drummer Bob Helsten announced the shows on his personal Facebook page on Thursday, he indicated the first show was that night, but bands in the area generally play Friday first instead of Thursday, so I'm not sure if there's scheduling differences at play, or if it was just a typo. Regardless, I missed the show until now, and I profusely apologize as a result! They could really use an online page to update show information though. As for tonight's gig, Powerslug will bring their hard rock covers to the stage at 10:00 PM, a cover charge wasn't announced, and you must be 21 to attend. If any more details pop up, I'll add them here! These should be good concerts from this talented trio, and with no online media either, take my word for it, and go occupy The Bird for some hard rock this weekend!

Next up, if you're a Sault Star subscriber, you may have noticed an interview last month with Sweet's Steve Priest in advance of their show with April Wine at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino next weekend! That alone was worth mentioning, but today, it's just part of a catch-up I wanna do for other recent Kewadin Casino hard rock performer interviews held with The Sault Star since the beginning of last year, so what'd I miss? All conducted & wrote by The Sault Star's Jeffrey Ougler, the recent SMS-suited articles included interviews with Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson (prior to their Kewadin show in August) and members of both of Stryper's opening bands last February (Slaughter bassist Dana Strum & Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch), so click each link above to give them a look! I apologize for the late notice on most of these, but I'm not a Sault Star subscriber, so I miss a lot of their quality articles as a result.

If you're not familiar with Jeffery's concert preview articles/interviews, these all feature general discussions with the band member(s) on their history and recent events, along with promotion of the Kewadin concert, and they're all informative and deserve a look, even late! Check them all out above, and don't miss Sweet with April Wine on February 9th at the Soo Kewadin!

Also today, here's the newest solo track from Alterwhite mainman Mike Matthews! Entitled "Erase Me (Please)", he posted it onto the AlterWhite YouTube channel on Thursday, Mike recorded this for his "album "Something Left Inside", but how is it? The music's good, especially the heavy second half, but Mike really overdoes the clean vocals on the soft first half, and he should have done the first few minutes in a more reserved and less exaggerated style. The second half makes up for it though, so check out "Erase Me (Please)" below!



Finally for today, here's SIX assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, as we've had a bunch of these in the last few days! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or band name:

• Former Skull After Betryal bassist Adam Brett is currently looking to join or form a new local metal/hard rock band, though he aims to play guitar this time around. I know he's been working hard to improve his skills recently, so give him a shout at this location or find his Musicians Wanted Facebook group posting from yesterday for more details!
• Prolific Sault Michigan guitarist Mike Libertoski is back with a new original demo! His first publically available new song since 2011,  this blistering & short technical metal demo is full of promise and shows a skill evolution from his other early 2010s work, so give it a listen at his SoundCloud page, and his solo project is now back in our active Sault Michigan metal band links! (Note that this is credited to himself, not his Galactic Alignment project.)
• Valentine's Day Massacre frontman Steve Rhodes has joined a new band, that being the London, Ontario death/thrash metal band D3athcharg3r! Early reviews are very good, and congratulations to him on this big opportunity! However, he was quick to point out on his personal Facebook page last month that The V.D.M. (who all still live in London) remain alive, and he'll be with them as long as they want him, so fingers crossed we see both of his bands up here soon!
• Last night, Sault Ontario hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings revealed on their Facebook page that they were working on their own debut EP, which should be "ready to go" by the end of the month. Nothing else is publically known yet, but keep an eye out to see how this progresses!
• Also last night, new Sault Ontario metal project Unbound revealed that they plan to make their live debut in March, though extra details (i.e. location, lineup changes, Justin Fratpietro tributes) have yet to be posted. I'm very curious to see how Unbound shapes up after all that's happened, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in!
• Has Jason Ladouceur rejoined Winkstinger? Nothing official has been publicized, but Jason plugged a Thursday night Winkstinger show on "the 11th" at The Rosie in a recent MSN status, which (barring a typo) would likely refer to April 11th. If true, this would mark the band's first show since July, and Jason's return to the band following his exit in May, with Anthony Orazietti replacing him on rhythm guitar last summer. If I here any concrete confirmations or denials, I'll let you guys know!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news at some point this week, as our cache of news slowly grows! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sebastian Bach & April Wine) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

We're back with another news/preview post, and it mostly covers Kewadin Casino concerts in the Eastern U.P. through February, so what's specifically on tap? We have previews of this weekend's metal/hard rock shows (including a date correction for a show this weekend in Sault Ontario), but first, here's some major LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for early next year at The Dreammaker's Theater!

Sebastian Bach is indeed coming back to Sault Ste. Marie next month, and yes, this is for a concert! Sault Michigan promoters Allstar Promotions have pulled the trigger, and will be bringing the former Skid Row frontman to The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Sunday, January 20th! Though Skid Row and Sebastian have had a lot of local passes (from the current Skid Row's shows here and later cancelled gigs to Sebastian's Swearnet film shoot this year), this will be Sebastian's first formal concert in the Twin Saults that I can tell, but there's already big anticipation for him to play here! Best known of course for his Skid Row tenure (which is full of huge hit songs like "Youth Gone Wild" & "18 & Life"), Sebastian Bach's solo career has taken off even more in recent years thanks to his well received albums "Angel Down" and "Kicking & Screaming", along with various stage and reality show appearances, and his classic influenced heavy metal has stood the test of time for sure! An opening band is to be announced for this show, but I'll note that Newberry hard rockers Smashcan are still campaigning on Facebook to open the concert, in what would be a rare Sault Ste. Marie appearance for this talented Eastern U.P. band.

Though Kewadin Casino's online pages have yet to confirm this show at present, tickets will apparently go on sale TOMORROW for $26.50, which is a great price, so make sure to get your tickets starting tomorrow morning at the Kewadin box office, this location, and at 1-800-KEWADIN! A 7:00 PM start time is likely, and I believe this is all ages. Check the above links for more details! It's different to see Allstar Promotions bringing in what could be called an older act, but Sebastian's timeless and still current, and his Skid Row classics and originals should go over excellently on January 20th! Stay tuned for updates as they come in, and get your tickets A.S.A.P.!

The other newer hard rock show at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino has actually been announced for a bit now, but it's new to me, as three early hard rock pioneers are coming to The Dreammaker's Theater in their own right on February 9th, including headliners April Wine! The multi-platinum Halifax quartet are well known for hits like "The Whole World's Goin' Crazy" and "Just Between You & Me", and while it seems odd to see them headlining on the Michigan side, they have a good fan base with classic and early hard rock fans, so it will be great to see Myles Goodwyn and company live in the area! Joining them are British rock legends Sweet (best known for hits like "The Ballroom Blitz" & "Little Willy"), who memorably helped pioneer glam rock in the early 1970s, and have a lot of entertaining heavier material from their later repertoire as well! Note that the version of Sweet playing here in February is the one led by founding bassist Steve Priest that formed in 2008, not the original version that are currently led by guitarist Andy Scott.

The opening band will be Illinois hard rock band Head East, they had some success in the mid-1970s with songs like "Never Been Any Reason" and "Love Me Tonight", and they should entertain with their own classic hard rock originals on February 9th! Tickets are $38.50 for the closest rows and $35 for all other seats, and there are plenty of tickets still available from the first row and back, so click here to pick them up online! And yes, you can buy them now at Kewadin's box office in person, or at 1-800-KEWADIN, while there's also a 7:00 PM start time and no likely age limit. Check the above links for more details! This is a great package of classic hard rock bands, especially if you grew up with the early days of hard rock in the 1970s & 1980s, so do not miss this show if you can help it, and stay tuned for updates on these and more hard rock/metal shows at the Sault Kewadin as they come in!

We'll close this post with this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews, and in a slightly slow weekend, we still have a handful of gigs, including a partial correction stemming from Tuesday's post. Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is bringing his unplugged solo concerts back this weekend with two concerts at different venues, including a show TOMORROW at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on Trunk Road, but he'll also be playing at The Eagles Club in Heyden on Saturday. This is one and the same as the show we plugged on Tuesday that Tym apparently played that night, but after that post went up, he fixed the Facebook event page to correct the date to Saturday night. I rushed that post to get it up A.S.A.P., so it made it on the site before the date correction, and I apologize profusely for any confusion! Nonetheless, Tym has a busy schedule for shows this weekend, so if you're in the East End tomorrow or in the Heyden area on Saturday, head out to see Tym rock some acoustic hard rock and metal covers!

Admission should be free for both of these 19+ shows, and 10:00 PM start times are likely. Check the above links for more details, and don't miss out on Tym's latest unplugged gigs if you can help it! For a preview, here's Tym covering Extreme's "More Than Words" with a special guest at The Big Cheese in Heyden a few years back!



And finally for the weekend's heavier concerts (at least, the ones I currently know about), as Sault Michigan hard rockers Monkey's Uncle will play their last Kewadin Casino concerts of 2012 TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! I'm sure that the former Jager has played more recent shows too at other venues (and potentially more this month), but it's always good to hear some advance notice shows from this talented veteran band, especially as their online pages are only rarely updated! Expect lots of entertaining hard rock covers (and maybe originals?) from Monkey's Uncle this weekend, so don't miss out for some heavier weekend entertainment! Admission should be free for these 21+ concerts tomorrow & Saturday, with 10:00 PM start times likely as well. Click here for more details! If you're up for some hard rock in Sault Michigan this weekend, head down to the casino for Monkey's Uncle, and for a preview, here's the band covering Nickelback's "Figured You Out" a few years back!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news tomorrow, including release details for a new local metal CD! Thanks everyone!