The first concert weekend of December is upon us, so let's kick off the month right! Due to the amount of shows this weekend, I'll hold the Rhythm & Brews shows in Sault Michigan for tomorrow's post, so don't worry, they are coming! Now, here's what you should know in Sault Ontario for hard rock concerts, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!
Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to
Shooters Downstairs Lounge for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT!
Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced these gigs via their Facebook event page earlier today, and at press time, the venue has not confirmed the dates online. Fresh off of their return to Toystock this past weekend, TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S concerts will be Cameron, Terry, Paul (or Rob?), and Glen's first shows at the Dennis Street nightclub since a one nighter in mid-November, but it's been a wait since the summer for them to double up for a weekend at Shooters like this. Despite the late notice, hopefully Soundcheck's classic, hard rock, and country covers find solid audiences TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These are 8:00 PM gigs with 19+ age limits and no cover. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live in concert earlier this year!
Next up, local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will return to Outspoken Brewing for a concert at their Taproom TOMORROW NIGHT as previously announced, but following that, their new run of gigs on the first Friday of every month will take them back to the same venue on Friday, January 6th! The description on event posters confirms that The Stallyns have agreed to play the first Friday each month there, end date unclear, hence us listing the January gig. Last seen at The Whiskey Barrel a couple of weeks ago, the Speers & company have ingratiated themselves well with Outspoken this year, and hopefully tomorrow's show at the newly confirmed January date both go swimmingly with their hard rocking cover set! Both shows have 8:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and entry to the Taproom has a suggested $10 cover, though "pay what you can" is also offered. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here are The Wyld Stallyns live!
Now, we'll stick entirely with this weekend's hard rock concert previews by heading to Reggie's Place, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return for headlining concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Fresh off of their headlining duties at Toystock (fallout forthcoming), these will be Bone Yard's first shows at the Queen Street East mainstay nightclub in three weeks, and these comprise the penultimate weekend in Bone Yard's six week run of steady weekend concerts. Of those six weekend bookings, Reggie's is the only locale to be booked twice, so hopefully existing and new Boneheads alike come out for Bone Yard's southern fried hard rock covers tomorrow and/or Saturday night! As usual, expect 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Bone Yard live!
Finally for today, new local metal trio The BAG will reportedly make their public concert debuts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT when they headline at The Esquire Club! For full disclosure, the band has not posted on their Facebook group for any reason since November 13th, and The Esquire Club still haven't acknowledged The BAG as playing this weekend, but unless given reason otherwise, we'll cover these shows as normal. After months of house/backyard parties and recording sessions towards a handful of singles on streaming platforms, this will be The BAG's first test in front of a public audience, and if you want a sampling of what Spencer, Austin, and Bradley bring to the table, check out this setlist from one of their private gigs. Their original material so far points to a solid groove/thrash metal hybrid sound, but hopefully their covers will carry them to a strong reception in the west end (assuming these are still on!)
Originally scheduled for online page-less local cover band Buzzsaw Jaw before dropping out for unannounced reasons, tomorrow & Saturday night's shows have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's one of two brand new songs from The BAG! Quietly posted on their YouTube channel on November 12th and recorded in their Mission Control Studio sessions in the summer, the new tracks are "Roadkill" (which is a short groove metal rocker with a nice guitar solo) and embedded below, "Get Out", a slower and thrashier track that delivers a promisingly intense sound, so definitely check both out above & berlow!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Rhythm & Brews preview and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Today's post was supposed to start our Soo's Got Talent finals coverage, but a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT fell into my lap, so this is now a standard news post with the T.S.G.T. coverage now planned for tomorrow. As such, today's post has one more new concert (with a related apology) and new videos, so here's what you should know!
Local acoustic southern hard rock duo The Bearded Lounge will reportedly play a matinee concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub (née Reggie's West) TOMORROW! Apologies for the short notice, the band has not confirmed this booking on their Facebook page, and the venue only mentioned it on their Facebook page yesterday. Surprisingly, this will be The Bearded Lounge's first advertised show at 306 Korah Road since January 2020, when they played a Saturday matinee during the final triple header weekend there featuring Bone Yard nighttime shows & their old sister blues rock band Mojo's Thursday jam night duties. Pre-pandemic, The Bearded Lounge were primarily seen at Reggie's West, so this is natural, especially given the Sunday matinee timing used elsewhere. You can enjoy Greg & Alex's old school unplugged hard rock TOMORROW at 1:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover. See above for more details, and here's The Bearded Lounge live!
Next up, here's another apparent new show (and a related apology for missing one), as local funk/hard rock band The Wyld Stallyns will apparently perform at Outspoken Brewing's on-site Taproom at 350 Queen Street East on Friday, December 2nd, after previously playing there yesterday! I profusely apologize for missing yesterday's show, it completely fell through the cracks when writing this weekend's concert preview post, and it was on short notice on both the band's and venue's ends (the venue first plugged it on Tuesday). If you believe the Facebook description for the event poster, The Stallyns will be playing at the Taproom "the first Friday of every month", so clearly their Oktoberfest sets went well to get a regular arrangement! That said, much like Tym Morrison's old weekly runs at atypical venues, I'll take these a month at a time, especially if there are any schedule changes to note.
If this continues into the spring, they likely couldn't play on the first Friday in April, as that's a statutory holiday next year (Good Friday). For what it's worth, the above-linked poster only shows an early Rob/Christina/Jesse lineup, but the full band (including frequent guest saxophonist Josh Norling) was advertised in Outspoken's November events calendar. Their expected return on December 2nd will have an 8:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and a suggested $10 cover, but "pay what you can" is also offered, a standard offer for Taproom events. Visit the above links for more details, and I apologize again for missing yesterday's show, hopefully it was a big hit!
We'll close today with new videos, starting with our first look at the interior of the aforementioned Jay's Piston Broke Pub! This comes from their Facebook page at midnight today, and it features local classic/hard rock cover band Soundcheck (minus Cameron) at their weekly jam night on Thursday, which is continuing uninterrupted under the new regime. In fact, SooToday spotlighted the ownership change in this article last night, which didn't get into why Reggie Daigle sold the former Roosevelt Hotel, but we did learn more about new owner Jay Scott's plans. Jay (who also owns Scootz) explained how he came up with the Piston Broke Pub name, his plans for gradual (but minor) interior changes, and how he's bringing back Sunday karaoke nights and hoping to host events mid-week along with what sounds like an unchanged weekend band slate. In many respects, he's not fixing what isn't broke, so existing patrons should be happy!
As such, the video looks about the same as Reggie's West did, but fresh paint and new flooring are plans for the future. In the video itself, Soundcheck are seen performing with two jam night guests (a singer and a saxophonist), and while the song sounds like a country cover, the 10 seconds long runtime doesn't leave a lot of time to identify it, but it is the ending of the song in question. Good view of the interior and fans dancing, if not band focused, so give it a look below!
Finally, here's three new live-streamed videos from The Bearded Lounge's plugged-in sister band Bone Yard's Facebook page! All filmed at their Shooters Downstairs Lounge concert last night, the videos include covers of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show's "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'", Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" (with guitarist Alex D'Ettore on lead vocals), and embedded below, a much closer shot video of them covering Golden Earring's "Radar Love" that gives us some nice angles of the guys rocking out. The audio quality isn't super crisp on these videos, but Bone Yard have good energy and rock out as strongly as you'd expect, so give these a watch, and catch them back at Shooters TONIGHT!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our delayed Soo's Got Talent finals coverage beginning tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
