LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Quite Frankly), New Videos, And Much More!!

Today's post got delayed due to some computer maintenance, but within, we have new videos, assorted shorter updates, and leading off, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Quite Frankly will return to DeMarco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse in Prince Township on Saturday, October 3rd! Fans last saw this talented foursome at this deep-in-the-west end nightclub back in March, but they were active with multiple gigs in city limits through the summer, most recently at Gateway Casino in mid-August. The band did acknowledge that they are "taking a little break this September", so if you're up for the 20 minute drive west or will already be out that direction, keep their Boots & Saddles show in mind for early next month! Linsaey, Frank, Harley, and Joe will take the stage there on October 3rd at 8:00 PM, this is a 19+ concert, and there is no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for details on Quite Frankly's return to the Soo! 

Next up, here's some new videos, and we'll start with a rare live clip of local ska/crust punk quartet ASDP, courtesy of their Instagram page! As best as I can tell, this comes from their set opening for Danger Box in early July at the private house party venue Unnecessary Noise, and it features Mikhal, Tucker, William, and Ralph covering No Cash's "Kill Yer Parents" (as seen on the paid copies of their debut album "Atom Bombs & Lemonade"). Filmed by "Brad Sux", the video is thankfully both horizontal and of the full song, while also giving us a good look at Unnecessary Noise and a clearly happy & engaged crowd. Honestly, to me, this song sounds better and more impactful live than with the lo-fi studio production. I know Mikhal likes that aesthetic, but if you want to hear Adam Smith Death Parade at full power with no fidelity limitations, live may be the way to do it. Unfortunately, I think ASDP turned off external embedding of their videos, so give it a look above!

Also today, here's a new video from Sault Michigan hard rock trio Crush's Facebook page! Before sharing photos from their downstate gig at Bemo's Bar in Bay City (which looked like it went over well), the guys posted a parody sitcom opening credits video themed after Friends, complete with the theme song. I won't spoil what happens, but it's a loose (if fountain-less) parody of the original intro, with the guys hamming it up in amusingly happy ways. One assumes that the teaser that they're actually working on a sitcom is in jest, but you never quite know with Crush, so give this a watch 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 or event name:

 

• This is more punk-adjacent, but I thought I'd mention that The Speak Easy at Algoma University will be hosting "Panic! At The Drag Show" on Saturday night. While not a proper concert, it will feature local drag performers and an overall emo/scene theme, including a contest for the best dressed attendee and flash tattoos. If only we could get a reunion of The Crossed, Deter, or A Fall From Innocence to really top this off! See above for more on what should be an interesting theme night for drag fans and 2000s emo fans!
• Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 have shared two different "Stories" on Facebook this week featuring videos of them at both Wolf Fests. The instantly vanishing videos included one of frontwoman Jess Amadio letting the fans sing the chorus of a song at last year's event, while the other saw them covering Walk The Moon's "Shut Up & Dance" at this past Saturday's Wolf Fest II. I really wish that these were permanent videos that I could link to and share here (let alone longer and not vertical at that), but keep an eye out if you see them pop up on your Facebook news feed! 
• Speaking of Wolf Fest, SooToday's James Hopkin was in attendance for Northern Superior Brewing Co,'s second-year fall festival at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, posting this article about it on Sunday! While not a review of the bands, James noted the "party-like atmosphere", and included photos of the 49th Field Regiment band & The Hustle Brothers' sets among his event photos. The article also has interview remarks with Northern Superior co-owner Jeff DiCorpo, who was optimistic about that day's weather, noted that 3,800(!) people stopped by last year, and that he hopes to expand Wolf Fest to two days. Good article, so give it a read above!

 

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

Downtown Street Party #3 Info, New Live Concert Videos, And More!!

I hope everyone's Labour Day long weekend is starting on the right foot! Today on the SMS, we have new live videos from three different acts plus some related updates, but first, here's early info on what to expect for a downtown concert event later this month!

Initial details on the third and final Downtown Street Party for Queen Street East in 2026 have been announced via You Belong SSM's Facebook page! We already knew that it would take place on Thursday, September 17th on a closed section at the western end of Queen East from Dennis Street to Gore Street (bus terminal onward), and things will likely be similar in scope to street party #1 from June, as there's no doubling up due to forest fire smoke cancellations. Expect family entertainment, a kids zone, a vendor market at Queen & Tancred, businesses open along the way, beverage gardens, and much more, and the likely cooler temperatures will appeal to many as well! Live music will return, but unlike the last two parties, organizers have yet to make a distinction on where specific artists are playing, other than saying that there will be two stages, one per block. Local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith is the only SMS-amenable act confirmed here.

Mike (presumably with his Big Finish Band) will be joined somewhere that day by country singer/guitarists Brian Tremblay and Jeffrey Wright, jazz group The Hustle Brothers, Dustcovers frontman "Just" Tom Peer (who played with Mike & crew on The Canopy last month), "and more". I'm not calling this as a concert yet, as I don't have a firm location for where everyone is performing, but keep things in mind over the next couple of weeks! For the record, no artists announced for this party were scheduled for the cancelled July party, so that musical lineup was sadly a complete wash. Visit the above links for current details on the last street party!

Next up, here's some recent live concert videos, starting with a video of Toronto-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer's headlining concert at the first annual Prince Fest last week! This was filmed by Mike Blair of 705Live Sound Co., who were running sound for the festival outside of DeMarco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse in Prince Township that night. The not-quite 1 minute long video sees Destroyer playing the Kiss classic "Rock & Roll All Nite" with an uncredited special guest helping on vocals. A comment on the Facebook upload suggests that he could be named Frank but I can't confirm anything beyond that. How Frank(?) got to sing on stage, I don't know, but it's a solid cover for what we do hear! I wouldn't have done the "pan from the soundboard to the stage" thing that Mike likes doing though, as it gave too much away about crowd levels in the field. Give 705Live's Destroyer video a watch for yourselves below!

Also today, here's the latest updates from local alt-hard rock band Riverside Stasis, who may be remaining a quartet following Liam Dinsmore's departure, as their Facebook page's description now calls them "a a four piece indie, blues/pop rock band". We'll let you know if they add a new second guitarist though! The Handsome Sandwich/HeadFirst successors announced via this vertical video from The Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir that they now have official t-shirts on sale, and you can see the band opening the box of shirts to sell for the first time there. No word on if using The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" as backing music was a hint to anything, but the black shirts feature the band's new logo in white. Given where the river flows in the logo, it does look like "Riverside Stassis" to me, but buy yours at their next shows! The band has also confirmed last month's venue announcement that they'll be opening for The Lazys at Blaster Powerhouse on October 9th!

This adds to what should be a fun night of varied hard rock stylings next month, and The Lazys are very much a known commodity on Canadian rock radio, so click here for more on this concert! Lastly from Tea and the guys, they uploaded their first ever live concert video onto their new YouTube channel on Wednesday, which sees them playing their new original song "Run" at Northern Vibe. Filmed by the aforementioned Mike Haggith, he moved around a lot to get lots of distinct and close angles of Riverside Stasis from all angles on the Forest Stage. Chorus is slightly repetitive, but this is a harder rocker than "The Fool" was, and a really strong video of the full song, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more from Riverside Stasis!

Finally for today, this is a new live video that I considered using for recent concert previews, but seeing as the venue that uploaded it opted to include hard-coded captions in post-production to promote concerts that only happen there, I opted to just share it in a normal post. As you may recall, classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison played two solo headlining acoustic gigs at The Up & Down Lounge on Second Line West a month ago, and for gig #1 on July 31st, the bar/indoor golf lounge's Facebook page shared this video of Tym covering Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?". Like with the Destroyer video above, this doesn't quite hit 1:00 in length, but the biggest issue is that it's way too zoomed out, complicated by Tym sitting as usual for his solo dates. If you zoomed in to focus on Tym and not the lounge interior, you could even completely crop out the unnecessary caption!

Video choices that I wouldn't have made aside, Tym does well with this CCR classic, so fans of his solo unplugged concerts will appreciate it! The Up & Down Lounge have been cagey at best when plugging who has played at their recent Thursday evening concerts, but we'll let you know if hard rock shows get firmly announced there, and give Tym's promotional video from last month a watch for yourselves below! 

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

Prince Fest, Tarnished, And The Nameless Weekend Concert Previews!!

Let's mow through most of the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews today, by looking at Saturday-only Sault Ontario gigs as well as hard rock shows in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula, which is where we're leading off, so here's what you should know on this Friday morning! Previews of tomorrow's Bone Yard show and frontman Greg Simpson's Sunday matinee gig will be in our next news post.

Local classic/hard rock cover band Tarnished will return to Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at their new(?) Lakeside Lounge! The last scheduled concerts of any kind for their summer slate there (as per this calendar), Tarnished confirmed on their Facebook page that these will be acoustic concerts featuring just singer/guitarist Alex Traynor and guitarist Josh Fair. This goes in line with the Lakeside Lounge's live music schedule, which has only scheduled solo artists and duos. We'll let you know when they return to the stage fully plugged in with Chris and Ron in tow, let alone with Isaac in Crush! You can enjoy their hard rocking acoustic covers this weekend in Brimley at 8:00 PM both nights with 21+ age limits and no cover, but for unclear reasons, Saturday's show is a half length affair ending at 10:00 PM rather than midnight. See above for more details, and here's Alex & Josh live!

Next up, local hard rock quartet The Nameless are advertised to rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen locally at the finale of the Hell To Paradise motorcycle rally elsewhere at the Soo Kewadin last month (with a road trip to Republic in the interim), The Nameless are getting their maiden bookings at The Rapids Lounge just in time, as it is closing this fall in advance of heavy renovations and the construction of a new sports bar opening at the Sault Ste. Marie branch next year. Bands are scheduled through at least the end of September, but of course, we'll let you know if The Rapids Lounge survives past then or closes early (for what it's worth, the band has not posted on their Facebook page in over two weeks). Assuming everything is a go, the hard rock cover action is at 9:00 PM tonight and tomorrow with 21+ age limits and no cover. See above for more details, and here's The Nameless live!

Now north to Sault Ontario, but 20 minutes down Second Line West, as the first annual Prince Fest takes place TOMORROW! To be held at the corner of Second Line and Airport Road in the baseball field adjacent to co-promoters DeMarco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse, this festival is being well hyped across multiple AI-generated posters on social media, with vendors, family activities, food & drinks, kids entertainment, and on-site baseball and basketball tournaments, so be sure to visit the DeMarco's Facebook page for full non-musical details! The musical portion will be headlined at 9:00 PM by Toronto-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer, who have played here multiple times since the SMS launched (including at the former Soo Blaster three years ago), so it will be good to see their faithful and entertaining take on Kiss' classic catalogue again tomorrow night! Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will play the middle set at 7:00 PM.

Capping off their busy weekend of three shows in three days, hopefully Dustin & Mikey have a solid audience west of the Soo tomorrow evening! Frequently seen Boots & Saddles performer Mike Robitaille will kick off the music with an acoustic country set at 5:00 PM, and both local openers are blocked for two hours apiece. While Prince Fest is an all ages event beginning at 12:00 PM, organizers have clarified that only the first five hours have free admission. The three musical acts will have a separate ticketed admission of $35, which is up $15 from Destroyer's show here in 2023, but remember that that wasn't part of a festival. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for 19-23° temperatures during the band portion of Prince Fest and mostly cloudy skies, plus a slight chance of rain early in Destroyer's set. Keep tabs with your preferred weather forecasts for potential updates. It will be mostly cloudy in the afternoon too with a high of 24°.

Should be a fun time if you're out east or are up for a drive (if not quite as nice for sky conditions as The Northern Vibe Festival will get 90 minutes east), and between Destroyer's well known take on Kiss' hit singles, Dos Amigos' unplugged punk covers, and Mike's own talents, music fans will have a little something to like regardless of genre preference! Visit the above links for much more on what to expect outside of the Boots & Saddles on Sunday, and here's Destroyer live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Bone Yard/Greg Simpson previews and more next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Prince Fest), The Next LSSU Battle Of The Bands, And New Videos!!

In what will be a productive day re: knocking items off of our backlog that began building up last month, we have another packed news post today, including new videos from two bands seen on stage together earlier this month, initial details on a returning annual battle of the bands, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a new regional festival. Here's what you should know on this warm Tuesday evening!

A debuting summer concert festival in Prince Township (20 minutes west of the Soo) named Prince Fest goes down on Saturday, August 29th, and it will be headlined by Toronto-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer! While this is being co-promoted by DeMarco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse at 2667 Second Line West, Prince Fest will be an outdoor event in the adjacent baseball field at the corner of Second Line and Airport Road. Along with live music, advertising so far (the AI-generated posters linked here & here) indicates that there will also be local food and craft vendors, a beer garden, children's activities, at least one food truck, an on-site barbecue, a baseball tournament, and 3-on-3 basketball. More updates are sure to follow! Destroyer are by far the best known touring Kiss tribute to Sault Ste. Marie fans, having played here at least 6 times in the last 15 years, most recently at the former Soo Blaster in October 2023.

Good to see their faithful take on the Kiss back catalogue here again, if a little further west than you may expect! Local support will come by way of acoustic punk duo Dos Amigos and country rock solo musician Mike Robitaille, who has frequently played at the Boots & Saddles. Prince Fest is expected to run from 12:00-7:00 PM, it is absolutely all ages, and I have not seen any reference to a cover charge or ticket fee. 705Live Sound Co. will be on hand here too. Why not add one more community festival before the summer ends, and it's neat that one is happening so far west, so hopefully Prince Fest is a big hit at month's end! Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, get ready, as the fourth annual Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands returns to Sault Michigan on Thursday, October 22nd! Now, the official advertising on LSSU's Arts Center's page erroneously lists this as the third annual battle there, even though this is 100% year 4 (The Sole Aggressors won in 2023, Molly & The Other Guys won in 2024, and The Dynamic Duo won last year), so hopefully that gets fixed in time for the Facebook promotion to begin. Thanks to generous sponsorship, this year's LSSU Battle will have the biggest prize purse yet, as after three years of $150 and $50 gift cards for first & second place, there will be prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250 for first-third place! If the same as the last two years, judges (primarily made up of LSSU faculty) will assess the competitors, who will each have 15 minute sets to compete this fall. The past three LSSU battles had six or seven acts apiece, though 2024 was once slated to have eight.

Video auditions are now being submitted at this link, and while last year's battle curiously only had solo artists and duos, the raised cash prizes should ensure a wider swath of artist submissions. We'll let you know when the official competitor lineup is announced, but could The Dynamic Duo attempt to repeat as champions where the prior winners didn't? Admission for general attendees will be $10 USD ($5 for kids 10 and under), and yes, this is a Thursday nighter, as the previous three LSSU Battles also were. Two EUP battles of the bands in a three month span with $1,000 top prizes ain't a raw deal, so visit the above links for more details, and click here to buy tickets!

We'll head back to Sault Ontario for the back half of today's post to look at some new videos, starting with the first 2026 concert videos from local space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening! On August 1st, Andrew and Ralph played their first show of the year when they opened for 5 Dollar Bribe at a multi-local band concert at Blaster Powerhouse, and they shared photos from it the next day to their Facebook page. While they teased that "videos (are coming) soon", only one has followed since, a video shot by an attendee named Kayla of them playing "a little ET cover". Whether they mean ET: The Extra Terrestrial or not, I can't identify the 22 seconds of music being played here, but the chugging riff sounds good, and being a duo, they are better framed for the vertical dimensions! I'd still have zoomed in a bit more though. Give this a look below, and hopefully The Spaceship Opening have more videos soon!

Finally for today, let's look at some new videos from the aforementioned 5 Dollar Bribe, who spent some time posting some non-concert videos to their Facebook page in late July and into this month that largely call to mind their pre-debut viral/comedy uploads on Instagram. To promote the aforementioned August 1st concert at the former Soo Blaster, drummer Chase Chapman starred in this video from July 28th where he demoed a kickflip, and had some help from "Jimbo Jenkins". Watch the video to find out who "Jimbo" is! Another video followed two days later that started with an attempted cover of the intro of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine" before abruptly phasing to waking up in a field where Jayce and Tyler were, and beyond plugging the Soo Blaster show, I'll let you decipher what happened next! The day of the show, they posted an episode of "Dwayne's World" (one guess as to what they're parodying) where Chase was a guest of Dwayne and Garth(?) to promote the band and concert. 

Always good to see homages to classic SNL, even if needlessly letterboxed into vertical dimensions despite being a square video! Lastly, on July 31st, they covered At The Drive-In's "Patterns Against User" with Jayce on lead vocals, though for one reason or another, I can't embed it here. The level of covers that 5 Dollar Bribe will source from is always impressive, especially for their age, and they have a good tight sound on this post-hardcore deep cut, even if the video quality itself is fairly blurry. As it's apparently unembeddable, here's the "Dwayne's World" video, but give all of 5 Dollar Bribe's new uploads a watch at the above links!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Our first weekend concert previews of October 2025 are here, so let's dive in with some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE! Saturday's Tym Morrison concert and Sunday's Ikons of Rock concert will be in our next news post, so don't worry, they are hitting the site soon!

Sault Michigan hard/blues rock quintet Project 906 will return to Hulbert Happy Hour in Hulbert Township for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this gig via their Facebook page on Monday. Believe it or not, this will be Project 906's first show at the 10402 South Maple Street nightclub since February 2022, and thusly their first there with Jason VanLuven and Brian Duford on percussion, but there is a reason for this return booking beyond just rocking out. SATURDAY is the Hulbert Freedom Festival's ATV Poker Run, with 906 serving as the night cap to the day's events, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for the poker run's details. Meanwhile, one of the stops for the poker run is Huck's Pub & Grill in Rudyard, and they'll be hosting Project 906 on Friday, October 31st for their Halloween party, as announced on the bar's Facebook page yesterday!

As you might expect for a Halloween concert, Huck's will be hosting costume contests at month's end, with the best overall, funniest, and best couples' costumes winning prizes. Good to start seeing another Halloween concert on the schedule, so stay tuned for more as spooky season continues! Project 906 will bring the hard rock on SATURDAY at 8:00 PM and on Halloween at 9:00 PM, neither show has an announced cover charge (you don't have to register for the Poker Run to come to Hulbert), and these are 21+ events. See above for more details, and here's Project 906 live!

Next up, we'll head north to Sault Ste. Marie, where San Francisco hair metal quintet Night Ranger will headline at The Dreammakers Theater at the local Kewadin Casino TOMORROW NIGHT! The first of two 1980s glam metal concerts at the Soo Kewadin this fall, Night Ranger will be rocking the casino for the first time in over 12 years tomorrow, and they will remain very familiar to local rock fans from their hit songs "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" and "Sister Christian", among others. With more classic songs, three new albums, and a switch from Joel Hoekstra to Keri Kelli on guitar, hopefully they deliver a solid night of glam metal action for fans tomorrow! Santa Monica glam rock duo Nelson (of "(Can't Live Without Your) Love & Affection" fame) will open tomorrow with an acoustic set, so come out early for Matthew & Gunnar setting the tone with some unplugged rock!

Tickets for this all ages concert are still on sale at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, or at the in-person box office. Limited seats are still available for $80 in rows 1-10 and $70 for seats further back, but the vast majority of tickets are sold, so act now if you haven't already just in case. VIP passes with extra perks are also available online if you are so inclined. This should be a fun night of 1980s metal action for you Hair Scare fans, so visit the above links for more details on this Rock 101-sponsored concert, and for a preview, here's Night Ranger live in the Soo in 2013!

Also this weekend, let's head to Sault Ontario for a special memorial concert on SATURDAY NIGHT at Soo Blaster, as local musicians will gather that night for Riffs For Rememberance: A Memorial For Tori! The show is in honour of Victoria Childs, an avid local music fan who suddenly passed away last month at the age of 34. Victoria was my ex-girlfriend and was a great person & mother who I actually met at Oddfellows Hall punk concerts in 2005 when we were in high school, and I know she would be absolutely thrilled that friends and musicians were coming together to pay their respects like this! Local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty (featuring her cousin Mikhal Muto) will headline on Saturday, and it was Paul & Amanda's idea to host a tribute concert to her, so all kudos to them for taking the initiative like this! A very diverse lineup will also include three solo artists.

These include her friend Gimiiwan Ikwe, country cover veteran Leslie Cook, and folk singer/guitarist Linsaey L.W. while the last mystery act is Bards With Beards. Paul told me that they're a new band from HeadF1rst drummer Anthony Boudreau, but I don't have any other information on them at press time. We'll know more on Saturday! This all ages event has doors opening at 7:30 PM, and admission will be $5, with all proceeds going to Hope House - Club 84, a psychosocial rehab program for those with mental illness, and who helped and supported Victoria in times of need. Visit the official Facebook event page for more on what should be a great night in Victoria's memory (I'll absolutely be there), and here's The A.A. live!

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge advertised shows for this weekend that I have doubts are on as scheduled. When local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down announced their fall calendar a few months ago, this included a return to Reggie's Place for concerts tomorrow & Saturday night (here is their Facebook event page). However, if you were following the social media promotion for Bone Yard 225's shows there last week, there was a lot of teased finality regarding the gigs. Bone Yard are alive and well (they'll be at The Esquire Club next week), but band members, attendees, and the venue dropped a number of Facebook hints towards Reggie's ending or closing in some form or fashion, with your local 225 saying that this would be their "last weekend playing there" on September 26th. What we do know is that last week's shows marked the five year anniversary of Reggie's under Randy Lapossie's management, but is he opting out after that long?

No one has come right out and said what was going on at 458 Queen Street East, but regardless, Double Down haven't newly promoted this weekend's Reggie's dates, and the venue hasn't posted on Facebook since Saturday, so with all of that acknowledged, I'm going to treat the Double Down shows as off unless otherwise confirmed. Whether Reggie's is closing, rebranding, or changing operations in some form, we'll let you know when something is firmly and publically said! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison & HeadF1rst), Plus Weekend Concert Previews!!

Let's tackle another round of weekend concert previews on the SMS, though due to the amount, we'll push Saturday's Dos Amigos and Nameless concerts to tomorrow's post. Just for clarification, cover rock quartet Separate Wayz (featuring half of Soundcheck's final lineup) are at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this weekend, but we still await confirmation of their sound/setlist, while Sault Michigan's Tarnished are playing at the annual Michihistrigan Rendezvous motorcycle rally on Saturday in Gould City, which is a 90 minute drive from the Soo and thusly outside of our coverage range. Keep these dates in mind if you're interested though, but let's lead off with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst are the latest local band to debut at Beck's Bar, and will do so on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, we only learned about this booking via Beck's Facebook page on Tuesday, but the band first announced it on their Facebook page on Wednesday of last week, getting lost in the shuffle as we were focusing on that week's concert preview cycle. According to the band's Facebook page, "we're kicking off our tour" with this concert, their first since their album release party at Soo Blaster last month, though a planned Sudbury road trip was cancelled for last week. To promote the concert, drummer Anthony Boudreau stars in this Facebook "Reel" where he is seen having a spit take after leaving Millie's Mini-Mart nearby before checking out Beck's for himself. It's more hype for the venue than the band, but it's great to see that Beck's is catching on!

It's great to see HeadF1rst back at it, and hopefully SATURDAY'S debut at this new-ish west end venue is a blast for fans and regulars alike! This week's 3:00 PM Saturday matinee is Dodge This/ex-Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer (no idea if his solo sets are basically one man Dodge This gigs or not), but this is a separate concert earlier in the day and he isn't "opening" for HeadF1rst. SATURDAY'S HeadF1rst concert (a one-nighter due to Friday DJ nights) has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Next up, Sault Ontario classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will return to Beck's Bar for another matinee gig on SUNDAY! Again, apologies for the short notice, this gig was also only announced via Beck's Facebook page on Tuesday, but in this case, Tym quietly added SUNDAY'S concert to his batch Facebook event page for shows there, along with even more dates! His scheduled August 31st show was cancelled for unannounced reasons (granted, you could argue that it was rescheduled to any of the new dates), but the two new bookings are both Saturday matinees, which will see Tym rock the former Vibe Lounge on Saturday, June 21st and August 9th! He is scheduled for two further dates in the fall but we'll hold those for now due to the timeframe, so our concert calendar isn't clogged with one act's shows that far out. Good to see Tym getting lots of new bookings at Beck's, THIS SUNDAY'S included, so don't miss his busy summer slate!

As usual for matinees at Beck's (Jason Taillefer on Saturday included), Tym's shows on SUNDAY and ahead are all at 3:00 PM with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!

Moving to shows that had advance notice, it's a busy weekend for local alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB, who will rock The Prince Township Pavilion TONIGHT to kick off Prince Township's summer concert series for 2025! This show is on the borderline of our coverage range going west, so it'll be a slight hike for fans in Sault Ontario proper, but their fun blend of atypical rock covers and ample live experience will serve them well at this outdoor-ish venue! The all ages show takes place tonight at 7:00 PM at 3042 Second Line West with a rare $10 cover charge. After that, Bookclub will perform at this year's Sault Ste. Marie Festival Of Beer at the Downtown Plaza on SATURDAY, where they are the only SMS amenable band playing this year's also outdoor-ish festivities for craft beer patrons and vendors on Queen Street East. The lineup was announced on Facebook last week, so who else is playing?

As per LopLops' Facebook page, the nominal headliners at 6:00 PM are local DJs (also opening the day's program at 12:30 PM), while musical performers include Winnipeg indie pop duo Sundayclub at 4:30 PM, BookcluB at 3:30 PM, and a mystery local band named The Catalina Wine Mixer at 2:30 PM. This show is free to check out at the Downtown Plaza with mostly cloudy weather of 14-15° projected by 9&10 News, as well as a 20% chance of rain. Hopefully things hold up there as they should tonight in Prince, so visit the above links for complete details on the Festival of Beer and tonight's concert, and for a preview, here's Bookclub live!

Finally for this preview post, we'll stay downtown, as local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These will be their first public concerts in two weeks (also at Reggie's), after cancelling their "uncorked" show at The Water Tower Pub this past weekend due to a double booking. They have since heavily implied that they were playing a private event on Saturday (as teased in this Facebook video from that evening), so now you know what was going on. Good to see the guys back and plugged in at Reggie's this weekend, and hopefully these two "sermons" deliver all of the old school rock action and originals that fans are hoping for! Yes, Bone Yard did tease on their Facebook page on May 30th that "the album is coming along nicely", and they hope to have it ready by the end of the year. First I heard that they're working on a full album, which is great news!

Time will tell if their existing three original songs will be on it, but hopefully things go according to plan for your local 225! Tomorrow & Saturday's Reggie's shows have 19+ age limits, no cover charges, and 9:30 PM start times. Visit the above links for more details on Bone Yard's gigs this weekend, and here they are live! 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906, BookcluB, And Headrush), Plus A Monday Concert Preview!!

With a special Monday night concert to preview, let's fill things our with some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the summer, so here's what you should know as we kick off May 2025's last work week!

Local alternative/punk sextet BookcluB have announced their "summer series" via this picture on their Facebook page, so when will fans be able to see this supergroup next? In Prince Township on Thursday, June 12th, as they will be kicking off the summer concert series at the Prince Township Pavilion at 3042 Second Line West. Keep this one in mind if you're in Prince or are up for the hour's drive west! This all ages event has a $10 cover charge for attendees over 10 years of age (kids are free) and BookcluB take the stage at 7:00 PM. Two days later on Saturday the 14th, BookcluB will perform at this year's Beerfest Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer, with a musical lineup setting up shop at the Downtown Plaza while attendees buy and sample craft beer at this LopLops-curated outdoor event on Queen Street from 12:00-7:00 PM. We await confirmation of when exactly BookcluB are playing, who else is, and more finer details, so stay tuned!

While listed after their planned Rotaryfest Stage 1 return on Saturday, July 19th (I'm waiting for the full schedule reveal from organizers), they'll also previously return to Thomson Farms Cider & Winery on Sunday, June 22nd to serve as musical entertainment for their teddy bear picnic for a second straight year! Fun excuse to bring the family/kids to the farm to see their operations, enjoy kids entertainment and treats, and teddy bears are welcome! Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door, and it should start at 1:00 PM once again. BookcluB performed outdoors under a tent last year, so fingers crossed that the weather holds up for all three of these shows! Visit the above links for more on BookcluB's June concert slate!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will rock The Roberta Bondar Pavilion for the first time on Saturday, June 28th when they open for Toronto-based Eagles tribute band Hotel California! This has to be the biggest concert yet for Headrush, even if their own sound descriptions pin them as playing "80's music at its finest", whereas The Eagles broke up for the first time in 1980, but they'll cover a lot of bases that way! While The Eagles don't really fit the SMS' coverage (the occasional Don Felder or Joe Walsh song acknowledged), Hotel California will be a familiar tribute band for fans, having played at The Sault Community Theater Center multiple times in the past, most recently in December, and they have been a touring presence in Canada for decades. Fans of classic rock and country rock should have a ball next month, so keep this outdoor-ish show under the big downtown tent in mind!

This is absolutely an all ages show with a 7:00 PM start time, and tickets are on sale at this link for $37.27 apiece. Visit the above links and this SooToday press release for more details on this concert, and don't miss Headrush at The Esquire Club this weekend, previews forthcoming!

Also upcoming on Saturday, June 28th is the return of Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quintet Project 906 to The Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley! The band has yet to publically confirm this booking on social media, but Bay Mills' website's calendar lists the date, complete with this poster advertising it on its own event profile page (the band photo used doesn't include hand drummer Brian Duford, but I wouldn't read anything into that, as that was the casino's call to reuse an older band photo). Project 906 were last seen live in Hessel earlier this month, with their Brimley gig next month being their first at The Back Bay Grill since early April. Hopefully a strong turnout of hard rock fans gives Project 906 a solid reception for their quality rocking covers at Bay Mills next month! As usual for concerts there, this is a 21+ event with a 9:00 PM start time and no cover. See above for more details!

Finally for today, here's a special Monday night concert preview for TONIGHT, as Victoria, British Columbia noise rock duo Pet Retina and drummer Max Patterson's solo project i.o will both return to Sault Ontario, this time at The Art Hub At Spring! This special concert will see the touring bands opening for a local artist, that being outsider folk musician Shae Tull, who is launching her new album "Statues Of Teeth On Every Street Corner" following its digital release in March. Hopefully Shae gets a great response for the new material, and check everything out on Bandcamp! Readers may recall seeing Pet Retina & i.o here just over a year ago when they rocked The March Street Stage (which, like The Art Hub, is technically on Queen Street East), but now they get to take their creative original music indoors, and hopefully old and new fans alike take to the noise rock cacophony ahead tonight!

Promoted by Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire), this all ages concert has an advertised start time of 7:15 PM on the Facebook event page, and admission is $15 or "pay what you can" (last May's i.o/Pet Retina show was strictly "pay what you can" but remember that it was outdoors and had no local album release attached). The work night scheduling isn't ideal, but it should end early, and it'll definitely be a unique night of talented noise and outsider music, so visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Pet Retina & i.o live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Drayton Fever

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and after a Sault Ontario summer for this series, we're spotlighting a Sault Michigan band to kick off the fall season! As always, this monthly feature looks at a randomly selected local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past, in order to showcase and promote their run and accomplishments for modern readers, and it is quite fitting that this month's selection is a band who readers in the early 2010s will remember from releasing music on Friday the 13th, a date that returns this week! Here's what you should know!

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Drayton Fever

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Paradise/Hulbert Township, Michigan

Genre: Thrash Metal

Lineup:

Doug Reed (Bludgeoned, Half A Man), all instruments

Audio/Video: Surviving media from Drayton Fever's run is only publically available on their label Werehold Records' YouTube channel, which features four songs that they recorded for Werehold's former Friday the 13th new music posting events in the early 2010s, as well as this clip of Doug recording "The Browning" for the Friday the 13th event in June 2014. An album called "The Longest Summer" was in pre-production at his old Half A Man bandmate Erik Rintamaki's own Hot Box Studios in Brimley, which would have had eight songs, but it was never completed as planned. A song named "Mary Kelly" was once streamable on their MySpace page as well. Here's the intended opening song for their album, "And On With The Killing"!

Info/Analysis: Active from around 2008-2014, Drayton Fever was the long gestating solo project from veteran E.U.P. metal musician Doug Reed, who signed to his Swampghas bandmate Jason Mills' now-defunct indie label Werehold Records in the latter half of their run. Updates through 2011 are largely gone thanks to MySpace's degradation, but Doug was working on "The Longest Summer" throughout the turn of the 2010s, describing the album as "a brutal collection of (my) life journeys & interests over the past 12 years in sickly brutal musical form, none of which is pretty". The album would have featured unspecified guest singers and drummers, and the songs on offer were influenced by bands like Exodus, Machine Head, Slayer, and Acid Bath. Drayton Fever only updated their Facebook page in 2012, and while they took part in Werehold's Friday the 13th new music events through June 2014, they were not involved in the series' mid-2010s installments, and likely fell inactive by 2015.

Full-on "metal" like this hasn't always been an easy sell in the E.U.P. (not that Werehold managed to release completed albums from their roster), but Drayton Fever were a solid and reliably heavy project that deserved to get bigger in this area! Doug is a talented multi-instrumentalist with a good ear for what works in thrash and groove metal on songs like "Beatnik" and "Fleshwork", and vocals were optimally deployed when used. It's a shame that Drayton Fever could never publically break through beyond one-off songs on Friday the 13th, but hopefully we haven't heard the last from Doug in some musical form or fashion!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! For the first time in over two years, this series will have two bands featured in the next installment, as the first randomly selected project doesn't have much in the way of public details, so a similarly slight project was picked to fill things out. As such, look for our profiles of Sault Ontario metal solo projects The Shaner and Sir Hell on or around October 10th, and for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

Marianas Trench/Trews and A Dire Setback Concert Previews, Plus A New Video!!

A busy concert weekend is upon us, so to spread things out, we'll only cover two shows to start, both with a lot to say and one with a new live video to acknowledge from one of the performers. If you're looking for previews of the late notice Bone Yard show this weekend, plus Soundcheck and gigs in the E.U.P., check back tomorrow, I promise!

We'll start with the big concert for punk and hard rock fans this week, as Vancouver pop punk quartet Marianas Trench and Nova Scotia hard rock mainstays The Trews will make their long awaited returns to the Soo TONIGHT at GFL Memorial Gardens! After dropping out of a planned November 2016 show at the Gardens due to a band member illness, Marianas Trench will finally be back in town for the first time since headlining at the arena in April 2013, so if you've been itching to hear their pop rock staples like "Shake Tramp", "Say Anything", and "Cross My Heart" in person again, the nearly decade-long wait is almost over! Meanwhile, tonight's show will mark The Trews' first local date since an acoustic show here in 2009, last playing in town plugged-in the previous year. I do like The Trews' rootsy hard rock hits like "Tired of Waiting", "Paranoid Freak", and "So She's Leaving", and it's great to finally see them back too!

Local indie punk quintet The Northwest have been tapped as openers, a fitting choice to pair with Marianas Trench in particular, and their brand of heartland-influenced punk originals should warm things up nicely tonight (and what a stage for them to play on too!) Co-promoted by F7 Entertainment, this show is one of three taking place during this week's Mocha Concert Series, put on by the Mocha Shriners Masonic society as a fundraiser event while they host their annual Mocha Fall Ceremonial convention in the Soo, home of the Sault Shrine Club. The ambitious scheduling called for five shows from major Canadian artists at the Gardens in five days this week, starting with Walk Off The Earth & The Monowhales on Monday and ending with Burton Cummings tomorrow, but the planned Kim Mitchell and Paul Brandt shows on Tuesday & yesterday were both cancelled due to "unforeseen scheduling issues".

I won't join the arguing about what that exactly means, but hopefully Kim and Paul try again to play here down the road! As for Marianas Trench tonight, this all ages event has a 7:30 PM start time, and tickets are still available for either $55.94 or $67.24 in the back seven sections (floor seats and the closest six sections to the stage are all sold out). Buy yours at this link, at the in-person box office, or at (705) 759-5251. I'm glad to see that tonight's show is selling pretty well (with the headliners playing here multiple times each back in the day, you'd hope so), and hopefully what's left of the Mocha Concert Series is a hit for the Shriners! Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Marianas Trench live!

Finally for today, local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will play their first non-Northern Vibe set of the pandemic era when they take a road trip to nearby Desbarats TOMORROW NIGHT for another benefit concert for late Manitoulin Island rapper Zachary "$onny Vybe$" Cywink! To be held at the Johnson Township Community Center at 1 Cameron Road, this mixed-genre event is the fourth or fifth in our area to honour $onny Vybe$' memory and raise funds for the Ngwaagan Gamig Recovery Centre in Wikwemikong, and hopefully the more easterly location and continued kind thoughts go over well with Zachary's family and friends! Like with the Handsome Sandwich-featured shows at The Rockstar Bar, A Dire Setback are the rock respite in the mixed genre gumbo, with other performers including rappers Rick E, Bold Noize, Oh Zee, and James Stuart, and DJ AngelAzura. Promoted by Sooicide Records, this show starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow, it is all ages, and admission is $5.

Also, there is an attached canned food drive for Harvest Algoma, so keep that in mind if you're making the 40 minute drive. Should be a fun time for hip hop/$onny Vybe$ fans in particular, but hopefully this recently rare A Dire Setback set makes them some more fans on the outskirts of town! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new video of A.D.S. at the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir last month! Posted to their YouTube channel last week, this is a cover of Greta Van Fleet's "Highway Tune", an odd choice for them, but it's still a closer sonic match than OneRepublic are. Bassist Matt Quinn handled lead vocals here, which is cool to see, though the other new things they teased playing during their set haven't made their way to a public online forum yet. I will admit, I'm not a Greta Van Fleet fan, but this version is better because Matt isn't trying to do the Led Zeppelin clone vocals.

I have pointed out in prior concert reviews of theirs that Matt's singing voice is tonally reminiscent of Serj Tankian, and it'd be interesting to see him play into that more, but again, I'll take this over forced raspy Robert Plantisms. Video quality is solid and clear, and the stationary camera is well framed, but the stage seems very cavernous, and Nick seems much further back than he likely was as a result. Solid cover for G.V.F. fans, so give it a look below, and don't miss A Dire Setback in Desbarats tomorrow night!

That's all for today, but stay tuned next for our previews of this weekend's other hard rock concerts next! Thanks everyone!