Treble Charger At Big Shiny Saturday Concert Video Showcase!

I apologize for this slipping through the cracks over the past 2+ months, but when the band in question doesn't really have an active social media presence, it wasn't as likely to cross my radar. As teased in some of the local press for their reunion gig at The Machine Shop in March, local/Toronto indie/punk quartet Treble Charger did indeed continue playing live via summer festival dates in Southern Ontario! We knew at the time that they'd be playing at Riverfest in Elora last month, but before then, they actually were booked for the Big Shiny Saturday festival in North York, which took place at The Bowl at Sobey's Stadium on July 6th! Here, they played alongside fellow domestic 1990s-2000s rock acts The Tea Party, The Headstones, I Mother Earth, and Bif Naked (The Headstones were never on a Big Shiny Tunes album, but they're of the same era). In searching YouTube, at least seven attendees filmed Treble Charger's set, so let's cover four of them in today's post!

We'll start with attendee superfannrock, who filmed Treble Charger playing three songs at Big Shiny Saturday during their middle set (he also filmed The Tea Party and The Headstones for his channel). Songs filmed include "Hundred Million", "Red", and as embedded below, their second song "Brand New Low". Sharp angle with a smoky ambiance, but superfannrock got a nice zoomed in view of the guys in action, who sound on the level of their reunion gig, and while he's laser focused on filming just the band, you do get a sense that this is a big stage. Check these out above & below!

Next up, attendee ShakyShorty filmed a song each from the five acts at Sobey's Stadium on this day, with his Treble Charger video being of their early Bill Priddle-sung classic "Red", which was their second-to-last song. Also, Frank Deresti and David Peredun continued on bass and drums from the local date in March, so it is very neat to see an all-local Treble Charger lineup, let alone playing out of town! While ShakyShorty didn't employ as extreme of a zoom, he also had a far more central view of the stage and got more of the framing and setup as a result. If you like mid-late 1990s indie Treble Charger, you'll like how the guys played "Red" here, so check this quality performance out below too!

Alas, superfannrock was one of only two of the seven filmers to shoot anything other than "Red" and "American Psycho", so I apologize for any redundancy in advance. Both of those songs were shot by attendee Toronto Live Music, who filmed everyone on Big Shiny Saturday except Bif Naked. To spread things out a bit, I'll also feature this channel's "Red" video here, but I'd argue that these are the best of the Treble Charger videos for quality in this post, with Toronto Live Music clearly closer to the stage and framing things well with some lighter, more natural zooming, and the audio is nice and clear! Good stuff on both accounts, so check these videos out also!

Three of the other four Big Shiny Saturday filmers only filmed "American Psycho" during Treble Charger's set, and we'll close with that song from attendee Fun Randyz, who also filmed everyone except Bif Naked on July 6th, but this was his only Treble Charger video. Like she did at The Machine Shop in March, Greig Nori's daughter Ava joined the guys on stage to provide guest backing vocals from the bridge onward, which is a fun touch that I'm sure Greig loved repeating! This punk-era staple is always a crowd favourite, and while Randy was a little further back, he zoomed in well on the stage with good audio, so give his clip a watch below!

We'll have more from Treble Charger and Big Shiny Saturday in an upcoming post, but it looks like everything went well in North York in July, and here's hoping their other 2024 festival dates were similarly successful! Stay tuned for all of that and more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), Bone Yard 225's New Single, And Much More!!

Let's keep things rolling on the SMS on this Wednesday, for a post featuring an inactive band note, a local band's new original song, a local radio interview that we missed from the spring, and leading off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE! Here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will reportedly make his debut at Gino's Fired Up Kitchen & Bar at 1076 Great Northern Road TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via its Facebook event page this past Thursday. Yes, the show is TONIGHT, as Gino's is hosting Wednesday evening concerts at least occasionally now that their new and quite large patio is open for the summer, with the first advertised Wednesday nighter being with Lawrence & Mickey on June 19th. Note that Gino's has not confirmed Tym as playing TONIGHT on their Facebook page, but Tym's Facebook event page has him returning for two more Wednesday nighters on July 17th and August 28th, so keep all three shows in mind for some mid-week classic and hard rock cover action! As these shows are on the patio, I'd assume that it'd close for the season around September.

All three Gino's concerts have no stated age limit (Gino's is an Italian restaurant first and foremost), no cover charge, and a 6:30 PM start time. Be advised that 9&10 News is calling for a 30% chance of rain throughout TONIGHT's alotted timeframe of 6:30-9:30 PM, so keep tabs with Tym and/or Gino's if you're at all concerned about rain interrupting the show (temperatures will be around 21°). Visit the above links for more on Tym's Gino's shows this summer, TONIGHT included, stay tuned for our preview of his Trading Post show in our normal weekend previews, and here he is live!

Next up, local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225 released their first true studio single to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and their new auto-generated YouTube Music channel on Sunday night! Entitled "FAFO" (an acronym for "fuck around (and) find out"), it is neat to see Bone Yard finally release an original song like this after fifteen years together primarily playing covers, but fans will have seen live performances and occasional studio teasers over the years. A solid hard rocker with defiant lyrics inspired by the state of the world, fans of the modern heavier Bone Yard will enjoy this, so give it a listen below, and don't miss them "uncorked" at The Water Tower Pub next weekend!

Also, here's something that completely slipped us by back in March, as Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle was interviewed on CBC Radio One about the band and their recent reunion! This took place on the March 6th episode of Morning North, the Sudbury-based morning show that airs on all CBC Radio One stations in the Northeastern Ontario market, the Soo on 89.5 FM included. If you missed it then, it is available for on-demand listening at this link. The 15 minute segment features host Markus Schwabe asking Bill about how their reunion concert at The Machine Shop the following day came about, how he's feeling as a live musician nowadays, him and bandmate Greig Nori growing up in the Soo, moving to Southern Ontario to make it in bands, making a living in music, some of their best known singles like "Red" & "American Psycho", how they initially started getting attention, their shift to pop punk...

... deep cuts that he and Greig loved that didn't become hits, any possible unfinished business or the chances of new material, and their reunion concert on March 7th, which was a fundraiser for Algoma University's music program. As well, clips of a few of their songs are played in between Markus and Bill talking, usually relevant ones to the topic. The interview doesn't touch on their initial breakup and Bill's music work beyond Treble Charger, and some extra plugs for the reunion show proper would have been nice, but this was an entertaining and relaxed interview that fans will enjoy, so if you missed it in March, give it a listen at the above links!

Finally for today, we have a band to move to our inactive Sault Ontario band links, namely local classic/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley. While they have not publically confirmed a break-up, they have not posted on social media since releasing their music video for "The Village" on June 24th last year, past our one year inactivity threshold. Beyond that, they otherwise haven't made a public statement since their Oktoberfest set in October 2022, and it did cross my mind in recent months that the "The Village" video may have been intended as a posthumous final act. Led by 2019 Soo's Got Talent winner Adrian Sullivan, The Uncanny Valley debuted on stage that December, and while much of their early run was lost due to pandemic lockdowns, they played a number of headlining dates when able, while also playing at Rotaryfest in 2021 & 2022, and taking part in 2022's Go North Music Festival.

Unfortunately, plans to release an album stalled out before it could see the light of day, but original songs can be seen in extant videos, and they recorded "Stuck In Rotation" for the Clusterfolk compilation tape. The Uncanny Valley's old school, psychedelic-tinged brand of hard rock was a welcome change of pace among rising young local bands at the turn of the 2020s, and hopefully we hear more from Adrian, Matt, Brenden, and Dylan soon (and don't miss ex-bassist Adam Fahrer in Hollow Sky!). That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Hazytones) & Treble Charger Reunion Concert Coverage!!

Keeping our recent string of daily posts up at the SMS, today's post features lots of pre- and post-show coverage of a recent reunion concert that got a lot of attention, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related band lineup note for next month!

Montreal stoner/hard rock band The Hazytones will return to Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday, April 25th when they rock The Distraction! Readers may recognize The Hazytones from headlining appearances at the former New American Pub in August 2016 and April 2017, and it's good to see them back after six years! Developing a heavier influenced sound on newer material, including their upcoming album "Wild Fever", fans of psychedelic influenced hard rock won't want to miss this show next month!  The local openers next month include local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their Distraction debut and their first announced local gig with new guitarist Brandon Ruch, who the band has finally confirmed is replacing Mitch Sirie on guitar, as per a quiet update to their lineup on their Facebook page. A reason for Mitch's departure was not announced, but Brandon did take Mitch's place during their January tour run.

Hopefully all's well with Mitch, and assuming nothing else happened behind the scenes, he and drummer Johnny Belanger are still bandmates in the reunited Bear Hunters! No word on if Brandon will play any role on Handsome Sandwich's upcoming EP, but Mitch did record material for it before leaving. Back to the Hazytones show, the other openers are young local hard rock quartet Sylo (née Raincourt) in their second show since reuniting and since adding Alder Devries on guitar. They're a talented group on the rise, so don't be late for their set either! As usual for The Distraction, this show has a special "$15 or pay-what-you-can" entry model, and doors open at 7:30 PM. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, here's some Sault Star coverage & fallout from this past Thursday's Treble Charger reunion concert at The Machine Shop! Two articles were posted, one from before the show and one after it, and we'll start with Brian Kelly's article from this past Tuesday, featuring interview remarks with singer/guitarist Greig Nori. I will note before we get too far that I, along with Sault Star reporters, have recently noted that the reunion concert was their first show since Rotaryfest 2018. Locally, that is true, but I completely forgot that Greig & Bill played at the final Burger Fest in Vaughan back in July 2019, and you can see pictures from that event at this link. My apologies, but it's still been a near five year wait! That said, in Brian's article, Greig noted "I’ve never gone this long not playing a Treble Charger set", and while that may be true in terms of him alone, Treble Charger's 2012 return was after a near 8 year hiatus from live concerts.

In the article, Greig discusses how hard it was for him to get back in the swing of things re: playing a full Treble Charger set, how exciting it is to play the songs again, and how new music could happen in the future (they had actively teased hitting the studio in the 2010s but clearly not much came of that). Now to the show proper, which was a fundraiser for the Algoma University music program in order to buy instruments, fund scholarships, and bring in touring musicians. The show was covered in this article by newer Sault Star journalist Kyle Darbyson. "Several hundred fans" packed The Machine Shop for the proceedings, which raised over $10,000 for Algoma's music program, which is awesome to hear! Alongside established originals, Treble Charger played Pixies, Golden Earring, and Iggy Pop covers. Official advertising never outlined openers or guests, so who all else played on Thursday?

The opening act was local pop singer/guitarist Tianna Legacy with a backing band of Algoma University music students, including drummer Will Carnes, but full performer credits weren't listed. At least three guests joined Greig, Bill, and (session?) bassist & drummer Frank Deresti and David Peredun, including Greig's daughter Ava on backing vocals and Algoma assistant music professor Andree-Ann Deschenes on keytar. Both joined in on "American Psycho". As well, aforementioned Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch guested with Treble Charger for their set-closing cover of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" (if he, Ava, Andree-Ann, or anyone else played on other songs, they weren't mentioned in the article). Of course, Brandon is an Algoma music program alum himself who has worked with Greig a lot at the Algoma Conservatory of Music, and has further plans with him in the pipeline.

No public videos from Thursday have surfaced (yet?), but I have moved Treble Charger back to our active band links, as this was not a one-off set! They will play their first non-local date since Burger Fest 2019 when they play at Riverfest in Elora (outside of Guelph) in August, though full disclosure, festival organizers have not announced any performers yet. Greig noted in Kyle's article that they have other offers to play in Southern Ontario, and "we’re hoping to get out there a little more". It's great to see that everything went well for Treble Charger and Algoma University alike on Thursday, so read Brian & Kyle's Sault Star articles above, and look for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

Weekend Concert Previews, Including The Treble Charger Reunion Concert!!

Another Thursday is here, so let's dive into another weekend's worth of hard rock/punk concert previews! I ended up writing more than I expected on the one band, especially as they have new videos, so I'm bumping our Silent 9 previews to tomorrow's post. Don't worry, they're coming! Now, here's what you should know to start off the weekend!

We'll lead off with the main event for this weekend, as local/Toronto indie/punk band Treble Charger reunite TONIGHT at The Machine Shop! This special concert is a fundraiser for Algoma University's music program, and with the university's ties to the Algoma Conservatory of Music (managed by singer/guitarist Greig Nori), you can't do much better than this for a staff/faculty-led band to help out! The first Treble Charger concert since Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2018, Greig & Bill will not be joined by any of their session musicians from the 2010s, with Lake Effect frontman Frank Deresti and Pointless/Convergence drummer David Peredun serving as the rhythm section tonight. It's not yet clear if they are session musicians or are full members for a larger reunion, but their ties to Algoma University are well established! Unidentified student bands also comprised of Algoma students/faculty are slated to open tonight as well. Tickets are on sale on Eventbrite (plus processing fees) & likely at the door for $40 for general audiences.

Algoma University and Sault College students can get in for $20 with valid student ID, while $65 VIP tickets are also available that include balcony seating and a meet & greet with Treble Charger. This all ages concert begins tonight at 8:00 PM. Whether you're a fan of their mid-late 1990s indie rock era or got into them during their pop punk explosion, it will be great to see Treble Charger back tonight, let alone with an all-local lineup for the first time, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here they are live in the Soo!

Next up, let's look at this weekend's slate of hard rock-leaning cover band action, starting with local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard's gigs at Reggie's Place TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen at Reggie's about a month ago, these should be another good opportunity for fans to check out Greg, Alex, and Warren at another familiar downtown venue, so don't miss out on their southern fried classic and hard rock covers this weekend! Yes, these follow their Thursday jam night hosting duties at Reggie's tonight, so keep that in mind also. Note that Bone Yard's Facebook page was quietly renamed to "Bone Yard 225" this week, but as far as I can tell, this isn't a name change, rather a nod to the United Steelworkers Local 2251, who they have openly supported and referenced on social media in recent months. We'll let you know if I'm wrong!

Tomorrow & Saturday's concerts (and jam night tonight) have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, for a preview, here's some new live videos of Bone Yard in action! One from last week (as cross-posted from TikTok in all of it's vertical glory) features 34 seconds of their cover of ZZ Top's "La Grange" at Jay's Piston Broke Pub in January, while the other two are live-streams from The Esquire Club this past Saturday. The (sadly also vertical) videos feature Bone Yard covering The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" (a song that I seemingly can't escape hearing on local stages as of late) and, as embedded below, Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". Bone Yard perform well on these covers, especially "Walk This Way", and while I've really overheard "What's Up" covered by local bands in recent months, I do acknowledge that fans were singing along with it in Bone Yard's video.

Fans will get their fill of Bone Yard via these and other videos on Facebook, but don't miss the real thing in person tomorrow & Saturday night (and tonight if you're interested in them hosting a jam night), so visit the above links for more details, and here's Bone Yard's new Aerosmith cover!

Finally for this post, we'll head west to Jay's Piston Broke Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will take the stage for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Not only that, they're filling in for Soundcheck as hosts of the jam night tonight, so keep that in mind if jam nights interest you as an attendee or prospective performer! Last seen at Jay's almost a month ago, this weekend's shows were previously announced via the venue's March concert calendar, and if you like this union of Obsession, Jus' Chillin, and Flat Stanley alumni's brand of rocking covers, you won't want to miss out on this weekend's festivities! Tomorrow and Saturday's concerts (and jam night tonight) are at 9:30 PM with no cover and 19+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's another new video of Generations live! This was shot at their concert at Jay's on February 10th by attendee Josie Weir and shared to the band's Facebook group via her personal Facebook page.

The video features Generations covering Melissa Etheridge's "I'm The Only One", which is a strong choice to show off Valerie's vocals, and of an artist you don't see covered locally all that often! Sadly, the video is shot vertically, with more of the ceiling in frame than the band, but the quality's fine otherwise, so give it a look for yourselves below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Silent 9 previews and more next! Thanks everyone!

News & Updates From Treble Charger, Mikey & His Uke, Handsome Sandwich, And Far From Fine!!

Let's tackle some big recent news and notes on this Saturday morning for a punk-leaning post focusing on some notable Sault Ontario bands. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

We have some big news from local alternative hard rock band Handsome Sandwich, namely the addition of ex-Generations guitarist Brandon Ruch to their lineup. He's a solid guitarist, and is known to the band already via his graduating from Algoma University's music program alongside bassist Rafael Medina (click here for SooToday's article on that), so hopefully he fits in well! The announcement was made in this "Reel" on their Facebook page on Thursday where they otherwise thanked fans for seeing them on their recent tour dates out of town and for getting them to 1,000 Facebook followers. The "Reel" was shot by drummer Johnny Belanger, and also features input from Taylor and Rafael (who is "back" after missing their tour last month), but conspicuous by their absences are guitarists Jesse Cook and Mitch Sirie. Remember, Brandon had filled in for Mitch during their shows last month (as seen in this "Reel" from their impromptu jam night set).

That video aside, we haven't seen either guitarist in new official band materials since late last year, and the band hasn't 100% confirmed whether one/both of Mitch & Jesse have left or not, but we'll keep you posted if they say anything! Lastly from Handsome Sandwich, they were briefly spotlighted and plugged on the Ottawa internet radio station White Water Rocks following their show in Ottawa last month, and while we don't hear the band in any facet in the 8 minute clip posted at this link, it's a good bit of promotion, even if their name gets as much love as their music! Stay tuned for more from Handsome Sandwich when it rolls in!

Next up, I have a band to move to our inactive links on the SMS, namely local punk/hard rock quartet Far From Fine. While we're not at our typical one year inactivity threshold, guitarist Mitch Sirie revealed that "we're no longer a band" in a comment reply on a personal Facebook post on Monday by Northern Vibe Festival Forest Stage curator J.D. Pearce concerning the search for bands for this August's festivities in Ophir (click here for more details). I normally wouldn't go off of personal postings like this, but this may be all that we get re: an confirmation of their status, especially as the band has been dead silent on social media for the past 5+ months. In any event, a reason for their dissolution was not publically announced. Debuting as Ravencore at Toystock in 2022, Far From Fine united Suicide Kings and Gnaeus alumni for four high profile gigs last summer (Northern Vibe, Rotaryfest Stage 2, Lopstock, and opening for The Ripcordz).

I have no idea what happened to Far From Fine after such a big initial run of concerts, but if they had to only play five gigs, these aren't a bad five events to have sets at! Their album sessions from last spring did seem decently far along too, and hopefully those songs see a public release at some point. Given their existing talents and Mike & Mitch's prior Suicide Kings chemistry, their take on punk rock was definitely a welcome addition, but hopefully we see Mike, Matt, Austin, and Blair back at it soon, and don't miss Mitch with Handsome Sandwich(?) and The Bear Hunters!

Also today, here's a new promotional video for local/Toronto indie/punk veterans Treble Charger's reunion concert at The Machine Shop on March 7th! The 14 seconds-long clip was posted to the Algoma University music program's Facebook page on Wednesday, and features the band hyping up the Thursday nighter upstairs, with singer/guitarist Greig Nori even noting that we can "relive the '90s" at this show (granted, their biggest hits were in the early 2000s). Note that they're in The Loft at the Algoma Conservatory of Music for the video but the concert is 100% at The Machine Shop. Interestingly, their new rhythm section (bassist Frank Deresti & drummer David Peredun) are featured in the video, but whether this is a nod to the Algoma music program ties or if they're 100% band members for a larger reunion, I couldn't say at this point (I don't ever recall their 2010s session bassists/drummers featured like this though).

Not every video of this length will have this much stuff to say about it, but after all, Treble Charger are the biggest punk band that ever came from the Soo (even if they've only actually been based here since their reunion). Hopefully this concert is a huge hit for Greig, Bill, and crew, plus the Algoma music program, so click here to get your tickets, and check out the promotional video below!

Finally, let's cap off with the fourth song in Mikey & His Uke's thirtieth anniversary series of covers of Green Day's seminal album "Dookie"! Just six days out from the local punk standout's remotely filmed all-star cover of "Chump", track #4 from "Dookie" was uploaded to the project's YouTube channel on Thursday, this time a cover of "Longview", which is the first single from this album in track listing order. While Mikey (on guitar as usual and ukelele at first) is joined again by ex-Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfeiffer, this rendition has a different bassist (Pennywise's Randy Bradbury), so Andy Plafoot is not the house bassist for the "Dookie" project. Vocals here are provided by Tilt frontwoman Cynthia "Cinder Block" Morgan, marking the first female performer in these Green Day covers. The performance is pretty straightforward but fans of Green Day's will be happy with it, especially as a more popular single!

Lots of little Green Day nods throughout, plus allusions to watching TV given the lyrics/original video, and some good post production effects, so there's a lot to see (and yes, Darren is wearing another different hockey jersey for his clips). With new covers dropping 6-8 days apart now, look for Mikey & His Uke's cover of "Welcome To Paradise" likely dropping between Wednesday and Friday, and much more to follow, but for now, check out everyone tackling "Longview" below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (HeadFirst & Oz), A New Interview, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Wednesday morning, which features some new-ish videos, details on a new interview tat a local band conducted with a brand new outlet, and leading off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know!

Iron Mountain, Michigan classic/hard rock cover quintet Oz will make their local concert debuts on Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd when they hit The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! While new to our coverage, Oz have been rocking venues in the western and central Upper Peninsula (and northern Wisconsin) since 2012, and deliver a wide ranging, crowd pleasing array of classic rock covers that include a healthy dose of heavier songs that should keep hard rock fans engaged. Be sure to check Oz out, they have no shortage of videos online from their gigs! As usual for Rapids Lounge gigs, these are 21+ affairs with 9:00 PM start times and no cover charge. Time will tell if Oz become favourite recurring bands at the Soo Kewadin like Peril, Scarkazm, and Fyrbird, but be sure to check the official Facebook event page for more on their local debuts next month!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for the latest from newer local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who have confirmed new dates at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Friday, March 29th & Saturday, March 30th, as well as Saturday nighters at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on June 1st & August 17th! These concerts are 9:30 PM, 19+ gigs with no cover, as usual, but they actually weren't announced by the band or either venue at press time, rather in an interview that HeadFirst took part in with a new local blog last month! This was for Who's Who In The Soo, a new local interview site launched by Sarah Vikken, who you may recognize as the former marketing & communications director of the Sault Area Arts Council, as a jewelry and craft maker with Vixxen Studios, and from her semifinal run as a singer in The Soo's Got Talent in 2022, among other artistic pursuits.

This blog is intended to cover "the stories of the people of Sault Ste. Marie" and will likely not focus solely on musicians, but HeadFirst are indeed first for Sarah's first long-form article, which went up on February 1st!Formatted like a news or magazine article, this interview was conducted with the full band, and Sarah goes into some surprising detail that other local band interviews don't! The article goes into how HeadFirst met (it helps that singer Red Jettison and bassist Claire Jeffrey are actually stepsiblings), their musical backgrounds (drummer Anthony Boudreau's old metal band Exploring Detritus is briefly mentioned here), their individual and band-wide musical influences, what the members would change about Sault Ste. Marie, and what their future plans are. Notably, HeadFirst revealed that AC/DC, The Tragically Hip, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive influence their sound, with a Rolling Stones-influenced attitude, which all pairs well with their set.

The band plans to put out original music "once we get a following", and they hope to release a music video "in the next few months". Sarah also filmed HeadFirst playing their original song "The Walk" as the first video for the Who's Who In The Soo YouTube channel, and surprisingly, this marks the first public video of the band that is shot horizontally and features them playing a full song. This bluesy hard rocker is played proficiently and with ease by this fast-rising quintet, with Red introducing everyone midway through, so give it a look below, and kudos to Sarah for a solid and revealing first interview that you can read at this link, and see above for more on HeadFirst's upcoming Shooters & Jay's gigs!

Finally for today, let's take a trip 23 years back in time for a newly uploaded video of local/Toronto indie/punk band Treble Charger live, in arguably their most seen television performance ever! On March 4th, 2001, the band was in Hamilton at Copps Coliseum (now the FirstOntario Centre) for that year's Juno Awards (hosted by Rick Mercer), where they were nominated for Best Single and Best Rock Album. Treble Charger lost both awards to Nelly Furtado and The Tragically Hip respectively, but they got their moment in the sun, as they played their Juno-nominated single "American Psycho" on stage! In the Junos' last year on CBC before a 16 year run on CTV, a national audience got to see Treble Charger at the "Wide Awake Bored"-era peak of their popularity, and it's neat to finally see this pop up on YouTube! The visuals are fuzzy given the VCR quality, but the song is faithfully performed with good energy as you'd hope!

Despite getting at least one Juno nomination out of all of their albums except "nc-17", Greig, Bill, Rosie, and Morris/Trevor were never able to to snag a Juno of their own. Perhaps if the album that Treble Charger had started working on in the late 2010s ever gets finished, we could see how it does commercially and with critics, let alone at the Junos. Thanks to YouTube user Scorpionsblackout 82 for posting this last month, and give it a watch for yourself below!

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

Our Recap Of Greig Nori's Interview On The Borderline From June 2023!!

With the recent announcement of a Treble Charger reunion concert at The Machine Shop on March 7th, now's as good a time as any to finally cover an audio interview that singer/guitarist Greig Nori took part in last June! I profusely apologize for the delay in this making the site, it fell through many cracks, but the timing is right given the reunion concert! This was for an episode of Rock N' Roll Heaven on The Borderline, as hosted by veteran local musician/photographer Brian Tremblay, and it runs for 76 minutes, albeit including eleven Treble Charger songs during the runtime, starting with "Takes Me Down". If you want to skip past Brian's introduction and this song, the interview proper begins at about 4:40 into the episode. Brian first asks Greig about when he decided to move back to Sault Ste. Marie full time and how his relationship began with the Algoma Conservatory of Music and The Loft, of which he is the general manager.

If you're only familiar with Greig as a musician, his work as a producer in Toronto comes up here, including where he got the idea to merge a studio with a live performance venue rather than his high-end studio in Toronto that was seeing a declining usage into the 2010s, with emphasis on bands taking advantage of the setup for social media purposes and promotion. The next two songs are "Don't Believe It All" & "Friend Of Mine", which sandwich more studio equipment talk. Greig next goes into his apparent involvement in an upcoming film soundtrack featuring some surprising attached names, before Brian begins asking about Treble Charger (if you're looking for that part, jump to the 20 minute mark). Greig brings up how Treble Charger formed, why they changed their name from nc-17, and how they technically weren't from the Soo originally, having formally joined forces down south.

After "Morale" is played on air, Brian asks about why Treble Charger broke up in 2004 (quite a leap in the timeline!), with Greig even admitting that he didn't really want to continue playing the pop punk-leaning music that Treble Charger was playing at that point. Their reunion show in Toronto in 2012 (Greig was off a couple years on the date) is brought up next before "Motor Control" is played. Next, they discuss the end of Greig's work with Sum 41 (he produced both "Does This Look Infected?" & "Chuck"), his time working on disBand on MuchMusic from 2008-2010, and why that show ended. We next hear "Red" to cap off the first half of the interview, after which Brian reads some statistics about how many songs get uploaded to (and heard from) streaming services, with Greig offering his advice to musicians hoping to get discovered. Treble Charger's biggest punk-era hit "American Psycho" is played on air next.

The discussion about helping rising newer musicians get noticed is continued afterwards, with Greig suggesting some specific routes that bands should take (he recommends the Canadian Musicians Co-operative), with this segment interrupted by a playing of "Brand New Low". After we hear "Business", Brian asks about Greig's current songwriting plans, albeit not attached to a specific project yet, along with his individual work songwriting with musicians who record at the Conservatory/Loft (the teased new Treble Charger album from the late 2010s is not brought up here). This is where the interview ends, but the episode ends with playings of "Favourite Worst Enemy" and "More's The Pity", sandwiching Brian's episode closing plugs and thank yous. Solid listen that, if a little heavy on industry talk, lets us hear from Greig on a wide range of topics! You don't hear him interviewed much nowadays.

This may be a perception thing more than reality, but the episode feels over-edited, like how the Treble Charger discussion leaps from their beginnings to their end without really talking about their heyday, while the Sum 41 chunk is only how that relationship ended. Is there an unedited cut with this stuff intact? I still think Brian should either place the songs in more natural spots or have more obvious transition markers so they don't come in so abruptly, but fans of Treble Charger will definitely want to hear this whole interview from last summer at this link or above! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Treble Charger & HeadFirst), Plus Handsome Sandwich Updates!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of St. Catharines musician Matt Alvarez, who passed away earlier this week, as per numerous Facebook postings. While not a local musician, Matt was certainly known to many in the Soo, as he was the fiddle player in Dirtfight, the St. Catharines-based folk/bluegrass band that the members of Shit Liver formed after they moved down south in the mid-2010s. During Josh, Mike, and Matt Baic's trips back home, they would often bring Matt Alvarez along too, with Dirtfight notably playing at The Gore Street Cafe in 2016 and The Algonquin Pub in 2017, as well at at least one open mic night here. Matt Alvarez also mixed & mastered Shit Liver's 2018 studio album "Hitting The Fan". Beyond his local connections, Matt was a singer and guitarist in the St. Catharines punk band Life Problems (among others), and recorded under the solo handle The Ole Razzle Dazzle.

Matt was also an accomplished visual artist, and contributed to the Hotdog Fudge zine. I don't recall meeting Matt directly in his Soo trips (I'm sure I must have), but the condolences and remembrances over the last few days point to a very kind, generous, and talented person who will be missed by so many people in Southern Ontario and afar. If you bypassed Dirtfight based on the tonal shift from Shit Liver's base, do give them a listen to hear a fun and different musical side of theirs, as Matt was very important in their final run in St. Catharines. R.I.P. Matt!

Today's post otherwise looks at some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and recent updates from a band recently on the road, so let's lead off with the first of those new shows, as rising local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will make their first ever solo headlining appearances outside of Reggie's next month! The band announced on their Facebook page on January 9th that they would play Shooters Downstairs Lounge for the first time on Saturday, February 17th, so fans of their hard rocking covers will want to circle that date! Remember, Shooters have flipped their band and DJ nights around for 2024, hence why this one-nighter is on the 17th and not the 16th. The other new dates will see HeadFirst debut at Jay's Piston Broke Pub for a full weekend on Friday, February 23rd & Saturday, February 24th! Be advised that HeadFirst accidentally dated these shows as being on the 22nd & 23rd (Thursday and Friday), which I'm surprised they haven't corrected yet.

Jay's also confirmed the shows (and the normal Friday-Saturday scheduling) via the concert calendar on their Facebook page on Thursday, rounding out the former Reggie's West's announced concerts for next month. It's great to see HeadFirst spreading their wings to some new venues (Toystock aside), so don't miss this talented young band rocking out elsewhere next month, and they are taking bookings for public and private gigs if you're looking! All three new dates are 9:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, here's a huge new concert announcement from late last week, as local/Toronto indie/punk standouts Treble Charger will reunite for a special fundraiser concert on Thursday, March 7th at The Machine Shop! Last seen on a local stage at Rotaryfest in 2018 (and at The Machine Shop for that venue's launch event in 2015), this concert is being held as a fundraiser for Algoma University's music program, which is of course linked to the Algoma Conservatory of Music at Mill Square, which frontman Greig Nori is the general manager of. Given the great work at the university and conservatory towards music education and performance, any promotion and aid is very useful, and hopefully Treble Charger's first local show in almost six years will benefit the Algoma University program nicely! The Eventbrite page for this show says that the band will be "accompanied by Algoma University faculty and students". 

It's ambiguous whether this means that Algoma students/faculty are opening for Treble Charger or playing directly with them, but for reference, Greig & Bill had played their 2012-2018 reunion gigs alongside session bassists & drummers. We'll let you know if we get clarity on this! An all ages concert at 8:00 PM, tickets run for $40 (plus processing fees/taxes) at this link, and a VIP package including balcony seating and a meet & greet with the band is also available for $65. I'll stop short of moving Treble Charger back to our active band links for now, but it's great to see Greig & Bill back, if only for one night, so definitely visit the Facebook event page for more details on this special reunion concert!

Let's finish up with the latest from local alternative/hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, who ended 2023 and started 2024 primarily on the road! As you may know, they played gigs in Sudbury and Oshawa in November and were just on the road this weekend for shows in Ottawa and Cornwall, so while reader interest will vary given that the shows were all 4+ hours away, they posted event pages and such for all of them on their Facebook page. Of note, their show yesterday in Cornwall saw them open for Hellrager, the metal band featuring part-time Spades GT guitarist Jay Sarrazin that you may have seen at last year's Northern Vibe Festival. This "Reel" showed off their planned sets for both of this weekend's shows, featuring songs from "Deconstructed", the yet-released "Party Fuel", "Without You", and "All Done Now", and their cover of Tones & I's "Dance Monkey" being played on one/both dates. Always neat seeing set sheets!

Official t-shirts (a limited run in both red & black) and stickers were on sale for their tour dates, as well as CDs, which were documented in "Reels" and photos alike. Re: their upcoming EP, the latest update was this "Reel" from December 21st featuring guitarist Mitch Sirie finishing his lead guitar tracking in studio, with the caption noting that Taylor Emlaw's vocals were last to be recorded. I wish this wasn't a "Reel" so I could embed it here, but it's a quality teaser of Mitch's work on the new material! Hopefully the Sandwich's out-of-town shows were hits, and that we hear much more from them here and afar in 2024! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week. Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Danabelle39 & kilko8011's Channels

Let's get this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site as our last monthly feature post of the summer! This series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels each month, each being randomly selected from our YouTube subscriptions of channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk artists/concerts. Again, this month's installment is on two channels, as the first selected channel only had three videos sourced from two concerts, so a channel with videos from just one show was added to fill things out with. Here's what you should know on both!

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Danabelle39's Channel (http://youtube.com/danabelle39)

Owner: YouTube user and Sault Ontario resident Dana Bellerose

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 16th, 2010; Videos uploaded in January and February 2012

Channel Summary: Dana's only uploads are of videos of defunct local classic/hard rock cover band Havadder playing two concerts at the former Nicolet Tavern (later Rednecks Saloon), early in the run of this particular five-piece lineup, which notably featured the complete final lineup of fellow local hard rock cover band Turner Up.

Why You Should Watch: This channel will be of primary interest to fans of early Havadder and late Turner Up lineups, which merged to create a strong unit while they lasted! I should have called them "Havadder Up" in this era, with the power of hindsight. Note that Dana has not visibly used her channel since these videos were uploaded, and you can see more Havadder videos (largely with other lineups) elsewhere.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Tweeter & the Monkey Man covered by Havadder: Dana's first video comes from Havadder's gig at the Nicolet on January 8th, 2012, where they covered The Travelling Wilburys' "Tweeter & The Monkey Man". Their then-new lineup featured existing singer/guitarist Jason Roy and guitarist Jason "Nez" Nisbet joined by Turner Up's Robert Brown, Travis Sharpe, and Scott McLurg on guitar, bass, and drums (Jason Roy had joined Turner Up himself the previous year). The grainy video quality and uneven lighting don't help the scratchy audio, but what we can make out of this performance is fine, and the triple guitar attack doesn't come across as overkill! Click here to see them covering Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome" that night via Turner Up's short-lived official channel.

HAVADDER--Running Down A Dream (cover) February 4, 2012: The other two videos here come from Havadder Up's Nicolet show on February 4th of that year, where they covered The Foo Fighters' "These Days" and, in Dana's most popular upload, Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down A Dream". Much improved lighting and softer audio help make these February videos a better watch than January, and while Havadder would splinter off into The Thrill Junkies and Jason Roy's overhauled new Havadder the following year, this super lineup was still neat to have in 2012! If you're curious as to the hockey game playing on the TV monitor in the upper right corner, Edmonton beat Detroit 5-4 after a shootout.

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kilko8011's Channel (http://youtube.com/@kilko8011)

Owner: YouTube user kilko8011, exact identity unclear, but I doubt they're locally based

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 30th, 2011; Videos posted in April 2011 and September 2013

Channel Summary: Alongside a "beer jousting" video, kilko8011's only videos comprise of four songs played by inactive local/Toronto indie/punk quartet Treble Charger at the third annual KOI Music Festival in Kitchener in September 2013, early in their reunion. The videos feature Greig Nori, Bill Priddle, and touring musicians Darcy Yates & Jason Pierce playing outside of Crabby Joe's Bar & Grill as that day's headliners, where they were filmed playing "Cheat Away", "Business", "Brand New Low", and in the most popular video on offer, "Hundred Million". While "Cheat Away" was filmed and uploaded horizontally, kilko8011 changed his camera orientation mid-video multiple times on the rest, and opted to upload them vertically, so be advised of that. While there is some mild audio distortion, Treble Charger sound good on these punk-era cuts, and the crowd was very responsive!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! We're doubling up again next month, as our first randomly selected channel for September only has two videos period, both from different projects, so a channel with a single video was chosen also to round things out with. As such, we'll be looking at the YouTube channels of Curtis McKenzie (featuring two videos from old hard rock projects of his) and Dick Jerkins (featuring a free EP from local metal solo project Awokest). Look for these on or around September 26th, and for lots of overdue news and notes to come on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Bone Yard Concert Previews, Plus Recent Live Concert Videos!!

As promised, let's cap off this weekend's known hard rock concert previews today, with some live concert videos featuring some very familiar faces to round things out with, so here's what you should know!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return to the public stage for concerts at Shooters Downstairs Lounge TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! After spending the past month playing at private gigs and via an oddly un-promoted Sudbury road trip (unless that was cancelled), these will be Bone Yard's first truly public gigs in the Soo since the Canada Day long weekend, and their first stops at Shooters since playing there in late June. Fans may recall that Bone Yard similarly had a public dry spell late last summer as they plied their trade at private bookings, so it's good to see Greg, Alex, and Warren back at it in a normal sense, and their hard rocking selection of covers should draw a good crowd! Yes, their infamous Bone Yard alcohol shots will be available. Tonight & tomorrow's shows are 9:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Bone Yard live at Shooters earlier this year!

Next up, here's some new videos from local classic/hard rock cover band Generations' Facebook group that we have yet to address on the site! As you may recall, the Jus' Chillin successors debuted at The Water Tower Pub two weeks ago alongside Flat Stanley guitarist Tony Kajnar as a temporary fill-in, and videos were posted from that one-nighter the following day, with drummer Tony Santoro posting two videos shot by an uncredited attendee from a sharp side-stage vantage point. These are covers of David Wilcox's "Riverboat Fantasy" (with bassist Pierre Anthony on lead vocals) and Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" with frontwoman Valerie Powley singing, and both come through well on the audio front! Tony K. slots in well with the band, and Valerie's vocals are predictably strong on "Black Velvet", but the daytime glare from the windows of the pub is very sharp (the filmer should have waited until nightfall in order to negate that).

And yes, these are vertically shot, which is rarely ideal, but at least zoom is used to focus on everyone at different points. As covered on the site in our first weekend concert preview post for this week, Generations returned to the stage as part of yesterday's Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East, where they and Bookclub played on the so-called March Street Stage, but unlike the Darsombra show there in June, the bands played facing Queen Street rather than the OLG building (only natural given the event). For this gig, Generations welcomed back Smokehouse's Michael Yurich (who sat in with them over Rotaryfest weekend) as their guest guitarist, and Tony Santoro's wife Dawn filmed their cover of Linda Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou", which is embedded below. Sadly, this video is also vertical, not helped by slightly jittery camerawork, but Dawn picked a spot to film with everyone in view and stuck with it.

Musically, everyone sounds fine on this classic rock ballad, and it is nice to see that the weather held up too, if with a bit of wind. Give Generations' newest concert videos a watch above and below, and stay tuned for more news, updates, and media from them when it rolls in!

Let's close with a video that will be a partial preview of our continuing Lopstock III live-stream coverage (resuming this weekend), namely a video of Treble Charger singer/guitarist Bill Priddle's online page-less indie rock band Pointless! Now, this band isn't punk or hard rock-centric (Bill was largely against Treble Charger's shift to pop punk on their last two CDs), but they do in fact cover Treble Charger songs that he sung lead on in their live dates. He took Pointless on the road for rare Southern Ontario gigs in June, where they opened for Juno Award winning Toronto alt-rockers Rusty and Sudbury punk trio Lightmares (who you may recognize from all three Oh!No festivals in the late 2010s, plus a 2018 date at LopLops). Attendee TheViolentVegan filmed Pointless' set for YouTube, and their set included covers of two Treble Charger deep cuts, namely "Forever Knowing" (song #3) and "Trinity Bellwoods" (as their closer).

Bill is joined in Pointless nowadays by Pillory frontman Robert Sartini on guitar, Id Iota/Pixo Control alum Dustin Goodall on bass, and ex-Ashes To Dust drummer David Peredun (Robert also plays in Bill's cover band All The Tired Horses). Hearing some familiar Treble Charger songs is nice, especially compared to some of their more drone-leaning originals, but of course, we'll have a much closer (and multi-camera) look at Pointless from their Lopstock set next week. Kudos to TheViolentVegan for capturing Pointless' 35 minute set at The Corktown Irish Pub in Hamilton two months ago, and give it a watch for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!