Ace Frehley, Vaegon, and Pridefest Loud & Proud Concert Previews!!

Alright, it's time to finally conclude our previews of this weekend's hard rock, metal, and punk concerts in the Twin Saults and surrounding area! Thanks to Rotaryfest, this weekend is always super busy, but there's a huge show in Michigan's E.U.P. to look at in this post, along with two special Sunday concerts north of the border, so here's what you should know for this weekend's uncovered heavier concerts!

We'll pick things back up with the main event in the Eastern Upper Peninsula this weekend, as the '80s Rock Invasion descends on St. Ignace TOMORROW NIGHT outside of their Kewadin Casino! If you love hair and glam metal, you will definitely want to make the hour's drive south for this huge outdoor concert, headlined by original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley in his first local date since rocking Sault Michigan way back in 2009. Fans will surely get a full set's worth of Kiss classics and Ace solo hits like "New York Groove" and "Shock Me" tomorrow, so if you're in the Kiss Army, brace yourselves! Also playing up here for the first time since 2009 is Los Angeles hair metal band Great White (the version seen in St. Ignace in 2017 was the now-defunct splinter version led by ex-singer Jack Russell). Guitarist Mark Kendall and most of their classic lineup are keeping the Great White train rolling!

With hits like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "The Angel Song", don't miss their return! Las Vegas glam metal quartet Slaughter will also make their local return in their (at least) fourth concert in our area, last seen here via an indoor headlining date at the St. Ignace Kewadin in 2019. Mark and crew still have the goods, so look for hits like "Fly To The Angels" and "Spend My Life" tomorrow evening! Classic-era Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler and his solo band will make their local debut tomorrow with a set full of GNR hits from his run in the band, so fans will want to see his talented band bring those songs to life tomorrow as well! Opening are all-female Minnesota hair metal band Vixen (of "Edge Of A Broken Heart" fame), who notably switched out singer Lorraine Lewis for former Headpins/Trans-Siberian Orchestra vocalist Rosa Laricchiuta after this concert was announced.

Rosa has a very strong voice (as fans of La Voix know), so don't be late! Also, Steven Adler's band starred in the third and final Friday shoutout video on Kewadin's Facebook page to promote this concert, which notably has all of his band members trading off for the plugs. Results are inconsistent, but it's neat to see everyone involved! No shoutout videos from Ace or Vixen that I am aware of though. This all ages concert takes place tomorrow night at 6:00 PM, and tickets remain on sale at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. Tickets are still on sale in rows 13-15 ($95), rows 16-30 ($85), and in the general admission lawn area ($65). Weather-wise, 9&10 News is currently calling for partly cloudy conditions at 68-76° Fahrenheit tomorrow night with partly cloudy skies, so the bands should beat the potential rain forecast for much of tomorrow afternoon (that's new information in the forecast for you Rotaryfest-goers).

Incidentally, the St. Ignace Kewadin will also welcome Sault Ste. Marie classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished to The Northern Pines Lounge tomorrow night at 9:00 PM, so if you wanna keep the Hair Scare going after Ace's set ends, head inside the casino! Still surprised that they didn't have Tarnished as local openers for the big concert when they'll already be there tomorrow. If you love hair metal, St. Ignace is absolutely the place to be tomorrow night, so visit the above links for more on this stacked lineup of bands, and for a preview, here's Ace Frehley in the Soo last time out!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for two big concerts taking place on SUNDAY, starting with this year's Loud & Proud family fun day as part of day #1 of this year's Sault Pridefest! This annual (pandemic aside) event moves from the Bushplane Museum to the Roberta Bondar Pavilion for an afternoon of family friendly entertainment, including vendors, kids games and activities, refreshments, and much more! Unfortunately, advertising for Loud & Proud's band lineup has never been consistent, as they often don't even mention the scheduled musicians on social media, this year included, but this year will feature three musical acts alongside unspecified drag performers. The acts in question are headlining local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty (who only confirmed their involvement on personal Facebook accounts), singer/guitarist Gimiiwan Ikwe, and the previously confirmed hard rock quintet HeadFirst opening. Thanks to Mikhal Muto from The A.A. for filling in the blanks!

Notably, this will be day #2 of HeadFirst's early release of physical copies of their debut EP "Head Trauma", so if you didn't buy one tomorrow at Rotaryfest for $15, here's your second chance before the wide release next week! Loud & Proud is FREE & ALL AGES, and runs Sunday afternoon from 1:00-4:00 PM. The current weather forecast calls for partly cloudy weather with a high of 23° and no chance of rain, tent acknowledged. If you want to celebrate Sault Pridefest and LGBTQ+ awareness with some entertaining live bands, head down to the Pavilion on Sunday for all of the fun! Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Apocalypse Afterparty live!

Finally, this very busy Rotaryfest concert weekend ends with an extreme bang at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on SUNDAY NIGHT, as they basically revert to The Roosevelt Hotel for the night to host touring technical death metal bands from out west! In their local debuts, metalheads can enjoy Edmonton's Vaegon and Vancouver's Exterminatus on Sunday, and both are sufficiently brutal in their own ways, and your faces will melt if the summer humidity didn't do that already! Do check out both Vaegon and Exterminatus' original groove-inflected material on major streaming services, they'll be a good antidote if you've been wondering why the Soo hasn't had a lot of death or extreme metal bands in the 2020s so far (promoter availability, venue closures, local bands' own evolution, and the pandemic all helped in that). Local openers on Sunday are young local metal trio The BAG in their first show in three months before heading to Leeburn next week.

The guys have been busy in studio as of late, and released a teaser of their new original song "Suckatit" (no spaces) as a "Reel" on their Facebook group yesterday. I can't embed "Reels" here, but the clip is at least framed in post-production to fit the vertical dimensions. Ripping speed metal number in this jam session phase, and the dog definitely seems to be into it, so check it out above! Admission is $10 at the former Rosie on Sunday, this is a 19+ event, and it starts at 8:00 PM. Work/school night or not, definitely consider coming out to this show if you want to encourage Jay's/The BAG to bring more touring metal bands here! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Vaegon live!

I believe that is now officially all for the Rotaryfest weekend metal, hard rock, and punk concert previews! We'll be back at it this weekend with more news and notes in all likelihood, so look for much more news and notes on the SMS in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Curtis McKenzie), New Videos, And Much More!!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far! Today's post features new videos, updates from a prominent local hard rock musician, some assorted recent notes, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this summer, so here's what you should know!

Former Haggith/Project 421 frontman Curtis McKenzie will bring his revived solo act back to The Dive Gastro Pub for a third time on Thursday, August 8th! Unlike his two shows there earlier this month, Curt's show in August will be indoors as part of the former Low & Slow's "Think It Over Thursday" series of acoustic musicians inside the 648 Queen Street East nightclub. Hopefully Curtis' brand of hard rock and grunge covers go over just as well the third time out, so keep this show in mind, especially if you can swing coming out on a work night! Note that Curt has shared his setlist from his two Saturday patio gigs at The Dive onto his Facebook page, where he has played three sets a night of 11 or 14 songs apiece. No originals from his past bands, but fans of them won't be alienated by what he's covering! This is a 6:00 PM event with a 19+ age limit and no cover. See above for more details!

Next up, let's stay at The Dive for one of the first videos on their Facebook page from one of their acoustic concerts, specifically from their "Patio Play" outdoor show on Saturday, June 15th headlined by former Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer! Of course, Jason has resumed playing solo shows this year after a four year hiatus, last seen unplugged at The Rockstar Bar in 2020. The Dive's live-streamed video is of him covering Shinedown's "Symptom Of Being Human", a song that I'm honestly not a fan of, but the 29 second clip is well shot with good quality, and it's nice to see video of him performing again! Is this indicative of a hard rock-leaning set in this day and age? Not yet sure, but check it out below!

Also today, let's look at Curtis McKenzie's old bandmate Mike Haggith, so what has he been up to from Barrie as of late? Along with sharing this picture of the Barrie-based musicians' jam space Just Some Noise (no word on if he's working on full band shows down south or not), Mike confirmed that his local live backing band for summer festivals (Northern Vibe among them) in this photo, and while the instrumentalists were already confirmed via jam videos earlier in the year, Mike will 100% welcome back ex-Re:Born singer and 2023 Soo's Got Talent finalist Elly McWatters as a backing vocalist too! Note that in his recent full band shows here, Elly has only sung on select tracks later in the set. Barring an interim announcement, you'll next see Mike and crew at Rotaryfest next month, and hopefully his knee cooperates this time! We do have a new video to share, but it's not what you may be thinking!

On June 13th, Mike (a known baseball fan) was asked to sing "O Canada" before an Intercounty Baseball League game between his adopted hometown Barrie Baycats and the Brantford Red Sox, and Baycats games are live-streamed for free on their YouTube channel! Now, that game was postponed early on due to rain, but Mike's anthem performance made it into the stream beforehand (he walks out at 4:48, and is introduced at 5:30). Mike sings well here, and his deep voice does translate nicely to the anthem, so it's an interesting watch, even if they only got to play ball for a few minutes! 100 copies of his CDs were also to be given out to fans in the stadium. Check out Mike singing "O Canada" below!

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

 

• In promotional images for Saturday's It's The Pits festival in Leeburn on the Facebook event page, the one for local crossover thrash/punk trio Hails features individual photos of four members, the extra one being guitarist Mikhal Muto's brother Carmen, who guested with Ha!ls at The Distraction last month and with Mikhal & Keeghan's other band Vanity First in April. That image aside, Hails have not confirmed Carmen's status with the band on their own social media accounts, but if he's only involved part time like with Vanity First, they could always list him on their Facebook bio with "Rip It Sometimes"! We'll let you know if we get clarification!
• SooToday contributor Chris Belsito interviewed Saultite metal guitarist Matt Hanchuck for this article late last month! There, Matt talked about his local upbringing before moving to Thunder Bay in the early 2000s, leading to discussion of his day jobs since and his more recent work as the guitarist in the higher profile metal bands Wreck-Defy and Gutter Creek (oddly, his show with Gutter Creek at Soo Blaster in September 2022 was not mentioned). Good article that fills in what Matt has been up to in the past decade musically, and it's be great to see him play another show here!
• Minnesota hair metal band Vixen (who are among the openers for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 20th) have announced the addition of Rosa Laricchiuta as their new lead singer, replacing Lorraine Lewis (click here for details). A native of Montreal, Rosa finished in third place on Quebec's version of The Voice (La Voix) in 2015, and later had stints as a vocalist with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and The Headpins, so she definitely has the chops! Lineup changes for touring bands with announced dates here are not common, but hopefully Rosa will add to the experience for Vixen fans in St. Ignace, Michigan next month!

 

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

New Punk Videos & More Recent Updates!!

Let's dive back into recent news and notes on the SMS today, and in this catch-up day, it just so happens that we're leading off with Mikhal Muto-featured projects for a third straight day! Gotta go where the content is, as both of his current punk bands have new Facebook videos to check out, but for variance, let's start with his skate punk/thrash trio Hails, who were filmed at their headlining concert at The Distraction on May 19th for two videos posted to their Facebook page in the past week. Notably, both appear to feature Mikhal's brother Carmen as a guest guitarist, but Ha!ls did not credit him in either video's description. The two videos run for under a minute in length (Hails rarely post videos of full songs), and feature the guys and Carmen playing "Down For Life" and, as embedded below, "The Drifter". The former song is on their "Rock And Rolls" EP, but the latter is not.

The filmer (I believe it was the same person) shot Ha!ls from two different angles on the 19th, with "Down For Life" being in a normal front-on placement, and "The Drifer" being shot side-stage. I still think that the stage lighting here is too purple, but the setting at the former barbershop is certainly unique, and Hails rocked out as well as you'd expect here, so check out their abbreviated new live videos above and below!

Next up, let's trade Brent for Andrew and look at Ha!ls' sister band Vanity First, who posted one more video from last month's album release party at Soo Blaster onto their Facebook page two weeks ago! In this case, it's of the guys (and the aforementioned Carmen Muto) playing their original song "Off With Their Heads" from the same camera and vantage point as their Choking Victim cover posted on May 8th. Lively performance with "cool guitar stuff" that faithfully captures this song in a good way for fans who heard it on "Identity Crisis", which I will be reviewing on the SMS next month! It's worth noting that Vanity First's introduction on their Facebook page now calls them a "local three (sometimes four) piece punk outfit", implying that Carmen will be back for more Vanity concerts in the future, if not necessarily all of them or for entire sets. Check out their new "Off With Their Heads" video below!

Also, let's move to an entirely unrelated punk act next, namely inactive indie/lo-fi punk solo project Telephone & Address! You may recall this Christopher Shoust-led group from a series of independent album releases & sporadic live dates in the 2010s, and he recently launched a new YouTube channel to collect short films that he has made over the years, including the previously seen F.F.B. documentary trailer. In two of his newest YouTube uploads, Chris posted 2015 skateboarding footage there under the title "Skate Army", with both featuring a full song from Telephone & Address' seventh album "Rust Orchid". The first one is embedded below and uses their song "Seven", but "Skate Army 2.0" instead uses the song "Sunrise". Credited skateboarders here are his old Red & Black bandmate Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, ex-Id Iota/Free Beer frontman Christian Lemay, Man Feelings/ex-Bizotic drummer B.J. Swire, and Chris Leclerc (who's not a musician that I can recall).

Chris Shoust considers these to be "half skate video and half music video", so it is neat to see these songs get some love nine years on! Now, "Rust Orchid" is an interesting choice of album to source the music from (that album also being from 2015 acknowledged), as that album was entirely made up of dark ambient instrumentals that were a far cry from the drum/bass and folk punk material on Telephone & Address' albums before and after this. Not badly composed, but not my first thought of a skate video soundtrack, especially with no visual effects to match the music. Well edited overall though, so give the skate army's work a watch!

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 store name:

 

• According to this SooToday article by Alex Flood on their recent purchase of rare instruments, long-time Queen Street East music store Case's Music is now fully owned by ex-Blues Harvest frontman Jake Rendell and his wife Lee, with Jake previously holding a co-ownership stake at Case's since at least 2018. Case's had been co-owned by Carrie Suriano since 2010, initially with her ex-husband Jay Case (Mike Case's nephew). Hopefully the Rendells keep things going successfully long term, and Jerry's instruments seem to be in great hands!
  
• In a quiet change to the lineup for the It's The Pits Festival in Leeburn on July 22nd, local acoustic folk solo project Sibling have been removed from event advertising. A public reason for Sibling's exit wasn't announced, but project leader Mike Kyle (better previously known as Shit Liver's bassist) had made personal Facebook posts to the effect that he was stepping away from music for personal reasons. Hopefully all's well with Mike and that we'll hear from him again in time! As of this writing, Sibling have not been replaced on the bill, but we'll let you know if they are.
  
• It is rare to see a touring band announce a lineup change between the announcement of a local concert and showtime, but Minnesota hair metal band Vixen have parted ways with singer Lorraine Lewis due to the band "going in a different direction" (I hate that excuse), as reported on music news websites like this. Now, Vixen only had one classic-era band member (drummer Roxy Petrucci) left anyway, so it's not like Hair Scare listeners will get a dramatic shift from their classic studio material here, but it is worth noting given their upcoming set opening for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 20th. Stay tuned for updates!
  

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT ('80s Metal Invasion) Plus Wyld Stallyns Lineup Updates!!

Today's post is largely devoted to a huge LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this summer that you 1980s glam metal fans are definitely not going to want to miss, and we also have some new band lineup announcements to round things out with. Here's what you should know!

A massive hair metal concert (and outdoors, at that) is coming to the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Saturday, July 20th for the '80s Rock Invasion! Presumably formatted identically to the Cheap Trick/Goo Goo Dolls show on the waterfront in August 2021 in terms of staging, this show will be even bigger for scheduled bands, with five name acts coming to St. Ignace for Hair Scare diehards, including the long awaited return of original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley! Last seen at the Sault Michigan Kewadin in 2009, expect the Spaceman himself to break out Kiss and solo classics like "Shock Me", "New York Groove", and "Rock Soldiers" in his first E.U.P, date in almost fifteen years! Two hair metal bands who are no strangers to this part of the world will also be making their way to St. Ignace in July, with Los Angeles' own Great White co-headlining in their local return! Now, Great White are one of those bands that split in two, L.A. Guns style, but this time, we are getting the original band led by original guitarist Mark Kendall.

While this Great White has most of their classic members from the "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" days, you may recall that Jack Russell's Great White (the splinter version featuring their classic singer and bassist) headlined outdoors at the St. Ignace Kewadin back in 2017, so discounting that, the original Great White also have not played here since rocking The Dreammakers Theatre in 2009. A little confusing, but hair metal fans will be right at home with Great White's return in July! The other returning band is Las Vegas glam metal quartet Slaughter, who last played here via an indoor headlining date at the St. Ignace Kewadin in June 2019, preceded by support gigs in both of the Twin Saults in 2008 & 2012. Expect classics like "Fly To The Angels" & "Up All Night" in their (at least) fourth regional concert! Also coming in July is "Appetite For Destruction"-era Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler in his local concert debut!

You may be familiar with Steven's exploits in recent years with bands like Adler's Appetite, but he currently tours under his own name with a solo band playing a set primarily made up of GNR classics from his time in that band. Steven's still got the chops, and he found strong musicians to bring these songs to life, so don't bypass his set either! Opening on July 20th is Minnesota hair metal band Vixen, notable as the biggest all-female group in the genre, and from hit songs like "Edge Of A Broken Heart" and "Cryin'". Only drummer Roxy Petrucci remains from their heyday, but they still deliver some talented hard rock with their current lineup, so don't be late for them kicking things off! Pre-sale for this 6:00 PM & all ages concert kicks off tomorrow, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Friday. Tickets will start at $65, and if the Cheap Trick show in 2019 is anything to go by, there will likely be two higher tiers.

That show had tickets at $50, $75, and $85 depending on location, with the two higher price points being in seated areas. You can buy yours starting on Friday at this link, at the in-person box office, or by calling 1-800-KEWADIN. Given that this Saturday's Skid Row/Buckcherry concert at the Soo Kewadin sold out (preview forthcoming), I wouldn't take my chances that Ace and crew will have good tickets for long, so get yours A.S.A.P., and visit the above links for more on what will be a huge concert for hair and glam metal fans this summer, especially if the weather cooperates!

Finally, we have big lineup updates from Sault Ontario funk/hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns, as they have a completely new rhythm section! They have enlisted former Id Iota/Far From Fine drummer Blair St. John as their new bassist (replacing Alex White), while former Din/Re:Born drummer Brandan Glew has replaced Derek Turner behind the kit. Blair & Brandan debuted for The Stallyns at The Kiln at Searchmont this past Saturday, though both have sat in as guests with the band before. Reasons for Alex & Derek's departures were not publically announced, but the post on the band's Facebook page announcing the changes painted things in amicable terms, and that "you'll see them around, so keep showing them the love". Hopefully that's true, as Al and Derek are talented musicians who would be assets in newer bands! Blair and Brandan are strong musicians with multi-genre experience, so they'll fit in fine as well!

For what it's worth, The Wyld Stallyns' next concert has been announced on at least one band member's personal Facebook page, but I'll wait for a public announcement from the band or venue before covering it here (unless it doesn't get a public plug thusly, but I do know where & when it is for weekend preview purposes). It is great to see Christina, Rob, Jesse, and Josh re-fill out their lineup, and hopefully we'll hear more from the new-look Wyld Stallyns soon! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!