Two More Saturday Night Concert Previews, Plus More Recent Updates!!

I hope everyone is having a happy and safe Halloween, however you choose to celebrate! Tonight's post takes us to two more weekend concert previews in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula tomorrow night, with lots of recent Sault Ontario updates to take note of, but let's lead off in the E.U.P. with the last of this weekend's heavier concert crop!

We'll start with a show TOMORROW NIGHT that has no credited post-Halloween ties, as local promoters Serious Business are bringing an intriguing package of local and touring musicians to... Pizza Hut? Yes, the bands will be setting up shop in the basement of the 2255 Ashmun Street restaurant, and while this is highly atypical for local concert locales, why not give it a shot if they're willing to host it? Novi noise punk quartet Permanently Pissed and Detroit grunge/alternative band Werewolf Jones will both be making their local concert debuts tomorrow, and with the former's garage rock-influenced noise attack and the latter's punk inflected hybrid originals, fans should get some quality sounds that we don't get often enough in the E.U.P. tomorrow! Local support will include new local hard rock trio Crush (fresh off of Alex & Josh's Halloween gig with Tarnished in St. Ignace tonight) and three-time LSSU Battle of the Bands competitor Kevin Blakeney.

Tomorrow's concert goes down at 6:00 PM with an 18+ age limit, and admission will be $15 at the door. It's always good to see Serious Business host a multi-band event like this, let alone one with touring bands, and hopefully fans pack the space for this concert (and maybe to buy some pizza?) Visit the above links for more on tomorrow's festivities, and for a preview, here's Permanently Pissed live!

Next up, I almost forgot to preview one more concert TOMORROW NIGHT, but I caught it in time, as local hard rock quintet Exit 808 will return to The Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley for their Halloween party! It's a day late because The Back Bay Grill doesn't host bands on Fridays, not even for October 31st. Yes, there will be a costume contest, and organizers have even revealed that prizes of $300, $200, and $100 will be awarded for the top three, so don't put away your costumes just yet! "Fright Night By The Bay" will be Exit 808's first concert in over two months and their first in Brimley since the spring, while it will see them joined by fast-rising Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich (straight outta Interlochen) as a guest singer, as per her Facebook page. The band has oddly not confirmed her involvement themselves, but hopefully Molly shines in her return home for the weekend!

Tomorrow's post-Halloween festivities begin at 9:00 PM with a 21+ age limit (Molly and Blaze aside) and no cover charge. With two (no, three) singers in force for this concert, hopefully Exit 808's lively brand of hard rock covers get a strong reponse at Bay Mills tomorrow as we wind the Halloween season to a close! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Exit 808 live!

Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while (all from Sault Ontario bands and concerts), and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

 

• This might be nothing, but a scheduled live-stream for the multi-genre Broke & Hungry fundraiser concert at Beck's Bar on December 19th has quietly been posted onto host/MC Twitchy T. Tantrum's YouTube channel. Live-streams of local concerts don't happen enough, let alone charitable ones for the Soup Kitchen, so we'll have to keep tabs on this as we approach the holidays! Just to clarify, listed performer King Mizo is an alternate handle for Toronto rapper Unknown Mizery, who has been advertised right along.
• Sudbury-based Rush tribute band Rust have changed their name to Epic Rush, as per their Facebook page on October 20th. This came just four days after they headlined at Soo Blaster, and while I'm told that they were still were selling Rust-branded merchandise at the local gig, the name change can't have been a kneejerk reaction given the turnaround to update social media and whatnot. Regardless, posts referencing the local show are calling them by the new name, so I figured I should acknowledge it here. Hopefully things went well, and that we see Epic Rush (and/or Just Leppard) back in Sault Ste. Marie in the new year!
• Reunited local classic/hard rock cover band Quite Frankly did not perform at Kosmos Pizza in Bruce Mines this past Friday, as per their Facebook page on Tuesday last week. The band cited "an unexpected medical circumstance" as the reason for their withdrawal from the Down syndrome awareness fundraiser event, but did not go into specifics beyond that. Hopefully whoever got sick/hurt gets well soon, and that we see Quite Frankly at a public concert again soon! Kosmos Pizza still plugged "live music" afterwards, but never confirmed who replaced them.
• Local punk trio Redundant have quietly dropped out of next month's Toystock, as per the newly updated schedule on the Christmas Cheer benefit concert's Facebook page and website. A reason for Redundant's withdrawal wasn't publically announced, but they haven't posted on their Facebook page since 2023, not even to plug their Toystock set last year (let alone their bassist change). Hopefully all's well in their camp! They have been replaced by a mystery band named Sunday & The Broken Hearts, who I know as little about as I do The Reeves (the other mystery band at Toystock this year), so stay tuned when more comes out on one/both groups!
• If you're wondering why I didn't feature local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's Facebook video from Wolf Fest last month on here, it's because it's actually not of Silent 9. While the thumbnail features frontwoman Jess Amadio, this actually comes from a guest turn she took with headining local pop rock cover band The Killer Hooks, where she joined in on their cover of Rose & Bruno Mars' "Apt.". While sadly vertical and incomplete, it's a fun and lively cover of this modern pop hit, and hopefully things went well at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion for Wolf Fest!
• A book is being written about defunct local black/doom metal band Woods of Ypres and their late frontman David Gold! To be named Deepest Roots: The Woods of Ypres Story, it's being authored by J. James of the California-based Arcane Archivist Zine, and he has kept fans updated as to the biography's progress on the Woods of Ypres Fanclub Facebook group. Apparently, he has conducted 20 long format interviews adding up to around 100 minutes of material for the book so far, but things are still at an early stage. This is highly intriguing, so stay tuned for updates as the book comes together!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Permanently Pissed & Exit 808) Plus More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to profusely apologize for completely forgetting to preview local hard rock quartet Half Past's gig at Beck's Bar on October 11th in that weekend's concert previews. I did plug it when first announced in late September, but it completely slipped me by despite that. Hopefully the show was a hit for the guys, and they'll be back at Beck's before the year is up, so I won't miss covering that one in any way! Now, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the Halloween weekend and the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews!

Sault Michigan hard rock band Exit 808 will return to the stage on Saturday, November 1st for a belated Halloween party at The Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley! One assumes that this concert isn't on Halloween proper because Bay Mills doesn't host live bands on Fridays, and a day late beats six days early. Dubbed "Fright Night On The Bay", this will end a two month break from the stage for Exit 808, who last played live in Walloon Lake in mid-August, in the E.U.P. in St. Ignace at the beginning of that month, and at The Back Bay back in March. While not advertised in the band's own promotion, they'll have a special guest for the occasion, as Dafter singer/guitarist and Molly & The Other Guys frontwoman Molly Escherich will return north from the Interlochen Center For The Arts to join in on vocals! It's not clear if she is filling in for Amy for the whole set or just making appearances.

That should be fun to see, so kudos to Molly for announcing this on her Facebook page! Don't put your costumes away yet, as there will be prizes of $500, $300, and $200 for the top three costumes next Saturday. Exit 808 take the stage at 9:00 PM for this 21+ event, which has no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more on Fright Night On the Bay!

Next up, there's more post-Halloween concert action in Sault Michigan on Saturday, November 1st, courtesy of the latest multi-band show from promoters Serious Business, and it is taking place... in the basement of Pizza Hut?! There's a new one, but if they're willing to host a concert down there, why not give it a shot? Two touring bands will make their way here next weekend, including Novi noise punk quartet Permanently Pissed and Detroit grunge/alternative trio Werewolf Jones, who both deliver unique sounds that you don't get much of from the E.U.P., so don't bypass either one in advance of next weekend's show! Local support will come by way of new local hard rock trio Crush (the originals-focused Tarnished spinoff who just destroyed the Savoy this past weekend) and veteran local folk singer/guitarist Kevin Blakeney, who just competed at the Lake Superior State University battle of the bands last night.

We will have more on the fallout from the battle when things go public, for the record (I was unable to attend due to catching a cold). For the record, the above information comes from promoter Brighton LeBlanc in an e-mail conversation, as I haven't found public social media promotion for the show yet, but it'll be short notice if I don't talk it about it now. This concert goes down(stairs) at Pizza Hut at 2255 Ashmun Street on the business spur, across from Little Caesars at the corner of 14th Avenue. A 6:00 PM start time is advertised, this is an 18+ event, and admission is $15 at the door, though no word on a possible Halloween theme. Should be a fun and varied concert, so visit the above links for more details!

Let's head north to Sault Ontario to wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews next, starting with local death/thrash metal trio Pillory's album release party at Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! With years of even heavier and more brutal original songs built up, and months of studio session teasers, fans will get their first chance to buy CD copies of "Old Soul" for themselves tomorrow, and while it will also be posted on major streaming services, physical media is a huge plus! It's great to see Robert and Bret finally get this album done and dusted, and hopefully they and Devon deliver a brutal headlining set downtown tomorrow for the occasion! Support acts include progressive metal quartet Convergence (in their first public concert since Rotaryfest in July) and crossover thrash quartet Hails, who should each set the tone well with their own talented and heavy original attacks, so don't be late!

Remember, Ha!ls' new album will be reviewed on the site by month's end, but Pillory's won't be until early 2026 due to our lengthy new album release backlog. This ALL AGES concert goes down tomorrow at $7, and if you were unable to buy $20 advance tickets, the door entry fee tomorrow is $25. Pillory t-shirts will also be on sale, and the band has confirmed that Halloween costumes are encouraged if you're inclined to dress up early. Kudos to Pillory on finally getting the album out, and hopefully tomorrow's show is a blast! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's the second advance single from the album, namely "The Passing" via their YouTube Music channel, with more coming tomorrow!

Finally for this weekend's concert previews, strap in for the lighter side of Bone Yard 225, as the southern hard rock trio will go "uncorked" for an acoustic one-nighter TOMORROW NIGHT at The Water Tower Pub! Despite the Great Northern Road nightclub hosting plugged in bands as well, Bone Yard always go acoustic there, but expect a solid evening of hard, classic, and southern rock favourites (and perhaps some stripped down originals) from Greg, Alex, and Warren as usual! If you'd rather see your local 225 plugged in, the full electric show will be at Beck's Bar next Saturday. As usual for The Water Tower Pub, tomorrow's concert is at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge, Visit the above links for more details on this latest "uncorked" concert from "the dirty three", and for a preview, here's Bone Yard 225 live!

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