Heart Concert Fallout, Including Videos & Local News Coverage!!

Before our review of last night's Anciients/Havok concert goes up, we have our long awaited post with fallout from Friday night's Heart & Jason Bonham concert at The Essar Centre, including articles and media from local news websites and some new concert video footage, so without any further adieu, here's what you need to know!

In terms of coverage of the show, SooToday's Donna Hopper was in attendance to photograph and review the proceedings on Saturday night, with her article on the show (entitled "Part Zeppelin, all Heart"), which she definitely praised in the write-up! It also confirmed an attendance of around 3,000 people,and detailed much of their setlist, which included numerous originals, a Paul McCartney cover, and the promised Led Zeppelin cover set. As for the photos, there are 18 nice quality shots above (though sadly, none of the audience), and they also provide the interesting sight of Jason Bonham drumming simultaneously with existing Heart drummer Ben Smith (that's something you don't see every day!) Leading from Village Media related coverage of the show, another staffer was filming video footage from the other side of the stage for Local2, and you can view their highlights video at this link, though note that we can't embed videos from their video host on here. So, what lies within this video of the concert?

The 7 minute clip includes assorted segments of Heart playing their songs "Barracuda", "Heartless", and "What About Love", before concluding with clips of them covering Led Zeppelin songs like "The Battle of Evermore" and "Four Sticks". Very nice footage, and you can see how well Ann Wilson's voice has held up over the years on their classic songs, plus the Led Zeppelin material! I did notice "Barracuda" was slowed down a bit, but other than that, all's well if you're a Heart fan! Lastly for SooToday-related Heart fallout, editorial writer Mac Headrick reviewed the show as part of a new opinion piece named "It's Only Rock and Roll" that went up on the site on Sunday. Mac said that he liked the show, but he was more inclined to attend based on the Led Zeppelin tribute aspect of it, which he tied into a comparison of major concerts today in relation to the late 1960s & early 1970s, specifically Led Zeppelin's 1971 Toronto show and the Heart gig this past Friday, both of which he attended. Very interesting read, especially from someone who's lived and experienced both eras, so give that a look at the above links, plus Village Media's other Heart coverage!

We'll close this post with videos that we can embed on the SMS, including two videos of Heart originals by attendee Cami Hubbard, who posted these to her YouTube channel on Monday! Her first hard rock concert uploads since her (sadly now deleted) videos of her son Chris' band 415E's debut show last year, she filmed Heart playing "Heaven" and (as embedded below) "Crazy On You" at the concert, plus a preceding acoustic guitar solo by Nancy Wilson, so how'd these turn out? Cami had a good angle of the stage from the left hand side of the bowl, but the video can be fuzzy when zoomed in, and the lighting distorts many details through this camera. Nice encompassing view of the stage though, and everyone sounds great, so give the "Crazy On You" video a look below, and check out "Heaven" above!



The other new videos are courtesy of attendee hbogie123, who uploaded their videos from the Heart show to their YouTube channel yesterday. Far from the first Essar Centre concert videos shot for this channel (Kiss and various others came first), hbogie123 filmed four incomplete videos from Heart's set, including their cover of Paul McCartney & Wings' "Let Me Roll It" and Heart's own songs "Dreamboat Annie", "What About Love", and (as embedded below) "Even It Up", so how do these videos compare? Far closer to the stage from the floor seating, they got a nice central angle for the Wilson sisters on this camera, and the quality is nice when not impeded by fans walking in front! I just wish hbogie123 had gotten longer clips of the songs. Check out "Even It Up" below, and see much more above!



That's all for now, but hopefully some more videos turn up, including hopefully some more from the Led Zeppelin portion of the night! Keep an eye out, and stay tuned for our Anciients/Havok concert review later today! Thanks everyone!

A New Album Release, LemmaFest Fallout, And More From Sault Michigan!

Before we touch on fallout from the Heart concert this past weekend, we have an all-Sault Michigan post on this Tuesday morning, including some fallout and updates from this past weekend's LemmaFest, some assorted recent notes, and first, news on a recent album release, so here's what you need to know!

Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock artist Kenneth Sutton (a.k.a. SweetKenny) released his ninth solo album "This End Up" last week, and our sincere apologies for being late to the party on this one! Self-described as a "heavy rock, beer drinking, bar band, high energy, fun album", this album features 10 songs (including instrumentals and tracks with vocals), with Ken promising freestyle playing and something for everyone to enjoy within! Like on most of his past records, Ken handles all instruments and vocals, with no credited guest input. Copies of "This End Up!" can now be bought on Bandcamp for $12, and while physical copies are likely in the works through CDBaby, he has yet to post sale copies there. In any event, you can stream all 10 tracks at this link, which also includes brief info on the songs' themes. Everything sounds good for this newest album (with SweetKenny's next CD "Amazonian" already in the planning stages), but when can you expect a review of "This End Up!" on the site?

Perhaps as soon as next month if all goes according to plan, as our review of Mike Haggith's newest solo CD is still in the works for this week(end), though I'll note that we have yet to review either "Ink" or "Cracks In The Wall" from his recent repertoire either. The latter is a bit old now for a "new" review, but I plan to listen to both of his 2014 albums to pick the heaviest for our next SweetKenny review, and we'll let you know when that's determined! Pick up "This End Up!" and more SweetKenny albums above!

Next up, here's some early fallout from the fourth annual LemmaFest, which was successfully held this past Saturday outside of the Dondee Lanes! While we await some extra lineup and sound confirmation from Nightmare Grin and Mr. Fister (plus the usual giant photo album), the first known concert video from this year's installment is now online courtesy of local alternative hard rock trio Plastic, so what should you know? Obviously, the tarp over the stage from 2012 didn't make a comeback, but aside from that, the staging was similar to past years. The video below was filmed by attendee Christy Nealen (and publically shared by Plastic yesterday from her personal Facebook page), and it's of their cover of Thin Lizzy's "Cowboy Song", so how does their new lineup sound? The audio quality could be a bit cleaner from the video, but the guys have a good handle on this classic, with Zac Crook's vocals fitting nicely, and Aaron DePalma fills Paul Burns' shoes well on drums! Check out the full performance below, and hopefully more videos turn up!



Also in the realm of LemmaFest videos, local filmmaker Wayne Kozeyah released his short documentary about LemmaFest and the late Mike Lemma at Saturday's event, but he finally gave the OK for fans unable to attend to check out the final product on YouTube, as per his post on the LemmaFest 2014 event page! Originally uploaded to his YouTube channel in April (albeit in a still unlisted form), this was produced as part of a course project at Lake Superior State University over the past year. Along with host bumpers & narration from Wayne, remarks from Mike Lemma's friends (including LemmaFest founder Scott Green) are included where they remember Mike and their time hanging out with him, their reactions to his sudden passing in 2010, and the inception and organization of LemmaFest the following year and beyond. Assorted clips of some bands from last year's event and scattered other gigs are featured along with numerous event photos, and for reference, Scofflaw's Barney Gravelle contributed a music piece named "Lex" for the film as well.

This documentary short is great to see why LemmaFest is such a well anticipated event, and it does a great job of selling it to prospective attendees, so kudos to Wayne on a job well done! It'd have been nice to get more remarks on Mike or the festival itself from the band members, but that's all I'd have recommended. I urge fans of LemmaFest to give the documentary a look below, and stay tuned for more on this annual event!



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

• Due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page in recent months, I've replaced defunct local funk/hard rock band Clownsack's link on the SMS with their still-active MySpace page, which still features songs, videos, and photos of theirs from their mid-late 2000s heyday. They were a unique and entertaining band, hopefully they reunite at some point down the road!
• I've deleted defunct Pickford metal band Dust N' Bones from our local band links, as their Reverbnation page has been converted into a repository for the members of Theatre of Night's collective music ideas that aren't guaranteed to make it to official T.O.N. material. This isn't a Dust N' Bones evolution or officially a new band, just an apparent space for stuff they're working on in general, but there's some promising ideas, so give the new Harrison/Giles material a listen via the above link!
• Power Slug/Nose Dive drummer Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone) has made his long awaited return to metal singing, albeit in a non-local project. The band is Astrogenta (a self-described "internet band" largely based out of the Ukraine), who actually added Orb to their lineup last October, and they're currently working on an album named "Distance Does Not Matter", which you can hear samples of (with vocals) at this link. Hopefully he finds some big success with Astrogenta, so keep an eye on them!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post tomorrow morning (featuring Heart videos), and I'll see you guys at The Canadian TONIGHT for Anciients, Havok, Wretched, Black Wizard, and The Revolution! ALL AGES, $20, don't miss this awesome metal lineup! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lopstock & The Danger Cats), Plus The Anciients/Havok Concert Preview!!

In what's shaping up to be a big week at the site, we're starting with a post half dedicated to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and half to a special extended concert preview for a major metal show going down TOMORROW in Sault Ontario! I know many of you guys are waiting for Heart fallout, and some recent uncovered Sault Michigan stories, and I guarantee that they're coming this week, so look out tomorrow and beyond for them! Now, let's begin this post with the two new shows!

Local alternative/hard rock trio The Pixo Control will be playing at a special ALL AGES concert event THIS SATURDAY at LopLops Lounge, appropriately called Lopstock! Obviously playing on the Woodstock name and motif, this will be an all-day show featuring 5 confirmed bands and more artists to be announced, as promoted by Jackson Reed at Ears & Eyes Online, and while The Pixo Control are the only "heavy" band on the lineup, there's lots of young local music talent to discover this Saturday! The announced headliners will be local blues rock quartet The Frasiers, with the other announced acts including a band named Mashagama (genre & identity yet unknown), the aforementioned Pixo Control, acoustic rock trio K.I.C.K., and newer garage punk quartet Gnaeus, with more acts to be announced this week. Admission will be $10 on Saturday for this all ages show, which begins at noon and is projected to run until 7:00 PM. For more details on Lopstock, visit the official Facebook event page! It will be interesting to see how this show does, especially if it's a test to make this an annual event, so keep Lopstock in mind for your weekend plans, especially if you like softer and more varied styles!

Next up,another new concert will take place in just over three weeks, as Jamie Vincent and Oh! Right Arm! Promotions will bring more mayhem back to The New American Pub for the first time in 2014 when they promoted a show there on Tuesday, July 15th! The headliners will be Edmonton garage/blues rock quartet The Archaics, who aren't metal, but have an old school rock sound that many fans of the classics should take to, so don't let them pass you by if you love retro and psychedlic sounds! The local openers will cover the hard rock angle for you guys though, as all female quartet The Danger Cats (in their first ever New American set) and grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back (fresh off of their Cochrane gig at the Touch of Death festival) will set the tone with their diverse and engaging sounds! A rare 19+ show from Jamie's usually all ages promotional work, this show will begin at 9:00 PM on July 15th, and there is a $5 cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and stay tuned for more on this intriguing concert!

Finally, here's an extended concert preview for a special Tuesday night concert TOMORROW that many local metalheads have been anticipating, as four out of town bands will descend upon The Canadian Nightclub for an ALL AGES night of brutality! The headliners of this show will be Vancouver progressive metal quartet Anciients, who'll make their local debut at around midnight tomorrow, over a year after dropping out of last summer's Skeletonwitch concert at the same venue! Recent Juno Award nominees, their melodic and intense sound should find an audience for fans of brutality, so be there for their set! The opening bands (in what amounts to a merger of two separate tours) include Colorado thrash quartet Havok at 10:45 PM, North Carolina death metal quintet Wretched (last seen making plenty of fans 2 years ago at the last 3 Inches of Blood show) at 10:05 PM, and Vancouver stoner metal quartet Black Wizard at 9:25 PM, for what should be an explosive night of metal! Remember, San Francisco doom metal duo Black Cobra are not playing this show anymore, having dropped out due to a conflicting concert on the same date.

The local openers will be local doom/punk trio The Revolution (formerly the second Brutaly Fatal), who will replace Pillory tomorrow in their Canadian Nightclub debut, and they should provide their own improving sound to help set the pace, so come early for their set! They'll be on at 8:00 PM or shortly after for this rare all ages show from promoter J.D. Pearce, and advance tickets can still be bought at The Canadian, The Rad Zone, or at this link for $20 (note that the door price may be higher.) For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This might just be the heaviest lineup of the year in the Soo, and I know that J.D.'s really hoping this is a hit so he can bring in more pure metal & all ages lineups, so come occupy a venue TOMORROW NIGHT, as this is a great deal for any metalhead!  There's a little something for every taste, as Anciients' talent speaks for itself, Wretched alone should pull in fans who loved them at The Rosie in 2012, Havok have been making waves among thrash fans, and doom lovers will want to be here early themselves! I really hope to see you guys there, and for a preview, here's Anciients live in Vancouver last summer!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news tomorrow, be it Heart-related or from Sault Michigan (or both?) Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: AlterWhite's Channel

As expected, it's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, our monthly look at 1-3 YouTube channels with at least a 50% concentration of local metal/hard rock concert videos, so fans can discover, read up on, and check out the content on them! Our third straight installment with a single randomly selected channel, this month's profile is courtesy of a prolific and talented local musician who seemed to be on his way to good things in the early 2010s, so read on below for this month's profile!
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AlterWhite's Channel
(http://www.youtube.com/alterwhite)

Owner: Local solo musician & former AlterWhite singer/drummer Mike Matthews

Channel Timeline: Launched on June 10th, 2011; Videos posted from May 2012 through October 2013

Channel Summary: Originally the official YouTube channel for Mike's early 2010s metal project AlterWhite (whose main activity was limited to online song postings), 9 original songs under the AlterWhite banner were posted there through August 2012, with the channel switching to focus on original songs recorded solely by Mike starting that fall. 21 songs were uploaded over the following year, with all but the last four being designated as part of "albums", though none received a paid public release. As well, this channel featured some early AlterWhite originals (including select covers) in 2011, but all were deleted by the following year.

Why Should You Watch: You should give Mike/AlterWhite's channel a look for some solid and developing original material that it'd be interesting to see Mike revisit! While his James Hetfield-reminscent vocals often sound very overdone, he does have guitar and drumming skill on his song postings, and AlterWhite guitarist Kevin McCarthy also contributed well on those early songs. There was work to be done to shore up both projects' sound, but don't let them slip you by! Note however that Mike's uploads are all song postings only, and he hasn't visibly used this channel since last fall.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

AlterWhite - Watch With Eyes Closed: Before transitioning to solo material, Mike's band AlterWhite produced some promising (if incomplete) original songs in their 2012 heyday, with "Watch With Eyes Closed" from that August being possibly the best showcase for their diversity, with slower melodic verses & aggressive choruses. Though the vocals sound forced (especially in the verses), Mike and Kevin have good chemistry, and it'd be interesting to hear this with a fuller lineup and a tighter arrangement! For more from AlterWhite, check out songs like "Taking Back My Life" and "Wolfbane Blooms" via the above links.



Mike Matthews - Too Late: The planned third song on Mike's unreleased debut album named "Connected By Light" from September 2012, "Too Late" is the most viewed song at present on his channel. More of a straightforward metal rocker, his vocals are a stronger fit on this hard hitting original, but the lyrics can be very repetitive, and a guitar solo would have been a nice addition to shake things up. Fans of AlterWhite shouldn't be too worried though, and check out other "Connected By Light" tracks like "When You Left Me" and "Wasted" above for more similar material!



Mike Matthews - Fade Away: Mike's last original postings from last summer saw him diversify his sound a bit to include more softer acoustic material (as seen on songs like "One Week"), with "Fade Away" also showing his quieter side. He has nice command of the guitar on songs like this, and the lyrics fit the tone, but on a song of this style, his singing definitely sounds a bit out of place. Still, Mike was in a good place here, and hopefully he's still working on new music!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! So, what's getting profiled in this series next month? Through completely random selection, I've chosen a single channel for a fourth month in a row, as we'll next be taking a look at prolific local punk/metal musician Rick "Styles" White's YouTube channel, featuring videos from his work with Fitswitch, Frightlight, Redundant, and more, dating back 8 years! That's all for now, but stay tuned for some big news and updates this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned) & The LemmaFest 2014 Concert Preview!!

We'll close up this weekend's metal & hard rock concert previews with a well anticipated annual event in Sault Michigan today, including some extra info on some of the "mystery" bands, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this August, with a related apology for a missed show from them!

Kinross hard rock trio Banned will return to The Runway Bar in nearby Hessel, Michigan for a one-night-only gig on Saturday, August 9th! Announced on the band's Facebook page on May 27th, this will be their first Hessel appearance in 6 months, and their first non-Kewadin bar gig within our coverage range since drummer Don Traynor's surgery in the spring, so it's great to see the guys playing more like normal again! In fact, this was one of numerous new events confirmed last month, including shows outside of our coverage range this summer in Gould City & Engadine and a handful of private gigs, though we regrettably did miss one local public gig announced then, as Banned headlined a community dance in Pickford this past Saturday as part of S.P.E.A.K.S. Education's Summer Festival. Not sure how that slipped by our radar, but our deepest apologies for missing it! Hopefully it was a great event, it sounded like it was for an awesome cause! As for Banned's Hessel show on August 9th, that has no announced cover charge, a 9:00 PM start time, and a 21+ age limit. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more from Banned!

Next up, here's our extended preview of the fourth annual LemmaFest, as the annual Sault Michigan concert festival will return for another highly anticipated installment outside of Dondee Lanes TOMORROW! The first year that LemmaFest falls on the third weekend of June rather than the fourth,  this year's event will honour both the late Mike Lemma as usual, but also fellow Sault resident Jon Hackworth (a.k.a. Hot Tub Johnny), who suddenly passed away in January, and festival proceeds will go towards his family & related expenses, which is an awesome gesture! Like previous years, there will be a pig roast, prize and cash draws, drink & bowling specials, and t-shirt & mug sales, while local filmmaker Wayne Kozeyah will be distributing final copies of his LemmaFest documentary short that he made at Lake Superior State over the past year, and hopefully an online copy turns up online soon as well! The band lineup this year features just 8 acts, with only 3 or 4 bands returning from past years, and with regular bands like Half A Man and 3 time LemmaFest veterans Scofflaw not back this year, but there's still some known faces!

A full timeslot schedule hasn't been announced, but the descending order on the above poster looks reasonable for when bands are playing, so we'll go up from the bottom! If accurate, this year's headliners are Munising metal quartet Infathom (featuring area resident Dillion Semasky on vocals) in their third LemmaFest appearance, and their modern metal attack should be welcomed once again tomorrow night! A new (and maybe one-off?) band named Nightmare Grin are scheduled right before them, and while I can't confirm their sound yet, their lineup does include former I.S.O.M. drummer Bart Rennels and RedStone Riot/ex-Elipzis bassist Ryan Harrison, so they have some solid talent that we haven't seen in the Soo in way too long! Newer local rock quartet Division of Sanity (who have teased metal material in online postings) are also scheduled for around 7:00 PM in what should be their biggest local concert yet, so we'll have to see how they sound live, as they have talent on the acoustic demos that I've heard!

The fourth-last band will be local alternative hard rock trio Plastic (who debuted at last year's LemmaFest) in their first show of the year and first live set with new drummer Aaron DePalma (replacing the departed Paul Burns), so look for them at around 5:30 PM! 2012 LemmaFest performer Caitlin LeBlanc will play a set of acoustic pop/folk songs right before them tomorrow, while a band named Mr. Fister are advertised for the third slot tomorrow, so who exactly are they? It looks like they're essentially the current version of the band previously known as Bucksaw and Dirtbag In A Dress that played at each of the last 3 LemmaFests, though it's unclear whether they're a renamed version or a separate successor band. According to personal Facebook posts, their lineup includes Bucksaw alumni Bill Ogston on guitar, Barney Gravelle (also of Scofflaw) on bass, and Jason VanLuven (returning to replace Mikey Bishop) on drums, with singer/guitarist Ryan Franklin not recently mentioned. Though there's some uncertainties on Mr. Fister's (current?) form, it's nice to see lots of ties to all of the past three LemmaFests via their involvement!

The opening two performers will be new local hard rock quartet The Bottom Line (featuring Highest of Fives bandmates Mitch Goetz and Jack Slater), while a local solo musician named Mike Kowalski (genre unknown) will kick off the day's events at noon or shortly after. This ALL AGES event goes down tomorrow from 12:00 PM until the evening, with a $10 admission, so visit the Facebook event page and the above links for more details! This should be another great installment of LemmaFest, and hopefully the Lemma and Hackworth families are given lots of rememberances and financial help respectively at this great annual event! LemmaFest is one of the most notable annual concert festivals across the river, so don't miss out TOMORROW at the Dondee, and for a preview, here's Infathom covering Papa Roach live last year!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news this weekend, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Thanks everyone!

Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews (Including Heart), Plus New Videos!!

Hey guys, it's now time to kick off this weekend's metal & hard rock concert previews in the Sault area, but to give it proper emphasis and to pair it with some other Sault Michigan stories, our preview of the fourth annual LemmaFest will go up on the site tomorrow, so look for it then! Today, we have previews of a major Essar Center show and a regular acoustic attraction on the Canadian side of the border, plus new videos from two local solo artists, so read on below for what you need to know!

Seattle hard rock legends Heart will bring their classic sound to Sault Ontario for a rare hard rock headlining show at The Essar Centre TOMORROW NIGHT! Arguably the first major hard rock event to hit the arena since Kiss played here in 2010, this will be the fifth stop on Heart's Rockin' Heaven tour of Canada this month, and with memorable songs like "Barracuda", "Crazy On You", and "These Dreams" under their multi-platinum selling belts, I'd expect a great show from Ann & Nancy Wilson and company in their local debut! As well, Heart will be joined by ex-Foreigner drummer Jason Bonham (son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham) for a special Led Zeppelin tribute set to cap off the night, and if you saw Heart & Jason cover "Stairway to Heaven" last summer, you'll understand how good of a fit this will be on this tour! Tickets are still available for this ALL AGES show for $69.50 and for $40 in the upper back bowl of The Essar Centre (which will be in a half-arena setup), so pick them up A.S.A.P. at this link or at the in-person box office if you haven't already, and everything starts tomorrow at 8:00 PM. Check the above links for more info!

I'm very curious to hear how this show does, as it's success (plus the Brad Paisley show this fall for you country fans) could go a long way to prove the Soo's readiness for more big concerts on the Ontario side of the border. Heart have definitely held up over the years, and their songs remain memorable whether rocking out or playing a softer ballad, so if you're a fan of theirs (or of Led Zeppelin), do not miss this concert TOMORROW NIGHT! For a preview, here's Heart and Jason Bonham covering "Kashmir" last year!



Next up, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's ongoing weekly concert arrangement at The Harp Bar & Grill is scheduled to enter it's 29th consecutive week with solo gigs TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Though unannounced on Facebook as of yet, these shows are confirmed on Tym's website, and unlike some recent weekends, Tym will likely be playing both nights again, with his hosted jam night tomorrow and a normal acoustic solo gig on Saturday. Featuring a diverse and often heavy cover setlist (which does indeed include some Heart material), fans up for a softer and more intimate night of hard rock will want to keep this weekend's shows in mind at the former Madison's Pub, so don't bypass them if available to go! There's no announced cover charge this weekend, you must be 19 to attend, and there are 10:00 PM start times both nights. For more details, check the above links, and for a preview, here's Tym's newest original song posting via his YouTube channel on Tuesday!

This is a late Father's Day gift of sorts for his dad, as it's a song named "My Dad" about him and the impact he's left on Tym's life. Not a heavy song, but it's upbeat and melodic, and is has clear emotion & passion, which Tym has always been good at showcasing! The first original upload on his channel in 5 months, give Tym's new song a listen below, and don't miss his cover attack at The Harp this weekend!



Finally for today, here's a new video from Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy's solo YouTube channel! His first upload there in 2 months, this shakes up his usual norm by both being shot outside at night, and by featuring a guest artist, singer/keyboardist Jon Scott (who I'm not familiar with from other local music work.) Posted on Sunday, this is of their cover of Kodaline's "One Day", and while I don't know this group offhand, the cover does fit Alex's recent cover choices. The video is well shot and very well lit, and both Alex and Jon show clear talent, with Jon's singing voice showing a strength that would be nice to hear again in other projects! Check out this unique video below, and stay tuned for more from Alex's channel hopefully soon!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our LemmaFest preview and more from the Sault Michigan area TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

Last Month's Poll Results & This Month's Poll!!

Now on the site, we're shutting down last month's poll and launching our newest poll at the SMS! As you may remember, last month's poll from May 18th posed this question: Which of these recently closed local concert venues do you miss seeing metal/hard rock shows at the most? Only 16 votes, which is smaller than I'd have hoped, but the results are interesting and fairly straightforward, so thanks to the voters, and here are your final results!

The original Coch's Corner (5 votes, 31%)
The Eastgate Hotel (4 votes, 25%)
Foggy Notions (3 votes, 19%)
Other (2 votes, 13%)
The Outback (1 vote, 6%)
The Roosevelt Hotel (1 vote, 6%)
GLOW/The Other Place (0 votes)
Smack Daddy's/Bossy's (0 votes)
The Vibe Lounge (0 votes)

What do you guys think? In ascending order, while I'm not too surprised with the venues that received no votes (though somewhat aside from GLOW), The Roosevelt Hotel only receiving a single vote of the 16 cast was particularly shocking, especially given the venue's early-2010s prevalence of metal and punk shows! I know it had other issues, but again, it's all in who votes. The Outback's fifth place tie didn't surprise me too much, while "Other"'s two vote/fourth place finish is also fairly expected, albeit without real knowledge of the voters' intended concert spot that they miss. The Eastgate Hotel's second place run was nice to see, especially considering how fondly remembered it was for many metalheads in the pre-SMS days, but the third and first place finishers (Foggy Notions and, in first with 31% of the votes, the original Coch's Corner) are forever linked from their 2012 closure and merger. It's a small sample size, but both of these downtown bars and concert venues had noticeable success and memorable events during their runs, and when Coch's Corner moved into 708 Queen and went all-acoustic, we did lose two venues as we knew them.

Coch's Corner's old Bay Street location was inviting, hosted many hit concerts, and was in a great location, while Foggy Notions was successful in both homes and gave a cozy reliability to many shows in the 2000s! Both are missed, and if the poll is to be believed, the old Coch's Corner is especially, but be sure to support current venues and bars to keep them going! Thanks to everyone who voted! As for this month's poll, I'm revisiting similar subject matter from last month (relating to local concert venues), as while we still have a number of locations that can and do host metal & hard rock shows, we have lost many in recent years, as noted above. Sure, we recently added Dana's Bar & Grill to the local bar scene, and Reggie's West didn't slam the door on out of town bands, but both are still unproven commodities for some of the big shows we've been used to seeing in Sault Ontario. We have a number of great bars and halls here, but most have their own schedules, preferences, and challenges that can complicate show availability, which has been a concern for some bands and promoters in recent months.

With that said, I'm posing this question to you guys this month: What is the best case scenario for getting a new reliable concert venue for metal shows? Basically, I'm curious to see what people think in terms of local concert venue availability, as to what would be the ideal situation where Sault Ontario would (or wouldn't?) get a new location to host more metal shows in the area. Without any further adieu, here are this month's choices!

Open a new bar/concert venue (or re-open one): Whether it's dreams of owning one's own concert venue, a personal desire to help the local scene, or just missing a venue like Club Princess, buying/leasing property to make a new concert venue is an attractive option, if costly in most cases. Would the solution to any concert availability woes be to open a brand new concert spot, or would the idea not be worth the risk?

Get an existing venue to host more shows: Many local bars and concert halls have hosted metal or hard rock shows in the past, be they original bands or weekend cover acts, but each has their own clientele, schedules, and theme nights that could theoretically pose problems for metal bookings. As we saw at The Rosie in the early 2010s, a working relationship with metal promoters is more than possible, but should a similar idea be done more often to get more reliable venues?

Get more live bands going to increase demand: Sault Ste. Marie is only so big, and there's only so many bands here, but it stands to reason that if there were more live acts, more venues would book more shows to accommodate them. Whether you see this option as an avenue towards the booking levels desired, or an immediate idea to increase show amounts now, should more live bands form to encourage extra bookings?

Renovate or remodel a venue to attract more events: Granted, it's rare where a local bar's theme and design changes in a way that actually helps metal bands (Foggy Notions' brief run as Feedback being a notable exception), but certain concert venues in town may be seen by some as not fitting metal shows, or just in need of a makeover. If an existing bar or concert venue had a new look, theme, or layout, would you see that as a spark for more shows?

Just improve attendance to the shows we do get: This is often cited from promoters and bands in town as an answer to questions relating to why the Soo doesn't get "better" bands. Promoting shows can be very expensive, and if fans don't support what does come through, how can promoters upgrade to bigger and better things? Therefore, is the simplest fix just to get more fans to actually buy tickets and see what does come, therefore increasing funds and demand for bigger things?

We have enough concert venues as it is: Basically, if you find that our current state of concert spots is just fine (or too big?), and you don't think we really need new venues to host shows for whatever reason (financial concerns, dislike of certain shows, etc.), vote for this choice! Given our readership, I imagine this won't do well in the poll, but if this speaks closest to your own preferences, vote here!

VOTE TODAY!! You guys have until July 18th to cast your votes, so let's see what people think on the matter of new or more frequent concert venues in the Sault for metal bands! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!