Before we preview tomorrow's Black Mastiff concert and cover some more recent updates, here's our long awaited fallout/results post from the finale of a major local entertainment competition (and ARCH fundraiser) that wrapped up over a week ago, so here's what you should know!
After four weeks of exciting performances, the second annual Soo's Got Talent competition ended at Soo Blaster on Friday, October 11th, with singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan being named as the winner! Apologies for the delay, we were waiting for video from the finals to turn up online before making a full wrte-up. As outlined in this SooToday article by Darren Taylor, Adrian narrowly edged out vocalist Juliana Regan for the top spot, as determined by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, Lesley Walsh Tibben, and guest Tim Murphy. Adrian picked up $1,000 for the top prize, and judges actually announced everyone's final ranking publically, including a strong third place showing for resurgent rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, which is supremely encouraging given their long layoff and outlier status! Their finish was better than at the VM Radio Battle finals run in 2015, if you want to compare the events.
Also, kudos to Coulson Perri (a wild card finalist, mind you) placing in fourth! Adrian is briefly interviewed in the above article (which includes photos of all seven finalist acts), where he notes that he has solo music on Soundcloud, he's currently in an up & coming local band named The Uncanny Valley, and he is primarily inspired by classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin & The Who. We didn't see Adrian tackle any heavier bands in his covers during The Soo's Got Talent, but he is a very talented musician with a bright future ahead of him, and it'll be very interesting to see what he has in store down the line! As for the final round video, SaultOnline and ONNtv outdid themselves to cover the last round, as partly due to each finalist playing two songs, the last episode runs for over two and a half hours! As aired on ONNtv on Wednesday and posted on their YouTube channel on Friday, what all can you see in the final round?
The video starts with Tim Murphy covering "This Is The Moment" from the Jekyll & Hyde musical, before moving into the finalists, who are each starting with a song picked by the judges. Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet (5th place) opens with an interpolation of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which includes pre-recorded vocals of his and live beatboxing. Interesting approach, and he worked with what he was given, but I think his regular repertoire suits him better. Other "judges pick" covers include Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (7th place) singing Alessia Cara's "Scars To Your Beautiful" & The Dancing Divas (6th place) performing Jessie J's "Price Tag", followed by the impeccably dressed Apocalypse Afterparty covering R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", and the rapid fire vocals and lyrical content suits their sound really well! Coulson Perri is next singing Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed", and he plays the part nicely, complete with Alice-esque costuming and makeup!
Juliana Regan is next doing Sinead O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", with Adrian Sullivan rounding out the first half by covering George Michael's "Faith". In between halves, the "surprise celebrity tribute artist" was actually local Elvis Presley impersonator Jimmy Fiore covering "Burning Love" & "Can't Help Falling In Love". I'm not a big Elvis fan, so judge for yourselves how he compares! The second half performance order is identical to the first, and it features Killabeatz doing a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin leading into a beatboxing performance, Bethany covering Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel", and The Dancing Divas covering Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", before The Apocalypse Afterparty played a laid back yet hard-edged original song that suits their approach! We also get Coulson (sans makeup) covering Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" and Juliana tackling Postmodern Jukebox's jazz cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army".
Adrian closed the competition with his own original song "Something To Believe In", before 2018 Soo's Got Talent winner Daniella Brewer returned to update everyone on what she's done in the past year, and to sing her cover of Lewis Capaldi's "Bruises". Afterwards, we got an unadvertised guest song from the rapper who performed with Killabeatz in earlier rounds, accompanied by Apocalypse Afterparty frontman Paul Stanghetta on drums. The video ends with the judges announcing the winners and their closing remarks. I will say, the video proper started going out of sync with the audio track after a while, but there's a lot to take in here, hence why this post is only devoted to the finals. A lot of promising young talent took the stage for year #2 of The Soo's Got Talent, and it will be very interesting to see how everyone's careers progress as a result, but congratulations again to Adrian on his big win, and be sure to watch the video below and the above links for much more from this event!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Black Mastiff preview and more next! Thanks everyone!
Now, let's dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews in a relatively quiet weekend slate! Just as a heads up, the Soo Zombie Walk does indeed return from it's 2018 hiatus on Saturday at the Bushplane Museum, but the only advertised musical performer is Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan's solo act. Click here for more details on the walk, but as for our previews, let's start with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!
Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will return to their recent stomping grounds (The Whiskey Barrel) for one night only THIS FRIDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed this show on their Facebook page on Tuesday, but it was previously announced on the venue's Facebook event page for October concerts there. The only stop at this Gore Street restaurant and bar this month for the Elements side project, this will be The Stallyns' first show since rocking The Upper Deck Bar & Grill last week, and first at The Whiskey Barrel in three weeks. Look for the Speers' and Jesse (and James & Jonas?!) to deliver more hard rocking and fan favourite covers on FRIDAY at 8:00 PM! This show has no cover charge or advertised age limits, but mind the locale, this isn't a traditional nightclub. Visit the above links for more details, and here are The Wyld Stallyns live!
Next up, we'll move to previously announced concerts, starting with the continuation of Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished's run of acoustic matinee concerts "every Thursday" at Biggby Coffee, as they'll be back there TODAY! The second week of the slightly later scheduling (now taking place at 12:00 PM rather than 10:30 AM), but everything else appears to be the same, as Alex & Josh are still here to bring their unplugged covers to fans and patrons as they play for "tips and coffee" once again. The later timeslot may be better or worse for some of you guys, pending your own work schedules, but if you're free in the afternoon, why not enjoy some free acoustic hard rock this afternoon? Of course, this is an all ages event. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live at Biggby Coffee!
Heading back to Sault Ontario, it's another busy weekend for local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison, who will wrap up his weekly seasonal run at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery TODAY, before continuing his long-term arrangement at Gliss Restaurant TOMORROW & SATURDAY! With seven gigs at the Third Line West mill's on-site Wine Barn in the books, Tym will cap off the season with one more matinee go-around today (he is not advertised for October 24th), so if you want some live music with your cider, wine, and/or fresh produce, you know where to be! Of course, fans who want a closer downtown event can see him at Gliss once again tomorrow and/or Saturday, with more dinner-time hard and classic rock covers sure to be expected there! As usual, these arw all free shows without stated age limits, with today's Thomson Farms concert being at 5:00 PM, and the Gliss shows starting at 6:00 PM. Visit the Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and here's Tym live!
Finally for this weekend's previews, let's head to Reggie's West, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! After taking last week off, this will be Terry, Travis, Paul, and Glen's first concert weekend since playing The Esquire Club two weeks ago, and their first at the Reggievelt in just over a month. Always expect an entertaining night of hard rocking covers from this veteran quartet, and they should entertain the masses at Reggie's West this weekend! If you miss out, they will back here in mid-November. As usual for Soundcheck's concerts here, expect there to be no cover charges and a 10:00 PM-ish start time, while you must be 19 or older to attend. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here a brand new video of Soundcheck live, courtesy of SaultOnline reporter Mike Caruso's YouTube channel!
A cover of Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" at The Water Tower Pub last month, this oddly features Soundcheck as a trio minus singer/guitarist Travis Sharpe, with Terry obviously singing lead. No word on why Travis missed this song, but it's a well handled cover, and nicely shot on multiple cameras like with Mike's other recent cover band clips. Check it out below, and don't miss the real thing this weekend!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
Before we dive into this weekend's concert previews, here's a new news post that is mostly devoted to a pair of big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the winter at a major local concert venue, but there are some new videos to round things out. Here's what you should know!
Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night will embark on their third Christmas tour over the holidays, with at least one E.U.P. stop on the route once again, as they'll return to The Dreammakers Theater at the local Kewadin Casino on Saturday, December 14th! Apparently entitled the "Dreams of Christmas Tour" this year, fans both in the Soo area, downstate, and even in Illinois have enjoyed Craig, Steve, and company's metallized takes on Christmas carols since 2017, and as you heard in instrumental form on their "Christmas Night" CD, they should deliver more seasonal entertainment for hometown fans in a couple of months time! If you are curious, or live below the bridge, you can also see Theatre of Night in Jackson and Blanchard next month, plus in Holland on December 21st, so click here for information on those gigs. I expect further gigs to be added in due course, and for reference, Theatre of Night also played shows in Grand Rapids, Zeeland, and locally in Pickford last year, and in Midlothian, Illinois in 2017.
A 7:00 PM start time is expected for this ALL AGES concert, which will presumably be held in The Dreammakers Theater's table seating configuration once again, and note that food, drinks, and a cash bar were on hand here last year. Tickets are not on sale yet, but last year, they went for $15 (table seating) or $25 (theatre seating), with some proceeds going to the local Salvation Army. It's great to see Theatre of Night back for a third go-around of their Christmas tour, but will this be their only Chippewa County stop for 2019,and what other frills might pop up here and elsewhere? Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and before we move on with this post, they have a bunch of videos we have bypassed over the last few months as they've prepared for the tour, which I profusely apologize for missing out on! They are mostly short, and I'll definitely address them all in an upcoming post, but we'll start with a longer one shared from keyboardist Craig Harrison's personal Facebook page back in June.
This is of Craig playing his 2016 original composition "If I Could Just Tear Down These Walls", in a performance he labelled as "early morning piano work." If you missed his original deleted YouTube copy of this song, it's a dark and melancholy song without any Christmas hints, but you can feel the emotion in it, and the sepia filter in this video works to it's advantage! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Theatre of Night soon!
Next up, here's the first big hard rock/metal concert announcement for 2020 at the aforementioned Dreammakers Theater, as Mr. Big frontman Eric Martin and Trixter bassist P.J. Farley will join forces for a special acoustic concert there on Saturday, February 15th! Hair metal fans will no doubt recall Eric's work with Mr. Big in the early 1990s, including such hit songs as "To Be With You", "Just Take My Heart", and "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind", and it'll be very interesting to hear him tackle his material in an apparent unplugged setting in four months! P.J. Farley isn't the opening act, as he and Trixter bandmate Steve Brown have routinely backed up Eric in his solo gigs as of late, though venue advertising lists this as a duo performance. We'll let you know if anything changes! Tickets for this all ages show go on sale this Friday at 1-800-KEWADIN, this link, and the in-person box office, and an 8:00 PM start time is advertised. No word on a possible opening act.
Unplugged shows from major touring headliners aren't a foreign concept at the Sault Kewadin (remember when Godsmack played here?), but with a Hair Scare-approved twosome making their way here, it should be an interesting show in many respects, and affordable too! Check the above links for more details as they roll in,and get your tickets on Friday!
Finally for today, here's a new video on Sault Ontario/Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's YouTube channel, featuring the audio from his set at the annual Jamming For Jackets fundraiser concert in his current Thompson, Manitoba homebase this past Saturday! Mike only played an 18 minute set, but he was the event's headliner, and he performed his new originals "The Best You Never Had", "MorningStar", and "Communique" here, plus "The Nature Of The Times" from his delayed "Bridges" album. Nice to hear some new live copies of these songs, and the recording quality's solid overall, so give this a listen below, and keep watch for more from Mike!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
On this (Canadian) long weekend, let's tackle some more recent news and notes before we enjoy Thanksgiving proper, so what's on tap tonight? Some assorted recent stories, new videos from recent concerts, and leading off, a big event announcement for you fans of both live musicals AND hard rock!
Remember how St. Mary's College students put on a production of the Queen musical We Will Rock You in May? Well, the real thing is coming to GFL Memorial Gardens on Wednesday, January 29th! Though not a concert in the traditional sense, this live stage production will bring two dozen Queen songs to life in a jukebox musical about individuals rising against their oppressive leaders in a dystopian future, though if you saw the local production in May, you'll already know that. A very late (if not the last) stop in the fall/winter tour for We Will Rock You, this should be a fun way for Queen and musical theater fans to see these classic songs in a unique, over-the-top presenation, and preview videos I have seen showcase a lot of talented performers! Tickets run from $78.50 to $98.50, VIP packages aside, and plenty of great tickets are available at this link, at the Gardens' in-person box office, or at 1-866-775-9422. Visit the above links for more details!
Next up, we have a new video of local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns to share here, courtesy of their concert at The Canadian Motor Hotel's Upper Deck Bar & Grillthis past Friday, which I regrettably missed for coverage on here. The band did plug it this past Monday on their Facebook page, but not afterwards, and the venue's Facebook page never mentioned it either. I profusely apologize for missing this show on here, I will try harder to stay on top of their gigs in the future! In any event, this was their first publically advertised show at The Upper Deck since November of last year, and seeing them outside of The Whiskey Barrel nowadays isn't common. That all said, we do have a video from their show on Friday, courtesy of SaultOnline's Mike Caruso, who is still posting a ton of videos from local cover bands onto his YouTube channel, and (barring new uploads) we'll have at least one more hard rock band clip of his to share later this week. Also, ignore the horse thumbnail, it's not part of the actual footage.
The video proper is of The Wyld Stallyns (plus Rob & Jesse's Elements bandmates James White & Jonas Gasperas) covering Dusty Springfield's "Son of A Preacher Man", which sounds good, but the vocal clarity is muddled through the audio setup. Also, why was Mike's stationary camera set up so far from the band? If you can avoid showing all of the empty seats at this point in the gig, you should do it! Still a solid clip, especially if you like seeing all of The Elements (and Christina) together in an unplugged setting, so give this video a look below, and apologies again! Hopefully the show was a hit!
Also today, here's a new video from local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith's Facebook page, courtesy of a "coffeehouse concert" he played at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Thompson last month, though it was only posted last week. This video features Mike playing his new song "The Best You Never Had", which was the song sampled in his original teaser video for his now-next CD "If Ever Comes The Day", so this is our first chance to hear the song in full, albeit live. I'll hold comment on the song proper for now, but this video uniquely includes a poll at the 0:50 mark, asking if Mike should release the full song as the second single from the new album. As far as I can tell, "Yes" is winning, so take that for what you will! The video proper is well filmed, despite an oddly low angle, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Mike's new album as it rolls in, including more recent live material from Thompson!
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:
Brutally Fatal frontman & Blood Shed Productions co-founder Austin McCrae is looking to join a band as a guitarist, as per his posting on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on September 21st. He said that he misses playing on stage, and is "down for any genre", though note that his prior local band work has ranged from death metal to doom/punk. No word on what this means for Brutally Fatal, who claimed in May to be releasing a new album "this summer", but message Austin at this link or above if you want more info!
A Me First & The Gimme Gimmes tribute band has quietly replaced the planned White/Rob Zombie tribute at J.D. Pearce's annual Halloween Party at The Rockstar Bar on November 1st, as per updates (including a new poster) to the Facebook event page. A reason for the switch was not announced, but remember that inactive local punk band The HTs did a Gimme Gimmes tribute set at this event in 2017. I am unsure if the 2019 tribute is related otherwise, but one imagines J.D. himself may be singing. Look for lots of punk covers of non-punk covers from this band, in any event!
I have moved local metal musician Mike Vincent to our inactive band links, as he has not posted a public update regarding his solo project since posting his newest song "Nocturnal" on his Bandcamp page in September of last year, past our one-year cut-off. The Skull After Betrayl & Bear Hunters alum had revived his solo project in 2017, and even released two solo albums in March 2018, but updates for his planned third album "For Dear Life" were few and far between, and he never launched a public page outside of Bandcamp to promote his music with. Mike's a talented guy, hopefully he revisits his solo work down the road!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this week, and to all of our Canadfian readers, have a great Thanksgiving! Thanks everyone!
It's now time for our slightly delayed latest installment of our Defunct Local Band Profile Series! This ongoing monthly feature spotlights one or two inactive local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands, in order to promote their run for newer readers, and this month's randomly selected band is our fifth and perhaps final Sault Michigan band of 2019. This is an interesting band sound-wise for this market, and they had a lot of talent and positive vibes to go around, so here's what you should know! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audio/Video: The Pick-Me-Ups recorded a 10 song demo CD at Lake Street Studio in Brimley in the summer of 2009, which was distributed at concerts of theirs, though it was only partially uploaded to their MySpace page, and all songs posted there from this time period are no longer accessible. Your best place to check out The Pick-Me-Ups in action today is their YouTube channel, which features 31 videos, roughly half devoted to music (an April 2009 youth concert at The Big Bear Arena & their aforementioned "studio daze"), and the rest to comedic clips involving the band & friends. Here are the guys playing their self-titled-ish song "Pick It Up"!
Info/Analysis:Active from about 2008-2010, The Pick-Me-Ups are one of the extremely few punk bands of note to come out of Sault Michigan and/or the E.U.P. in the past 15 years. A high school-aged band during their run, The Pick-Me-Ups may be very familiar to Malcolm High students of the time, as they played a number of school-related functions. Surviving updates on the band are minimal, partially due to MySpace layout overhauls, but the group is believed to have disbanded by early 2010. From what I've seen of The Pick-Me-Ups, they had a strong enthusiastic sound with nice usage of ska influences and a clear sense of humour, and Matt's guitar work was very solid in particular! For such a (relatively) unique band in Sault Michigan at this time, it's a shame they didn't run longer or achieve more notoriety, but give songs like "Eureka Street" and"Grape Kool-Aid" a listen to see what the guys brought to the table a decade or so ago! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month, our random selection gives us just our third solo profile of a Sault Ontario band this year, as we'll be looking at 1997-2001 extreme metal band BeeFMouTH! Look for that on or around November 10th, and stay tuned for more news and updates soon! Thanks everyone!
Before we get into this post, just a heads-up that the Hellbent concert at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday appears to have been cancelled, as per the quiet deletion of it's Facebook event page by promoters Oh!No Collective at some point in recent weeks. A reason for the cancellation was not announced, but Hellbent themselves have not posted on their Facebook page in three weeks. Hopefully nothing bad happened! Now, let's dive into this weekend's remaining hard rock concert previews, plus a new video! The finals of the second edition of The Soo's Got Talent go down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! After a few weeks of strong local competition from local musical entertainers here and at The Verdi Hall, plus a two-week layoff from the semifinals, the final 7 acts will return to the Queen Street East establishment to see who will take home the top prize! Oddly, what the champion will win isn't advertised yet online, we'll let you know when we hear something. The five automatic semifinalists will include revived rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, beatboxer Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet, singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan, and pop singers Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf & Juliana Regan, while vocalist Coulson Perri and young pop trio The Dancing Divas were also advanced as this year's two wild cards. It's hard to predict what way the judges will vote, but for reference, Bethany was a Soo's Got Talent finalist last year, Juliana won the Soo Youth Songwriters Contest in 2017, and The Apocalypse Afterparty were finalists in 2015's VM Radio Battle of the Bands.
Alongside the seven finalists, tomorrow's festivities will see guest performances by 2018 Soo's Got Talent champion Daniella Brewer and guest judge Tim Murphy, a veteran of the local arts community who you may recognize from ONNtv's morning show. As well, "a surprise celebrity tribute artist" will also perform, identity not yet known, but remember that Tim's impersonation of Joan Rivers is a popular sight locally. This should be a fun night of diverse local entertainment, but who will take home the top honours in 2019? You can find out tomorrow at Soo Blaster! Like in preceding rounds, admission for this ALL AGES event is $10 (or $5 for kids), and the show starts at 7:00 PM. I'll refrain from showing a preview video of any one act here to avoid showing favouritism, but visit SaultOnline's YouTube channel for video interviews with all of the finalists (except The Apocalypse Afterparty, oddly enough.) Good luck to everyone tomorrow night, and stay tuned for fallout!
We'll wrap up this weekend's publically announced concert previews by staying at Soo Blaster, where local Tool tribute band Parabol will headline a special solo headlining concert there THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! It's not every day were a local band plays alone at a venue of this size with no openers, chartiable aims, or special frills, but Parabol's faithful tribute to Tool's prog-metal stylings should be enough to fill the room with sound, and hopefully fans! With Tool's long awaited new album "Fear Inoculum" now out, what are the odds that John, Steve, Al, and Anthony have learned any songs from it? A self-promoted event with 705Live (not Live705) handling sound, this 19+ concert has a 10:00 PM start time, and admission is $5 in advance or $8 at the door. Tickets are on sale at Soo Blaster, through the band, at Case's Music, and in two atypical Great Northern Road locales, namely Myers Chiropractic Clinic & Fratelli's Kitchen.
If you've seen Parabol at all since their debut last year, you'll know how well the guys handle Tool's classic songs, and this could be their biggest headline appearance in scope yet (their road trip to Sudbury next month acknowledged), so if you're up for a couple of hours of prog metal brilliance, you know where to be! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Parabol live last year!
Finally for today, here's a new video from local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's ongoing album recording sessions! This was posted to label Tidal Records' Facebook page earlier today, though it's share on the band's Facebook page marks their first public update there in almost four months. The video featured fiddler Sheldon Jaaskelainen playing for a few seconds at Mission Control Studios while frontman/label head Dustin Jones does a bit of an Irish jig, before saying "Tide tracking" to the camera. Fun while it lasts, and hopefully the album's on schedule, so give the video a look!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!
With another week of concert previews stretched earlier past Thursday, I'm starting our latest batch of preview posts early once again, so we're tackling hard rock acts playing locally today or tomorrow here, with true weekend concert previews being covered tomorrow. That said, we do have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to kick things off with, so without any further adieu, here's what you should know!
Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished will continue their "every Thursday" run of matinee concerts at Biggby Coffee TOMORROW and beyond at a new time! Apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed the continuation of their run there on their Facebook page this evening. It appears that their Facebook event page for shows through last week ended there because of the time shift, as they will now be playing "every Thursday" at 12:00 PM, not 10:30 AM, so keep TOMORROW's show in mind, as well as October 17th, 24th, and 31st, at least! Of course, their final advertised concert at the Sault Ste. Marie Farmers Market takes place TODAY as well, and while the market at Ashmun & Portage runs each Wednesday through October 23rd, this is the last date listed on the band's Facebook event page, though we'll let you know if things get extended. Look for more entertaining hard rock covers from Alex & Josh there at 4:00 PM! All of these shows are ALL AGES with no cover charges, "tips & coffee" aside.
For a preview, we have a couple of new videos of Tarnished to acknowledge here, courtesy of their Mount Pleasant road trip this past weekend! Filmed by attendee Olivia Eden and shared to the band's Facebook page, these are of Tarnished (plugged in with drums) covering Van Halen's "Eruption" and, as embedded below, The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane" at the Ascend bar at Soaring Eagle Casino. Well filmed from the front of the stage, the guys have a good handle on these covers, and Alex's voice is really good on the Scorpions cover, so give these a look above and below, and don't miss them (unplugged and minus Tommy) today & TOMORROW in the Soo!
Next up, Edmonton stoner/hard rock trio Black Mastiff will make their local concert debut on Monday, October 21st when they headline at LopLops Lounge!
A fast-rising group touring in support of their upcoming CD "Loser
Delusions", Black Mastiff bring an entertaining mix of sounds to the
table, with their stoner base harbouring many eclectic influences, and I
am honestly getting an early Mastodon vibe from some of their material,
so don't bypass them after you vote on Election Day! An eclectic and
varied roster of local openers will include both indie rock quartet Man Feelings and prolific folk punk/metal solo artist Chase Wigmore
(no sign of a Devil's Night show yet), so look for both to set the tone
well before things get heavy! This 19+ concert is presented by the
Oh!No Collective, a 9:00 PM start time is advertised, and admission is
$10 unless you opt for the "pay what you can" model.
The
Monday night scheduling isn't ideal, but this could be a great way to
celebrate/blow off steam after the election results come in, so keep
this night of stoner rock and varied local alternative music in mind for
later this month! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!
Also this week, let's head back to Sault Ontario, where Tym Morrison's prolific run of acoustic hard rock concerts continues TOMORROW at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery, and at Gliss Restaurant FRIDAY & SATURDAY! The former is his second last gig at the Third Line West mill's on-site Wine Barn for the season, so if you're up for some autumn produce and wine, look for Tym's skilled covers there tomorrow at 5:00 PM! No cover charges or age limits are in effect. Meanwhile, his ongoing long-term arrangement at Gliss will see more strong entertainment from Tym this weekend, so don't bypass his Spring Street concerts either! Those shows are at 6:00 PM with no cover or age limit, but mind the locale. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and flor a preview, here's some new videos of Tym live at Gliss! Shockingly, I think these may be the first videos of Tym at Gliss (at either location) on YouTube, despite his years worth of gigs there!
Filmed by SaultOnline's Mike Caruso for his YouTube channel (which is getting stockpiled with new footage of local cover bands, more forthcoming), these videos are of Tym covering Phil Collins' "One More Night" and, as embedded below, 10cc's "I'm Not In Love." Filmed with a stationary front-facing camera and with more angled close-ups by Mike proper, the stage lighting and natural daytime placement does affect the videos' colouring, but Tym handles these classic rock ballads nicely, so give these videos a look!
Finally for today, let's head to The Rockstar Bar, where early 2010s classic metal quartet Late & Loud will reunite for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! A fundraiser for bassist Benn Garside's wedding to ex-Danger Cats bassist Jamie VanSchooneveld this weekend, this will be Late & Loud's first concert since their initial "farewell" concert in the fall of 2014, and with The Rockstar Bar arguably being their most identifiable locale from their original run, what better spot for them for Jonathan, Brendan, Benn, and Josh to hit the stage one more (last?) time! DJ Seith and his hip-hop duo project Planet Rock are this show's surprise openers, but given the wedding fundraiser angle, they'll be sure to keep the tunes spinning before things get late and/or loud! A $10 cover charge is in effect for this 19+ concert, which has an early advertised start time of 8:00 PM. While Late & Loud never did find a full-time singer,
their live shows were always entertaining 1980s throwbacks, and what's one more load of heavy
rockin' hard metal like the good old days?
If this does prove to be their final concert, as hinted on the poster, this would be a fitting coda, so fans won't want to miss out on all of the action tomorrow if they can help it! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details! For a preview, here's Late & Loud at The Rockstar Bar back in 2013!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for proper weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Juliana Regan is next doing Sinead O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", with Adrian Sullivan rounding out the first half by covering George Michael's "Faith". In between halves, the "surprise celebrity tribute artist" was actually local Elvis Presley impersonator Jimmy Fiore covering "Burning Love" & "Can't Help Falling In Love". I'm not a big Elvis fan, so judge for yourselves how he compares! The second half performance order is identical to the first, and it features Killabeatz doing a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin leading into a beatboxing performance, Bethany covering Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel", and The Dancing Divas covering Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", before The Apocalypse Afterparty played a laid back yet hard-edged original song that suits their approach! We also get Coulson (sans makeup) covering Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" and Juliana tackling Postmodern Jukebox's jazz cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army".
