More Weekend Concert Previews, New Videos, And More!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews today via the shows that did have advance notice before Saturday, with some videos & recent updates to round things out. Here's what you should know!

We'll start by hopping the border to Sault Michigan, where Traverse City classic metal trio Peril will return for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! Last seen north of the Mackinac Bridge when they rocked The Rapids Lounge in January, these should be more prime opportunities to check out Jeff, Dave, and Brooks' brand of old school metal and hard rock covers, and while not as active on stage as Scarkazm, Peril's reputation and longer history in Northern Michigan speaks for itself! You can check out Peril in the Soo tonight & tomorrow night at 9:00 PM with no cover charge, and these are both 21+ events. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, here's Peril live, and stay tuned for their next regional dates!

Next up, let's head back to Sault Ontario for this weekend's only hard rock/punk shows there that had more than five days' advance notice online, as local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for headlining concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Still hard at work in studio on their long-gestating debut EP, this weekend's concerts will be Fort Creek's first since opening for Destroyer at Soo Blaster last month, and their first at the former Reggie's West in over two months. Should be a good weekend for fans of Fort Creek's heavy covers and newer originals, so don't miss this experienced group this weekend! In tonight's show only, former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison will serve as an opening act, in a set that will likely be similar to his dormant acoustic band Short & Sweet, if minus the Sweet. Always good to see Cory on stage, and hopefully he sets the tone nicely with his unplugged covers!

Both shows have 19+ age limits, no cover charges, 9:30 PM start times, and no finite word on if they're doing merchandise giveaways. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new live concert video of Fort Creek at Soo Blaster last month covering The Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider"! Filmed by attendee Justyne Gilbert for her personal TikTok page and re-posted by the band on their Facebook page last week, it was notably uploaded sideways to correct for Justyne filming/uploading it sideways originally (you can tell by the TikTok handle on screen). Strong full cover here that effectively makes it heavier, so check it out below!

While we're on the subject of bands playing live this weekend, let's cycle back to new local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down, who will play at Reggie's Place on short notice TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! We previewed those shows on the site yesterday, but there are more live videos from their debut weekend last month (also at Reggie's) to check out, including a 19 second video of them setting up for their debut concert that was filmed for Reggie's Facebook page. Not a lot to see, but it gives a window into their setup process, which will no doubt be similar TONIGHT! In terms of actual performance videos, PROV3RB5/Saturday Nights drummer Phil "Philly Gee" Greco posted two videos that he shot onto the band's Facebook page that Saturday. Alas, a title eluded me on both songs, partially as I couldn't make out Joel's vocals in the beginning of the 20 second clip, which was otherwise instrumental.

I normally would have embedded the other video below, namely a 72 second clip of Double Down playing an instrumental number, but I don't believe Phil's settings allow external video embedding given that they were posted to his personal account first and shared with the band later. The vertical camera-work is unfortunate, and I apologize for not having titles for them, but they do sound good and are a positive harbinger for TONIGHT & TOMORROW! Give the Reggie's teaser from last month a watch below!

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

 

• After a 2+ week closure, Gateway Casinos re-opened their Sault Ste. Marie branch this past Friday! As you may know, a ransomware attack forced the casino chain to close their Ontario locations, the Soo's included, on April 16th, and you can get more on the incident and response at this link. The Bay Street location does sporadically host heavier concerts on Saturday nights, and the closure did scuttle a planned Wyld Stallyns show there on April 29th. Good to see Gateway Casinos across the province back up & running, and stay tuned for concert details when available!
• I have moved local hard rock solo artist Shane "The Shaner" Solomon back to our inactive band links, as I haven't seen verifiable updates on his Reverbnation page in over a year (full disclosure, Reverbnation is not set up for easily dateable posts, which has always irked me about that platform). Hopefully Shane resurfaces in some form down the line!
  
• In a couple of "Reels" on her solo Facebook page, Handsome Sandwich "frontwoman" Taylor "Tea" Emlaw plugged the band's album release concert at The Loft last week, while also playing a clip of their song "Okay" as set to her hanging out with bandmates Mitch Sirie and Jesse Cook to plug the "Deconstructed" album proper. Short but sweet hype on both fronts! While Taylor has mostly focused her solo page on Handsome Sandwich promotion as of late, this is where her purely solo activity has went, so follow her there for updates in that regard!
  

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard, Double Down, The Northwest, And Soundcheck!!)

It appears to be one of those weekends, namely a busy one full of SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS! Alas, all of today's hard rock/punk weekend concert previews are of shows that were only publically announced on social media in the past five days, so I'm pushing the previously announced Fort Creek & Peril concerts to our next preview post hitting the site by tomorrow morning. With all of that out of the way, here's what you should know to start off the weekend!

New local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will play their second live concert weekend TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at Reggie's Place! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced on the band's Facebook page on Saturday, though be advised that Reggie's has not publically confirmed them at press time. TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows come three weeks after this talented foursome debuted at Reggie's, and with Bone Yard, Mojo, Griphook, and Mustang Heart alumni in their ranks, you know that Double Down will deliver the goods for classic and hard rock fans! These are 9:00 PM gigs with no cover charge and 21+ age limits once again. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video from Double Down's first concert! Drummer Ric Datson uploaded this to his YouTube channel on April 24th, so what do you see/hear?

After a post-production intro featuring the sound of a jet flying by, we get a montage of clips and no full songs, which may be disappointing for some, but this conceit is not brand new for Ric's channel if you recall some videos of his old bands. Filmed on a stationary camera at different zoom levels (and different levels of crowd involvement as the night wore on), the video is full of snippets of familiar covers that will please fans of members' prior projects, but the lighting is surprisingly dark by default unless stage lighting is in action. Good teaser of what to expect TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at Reggie's, so check it out below, and stay tuned for some more videos from weekend #1 from other sources soon!

Next up, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced these gigs via their Facebook page on Tuesday, and the venue had not followed suit whatsoever at press time. This is basically the re-booking of their cancelled Shooters weekend in early March, which was a casualty of 2/3rds of the band falling ill that weekend, meaning that TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows will be Bone Yard's first at the Dennis Street nightclub in over three months. Good to see them downtown again, and hopefully their southern fried hard rock covers find another strong audience TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These are 9:00 PM shows with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a brief new video of them live earlier this year!

Uploaded on Saturday, this was filmed by attendee Trevor James at Shooters in February (I think) for his Tiktok page, and while his page there has either been deleted or made ultra private since, the band was able to save it for a Facebook upload. It features the guys covering all of Golden Earring's "Radar Love", and it sounds good with lots of nice angles, though the vertical-only limitations of TikTok videos do a disservice to how Trevor shot this. I'd have cropped the black bars out for Bone Yard's upload, but it's still a solid performance of this live staple, so check it out below, and don't miss Bone Yard at Shooters TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, these shows have not been announced publically by either the band or venue (at least as far as Facebook goes), and I only know about them because of plugs on personal Facebook accounts. Last seen at The Esquire Club via a show(s?) in early April that similarly had no public notice online (well, not until 7 hours prior), TOMORROW & SATURDAY's concerts follow Shooters gigs last week, and should provide fans with more fun hard rocking covers and good times! Be advised that Soundcheck had to cancel their usual jam night hosting duties at Jay's Piston Broke Pub tonight due to a band member falling ill (they didn't specify who, but it's not singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver, who typically doesn't appear at jam nights).

How this will affect TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT's shows, if at all, is to be determined, but stay tuned to band members' personal Facebook pages for details if you are able. Yes, this weekend's Soundcheck gigs were originally scheduled for bassist Jim Michaud's old band Obsession when they announced their now-scuttled 2023 concert slate. As usual, they have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details when/if they surface, and here's Soundcheck live!

Finally for today's previews, we'll head back downtown to Outspoken Brewing, where local indie/punk quintet The Northwest and alternative/indie rock quartet Man Feelings will reportedly join forces for a special matinee concert on SATURDAY! Once again, apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via Man Feelings' Facebook page last night. Like every show above, the venue hasn't confirmed it publically that I have seen, and neither have The Northwest, who haven't posted on their Facebook page in over a month, despite being the ostensible headliners on SATURDAY. No word on why this is a matinee concert (Man Feelings gave a 2:00 PM start time, with Outspoken normally opening at 3:00 PM on SATURDAYS), but remember that the 350 Queen Street East microbrewery is a smaller venue that has lent itself more to acoustic acts in the past, so this should at least be a more intimate event than you may be used to.

Still good to see The Northwest back on a local stage for the first time this year, and Man Feelings should still have momentum on their side following their set at The Loft last week! This will also be our first previewed concert at Outspoken since their January-February closure and all of the rumours therein, but they have bounced back and hopefully more good times are ahead! This 2:00 PM event has no cover charge and a presumed 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Northwest live!

That's all for now, but look for our Fort Creek and Peril previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

The Latest News & Updates From Mike Haggith & MorningStar Records!!

Single topic second post today, featuring the latest from local/Barrie alt-hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith (last month's live-stream aside, though it is coming), so what's new to report from him? As you may recall, Mike returns to Sault Ste. Marie for the first time this year on Friday, May 26th when he shares the stage with local musician, photographer, and radio host Brian Tremblay for Face To Face, a VH1 Storytellers-esque evening of music and stories about their music at The Art Hub on Spring. Mike's website confirms that not only is this event being recorded for a planned live album (it's not 100% clear if it will feature Brian's songs too or not), but it will be available on vinyl records through Mike's Morningstar Records label! The implication is that you might hear your own voice on vinyl if you attend, though whether this is purely via audience cheering or further crowd involvement (questions for the artists?!) is not yet known.

Mike also confirmed on his Facebook page that video cameras will be rolling throughout the night. The planned complimentary food/beverages are still on the table, along with a "top-secret special prize" for one lucky winner, presumably as a door prize draw. It'll be an interesting & informative evening based on what we've heard so far, so click here to get your tickets! Regarding the aforementioned MorningStar Records, Mike has finally launched the label proper beyond teasers and as a solo imprint, and you can visit its website for complete details. In short, Mike calls this "a different kind of label" and a "label minus the label" where artists produce their own material at their own pace and in their own environment, then "affiliate" (not sign) with MorningStar to host the material and have physical copies printed through Kunaki, while still retaining ownership of your own music.

Affiliated artists are hosted on MorningStar's website for digital sales and artist biographies, and won't go bankrupt for the privilege, just paying some small overhead/labour fees so it is as artist friendly as humanly possible. If this interests you, click here for Mike's lengthy write-up on MorningStar, and e-mail contact@morningstarrecords.com for any extra questions. Though Mike moved from the Soo in 2017, MorningStar Records has absolutely been promoted to local musicians as well as Mike's contacts in Manitoba, Southern Ontario, and afar via connections made from Your Music Live and You Rock!, so ideally it will have a wide reach. Alongside Mike himself & his old local power pop/hard rock trio The Din, industrial metal solo project Molten Imp, jam rock veterans Odd Man Out, and the aforementioned Brian Tremblay have all affiliated with MorningStar so far, among other non-local acts.

If you're curious in an SMS-covered sense, Molten Imp's biography is purely hype and teasers along with relevant links, so there's nothing broken in terms of news yet re: Morningstar output, but I am admittedly behind on recent Molten Imp news from their own social media accounts. Lastly from Mike's recent activity (the live-stream aside) is that he unveiled a lot about his upcoming studio album "All The Best In All You Do" via this lengthy write-up on the MorningStar website, so what do we learn about it there? Within the deep elaboration on the concepts and themes of the album/lyrics, we know that the album's ten songs in order are "All You Do", "Twist Of Fate", "Hot & Cold", "If Only You Could Hear Me", "Carousel", "I've Seen It Before", "Love Will Light The Way", "The Start Of Something Real", "To Be With You", and "All The Best". The first half will be darker and themed around grief, before going optimistic.

While the album will be available on "all streaming platforms", those who buy it on Bandcamp will get bonus songs under the name "All The Rest To Get You Through" which will include originals not yet heard publically as well as a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City".  In terms of guests, the only one listed by name is Hetriani, a Southern Ontario-based metal guitarist who Mike likely discovered via being featured in episodes of Your Music Live With Pete Johns, and who will feature with solos on "Hot & Cold". Also worth noting that there will be a flute solo on "The Start Of Something Real", though if Mike isn't channeling Lizzo there, I don't know who is. Mike gives a lot more details on the songs as compositions and for the themes they embody, but if you want to be more surprised, you may want to hold off on reading all of the write-up. In any event, when is "All The Best In All You Do" coming out?

Mike says that it is "targeted for release this summer", which basically implies any point between June and August, whereupon it'll join our monthly album review backlog (it'd be reviewed in the fall at this rate). There's a lot of excitement ahead for Mike as a musician and now as a record label owner, and fans should be excited at a busy mid-late 2023 to come, so visit the above links for much more on Mike & MorningStar, and weekend concert previews are on the way next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Redefined

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Once again, we're looking at a randomly selected band from our inactive band links, in order to spotlight their run and media for modern readers, and we're taking a trip back two decades this month! Bands whose heyday came in the early 2000s or earlier are often minimally represented on the internet nowadays due to less social media and bands' then-host sites closing, but we got lucky in this instance for surviving material, so here's what you should know on quite a notable band from this era!

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Redefinedr

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/St. Catharines, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock/Alternative

Lineup:

John Barber (Parabol), vocals
Matt Sibilo (The Scary Uncles), guitar
Josh St. Amour (Gianni Gagoots), bass
Dan O'Shea (My Son The Hurricane), drums

Audio/Video: Redefined are known to have released one album, namely their Sault-era independent CD "Risk & Uncertainty" in October 2001, while the song "M.T. Bundies" from that album was later included on "Foggy Style Volume 1", a 2003 compilation CD of original songs from bands (local or otherwise) that played at the former Foggy Notions. After moving to St. Catharines, the band worked on a new EP for release in the fall of 2004, but the only new original song available nowadays is their song "Pitters" via this video on frontman John Barber's YouTube channel, one of three there featuring studio material loosely set to old camcorder videos of them (I do not know if that EP was released as planned). Here's John's video for "Face Down", as set to footage of an outdoor gig at Searchmont in 2003!

Info/Analysis: Launching in early 2001, Redefined rode the momentum of early local concerts and their album release to a victory in the Xtreme Band Slam battle in North Bay that December, earning them a trip to Canadian Music Week in Toronto in February/March 2002. while also playing shows opening for the likes of Not By Choice and Bucket Truck, and even playing at that year's Rotaryfest. The guys moved to St. Catharines in 2003 to further their musical career, while continuing to return home for gigs where possible. While down south, Redefined opened for bands like Theory of a Deadman and High Holy Days, while also returning to Canadian Music Week in Toronto in 2004, and getting some rock radio airplay. The band's last stated public activity on surviving pages & Internet Archive Wayback Machine backups was their headlining set at Hempfest in Ophir in August 2004, and they dissolved by the following year.

Redefined's run was before I got into local music full-stop, but their energetic brand of hard rock and alt-metal definitely helped them stand out, and you can see how they got wider notices as a band beyond the Soo! "Risk & Uncertainty" definitely had a heavy Tool influence, and while I'd have liked more variety on that album (let alone more guitar solos), it was a good harbinger of things to come, especially given members' later band work, especially in Danno's case! Fans of John's later bands will find the most to like from Redefined, but if you want to enjoy what they did for pitters, there's a surprising amount still out there 2 decades later, especially if you check out Oocities archives and such sources!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we'll jump forward 2 decades for our next randomly selected band, that being inactive Half Past offshoot The Isolation Sessions! Look for that on or around June 10th, and for more news and weekend concert previews on the site very soon! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT & Handsome Sandwich Updates, Plus New Videos!!

Let's keep the news and content going on this Tuesday morning with another well stuffed post, including updates and new album details from two somewhat linked local bands, plus a new rehearsal video from a band taking the stage this weekend. Here's what you should know!

Let's start with more recent updates (the Saliva show aside) from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, so what else is new in their camp? To promote their late notice gig opening for Aunest at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto on Friday, they posted this brief video (not a "Reel" either) of the band, minus Jay, giving a last push to get fans to come out while standing outside. Hopefully the concert went well for all involved! After the Brains/K-Man & The 45s show in Barrie next Thursday, Spades GT's next concert will see them return to Toronto on Saturday, June 3rd for Beer Bash 6, an annual all-day music festival at CineCycle that features free beer for ticket-buyers. That'll be quite a pull for some fans alone! Band announcements are ongoing, with six groups so far confirmed on the Facebook event page, though the only one familiar to local fans from concerts here is the former Jack Spades.

After posting some new promotional images, Spades GT unveiled the first single from their new album "Sewer City Radio" on Friday, and they went with "Hands" as the initial single, as embedded below via their new auto-generated YouTube Music channel. I'll hold comment on the song for now pending our eventual review of the album, which is currently targeted for the fall due to our current album release backlog (there has been no shortage of new albums to review in the past year+!) Tim Henderson from Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles promoted the album in this article on Saturday, which confirms some big new details on "Sewer City Radio". It is now planned to release on Friday, June 2nd, which is delayed from prior May projections, if not by much (no word on if they're counting Beer Bash 6 as the release show or not). A low-res image of the album's back cover is also shown, plus the track listing!

Part of me had a hunch that the album would heavily feature Jack Spades re-recordings, but the eight included songs appear to all be completely newer cuts that were not on "The First" or "Fed Up", and another advance single will be posted online on Friday at 12:00 PM. Sounds like things are definitely on the right track, so do visit the above links for much more on Spades GT's big mid-2023 plans, and here is "Hands"!

Next up, with the review of Saturday's release concert going live on the site yesterday, let's take some time to talk about local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich's debut album "Deconstructed", which is now on sale and available to hear on (according to the band) "all streaming services"! In reality, it is definitely on Spotify, but I haven't seen 100% proven links for it on the services that hosted advance singles, those being Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, and YouTube. CD copies were on sale at The Loft on Saturday night for $15 apiece (the normal price for CDs will be $20), and while I don't know if The Rad Zone or somesuch physical store will carry them, definitely contact band members on Facebook or in person if you want one. The albums were made DIY in town, featuring artwork by bassist Rafael Medina, and the liner notes include lyrics to all eleven songs in different font sizes and colours!

The only guest musician credited is Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling, and just in case you were wondering, he did not guest on "No Entry" at the release show (I believe someone said that his sax had a broken reed, but I may be wrong). That all said, when can you expect our review of "Deconstructed" on the SMS? I have it slotted in for July, as this month will be the "Pyrolytic Punishment" split, while next month will be No Funeral's debut EP, as I try to go in release date order. If Jonesy Land's "Zoom-Out" releases on time on May 31st with nothing SMS-suited beating it to market, that'd be in August, with Spades GT in September. Stay tuned for more from Handsome Sandwich when it rolls in!

To close, let's go from a band featuring two ex-(Jack) Spades band members to a band sharing the stage with Spades GT next month, namely local southern hard rock cover quintet Fort Creek! Two new videos have been posted to their Facebook page in the past week, and while I'll save one for this weekend's concert previews to avoid redundancy, the other is not of them in concert, so it's better suited for a standard post anyway. On Sunday, they noted that they ended the week with an acoustic band rehearsal, and they filmed this video of the band (minus Shane & Tony) covering Linkin Park's "Crawling" unplugged. The cover is heavily altered to suit the acoustic performance (no rapping, removing the first chorus, etc), but it comes through nicely! I can't say that I like the post-production though. The black & white colour scheme and film grain aren't too bad, but the jittery motion never lets up and feels really unnecessary.

I also found that the opening title cards ran way too long (20 seconds?), but adding "For Chester" at the end was a nice touch. Despite my post-production reservations, fans seemed to take to this cover, which is well handled musically, so give it a watch below, and don't miss the full plugged-in Fort Creek on Friday & Saturday at Jay's Piston Broke Pub!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile and more news & notes shortly! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Josey Scott's Saliva & Generations)!!

(Updated at 4:09 PM) Two topic post on this Monday afternoon, devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on two fronts, including expected weekend cover action and some unexpected attractions at a relatively underutilized locale, so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

New local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced their third and fourth public concert weekends, which will take place on Friday, May 19th & Saturday, May 20th at Reggie's Place over the Victoria Day long weekend, and then on May 26th-27th at The Esquire Club! The Jus' Chillin successors were last seen at The Esquire Club in late April (with guest Michael Yurich subbing in for Brandon on a few songs), and while I'm a little surprised that it took this long to book new gigs, hopefully their next shows are even better! Remember that this is the new band from ex-Obsession singer Valerie Powley, but unlike their last Esquire Club gigs, the Memorial Day weekend is not one that Obsession announced for their scuttled 2023 concert slate last year. All four of Generations' May shows have 9:30 PM-ish start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. Visit their Facebook group for more details on Generations' upcoming live dates!

Next up, a very surprising show was announced this morning for The Machine Shop (well, outside of it, weather permitting) on Saturday, June 24th, as Memphis hard rock band Saliva will return to our area for a headlining concert on that night... kind of! While the version of the band that we saw at Muddfest at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in November 2019 plans to live on after the death of guitarist Wayne Swinny earlier this year, we are instead getting Josey Scott's Saliva, a new alternate version of the band led by their original frontman, who left Saliva in 2013 and was not at Muddfest. Last month, Josey began announcing a tour under the Josey Scott's Saliva name (I'm not sure if this is the same band as his recently announced Shade Violet or a separate act), so while no one from Muddfest will perform with this version of Saliva next month, the original voice will be here doing hits like "Click Click Boom" & "Always"!

Note that in the above tour poster, the show is listed to be taking place at The Rankin Arena on Batchewana Street, which would be interesting, but the Facebook event page confirms that it'll be at The Machine Shop. Two more touring bands will make their way north for this show, including Detroit hard rock quintet Sponge (best known from their mid-1990s hits "Plowed" and "Molly [16 Candles Down The Drain]") and Louisville, Kentucky post-grunge quartet Tantric (of "Breakdown" fame), who did play at Muddfest. A lot of hard rock radio favourites are in store from those three bands, so don't miss their Sault Ontario debuts next month! Local support will come from two bands, including local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT in their first show in Sault Ste. Marie city limits since the former Jack Spades' last pre-pandemic gigs in late 2019, and their first local show since The Northern Vibe Festival last year!

This will also be your first local chance to see them with new bassist James Roy Daley and since Jay Sarrazin moved to guitar, and of course, it'll be their first local date since the expected release of their "Sewer City Radio" album later this month, so how's this for a return? Remember, Spades GT are not playing Northern Vibe this year. Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will open the proceedings, and given their studio work and their own rising profile, they'll set the tone well next month! This event marks the post-pandemic return to hard rock concert promotion by Sault Michigan-based promoters Superior Entertainment, who are not completely new to cross-border bookings, having presented the Dokken/Firehouse concert at GFL Memorial Gardens in 2017. The show will be moved inside The Machine Shop at 83 Huron Street if weather permits, but it'll ideally be outdoors.

Ticket prices are not out for this all ages concert yet, but Superior Entertainment head Robin Cook said on the Facebook event page that "I'm keeping prices as low as possible". Definitely a surprising announcement on multiple fronts, and hopefully it's a huge show for Sault Ontario hard rock fans, especially with this intriguing lineup, so visit the above links for continuing updates, and we'll have more on "Sewer City Radio" on the site shortly, and more news and notes tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Handsome Sandwich CD Release Party Review!!

It's time for our admittedly belated review of Saturday night's Handsome Sandwich CD release party at The Loft at the Algoma Conservatory of Music! This is the first concert of a remotely heavy persuasion that I know took place at The Loft, so what is it like to attend a show there? First off, the Conservatory is located in the old St. Mary's Paper office building at the end of Huron Street right by St. Mary's River, right beside The Mill Steakhouse. The Loft is on the third (and top) floor of the Conservatory, and being inside the building honestly reminded me of being at the courthouse downtown, especially the stairs. Yes, there is an escalator too, something I didn't know about until when I left the show. As a concert venue, The Loft is very nice with good acoustics, a unique layout, and neat sightlines, especially with the slanted roof and industrial beams. Pictures make the space look bigger than it is and obscure the layout a bit.

While photos on The Loft's website show thick seating, these are movable & were pushed against three walls to varying thicknesses to allow for a proper floor section. Rooms are adjacent to The Loft for the connected recording studio, and the bar section for anyone wanting a potent potable was well in view from the main door. Yes, HD video cameras were rolling, seemingly for both bands, and I did notice a camera slowly panning left to right beside the drumkit on the stage, though what we'll see and when, I don't know. My biggest issue with The Loft was the lack of air conditioning, and if that's not practical, at least turn the fans up! Regardless, it's a very nice space for concerts, and I hope more local bands take advantage of it!

The openers were local alternative/indie rock quartet Man Feelings, who were lucky enough to get an hour long set, which is impressive for a support band! As such, they played a lot of unreleased songs, plus material from their "City Friends" EP like "Modest Spouse" and "Long Winter's Night". I don't believe that I've seen Man Feelings live before, and when listening to them, comparisons to The Black Keys came up often, if that band had more instruments and variety to their sound. While bassist Tyler Willson handled most lead vocals, all of his bandmates got turns to sing, which is encouraging from an original band in terms of giving everyone an identity. Not a heavy band, but they have good songwriting, and everyone made the most of their instrumental roles, with B.J. Swire's keyboard work adding an extra element throughout, and Paul "Gabby" Gabrylewicz had some strong guitar melodies!

I will say that Man Feelings were slow to engage the crowd at first, and they had a few too many songs that just... ended, without a big finish. Not really abrupt endings so much as anti-climactic ones. Still a solid set that helped set the tone for the handsomeness to follow, and of course, how fitting is it that Man Feelings opened for Handsome Sandwich, thereby swapping roles from Man Feelings' CD release show last year? Also, shout-out to Ricky the juggler, who even got to "perform" for a song!

And your headliners were local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their release party at least seven months in the making! True to prior teasers, their set comprised of their entire debut album "Deconstructed" in album order, with an intermission separating the main program from a six song mini-set including four newer/omitted original songs like "No Idea", and two covers: Tones & I's "Dance Monkey" and an encore cover of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" featuring solo spots by all four instrumentalists. While I have seen the original three-piece, covers-only Handsome Sandwich live, this is the first time that I've seen the version relaunched in 2021, and they definitely have a crowd-pleasing set that rarely sticks to one style for too long, including glimmers of funk, hard rock, punk, indie rock, jam rock... basically anything that they want to play, and the audience was here for it!

Frontwoman Taylor "Tea" Emlaw brought a very unique stage presence to The Loft on Saturday, with lots of unpredictable movements and an infectious enthusiasm that was great to see! Her vocals remind me a lot of the American jazz/blues singer Beth Hart (listen to "Stay" to hear what I hear), and that alone helps this band stand apart from the local pack. Rafael Medina proved that his Algoma University music program training was well utilized on bass, the twin guitar attack of Jesse Cook and Mitch Sirie never hurt (even if I'd have liked to have seen more soloing), and drummer Johnny Belanger kept the rhythm as well as you'd expect, while also filling in the gaps for crowd banter, helping keep things in a loose and carefree spirit despite the anticipation and setting of this concert. Good stuff all around, and if this is the kind of show fans can expect from Handsome Sandwich, then who knows how far that they'll go?

Overall, this was a fun show aided by the unique and high-end locale, and on a kinda-related level, it was awesome to see Mitch & Johnny finally get to have a proper release concert like this after their old death metal band The Bear Hunters' planned release show for their higher quality second album "The Dead Testament" never went through due to the pandemic and the band's own decline in activity after 2017, leading to it getting a digital-only release on Bandcamp in 2020, and only one further live set. 2+ years later, they finally had their big moment, and hopefully Nik and Justin get theirs in some form! You can check out our photos from the show at this link or at our Facebook page, and I shot a video from each band, namely Man Feelings playing "Bring Me Home" and Handsome Sandwich playing "Better Off"!

Due to the length of this review (which went longer than normal already), I'll hold comment on Handsome Sandwich's newly released "Deconstructed" album for an upcoming post, but I did buy a CD copy on Saturday night and it will be reviewed on the SMS in due course! That's all for now, but a new news post will be hitting the SMS later today! Thanks everyone!