LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Overdrive Orchestra, Peril And Tarnished), And An Inactive Band Note!!

Here's a Sault Michigan-centric post to take in on this Wednesday night, and it includes a band moved to our inactive band links at the end, but let's kick things off with some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the summer season. Here's what you should know!

Local hard rock/metal quartet Tarnished will return to the local stage (as in, within an hour's drive of the Soo) when they return to Snows Bar & Grill in nearby Cedarville on Friday, June 23rd! Last seen in our coverage range at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino over Memorial Day weekend, this will be Tarnished's first Cedarville gig since playing at Snows in September of last year. It is one of four gigs announced for this month in the U.P. on their Facebook page yesterday, though the others (in Manistique, Curtis, and Gould City) are more than an hour's drive from here. Still, all are venues that Tarnished have played multiple times in the past few years, so if you live a little further west and these are local to you, keep them in mind! The Snows show on the 23rd is a 21+ affair with no cover charge and an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, Grand Rapids/Nashville psychedelic hard rock quartet Overdrive Orchestra will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino for concerts on Friday, July 28th & Saturday, July 29th! A rare band not from the Soo, U.P., or Northern Lower to play at regional Kewadin lounges, you may recall seeing this rising band rock both regional Kewadin branches in March and April 2022, and it's good to see them come back this direction! Overdrive Orchestra's momentum has grown in the past year+ with new material and even more fans, and hopefully some new and returning attendees come out to make July's shows worth the road trip! No word on a Rapids Lounge return at press time, but these are one of just two sets of new heavier dates listed for July 2nd-31st on Kewadin's entertainment pages for both lounges, with the others following in a second.

Overdrive Orchestra's genre-transcendent brand of hard rock can be enjoyed on July 28th & 29th at 9:00 PM, shows that have no announced cover charge and 21+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details on Overdrive Orchestra!

The other newly confirmed shows at one of the two regional Kewadin lounges will actually also be on Friday, July 28th & Saturday, July 29th, as Traverse City classic metal trio Peril will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin branch that weekend! Fans in St. Ignace can see them at The Northern Pines Lounge next weekend, but the end-of-July shows will mark their first at the Sault Ste. Marie branch since early last month. The summer season is clearly good for attracting Jeff & crew for gigs north of the Mackinac Bridge, and hopefully next month's Soo shows go well for fans of their old school hard rock and metal covers as usual! Peril's sister band Scarkazm also confirmed the shows via this Facebook image listing dates from both bands and their acoustic side act Project 6, but there's nothing here that local fans didn't know unless you're inclined to take a road trip to see any of them.

As usual for Peril's Kewadin concert dates, these have 21+ age limits, 9:00 PM start times, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more on Peril's Soo return next month, don't miss them in St. Ignace next week, and stay tuned for more from them and Scarkazm when we hear it!

Finally, I have moved local hard rock quartet 415E to our inactive band links. As best as I can gather in checking available sources, they have not played a publically advertised live concert since a Halloween party on Sugar Island in 2021, and my referencing them as returning to the stage in our 2022 year-end post appears to have been erroneous. Originally active from 2012-2017, the former Hubbard-Menard Band relaunched in January 2019 with a new rhythm section in tow, and while social media updates remained minimal, they were still seen frequently at regional Kewadin Casino branches, while also making a couple of trips to Sugar Island for gigs at The Hilltop Bar. The current existence of Rhythm & Brews (who also feature guitarist Chris Hubbard and bassist Brett Blackwood) should be noted, but the two bands did publically coexist in mid-late 2021 before 415E updates dried up, and Chris was the only common link at first.

Alas, public media of 415E was always slight (few photos and no band-uploaded videos), which must have been their method of encouraging fans to actually go out and see them live, though the similar sounding Rhythm & Brews have at least had more of a visual presence. Despite their lack of media, this union of Nixxon Dixxon, Splitshot, Bucksaw, and Clownsack alumni were a safe bet for fan friendly hard rock covers and the usual Van Halen classic here and there, but don't miss Chris & Brett in Rhythm & Brews and Jason with Fake Chow and Project 906, and hopefully we see Dave behind the mic again soon! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's April 2023 Live-Stream!!

I profusely apologize for this being so late to make the SMS, but with his "Face To Face" concert also getting live-streamed last month (a normal live-streamed hangout last month did not occur), I really had to get this on the site soon before things got even more backed up! Yes, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith hosted his (usually) monthly live-stream on April 25th, but like in March, the planned Facebook simulcast of the live-stream was not posted for on-demand viewing, just via his YouTube channel. As you may remember, Mike's planned guest for his March live-stream was supposed to be Ryan Jensen of the Denver, Colorado alt-rock solo project Surrender The Tides (surprisingly not someone Mike met through You Rock! episodes), but scheduling conflicts led to Ryan's appearance being pushed ahead one month. So, what went down with Mike and Ryan in this 2+ hour live-stream?

The proceedings begin with Mike acknowledging that the audio quality is lower than usual on his end due to technical issues that he hopes will be worked out for next time (Ryan sounds better on his setup), while also noting that his Facebook live-stream was also simulcast on his personal Facebook page due to his own issues with Facebook as of late. I won't get into that here, but he has complained about engagement and promotion there before, even planning to move his primary online presence elsewhere. In any event, the personal live-stream isn't up for on-demand viewing either. The main program begins with Ryan talking about himself, Surrender The Tides, and his musical inspirations, and his at-home recording setup, while also asking about Mike's location, leading to discussion about his moves over the years. Mike also compares to his own experiences and promoting deserving musicians.

After plugging a possible contest for an extant vinyl test pressing of his newest (so far) album "Bridges", he acknowledged that there isn't a winner for last month's share contest due to (according to Mike) Facebook shares being "choked out" by the site's algorithms, though no word on if this is why his prior live-stream from before the 2022-2023 hiatus didn't have a winner. He did try the share contest (whoever has the most engaged share of the live-stream gets to pick a mandatory cover for net time) again, though time will tell if we hear another cover next time. Unlike with The Lillypillies in March, Ryan/Surrender The Tides did perform songs on last month's live-stream, starting with his original "Birthmark", after which Ryan talks about how that song came together (it's the one Mike first discovered). If you're waiting for Mike himself to perform, his first song ("The Best You Never Had") comes almost 35 minutes in.

Unfortunately, the technical issues that Mike warned us about rear their ugly head when he tried to actually perform, with the audio often dropping entirely despite his normal talking sequences sounding fine, if still worse than in March. This leaves Mike to pause his own performances for the rest of the episode, alas, but he did acknowledge that he plans to broadcast his next live-stream from a computer rather than a cell phone, which should be an improvement for the production quality. After Mike addresses the back story of "The Best You Never Had", he asks about what Ryan did musically after he completed "Birthmark", leading to him playing another original song of his named "Scars In The Sky". Style comparisons and personal messages come up next, as well Surrender The Tides' plans for a debut album and the challenges of the modern music industry and how people consume music.

In this stretch, Mike does talk about his upcoming album "All The Best In All You Do", and among the scoops, it will be 37 minutes long (presumably not including the teased Bandcamp bonus tracks) and was "not quite done" as of this live-stream. He noted that "a couple (of) really, really cool concert dates" are being locked down for the summer, one presumably being Rotaryfest, and he was tentatively planning for one to be the album launch event, but details on that front are forthcoming. He also noted that "at least a couple of these shows will have a full band", implying that he has at least three summer concerts planned (whether last month's Face To Face was considered one of them, I can't say). The second half of the live-stream starts with MIke & Ryan discussing printing albums on physical media, with Mike touting his print-on-demand work with Kunaki.

After criticizing Facebook again due to the low live-stream viewership on this platform, Mike passes over to Ryan again for his next song, preceded by some discussion about experiences in Florida, where Ryan wrote "Birthmark". The next song was briefly titled earlier in the live-stream, but not surrounding when Ryan performed it, but it is brand new. This is followed by more venting about the ills of Facebook and Mike's proposed overhaul of his social media focus for his music career, as well as talk about what social media services nowadays may be worth using. Ryan next performs his song "Into My Arms", before Mike experiments with trying to see if he can repair his own audio setup to allow him to play a song in full (this was in vain, and Mike was even quieter after his attempted fix!) Mike next asks Ryan about his future plans for Surrender The Tides, before asking if he has any favourite cover songs to perform.

Ryan breaks out a loose cover of The Brilliance's "Brother" next, while Mike tries one more time to get an audio workaround on his end, to no avail. The final song performed in the live-stream is Ryan's original "I'm Not Running", and the last nine minutes feature wrap-up talk, promotion of both Mike and Surrender The Tides' upcoming work, and reminders about technical fixes for next time. Honestly, I don't think that this was Mike's best live-stream, thanks primarily due to the technical difficulties and a bit too much Facebook bashing, but the casual conversations still worked well, and while not a hard rock/metal artist, Ryan shows strong aptitude as a singer/guitarist, so don't bypass Surrender The Tides if you like acoustic singer/songwriter music! You will also get some good details about Mike's summer plans, if still largely teasers of what's to come, so give April's live-stream a watch for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906) & More Updates From Them!!

After a nearly three month hiatus, Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 resurfaced on their Facebook page yesterday with a bunch of new concert dates for mid-late 2023! Last seen in Hessel in March, the guys revealed that their break was basically due to paternity leave for bassist Dustin Paras, who welcomed a newborn baby with his wife (congratulations!), though they did make a lineup change during the gap, as veteran local rock drummer Jason VanLuven has joined the band, replacing Odin Osogwin. A reason for Odin's departure wasn't announced beyond them saying that he "decided to part ways with the band", but they thanked him for his contributions. You may recognize Jason as the drummer for bands like Bucksaw, Paradise Excuse, Chump Change, 415E, and more recently, Fake Chow and Buddy Repperton & The Camaros, so fans have nothing to worry about in terms of Jason's skill level!

Otherwise best known as Oddfellow's drummer, Odin had replaced Gary Croad in Project 906 in November 2021, and he seemed like a good fit with the band, but hopefully things are 100% amicable, and that we see him back in another group down the road! To avoid a redundant re-post in a few days, I'll hold Project 906's return gig this Saturday for our next batch of weekend concert previews, but note that it won't even be their debut with Jason due to Fake Chow playing in Hessel that night. His debut with 906 will come on Friday, June 16th when the guys will make their Kinross debut at...The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot? Located at 3047 West M-80 (20 minutes southwest of the Soo), Well Diggers opened back in 2018 and has sporadically hosted live musicians, but Project 906 will be playing on their brand new outdoor stage next week, weather permitting.

This concert will be an 8:00 PM affair with no stated cover charge and a 21+ age limit. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details! Next, the guys will return to Sault Ste. Marie for the first time this year when they rock The Merchants Bar (a.k.a. The Merch) on Friday, June 23rd! The Merch rarely promotes musicians who play there on their Facebook page, but hopefully 906 rock the house down later this month! Five months after cancelling a planned show there due to an in-band illness, Project 906 will finally get a rain date at Jack's Grub & Pub in Brimley on Saturday, July 1st (a.k.a. Canada Day), in their first show there this year. Hopefully this date sticks unlike over the I-500 weekend! On Saturday, July 8th, the guys will return to one of their favourite venues, namely The Strongs Tavern in nearby Eckerman. Last seen there back in January, this should be another fine opportunity to check out 906's hard rocking covers!

In their only return booking within these newly confirmed dates, Project 906 will return to Snows Bar & Grill in Cedarville (site of this weekend's show to-be-previewed) on Saturday, July 15th, and that's the last of the solid once-a-week bookings confirmed yesterday. The other three are more spaced out (at least currently), starting with a return to The Islander Bar in Hessel (site of their last show with Odin back in March) on Friday, August 11th. Their first announced date of the fall season will come on Saturday, September 16th when they rock The Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, their first stop at "your perfect up north retreat" since February. Obviously, these are all 21+ gigs with no announced cover charge, and Back Bay aside, all have likely 8:00 PM start times. If February's show is anything to go by, then they'll likely start the Bay Mills concert in September at 9:00 PM. 

The final new date will see Project 906 rock Huck's Pub & Grill (formerly Joe's Bar) in Rudyard on Saturday, October 28th in that venue's Halloween party! 906 were last seen at Huck's in December, but did not play at their Halloween party last fall, so hopefully their own spooky rock and roll provides the right soundtrack! This one should also be a 9:00 PM gig with a 21+ age limit and no cover. It's great to see Project 906 back with a busy slate of concerts, so don't miss out across the E.U.P. over the coming months, and stay tuned for more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (i.o), A New-Ish Solo Project, New Videos, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Sunday morning featuring some new videos, a new-ish band to tell you guys about, and a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT with some intriguing styles on display, so here's what you should know to kick off another week!

Victoria, British Columbia experimental noise project i.o and new-ish local emo/folk punk solo project Agnosticism will join forces for a concert TOMORROW NIGHT at... The Drawing Club? This is a new arts space at 128 Bruce Street that primarily serves as a community hotspot for artistic expression (click here for more on their mission), but they have been sporadically booking live music in 2023, with TOMORROW'S concert being part of Dryer Fire's summer concert series that was announced in April. As such, apologies for the short notice, I had no idea that any bands on this event would cross into the SMS' primary coverage. Led by drummer Max Patterson, i.o are a hard band to look up online based on their name alone, but their chaotic drum-led brand of instrumental noise rock will certainly be an intense change of pace, so do give them a listen before TOMORROW NIGHT!

If you want to read more on who Agnosticism are, read on below, but to wrap up previewing this concert proper, the opening act will be local/Toronto outsider folk musician Shae Tull (good to see her back in town!) This all ages concert begins TOMORROW at The Drawing Club (where Dryer Fire's 2019 pop-up venue was) at 7:30 PM. While the advertised admission fee is $15, "no one (will be) turned away for lack of funds", so keep that in mind. Tickets are on sale in advance at this link. This will certainly be an eclectic concert that builds in intensity quite rapidly, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's i.o live! Trust me on this, Max puts on quite a show!

As for Agnosticism, they are a solo project from Vanity First/Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto, with him on vocals & acoustic guitar in folk punk trappings that fans of Chase Wigmore's will especially be interested in! We've never considered Instagram pages to be "official" as far as local band pages go on social media, as they're so personal & picture-driven by design, but you can see Mikhal performing as Agnosticism on their Instagram page, including an impromptu live performance at the Fishbowl Festival earlier this year. As it turns out, Agnosticism have quietly been active since 2021, and Mikhal actually put out a debut album for the project on major streaming services last October, entitled "Happy Pills"! He should have had an account on Facebook or something for Agnosticism, as that way, I would have talked about this well before now! You can hear all 12 songs on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, plus their YouTube channel.

There are some standalone singles available above too, while the YouTube channel also has some early Vanity First covers (apparently, Agnosticism was their original name before things splintered into two projects), and one live video, venue unclear. Yes, this album is on sale on iTunes for $9.99, if you want to buy full mp3 copies, but as it's no longer "new", it doesn't get priority for an imminent monthly review on the SMS. When our backlog clears out though, it can easily slot in to tie in with a month where one of Mikhal's bands is playing live! This includes Hails, who (like Agnosticism) only seem to exist on social media via an Instragram page, despite being Vanity First with a different frontman (Brenton Ellis rather than Andrew Beggs). For the record, Hails have even less posted on Instagram than Agnosticism, only uploading pictures that primarily focus on Brent's artistic side.

From what I have seen and heard of Agnosticism, it's clear that Mikhal gets folk punk well and subgenre fans will be right at home with the lyric driven, direct, and unpolished songs on offer! He is a talented guitarist, and while his vocals may be underutilized to an extent on acoustic songs like this, it is supposed to be a separate project from his bands and it comes through well, though existing folk punk fans will have more to like from the off. Give Mikhal's live performance of "Unholy Matrihomie" (sic) a watch below, and stay tuned for more from all three of his current projects!

We'll close today with some new videos from new local hard rock quartet Far From Fine's Facebook page, specifically from their studio time late last month at Mission Control Studios! On Tuesday, they posted two videos of guitarist Mitch Sirie and bassist Matt Fronzi tracking material towards their planned debut album, and while both are short clips hovering around 30 seconds in length, they are our first glimpse of their original material! Click here for Mitch's slightly shorter video, which has him playing a guitar solo. I'm unsure if these are different songs, but Matt's video sounds quite punky, and Mitch's solo seems more dramatic. Promising regardless, so give them a watch above & below!

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

Where Are The New Albums? June 2023 Update

I chose to wait a day for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post so we could absolutely confirm that all three of the teased album releases from the past month occurred as planned, which they have, so I have deleted Handsome Sandwich, Jonesy Land, and Spades GT in this month's installment. All for the best reasons, of course, so give their albums a listen on Spotify or your preferred major streaming/mp3 download services! We aren't shrinking this series down too much though, as two new albums have been added, one entirely new to the series, and most of this month's entries have updated info, noted by the album names in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!

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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite

Rumoured Songs: Multiple

Background: Ever the prolific artist & songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore has been working on an extensive rock opera for years (once claimed to be a 33 part work), originally named "A Story About A Kid Named Todd". Worked on in between his other unrelated solo albums, released for sale or otherwise, Chase posted a lengthy elaboration of the rock opera last year, now titled "The Chaotic Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release timeline. Clips of songs have surfaced on his Facebook page, as well as the final artwork, while in promotion for his last release, Chase has hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final eponymous solo album.

Current Release Status: Your guess is as good as mine for when this will finally come out, but remember that Chase is very prolific and varied in his musical interests, and not every album of his has seen a formal paid release, either by finishing it's lifespan as a demo, or by being released online for free. Regardless, he has been working on the rock opera for years to ensure a quality product, so stay tuned for updates from his camp!

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Far From Fine's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "Relapse", "This Way Again", "Poison In My Mind", "Broken"

Background: The new hard rock band from former Suicide Kings bandmates Mike Gaetano & Mitch Sirie, ex-Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi, and Brutally Fatal alum Austin McCrae on drums, Far From Fine signalled that they wanted to record a debut album as early as their debut gig (under their original name Ravencore) at Toystock in November, as hyped on SooToday. The renamed group went public in April and outlined their early plans on their Facebook page, including the names of four original songs. Far From Fine were recording at Mission Control Studios with producer Dustin Jones from (at least) May 26th-30th, sharing videos of Mitch and Matt tracking material there, but no full recordings of their songs (originals or covers) are online yet.

Current Release Status: No idea, and we don't even have a released Suicide Kings album to compare timelines with, but Mike aside, everyone in Far From Fine has released local albums with separate bands. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out for Far From Fine in general, and if you missed Toystock, don't miss their return to the stage at Rotaryfest Stage 2 next month to hear how their originals sound!

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Fort Creek's debut EP

Rumoured Songs: "Hammer Down"

Background: Local southern/hard rock quintet Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to record an EP since February 2020, and while the pandemic lockdowns may have gave them more time to record, they wouldn't release any samples until almost two years later when they shared this snippet of their single "Hammer Down" their Facebook page, later posting this 72 second clip. The guys debuted it at their headlining concert at Soo Blaster in June 2022, and have played it live regularly since, but they have yet to release any full tracks online. The band has been working in studio in early 2023, revealing that "it's coming along" in a Facebook post on March 22nd.

Current Release Status: Fort Creek revealed in a comment reply on their Facebook page on April 17th that their originals are "set to be released this fall", which follows their unrealized plans to release an EP in "late summer", then "late 2022". There are a lot of unknowns either way, especially given the 2+ years of production time and that this is a band primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit (though some members do have experience in name original bands, especially Tony). It will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned!

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Mike Haggith - "All The Best In All You Do" & the "Face To Face" live album

Rumoured Songs (A):  "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", "All The Best", "Atlantic City" (Bruce Springsteen cover)

Rumoured Songs (F):  "MorningStar", "The Best You Never Had", "Into The Setting Sun", "Come On Home", "I've Seen It Before", "If Ever Comes The Day", "Suburban Dream" (The Din cover), "Out Of My League" (The Din cover), "Potato (Should've Known Better)"

Background: During his live-streamed Facebook concert in February 2022, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith revealed that he was working on his newest studio album, entitled "All The Best In All You Do". Like his other post-Sault Ste. Marie albums, this will have an overarching concept, this time about the transition out of depression and being manipulated by others, into a happier personal life. A single version of "Twist of Fate" was unveiled in July, and live videos of some songs can be found on Mike's Facebook page and/or YouTube channel in individual uploads. Mike confirmed on his new indie label MorningStar Records' website that those who buy it on Bandcamp will get bonus songs named "All The Rest To Get You Through" including a Bruce Springsteen cover, while the song "Hot & Cold" will feature a guest guitar solo from Southern Ontario musician Hetriani. A separate live album (with vinyl print run) was also hyped for his "Face To Face" concert with Brian Tremblay at The Art Hub on Spring on May 26th, which you can watch in full at this link, but it's not clear if Brian's performances will be on the same album (if so, it would have to at least be a double album on vinyl).

Current Release Status: Mike has revealed on his label's website above that "All The Best In All You Do" is "targeted for release this summer", which implies any point before September, but there is no more specific timeframe as of this writing. Mike has revealed a lot about the inspirations and themes about the album regardless, so definitely see above for more on what to expect when the album releases later this year, and expect physical pressings on Kunaki as well! Less word is known about the "Face To Face" live album, however, but we'll keep you posted!

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The Uncanny Valley's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "The Uncanny Valley", "Glowin'", "Middle Man", “This Love is Psychedelic”, "Stuck In Rotation", “Sweet Like Sugar”, "Fumbling Through"

Background: The new classic hard rock band from 2019 Soo's Got Talent winner Adrian Sullivan, fans will have seen original material of theirs right from the start, as The Uncanny Valley debuted their own songs in their first live concert at The Canadian on New Year's Eve 2019. Live concert & jam session videos have followed on their Facebook page featuring their own material as well. After posting a teaser audio clip of "Sweet Like Sugar" in September 2020, they posted the full studio version of "Middle Man" that October, finally confirming there that they are working on their first album. The guys did record a studio version of "Stuck In Rotation" at Unsalted Audio for the Clusterfolk Music Festival and a related compilation album in April 2022, but whether that exact recording will be included on the band's own album is unclear.

Current Release Status: No clue, which isn't helped by The Uncanny Valley's age and relatively unfamiliar profile for many readers, and their public silence since Oktoberfest last year may be concerning for some as well. That said, they are a talented group who seemed to be taking the right steps for the future, and hopefully more updates on The Uncanny Valley's debut album follow in some form or another when ready!

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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around July 2nd, while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next month. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Details On Brand New Albums From Spades GT & Jonesy Land!!

Today's post is devoted to two brand new album releases from this week, both from punk-adjacent acts led by very familiar faces, so here's what you should know about each one before you give them a whirl!

Online page-less local folk/punk solo project Jonesy Land's debut album "Zoom - Out" was released as planned on Wednesday, so what should you know here? Recorded at Mission Control Studios and released through Tidal Records, the album was mixed by Kyle Whittaker at Strange Pumpkin Studios in St. Catharines. This is the first completed album from veteran local musician Dustin Jones since his non-local punk supergroup The Conspirators' self-titled 2020 album, though three standalone Jonesy Land songs were put out in 2021 & 2022 which are not on "Zoom - Out". SooToday's Chris Belsito spotlighted Jonesy Land and the album in this article from Wednesday, where Dustin noted his songwriting process as he gets older, the recording process, inspirations for the songs & themes therein, how the album name was conceived, and much more, and it's a good read to see how everything came together over the last few months!

Notably, Dustin co-produced the album with Lake Effect frontman Frank Deresti, who appears throughout. The final album cover can be seen above, following lots of promotional images that turned out to be just that and not the final product. The Indiana Jones font is timed well to both match Dustin's last name and the release of Dial of Destiny later this month! Eight songs made the cut for "Zoom - Out", which is described as "a singer-songwriter record" focusing primarily on more mature, folk-leaning styles with less of a punk or drinking song influence compared to his prior local band work ("Moral Blackout" and Jonesy Land's mid-2021 live dates acknowledged). Frank aside, guest appearances on the album include singer Shannon Moan on "Keep Trying" (not "Old Man", as it turns out), and Dustin's Bookclub bandmates Al Watson (drums) on "Ode To The Boys" and Erin Antonello (trumpet) on "Superior Sons".

Surprisingly, Dustin's old Surfers and Tide bandmates do not appear, at least not publically. You can now stream "Zoom - Out" in full on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon, among other sites. Yes, you can buy the album through Amazon and Apple on mp3, with Amazon copies running for $9.49. Be advised that this image shows a lot of website/application logos, implying that the album is available on hosts like TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitch, so take that with a grain of salt. Personal Facebook postings suggest that bigger plans are afoot for the release beyond just dropping online, but I'll wait for public word on that front. With new albums from No Funeral and Handsome Sandwich beating it to market, I have "Zoom - Out" pencilled in for an August review on the SMS, but buy or stream it at the above links, and check out the new lyric video for "Old Man" courtesy of Tidal Records' YouTube channel below! Uploaded on Tuesday, the video was made by Loathing Hearts Productions.

Without reviewing the song (I'll hold comment until August), the video features slowly rotating images and scenes of musicians and beachfront scenery, with some of the latter being familiar from social media teasers for the album. Well made and nicely layered, so give the video a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Jonesy Land soon, especially if they finally launch a social media page beyond Dustin's personal Instagram page. Alas, Bookclub and The Cover-Up don't have one (yet) either, but neither of them have a brand new album to hype up!

Finally for today's post, another new punk-related local album was released as promised earlier today, namely local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's studio album "Sewer City Radio"! While the local press hasn't as big for this one yet (moving to Barrie arguably didn't help in that respect), you can now stream the eight included songs on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, possibly among other services. Oddly, there's no visible sale point through Amazon, but the album is on sale through iTunes for $7.92, which is the same price as "Zoom - Out" there. Released through bassist James Roy Daley's imprint Books Of The Dead Press, this is Spades' first album since the former Jack Spades took part in 2015's "Fed Up!" split, and their first album with every band member aside from frontman J.D. Pearce. No word yet on the music video for "Final Girl", but you can hear the studio copy below while you wait!

Guest appearances come from guitarist Daniel Horton's Fast Life bandmate Andrew Moorehouse on "XS" and Anvil frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow on a yet-specified song (though you can easily pick it out once you hear it). No word yet on the teased physical release of the album, but if ready, your first chance to buy it in the Soo will likely be at the Josey Scott's Saliva concert in three weeks. I'll hold comment on the album for now pending our planned review of "Sewer City Radio" in September, but buy or stream the whole thing above and below, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck, Tym Morrison, And Nostalgia), And Weekend Concert Previews!!

A new month is upon us, so let's kick things off with some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and weekend concert previews, so here's what you should know on this warm June evening!

Nostalgia frontman Tym Morrison will bring his unplugged classic/hard rock show back to Tazzi's Cafe & Restaurant on Queen Street east for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via his Facebook event page this past Friday. After a month+ break from solo gigs, Tym will revert to his recent standby of solo covers with lots of multi-tracked effects and pedals to get a bigger sound out of everything, and after things went well at his spring gigs at Tazzi's, hopefully fans get more of the same hard rocking entertainment from him there TOMORROW! As usual for his gigs at Tazzi's (just seconds from Reggie's), expect an 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the official Facebook event page for more on TOMORROW'S concert, and here's Tym live!

Next up, Tym's aforementioned new hard rock cover trio Nostalgia will play their second and third concerts when they return to Reggie's Place on Friday, June 9th & Saturday, June 10th! After a successful debut gig there last Friday, this new band (featuring Tym, Browbeat/Caveman Morrison alum Dutch Vanderploeg on bass, and ex-Nikkfitt drummer Chet Dziergas) should provide fans with another fun night or two of classic-leaning hard rock and metal hits next weekend! Note that Nostalgia have yet to visibly make an online page separate from Tym's solo Facebook group, and they have not posted media from their first show yet either. Expect 9:30 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits at Reggie's next weekend. Visit the Facebook event page for more details!

Also, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for an apparent one-nighter on Friday, June 16th! The band has yet to confirm this gig publically, but it was announced by the venue with this Facebook event page, one of many that they put up this week for concerts this month (Bone Yard already confirmed their shows the following week there). This will be Soundcheck's first show at the Dennis Street nightclub since early last month, and it should be a solid chance to fans to check out their hard and classic rock covers with the summer season in full swing! Again, this appears to be a one-night-only gig, as Shooters' wave of June event pages have been for each individual night without doubling up two shows in one event page, and there is none for Saturday the 17th, not even for a different band. We'll let you know if that omission was in error and/or if another band is confirmed!

As usual for their Shooters stops, you can see Terry, Cameron, Jim, and Glen on Friday the 16th at 9:00 PM with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and if you're going to miss them at jam night at Jay's tonight, they will have fitting replacements!

Finally, this weekend's only announced hard rock concerts that I'm aware of (Tym Morrison aside) come at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard will hit the stage for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Well, "one night only" in the sense of a traditional concert, but they will be at Jay's tonight subbing in for Soundcheck for the the first of three times this summer during Jay's Thursday jam nights! If Bone Yard are scheduled this summer at the former Reggie's West, then they're leading the jam night charge in those weeks, so keep that in mind if you're into such events! Again, we don't cover jam nights as "concerts" for our purposes due to their unpredictability by design. Bone Yard have been busy in the studio since their last gigs at Shooters three weeks ago, so look for some solid hard rocking tunes from Greg, Alex, and Warren tomorrow night as they kick off their summer slate!

A one nighter due to a private booking elsewhere on Saturday night (new local pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue will be playing at Jay's on Saturday instead), tomorrow's standard concert from Bone Yard will have a 19+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Bone Yard's next concert (and jam night duties), and here they are live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for either this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, or news on new album releases! Thanks everyone!