LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck), And This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

(Updated at 5:22 PM) I know things have been slow on the site lately, but so has news from the local hard rock, metal, and punk spectrums. Hopefully this weekend concert preview post will help, as there's a solid amount of concerts to take, so let's start with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck are advertised to return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced earlier this week on SooToday's events calendar courtesy of the venue, and the band proper has not publically acknowledged them on their Facebook page at press time (they hadn't for their shows two weeks ago either.) After splitting their last weekend across two venues, the Mourning Wood successors will return to this popular west end nightclub TOMORROW & SATURDAY for the first time in three weeks with another weekend of hard rocking covers, so keep Soundcheck's new gigs in mind for some solid and familiar action this weekend! As usual for their Esquire Club stops, TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows are 10:00 PM affairs with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. See above for more details, and no public videos of theirs yet!

Next up, we'll move to previously announced concerts, starting with the ever-prolific Tym Morrison's ongoing weekly concert arrangement at Gliss Steak & Seafood, which continues for yet another week TOMORROW & SATURDAY! Fresh off of his short notice Monday-Wednesday returns to Mark's Breakfast Plus, Tym will play his fourth & fifth shows in six days this weekend, and should have another stacked slate of classic and hard rock covers ready for Gliss patrons and fans alike tomorrow and Saturday, so keep these downtown matinees in mind as usual! As is standard for Tym's supper-time concerts at this restaurant, expect 6:00 PM start times tomorrow and on Saturday, and while these shows do not have announced age limits or cover charges, mind the locale. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

Also this weekend, Sault Michigan fans can take in a pair of shows from Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906, including shows TOMORROW NIGHT at Bird's Eye Outfitters, and then a trip west to Hulbert Happy Hour in Hulbert Township THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! As announced last week, these will give fans their first chance to see Project 906 on a solo stage since their Hulbert debut in March, having solely stuck to multi-band showcases and competitions at The Superior Cafe in the interim. Tomorrow's Soo show is a relatively rare headlining concert in their hometown, and while logic would dictate that The Superior Cafe would be the host venue compared to it's hunting/outdoor store on the same complex, all band and venue advertising says that the show will be in Bird's Eye, so the cafe proper must be geared more to smaller or unplugged acts. Venue advertising indicates that a duo act named Brian & Keith will be opening for 906 tomorrow, and while I don't know much about them, I believe they've played at here before.

The Hulbert Happy Hour show on Saturday appears to be a standard stop for this well traveled hard rock group, so if you're out that direction, keep that show in mind too! Tomorrow's stop on the former Golanka's Bar location has a 7:00 PM start time and no announced age limit or cover charge, while Saturday's Hulbert show is at 9:00 PM with no cover and a 21+ age limit. Click here and visit the above links for more details, I've added Bird's Eye Outfitters and The Superior Cafe to our Sault Michigan venue links, and here's Project 906 live in concert earlier this year!



Lastly for known hard rock shows this weekend, fans of Sault Ontario indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota can see them back on stage THIS SATURDAY NIGHT when they take part in the Indie Spring concert at LopLops Lounge! As memorably hyped in this Facebook video where Id Iota summoned "Father Spring", this concert will mark Id Iota's third local concert appearance with their current lineup, and with new songs from their forthcoming full length album expected, look for more good times from this fan favourite quartet on Saturday! Id Iota will play support to Sudbury garage rock band The Almighty Rhombus, who are touring in support of their brand new EP "Swish", and with their lively, upbeat brand of rock music, they'll be a fine fit at LopLops this weekend too! Also playing support is local drone/noise rock trio Pointless (featuring Treble Charger's Bill Priddle and Id Iota's Dustin Goodall), who should deliver in their own unique way on Saturday as well, so don't be late for their set!

Promoted by Dustin Goodall via his recording studio Unsalted Audio (in a pseudo-revival of his old Unsalted Records agency), this concert has a $10 cover charge, 19+ age limit, and 9:00 PM start time. Indie rock fans should take to this show well, and with some hard rock and punk glimmers to boot, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Id Iota live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and our newest poll on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Abhorrent Forest - "To See Eternity" EP Review!!

With news quiet this week, let's break the silence with our 107th monthly CD review on the SMS, namely our review of local black metal solo project Abhorrent Forest's third EP "To See Eternity"! Released to their Bandcamp page on March 11th, this release is a return to their primary genre after the ambient-focused "Ethereal" in September, and is described on Bandcamp as "an EP made in the late winter nights". Once again, Abhorrent Forest is represented on this self-produced and independently released album by Will "Old Man Wyrn" Tholberg (or just "Wyrn") on all instruments, and the project remains an instrumental effort. As was the case with "Ethereal", "To See Eternity" is available for $10 at the above links, and while you can stream it free there as well, consider buying it to support Old Man Wyrn's work! Featuring 4 songs running for about 22 minutes total, let's begin this month's CD review with it's opening and shortest track, "Plague"!

Starting with brutal and devastating instrumentation that completely reverses course from "Ethereal", this song has a very ominous guitar riff that almost sounds like a villain's theme music in an epic video game. The drums aren't as varied as they could be, but I love the guitar work and the bass is a very solid match to it. This is a song that's begging for better production values and perhaps vocals, but as it stands, it's definitely a highlight of this EP! This song sounds like it ends abruptly, but it appears to flow right into the second track "Asunder", which moves from the grandiose dramatic feel to more of a traditional black metal vibe with rapid fire drumming and drone-like guitar work, while still maintaining a steady aggression. The song changes pace to a slower, more deliberate rhythm late, and this will definitely please black metal loyalists more than "Plague". Myself, I find the instrument mix is muddier here, and while this is well in range, I do prefer the opener overall.

"Season of Death" comes third, and I'd be lying if I didn't say this gave me a "Black Sabbath" vibe (as in, the band's self-titled song.) The cadence of the guitars, the ominous thunder sound effects, the deliberate pacing, it's all there for the first half. The song varies in the second half with a faster groove, and starts to diversify itself to good effect, with solid bass and drumming all around, though the latter use of the thunder effects feel thrown in, and the abrupt ending doesn't do much for it. The first half feels too derivative, but the second half helps bring it home! The EP's title track "To See Eternity" closes things, and at a whopping 9:07 runtime to boot! This lengthy track starts with more black metal intensity a'la "Asunder", but it sounds cleaner and heavier all at once, if that makes sense. The marching eerie sound is a bonus, and Wyrn's straightforward heavy guitar riffs are always a plus! At the same time, similar instrumental sections are extended to lengths that get very repetitive, without much structural variance.

This especially strikes me as a song that could have been severely chopped down without losing anything substantial, which doesn't take anything away from Wyrn's solid performances and the brutality on display! I just find that the song would work better if it was shorter and less repetitive, but fans of Abhorrent Forest's black metal material will definitely enjoy the closer!

So, how do I sum up Abhorrent Forest's third EP? Well, it's definitely a return to form for black metal fans, and pound for pound, their strongest overall release to date! I especially loved "Plague", which showcases Old Man Wyrn's musical diversity very well with a grand, ominous sound that shows a lot of potential beyond just black metal and ambient compositions! In more traditional black metal territory, the rest of the album delivers the good with strong guitar work and assaulting riffs and drum tracks, and I liked that the cymbals were toned down from "The End of Life" too. That all said, the title track dragged on too long without any major changes in tempo or structure, "Season of Death" is almost too Black Sabbathy in it's first half, and I am still curious to hear how this material would sound with vocals. Abhorrent Forest are on an upward trajectory for sure, and I'm very curious to hear what Wyrn has in store next, so buy or stream "To See Eternity" at the above links!

I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! Next month, barring a sudden huge album release, I am planning to keep with new CD reviews via looking at defunct local alt-hard rock trio The Din's posthumous live album "Suburban Sendoff", which was released in February but held until this point due to our 6 month anti-bias buffer (having just reviewed their last studio album in December.) Look for that at some point next month, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison) & I Mother Earth/Finger Eleven Concert Videos!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms who follow the site (I know there's a few of you out there!) The fact that much of this post deals with a band named I Mother Earth is purely coincidental, but we have lots of concert videos to look at today, and to start, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (some on short notice), so here's what you should know!

Former Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will bring his acoustic solo show back to Mark's Breakfast Plus at the Market Mall for early-week matinees TOMORROW, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, and on Monday-Wednesday, June 11th, 12th, and 13th! Apologies for the short notice on this week's shows, they were only announced via their Facebook event page yesterday (all six shows share it.) After having just played the former Kackleberry's Cafe a couple of weeks back, this run of shows will see Tym Morrison play the second full week of this and next month, with six evenings of fan favourite and often heavy covers in store in the west end, so keep these in mind for your supper-time entertainment TOMORROW through WEDNESDAY, and then next month! No word yet on if this scheduling will maintain in July, but if it does, he'd play Mark's from July 9th-11th.

If you missed Tym at Friday's finger food-featured concert at Room 21, you'll get a quicker than expected encore at this other frequent recent venue of his! All six of these Mark's Breakfast Plus shows (TOMORROW, TUESDAY, and WEDNESDAY included) are 4:00 PM affairs with no announced cover charges or age limits, but mind the locale, this is a restaurant first. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!



To round out today's post, let's feature some long awaited videos from last month's I Mother Earth/Finger Eleven concert at The Machine Shop, courtesy of frequent local concert attendee Christopher Paci's YouTube channel on Tuesday! I'm not sure why these videos took this long to make his channel, but better late than never, and we all know Chris' work is excellent by now! We usually go in descending order by lineup placement when featuring videos like this, but I'll reverse things given how the two bands joined forces to close the night. Chris didn't post anything from the acoustic pre-show or J.J. Thompson's opening set, but he did get 7 videos of Burlington hard rock quintet Finger Eleven in action, including of their songs "First Time", "Living in a Dream", "One Thing", "Falling On", "Drag You Down", "Paralyzer", and as embedded below, their set-opener "Above". While not super close to the stage, Chris has a good & central view!

As noted in our prior thoughts on videos from this concert, Finger Eleven sounded great, especially on their older and heavier material, and Scott's voice is as solid as ever! I'm sure it was a thrill for local fans to finally hear "Paralyzer"-era songs on a local stage too, of course. Nice work from Chris once again, so check out "Above" below, and their other songs above!

Likewise, Chris also filmed 7 videos of headlining Toronto alt-hard rock band I Mother Earth's set last month, filming them playing their songs "Used To Be Alright", "Raspberry", "Undone", "Summertime in the Void", "One More Astronaut", "Rain Will Fall", and as embedded below, their opener "Not Quite Sonic" (complete with spoken interlude from Edwin.) The camera work here is a little shakier, but the performances here are solid, if only marred by some muddy vocals, but long-time I.M.E. fans were right at home at The Machine Shop! Note that later songs from their set were filmed from a sharper angle to our left/the stage's right, but the camera quality is no different otherwise. Give "Not Quite Sonic" a look below, and see more from I Mother Earth's set above!



Finally, Chris shot two videos of I Mother Earth & Finger Eleven's joint encore, including the two bands playing I.M.E.'s "Levitate", but embedded below is their combined rendition of Finger Eleven's own "Good Times" (no Supertramp cover here.) These had to be a thrill for fans of both bands, especially in a more intimate live setting, but when you have 9 band members plus I.M.E.'s touring musicians playing the same song at once, the instruments and sounds do admittedly get cluttered up. The spectacle of it all is absolutely there, but I'd rather hear both songs with just one band, not two at once. Maybe I'm wrong though, so see for yourself below and above!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906), Fluid 5ive Concert Preview, And Much More!!

I was going to put this post up tomorrow, but with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS that I don't want to put off for a week, we'll double up on this Thursday! Along with those new dates, we have this weekend's remaining hard rock concert preview (and a related lineup change), and the latest from prolific studio projects on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 have a busy weekend ahead, as they'll return to The Superior Cafe for a solo concert on Friday, May 18th (one week from tomorrow), plus a return to Hulbert Happy Hour in nearby Hulbert on Saturday the 19th! Their recent sets at the former venue's musician competitions and showcase aside, these will be Project 906's first solo concerts since March, when they made their Hulbert debut. This talented E.U.P. group should have some solid nights of hard rocking covers in store both here and 54 minutes west of here next weekend, so keep both shows in mind! Note that Project 906's own plug of the Friday show on their Facebook page indicates that the show will take place in Bird Eye Outfitters (the hunting/outdoors store on the same complex), but I would assume that they're returning to The Superior Cafe rather than playing inside the store proper.

Project 906's Sault show next Friday has an early 8:00 PM start time with no announced age limits or cover charges, while their Saturday nighter in Hulbert next week has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover, and a 21+ age limit. Click here and visit the above links for more details, and don't miss Project 906 back on a solo stage (or two) next weekend!

Next up, here's our preview of THIS SATURDAY NIGHT'S Fluid 5ive concert, as the new-ish hard/classic rock quartet will play their second live concert at The Rockstar Bar in Sault Ontario, and third total! This will be Fluid 5ive's first stop at this venue since February, and with that concert reportedly having a packed attendance, here's hoping for more of the same from this hard rocking outfit on Saturday! Note that the band has not plugged this show on their Facebook page at press time, but it was confirmed via the venue's Facebook event page and this SooToday classified ad, which confirms a surprising lineup change too, as keyboardist Rob Irving has moved to guitar in place of Joseph Miller, who is "no longer associated with our band". A reason was not stated publically for Joseph's departure, and while announcing it in a classified ad isn't typical, hopefully nothing too serious happened, and that we see Joe in a new band down the road!

No word on how Rob will sound on guitar on Saturday (and beyond?), but if this is a permanent move with no new members added, is a name change to Fluid 4our in order? In any event, Saturday night's concert has no announced cover charge, a 19+ age limit, and a start time of 9:00 PM, but I'd bank on the band not actually playing their first song until 10:00 or later. Visit the above links for more details on what should be a solid concert, and when videos surface to share on here, we'll let you know!

Also today, here's the latest from local hard rock solo artist Mike McCleary, so what's he been up to as of late? After taking a month off from public updates starting in mid-March, Mike resurfaced on his Facebook page on April 24th by sharing a feature on his music from the website Jammerzine (brief but well written!), while also revealing that his music would soon be added to the playlists of some online radio stations, and sharing a new original song from his Soundcloud page named "The Great Musical Landscape", which is punk-inspired with eclectic instrumentation, and worth a listen for long-time fans of his! Mike revealed last week that his new goal is "to release as much music as possible this year", and a new album is coming "soon", while he also teased plans to resume playing acoustic concert sets and possibly finding full time live band members. As well, Mike has made all of his past local albums available on a "pay what you can" model on Bandcamp.

There is more to acknowledge from Mike's Facebook page, particularly a new video, but to spread things out, I'll hold that for an upcoming post. It's nice to see that Mike is staying active with his music and has some big plans in the works, so be sure to follow him at the above links, and consider buying his albums to help support Mental Health Week!

Finally for today, here's a pair of new videos from Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night's Facebook page, both shared from keyboardist Craig Harrison's personal Facebook page yesterday! These feature Craig jamming with a guest guitarist/bassist named Luke Bernard, who I don't know anything about musically, but he's a fine musician on these two clips! Both hew very close to Theatre of Night's established orchestral and symphonic base, with one video featuring Luke on the acoustic guitar and Craig on keyboard, and the one embedded below featuring Luke on bass and Craig on an effects board on a tablet. The former video is more ethereal and deliberate, and it's not helped by a shorter run-time and Craig generally blocking Luke from view, hence why the second video is featured here. I'm not quite sure that the dog on the futon likes the performance below, but it has a nice melodic ambiance, and you get a solid view of Craig's effects application also!

Is Luke joining Theatre of Night's lineup for live concerts, or are the musical similarities to their studio work just a coincidence? Either way, these are nicely done and will definitely please existing T.O.N. fans, so check these videos out above and below, and stay tuned for more when updates roll in!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new video-heavy post on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) & Most Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

After a quiet week on the SMS, things will pick up over the next couple of days, starting with this weekend's concert previews! Well, most of them, as due to the length of this post, I have opted to push our preview of Saturday night's Fluid 5ive show to tomorrow's post. Don't worry, it is coming! Now, here's what you should know to start the weekend, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Joining his regular weekly concerts at Gliss Steak & Seafood TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will also play a nighttime solo concert at Room 21 TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on that show, it was only confirmed via it's official Facebook event page on Tuesday. TOMORROW'S gig above Low & Slow will be Tym's first concert at this venue since Friday the 13th last month, and with no Jason costume to worry about, fans can enjoy his acoustic cover action unfettered this weekend there and at Gliss, with his ongoing matinee run continuing that same evening and on Saturday too, so don't miss out at either venue! You can take in Tym's prolific live show tomorrow and Saturday at Gliss at 6:00 PM with no cover charges or age limits (but mind the locale), while TOMORROW NIGHT'S Room 21 return has an oddly specific 10:15 PM start time, no cover, and a 19+ age limit. Click here and visit the above links for more info, and here's Tym live!



Next up, we'll move to previously announced concerts, starting with the third annual Sky's The Limit fundraiser concert, taking place TONIGHT at The W.W. Baldwin Auditorium at The Tech! After two successful prior installments were held at the former St. Mary's College, Algoma Family Services have brought back this mental health awareness concert as part of Children's Mental Health Week once again, with young local musicians (aged 14-29) returning for another entertaining evening of live music for the cause! Local blues/hard rock trio Electric Church will serve as tonight's headlining performers after backing up The Pixo Control & The Din in the last two years, and they're a fitting choice to get the closing nod in year #3 (let alone in their first announced show of the year!) Co-headlining is Christian rapper Tristan "Bold Noize" Goslow, another returnee from the prior Sky's the Limit concerts, who should deliver a solid set of upbeat rhymes himself tonight!

Unlike in prior years, the full performer lineup has actually been announced online, as per this Sault Online article, so who else is playing? In listed order, the other acts are Collage (an all-female band from Notre Dame du Sault that also played last year), a duo act from local musicians Dalton Povey & Chris Elgie, Lime (a high school band comprised of Mustang Sally alumni from Korah Collegiate), and singer/songwriter Tianna Legacy, herself returning from last year. Genres aren't given for the acts in question, but each one is described or quoted regarding their positive messages and intentions, so hopefully they leave an impact (musical or otherwise) tonight! The show will take place at The Tech at 7:00 PM, this is absolutely an ALL AGES event, and tickets are $5 each or $20 if you have a family of five+. You can buy tickets at Algoma Family Services at 205 McNabb Street or by phone at
(705) 945-5050, and presumably at the door.

With all proceeds going to mental health and wellness programs at Algoma Family Services, this is definitely a worthwhile fundraiser and cause to support, so definitely consider a trip down to The Tech for all of the music on display tonight! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on The Sky's The Limit III and Children's Mental Health Week, and here's Electric Church live!

Finally for today's concert preview post, we'll head south to the Eastern Upper Peninsula, where Traverse City, Michigan metal trio Scarkazm will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Just two weeks removed from their most recent Sault Ste. Marie gigs at their Kewadin branch, these will be the Peril sister band's first shows in St. Ignace in four months. This fan favourite group should have another hard hitting weekend of covers and originals in store for northern fans, so if you're up for some heavy rock action, take a jaunt down to St. Ignace tomorrow and/or Saturday night! They won't be back there until August, after all. As usual for Scarkazm's (and Peril's) Kewadin Casino weekends, expect 21+ age limits over these two nights, there are no announced cover charges, and start times remain at 9:00 PM. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and here's Scarkazm live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Fluid 5ive concert preview and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Infinity Grinder & Orange

With news very slow as of late, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile a couple of days early to keep things rolling on the site! This monthly feature post looks at 1 or 2 defunct or inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk bands, as randomly selected from our band links, in order to spotlight them and their run for current readers! As the first band chosen for this month didn't quiet have enough material to warrant a solo profile, we have added a second band to fill things out, and ironically, both are duos with brief run in the mid-2010s. Here's what you should know!
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Infinity Grinder

Genre: Alternative/Experimental Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:
 
Brad Griffith (Bizotic, No Arrow), vocals/guitar
Terrence Gomes (The Northern Tragedy, Changing Waves), vocals/drums

Info/Analysis: A mystery debuting band at March 2015's Speak Easy Battle of the Bands (where they did not place), Infinity Grinder were spiritual successors to Brad Griffith's 2010-2011 two man band Sounds From The Green Room, just with a larger online presence. Brad & Terrence would only play two more announced concerts (the final Swampstravaganza & Ballot Burner's New A show that August), though 18 mostly instrumental song postings (some with guest "R.P.") made their way to their Soundcloud page, the last of which coming in March 2016, before they quietly dissolved. Harbouring an experimental sound with punk, grunge, and indie influences, Infinity Grinder had solid chemistry and an often heavy range of tracks like "A Few Weeks" and "Last Call", and it's a shame they didn't play live more often! Here's Infinity Grinder playing "Modern World" at The Canadian, but also see them live at The Speak Easy at this link, and don't miss Brad with Bizotic!


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Orange

Genre: Post-Punk/Rockabilly

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Toledo, Ohio

Members:
 
Matt Zook, guitar
Christopher Shoust (Telephone & Address, The Red & Black), drums

Info/Analysis: Also known as Orange: The Band, this project surfaced on social media in late 2014, though Chris & Matt had previously manned Orange in an oddly undisclosed prior period. Orange never played live in their return, but posted many old instrumental tracks to their Soundcloud page that winter as part of "Sunday Sessions" that were reportedly conducted locally at St. Andrew's Church. Plans were announced on their Facebook page in early 2015 to record an album and/or a split with Chris' other active duo The Red & Black, but neither occurred, and the band fell inactive after that March, aside for apologizing for not posting anything lately in September 2016.  Orange harboured an minimalist sound taking influence from punk, rockabilly, and alternative styles, and while the lo-fi nature and lack of vocals won't be for everyone, fans of Chris' recent projects (primarily Telephone & Address) will be right at home! Here's the first "Sunday Session", and hear more above!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! This series returns on or around June 10th, and we'll be spotlighting a randomly selected Sault Michigan band next in our rotation. As such, we'll be looking at inactive local metal band Tantrym Tyme next, so look for that profile next month, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Treble Charger & Dumpster Mummy), Plus New Videos!!

On this Saturday morning, let's get our first concert preview-less news post of the month up on the SMS, so what's in this one? New videos from a pair of familiar local frontmen, and to lead off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this summer, so here's what you should know!

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia metal trio Dumpster Mummy will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a headlining concert at The New American Pub on Sunday, June 3rd! Fans may recognize Dumpster Mummy from a short notice show at this same venue back in September 2016, and it's great to see their death and groove metal-influenced attack on a local stage after over a year & a half away, especially with more advance notice, so don't miss out next month! Local support will include death/extreme metal quartet Winkstinger in their first announced concert of 2018, as well as the long awaited return of local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore in their first public, non-house party set since (ironically) 2016's Dumpster Mummy show. After a very quiet 2017 from the Blood Shed camp, it's great to see C.T.W. back on stage after far too long, so keep Tyler's return in mind for then. Also, we do wish Tyler a happy birthday!

Promoted by Winkstinger frontman Josh Amendola, this 19+ concert at The New A has an advertised start time of 9:00 PM, and while cover charges had not been announced at press time, note that the Dumpster Mummy show in 2016 had an advertised entry fee either $4 or "pay what you can." Despite the Sunday night placement, this should be a fun concert for extreme metal lovers, and hopefully there's a solid turnout at The New A in a month's time! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, the second band playing Rotaryfest's main stage at Clergue Park this year has been confirmed, as local/Toronto indie/punk quartet Treble Charger will headline the Friday, July 20th lineup at the Soo's annual summer festival! Though not yet listed on the Rotaryfest website (expect a full lineup announcement by early July), Treble Charger's involvement was confirmed via this official Facebook event page earlier this week. While it is possible that Greig, Bill, and company played Rotaryfest during Treble Charger's original run, this is the first time on the current online record that the Juno nominees have played either Rotaryfest stage, so it'll be awesome to see them on such a big event in their first local show of the year! No word yet on who's opening for Treble Charger on July 20th, but Rotaryfest's Friday lineup tends to have 5 or 6 total acts (2011-2013 aside), and remember that Calgary classic rock legends The Stampeders will headline Stage 1 on Saturday the 21st.

Also, given their stature and past billing from Toronto, I imagine that Treble Charger will be exempt from the "covers only" rule for local performers (though that could be an oversight on my part!) As always, expect all three nights of music at Rotaryfest's main stage (including Thursday the 19th) to be FREE & ALL AGES, and while time slots are not out yet, expect Treble Charger to be on at 10:00 PM, with the bands proper beginning at 6:00 or 5:00 PM, pending if there's 5 or 6 bands. Hopefully Treble Charger deliver a solid set and get a sizeable crowd down to Clergue Park in a couple of months, and stay tuned for continuing lineup details!

We'll close today with some new videos, starting with some from former Din frontman Mike Haggith's Facebook page! One video from Monday isn't music-related at all, instead the result of a post from the Wholesome Memes Facebook page relating to a posted story about a lasagna dinner. It's cuter if you're familiar with the post he references, but if you're hoping for some new music, Mike does have you covered! He uploaded this video on Sunday of him playing a new original song called "If Only You Could Hear Me" that he wrote last summer, but wasn't sure what he wanted to do with it in studio, so he opened up the lines for fans to give input. In this format, it's an acoustic demo with Mike's softer, higher register vocals, and honestly, the guitar work reminds me slightly of "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison. I don't know if that's a viable inspiration for where to take this song, but it works for what it is, and give it a look below!



Finally for today, here's a video of A Dire Setback frontman Chris Nielsen performing at Room 21's open mic night on Tuesday, as live streamed on the band's Facebook page! Cited in the description as "the best way to warm up vocals" before their set opening for The Steves on Wednesday, the video features Chris covering "Don't Look Now" by comedian and country singer Rodney Carrington, which definitely shows his range extends beyond punk! The humorous lyrics are hard to make out in the muffled audio, but the vertical camera angle works fine given that this is a solo performance, and give it a look below to see a different side of Chris on stage!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site soon! Thanks everyone!