Marianas Trench Concert Video Showcase, Plus More From The Northwest!!

Today's post is devoted to a recent major concert and the bands that played it, specifically the Marianas Trench-headlined show at GFL Memorial Gardens on September 22nd! Media hasn't been spread too wide from this Mocha Concert Series installment, but the ever-prolific Christopher Paci was in attendance and shot 14 videos across all three bands for his YouTube channel! We already covered his first video of The Northwest playing an apparent new original song (or a cover I can't identify) which went up the day after the show, but for one reason or another, the rest were not uploaded until a week later. Going from the top of the bill down, let's start with the headlining Vancouver pop punk quartet, as half of Chris' videos came from Marianas Trench's set, so what did he film? His seven videos include "Here's To The Zeros", "Desperate Measures", "Who Do You Love", "Stutter", "Good To You", "Pop 101", and as embedded below, their set-opener "Astoria".

Chris was able to move from his side-stage seat for The Northwest to a more distant but also far more central vantage of the stage (if still at an angle), so while views of the touring bands are softer, you get a much better view of the stage and bands. I'm not a diehard Marianas Trench fan, but they have a good melodic performance across these songs, and fans are definitely into it, so fans will wanna give them all a look above & below!

Next up, Chris got five videos of Nova Scotia hard rock quintet The Trews' co-headlining set on the 22nd, including of their songs "Not Ready To Go", "Hope & Ruin", "I Wanna Play", "Hold Me In Your Arms", and as embedded below, "Tired Of Waiting". Too bad he didn't film "So She's Leaving", I love that song. The stage lighting really trips up The Trews' visibility morseo than Marianas Trench, but they sound solid on these videos, and here's hoping it doesn't take another 13 years for them to come back! Give Chris' videos from their set a look above & below!

As for local openers The Northwest, Chris did film one more video of their opening set, despite the week-long delay between the two, and it features the guys playing the opening track from their "All In" EP, namely "Shoreline". Sharper side-stage angle aside, the quality is comparable of the first video of the unnamed new song (or cover), and it's an entertaining live rendition, so give it a watch for yourself below!

While we're on the subject, let's close with some more recent coverage of the local indie/punk quintet, starting with an interview with Jarod Smith of the music website Volatile Weekly two weeks ago! Conducted with frontman Wayne Watkins, the interview features Jarod asking about their non-musical interests, origins, live concert experiences (interesting that Wayne referred to Coch's Corner by its old name Foggy Notions when referencing their recent music video shoot there), favourite original songs, studio/writing process, future plans, and more. The site's very plain, but this is a good interview to introduce new fans to The Northwest, so give it a look above! The other new interview comes from Jenna Melanson of the website Canadian Beats Media from way back in April (apologies for the delay, the band only acknowledged it on Facebook last week), and it was posted in the wake of the release of their song "Long Hair (Longer Nights)".

Conducted with Wayne and guitarists Greg Callaghan & Mike Yakasovich, it heavily reflects "Long Hair" for it's writing process and its release as the first single/video from "All In". Note that at the end, Wayne mentioned that they'd be playing an EP release party on June 10th, which did not occur (their first show of 2022 was the Elliott Brood concert at LopLops on June 19th, and the EP wasn't released in physical formats anyway). Good (if slightly dated now) interview itself, so check it & more out above, and stay tuned for more on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Kiss' Full Local Concert Set From 2007, Plus Heavy Lies The Crown & The Northwest Updates!!

After some recent focus on weekend concert previews and The Soo's Got Talent, let's tackle some news and updates on this Sunday afternoon, including recent news coverage of a local band, videos from another, and leading off, a lot of new footage from a huge headlining concert from a decade & a half back. Here's what you should know!

Readers may recall a post from this summer when I covered a belated upload of master footage of the Kiss concert at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in July 2007, featuring three songs from that night and Kiss receiving the key to the city. It was great to see high quality footage of this huge show again, but just eleven days after that video was uploaded, YouTube channel The Kissin' Time uploaded Kiss' entire set for fans to check out! No clue where The Kissin' Time got the footage (the channel isn't local), so this is either a massive coincidence or they saw an opportunity to fill in all of the blanks for Kiss Army members. This is definitely the same master camera footage uploaded by Anthony Alexander, but more, and it runs for a brisk one hour & 53 minutes. After all, you wanted the best, you got the best! This video also starts with the key to the city ceremony with then-City Commisioner (and ex-Rock 101 DJ) Ray Bauer.

As proof that this has everything shot with this camera re: Kiss' set (so no local openers), you do get to see pan shots of attendees at this outdoor concert with music on the P.A. system before Kiss take the stage. In performance order, you can see Paul, Gene, Tommy, and Eric perform "Detroit Rock City", "Deuce", "Makin' Love", the live debut of "All American Man", "Calling Dr. Love", "Lick It Up", "I Love It Loud", "Firehouse", "Do You Love Me?", "C'mon & Love Me", "Hotter Than Hell", "Watchin' You", "Shout It Out Loud", "God Of Thunder", "Got To Choose", "Love Gun", "Black Diamond", and in their encore, "Let Me Go, Rock N' Roll", "God Gave Rock & Roll To You II", and, of course, "Rock & Roll All Nite". If you're curious, eight songs played at this show were replaced by nine other/newer Kiss songs for their Sault Ontario concert three years later, so if you remember X song being played here, that may be why.

This concert took place 15 years ago, so even with this being the master video seen on the monitors that night, it won't look or sound as good as it would even 5 years later (note the 4:3 aspect ratio too), but it's all perfectly serviceable and you get a good sense for Kiss' live show across this whole set, and everyone sounds just as you'd hope they would, with loads of familiar hit songs from start to finish! Give Kiss' entire Sault Michigan concert from 2007 a look below!

Next up, here's the latest from St. Ignace metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown, who have been working on writing new material in recent weeks, but have still posted on their Facebook page, primarily for crowd engagement purposes apart from official band talk.  They haven't been completely absent of tangible news though, starting with this video on October 8th that they called a "teaser of a teaser of a kinda teaser. Kinda". It features what appears to be 17 seconds of a new original song (no vocals) set to zooming and heavily filtered footage of a photo through a camera viewfinder. Possible album cover or just an aesthetic choice? What we hear sounds heavy and promising, so give it a look above! That same day, H.L.T.C. uploaded a longer video of singer Brandon West demonstrating some of his vocal techniques, featuring a cameo from one of his kids.

No word on why this was uploaded in black & white, but it's an interesting video on its own to hear Brandon's isolated vocals and just talking a little about his technique, something to be expanded on greatly when their teased new album is ready. Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Heavy Lies The Crown!

We'll close today by heading north to Sault Ontario to look at some of the recent press attention that local indie/punk quintet The Northwest have been getting! On September 2nd, they were featured in this article by Record World International, where frontman Wayne Watkins talked about their approach to their new EP "All In" and how the pandemic affected its progress, with an extra focus on their song "Shoreline", which was apparently their first song explicitly sent to radio stations (remember that the two Sault Ontario-based music stations aren't good genre matches, so not necessarily ours). Good article that hypes their successes well, so give it a look above! For local press, SooToday's own Chris Belsito interviewed & featured them for an article on October 3rd, aptly titled "The Northwest is on the brink of something big", where Wayne talked about their recent momentum & their strategy to expand their name beyond the Soo.

For future plans, The Northwest have applied to get on the lineup of multiple concert festivals here and abroad next summer, and will likely next play a local concert near the holidays at LopLops Lounge. Their next show anywhere will actually be in North Bay on Thursday, when they open for past local concert headliner David Dino White at a mystery venue that will only be revealed to advance ticket holders (click here for details on this conceit). Exciting times are ahead for The Northwest, so stay tuned for more from them this week, read above for these new articles, and stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Handsome Sandwich) & Our Soo's Got Talent 2022 Semifinal Recap!!

With less than a week to go before The Soo's Got Talent crowns its third winner, let's belatedly recap what went down at the semifinals at Soo Blaster on Saturday, October 1st! As before, remaining contestants were judged by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, and Valerie Powley, with Passion Video Productions on hand once again to film everything for the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, with videos being posted on October 5th. All ten surviving contestants are singers (with two also featuring guitar), with finalists noted in italics, and like in past years, each contestant got two performances for making it this far. From how the videos are edited, each semifinalist performed once for the judges, were scored based on that song, and then returned after everyone else sang once to tackle one non-scored song each, some with wardrobe changes. First up was Greg McLeod, who tackled two classic rock songs.

He first covered Electric Light Orchestra's "Rock N' Roll Is King" for the judges, then wore a Team Canada jersey to cover The Tragically Hip's "Blow At High Dough". Second on the 1st was Wendy Hord, who brought in a friend named Jeff (not a prior competitor) to do an original song for the judges that may have been titled "Four Leaf Clover". Her second Jeff-less song was a cover of Kaye Ballard's "Fly Me To The Moon". Third was Christopher Halliday, whose for-scoring cover was of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me", following that by tackling Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn". Next we had Xavier Pelletier Leboeuf, who sang Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" before singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", complete with a huge wardrobe change into Ann Wilson-ish attire. The first half concluded with singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli with an original possibly named "Walk Away" before doing a cover(!) of Styx's  "Suite Madame Blue".

Semifinalist #6 is Nanette Garcia who covered the Whitney Houston version of "I Will Always Love You" and "Titanium" by David Guetta featuring Sia. She was followed by Amanda Phillips for covers of Lady Gaga's "You & I" and Gretchen Wilson's "Here For The Party", with Deuteronomy Nigas up next to cover Michael Bolton's "Go The Distance" and Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby". The penultimate contestant was Maharlika Joy Servillon, who covered Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" & Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". The semifinals closed with Ali Nisbett, who covered Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" (complete with blue Elsa-style dress) and a plainclothes but enthusiastic cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".  Not a whole lot here for hard rock/metal fans, with Greg's songs and Colin & Ali's AOR rock covers likely to pique SMS reader interest the most, so head there first if you're a "rock or bust" type.

As noted in italics and the reveal video from the 1st, Xavier, Colin, Nanette, Amanda, M.J., and Ali were sent through by the judges to the finals THIS FRIDAY at Soo Blaster, so consider this a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as all six will be performing with round 1 guest performers Handsome Sandwich as a backing band! Apologies for the short notice on only getting to the finals now, I wanted to cover all prior rounds on the SMS first so the timeline of events was maintained. Of course, Handsome Sandwich have been on the T.S.G.T. radar since the summer, and after rocking out with songs from their forthcoming debut album on September 9th, now they'll provide a full live backing track for the finalists. Not sure if this was always the plan given that not every contestant was a singer, and how this will work on FRIDAY isn't entirely clear (i.e. how many covers do they know/are willing to learn, how will Taylor be involved), but it'll be interesting to find out!

Also no word on if Handsome Sandwich will bring their own hard rock/alternative originals back for any portion of the night. Also advertised on FRIDAY is judge/ex-Obsession singer Valerie Powley for another guest performance, while prolific local stage actor/musician Tim Murphy will return as a guest judge and finals performer. The finals take place on FRIDAY at 5:00 PM, this is an all ages event, and admission is $15 at the door or $10 for kids 12 and under, with proceeds going to The Brain Injury Association of Sault Ste. Marie & District. Should be an exciting conclusion to The Soo's Got Talent III, so visit the above links for complete details, and stay tuned for more on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) & This Weekend's Other Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews today, including the back half of a festival this weekend, an apology for a missed concert a year in the making, some show reschedulings, and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month! Here's what you should know!

We'll pick back up with local acoustic classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison, who is slated to return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for a matinee concert this weekend, but not on Sunday as originally announced, rather TOMORROW NIGHT! Tym quietly updated his Facebook event page for his Shooters gigs this month to reflect the shift of both this weekend's and his Halloween weekend gig from Sunday each to Saturday, both for unannounced reasons. Despite being moved to Saturdays, these are 100% still 3:00 PM matinees, which will be unusual for a Saturday concert, but Tym has been well received at the Dennis Street nightclub on Sundays before now, so hopefully he gets another receptive crowd tomorrow and on Saturday the 29th! Meanwhile, that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT is also for Tym at Shooters, as his event page has quietly had a Saturday, November 12th gig added as well!

This lines up with recent scheduling there, as Tym has been alternating weekend matinees with country musician Leslie Cook in recent weeks, so Leslie will presumably be playing there on November 5th (his shows look like they moved a day back too). TOMORROW'S show, plus the rescheduled October 29th date and the new one next month, all have 19+ age limits and no cover charge as usual, Tym's deep setlist and well-tested vocal & guitar talents should prove to be a winning combination once again, so visit the above links and Shooters' Facebook event page for tomorrow's gig for more details, and here's Tym live earlier this year!

Next up, let's close out this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, by looking at day #2 of Outspoken Brewing's second annual Oktoberfest TOMORROW at The Rink outside of The Machine Shop! For extra details on the festival & tonight's lineup, check yesterday's post below, as I don't want to repeat myself too much, especially when I had to break the Oktoberfest previews across two posts already. Tomorrow's bill has the longer, family friendly program, with vendors, refreshments, science exhibits, and games for all ages, plus the requisite alcohol for adults with photo ID, so be sure to click here for full non-musical details! However, it is recommended that adults only stick around from 7:00 PM onwards, which is coincidentally when the heaviest block of the band lineup performs. Young local psychedelic hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley will headline tomorrow at 11:00 PM for a... second straight year?

As it turns out, year #1 for Outspoken Brewing's Oktoberfest last year did have a night of live music, with The Uncanny Valley also closing in 2021 on a bill also featuring a reunited Wild Turkeys and fellow 2021 returnees Nein German Guys. I profusely apologize for missing that last year, that oversight appears to have been a combination of The Uncanny Valley not promoting their involvement on Facebook and me not expecting the Outspoken-hosted Oktoberfest (which I knew about) to have a concert with the pandemic where it was last fall. Clearly things went well for The Valley last year for Outspoken to bring them back for a bigger and better Oktoberfest, and their hard rocking originals should end the night on a high note! Co-headlining tomorrow are the debuting Bookclub, an indie rock supergroup featuring 3/4ths of The Inner City Surfers (all but Brad) alongside Room 206 drummer Al Watson and singer(?) Erin Antonello. 

This band appears to be a real departure from the punk we're used to seeing the guys play, with bands like Devo and Weezer cited as groups that Bookclub will cover, along with some more obscure songs. It will be very interesting to hear how Bookclub do, even if they don't lean heavier! Bookclub's set is at 9:00 PM, with tonight's co-headliners The Wyld Stallyns pulling double duty for a 7:00 PM timeslot tomorrow night, so look for more fun and crowd-friendly hard rock covers from them and Josh then! The all ages matinee block of Oktoberfest tomorrow includes the aforementioned Nein German Guys (who also played tonight) with their traditional music at 5:00 PM, and classic rock cover duo Frankly Speaking opening the day at 3:00 PM. Tomorrow's Oktoberfest program begins at 2:00 PM, and adult admission is $45 unless you bought an all-weekend pass in advance for $70, with a free mug and 20 oz. draught included.

As for admission for kids 14 and under, they will cost just $5, but remember the recommended cut-off of 7:00 PM for underagers. Sounds like a fun time for all, depending on how you want to celebrate Oktoberfest, so definitely click here and/or visit the above links for much more on what to expect on day #2 at The Rink, hopefully the weather holds out, apologies again for missing Oktoberfest 2021 on the SMS, and here's The Uncanny Valley live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & Soundcheck) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin previewing this weekend's known hard rock concerts, just a heads up of a cancellation of a show we hadn't even gotten to yet, as a late notice Wyld Stallyns show at Shooters Downstairs Lounge tomorrow night is not taking place, as per the venue's Facebook event page. This appears to be 100% due to a scheduling conflict, as The Stallyns will be down by The Machine Shop for Oktoberfest concurrently with the planned Shooters timeslot. An unidentified DJ will replace them at Shooters tomorrow, and we'll have more on Oktoberfest night #1 in a bit. Now, let's dive into the first half of the weekend previews, with Tym Morrison & night #2 of Oktoberfest to follow in tomorrow's post!

We'll start today with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, specifically SHORT NOTICE ones, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these dates were only announced on the venue's Facebook page yesterday, and while the band's Facebook page has not plugged them yet, drummer Glen Thomas did mention them on his personal page. As best as I can tell, this will be Soundcheck's first stop at the original downtown Reggie's since a one-nighter in June, with Reggie's West appearances (including tonight's usual open mic hosting duties) being far more frequent in the third quarter of 2022. Hopefully a decent crowd turns out both TOMORROW & SATURDAY for Soundcheck's country tinged classic and hard rock cover selection!

Note that Soundcheck singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver will be playing a solo matinee set at Reggie's on Sunday afternoon too, as per the Reggie's Facebook page, but I believe his solo gigs are more country centric. Still good to see him tripling up too, as he typically does not take part in the Thursday open mics. TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows have 19+ age limits, no cover, and 9:00 PM start times. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live in concert earlier this summer!

Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan, as local hard rock quartet Tarnished will return to The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino branch for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These will be Tarnished's first shows in the Soo since rocking The Rapids Lounge almost two months ago, and will be their first anywhere since their Northern Lights Cannabis Co. show in nearby Dafter on September 30th. Speaking of which, the band has newly announced that they'll be returning to the local marijuana dispensary for one night only on Friday, October 21st, so clearly their first show there went well to warrant an encore just three weeks later! As before, expect this Fire Up Fridaze event to have a 4:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, no cover, and the same cannabis deals/offers, vendors, refreshments, and more that are staples of Fridays at N.L.C.C., live bands or not. Yes, I am aware that an outdated, Isaac-less band photo is on the poster.

Before then, Tarnished's modern brand of old school influenced hard rock can be enjoyed at The Rapids Lounge for typical & presumably cannabis-free entertainment tomorrow and Saturday night at 9:00 PM, also with 21+ age limits and no cover. Should be a good time this weekend and next Friday alike for Alex, Nathan, Isaac, and Josh (and their fans), so visit the official Facebook event page for the Kewadin gigs and the above links for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

Finally for today's previews, we'll head back north to Sault Ontario for the reason why local funk/hard rock band The Wyld Stallyns dropped out of their Shooters gig tomorrow, as they're taking part in Outspoken Brewing's second annual Oktoberfest, with The Stallyns part of both TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT's live music slate outside of The Machine Shop! Picking up where LopLops left off pre-pandemic, Outspoken debuted their Oktoberfest last fall, and with a year under their belts and the pandemic much less of a concern, things are much bigger in scope this year, including full live music slates both nights, plus a wide array of entertainment both for adults hoping for beer or for those just wanting to have some family activities. Everything takes place at The Rink at the Canal District, transformed this weekend into a Munich biergarten. Click here for non-musical details!

We'll focus on tomorrow's bill today with Saturday's to follow in tomorrow's post. Three bands play tomorrow night at The Rink, with The Wyld Stallyns and frequent guest saxophonist Josh Norling playing in the middle 8:00 PM timeslot, sandwiched between headlining R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers at 10:00 PM and traditional German supergroup Nein German Guys with a more traditional Oktoberfest sound at 6:00 PM. Tomorrow's festivities are 100% 19+ and heavily themed around alcohol as such, so if you want to bring the kids, wait until Saturday (more on that day's band lineup in our next post, but of tomorrow's bands, only The Hustle Brothers aren't pulling double duty). Admission tomorrow will run you $45, or $70 for a full weekend pass, and if you buy a ticket in advance, you'll get a free Oktoberfest mug and 20 oz. draught. Buy your tickets online at this link!

Everything properly begins at The Rink at 5:00 PM tomorrow, for the record. The Wyld Stallyns are comparatively the outliers on the Friday bill, but their varied & often heavy cover rock stylings should go over well with the Oktoberfest attendees, and they should have some songs primed for a drinking crowd given all of their nightclub sets! Visit the above links for much more on this year's Oktoberfest, stay tuned for our preview of Saturday's lineup tomorrow, and here's The Wyld Stallyns live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent 2022 Second Round Recap!!

After a few days looking at other topics, let's refocus on catching up with The Soo's Got Talent today, specifically the second round action at Soo Blaster on Friday, September 16th! As you may recall, the 15 highest voted competitors of the 24 qualified contestants the previous week were sent through the round 2 by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, and Valerie Powley, with the videos from that night being shot once again by Passion Video Productions and uploaded to the T.S.G.T. Facebook page on September 22nd. In terms of videos strictly from the 16th, the first uploaded was erroneously included in our coverage of the first round performance, for which I apologize (there's a lot of videos to go through!), but it features introductions from MC/co-organizer Barbara Rajnovich and a guest cover of Aaron Lewis' "Tell It Like It Is" by Valerie. Now to the 15 quarterfinalists, who were whittled down to 10 at night's end, and like before, acts who advanced to the following round are noted with their name in italics.

From this point on, all performers are singers, but three featured guitar in their set. In performance order, the first artist up was Lori Vaidelis (Bruno Mars' "Locked Out Of Heaven"), diverting from her prior classic hard rock base here. Second was Sarah Vikken, who picked up where she left off the previous week with a pop punk/emo cover, this time Fall Out Boy's "Young Volcanoes". I admit, I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but she sings this one with good energy and enthusiasm, and you can tell she's a fan to go with a fourth single from a newer album of theirs. Give Sarah's round 2 performance a look below!

Singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli (his own original song "The Message") follows, with Kat Long (Anna Nalick's "Breathe [2 AM]") enlisting fellow competitor Jason Morbin to play guitar for her performance. Fifth was Stan Fera (Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind Of Wonderful"), followed by Xavier Pelletier Leboeuf tackling Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" next, and what a turnaround from Celine Dion the previous week, especially with that magnificent goth wardrobe! Xavier didn't do the Paul McCoy parts, FYI. Nice melodic voice, if not yet super aggressive, and a promising young talent to be sure, so give Xavier's cover a look below!

Ensuing perfomers included Christopher Halliday (Billie Eilish's "Happier Than Ever"), Nanette Garcia (Nicki Minaj's "Superbass"), singer/guitarist Jason Morbin (The Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon"), Wendy Hord (Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats"), Ali Nisbett (Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth's "Defying Gravity"), and Deuteronomy Nigas (Edwin McCain's "I'll Be"), with lucky 13th being classic rock singer Greg McLeod, who returned to heavier waters here to cover Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love". To an extent, I think Greg may have been forcing his voice here, but he gets the job done and has the look down, so don't bypass his second round song below!

The final two performers of round 2 were M.J. Servillon (Kevyn Letteau's "Sunlight") and Amanda Phillips (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us"). You can see Darren reveal the 10 semifinalists (and Barbara conduct that night's 50/50 draw) in the video embedded below, and of course, the Terrific Ten returned for the semifinals at Soo Blaster on October 1st, which I hope to cover on the site this weekend. I will say that I'd like to have seen Lori and Sarah advance just based on genre preference for what they played in 2 of their 3 filmed songs, but hopefully everyone stays musically active in some form, and give the semifinalist reveal a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & The Apocalypse Afterparty), Plus New Videos!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Tuesday morning after a three day spell of single-topic posts, as there is still something of a backlog to clear out. Half of this one is devoted to new videos, and half to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

Fresh off of their outlier set opening for Tech N9ne at Soo Blaster on September 30th, local rap/metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty will do it all over again three weeks later when they open for Los Angeles alternative rapper Afroman on Friday, October 21st! The A.A. spoke highly of the experience and reception of opening for Tech N9ne there, and clearly they made the right connections to get a call back from co-promoters R-Evolution Media despite being a two-piece band that doesn't solely play hip hop. Hopefully Paul & Amanda knock it out of the park and make more crossover fans next Friday! Afroman will be well known to many rap and cannabis fans alike for his Grammy nominated, Billboard Top 20 hit single "Because I Got High" from 2001, but he has two decades of songs under his belt, many comedic in nature, and his eclectic set should draw a sizeable crowd alone, as he's definitely more than a one hit wonder!

Guelph rapper Robbie G will return from the Tech N9ne show as co-opener, as will local MCs Conika & MJR League, with Sawbe, Ryxnnick, Jaay Sheps, and Illest (OTG) rounding out the bill. Surprisingly, this show is all ages, it has a 9:00 PM start time, and tickets run for $35 in advance (no word on a price hike at the door) or $70 for the VIP meet & greet package, and you can get tickets efficiently through the Facebook event page. Between The Apocalypse Afterparty and the $onny Vybe$ benefits, 2022 has been a good year for heavier bands on otherwise rap-centric concerts, and hopefully this one goes over just as well! See above for full details!

Next up, let's take a detour south, as Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished will return to The Islander Bar in nearby Hessel for one night only on Saturday, November 12th! This as announced via the venue's Facebook page in a concert calendar post on September 22nd. While Project 906 are better known in a hard rock sense for playing at The Islander, Tarnished made their debut there early last month, and have been booked next month as part of a kick-off event to deer hunting season, which begins in the state on November 15th. Hunters will understand why that's a big deal! You can enjoy Tarnished's hard rocking originals and covers at 9:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge. See above for more details, and don't miss Tarnished at The Rapids Lounge this weekend!

Also, here's a couple of new videos of Sault Ontario southern hard rock trio Bone Yard live at Reggie's Place on September 30th! Live-streamed to their Facebook page during the show proper, the filmer caught Bone Yard covering Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show's "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'", and as embedded below, a surprise cover of The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" with bassist Warren Reville on lead vocals. Not often that you see Bone Yard tackling a punk song, but it's a good & lively rendition, and while Warren's singing is noticeably quiet, he gets the job done! Alas, both videos are vertically shot, but give them both a look above and below!

Finally for today, here's a new video of local punk trio Vanity First from their set opening for Gutter Creek at Soo Blaster last month! Uploaded to their Facebook page last night, this 30 second clip is titled "Bring The 90s Back", but I'm not sure whether this is the song's name or a general statement reflecting a 1990s cover (if the latter, I don't recognize the song, but Andrew's vocals are not that clear with the audio setup). Lively and energetic punk performance regardless that allows Mikhal room to shine on guitar, so give it a look for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more news and notes on the site as the week continues! Thanks everyone!