LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison & Dodge This), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Before we begin this weekend concert preview post, we have two notes regarding Saturday events. First, local southern hard rock band Fort Creek will be hosting a release party for the new single/music video "One For The Road" at Jay's Piston Broke Pub (where the video was largely shot) on Saturday night at 6:00 PM! This is not a concert (Generations are playing there at 9:00 PM), but there will be discounted $5 burgers if you come between 6:00 & 9:00, and the band will be on hand to meet fans and sell merchandise. Fun idea to keep Fort Creek's name out there while still not playing live, so come down to Jay's early on Saturday to be the first to see the music video! The other note is that Sault Michigan hard rock cover quartet Unfortunate Sun have postponed their planned concert at Snow's Bar & Grill in nearby Cedarville on Saturday, "after much deliberations with (the) band and the bar manager."

Our source is the band's Facebook page on Monday, as Snow's haven't referenced the date before or after that point. Hopefully all is well with the venue and Unfortunate Sun, and that they get a makeup date locked in there soon, but don't miss them at The Merch in the Soo at months end! Now let's head back to Sault Ontario for most of this weekend's known hard rock shows, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, mostly on SHORT NOTICE! This weekend's Exit 808 shows in Sault Michigan will be covered in our next news post, so stay tuned for them by tomorrow!

Local acoustic classic/hard rock duo Dodge This will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for one night only THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was first announced via this concert calendar on The Dive's Facebook page last week, which slipped us by at the time (I'll always welcome concert calendars being shared on social media like this though!). However, note that Dodge This have not corroborated the booking on their own Facebook page, last posting there three weeks ago. Unless they played an unadvertised gig in the interim, SATURDAY'S concert will be Dodge This' first public date of 2025, and hopefully Jamie & Jason (and Jeff?) deliver a fun night of classic and hard rock covers, and perhaps a few country tunes, to fans at the former Low & Slow then! You can see Dodge This on SATURDAY at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's the guys live!

Next up, fellow local acoustic classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison will bring his venerable unplugged solo show back to Misty's Fifties for matinee gigs both THIS SATURDAY and next Saturday, January 25th! Again, apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced both dates via this Facebook event page on Monday. These dates will mean that Tym has played three straight Saturday matinee concerts at the Second Line West nightclub, and four out of five there, only missing January 4th in that span. If Tym has a new weekly arrangement there like he did in mid-2024, I don't know, but it's good to see him playing regularly to start the new year, so don't miss his unplugged rock classics at Misty's on SATURDAY and again next week! Both shows are early 4:00 PM matinees with no announced cover charges and 19+ age limits. Visit the above links for more on SATURDAY'S and next week's shows, and here he is live!

Finally for this preview post, let's head to the aforementioned Jay's Piston Broke Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will take the stage TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! The last of their previously announced January dates from their Facebook group, these shows are also joined by tonight's jam night hosting duties, where the band (sans singer Valerie Powley) will host the proceedings again, so keep that in mind if you want to see the guys and perhaps play with/in lieu of them! However, if you want to see them with Valerie in a normal concert setting, they have you covered for the rest of the weekend. Remember, Saturday's show follows Fort Creek's single/video release party at Jay's, which is not a concert, but keep that in mind if you want to celebrate with them and/or get a cheaper burger! Both shows (and jam night) are 9:30 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's two new videos!

These come from Generations' headlining concert at Gateway Casino on Saturday night, courtesy of their Facebook group. One video was actually filmed by Pierre himself from on stage after their first set, which he appeared to film to show the strong audience turnout, even to a point where casino staff had to bring out more tables and chairs, but it has no music. The other video was shared by Valerie from attendee Fay Szcyrek's personal Facebook page, and it features Generations covering Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" (technically the Linda Ronstadt version). Sadly, this was shot vertically, but it's a good quality video otherwise with strong vocals, so give it a look below, and don't miss them at Jay's!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Exit 808 previews and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Room 206), Fort Creek Updates, And More!!

We'll take a break from 104.3 FM talk for now (don't worry, there's more to come) so we can look at some other recent news on this Monday night, including a few assorted shorter notes, a defunct local band's social media rebirth, and details on an upcoming video/single release. However, let's lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the spring!

Veteran local punk bands Room 206 and The Inner City Surfers will both reunite on Saturday, April 5th for a special concert at Soo Blaster! Almost a year & a half after the Surfers' last reunion show (a public stag & doe for Surfers drummer Mikey Hawdon's then-upcoming wedding) in November 2023, they'll return to the same venue for a similar purpose, as Room 206/Bookclub drummer Allan Watson is getting married to his partner Audrey, hence the occasion for a big reunion show like this. Any Surfers return is a big deal, but the long awaited return of Room 206 will be very notable for fans around for the local punk scene of the 1990s, and whether you checked out the 2021 re-release of their album "2 Innies & An Outie" or not, it will be neat hearing these songs live again! No word on what lineup of Room 206 is playing in April, but singer/guitarist Mike Yorke and Surfers bassist Brad "Example" Lacell were on said album alongside Allan, and Surfers guitarist Dave Bahun also played with them later.

Mikey & Allan's current alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub will open the proceedings, returning from the November 2023 stag & doe concert, so don't be late for their varied covers! This is absolutely a public event, and tickets will go on sale "shortly" with prices running for $25 in advance or $30 at the door, exactly on par with the last Surfers reunion. Alongside this huge show announcement, Room 206 have launched a posthumous Facebook page, so we can thusly re-add them to our inactive band links! They were previously linked here via their also-posthumous MySpace page, but you know how degraded MySpace has gotten for surviving content. If we got 100% confirmation that they were reuniting beyond this gig, we'd move them to our active links, but this appears to be a one-off. The Facebook page primarily features archival content shared from Mikey's personal Facebook page, as he spearheaded the album's rerelease.

While videos there have mostly been featured on the SMS before, I would have embedded this one here if Facebook hadn't content matched the Room 206 song playing in the background off of Mikey's turntable. The video from December 2021 sees Mikey showing off what comes with the limited vinyl copies of "2 Innies & An Outie", and while the vinyl was limited to 206 copies (fittingly), you can hear it on major streaming services. For the first (only?) vinyl release from Mikey's boutique label Soolebrity Records, it came together really well, so check it out at this link, and visit the Facebook event page for more on the Room 206/Surfers reunion concert!

Next up, here's the latest from local southern hard rock band Fort Creek, who ended a month+ of social media silence last week when they revealed that they will finally release their first studio single and music video for "One For The Road" on Saturday at 8:00 PM! The song will also be available on, if you believe their Facebook post, "all streaming platforms", but we'll see how accurate that claim proves to be this weekend (nothing against Fort Creek, loads of bands say that). They'll also be launching their own website through Wix that night, and the "One For The Road" video will be up on YouTube and shared to Facebook as well. To promote the release, Sault Star reporter Maggie Kirk covered the band for this article on Friday, where it's confirmed that Fort Creek are still working on a full album with 10 songs that will be eventually recorded at Jettison Studios (as in, Red from HeadFirst?). What else is there to learn?

For one, I had no idea that singer Justin Grayson's actual last name is Dimma! I'd never seen him credited otherwise until this article, but I guess it's like with Pierre Vaillancourt usually going by Pierre Anthony in Generations. Justin talks there about working with his bandmates, why they chose the Fort Creek name, and their songwriting process, while also noting that they wanna finish up their studio work before returning to the stage (they haven't played live since their fall 2023 lineup changes). Solid press for Fort Creek as they begin this new year, so read more above, and stay tuned for the single release on Saturday!

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

• While we don't cover jam nights as full "concerts" on the SMS due to their in-built unpredictability, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that The Dive Gastro Pub hosted their own debut jam night tonight, and it was hosted by former Haggith frontman Curtis McKenzie, who frequently plays normal shows there! An array of instruments, including some electric ones, were on tap for musicians who wanted to jam with or without Curt. Hopefully this went well for all involved, and that The Dive tries it again soon!
• In their 2024 summary post on their Facebook page, local crossover thrash quartet Hails revealed that the song they recorded for the upcoming compilation CD "Punk Canada 4" will be a cover of Toronto punk legends The Almighty Trigger Happy's song "Meathook". That should come out nice and ferocious, so look for that and more modern punk covers when "Punk Canada 4" is released later this year!
• I have moved local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary to our inactive band links. Mike's output had slowed down in 2023, and despite teasing more original instrumental material and a planned soundtrack for a local author's new novel, little came out before his last Facebook post on January 7th of last year, which was an archival video of him at a Bawating Collegiate concert performance in 2003. Hopefully we hear more from Mike in time, as he's a talented and honest musician who lays out his feelings and life well in his songs, and I was looking forward to his next projects!
  

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

The Fox 104.3 FM: First Details On Sault Ontario's New Rock Radio Station!!

Alright, it's time to finally dive into the local radio bombshell from Thursday afternoon on the SMS, now that I have spent a few days listening in, so let's begin: Sault Ontario has its own rock radio station on the FM dial! At 2:00 PM on Thursday, Rogers Radio suddenly switched the format of Country 104.3 (née Q104) to mainstream rock, giving the Sault Ste. Marie market two fully local rock stations for the first time since Classic Rock: The Bear left 97.9 FM fifteen years ago, and suddenly giving the Sault Michigan-based Rock 101 some direct competition. CJQM is now airing as The Fox 104.3 FM, with the name coming from their sister station The Fox 101.9 in North Bay (whose call sign is CKFX, hence "The Fox"). Of course, Rogers likes having their stations sharing similar branding and playlists, so The Fox looks and sounds very similar to not just the North Bay station, but also Q92 in Sudbury and Timmins, with only minor variations in the playlist and on-air talent, but with local commercials, bumpers, and inserts.

This is also how Kiss 100.5 operates, and how Country 104.3 did until Thursday. One imagines that the local staff at CJQM opted to take on The Fox name rather than go the Q92 route because everyone in the Soo associates Q104 with country music. If you hadn't listened to much of Rogers Radio's local stations before now, 104.3 FM and Kiss 100.5 are both locally based out of 642 Great Northern Road, and The Fox has inherited one of the best FM radio signals in the market, with both FCCData and Radio-Locator showing a wider coverage range than Rock 101 (which already has a good reach). The on-air presentation may share a lot with Q92 and North Bay, but many bumpers directly reference Sault Ontario, and in many respects, Canada in general, with "great Canadian moments" heard often between songs and commercials. Note that the station frequency is usually said on air without saying "point" (as in "one oh four three"), unlike how Country 104.3 did it.

It's also worth noting that they're openly calling The Fox "the Sault's rock station" in bumpers, even though Rock 101 has been doing that for years, and it's in their logo! As far as I know, The Fox hasn't directly referenced Sault Michigan/the EUP at all from what I've heard on air, but this does open up the door for Yooper listeners to be exposed to more Canadian music, and that's a key setlist difference for the new station! Per the CRTC, CJQM must play 30% domestic content. Last night, I recorded both Rock 101 and The Fox from 12:33 AM (when The Hair Scare ended on 101) to 6:00 AM (when Classic Rock Sunday began on 104) to get a playlist sampling of the two stations, and while I won't give away that big of a chunk of what The Fox is airing, I can tell you that in that span of time, they played 79 songs, 25 of which were by Canadian artists. There was a stretch where eight songs weren't by Canadian acts, but four of the next six were.

Meanwhile, Rock 101 played 76 songs in that span, of which only seven were by Canadian artists (remember, there's no Cancon laws in Michigan), but there was a spell where five out of thirteen songs were Canadian. In that near 5½ hour span, just four songs (AC/DC's "Highway To Hell", Everclear's "Santa Monica", Three Days Grace's "Mayday", and The Tragically Hip's "Courage") were played on both 101 and 104. Seventeen acts cropped up on both stations while playing different songs. Of course, personal tastes are extremely subjective, so what you prefer to listen to will vary, but there's suddenly a much wider rock radio variety, which is definitely welcomed! In terms of time period for songs in general rotation, at least overnight, Rock 101 actually led The Fox in terms of new songs (fourteen from the 2020s compared to six on The Fox), while the former Q104 was more inclined to play 1990s and 2000s songs by a count of 39-26.

No radio station has a perfect rotation for everyone, but I do like a lot of what I've heard from The Fox in the last few days, particularly the general rotation on weekdays and Saturdays (Sunday is largely classic rock-focused but we'll touch on the individual programs in an upcoming post). The Cancon selection alone will appeal to a lot of people, and for a market that has always been kinda funny for awareness of domestic rock bands who do better in markets not on the US border, having this exposure and airtime will only help get ears on them and build fans! For better or worse, you likely aren't hearing The Headstones, Big Sugar, Arkells, or Sloan on Rock 101. I also found that Rogers isn't as liable to edit down songs, so we got the full "Killing In The Name" and "Epic" here, where 101 often airs shortened versions. Regardless, I'll like the ability to hop from signal to signal when a song I dislike comes on, so I'll like having both 101 and 104 as presets!

Rest assured, while I am glad that Sault Ontario has a domestic rock station of its own, and we don't necessarily have to gamble on fringe Northern Michigan stations to pick up here as an alternative, I do feel for fans of Country 104.3 who miss that station, a staple of the local FM dial for decades. I never wanted to get a Sault Ontario rock station at the expense of another one. A reason wasn't publically given for the format change, for the record, though Rogers must have seen something concerning with listenership or ad revenue. While we still have Country 105 (WMKD 105.5 in nearby Pickford, Michigan), that station's coverage area is smaller and isn't beholden to Cancon rules, so this may hurt local exposure to domestic country music. After the format switch, Rogers/The Fox did recommend that listeners tune in online to Country 600 in North Bay, which is very similar to what we got in the Soo by default (albeit still on AM there).

If you want the same playlist and miss Robin & PJ and them, tune in to Country 600 on their website or on applications like Seekr (Rogers' new radio application) and TuneIn. If you're curious, the closest Ontario-based country station to the Soo now is Country 103 in Little Current, 3+ hours east of here (Sudbury has Pure Country 91.7, which is owned by Bell). We'll have more on The Fox in an upcoming post, particularly the schedule of on-air programs, but enjoy our new rock station and the variety that it affords! Tune into 104.3 FM to see what's up at the former Q104 as it begins this new era, and we'll have more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Rotopsy

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we kick off another year of spotlights of local metal, hard rock, and punk acts from the past, as randomly selected from our band links! As we lead off 2025, we're taking a trip back to the 2010s for a look at a band that will be an acquired taste for many, but definitely left a big impression despite their duo lineup, so here's what you should know on them!

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Rotopsy

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Grindcore/Goregrind/Punkgrind

Lineup:

Dylan Taylor (Legitly Logic), vocals
Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson (Crucify The Whore), bass

(Rotopsy were one of multiple one-two man metal bands to crop up in the Soo in the 2010s. They never had a permanent guitarist, and they utilized a drum machine for percussion in studio and in concert.)

Audio/Video:  Long-time staples of Tyler's independent label Blood Shed Productions, Rotopsy (pronounced "raw-topsy") were frequently featured in the label's demo CD releases in the early-mid 2010s, and have four surviving releases on their Bandcamp page, including a self-titled 2014 EP and a full-length album from 2015 named "Sexual Assault Rifle". They also featured on two split releases (one with two other bands, one with ten) from the mid-2010s, though only their contributions are streamable there. Songs of theirs can also be heard on their Reverbnation page. A number of videos from their live dates can be seen online, with the SMS filming them for our Facebook page at multiple Oddfellows Hall dates, while videos and song uploads are common on the Blood Shed YouTube channel and select other channels there. Here they are live in March of 2015!

Info/Analysis: Originally launching under the name Spitneck in 2012, Rotopsy relaunched on social media a year later, and made their public concert debut at the former Oddfellows Hall in October 2013. Fans of late-era Oddfellows shows will recall seeing Dylan & Tyler open for bands like Thekillingfield, Bookakee, and Archelon in their heyday (often at shows promoted by Heavy North Entertainment), while also opening at major multi-band concerts like Dank Fest, Swampstravaganza IV, and Das Bunkerfest, and numerous house parties. The guys even hit the road for a couple of out of town dates in 2015 in Sudbury and Cochrane. Band updates began slowing down after 2015, and despite teasing a new EP for 2018 named "A Worthless Collection Of Aggressive Noises", it was never publically released. Rotopsy played their final public concert at an all-local metal show at the former New American Pub in February 2019, and quietly fell inactive later that year.

Honestly, a band like Rotopsy is critic-proof, given their often quite adult & provocative lyrics, song titles, and imagery, let alone the minimalist lineup and short songs (their 32 songs on Bandcamp average just 1:49 in length), but they were slightly more accessible than C.T.W. are. "Cops N Moms" would be where I'd start casual fans on, given that it didn't have death metal growling and it became a popular sing-along track live. From seeing Rotopsy live, even sans shoes, they had a fun live energy that definitely appealed to their core fanbase, and they were clearly having a lot of fun, so hopefully we see Tyler and Dylan back at some point! I do still think that the 1-2 man Blood Shed bands could have formed one great full band though.

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We'll be doubling up for next month's installment, as our first randomly selected band only briefly existed, so we randomly picked a second band in a similar state to round things out. Both bands did put out an album, namely noise rock duo No Funeral and Free Beer/Id Iota interim group Habitat Shuffle, so look for these profiles on or around February 10th. That's all for now, but look for our full coverage of 104.3 FM's massive overhaul on the site either tomorrow night or on Monday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Silent 9 And Mike Haggith & The Din), Plus More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin today's post, yes, I am very aware of the rock radio bombshell that dropped in Sault Ontario yesterday. Let's just say that I've never listed to 104.3 FM so much in my life, and I'm taking a lot of notes towards full coverage on the SMS in a few days! Now, this post features the conclusion of this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, but first, here's two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this month!

Some of you may have heard about the recent passing of Spades GT guitarist Daniel Horton's mother Joy MacMillan, and the GoFundMe campaign to help put on a proper celebration of life for her. Well, the celebration of life will indeed take place on Saturday, January 25th at the Holiday Inn Express (click here for details). This strikes the SMS' radar though because the day's events will be capped off with a public concert at The Dive Gastro Pub, and it will feature a one-off reunion of Mike Haggith & The Din, plus acoustic sets by former Haggith frontman Curtis McKenzie and Dan's former Jack Spades bandmate Rob Speers! Joy was a warm and positive presence in her son's life, including his local band work in the 2010s, hence why musicians would wanna honour her in this way. While not 100% clarified, the Din reunion appears to be of their 2013-2014 acid jam/improv lineup that featured Daniel and Curtis backing Mike up.

As such, this will be Daniel's first local concert appearance since Spades GT opened for Josey Scott in August 2023, and the first Din-branded public set since the later power pop version's 2018 reunion gig. Despite the sad circumstances, this is a fun array of local musicians, so don't miss Mike, Curt, and Dan (and Rob) honouring Joy in a fitting way! My condolences are absolutely with Daniel and family too, and having lost my mother in 2020, I know the feeling all too well. The concert at The Dive will have a cash bar and refreshments, and it is a 19+ event likely starting at 9:00 PM. Visit the above links for more details, and R.I.P. Joy!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will rock The Grand Gardens on Friday, January 31st when they headline the Alzheimer Society's 40th annual Making Memories Matter fundraiser! This event will also see a silent auction, cash bar, dinner and cocktails, and a "silent disco" (where you dance to music played through headphones), but Silent 9 are your headline act in their first announced concert of 2025. Alzheimer's disease is a huge and important cause to fight, so kudos to Silent 9 for helping out at month's end! While all ages with a 5:30 PM start time, admission for Making Memories Matter (listed as a "private event" on the band's website's concert calendar) is $60, which is a lot, but consider the charitable aims and what else is being included at the event proper. Visit the above links for more details on how to attend Making Memories Matter, and stay tuned for more on Silent 9's 2025 concert slate!

Now, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews, and we'll start with local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations, who will hit Gateway Casino for the first time this year TOMORROW NIGHT! One week removed from leading off their 2025 slate at The Water Tower Pub, tomorrow's one-nighter will be Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre's first gig at the downtown casino since rocking out there just before Halloween. No costumes tomorrow, but you'll get a nice array of classic and hard rock covers from this veteran foursome, so keep this show in mind if you want some live rock n' roll! If you can't make it, they'll be in the west end at Jay's for two shows next week (three counting their Valerie-less turn as jam night hosts). Generations will take the stage tomorrow at 8:00 PM with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here they are live!

Finally, here's a special SUNDAY nighter at The Distraction featuring three acts making their first live appearances of 2025, with local crossover thrash/hardcore punk quartet Hails headlining! Three weeks after their planned December 21st show there was abruptly cancelled, Ha!ls will return to the former barbershop on East Street for their first live date since before Halloween, and they should unleash the fury after a couple months away! In a very encouraging surprise, Sault Michigan punk trio The Sole Aggressors will make a very rare cross-border appearance by an E.U.P. band in Sault Ontario as co-headliners. They're talented kids who won the inaugural Lake Superior State University battle of the bands in 2023, so don't bypass them, and who knows what could be in store if this goes well? Former Redundant/Scary Uncles bassist Andrew MacDonald's new space rock duo The Spaceship Opening will kick things off in their second live date.

No word yet on what they play, let alone Andrew's bandmate, but hopefully they launch some social media pages in this new year! This is an ALL AGES concert starting at 8:00 PM on Sunday, and admission is via a "$20 or pay-what-you-can" model. Some advertising included directions to the back door to get downstairs to the basement venue space The Stellar Door, but not all of the promotion is that specific, so I don't 100% know what floor the show will be on. Be prepared regardless! While this is on a work/school night, punk fans will have a blast on Sunday, let alone with the unique cross-border set, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Hails live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished, Double Down, And Tym Morrison) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

A busier concert weekend is upon us, especially compared to last week, but there are a bunch of SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS reflecting hard rock shows either announced in the past week or late last year that slipped me by. This post also includes an apology for a missed show and related updates from some acts, but it doesn't include previews of Saturday's Generations show or Sunday's Hails-headlined concert, which will topline our next post. Now, here's what you should know to start off this weekend!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will play his first public concert dates of 2025 TONIGHT at The Dive Gastro Pub and then on SATURDAY at Misty's Fifties! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were quietly announced via Facebook event pages linked here & here on December 30th and Sunday respectively. As it turns out, these will be Tym's first shows since he played at Misty's for a Saturday matinee on December 28th, as per this Facebook event page that only went live earlier that same afternoon. Extremely late notice or not, I do apologize, but hopefully Tym ended his 2024 calendar on a high note in the west end two weeks ago! Meanwhile, TONIGHT'S "Think It Over Thursday" stop at The Dive will be his first there since late October, so if you've missed Tym's rocking acoustic covers on Queen Street East in recent months, he's back at it sooner than you may realize!

TONIGHT'S Dive show is at 9:30 PM, SATURDAY'S Misty's Fifties gig is a 4:00 PM matinee, and both are 19+ affairs with no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Tym's busy start to this new year, and for a preview, here he is live a couple of years ago!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will lead off their 2025 slate when they rock The Water Tower Pub for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, this show was also first announced on December 30th, this time via the venue's January concert calendar, which slipped us by at the time to cover the show with some notice. This will be the Syrettes, Brad, and Ric's first public concert in about a month, though they were seen in the interim at Nogdawindamin Family & Community Services' Christmas party (the band promised to post videos from that night, but have not done so at press time). Hopefully a sizeable crowd turns up at The Water Tower Pub TOMORROW for Double Down's classic and hard rock cover array! The Great Northern Road nightclub continues to host different nightly acts, with Saturday's band being rock cover trio The Sidekicks.

TOMORROW's Double Down show has an 8:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge, as is standard at The Water Tower Pub. See above for more details on this concert, and for a preview, here they are live!

Also this weekend, let's head to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock/classic metal band Tarnished will kick off 2025 with a headlining date at The Merchants Bar on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, this show was only announced via its official Facebook event page this past Saturday. Believe it or not, this one-nighter will be Tarnished's first public concert appearance since October, when they rocked the Soo's Kewadin Casino branch before finishing second in that month's Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands. After playing alongside Molly Escherich & Destini Smith at the battle, Alex Traynor & Josh Fair will welcome back Rhythm & Brews bandmates Chris Leask and Ron Suchey as their rhythm section on SATURDAY, which will be familiar to fans who saw Tarnished live in mid-late 2024, though they have yet to officially confirm if Chris & Ron have joined Tarnished full time or not.

It's also worth noting that Alex & Josh have started a small music lesson/recording/repair business out of the back of the former Crooked Music building at 539 Ashmun Street. Not a full service revival of the downtown music store, but it's nice to see the guys keeping some of the same features around, so visit the band's Facebook page for details! SATURDAY'S Tarnished concert at The Merch (and all of the 1980s-centric metal tunes therein) has a 9:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

We'll close this preview post by heading back to Sault Ontario, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will play their first shows of the year TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT when they rock Reggie's Place! Your local 225 have certainly been making Reggie's their home away from home this winter, with tomorrow and Saturday's previously announced shows being #7-8 out of nine booked there in December & January (their last show there this month is on Friday the 31st). Of note, these will be Bone Yard's last shows before releasing their new studio single "Fuck!" on January 20th, and you may get to hear it performed live this weekend beforehand. Regardless, fans of Greg, Alex, and Warren's southern and hard rock covers will find a lot to like tomorrow and/or on Saturday night! Expect 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Bone Yard live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Generations and Hails previews (and more) on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Glen Thomas' "Glen Yaps" Video On Soundcheck!!

If you're familiar with veteran local rock drummer Glen Thomas, then you may be aware of his series of "Glen Yaps" videos on his YouTube channel, where he talks about anything that comes to mind, typically relating to music and drumming. His newest "Glen Yaps" video will be of SMS interest beyond those interested in drumming technique and equipment, as it's a 70 minutes long reflection on his recently dissolved local classic/hard rock cover band Soundcheck! Glen does note at the start that he was in Soundcheck and their predecessors/brief sister band Mourning Wood for 10-11 years (according to our old coverage of those bands, he replaced T.J. Case in Mourning Wood in August 2015, left prior to that band's final two gigs in April 2017, then replaced Scott McLurg on drums in Soundcheck over a year later). Next, Glen addresses their breakup, saying that the band was "going through the motions" towards the end, but they had a good run.

Glen next looks at the high points of his runs in both Mourning Wood and Soundcheck, highlighting the professionalism of the lineups, especially the 2018-2019 Soundcheck lineup (featuring singer/guitarists Terry Eaton & Travis Sharpe and bassist Paul Belair), while also acknowledging the drama and internal conflicts that all bands go through, and the shifts in audience response when lineup changes happened, primarily hinting towards when Cameron Oliver replaced Travis in late 2019. He also reflected on their frequent fill-in musicians (often bassists) over the years, and how their experience as musicians allowed them to easily ad lib and adapt on the fly, let alone perform with a massive multi-genre playlist, despite not practicing very regularly. After reflecting on some of the individual members (including their most prominent fill-in bassist Rob Gilmar), Glen looks at the downsides of the band to him.

He starts by reflecting on how he actually wanted to leave Soundcheck two years ago, and desired some more musical variety and setlist input, and how he wanted Soundcheck to change up their set with newer songs in general to retain audience investment. While that was a struggle for him, Glen stuck it out and they found some new fans and fun gigs in the last few years. Glen also noted that he dislikes playing weddings or stags & does, events that often have a large audience that isn't there for a rock band, and he felt that he couldn't express musical freedom at such bookings. In the music business, Glen wants to play music first and foremost, especially nowadays. Reflecting on the ultimate end of Soundcheck, they mainly broke up due to Terry wanting a break from live music, but that lined up anyway with Glen having issues with the band's increasingly loud sound in concert aggravating his existing vertigo.

Glen next mentions how Cameron has a rough go of things when he joined Soundcheck, as some existing fans really didn't like change/Travis leaving, but he praised Cameron's professionalism and talents as he grew into the role. Apparently, Terry & Jim are going to keep performing together in a new band of some type, while Cameron continues to perform as a solo country musician. While Glen is currently working as a fill-in drummer where needed, he is tentatively working on new projects named Drones Over Jersey and Bing Bang Boom, as well as a mystery unlaunched project that he seemed to really want to get going, but could not. Next, Glen thanks the venues who booked Soundcheck and the fans who saw them over the years, while also crediting bandmates' talents again (especially Terry), and noting that commitment to your band is important.

After the camera died and Glen replaced his battery, he recapped everything and thanked all of his Soundcheck/Mourning Wood bandmates and predecessors. It's rare when you get such a long (and public) retrospective on a local band, especially in video format, and while this is just Glen's take on Soundcheck for good and for bad, it's interesting to hear how he assessed the group over the years! The back half does increasingly have him reiterating earlier points, but he's an easy talker in this format, and it's nice to get some public reasoning into why Soundcheck disbanded on New Year's Day. Check out the full "Glen Yaps" video below, and stay tuned for more news & notes soon! Thanks everyone!