LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck, Separate Wayz, And TNT), Plus Recent Concert Clarifications!!

Before we dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, we have two related notes to clear up. First, I want to profusely apologize for missing local alt-punk cover band BookcluB's concert at Searchmont Resort this past Saturday, as they were one of the bands booked to play at the C.S.R.A. Snowcross Championships festivities last week. Alas, I only found out that they were playing via a Facebook "Story" (one of the temporary vertical videos in that strip on your news feed) from BookcluB that I didn't see until a half hour to go before the concert was scheduled to end. Neither BookcluB nor Searchmont confirmed in a permanent public post that they were playing on Saturday whatsoever (I also have not seen a public confirmation of who played the Sunday matinee show during Snowcross weekend). For such a busy and well hyped weekend, why wasn't the promotion better for the bands playing at The Kiln? 

Apologies again for missing that show, I'd have happily plugged it had someone promoted it publically with even one day's notice, but hopefully BookcluB had a strong turnout! The other note relates to the band who played at Searchmont this past Friday (local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations), who announced on their Facebook page that their previously announced Water Tower Pub show on Saturday has been cancelled due to an unspecified family emergency. In lieu of that, bassist Pierre Anthony and drummer Tony Santoro will instead be playing that night with members of country cover veterans Tex Riviera & The Ride, so keep that in mind for the weekend, and I hope all's well with Valerie or Joe!

Today's previews will be broken up into two posts due to a bunch of linked SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS coming to my attention, so our previews of Tym Morrison's Saturday matinee and The BAG's album release party will be in tomorrow's post. Otherwise, let's start at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Separate Wayz will take the stage for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page on Monday, though the AI program that Jay's uses for concert advertising didn't nail what this weekend's bands look like. When did "Elly" and comedian Ron White join Separate Wayz? This will be Nicole and the guys' first concert since their short notice "epic crossover" with Soundcheck at Beck's Bar on Monday, March 30th. For standalone, Travis-free gigs, Separate Wayz last took the stage at The Water Tower Pub early last month.

Regardless of sister band collaborations, this will be Separate Wayz' first stop at Jay's in over six months, so expect lots of fun rocking tunes from this talented foursome TOMORROW! A rare one-nighter at the former Roosevelt Hotel (country cover band Elly McWatters & The Drifters are playing there on Saturday), TOMORROW'S concert is a 9:30 PM affair with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Separate Wayz live!

Next up, this will be a very busy weekend for Separate Wayz guitarist Terry Eaton, as he'll be doubling up on SATURDAY at Beck's Bar, starting with a matinee concert with his Soundcheck bandmate Travis Sharpe in their new acoustic side project TNT! Again, apologies for the short notice, we only learned about this show via this venue's own advertising on Monday, and I still am not aware of Terry n' Trav(is) launching an online page to promote this project or their shows. They do have an AI-generated logo to match Terry's current electric bands now, so there is that! Last seen a month ago at The Full Throttle Saloon, TNT are occasionally seen at local nightclubs, typically in acoustic-amenable matinee timeslots, and often in conjunction with shows from one/both of Terry's bands. This will be a solid appetizer for what's to come later that night at Beck's, so keep this one in mind!

As usual for Beck's Bar's (typically) unplugged Saturday afternoon acts, Soundcheck's acoustic splinter group will be playing from 3:00-7:00 PM with no cover charge, and while a 19+ age limit would make sense given that it is Beck's Bar, note that they did host the underage 5 Dollar Bribe as matinee performers earlier this month. Visit the above links for more on what might be TNT's Beck's debut, and we'll let you know when/if public videos of Travis & Terry unplugged surface for preview purposes!

Lastly for this preview post, we'll stay at Beck's Bar, where the aforementioned Soundcheck will complete the Terry triple header with a concert on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, I learned about this show in the exact same way as I learned about TNT's. Last seen at Reggie's two weeks ago, this gig will allow Terry & Travis to rock out in full force with Jim & Johnny returning from TOMORROW'S Separate Wayz gig at Jay's to make up the rhythm section once again. If you like classic and hard rock covers, you have a lot of options for how you want to experience it in the west end this weekend! I am not sure whether the Soundcheck or Separate Wayz concerts are respectively due to or the result of the other band booking a one-nighter, but if you're curious, Beck's are hosting a rare live band tomorrow (new blues rock cover band Sunday & The Broken Hearts) rather than bringing in a DJ.

And as I frequently note, TNT aren't technically "opening" for Soundcheck on SATURDAY, as the two bands have 4 hour timeslots each spaced 2 hours apart, but the common lineups are absolutely acknowledged. Soundcheck are on at 9:00 PM on SATURDAY NIGHT with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more on all of Terry's short notice gigs this weekend, and here's Soundcheck live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison and The BAG previews next! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From Convergence & 5 Dollar Bribe!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family & friends of veteran local guitarist, luthier, and guitar tech Gregory David Wilson, who passed away on Monday at the age of 69, following a lengthy battle with cancer. Read his obituary on SooToday at this link. Greg is survived by his sister Greta, brother Jay, and nephew Wade, and he was a proud pet parent who frequently shared photos of his orange tabby cats Chloe and Buddy on social media over the years. While Greg's credits as a performer in bands and in concerts are not in easily accessible supply in 2026, he was a very talented guitarist who made his mark with numerous local musicians over the years via his work in Gregory David Wilson Guitarworks, where he fixed, restored, customized, and sold guitars and basses of many kinds, and also helped local musicians on their concert setups and other musical inquiries.

Cremation has taken place already at the O'Sullivan Funeral Home, and a celebration of life will be held at a later date. The family requests that memorial donations be sent to the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society or the Sault Area Hospital Foundation's Cancer Care Fund. While not a musician myself, I admired Greg's work with guitars, I always looked forward to his cat photos, and I actually sold him some guitar strings and related gear that I had won in a contest many moons ago. The reach and influence he had with so many local musicians from multiple generations is extremely evident, and our best thoughts are with the Wilson family at this time. R.I.P. Greg!

Today's post otherwise looks at some recent videos from Sault Ontario bands, and we'll start with progressive metalcore quartet Convergence, and after posting some amusing (if vertical) Facebook videos re-contextualizing clips from their new song "Gemini" with unrelated viral videos, they uploaded a behind-the-scenes "Inside The Chaos" video to their YouTube channel on Monday, featuring a look at the work that the guys are putting into the album, which has officially been renamed "Gemini" (as their planned third instrumental EP would have been) rather than its prior teased name "In Bloom". The video is helpfully broken into chapters and features hard-coded subtitles added in post-production. In order, you see singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio tracking vocals, guitarist Brendan Christie mixing songs at their own Woodward Avenue Studios and tracking his own guitar parts, a look at their studio gear, ...

...fellow guitarist Jake Valois going into the writing process for the album (with some amusing imagery), and drummer David Peredun discussing the songwriting process in voice-over while he drums on screen. Of note, David actually moved to Southern Ontario in recent months to further his own career and make new connections, but he is still in Convergence, is still working on the album, and he explained that they are making gigs work when he can return home. While a little piecemeal in its layout, this is an informative video that shows a lot while also not giving much away, and I really liked the tracking clips at the start, so give this a watch below!

Finally for tonight, let's wrap up our look at the videos publically shared to new local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe's Facebook page from their matinee debut at Beck's Bar on April 4th! For our coverage of the band's two own videos and what three other attendees shot, check yesterday's post. The venue's own Facebook page posted a (sadly) vertical video from that night featuring 3 minutes of highlights from the day's sets, though the cuts are very quick, and some snippets only run for around 10 seconds. In order, you will see the guys covering Weezer's "Say It Ain't So", The Presidents Of The United States Of America's "Lump", Temple Of The Dog's "Hunger Strike", Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears", Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You", Alice In Chains' "No Excuses" (with bassist Randy Lundigran on lead vocals), and Pink Floyd's "Money". Only the first two songs are unique here, and were not among what other uploaders shot.

I do wish that these clips were all longer (if not separate videos outright), but Becky(?) got some good close angles despite the orientation! The Ozzy cover got the most time among the highlights here, and you can see how impressed the attendees to the side of the stage were with the band/guitarist Tyler Greely's solo, and the pan shot of the audience gives a good interior view if you haven't been to Beck's since it opened last year (next weekend is their one year anniversary, even). Give their 5.D.B. video a watch below!

The other three videos were uploaded by Randy's dad Chad Lundigran for his personal Facebook page before the band shared them to their Facebook page. Unfortunately also shot vertically and all running for under a minute each, Chad filmed Five Dollar Bribe covering "Money", the Atlanta Rhythm Section's "So Into You" (what a pull for a band this young!), and as embedded below, "No Excuses". Randy sings lead on "So Into You", for the record. It's good to get a longer look at the A.I.C. cover, and their talents are on good display here for a successful first go at the public stage, so check out Jayce, Tyler, Randy, and Chase's other new Beck's videos above & below!

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

5 Dollar Bribe Concert Video Showcase!!

How does another single-band post sound, especially another one relating to a recent concert? As you may recall, new high school-aged local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe made their public concert debut on Saturday, April 4th in the matinee timeslot at Beck's Bar that is usually reserved for acoustic acts, and if you missed that gig, never fear, as a lot of videos were shared to their Facebook page. Too many for one post, even! Before we get to the videos that were shared from attendees or other pages, the band proper uploaded two of their own videos the following day, namely covers of Silverchair's "No Association" and, as embedded below, the System of a Down version of Black Sabbath's "Snowblind". Kudos alone for covering a Silverchair song, especially one besides "Tomorrow"! Guitarist Jayce Albury sings on both of these covers, and doesn't play guitar at all on "Snowblind".

I don't think that cover is a particularly good choice for Jayce's vocal range, but these are well performed musically, and the camera work is good to capture the guys in action, even if both videos are only around a minute long each. It's unfair to assess their stage presences for show #1, especially at their ages, but hopefully they do loosen up more in time to match their clear talents. Give 5.D.B.'s first official Facebook videos a watch above & below!

Next up, the first videos that the band shared from external sources come from attendee Stephanie Goudreault's personal Facebook page. In a batch post also including a photo of the guys on stage, she included videos of Five Dollar Bribe covering Alice In Chains' "No Excuses" and, as embedded below, Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears". I went with that to embed because the "No Excuses" cover is vertically shot, focuses primarily on drummer Chase Chapman, and runs for only 39 seconds. Jayce (not on guitar again) struggles to hit Ozzy's high notes, but these covers are solid from what we hear with strong guitar work from Tyler Greely, so check them out above & below!

Chase's dad James Chapman filmed and uploaded the next videos to his personal Facebook page before the band shared them, and while his videos are (sadly) all vertical, he did upload eleven of them, including a handful of full songs! James filmed 5 Dollar Bribe covering System Of A Down's "Lost In Hollywood", the ending of The Queens Of The Stone Age's "In The Fade", 90 seconds of The Stone Temple Pilots' "Interstate Love Song" (with bassist Randy Lundigran on lead vocals), Staind's "Raining Again", Primus' "Too Many Puppies"(!), Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You", the second half of "No More Tears" (with Tyler leaving the stage to play the solo on the floor), 82 seconds of 3 Doors Down's "Loser", 31 seconds of Title Fight's "Numb, But I Still Feel It", 83 seconds of Blink-182's "Stay Together For The Kids", and as embedded below, Pink Floyd's "Money".

Jayce plays guitar on all songs here except "Lost In Hollywood", while Randy handles the Daron Malakian vocals on that song, plus the Mark Hoppus verses on the Blink-182 cover. Even with the non-ideal aspect ratio and sometimes partial videos, there's a lot to see here, and you can not knock the band's range at all. When's the last time you heard a local band cover Primus, and if you were to name the ten most likely Q.O.T.S.A. or Staind songs for a local band to cover, would what 5.D.B. picked be among them? For me, I can't say they would! Not every song here is necessarily my thing for genre preferences, but the performances are sound, especially for their debut, so give these a look above & below as well!

Fittingly, let's wrap things up with videos from James' wife/Chase's mom Jodi Chapman, who uploaded largely the same videos to her personal Facebook page as James did (no idea if one/both were the actual filmer), but her batch of videos does include unique content, including a handful of photos and two unique videos that were 100% not in James' batch post. These (also vertical) videos include a longer look at Five Dollar Bribe's "Snowblind" cover, and as embedded below, Temple Of The Dog's "Hunger Strike". Randy does struggle to hit Chris Cornell's vocal range on the latter, but it's another promising look at what could be a key cog for the future of the local scene, so check these out above & below!

There's four more videos from two more filmers that we will get to in an upcoming post, so stay tuned for that soon, but if the above videos are any sign, the kids are alright! That's all for now, but look for much more on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of (Most Of) Crush's Concert At The Merch On Saturday Night!

You may recall that newer Sault Michigan hard rock trio Crush made their debut at The Merchants Bar this past Saturday night, and you can now see the vast majority of their three-sets-long concert via live-streamed videos on their Facebook page! Well, you can watch them "for now", as current Facebook limitations on live-streamed videos mean that these will no longer be playable after a month unless Crush opts to convert them into regular videos or re-upload them. Basically, I'd better get to them now while there's time, and if you want to see the three videos, assuming the guys don't make them permanent, you have until around May 11th! Unfortunately, the filmer recording the concert shot all three sets vertically, but they did try to frame the whole band within the portrait orientation. Just as a reminder, Crush is the Tarnished spinoff band that debuted last summer.

In the first set video (which is embedded below), you can see Alex, Josh, and Iggy leading off with a fast and rocked up cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary", before tackling "SDR&R", which is a holdover from Tarnished's days as an original band, specifically a 2021 studio single of theirs. Of note, while singer/drummer Alex Traynor sang lead on the Tarnished version, guitarist Josh Fair (a.k.a. Josh Tyler) handled lead vocals on Saturday night, and he didn't do a bad job, aided by bassist Isaac "Iggy" Royer's gruff backing vocals! Crush's own original "Too Close" (which has been teased on social media before) follows, and here, Iggy sings lead. Alex returns to lead vocals for a cover of AC/DC's "Big Balls", before the guys play a brand new original named "Satisfied" with Josh singing. Iggy takes over vocals for their punky original "Hey You", which opened their battle-winning set last year.

Their next song is actually a cover of the fast rocking outro of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (in response to a fan yelling the title out; kudos for actually learning part of it!), before Alex sings his first original song of the night, "No Way". Like with "Too Close", the studio version of this song has been sampled as background music in some of Crush's prior social media videos. The first set closes with a hard rock cover of (I'm serious) Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!", also with Alex on vocals. There's already a lot to take in there, but how about their set #2 live-stream video? Henceforth, all songs have Alex on lead vocals unless otherwise stated. In the 10:00 hour at The Merch, their set began with a cover of The Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", followed by their original "Capitol Gain" (also played at last summer's battle of the bands in Brimley), which Josh and Iggy roughly share vocal duties on. 

The next song (with Josh on lead vocals) wasn't introduced by name, but it has a Motley Crue-esque swagger, and it may be named "Fuck It" based on the chorus. Next is "Intoxicated" (featuring Iggy on lead vocals), which is another Tarnished original that Crush have taken on, and while that band never recorded it as a studio single, you can see Alex and Josh play it in that band in early 2024 at this link. Crush have teased their studio version in social media teasers as well, including this "gross" video starring Iggy to promote the Merch concert. Iggy remains the lead singer for their next song, a cover of Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite", and they wrapped up set #2 with one more Kiss cover, this time "Detroit Rock City". Logging and writing about what happened in an hour's worth of live-streamed concert video has dragged this post out really well, so I'll save set #3 for an upcoming post.

Just based on the first two sets, Crush have a good thing going, and it is encouraging to see Josh and Iggy get so many opportunities at the mic! Things aren't too far removed from Tarnished sonically, but with a looser and heavier form factor, and some cover choices of varying levels of predictability for a band of their style. The vertical camera angle, hazy lighting, and Alex often being obscured behind Josh all aren't ideal for home viewers, and I do wish that the attendees at The Merch were more vocal between songs, but there's good tunes here, so check out the first two sets above & below, and we'll look at the third set very soon! Thanks everyone! 

Mammoth Concert Video Showcase (Plus Pillory!!)

In the sequel to last week's post of Christopher Paci's videos from the Demon King/Celestial Scourge concert, we're picking things back up tonight with videos from the other major hard rock concert that he saw last month, with the last video from the Demon King concert at the end to round things out! As you may recall, Los Angeles hard rock/metal band Mammoth made their local debut on March 28th at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, and Chris shot fourteen videos of all three bands for his YouTube channel, including eight from the former MammothWVH's headlining set. Chris filmed Wolfgang and crew playing their originals "The End", "Don't Back Down", "Take A Bow", "Distance", "Epiphany", "The Spell", "Another Celebration At The End Of The World", and as embedded below, their set-opener "One Of A Kind".

Chris was in the fourth or fifth row on this night, and he had a good vantage point of the stage, with Wolf's melodic singing & guitar skills and the band's cohesive sound coming through well across the board! Mammoth have built up a strong array of original radio hits in their three albums so far, so give these videos a watch for yourselves above & below!

Next up, Knoxville, Tennessee alt-metal quintet 10 Years co-headlined in their third appearance at the Soo Kewadin, where Chris filmed them playing their songs "Novacaine", "Fix Me", "Russian Roulette", and as embedded below, their signature song "Wasteland". Don't be alarmed by the yellow still image on the video, that was just a momentary flash in the lighting. 10 Years sound good across these videos, with tight performances and well held-up vocals, and they deserved more than being borderline one-hit-wonders on US rock radio! Give Chris' videos from their set a watch above & below!

Lastly from the Mammoth concert, Chris filmed two videos of Welsh alternative/punk quartet James & The Cold Gun's opening set, namely of their songs "Chewing Glass" and, as embedded below, their set-opener "Seven". Spunky and pointed performances here from this rising UK outfit, and hopefully they made lots of new fans in the Soo last month, so check out their videos above and below as well!

Interestingly, the amount of songs per band is halving as we go, and we're ending here with a single video of Sault Ontario death/thrash metal trio Pillory, who opened the aforementioned Demon King concert at Soo Blaster four days prior, and Chris filmed them playing their song "Curse Of Eternal Sickness" that night. Nice technical performance filmed from a close spot on the floor (if with a few closer attendees in between), and I do want to compliment frontman Robert Sartini's vocals in particular, as his death growling is really clear and well enunciated in this recording! That can be a challenge to come through in live videos. Give it a watch below!

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

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Sailor's Tongue

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and after a two month spell of randomly selected bands who were on the higher end for heaviness and notoriety here and afar, this month takes us to an accomplished past group who didn't have an extended run, but still played some big events and had a lot of promising original material. Here's what you should know in this monthly feature post!

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Sailor's Tongue

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard/Blues Rock

Lineup:

Kyle McKey (The Ghost Town Cryers, Stillbroke, Mocombo), vocals/guitar
Blake Jackson, guitar
Liam Seymour (Lime, The Rising Tide), guitar
Jeff Brown (Turner Up), bass
Dean McKey (The McCartney Years), drums

Audio/Video: In conjunction with their set at Rotaryfest's Second Stage in July 2013, Sailor's Tongue released their only EP named "Pierced" at that event. This was intended to be a limited-run sampler for a formal full length album that never came to fruition, to the point that certain songs were labelled as demos. While "Pierced" is long out of print, you can stream all seven songs and a few select non-EP cuts that may have been planned for the full album across both the band's Reverbnation page and drummer Dean McKey's Soundcloud page. Limited videos from their 2010s reunion gigs can be found on YouTube, including this video of the guys playing "BootScattered" at their 2013 Stage 2 set!

Info/Analysis: Evolving from prior local bands named Pix N' Stix and Edge City, Sailor's Tongue were originally active locally from roughly 2005-2009, where they played headlining dates at former venues like Foggy Notions and The Nicolet Tavern, and made the finals of 2007's Bon Soo Battle of the Bands, while honing originals that would later appear on "Pierced". Gigs slowed down after Dean moved to London for university in 2007, but the band (with Liam initially replacing Blake) would reunite in 2012 for special events, including the final two LopLops-curated Second Stages at Rotaryfest on Queen Street East. Despite their public album plans, they fell inactive again by 2014 when Kyle moved out of town himself, though the band reunited to play at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2019, making them the first Stage 2 band to ever graduate to the main stage.

 

A well varied outfit who could deliver hard rock grooves while also featuring blues, southern rock, and funk influences on various songs like "Float" and "Doctor John", the McKey brothers and crew had good chemistry, distinct vocals, and a casual stage presence that would have lent them well had members stayed in town long enough to allow more momentum to gather as a live and studio act. Kyle & Dean have privately worked on songwriting for Sailor's Tongue since the band dissolved, and hopefully we haven't seen the last of them on a local stage, but follow members' current projects to see what they're up to in the 2020s!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around May 10th, and we'll have more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone! 

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Dopethrone), A New Local Band, And The Pop Evil Concert Preview!!

Today's post is stacked with big news and notes from the past week, including a very notable LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for extreme metal fans next month, our slightly delayed preview of a big headlining concert on Sunday night, and leading off, a very delayed addition to our Sault Ontario band links, so here's what you should know on this Friday night!

Local metal quintet With Gunfire have finally launched a Facebook page, so we can finally add them to our active band links! Why it took this long, I don't know, especially as their first gig was in July 2024, but better late than never! Originally known as The Sault Side Squad (a parody of The Suicide Squad) before adopting their current name in December, With Gunfire's lineup is (as far as I am still aware) comprised of The B.A.G.'s Spencer MacGillivray on vocals, A Dire Setback/Big Finish Band guitarist Chris Nielsen, former Jack Spades/Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti, A.S.D.P./ex-Stoned To Deaf bassist William Wardlaw, and former Soldiers Of Misfortune/Elements drummer Jonas Gasperas, who played with Anthony in Winkstinger. The original Sault Side Squad singer was ex-As It Stands frontman and rapper Justin "Nadj" Pregent, who quietly left this band by September 2025.

Brand new content is slim on With Gunfire's Facebook page, but two new "Shorts" videos were shared from Jonas' YouTube channel, including this slideshow with silent live footage set to their studio original "M.F.C." (ignore the AI-generated image claiming a title of "A Hate Supreme"), but embedded below is a performance at the Fist Magnet/Spigots reunion concert at Soo Blaster in December that they opened and debuted their new name at. Some of the vertical videos here were uploaded as plain videos, so I don't know why this is a "Short", but the song here is promisingly thrashy despite some fans being in the road of the camera. Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more new content from Jonas' channel!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Montreal "slutch metal" trio Dopethrone will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a headlining concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Monday, May 25th! Readers may recall seeing this long running doom metal outfit at the former New American Pub on Victoria Day in 2019, and while the same holiday is a week prior this year, it is great to see Dopethrone back after just over 7 years away, and they should keep things down and dirty (yet still brutal) at the former Roosevelt Hotel! Also joining Dopethrone on tour is Vancouver gothic/doom metal quintet Tribunal, a majority-female and cello-infused band that should turn heads with their brutal and atmospheric sound in their local debut, so don't bypass them! While most of this tour is a co-headlining jaunt with Portland black metal project Mizmor, they are not advertised for the Soo date.

The local openers are extremely notable on their own, even without the touring bands, starting with the surprise reunion of local/St. Catharines grindcore trio Shit Liver, whose last concert of their original run was the Dopethrone show at The New A! Concert advertising specifies that they are only playing a 15 minute set, so I'm reading this as a one-off reunion and not the start of anything major (remember, the now-short haired Josh Penno is largely focusing on The Golden Scoundrels nowadays), but this is a fitting way to see Shit Liver (at least) one more time! The other opening band is named Eden Plague, who are the renamed and relaunched local death metal band The Bear Hunters! A reason was not publically announced for the name change, but a fresh start after a year+ hiatus is as good a reason as any. Guitarist Mitch Sirie previously used the Eden Plague name for a short-lived black metal project in 2010 & 2011, distinct from his other solo work.

Of course, Mitch is no stranger to being in bands who had late period name changes (i.e. Stillbroke/Borderline Divine and The Suicide Kings/Beaumont Avenue). No word on if there will be any other changes to the band in sound or lineup, let alone if their 2023 "final album" plans are still around, but we'll let you know when we hear more from The Bear Hunters Eden Plague! A rare promotional effort by the aforementioned Josh Penno, this Memorial Day concert is a 19+ affair at 7:30 PM, and $20 advance tickets are on sale at Jay's and The Rad Zone (the door charge jumps to $25). A nice throwback death/doom metal show will be well worth seeing next month, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Finally for today's post, here's our preview of this weekend's main event, as Muskegon, Michigan hard rock quintet Pop Evil will return to our area for a headlining concert at The Machine Shop in Sault Ontario on SUNDAY NIGHT! Buzz for this show hasn't been as high as I had assumed, but this is notable because Pop Evil have a lot of Billboard rock chart success in the US, get frequent airplay on Rock 101, and have played in Sault Michigan seven times in the past decade & a half, most recently at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino just over three years ago. With hit songs like "Footsteps", "Skeletons", and "Waking Lions" in their back pocket, it will be interesting to see Pop Evil on the Canadian side of the border, and hopefully there's a strong turnout for their catchy original rock! Your openers on Sunday are Waterloo hard rock quartet Sierra Pilot (a former band of ex-Spades GT guitarist Jay Sarrazin).

Expect a diverse but explosive set of rocking originals from them in their local debut in three nights' time! This stop on Pop Evil's What Remains Tour is an all ages event at 8:00 PM, and tickets run for $45.20 (plus processing fees) at this link, at the door, or at the in-person box office at Station Mall. If you're curious, the ticket price is comparable to Pop Evil's 2023 show in Sault Michigan after you convert this ticket cost from CAD to USD. Hopefully this show (the third hard rock headlining event at The Machine Shop in less than two months) is a success, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Pop Evil live at Kewadin Casino the last time out!

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