Defunct Local Band Profile Series: The Guitar Gangsters & Choking On Appendages

It's now time for our final Defunct Local Band Profiles of 2025, and this month, we're doubling up, as the first randomly selected band doesn't have a lot to say from their brief run, so I added another random act in a similar state to fill things out. One is quite a stacked group who weren't destined for a long run, and the other is a promising solo project with a minimal online presence, so here's what you should know on both!

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The Guitar Gangsters

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hard Rock/Metal

Lineup:

Erik "Buzz" Boissineau (Garden of Bedlam), vocals
Tiffany Stocco (The Knuckle City Dusters, Stegadeth), guitar
Jesse Cook (Handsome Sandwich, Jack Spades, Winkstinger), guitar
Mike Bird (Papa Fogals Chair, Sulfur), bass
Derek Turner (Even Flow, Garden of Bedlam, The Wyld Stallyns), drums

Info/Analysis: A late 2019 supergroup paying tribute to Danish hard rock band Volbeat, The Guitar Gangsters notably united multiple former members of Garden of Bedlam, Jack Spades, and Papa Fogals Chair, with this being the first time that Buzz & Derek played together in a local band since Garden of Bedlam's last gig in 2015. The Gangsters played live just twice, at J.D. Pearce's final annual Halloween party at The Rockstar Bar on November 1st (see them below covering "Heaven Nor Hell"), and at The Asylum in Sudbury on November 29th alongside Tiffany's then-Distillers tribute band Coral Fang. Their prospects were likely always short term given that Buzz and Tiff weren't living in town then (let alone the incoming pandemic), but this stacked lineup delivered Volbeat classics really well at their sole local gig!

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Choking On Appendages

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Hardcore Punk/Death Metal

Lineup:

Mikhal Muto (Hails, Agnosticism), all instruments

Info/Analysis: Separate from his acoustic folk punk output as Agnosticism, prolific young punk/rock musician and concert promoter Mikhal Muto released the EP "Macabre" from his heavier solo project Choking On Appendages in May of last year via Bandcamp. This and a YouTube posting of the album remain C.O.A.'s only public acts, possibly due to Mikhal's other commitments with multiple bands, though note that he has vanished from Facebook in recent months. Easily the heaviest project that he's worked on since emerging as a local musician (complete with some growled vocals), Choking On Appendages delivered a lot of brutal promise in their four song EP, even with way too short song lengths, and hopefully Mikhal revisits this project in the future!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month in this series, we'll kick off 2026 back in Sault Michigan for our next randomly selected profile, and it's another recent one, namely 2023-2025 hard rock cover band Exit 808! Look for that on or around January 10th, and for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Spades GT Updates From The Past Month!!

Let's dive into another single-band post on this snowy Tuesday afternoon, courtesy of local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's activity from last month, so what's new to report from the G.T.A.? We'll actually flash back to October to start for some all-too-rare concert videos of theirs that are A. raw live footage, B. the full songs, and C. horizontally shot! These were filmed at their set opening for The Exploited at The Rockpile in Toronto on October 19th, and are courtesy of attendee Jake Disman, who has filmed them at multiple gigs over the years, most recently at the Steve Edwin McLeod tribute concert at the same venue in March. Only uploaded to his YouTube channel last month, these were curiously uploaded intermixed with other concert videos from different events over the course of a week. Jake uploaded eight songs from this night in four 2 song chunks (all but their closer "Hands"), so what can you see here?

The videos include their usual set openers "They Live" and "Rise", plus "Sewer City Radio" and "Demons", "Cenobites" and "Wrecked" (featuring The Fast Life's Andrew Moorehouse on guest vocals), and as embedded below, their third and fourth songs "Red" and "United". Jake had a good high vantage point to capture the full band in action, if with occasionally too-deep stage lighting, and it looks like everyone had a blast with the ripping originals during Spades' set! We'll have more from this show in an upcoming post, but give Jake's really solid videos from October a watch above and below!

When we last left off with J.D., Daniel, Matthew, Sean, and Tyler, they were gearing up for their return to The Bovine Sex Club (that is still its real name!) in Toronto on November 7th, where they and guitarist Daniel Horton's other punk band The Fast Life opened for their their buddies in G.F.U.. The three bands had joined forces for a Barrie gig in October, among multiple other bookings, but this was reportedly Spades' last Toronto show of the year. The recap video (vertical as ever) went live on their Facebook page four days later, and it is externally embeddable without an audio content match! The first minute of the 4+ minute video sees drummer Tyler Reiner plugging the concert, their next gig in Delhi, and their eventful past year in general.The first half is all outside of the venue mingling, where we get a good look at Fang's dapper kilt, and it's encouraging to see that Sean hasn't been kicked out of Spades GT yet!

Once we move inside The Bovine, clips are shown from most bands (no Loaded Dice though), with Spades pictured playing "Wrecked" at the 2:55 mark, albeit for less than 10 seconds total and from a distant spot with fans' blocking much of the view. After seeing a G.F.U. clip, we hear more of their frontman Jeremy "Jayboe" Cibirka's platform for his Toronto mayoral campaign, before performers from that night gather at video's end, with Daniel saying that they "crushed it". I'll take his word on that, but check out the entertaining recap video for yourselves below!

One week after that gig, the former Jack Spades made their first ever trip to Delhi (pronounced "dell-high"), which is outside of Simcoe and a half hour southwest of Brantford. The November 14th concert at Capitol 33 saw them open for Toronto metal legends Anvil (featuring Tyler's dad Robb Reiner on drums), in the first time that Spades have opened for Anvil since February of last year. While the band was highly complimentary of the concert and venue on Facebook afterwards, and promised to return to Delhi next year, they did not post a recap video from this concert, at least not yet. A couple days later, Spades GT announced their second 2026 show, which will see them head to Guelph for a concert at Jimmy Jazz on January 16th alongside Stand Against Fear and Prior Convictions. If those names are familiar, it's because ex-Spades GT bassist James Roy Daley is an alumnus of those bands too, so how's that for degrees of separation between them?

Promotion says that this is Spades GT's Guelph debut, which didn't seem right, but in researching, they had a Guelph cancellation in July when Brazil's Kaos Attack dropped out of an Ontario tour run, and they had been promoting a planned set at Jimmy Jazz in March 2023 alongside Stand Against Fear (here's proof), but they quietly dropped out and were replaced by Knifehammer in the preceding weeks. Good to see the guys trying a Guelph concert again, and hopefully this one sticks! They hope to play more cities and markets for the first time in 2026, so keep that in mind, especially if you're in Southern Ontario. On November 18th, Spades announced their final show of 2025, a headlining date in their Barrie homebase on December 13th (yes, this Saturday) at C.W. Coop's on a doom metal-laden bill that will also feature Hamilton notables Pale Horse Ritual. The band also claims that this will be their "last one (in Barrie) for a while".

How long is "a while"? That's to be determined, but this isn't the first time they've hyped a year-ending Barrie show thusly, and they're teasing a big year ahead with "lots of new things coming your way", so we'll have to see what's next from the guys after Saturday's Barrie concert! We'll let you know when more comes out re: that show, the potential Delhi recap video, and their 2026 plans in due course, so raise 'em up, cause a scene, and visit the above links for more from Spades GT! Thanks everyone!

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates From October-November 2025!!

I'm in Michigan seeing family for a Christmas vacation this week, so why not focus on an Easter Upper Peninsula band for today's post, namely St. Ignace deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown! When we last left off with them, the guys were hyping their return to The Vernors Room at The Crofoot Ballroom downstate in Pontiac, where they were slated to open for Born Of Osiris once again on November 7th. Five second teaser videos on their Facebook page in the following days confirmed frontman Brandon West's earlier mention that his old high school classmate Tyler "Dirty6" Chambers was flying in from Colorado to be a guest DJ for this set, marking the first time they had a live mixer on stage with them since drummer Blaze Beairl's debut with H.L.T.C., which was also when they opened for Born Of Osiris last year. On October 27th, Brandon and guitarist Jaxon Massaway starred in this video where they attempted to promote the concert.

I stress, "attempted", as they kept breaking into laughter when trying to set it up, especially from Brandon's amusing term that he came up with (and quickly regretted) for their fans. Amusing watch, so click here to give it a look! Jaxon was able to get a proper promotional video from his vehicle that same day, where he noted the stacked lineup and ticket availability from band members, but did not mention Dirty6. The next day, Brandon uploaded a brief vertical video where he reminded fans to check out their newest singles "Shame" and "Happy Fun Fun", and he addressed why their runtime is short, saying "it replicates... the whole entire songs (and) it's the same duration as we are & the length of what we are". Read into that however you like, but the video seemed to cut off mid sentence too. Embedded below is a new 6+ minute update video from Brandon, where he notes two more concerts coming up on November 12th & 14th that Dirty6 might also have guested on.

You may also see guest singers jump up on stage on an impromptu basis too, and Brandon reminded everyone that the band has four drummers in its ranks to allow for instrument swapping! I think Christian is the only one who can't drum. The November 12th show saw them return to The Sanctuary in Hamtramck (where they opened for Living Dissection in October), this time opening for Vermont metalcore band Saving Vice. Two days later, they headed back to The Music Factory in Battle Creek for the first time since March, but he didn't elaborate on that concert in this video. After reminding the whole "impromptu guests can join us to sing" angle, he also brings up that their album recording sessions are ongoing, even if they're just been releasing one-off singles as of late. Good to see fall plans continuing to fall into place at that point, so give Brandon's update video a watch below!

In an update video shot from his vehicle on November 2nd, Brandon was waiting to pick up guitarist Jaxon Massaway for rehearsals for the Born Of Osiris concert (he showed up early because of Daylight Savings Time), and he noted what the official lineup will be for this concert, though note that he did not mention guitarist/drummer Kaycee Mason as taking part in this show. No word on if his status with the band has changed, but he was in the "Happy Fun Fun" video from October. The Born Of Osiris show was a success, as you can see in this video shot by an H.L.T.C. band member (I love The Vernors Room's layout!), and photos of the guys hanging out with Born Of Osiris were posted to Facebook in the aftermath. Embedded below is a (horizontal!) update video that Brandon shot while en route to the Hamtramck show outside of Detroit on the 12th, where he noted that the Battle Creek show on the 14th also saw them open for Saving Vice.

A pop-up gig at the practice space of Detroit metal band Influence was also slotted in between the two. Bassist Christian Cook was unavailable to make the Battle Creek trip on the 14th, so Rob Vandewiele of the Detroit metal band Nothing After This filled in for that show on short notice. Kudos to Rob for helping out! Dirty6 was not referenced either, for the record. The rest of the video was just hype for the show and to buy tickets/merchandise. We'll have more from Heavy Lies The Crown's trifecta of downstate November concerts soon, but give this update video a watch below, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Majesty & The Trews), Tym Morrison Concert Previews, And Convergence Updates!!

Here's a Saturday morning post to check out before/instead of shovelling yet again, and it features this weekend's last hard rock concert previews, a teaser for an upcoming album, and leading off, two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS at the same venue next year, so here's what you should know!

Juno Award-nominated Nova Scotia alt-hard rock quintet The Trews will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a headlining concert at The Machine Shop on Wednesday, February 25th! Well known on domestic rock radio from hit singles like "Not Ready To Go", "So She's Leaving", and (more recently) "Breakdown", this will be The Trews' first local gig since headlining last year's Go North Music Festival on St. Joseph Island. Within city limits, fans last saw them open for Marianas Trench at GFL Memorial Gardens in 2022, but this will be their first proper headlining concert in Sault Ste. Marie since 2009. Crucially, since last year's outdoor gig in Richards Landing, Country 104.3 became 104.3 The Fox, giving The Trews more local radio play than ever, so if you can swing the mid-week concert scheduling, you won't want to miss out as the tour supporting their new album "Bloody Light" continues!

I have not seen any reference to opening bands for this concert yet. Tickets went on sale yesterday for $40 at this link, and can also be bought at the box office at Station Mall and at the Gelato Mill on site at Mill Square. This is definitely an all ages show, and an 8:00 PM start time is listed. This should be a strong concert with lots of familiar rock numbers from this talented group, so visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on The Trews' Machine Shop concert in a couple months!

Next up, here's another new Machine Shop concert announcement for the new year, as Majesty: A Tribute To Queen will headline there on Thursday, March 12th! Now, the idea of a Queen tribute band is far from new here, as fans who saw Australia's Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will know well, following that group's multiple headlining appearances at The Sault Community Theatre Centre in the last few years. Majesty will also be on an intercontinental trek (they're from Great Britain), and if you watch videos of them in action, they definitely have the Queen sound and look down, so it will be interesting to see a high quality Queen tribute at a more intimate local venue! Another all ages and 8:00 PM affair, ticket also start at $40 like for The Trews at the same on-sale locations (buy them online here), but unlike that show, there will be some general admission seating for Majesty, and those tickets will run for $45. Visit the above links for more on Majesty's local debut!

Now, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews via another busy weekend for prolific local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison, who will play yet another matinee concert at Misty's Fifties LATER TODAY before doing the matinee honours at Beck's Bar TOMORROW! While the consecutive matinees is notable enough, these actually mean that Tym has played three shows in four days, as alas, I completely missed that he played at The Dive Gastro Pub on (Think It Over) Thursday. While The Dive didn't confirm the booking until four hours prior to showtime (I miss their monthly calendars), Tym had quietly announced the show on November 6th via this Facebook event page. Given how Tym promotes his concerts, it's easy to miss individual Facebook event pages when he plays the same venues so often, but I profusely apologize for Thursday's gig falling through the cracks. 

Hopefully he rocked "the naughty corner" well as usual, and note that he played the same three venues on the same days of the week back in early May as well! After his downtown trip, fans can see him back at Misty's on Second Line West today at 4:00 PM before doing the matinee honours tomorrow at Beck's on Goulais Avenue at 3:00 PM. Neither show has an announced cover charge, and both are 19+. Click here or visit the above links for more details on today & tomorrow's shows, and here he is live!

Finally for this post, here's the latest from local progressive metal quartet Convergence, who have revealed that the first single from "our debut album" will be released on Christmas Day! Now, long-time fans will know that Convergence released two EPs when they were still a two man instrumental project (2023's "One" and last year's "Dead & Dreaming"), but since adding singer and 2025 Soo's Got Talent runner-up Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio to the band late last year, they've basically started over publically, wiping both EPs from streaming services, though songs from both are expected to be on the new album, now with vocals and David Peredun drumming. No word on if the album will still be called "In Bloom" (already renamed from "Gemini") or not, but the first single will be "The Ebb", which was first heard on the "One" EP. To preview its re-release, Convergence shared this lyric video snippet on their Facebook page on December 3rd.

Why it has to be vertical, I don't know, but its existence implies that a full lyric video could be in the cards in a few weeks. Both because I hope to review the album next year and that this is a 30 second teaser, I'll hold comment on the "Ebb" clip, but it's good to hear some true public news on Convergence's next studio album for the first time in months! They last alluded to their studio work on social media in the spring, and they were teasing that as being towards building an EPK at that point. Give the teaser video a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Convergence in the coming weeks, including "The Ebb" on the 25th!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (HeadF1rst & Bone Yard 225) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

December is now in full swing, so why not beat the winter blues and the heavy snow this week by occupying a venue? There's enough hard rock concerts in the Soo area to warrant extending our previews to a second post, so this weekend's Tym Morrison shows will be previewed next. Here's what you should know to start this weekend off right, including a pair of SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to The Water Tower Pub for another "uncorked" concert on SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the band's Facebook page yesterday, and it is newly listed on their website's concert calendar too, along a handful of extra shows to end 2025 with! Also newly confirmed there are returns to Beck's Bar on Saturday, December 13th (a regular nighttime concert) and once more on Sunday, December 14th (an acoustic matinee, and thusly their last "uncorked" gig of the year), before they debut at... The Full Throttle Saloon on Friday, December 19th? If you're unfamiliar, the Full Throttle Saloon is the rebranded Primavera Hall at 256 Wellington Street West (not far from the Eagles Club), and just had their grand opening last week.

The Primavera Hall came up as a concert host very sporadically in the 2010s, but the saloon has been ramping up concert and events bookings in recent weeks, and they do still have the buffet! It will be interesting to see how Bone Yard go over in Steelton in a couple weeks, but before then, their first unplugged gig at The Water Tower Pub since October goes down on SATURDAY! That show is at 8:00 PM, the Beck's shows are at 9:00 & 3:00 PM respectively, the Full Throttle show is at 9:30 PM, all have 19+ age limits, and none have an announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details on your local 225's last bar gigs of 2025, and here they are live!

Next up, local hard rock quintet HeadF1rst will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT themselves! Again, apologies for the short notice, this concert was first announced via the venue's December events calendar on Facebook on Tuesday, in which HeadF1rst's show is the only concert booked all month. As you may have noticed, Shooters have severely dialed back on hosting bands in 2025, with HeadF1rst really being the only band of note to play there since the spring, last rocking out there after game 7 of the World Series last month. No word on why HeadF1rst seem to be the only band that Shooters has anymore, but it'll be good to see their mix of hard rocking originals and old school-leaning covers on stage again on SATURDAY! Like Bone Yard 225, they were last seen at Toystock this past weekend. Note that Shooters' calendar posting hint at various holiday surprises given that we're in the Christmas season.

If any will arise to coincide with SATURDAY's concert, I don't know, but they do go all out for promotions when it comes to karaoke and dance party nights and what have you! Red, Rainey, Liam, Claire, and Anthony take the stage on SATURDAY at 9:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 have a previously announced concert TOMORROW NIGHT, which will see them headline  the Searchmont Ski Runners' holiday mixer at The Rockstar Bar! While the band considers this a "private event" on their website's calendar, the Ski Runners are publically advertising the mixer on social media. This isn't the first time that the Ski Runners have booked Silent 9 for a fundraiser at The Rockstar Bar that technically wasn't private, as they headlined their fall social in October 2023. Hopefully there's a great turnout to help their youth skiing program, and with the weather we've gotten this week, the skiing conditions shouldn't suffer this year! Note that The Rockstar Bar hinted at re-opening to regular nightclub service soon on Facebook in the past week, meaning that we could see bands playing there again there in 2026 beyond one-off corporate bookings like this.

Given the fundraising aims, this is a ticketed concert that will run you $35 (on sale at this link and presumably at the door), but advance ticket sales get you entries for a draw for Searchmont passes. This is a 19+ event, and a 7:30 PM start time is advertised. Visit the above links for more on the S.S.R.'s holiday mixer, and here's Silent 9 live!

We'll close today's preview post by heading south to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will take over The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen for their second annual "Drinksgiving bash" in Hessel (and in the Soo on Halloween night at The Merch), this will be the Fake Chow successors' first concert weekend at The Rapids Lounge since back in May. If you like a wide array of heavier-leaning rock covers, you won't want to miss out on Skip, Jody, Tony, and Jason's cover slates tomorrow and on Saturday, so don't miss out on all of the action this weekend! Whether you're placing bets on them kicking ass or not (I don't endorse gambling on the SMS), this weekend's concerts go down at 9:00 PM each night with no announced cover charges, and you must be 21 or older to attend. Note that the poster implies that "The Tony Rogers Band" is opening for Unfortunate Sun this weekend, a rarity for their gigs alone.

That would imply that their bassist (formerly of Clownsack, Shift, et al.) has launched an eponymous side project. I have not seen this corroborated anywhere else, let alone what Tony's band would be playing, but keep that in mind! Visit the above links for more on Unforunate Sun's Rapids Lounge stops this weekend, and here they are live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison previews and more on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Where Are The New Albums? December 2025 Update

For one last time (well, this year), here's our newest "Where Are The New Albums? post, as we're again looking at the current release whereabouts and public updates on albums in the works from Sault Ontario hard rock acts! No changes in entries from last month, but half of the six this time have updated information, as noted with their title in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!

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Bone Yard 225's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "F.A.F.O.", "Gypsy Spell", "Fuck!", "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (Mike Posner cover)

Background: After months of teasers that they were planning to record original music (as previewed in their live concerts prior), local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225 began releasing their own songs on major streaming services in July 2024, a whopping fifteen years after the pre-225 band debuted as a country cover quartet. Their first three singles (all recorded at their home studio) were posted online by January, though it took until May 2025 for the band to confirm on their Facebook page that they were indeed working on a proper album. It's not immediately clear if their existing three singles will be included, but it's not a given, as Jonesy Land fans saw with "Zoom-Out". As of August 11th, it was reportedly "album tracking time", while this video from three days later shows bandmates Alex D'Ettore and Warren Reville recording backing vocals for their cover of Mike Posner's "I Took A Pill In Ibiza". That will be one of "a couple of covers" for the album, as confirmed by frontman Greg Simpson during recent concerts. "Fuck!" was renamed "The F Word" on streaming services last month, but it's not clear if the less explicit name will stick on the album.

Current Release Status: In that Facebook post from May 30th, your local 225 said that "the album is coming along nicely", and they hoped to release it "by the end of 2025", but Greg has since adjusted the timeframe to "early 2026" when mentioning it during live shows. While singer/drummer Greg Simpson did release an EP with his old band Stiffler's Mom, it's hard to compare the release methods and schedule given that "The Demo" came out in 2004.  It is neat to see that Greg, Alex, and Warren are going all in on a studio album, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

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Bullet Train's upcoming EPs

Rumoured Songs: "Atmosphere", "Illusions", "Profit", "Wayside"

Background: The current hard rock band from former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchsion and ex-Fort Creek bandmates Robin "Bones" Lee and Anthony Fabiano, Bullet Train have existed solely as a studio band so far, releasing four original songs recorded at their own home studio to their YouTube channel in 2024, all very much influenced by their take on current events. After a quiet summer due to "life's trials", Bullet Train resurfaced on their Facebook page last September to reveal that they were working on two demo EPs, with the first one entering post-production as of the 9th, though it's not clear if their 2024 singles will be on them.

Current Release Status: No idea yet, especially as this band has no prior track record for releasing albums, though all three band members have experience writing and recording studio material to varying degrees. Bullet Train claimed in September of last year that a release date for EP #1 would be announced "in the upcoming weeks", but he band will hit a year without a public update on band activity on Christmas Eve. It'll be interesting to see if Bullet Train have more updates in store, so keep tabs for further updates!

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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite

Rumoured Songs: "The Cities Alive & It's Angry"

Background: Ever the prolific artist & songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore has been working on an extensive rock opera for years (once claimed to be a 33 part work), originally named "A Story About A Kid Named Todd". Worked on in between his other unrelated solo albums, released for sale or otherwise, Chase posted a lengthy elaboration of the rock opera in 2022, now titled "The Chaotic Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release timeline. Clips of songs have surfaced on his Facebook page, as have full songs not explicitly tied to the album, as well as the final artwork. In more recent promotion, Chase has hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final solo album as part of aims to focus on his personal life more than his prolific original material. Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.

Current Release Status: Chase elaborated on Facebook last summer that the album was 95% done earlier that year when the files "got trapped on my desktop's hard drive", and he had been unable to procure a backup of the material or recover the files as of that post. In any event, three of the full songs uploaded to Facebook in the previous year were clarified as not being planned for "The Chaotic Rite", but they could surface on a separate EP. Fingers crossed that Chase is able to save this album and put it out when able, especially given the years that he's put into the making of it!

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Convergence - In Bloom

Rumoured Songs: "Gemini", "In Bloom", "Breaking News", "It Ate The F&$%ing Moon", "Kraken Mara", "You Are Not Flesh", "The Ebb"

Background: Just over a month after releasing their sophomore EP "Dead And Dreaming", local progressive metal band Convergence announced in February 2024 that EP #3 would be named "Gemini", with its cover artwork being released at the same time. Teaser clips of most songs from the EP were posted on their Facebook page and their YouTube channel throughout much of 2024, but most prior media was wiped as they retooled as a full band, now including singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio and drummer David Peredun. Convergence have been working in studio recently with producer Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio, documenting the sessions in Facebook "Reels", and while they did get cagey about the endgame for the studio sessions, they have confirmed in concert that the EP (now named "In Bloom") is still in progress. Live versions of early instrumentals (now with vocals) have also been played in their early sets. A new version of "The Ebb" (first seen on their 2023 EP "One") with vocals will reportedly be released to streaming services on Christmas.

Current Release Status: No clue, and given the complexity of their music yet their independent studio trappings so far, that could bode a quick or lengthy timeline for "In Bloom" to come out, depending on what angle you take. Since their modern studio cycle commenced in 2023, things have been relatively steady for Brendan and Jake as a recording act, and here's hoping that Convergence keep that up for their third offering! 

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Fort Creek's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "One For The Road", "Sweet Rosie"

Background: Background: Local southern/hard rock band Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to record an EP since February 2020, but they wouldn't release any samples until almost two years later when they shared (now-deleted) clips of their original song "Hammer Down" on their Facebook page. The guys would play it regularly at concerts from 2022-2023, with studio sessions taking place in early-mid 2023 as well. After the departure of bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer Anthony Fabiano (both now of Bullet Train) in the fall of 2023, Fort Creek opted to abandon material recorded with them "as a show of good faith", and have been working on new material and rebuilding their studio over the past two years. Now featuring Phil Greco on drums, their first single (the acoustic "One For The Road") was posted online in January, with the band confirming plans to now record a 10 song album at Jettison Studios prior to returning to live concerts. Their new single "Sweet Rosie" was said to be coming next, and they teased being back in studio to record that very song as of August 31st.

Current Release Status: Prior release timelines for their debut EP reflected their early 2020s lineup's material, and Justin, Shane, Bill, and Phil have largely kept things somewhat close to the vest prior to putting out "One For The Road". There are a lot of unknowns, especially given the 5+ years of production time and their decision to basically start over in 2023, and that this is a band that was primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit before their rhythm section left. It will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned for updates!

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The Realignment Project - Let You Fall

Rumoured Songs: "Let You Fall", "Where Did You Go?", "Scatterbrain", "By Myself", "The Last Time You See Me", "Find My Way Out"

Background: The solo industrial hard rock project led by former Riverin frontman and Dirty Virgin drummer Matt Hicks, The Realignment Project got off to a fast start as a recording act, independently putting out three EPs in 2025 alone (January's "Afterthought", April's "The Frustration Sessions", and October's "War Songs"), Fans of T.R.P. will have noticed that Matt has begun songwriting and recording for future EPs before his next ones were even released, and that remains true for their next effort, as Matt confirmed on their Facebook page on October 15th that he was already tracking vocals for their fourth EP, and had began the demos for EP number 5.  Matt confirmed last month that EP #4 would be named "Let You Fall", and confirmed the final track listing on November 18th, which notably omits "What Have We Done", an instrumental released at the beginning of the November (unless he changed its name). Teaser videos of the sessions were posted on Facebook throughout the past month.

Current Release Status: Matt has confirmed that this EP will be released on major streaming services on January 2nd, surely making it the first local hard rock album release of 2026, and we may see a physical release on vinyl too (perhaps in combination with "War Songs"), as Mike is now working with East London Recordings to release the album in print-on-demand vinyl.  Follow The Realignment Project on social media for continuing updates, and we'll have more on "Let You Fall" in a regular post soon!

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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around January 2nd (incidentally, the release date of "Let You Fall"), while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next week. That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith's New Live Album Details, Plus New Headrush & Quite Frankly Videos!!

For our first news post of December 2025, we have some new videos and related updates from a selection of talented local bands, so here's what you should know on this snowy night!

To coincide with his second straight solo set at Toystock, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith did indeed release his and The Big Finish Band's new live album "Under A Moonlit Sky" yesterday! According to Mike's Facebook page, the album is available "EVERYWHERE", and by that, he means it's on the three major streaming services linked here as well as on Bandcamp, YouTube Music, and yes, even Boomplay, Qobuz, and Anghami. I'm not seeing Tidal, Napster, et al., so it's not truly "everywhere", but it's making the rounds! The album is on sale via iTunes for $9.99 and on Bandcamp for $10, though note that Mike hasn't updated Bandcamp yet to reflect the release yesterday, so the album is still technically only available for pre-order there, and only has the three advance singles available for free play. Until that's updated, go elsewhere to stream the album unless you're buying it. As a charitable tie-in beyond Toystock, Mike is donating money from streams of the live album to Christmas Cheer!

If you want to show your support for those in need, each Spotify stream will generate 15¢ until year's end, while $5 from purchases of "Under A Moonlit Sky" on Bandcamp will go to Christmas Cheer too, as will 10¢ per view of the full concert video when it goes live on YouTube (more on that in a bit). Recorded at Mike & crew's outdoor headlining concert at the Downtown Plaza on September 25th, the full album has 19 tracks, and in terms of the makeup, it has four songs from "All The Best In All You Do", three songs from "If Ever Comes The Day", two songs each from "Frequent Flyer" & "Bridges", The Din's "Missing", the band Haggith's mainstay "75", and Mike's two newest live songs "I Really Hope This Gets To You" & "No Love" (which aren't on any album yet). The other four tracks are the self explanatory "Guitar Adlib" and, as I suspected, three intro tracks, though all feature the band playing behind Mike's spoken word.

Note that Elly McWatters only provided backing vocals and tambourine for this concert/album (she hasn't been pictured playing guitar with The Big Finish Band all year). I'll hold comment on the album pending our review of "Under A Moonlit Sky" next year (now pencilled in for May, as I forgot about Handsome Sandwich's new album in blocking the album review schedule), but buy or stream it above, and as for the full concert video, Mike has shared a preview clip from that night to his Facebook page last week. High quality multi-camera footage and natural outdoor lighting sure help, but we'll have to see how the full show looks when uploaded. Check out the preview below!

We'll close this post with new live videos from classic/hard rock cover bands on the local bar circuit, starting with our first look at the revived Quite Frankly at a public concert! Uploaded to their Facebook page yesterday, this comes from their Beck's Bar debut on Saturday, and features a montage of clips from their sets that night, including covers of The Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel", Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me", Journey's "Any Way You Want It", Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son", and Collective Soul's "Shine". Alas, some of the videos here were shot vertically, and the video editor again put everything into portrait orientation, which means that the horizontal videos are pillarboxed and tiny. Why not make the video in 16:9 and force the vertical videos to be letterboxed so everything is as big and full frame as you can get?

I'd rather see full songs than 13-ish seconds long clips, let alone the vertically framed ones, but Quite Frankly sound good from what we can hear, and they had a solid turnout (look at the dancers during the Chris Stapleton cover!) Note that guitarist Frank LaTassa sings lead on "Wagon Wheel" & "You Wreck Me", while frontwoman Haley Alopaeus is on lead vocals on the other songs. Not a bad first step for Quite Frankly 2.0 after their 15 year hiatus, so check everything out above and below!

Finally for today, here's some new videos from fellow local classic/hard rock cover veterans Headrush's concerts at The Esquire Club this past weekend! These were publically shared to the band's Facebook group over the weekend. Two were Journey covers filmed by attendee Audrey Marshall on Friday night, including the guys playing the opening of "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Stone In Love", while bassist John Amendola posted a video of them covering AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" on Saturday night, which he appears to have shot himself from the stage towards his bandmates and the crowd. Not the first time that we've seen this vantage point at The Esquire Club, but it's still not every day where you get a band's eye view like that! I'm no Journey fan, but everything sounds and looks good, with Headrush playing to a packed house and with good energy, so give all three videos a watch above and below! The AC/DC cover is embedded here because Audrey's aren't allowed to be embedded externally for one reason or another.

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!