Rotaryfest 2024 Fallout & Videos (Part 4!!)

It's been three months since we last covered fallout from this year's Rotaryfest. Three months! In that post, we seemingly wrapped up Stage 1 videos and started talking about Stage 2, but a couple of videos from the main covers-centric stage were uploaded to YouTube after our August 19th post, so what's there now? This year's headliner on Thursday, July 18th was local Abba tribute band Abba Soo, and on their YouTube channel, you can see a video of them covering "S.O.S." Good quality video from a close angle, and while far from metal or hard rock, Abba fans will enjoy the rendition! The other new video comes from classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down, who were this year's closing band on Saturday, July 20th in their second Rotaryfest appearance and first festival set with Beej Syrette on guitar & vocals. Like their Rotaryfest 2023 full-set video, this was uploaded to drummer Ric Datson's YouTube channel as a scheduled upload on August 29th, so what is there to see here?

Double Down's over an hour-long, Rotaryfest-closing set featured covers of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak", Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now", The Temptations' "Shakey Ground", The Cars' "Just What I Needed", Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)", The Foo Fighters' "Times Like These", Sugarloaf's "Green-Eyed Lady", Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town", Doyle Bramhall II's "Green Light Girl", Bachman-Turner Overdrive's 'Let It Ride", the Thin Lizzy version of "Whiskey In The Jar", ZZ Top's "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Sharp Dressed Man" back to back, and lastly, Peter Frampton's "You Had To Be There". While not alternating between singers for lead vocals like in 2023, Joel Syrette sang on half of the songs on offer once again, with his cousin Beej handling all three Thin Lizzy tunes, plus "Just What I Needed", "Times Like These", and "Sharp Dressed Man".

The remaining song ("Shakey Ground") featured bassist Brad Stephen on lead vocals. Like last year, Ric did a great job getting multi-camera footage of Double Down's set, including stationary cameras on the far left of the stage and a drumcam setup, as well as at least two different filmers on the lawn capturing the action until the final three songs. The audio quality isn't as high as the visuals, and while it is passable, I had trouble identifying a couple of songs, especially "Green Light Girl", which I only nailed down once I found a personal Facebook video of that cover with clearer audio. Still a solid set with some surprise covers that you don't often see other local bands play (if at all), so give it a watch below!

To belatedly finish up our Rotaryfest fallout coverage, what else was publically filmed at the originals-centric Stage 2 that Saturday beside the Art Gallery of Algoma? Three months ago, we already touched on HeadFirst's own YouTube video from their day-opening set, but as far as YouTube and Facebook goes, there's nothing else that I am aware of. This is complicated by five of the nine Stage 2 acts on Saturday this year not having public Facebook pages for their music in the project seen there, but I did find a handful of Instagram-exclusive videos concerning Stage 1! The Sault Algoma Students account shared a video of country/classic rock band The Way Backs covering Bobby Charles' "See You Later, Alligator" on the Saturday, but the other two obvious Rotaryfest videos there are actually hype videos for Mike Haggith's set opening up the Friday program on Stage 1! Mike has occasionally used his Instagram page to post exclusive content, so what made it there to promote his return?

In one video from June, Mike looked back on when he dislocated his knee early in his Stage 1 set last year, as well as his long recovery and his aims to complete the redemption arc by returning to Rotaryfest this year. Suffice to say, Mike and crew performed without a hitch in July, and you can watch the complete set on YouTube at this link! Embedded below is a jokey promotional video from Mike and his backing group The Big Finish Band, under the pretense of Chris, Elly, Matt, and Brandan interrogating Mike about how he came up with the band's name and why it's not always used in advertising. Cute bit of self-deprecation, so give it a watch below!

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Finally, in my searching, I did find unacknowledged Rotaryfest videos from last year! While classic rock veterans RPM were a Saturday performer on Stage 1 this year, they have played the festival thrice before, including a Friday evening set last year. Guitarist Dino Mazzuca posted three videos from their 2023 set to his YouTube channel, including covers of The Black Crowes' "She Talks To Angels", John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses", and as embedded below, Trooper's "The Boys In The Bright White Sports Car". Good quality horizontal video from a close filmer, and they have a solid handle on these classic rock covers, so give RPM's Rotaryfest 2023 videos a watch for yourselves above and below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tesla & Bookclub) And Recent Sault Ontario Concert Videos!!

Today's post came together in part due to a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that slipped my notice earlier this week, but a big show in the E.U.P. and some new videos of local cover hard rock acts are rounding things out, so here's what you should know!

Local alt-hard rock cover sextet Bookclub will return to the stage when they headline the fourth annual Illuminate The Season fundraiser for the Algoma Regional Community Hospice TONIGHT at The Machine Shop! Apologies for the short notice, Bookclub only announced their involvement in TONIGHT'S event via their Facebook page this past Sunday, and ARCH's website does not reference bands as taking part at all. Illuminate The Season is a multi-day event featuring auctions for Christmas decor and gifts from local merchants, plus Santa Claus' workshop, ice skating with Santa himself,  refreshments, and other family friendly activites at the Mill Square venue, and it is great to see so many groups and supporters coming together to celebrate Christmas early while supporting ARCH! Bookclub's concert TONIGHT marks their first publically advertised performance since their summer concert series gig at The Roberta Bondar Pavillion gig three months ago.

No word on where Mikey, Brandon, Dustin, Allan, Erin, and Josh have been since the summer, but hopefully their varied and fan-friendly, horn-laced covers draw a solid reception from attendees TONIGHT! While day #3 of Illuminate The Season began at 10:00 AM, Bookclub's concert sets proper begin TONIGHT at 7:00 PM to cap off the program (if there's musicians playing tomorrow, I haven't seen public reference to them, but its the last day running from 10:00-4:00). This is absolutely an ALL AGES event and there is no cover charge, but ARCH donations would absolutely be appreciated. See above for more details, and here's Bookclub live!

Next up, here's a big new concert announcement for 2025, as Sacramento glam metal/hard rock quintet Tesla will return to The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino for a headlining date on Friday, February 28th! While Tesla are no strangers to playing here (they've been to the Soo at least four times), they have not performed up here since July 2013, so it'll be almost 12 years since Hair Scare fans heard them & their classic hits like "Love Song", "What You Give", and their "Signs" cover on local soil, let alone potential songs from their last two albums! This will also be their first local gig since Steve Brown replaced Troy Luccketa on drums. Tesla still sound good live today, and hopefully they draw a solid crowd later this winter! No word on a possible opening band at press time, but 2013's show here was opened by inactive Detroit hard rock band Fifth Way (featuring former local guitarist Zak Stelmaszek).

Presented by Rock 101, tickets go on sale on Friday at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, or at the in-person box office, with tickets running for $65-$85 USD depending on location of seats. This is definitely higher than Tesla's 2013 concert here, but again, that was almost twelve years ago. Hair/glam metal is a reliable seller up here, so Tesla should get a strong turnout in three months, but visit the above links for more on the first major hard rock show in the Twin Saults for 2025!

Also today, let's return north by looking at some brand new videos of Sault Ontario acoustic classic/hard rock cover act Dodge This' late notice gig at The Water Tower Pub on Friday! Jeff July was there to provide hand drum percussion on Friday, with four videos from the night being shared to the band's Facebook page on Monday in a batch post. The videos include mostly-solo renditions of Kings of Leon's "Sex On Fire" and Zach Bryan's "Something In The Orange" by Jamie July and two full band performances, including Collective Soul's "December", and as embedded below, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Night Moves". While not a heavier song, that's the only one with Jason Taillefer on lead vocals, and he injects some good heavier vocals and passion into this ballad that Phatstick fans will appreciate! Good work all around, especially for fans of Jamie-led material, so check out Dodge This above & below!

Finally for today, here's a new promotional clip for newer local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush's shows at The Esquire Club this weekend, tonight included! Bassist John Amendola shared it to the band's Facebook page last night (less than two hours before showtime for night #1, granted), and it features 46 seconds of very brief clips of them in concert at public and private events. Notably, the video does include some snippets that have not publically been uploaded in a longer form, let alone a horizontal one. While I can't identify all of them given the audio quality of the original cameras and the brevity of the clips, a late and new-to-me snippet is from Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me", focusing on guitarist Wes Greco during the solo. Actually, the video ends with Wes-focused clips, so if you know his skill level and like solos, wait til the end. Good teaser while it lasts, so check it out below, and don't miss Headrush tonight in the west end!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thsnk

Unfortunate Sun Concert Preview & New Honest Work YouTube Videos!!

Today's SMS post mostly wraps up some unfinished business from a YouTube channel that was first featured here not too long ago, but leading off, here's one more hard rock concert preview for this weekend, so here's what you Yoopers should know!

We'll start by wrapping up this weekend's known local hard rock concert previews, and that means a trip south to Rudyard, Michigan, where newer local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will return to Huck's Pub & Grill for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! This will be the first stop for the Fake Chow successors at the former Joe's Bar since rocking their Halloween party three weeks ago, but there will still be a theme tomorrow, as the concert will be a "hunter's widow party". Basically, a hunter's widow is a spouse or significant other temporarily "widowed" when their partner goes on extended hunting trips, so this is essentially being marketed as a ladies night to coincide with the beginning of firearm deer hunting season in Michigan today. Of course, Unfortunate Sun aren't "widowing" anyone tomorrow, so they'll entertain with their nicely varied and performed covers, and hopefully there's a solid turnout!

Note that the official Facebook event page also refers to this as a "comeback celebration", but as three weeks isn't a huge turnaround to call something a "comeback", I don't know what Unfortunate Sun are referring to. Tomorrow's concert is a 21+ affair with no announced cover charge and an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Unfortunate Sun live!

The rest of today's post concerns the other SMS-relevant videos from veteran Sault Ontario punk drummer Adam Sauve's YouTube channel that didn't fit into our last post covering his videos from his old bands Talk Shit and Nebraska Arms. The four newest (public) videos on the Skwunch channel are of his current band Honest Work, who are essentially Nebraska Arms with Rising Tide alum Sheldon Jaaskelainen on vocals & guitar in place of the late Guy Thiffault. Only really active on social media via TikTok and Instagram, Honest Work have played just two public concerts to date, and the first one was filmed for videos on Adam's channel! As you may recall, this band (also featuring guitarist Dave Prendergast and bassist Wayne Watkins) debuted when they opened for the one-off Fuller reunion at LopLops Lounge this past December, and three videos from that night were posted on Adam's channel, though all three of them publically exist elsewhere. 

One was cribbed from Jimmy Polnick's Facebook live-stream of their set, while the other two (of Honest Work playing their own "Dead Friends" and covering Nebraska Arms' "Lighthouses") were originally uploaded to Dave's YouTube channel last year. Adam only chose to upload part of the full content though, with Jimmy's full half hour live-stream still being on Facebook and Dave's channel featuring seven videos from that night. Also, Adam curiously chose to save them for his own channel via screen capturing a smartphone, not via a Facebook video downloader client, so they have in-app controls and buttons that appear in frame. All three videos have been acknowledged on the SMS in their original context, but I will embed Jimmy's copy of "Dead Friends" here because, for one reason or another, external embedding of his live-streams from the Fuller concert was quietly disallowed at some point in the past year.

To see Jimmy's full-set videos of Honest Work, Fuller, and The Gambit from this post-Christmas concert in 2023, click here! The visual quality isn't ideal given the vertical dimensions and Jimmy behind behind a lot of attendees, but he got some solid footage regardless, so check out "Dead Friends" below and more from Honest Work's live debut above!

We'll close today with the sole video of Honest Work on Adam's channel that I haven't seen publically elsewhere, which sees them playing "Dead Friends" at an apparent jam session. Uploaded in July, this video puts the camera at high vantage point, looking down at Sheldon, Dave, Wayne, and Adam, which is a unique visual, especially when they're placed where they are! A little cymbal-heavy in the audio mix, but this is a fun performance of a song clearly inspired by the loss of too many friends of theirs, so give it a watch below, and hopefully we hear more from Honest Work soon!

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

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

Let's dive into another batch of weekend concert previews as we enter mid-November! While not as busy as other weekends of late, there are still too many hard rock shows to fit in one SMS post, so our preview of Saturday night's Unfortunate Sun concert and anything new announced on late notice will be in tomorrow's post. Now, here's what you should know in Sault Ontario this weekend, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Misty's Fifties for a matinee concert on SATURDAY! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via its Facebook event page on Tuesday. Of course, Tym has rocked Misty's many times before, having played a regular weekly arrangement of Saturday matinees there throughout mid-2024, but that run ended abruptly last month, with Misty's pivoting to hosting a rotation of acoustic musicians instead. Luckily, it doesn't appear that things were unamicable with Tym's exit from the weekly series, and hopefully his hard rocking and classic covers get a solid reception from fans and regulars alike for his one-night-only return on SATURDAY! This is a 4:00 PM matinee with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover charge. It's great to see Tym playing at this Second Line West staple once again, if just this SATURDAY, so visit the above links for more details, and here he is live!

Next up, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will reportedly return to The Water Tower Pub for an "uncorked" concert on SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, we only learned about this show via Bone Yard's website's concert calendar earlier this week,  and neither the band nor venue have publicized the gig on social media that I have seen. Breaking their three week run of bookings at Reggie's Place, this will be your local 225's first unplugged concert at the Great Northern Road nightclub in over a month. Given that Tym Morrison's show on SATURDAY is a matinee, you can easily see most of his and Bone Yard's shows in succession if you want to double up on the acoustic cover rock action! Bone Yard 225 are not scheduled elsewhere tomorrow night, and remember that The Water Tower Pub traditionally hosts different nightly acts. SATURDAY's show is at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover.

Despite the lack of recent promotion, this should be a fun night of acoustic southern and hard rock favourites from Greg, Alex, and Warren at The Water Tower Pub, so don't miss out on all of the action there on SATURDAY NIGHT! Visit the above links for more details, and here's your local 225 live!

Moving to shows that had advance notice, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down are advertised to be returning to Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Be advised that neither the band nor venue have promoted these shows on social media this week so far, but Double Down listed them in this Facebook concert calendar as recently as November 3rd, so I won't assume the worst unless something is said to the contrary. Fresh off of rocking The Esquire Club last week, this will be Double Down's first weekend at the former Reggie's West since early September. This should be a fine opportunity (or two) to check out Joel, Beej, Brad, and Ric's brand of fan friendly classic & hard rock covers in a familiar west end locale, so don't miss out! Expect no cover charges, 19+ age limits, and 9:30 PM start times tomorrow and Saturday night. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Double Down live!

Finally for this preview post, newer local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will return to the aforementioned Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen a month ago at the same venue, you can get a good (if externally unembeddable) preview of the Johns, Wes, and crew's 1980s-centered cover sound at The Esquire Club last month via videos shared from attendee Stacey Cleave's personal Facebook page last week, as seen in a batch post on their Facebook page. Stacey filmed Headrush covering Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", Billy Squier's "Lonely Is The Night" & "Everybody Wants You", Journey's "Lights" (albeit focusing on dancing attendees), AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie", and Loverboy's "Working For The Weekend". Alas, the clips are all vertical, short (30 seconds or less), and unembeddable, but it looks like a fun time was had by all, and hopefully Headrush have more of the same good responses this weekend!

Their second ever weekend at the Second Line West nightclub, Headrush (not HeadFirst) take the stage tomorrow and Saturday night at 9:30 PM with no announced cover charges and 19+ age limits. Visit the above links for more on Headrush's hard rock & AOR cover action this weekend, and for a preview, here they are live earlier this year!

That's all for now, but look for our Unfortunate Sun preview and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent 2024 Semifinals Recap & Results!!

Let's take some time today on the SMS to finally go over the semifinal results of the fifth annual The Soo's Got Talent, which went down on Friday at Soo Blaster! All twelve semifinalists competed by way of two songs that night, and judges sent through seven (not six) performers to the finals on Friday, November 22nd, those being singers Demoy MacSamuels, Robert Nevitt, Kristina Sagrak, and Chloe Tessier, alongside singer/guitarists Celeste Burton, Nicolette Rebello, and Madii Schomogyi. Eliminated on Friday were singer/guitarists Jennifer Joseph and Arin Karki, plus singers Haley Alopaeus, Rebekah Moran, and Ricky Roy.  The results were announced for social media in the Facebook video embedded below by judges Darren Robertson and Mario Naccarato, where they complimented the performances but also acknowledged a scoring discrepancy that initially kept Robert out of the final six.

No word on the teased audience save, though Chloe was acknowledged by Darren as being the audience favourite. It is good that the judges caught their error with their tallies, and that no one was eliminated by way of that! Darren also hinted at a change in how the finals would have been formatted as a result of adding a seventh finalist, but given how he described the plans for next Friday, it doesn't sound dissimilar to last year's finals. In any event, give the announcement video a watch below!

While videos from round 2 were never posted to the T.S.G.T. Facebook page for unannounced reasons, they did post footage of all twelve semifinalists there this week, with three videos being uploaded featuring four performers apiece. We only get minute-or-so-long clips of one song each, but it's better than nothing! Note that Celeste & Arin are the only semifinalists who were filmed playing guitar here, though I can't vouch for everyone's unfilmed second song. Video #1 features Celeste doing an apparent original song, Rebekah singing Anais Mitchell & Ani DiFranco's "Our Lady Of The Underground", Chloe covering Dolly Parton's "Jolene", and Jennifer covering Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What A Feeling". I would have embedded video #2 here, but unfortunately, Robert and/or Nicolette's backing track was content matched by Facebook, so it's unembeddable on external websites. Click here to check it out!

There, you'll see Robert covering Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive", Nicolette covering Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet", and Demoy & Madii both singing apparent originals. Robert has a good handle on the classic Bon Jovi power ballad, and I'm glad to see that a judges' tallying error didn't send him home early! Nicolette did a good job with "Black Velvet" too, if a somewhat overplayed song (it being Cancon is acknowledged), and it's good to see another finalist doing a heavier song! There's clear talent across the board here, including songwriting talent for Demoy & Madii, so don't bypass it! We can embed video #3 here though, which features Kristina singing a possible original (maybe titled "Watch Yourself, Girl"?), Haley covering Demi Lovato's "Anyone", Ricky covering Greta Van Fleet's "Highway Tune", and Arin playing an original. Note that only Kristina advanced out of this group.

If it was up to me, I'd have balanced the semifinal videos better for Facebook, especially as everyone in video #2 advanced. Regardless, there are good performances here, though I will admit that I don't think Ricky picked a great song for his vocal range (the author's dislike for Greta Van Fleet is acknowledged, eventhough it's a hard rock cover). Check out the last four semifinal clips for yourself below!

The finals go down next Friday at 6:30 PM, with Celeste, Demoy, Robert, Nicolette, Kristina, Madii, and Chloe going head to head for the top prize! Demoy is the only returning finalist from last year, whereas Kristina finally made the finals of The Soo's Got Talent after being knocked out in the 2023 semifinals despite getting a golden buzzer last year. Can Demoy improve on last year's success and match his Shooters Talent Quest victory? This year's only golden buzzer went to Chloe, but will that be an omen of a solid finish next week? Madii was a finalist in 2018's inaugural T.S.G.T., but can she finally win it all in 2024? She has covered hard rock songs with her local cover band Lime, so will that bode well for the song with Mike Haggith's band, let alone Nicolette's Alannah Myles cover? Celeste has reliably played guitar throughout this year's competition, but will Nicolette & Madii break theirs out again?

And of course, fans of 2018-2022 power rock/classic metal band Re:Born will want to pay attention next Friday, as Robert was that band's original singer. Not only is his old bandmate Brandan Glew drumming for The Big Finish Band, but his replacement (2023 runner-up Elly McWatters) is now their rhythm guitarist, so we'll get a mini-reunion of sorts at Soo Blaster! We'll have more on the finals next week in that round of weekend concert previews, and we'll discuss Mike's halftime set in the near future as well, but visit the above links for more on all that went down at T.S.G.T. V on Friday night! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard 225 & Half Past) And New Videos!!

In this Tuesday evening post, we're looking at some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for hard rock cover fans, plus some unexpected new videos that you classic sitcom fans may get a kick out of (it will make sense soon!). Here's what you should know!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 have announced concerts through the end of the year on their website's calendar! For one reason or another, they haven't posted schedule images on Facebook since July, but their website fills in some blanks ahead! We'll hold their acoustic show this weekend for our next round of weekend concert previews due to it now being on late notice, and we already knew about Toystock on Sunday the 24th, but where else can you see Greg, Alex, and Warren to end the year? The first listed shows otherwise are at The Esquire Club on Friday, November 29th and Saturday, November 30th, despite the venue's own fall calendar having Mid Life Crysis playing there that weekend. From what I can gather, Bone Yard have indeed taken over that weekend for unannounced reasons, as Mid Life Crysis didn't mention The Esquire Club at all when plugging their dates through early December on their Facebook page last month.

Kudos to Bone Yard for stepping in at month's end! Remember, the two bands shared the stage at the Dragonfly Run and will do so again at Toystock. Also, these will be your local 225's only Esquire Club dates this fall. Fresh off of playing three consecutive weekends at Reggie's Place, the guys will return to the downtown staple for three shows next month, including a one-nighter on Friday, December 13th and a full weekend on December 20th-21st. The latter two shows could have a Christmas/seasonal theme given the timing, so keep tabs with Bone Yard 225 and/or Reggie's for details closer to. Their Friday the 13th gig is a one-nighter due to them taking on an "uncorked" gig at The Water Tower Pub on Saturday, December 14th, so if you like their unplugged stylings, head to this central venue in just over a month's time (or sooner?). Their last scheduled date this year will be another one-nighter at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Saturday, December 28th (no word on a possible New Year's gig yet).

Lots of chances to see Bone Yard ahead before we enter 2025, so don't miss out at these four venues! Aside from the Water Tower Pub date (8:00 PM), these will all start at around 9:30 PM, and all are 19+ events with no announced cover charge. Before we move on, let's share some new videos of Bone Yard 225 live at Reggie's this past Saturday night, courtesy of both the band's Facebook page (by way of attendee Marcy Catherine's personal Facebook page) and Reggie's Facebook page! On this night, over a dozen fans showed up dressed as Helen Roper, Audra Lindley's landlord character from early seasons of Three's Company and its spin-off The Ropers. What brought on a post-Halloween invasion of Mrs. Ropers at Reggie's, I honestly don't know, but everyone's having fun and that's what most important! Both Reggie's and Marcy filmed the same cover for Facebook, namely David Wilcox's "(My Eyes) Keep Me In Trouble".

Marcy's video is longer than Reggie's, so hers is embedded below, while Marcy also got a "Reel" of the Mrs. Ropers dancing to the Three's Company theme before Bone Yard 225's first set (Greg's reaction is great!). Credit to Greg for altering the song's lyrics to fit the audience too (ie. "I want every Roper I see"), who were dancing up a storm throughout. I wish these all weren't shot vertically, but this is a fun and unexpected show crashing moment, especially for fans of 1970s sitcoms, so check everything out above & below! Will we get a Mr. Furley invasion next?!

We'll close today with one more LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month, as local hard rock quartet Half Past will return to the aforementioned Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only on Saturday, November 30th! With the Christmas season truly in full swing by then, this will be Half Past's first gig since their Soo Blaster headlining date last month, and their first show at Shooters since early August. The guys promise to have new songs in their set later this month, so whether you've seen the reunited band's hard rock cover attack yet this year or not, you should get a solid dose here! A one-nighter due to Shooters' Friday DJ nights, this show will have a 19+ age limit and no cover. A 9:30 PM start time is advertised, but be advised that the Soo Greyhounds are hosting the North Bay Battalion in OHL regular season action that night. Shooters is very close to GFL Memorial Gardens, and they do screen televised Hounds games as well.

This could mean that the concert could be delayed if the game runs long, so keep that in mind, and of course, attendance will swell post-game as hockey fans mosey on over to the Dennis Street nightclub. Should make for a good crowd for Half Past! Visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Griphook

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! In our penultimate installment of this monthly feature series, we're again looking at a randomly selected local band from the past, in order to spotlight them and their run for modern readers, and this month's band were a prominent sight at bars and nightclubs for much of the 2010s and feature some very familiar faces. Here's what you should know on them!

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Griphook

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Genre: Classic/Hard Rock

Lineup: (Members not in their last full lineup are in italics)

Joel Syrette (Double Down, 100 Gran), vocals/guitar
Brian Oja (Bigsuit, The Rainhorses), guitar/vocals
Dan Beaupre (The Sidekicks, Hollow), bass
Anthony Fabiano (Bullet Train, Gsis Murphy), drums
Jim O'Leary (Flat Stanley, That's Chester), vocals/guitar

Audio/Video: A covers-only band, Griphook were filmed a fair amount during their original run, especially with their original 2012-2013 lineup. Extant videos include two songs from their debut at Toystock I, multiple videos from Rotaryfest appearances on Mike Caruso's YouTube channel, and a bunch of original lineup videos from Brenda Roy's YouTube channel, among select others. Musically, Griphook arguably bore the most resemblance to Joel and Dan's prior hard rock bands, though note that both of their surviving videos with Joel in the group actually feature Brian on lead vocals or sharing with Joel. Here's their Rotaryfest 2015 rendition of The Arc Angels' "Living In A Dream"!

Info/Analysis: Debuting as a mystery band during the inaugural Toystock in November 2012, and possibly named after the goblin banker from the Harry Potter series, Griphook united four veteran musicians from different notable bands of the past as a new hard rock-leaning entry on the weekend nightclub cover circuit throughout the mid-2010s. Playing their first headlining concerts at the former Roosevelt Hotel in February 2013, Griphook would also be seen at that year's Rock & Roar battle of the bands in Spanish, the Ray Brown benefit concert, and annually at Rotaryfest Stage 1 from 2013-2016. The band's lineup was stable throughout their run aside from Jim O'Leary's departure in December 2013 after moving to Ottawa, with Joel Syrette replacing him. After Joel left town for university in the summer of 2016, they played that year's Rotaryfest with his future Double Down bandmate Adam King filling in for him, before going on hiatus until 2019, when they reunited with Joel to open for Kiss tribute band Destroyer.

Griphook played their last concert at Rotaryfest 2019, and quietly disbanded afterwards. While they didn't reinvent the wheel from members' past and future bands, Griphook delivered a fun blend of classic and hard rock covers, including songs that you didn't hear many other local bands cover, and they were a welcome sight at both local nightclubs and festivals in their heyday! Despite his briefer stint with Griphook, I heard more of them with Jim than Joel, but both are solid singers who added to the band in their own way. It'd be neat to see Griphook reunite if the time is right, but everyone but Brian and Jim are currently in bands, so follow Double Down, The Sidekicks, and Bullet Train to see what the guys are up to now!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we'll wrap up 2024 with another Sault Michigan profile as we close out another 2-1-3-1-2-1 rotation between the Twin Saults, and next month's randomly selected band will be inactive 2010s hard rock cover quartet 415E! Look for that on or around December 10th, and for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!