Heavy Lies The Crown Updates From March 2026!!

Let's end March 2026 with a look at what St. Ignace deathcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to this month! Before they kicked off their March tour run, they posted this vertical video on their Facebook page on March 2nd featuring jam footage of the band (sans Bubba), with Brandon manning the camera in literal selfie-mode at one point. Obviously, this is just a teaser, and I do have a hunch that there's a lot more that Brandon filmed here before it was edited down to 12 seconds, but give it a watch below!

On March 5th, the guys began their first tour run of 2026, which saw them play four Lower Peninsula dates in four days, none closer to the Soo than the tour opener in Bay City on the 5th. All four dates saw Heavy Lies The Crown play alongside their friends in Detroit metalcore band Nothing After This, whose bassist Rob Vandewiele served as a temporary fill-in with H.L.T.C. at their final 2025 gigs. Frontman Brandon West shot this 5 seconds-long video of everyone in their tour vehicle en route to Bay City, and it was raining en route, so they definitely didn't need the sunglasses seen in this video! Updates from that night's show or the March 6th concert in Chesterfield didn't immediately follow, but on the 7th, Brandon starred in this vertical update video, where he highlighted how the first two shows went, which also let them debut not just Bubba on bass, but also their new live rig, and things were loud on night #2.

Apparently, there was monsoon-level rain and tornado sightings in their area, and while their tonneau cover protecting their merchandise was torn, it's obviously a good thing that Heavy survived the heavy forecast intact! The guys had spent the night in Chesterfield and were on their way for show #3 in Battle Creek after that video went up, so give the update video a watch at this link! In their first live video with their current lineup, they posted this 18 second video from the Battle Creek show at The Music Factory, and while short and dark, it's a solid horizontal video that I wish was uploaded in a longer form factor! Give it a watch for yourselves below!

After "stomping their ground and making prints" in Battle Creek, Brandon starred in this vertical update video from the tour vehicle on March 8th to reflect on the previous night's gig, but he's hard to hear for much of the minute-long runtime (my best guess is he accidentally covered the microphone while recording). He also plugged the tour finale that night in Grand Rapids, and they definitely posted some neat photos on Facebook after the fact, so crawl their Facebook page since March 6th to see what they have uploaded from the four dates! Their next uploaded video from the tour comes from Heavy Lies The Crown's concert on March 6th at The Diesel Concert Lounge in Chesterfield (technically New Baltimore), which was their second and longest concert video with their current lineup as of its its upload on the 11th. Thankfully also horizontal (if still shorter than I'd like), it is a high quality recording while it lasts, and it sees the guys playing part of their classic title track "Knucklebutter".

The video description compares Brandon's scream here to a dolphin, raven, and/or a robot shutting down, but regardless, he has some power in that voice, so give this H.L.T.C. video a watch for yourselves below!

Unfortunately, their two most recent videos (a highlight of clips from the tour from March 15th and a similar longer video from March 20th) can't be embedded here because Facebook content matched the backing audio on both, as the band opted to sub in their newest studio original "Rewind" rather than let the raw concert audio speak for itself. This is high quality footage, why not post it in unedited raw form, especially to show off the new lineup for more than 38 seconds? The longer of the two (which also isn't forcibly crammed into the vertical "Reel" dimensions with pillarboxing) also has road footage from the tour and some video of the guys hanging out between concerts, so it's a nice sampler of what they got up to downstate, even if you don't actually hear what happened! In their most recent Facebook update, Heavy announced a surprise concert for this Saturday in Alpena, so what should you know there?

The guys will be among the openers for Alpena nu metal band Living Unwell at a "local DIY metal show" at Friendly Foodees, and while not their closest scheduled concert to the Soo ahead (their East Jordan show on May 3rd is a half hour closer), it is good to see Brandon, Jaxon, Bubba, and Blaze playing another Northern Michigan date! Click here for more details if you're interested in the near 3 hour drive downstate on Saturday, and we are now caught up for Heavy Lies The Crown updates (again), so stay tuned for more from them when it rolls in! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck) Plus New Videos!!

A second post today was not in the cards, but an extremely SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT fell into our laps, so here's what should you know there along with another new show and a pair of new videos!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will play a special Monday nighter at Beck's Bar TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced three hours ago on the venue's Facebook page. The very late notice weeknight booking is basically Beck's' attempt to capitalize on the late cancellation of tonight's Goo Goo Dolls concert at GFL Memorial Gardens due to a band member illness (source here). This way, if you were planning to see a concert tonight, you don't have to cancel plans if you don't want to. TONIGHT'S concert is even better timed than this past weekend's Jay's shows were for Terry & Travis' birthdays this week, so give them good birthday wishes if you can come out! Note that, when Soundcheck plugged TONIGHT's show on Facebook, they did so using this image featuring both their AI-generated band logo as well as that of their sister band Separate Wayz, implying that Nicole will also be on hand.

Neither Beck's nor Soundcheck have firmly confirmed that Nicole/Separate Wayz will be joining in for an "epic crossover" beyond that image, but keep things in mind! Everything goes down TONIGHT at Beck's on Goulais Avenue from 8:00 PM "til the party stops" (a.k.a. 12:00 AM), this is a 19+ event, and there is no cover charge. Kudos to Becky and Soundcheck (and Nicole?) for coming together to ensure that there is some live rock music to check out even with the Goo Goo Dolls cancellation, so visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, here's a newly announced concert with plenty of advance notice, as local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will return to The Full Throttle Saloon for one night only on Saturday, April 25th, courtesy of the venue's Facebook page! Next month's show comes fresh on the heels of Headrush's return to the concert stage after a two month break this past Saturday, and things definitely went well over the weekend, so look for more of the same party anthems and epic rock all night long at the end of April! As usual for their Full Throttle Saloon gigs, next month's show will be a 9:00 PM event with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and while we're on the subject, the venue's Facebook page uploaded a new video of Headrush (one word) live there on Saturday! Normally, I'd wait for our next preview of one of their shows (April 25th or otherwise), but you can't see the band well and it's short, so what all is actually in this clip?

This video features 10 seconds of Headrush covering Bon Jovi's "Runaway", and while short, muffled, vertical, and from a side-stage angle that better accentuates attendees than the band, what we do hear isn't bad while it lasts! And while framing a vertical video like this to include that much ceiling is never ideal, at least the Full Throttle staffer who shot it added in descriptive text overtop of the ceiling, so it's not entirely wasted space. Give it a watch below, and we'll have more from Headrush soon!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with a brand new original song from local classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison's YouTube channel! Freshly premiering tonight, this is "Deep In My Heart", a love song that Tym wrote in his 20s but only just finished this year. This ballad is accompanied by a lyric video full of stock/AI footage, but the song is all Tym's doing. The percussion may be a little loud compared to the emotional resonance of his vocals, but it's a well composed love song, and it's good to see Tym staying busy in the studio even as he just ended his 6+ week break from concerts, so give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from him!

Finally, here's the third public video from newer local sludge/doom metal duo The Spaceship Opening's Facebook page! Uploaded last week, this is from the same event seen in their previous black & white clip (reportedly a Sault Theatre Workshop fundraiser that completely passed me by in November), and it captures a 3+ minute instrumental that harbours more of a 1990s alternative flavour, if still leaning into sludge metal. Andrew does face away from the audience a lot here (reminds me of early AlgomA shows in that way), but it's a solid performance that fans accustomed to two-man bands will get a kick out, so check out some more "east end rock & roll" below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Go North Music Festival!!)

Single topic post today thanks to a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Juno Award-nominated Saskatoon blues/hard rock band Wide Mouth Mason will (as far as I'm aware) make their first ever local concert appearance as one of the co-headliners of the eighth annual Go North Music Festival on Saturday, July 25th! A staple of Canadian rock radio and MuchMusic in the late 1990s thanks to hit songs like "My Old Self", "Why", and "Smile", it will be neat to finally welcome Shaun, Safwan, and crew to our area (if not the Soo proper) this summer, and their jam-friendly alt-rock sound and distinct vocals still set them apart! Wide Mouth Mason are really the only hard rock-leaning outpost for this year's festival, which didn't have anything that really crossed our radar in 2025 (when it was headlined by Big Sugar, featuring former W.M.M. bassist Gordie Johnson). Presented by SooToday & 104.3 The Fox, this annual event returns to the old Cornfest site at Centennial Grounds in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island for two nights of music.

As seen on the poster, the headlining Saturday band this year is Juno-winning Halifax indie rock quintet Wintersleep (of "Weighty Ghost" and "Amerika" fame), who have also never played in the Soo area before. While their name sounds heavier than they are, Wintersleep are a very talented and acclaimed band, so don't bypass them this summer! Also making their way to St. Joseph Island in four months are three acts from Toronto, namely alt-indie trio Jackie, pop rock musician Loviet, and alternative singer/guitarist Keegan Powell, who should also make some waves with their skill sets and rising national profiles! Your only local band on July 25th is CASS FM, the Central Algoma Secondary School student rock band (a'la Mustang Sally), who are multi-time veterans of Go North, if with a lot of lineup turnover. As well, London children's music group The Thinking Caps will return to headline the kids stage that afternoon.

The night #1 lineup on Friday, July 24th has more local ties despite only having three acts, those being fan favourite Niagara Falls brass/funk collective My Son The Hurricane (still featuring former Rising Tide drummer Danno O'Shea), Oakville country/soul hybrid duo Yassin & Sean Terrio, and local indie rock quartet Lucy's Diner (née The Hollow Heads). Along with the announced musicians, attendees can also expect to find local art and food vendors amongst the outdoor surroundings on Centennial Grounds, and if you're bringing the kids, there will be interactive Science North exhibits, games, crafts, and a mural that everyone can help paint at the family zone. Timeslots for the individual acts are not out yet, but gates open on Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 3:00 PM, and bands are projected to wrap up nightly by 11:00 PM. On-site camping is absolutely available as usual, and a fireside jam will again be held after hours.

Advance tickets are now on sale at this link, and minus online processing fees, day passes run for $40 on Friday and $70 on Saturday ($20 and $25 respectively for teenagers 13-18 or students under 25 with valid student ID). Camping passes for 2 or 4 adults for the whole weekend or Saturday only are also available (kids/teens are free to camp thusly but must be with an adult), but these do not include festival tickets, which are a separate purchase. $15 premium parking passes are also available if you want to get a really close spot, but this is an optional bonus. Discount bundles for two adults with camping & premium parking are also available. It is great to see the Go North Fest back for year #8, and while they have had heavier lineups, there's a lot of established and up & coming names to watch out for here, so definitely visit the above links for more on this year's event an hour east of the Soo! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Craig Harrison

It's finally time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as again shine a light on a YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk concerts/artists, as randomly chosen from our YouTube subscriptions! This month's selection takes us to Sault Michigan (well, by way of the Lower Peninsula) for a look at a prominent local musician's YouTube output from the late 2000s through the ensuing decade, so here's what you should know!

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Craig Harrison (http://youtube.com/craigharrisonshortdog24)

Owner: Theatre Of Night keyboardist Craig Harrison, also known from past local/Grand Rapids bands like Integrated System Of Machines, End Of Existence, and Dust N' Bones

Channel Timeline: Launched on February 11th, 2008; Videos uploaded from April 2010 through September 2020

Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Craig noted in the description that, as he is "a composer, singer, songwriter, adventurer, etc..., my channel has a bit of weird variety". Most of his 34 videos include in-studio performances, either jams/rehearsals with bandmates or solo performances on keyboard and sometimes vocals. Craig's channel also includes two live concert videos (one of him on stage, one of the mosh pit at a 3 Inches Of Blood show in Detroit), some studio samplers and introductions for Theatre Of Night, and non-musical videos ranging from a comedic rap song to outdoor sports-centric to a timelapse drawing of a zombie to one featuring corrections officers from over 25 years ago.

Why You Should Watch: This channel will primarily be of interest to fans of Craig's 2010s work in Theatre Of Night, giving a bit of a behind the scenes look that is especially notable, as not all of their official content and pages from this era is still online in 2026. The existence of an even rarer I.S.O.M. live video shouldn't be overlooked either! The rest of the videos will have a mixed appeal for most, but Craig wasn't lying about this channel having "a weird variety"! For more recent official Theatre of Night videos, visit that band's active YouTube channel and their social media accounts.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Integrated System Of Machines- I.S.O.M. live: While outviewed by the aforementioned rap song and corrections video, Craig's most popular video otherwise is also his first, which sees his old local epic metal band Integrated System Of Machines playing their self-titled song on the Ozzfest Stage at the annual Carnival Of Chaos Festival in Stanton (four hours south of the Soo) on June 27th, 2009. Joining many other bands as openers for Taproot that day, their exact lineup here isn't 100% obvious, but it is good seeing Craig and singer Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten on stage again, and while the video is shaky, you can't be too harsh for an almost 17 year old concert video, and it sounds good for its age. Strong charging song with a catchy chorus and good aggression without getting too extreme! Yes, that does appear to be Craig's future Theatre of Night bandmate Rachel Mender on backing vocals.

 

 

Darkness Falls Within: A good array of solo performance videos by Craig made their way to his channel, mostly of him on the keys (though Dust N' Bones fans won't want to bypass his singing on some clips), while some of these have extraneous video filters added in post-production. Despite being the primary leader of Theatre Of Night, you don't often see videos that really show off his keyboard skills, and this April 2014 performance of their original "Darkness Falls Within" is as good as any for that. The filter is completely unnecessary, but this is a fine showcase of their epic symphonic qualities with a dark ambiance, so if you're not familiar with their non-Christmas material, this is a good introduction! Hear the full version at this link.

 

 

Late night jam session with Theatre of Night and Flesh for the Beast members: In his final channel uploads aside from a shred video in 2020, Craig Harrison posted videos from an April 2018 jam session featuring Theatre Of Night bandmates Steve Giles (guitar) and Erik Sales (drums) plus guest musicians from their friends in Grand Rapids death metal band Flesh For The Beast, who Steve was an alum of. Both videos (including this 13 seconds-long one) feature different F.F.T.B. members on bass, one presumably being Craig Riley, but Craig H. didn't specify names in the descriptions. There are some odd reflections, as if Craig H. was filming behind glass or plastic, but the performances here are sound, and it'd be neat to see Theatre of Night do more with Flesh Of The Beast, live or in studio! Just a shame that Erik was largely obscured behind that pole from this vantage point.

 

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will be back on or around April 26th, while our next monthly feature post will be our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post tentatively scheduled for Thursday, pending how weekend concert previews are blocked. That's all for now, but look for more on the SMS this week! Thanks everyone!

Saturday Night Concert Previews (Including Mammoth) Plus New Videos!!

As promised, here's the second half of our final batch of weekend concert previews for March 2026, all concerning shows with advance notice tomorrow night, but we also have a couple of new videos to look at, so here's what you should know on this frigid Friday morning!

We'll start with this weekend's main event, as Los Angeles hard rock/metal band Mammoth will make their local debut TOMORROW NIGHT at The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! The former MammothWVH have been breaking through on rock radio beyond frontman (and former Van Halen/Tremonti bassist) Wolfgang Van Halen's lineage, netting #1 hit singles like "Distance", "The Spell", and "Don't Back Down" throughout the 2020s so far, and with Wolf's multi-instrumental talent and a strong live band, they should deliver a fun night of original rock tomorrow! Joining Mammoth on their The End Tour is Knoxville, Tennessee alternative metal band 10 Years in their third appearance at the Soo Kewadin, following sets opening for Sevendust in 2010 and Seether in 2018. Prepare for familiar hit songs like "Wasteland", "Novacaine", and "Beautiful" tomorrow night as they continue this unintended 8 year pattern between local gigs! 

Also joining the tour from Wales are alt-punk band James & The Cold Gun, and while a looser and more indie-influenced band than what's ahead, they'll set the tone well tomorrow! An Allstar Promotions event presented by Rock 101, this all ages show kicks off tomorrow at 8:00 PM, and tickets remain on sale at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, or at the in-person box office. All center section seats are sold out, but sixth-tenth row seats in the left & right sections are still available for $54.50 USD, plus seats further back for $44.50. Consider coming out if you can to support major touring bands like this in Sault Michigan! See above for more details, and here's Mammoth live!

Next up, we'll head north to Sault Ontario and go west.... waaaay west, as reunited local classic/hard rock cover quartet Quite Frankly will make their debut at De Marco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse at 2667 Second Line West on SATURDAY NIGHT! The first ever hard rock-leaning concert that we've covered at this locale (a 5 minute drive from the airport), this will be Quite Frankly's first gig since rocking The Water Tower Pub two months ago. It'll be interesting to see how this show goes over, both for its remote locale and for a kinda new band hitting the stage at Boots & Saddles, so don't miss out if you're up for a little bit of a drive or will already be that far west! This will be an 8:00 PM event with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover charge. For a preview, here's a brand new video of Quite Frankly at The Water Tower Pub, courtesy of their Facebook page, so what can you see here?

This compilation video sees Linsaey, Frank, Harley, and Joe covering an assortment of songs from the likes of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Journey, Shania Twain, Semisonic (shouldn't that have been last?), Carrie Underwood, Steppenwolf (with Frank on lead vocals), and Tom Petty, though each cover is only seen for an average of 21 seconds apiece. The first four covers were (sadly) shot vertically, and while the latter three are horizontal, all three were edited together in vertical dimensions with pillarboxing, and I'd have at least made these into two videos with different orientations if they were set on highlights rather than full songs. Quite Frankly sound good though, if with too deep lighting, so give this a watch below!

Lastly for known and advertised hard rock concerts in the Twin Saults this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT at The Full Throttle Saloon! Last seen at the same venue at the end of January, this show will end a nearly two month break for this talented veteran group, partly due to bassist John Amendola going on vacation in Aruba, highlights of which can be seen on their Facebook group. He even got to play some music while there! Now that he's back, the 1980s-leaning rockers should have lots of fun and crowd-friendly covers in store for Steelton fans, so keep this show in mind if you're a classic and hard rock fan, and/or missed Headrush lately! This concert goes down tomorrow night at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Headrush live!

Finally, here's a new 27+ minutes long rehearsal video of local death/thrash metal trio Pillory, courtesy of drummer Bret Shuttleworth's YouTube channel! This video was uploaded after the band opened for Demon King at Soo Blaster on Tuesday, but unlike at many of their shows last year, they admitted on their Facebook page that "we were unable to capture any of the set last night" for unannounced reasons. Possibly to make up for that, this jam video was posted to YouTube, as shot by attendee Lucas McNally. It makes no attempt to contain or label full songs, with fade-outs between clips, but the video captures raw and loose performances from Robert, Devon, and Bret, and you will hear song fragments from "Old Soul". No idea why the Pillory logo had to be faintly overlaid on the video in post-production, and Lucas' view is sometimes obscured by a wall on the far right, but this is a solid glimpse behind the scenes that you can watch below! 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

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

Before we begin this weekend concert preview post, just a heads up that in-person advertising at The Esquire Club reportedly had Bone Yard 225 playing there this weekend, but the shows are not taking place, and the band never confirmed them on social media. Your local 225 have only played one show (the acoustic St. Patrick's Day gig at Smitty's) in the past month, so hopefully things are well behind the scenes, and we'll let you know when they announce new gigs! Now, here's what you should know to start this weekend's hard rock concert previews, including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, with Saturday's Mammoth, Headrush, and Quite Frankly concerts to be previewed in our next news post!

Prolific local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will make his return to the live concert stage TONIGHT at The Dive Gastro Pub! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via his official Facebook event page on Monday, though note that the venue has not corroborated this "Think It Over Thursday" booking at press time. As you may know, Tym broke his pinky finger last month, which has knocked him out of all announced and scheduled concerts since February 7th, but after what has to be his longest break from concerts since the pandemic, he's back TONIGHT. It will be good to see Tym on stage again after over 6 weeks on the shelf, and hopefully he has lots of entertaining rockin' covers in store for "The Naughty Corner"! While he was advertised to play at Misty's Fifties on Saturday as well, he has quietly removed both that show and his announced April 4th matinee there from their batch Facebook event page.

A reason for both shows being cancelled wasn't publically announced, but things are definitely amicable, and he will return to Misty's after two months away on April 18th, and he has a lot more Saturday matinees planned there in 2026! As for TONIGHT'S return at The Dive, this is a 19+ event with a 9:30 PM start time and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live!

Next up, in more Thursday acoustic action, Soundcheck bandmates Terry Eaton & Travis Sharpe will join forces for another unplugged two-man concert TONIGHT at The Full Throttle Saloon! Again, apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page this past Thursday. While not a weekly occurrence, the former Primavera Hall has hosted Thursday matinee concerts with unplugged artists in the past, and they're branding this as "Happy Hour" (well, four of them) with specials, so if you want to enjoy some unplugged rock from the singer/guitarists of Soundcheck, keep TONIGHT's show in mind! While we're on the subject, I did want to apologize for missing their St. Patrick's Day-themed Misty's Fifties concert on March 14th, which that venue only plugged once on the Tuesday prior, and if Travis & Terry have a social media or band page to promote their gigs with, I haven't seen it.

Advertising for the March 14th gig, which was originally supposed to go to Tym Morrison, does refer to this two-man-band as TNT, as in Terry N' Trav... or Trav N' Terry (Misty's and The Full Throttle both called him "Trav" rather than Travis when plugging these two shows). Apologies again for missing the concert two weeks ago, I'd have happily covered it had I known, but here's your encore TONIGHT! The action in Steelton goes down from 5:00-9:00 PM with no cover charge, and The Full Throttle Saloon confirmed that they are open to all ages until 9:00 PM. Visit the above links for more on TNT, and we'll let you know when/if pages or media for this side project turn up!

Also, the aforementioned Soundcheck will take over Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, these shows were first announced via the venue's Facebook page on Sunday, and despite the timing of the show in relation to a special day for half the band, Soundcheck proper have yet to corroborate these bookings publically on social media. Whether coincidental or not, TOMORROW & SATURDAY's concerts take place a few days prior to the birthdays of the aforementioned Terry Eaton and Travis Sharpe, which are a day apart next week, so if you make your way to the Korah Road nightclub this weekend, give one/both an early birthday greeting! One week removed from Terry, Trav(is), Jim, and Johnny's gigs at Reggie's Place, these will be the reunited local classic/hard rock cover quartet's first shows at the former Roosevelt Hotel in over a month.

As usual for bands at Jay's, these are 9:30 PM concerts with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more details on Soundcheck's month-ending concerts this weekend, happy early birthday to Travis & Terry, and here's Soundcheck live!

Finally, here's a concert that was publically announced before this week, as we'll head downtown to Soo Blaster, where new local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow will play their second concert TOMORROW NIGHT! This new tribute debuted at Beck's Bar in October for that venue's Halloween party, but they weren't a seasonal one-off, and they have the talent to deliver the grunge goods for their local encore! In case you missed that show or our prior coverage, their lineup consists of Barbarians/ex-Elements frontman Rob Speers, Odd Man Out/ex-Sense of Truth guitarist Steve Myers, newer local guitarist Cameron Brock, and Rob's old Side FX bandmates Mike Bird & Derek Turner (both formerly of Papa Fogals Chair) on bass and drums. Very talented collection of artists, but they have yet to post media of them live in any form, so come out TOMORROW to see what Pearl Jam classics they cover, and how their stage show looks!

Coming not long after Soo Blaster upgraded their entertainment offerings with laser tag, bowling, and new arcade games, tomorrow's concert is an all ages event with an advertised 7:00 PM start time, and tickets run for $10 in advance at this link or through band members. See above for more on this grunge/alternative throwback tribute's sophomore outing, and we'll let you know when videos of them surface! That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Mammoth, Headrush, and Quite Frankly previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Write-Ups), Mammoth Concert Updates, And More!!

For this Tuesday night post, we're mostly looking at Sault Michigan updates, including a new video interview and updates relating to a big upcoming concert and some more assorted notes, but we'll start in Sault Ontario with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this spring!

Ska punk fans will want to circle Friday, May 1st on your calendars, as Flint, Michigan ska-punk band The Write-Ups will make their local concert debut that night at The Speak Easy at Algoma University! Not the first time that we've seen an touring punk band from the USA cross the border for a show here (promoter Mikhal Muto brought a handful of Michigan folk punk bands here last year), but The Write-Ups deliver a suitably bouncy brand of ska punk fuelled with politicially charged and social cause-driven lyrics, and (as you'd hope) a horn section, so they should whet the appetites of subgenre fans! Fittingly, the local openers are newer ska punk trio A.S.D.P. (who Mikhal is the frontman of), and while they don't play live super regularly, expect some fun cuts from their debut EP "Atom Bombs & Lemonade" to kick things off! This is the first concert to cross our radar at The Speak Easy since another touring political punk band (Quit It!) played there in October.

Put on by Mikhal's new agency Underground Events SSM, this will be an all ages concert with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and admission will be $15 at the door or $10 for current Algoma University students with valid student ID (I have not seen any reference to advance tickets being sold online or in person). This should be a fun way to kick off the merry merry month of May, so visit the above links for more details on this concert!

Next up, here's some cool promotion for this Saturday's Mammoth concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino that I wanted to address without clogging up our next round of weekend concert previews. As some of you may have heard live, Rock 101's Scott Cook interviewed frontman Wolfgang Van Halen on air on his weekday morning drive show Scott Cook In The Morning on March 6th! This is far from a unique occasion, but it's rare when The Sault's Rock Station posts interviews to check out on demand on social media, so kudos to Scott for conducting this and uploading it to Rock 101's Facebook page. The 11+ minute Zoom interview features Scott asking Wolf about how Mammoth's current tour is going, seeing him live out of town with both Mammoth and Van Halen, his family ties (including his uncle in Charlevoix), his uncle Alex Van Halen's current album plans...

...how he handles recording everything on Mammoth albums vs. playing the songs live with a band, their recent Billboard rock chart success, the inspirations of his song lyrics, and what to expect at the concert on Saturday, plus some more casual conversation. Pretty good interview with loose and friendly banter, and Wolfgang came off well here, so this is good hype for the big show in four days' time! Give it a watch below, especially if you missed the live airing of the interview on 101.3 FM!

I did want to note before we move on that promoters Allstar Promotions briefly had a post on Facebook last week indicating that this may be their final major show at The Dreammakers Theatre due to the costs of putting these shows on, coupled with how ticket sales had been going, but when I went back to their Facebook page to source from it, I couldn't find the post. I assume they took it down, but whether they're reassessing what was said (if not just the tone of it), I don't know. Putting on concerts of this scale isn't cheap, and for modern hard rock, Allstar Promotions are by far the biggest facilitator for bringing said bands here, so regardless of if they plan to put on shows beyond Mammoth or not, I do thank Dave & crew for all they have done over the past decade & a half! If you are curious, center section seats for Saturday night's concert are sold out, but there are still left/right section seats available from the sixth-tenth row ($54.50) and in further rows ($44.50) at this link, in person, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. Stay tuned for our full preview in a few days!

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

 

• I have regrettably removed the recently disbanded Double Down from our inactive Sault Ontario band links due to the recent deletion of both of their Facebook pages, which were their only online pages. It's never ideal when bands take down their pages after breaking up, as it pulls any official public content and media there offline for everyone, but alas, what can I do? I can only hope that the classic/hard rock cover band's breakup was more amicable than the sudden nature and social media exodus may indicate, and that we see everyone in new bands in due course!
• If you noticed that defunct Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Double Jack (better known as Exit 808) are listed on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page as playing at The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace on April 3rd & 4th, that is assuredly an old booking from before their early 2024 name change, and not even the first time that the St. Ignace Kewadin listed a "Double Jack" booking there after their breakup, as they previously did so in December too. This is good proof that some venues can and do book bands for lengthy periods in advance, but hopefully Kewadin gets an active band to fill in over the Easter long weekend!
• Local hard rock cover band Unfortunate Sun teased in their new cover photo on their Facebook page that they may be dropping "Sun" from their band name, and while most of the comments were jokey, this would be a way to signal a fresh start following singer Skip Parish's departure from the band earlier this month. Unfortunate (Sun?) haven't made a formal statement otherwise, but their lineup listed there now credits Jody, Brett, and Jason as all providing vocals. Time will tell if they're all indeed splitting those duties going forward or not, but we'll keep you posted!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for news, features, and previews ahead! Thanks everyone!