Neither Could Dylan, Salty Marie Trails Fest, And HeadFirst Concert Previews!!

Given that one of the remaining un-previewed hard rock/punk concerts in the Soo area this weekend is an afternoon matinee tomorrow, let's get our last weekend concert preview post up tonight to avoid putting things off any further! This last preview post looks at three shows tomorrow of varying appeal levels, so here's what else you should know!

We'll pick things back up TOMORROW with the second annual Salty Marie Trails Fest, which returns to Hiawatha Highlands with a bigger and better installment, now including live music! While the Trails Fest proper is a mountain biking/foot racing event featuring local vendors and family activities (click here for full details on how to attend or participate in the festivities), two local covers-centric bands will grace the "salty stage" tomorrow afternoon! Coverage of the bands hasn't been paramount in the recent festival promotion, but alt-punk cover sextet Bookclub are your headliners in their first show since Rotaryfest Stage 1 last week, and they should provide a fun soundtrack of scarcely heard covers for fans at Hiawatha tomorrow afternoon! No word on if bassist Dustin Jones (who missed Rotaryfest while on vacation) will be back in time for the Trails Fest or not, but note that ex-guitarist Dave Bahun returned to fill in for him last week.

Newer local pop rock cover band The Dead Stops (led by ex-Garden of Bedlam frontman Erik Boissineau) will open at 12:00 PM, and hopefully they leave a good impression! The "salty stage" will be set up behind Hiawatha Ice Cream at 780 Landslide Road, and 9&10 News is calling for sunny weather of around 16-24° during the Salty Marie Fest, so weather should be great for the outdoor bands, running, and biking, humidity aside! Attendance is free for spectators (click here to see what race events have openings, but most are booked solid), and while things begin in the morning, both bands play in the afternoon. Visit the above links for more on all of tomorrow's action, and here's Bookclub live!

Next up, after a quiet two months with only sewing events being promoted there, The Distraction on East Street returns to host a formal concert TOMORROW NIGHT, as Vaughan, Ontario "punkabilly" solo project Neither Could Dylan will be making their local concert debut! Neither Could Dylan blend many disparate genres into their original material and live show, with punk, power pop, and indie rock all being detectable in their live show, and it'll be interesting to see how Jaimee goes over to Saultites tomorrow! Sylo frontman Eli Russell will open with his indie rock project launched between Raincourt/Sylo's 2023 hiatus, so if you heard his solo album or saw him solo already, prepare for some talented singer/songwriter material! This concert takes place at 7:00 PM, there is no age limit, and admission is "$10 or pay what you can". Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Neither Could Dylan live!

Lastly for known hard rock concerts this weekend, we'll head to Shooters Downstairs Lounge, where local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will headline their EP release party TOMORROW NIGHT! While attendees of last week's sets at Rotaryfest Stage 2 and Loud & Proud had first crack at buying advance copies of "Head Trauma", tomorrow is the full wide release of the EP beyond the 20 copies brought to the downtown festivals for early birds. If you didn't buy a copy last week (like I did), they cost $15 and feature four songs: "Hot Blooded Woman", "Take You (Down)" (which Liam & Anthony trade roles for live), "Little Darling", and the advance single "Don't Care, Don't Mind". At the moment, "Head Trauma" is exclusively available at their concerts, with the band noting on their Facebook page on Monday that there's "no online store yet", but availability of the full EP on major streaming services is expected tomorrow or soon after.

For the record, "The Walk" is not on the EP (singer Red Jettison told me that it's more intended as a live jam for now), but the band will be playing multiple non-EP originals tomorrow along with the four included songs and some covers, as this is a four set deal a'la weekend headliners on the cover band circuit. There will also be giveaways of signed gear and free CDs to "three lucky winners who rock out with us", so if you want to win some swag, stay until midnight for the reveal! Remember, Shooters hosts DJs on Fridays this year, hence why this is a one-nighter. Tomorrow's concert has no cover charge, a 19+ age limit, and a 9:30 PM start time. See above for more details on HeadFirst's big night, and note that the official trailer for the EP release is online, and it happens to feature live performance footage of the guys at what appears to be Robbie Adamson's old church in Leeburn!

No, this wasn't from a public concert (that I know of), but HeadFirst aren't the only band to use the church for a shoot. Remember The Bear Hunters' music video? Opening with lit firecrackers, the video (uploaded to their Facebook page on Tuesday) features clips of the guys playing live there, but "Hot Blooded Woman" aside, the songs seem like they were edited to look synced up and actually weren't. Lots of post-production graphics and effects (including a filmstrip motif) spice things up, and it's a good teaser of what's to come tomorrow, so check it out at this link! I can't embed it here due to Facebook content matching the studio material clips, but for a preview, here's HeadFirst live at Shooters!

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

Go North Music Festival & Bone Yard 225 Concert Previews!!

Here's post #2 of this weekend's hard rock concert previews! Due to the high amount of events this weekend, we'll hold our previews of tomorrow's Salty Marie Trails Fest, Neither Could Dylan, and HeadFirst concerts for a post either tonight or tomorrow morning, so don't worry, they are coming! Today's post is devoted to a major returning summer festival and a prominent veteran local band's weekend gigs in town, plus some linked new updates, so here's what you should know on both!

We'll start at Reggie's Place, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to the stage TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! After skipping Rotaryfest for a second straight year, these will be Greg, Alex, and Warren's first traditional plugged-in gigs since rocking the same venue three weeks ago, with their only interim date being an "uncorked" show at The Water Tower Pub on July 12th. Good to see this talented veteran trio back at it, and hopefully they deliver more fun and hard edged classic and hard rock covers for fans downtown this weekend! As usual for their dates at Reggie's, this weekend's shows have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of your local 225 at Reggie's on July 5th! This live-stream from their Facebook page captures the guys covering Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show's "Cover Of 'Rolling Stone'".

Sadly as usual, this video was shot vertically, helping accentuate the lack of fans on the floor at this point in the night (one of my main issues with vertical orientation of concert videos), but the cover is sound, as fans who've seen this song done live or in past videos will know! My mom loved Dr. Hook, so she'd have gotten a kick out of Bone Yard's cover! The overly red/purple lighting won't be for everyone, but check this video out below, and don't miss Bone Yard 225 back at Reggie's this weekend!

Next up, the summer festival season continues with the sixth annual Go North Music Festival, which returns to Centennial Grounds in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island TOMORROW! Well, it actually started yesterday with David Francey's sold out show at Richards Landing Town Hall, as part of the festival's expansion to a multi-day event coordinated with the town's Community Night weekend, but the main multi-band program is tomorrow at the former Cornfest homebase. This annual concert festival features local craft and food vendors, overnight camping, and good vibes in general, so be sure to visit the official website for complete non-musical details on what to expect whether making the hour's drive as a music fan and/or camper! Unusually, organizers have not released timeslots for the Saturday program, but gates open at 3:00 PM, and I can't assume an identical timeslot placement to 2023 given that there's one more band this year, so I'll address the bands in descending order of how Go North promotes them online.

If there's a kids stage again featuring scheduled acts playing mini-sets in an alternate locale, organizers haven't said. Tomorrow night's headliners are Juno Award nominated Nova Scotia alt-hard rock quintet The Trews in their first local date since opening for Marianas Trench in the Soo in 2022, and their first headlining date up here since 2009. With songs like "Not Ready To Go", "What's Fair Is Fair", and "Hold Me In Your Arms" in their back catalogue, it will be great to see The Trews' diverse but hard rocking sound back on a local stage, and I do like many of their songs, so this will sure be a different way to experience them! Orillia garage rock band Bleeker will co-headline tomorrow in their first local date since opening for Airbourne in the Soo in 2013 under their old name Bleeker Ridge, back when they played an overall heavier style of music. They're still talented, and their current sound is a better Go North fit!

Juno nominated musician Daniel Romano and his solo band Daniel Romano's Outfit will also make their way to St. Joseph Island with their Welland-based prog rock stylings, as will Hamilton folk/blues singer/guitarist Terra Lightfoot. Three local bands will take the stage tomorrow, including local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich (last seen at Poutine Feast), indie/pop rock standouts The Hollow Heads, and Central Algoma Secondary School's Mustang Sally-esque student band CASS FM (surprisingly this year's only returning act from any prior Go North Festival). It's worth noting that both Bleeker and Handsome Sandwich took part in local news interviews to promote Go North, the former with Bleeker singer Taylor Perkins by SooToday's Chris Belsito and the latter with Handsome Sandwich drummer Johnny Belanger by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly, so what should you know on each?

The Bleeker article is good to reintroduce the band to local fans, and Taylor sounds excited to play at Go North! In the Handsome Sandwich article, Johnny (credited as "John") talks about their recent push to play more shows out of town, implies that they chose the Handsome Sandwich name to spark audience curiosity (I'd say that worked!), and their recent studio work with Treble Charger members. Brian notes in the article that the seven new songs being worked on at the Algoma Conservatory "will likely be released as singles", but whether that is a shift in approach from earlier EP plans or just noting that they're being released individually alongside, I don't know. Handsome Sandwich will also be playing an Ottawa date on September 12th, which I believe was first announced via this article. Good promotion to get the word out about Handsome Sandwich, even without them at Rotaryfest this year!

Also, the expanded Go North Music Festival will host a free concert at Centennial Grounds TONIGHT featuring local pop rock cover quartet Lime during the main Community Night celebrations, so don't miss that if you're on the island! The main festivities at Go North VI take place tomorrow with gates opening at 3:00 PM, and while timeslots are not out, note that The Monowhales' headlining set last year was at 9:40 PM. Admission tomorrow is $60 for attendees 13 years of age & older (kids 12 and under get in free), while $140 camping passes for two are also available (otherwise, camping is a separate $20 rate for those with a tent, $35 if you are bringing a trailer). If you're not paying at the gate, click here to get your tickets online! Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for 26° temperatures and partly cloudy weather during Go North tomorrow, so it'll be warmer than last year but will have less of a chance of rain.

Between getting The Trews this year and the move three weeks ahead in the calendar to line up with Richards Landing's Community Night weekend, this is shaping up to be a great time for fans of live music, especially indie and folk-leaning bands, but there's enough hard rock on tap to keep a multitude of fans invested! Visit the above links for full details on what to expect on St. Joseph Island tomorrow, and for a preview, here's The Trews live at GFL Memorial Gardens two years ago!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

The First Of This Weekend's Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

This concert weekend isn't as busy as last week, but it will still take three posts to get through everything with metal, hard rock, and punk bands in the Twin Saults and area! This first preview post looks at most of the heavier-leaning shows taking place tomorrow night (all thankfully with advance notice), with Bone Yard 225 and Saturday-only events coming in the next two posts. Here's what you should know to start off!

Four local metal bands will descend upon Robbie Adamson's old church in Leeburn TOMORROW NIGHT! This special concert is the replacement event for Crucifest, a planned metal festival promoted by Deciduous Events & Decor that was cancelled due to health concerns with the main organizer. As such, the five planned touring Ontario metal bands (Beguiler, Salem Trials, Seagrave, Drugwolf, and Dead Roots) will not be here tomorrow, but the four local openers will rock on, including the long awaited return of death/thrash metal trio Pillory in their first show in almost five years! Robert, Blair, and Bret's comeback has been teased a few times, so hopefully they melt many faces tomorrow! Skate punk/crossover thrash quartet Hails (who played in Leeburn at the It's The Pits festival last month) and metal trio The BAG (fresh off of opening for Vaegon at Jay's) will also keep up their recent local momentum by making the hour's drive east.

Finally, the debuting (and online page-less) Sault Side Squad will open things tomorrow, featuring As It Stands' Justin "Nadj" Pregent, A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen, Jack Spades alum Anthony Orazietti, The Haze's Jordan Wardlaw, and Winkstinger's Jonas Gasperas in their stacked lineup. This concert has no age limit, a 7:00 PM start time, and a $20 admission fee (camping tomorrow night is encouraged as you'd expect at 5756 Highway 638). If you love local metal and you're able to drive out to Leeburn tomorrow night, you won't want to miss this stacked concert, so visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Pillory live!

Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan for another Friday nighter, as local blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 will return to The Merchants Bar TOMORROW NIGHT, but in a relatively unusual twist, they'll be sharing the stage with another band for a nightclub gig! For this latest stop on the "#summerof906", the guys will be performing alongside Ann Arbor power pop trio The City Lines, who are fronted by Saultite Patrick Deneau. It's always good to see relocated local musicians come home for concerts, and while I'm not overly familiar with Patrick, he seems thrilled to be playing in the Soo once again, so don't miss The City Lines' upbeat indie rock-leaning originals tomorrow at The Merch! It's not clear who's headlining, as even the official poster lists both bands first in different spots. Note that, according to fellow local hard rock band Exit 808's Facebook page, their drummer Jackie Moon will be filling in for Jason VanLuven tomorrow, but 906 have not publically confirmed that. If true, Jackie should fill in nicely!

This show has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Project 906! This (sadly) vertical video comes from their outdoor show at The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot in nearby Kinross on July 13th, and was posted to their Facebook page the following day. It features 51 seconds of the ending jam from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", which notably features guest hand drums from Paradise Excuse alum Brian Duford (no word on if he was present for more than this song but he has guested with 906 before). No Billy to hear here, but this is a fun snippet off what went down two weeks ago, so give it a look below!

Back to Sault Ontario now, as local classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will continue his weekly summer arrangements at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TOMORROW NIGHT and Misty's Fifties on SATURDAY! No Gino's gig this week, so if you want to see Tym's vast array of unplugged covers, you'll have to head to the outdoor stage beside the ice cream parlor at The Trading Post tomorrow or the Second Line West nightclub for his weekly Saturday matinee. Either way, fans will get a good show! As usual, tomorrow's show is at 7:00 PM, Saturday's is at 4:00 PM, the former is all ages, and neither has an announced cover charge. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy weather at about 26° tomorrow, so prepare for a warm one if you're seeing him then. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here and here for more details, and for a preview of these shows, here's Tym live!

Finally for these previews, let's head back to Michigan for local hard rock quintet The Nameless' St. Ignace debuts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Northern Pines Lounge at their Kewadin Casino! Last seen two weeks ago at the aforementioned Merch, this weekend's shows will be The Nameless' first at a casino (Kewadin or otherwise), and hopefully the guys get a good response with their hard rocking covers, even if they don't have hair metal fans outside to make up the numbers later on like last week! No frills to mention here beyond the usual, with 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charges. Despite their lack of public videos (their unembeddable debut concert livestream aside), The Nameless are a talented group with familiar faces in their ranks, so keep these shows in mind, and visit the official Facebook event pages linked here and here for more details!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our previews of Bone Yard 225, Neither Could Dylan, and HeadFirst's shows this weekend, along with the Go North Music Festival and the Salty Marie Trails Fest, in some form or fashion in the next day or two! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations & Curtis McKenzie), Exit 808 Updates, And More!!

Before we dive into another busy (if not as busy) weekend concert preview stretch, let's catch up on some recent news and notes, mostly from Sault Ontario, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next month, updates from a recent concert, and more. Here's what you should know!

Former Haggith/Eclipse singer/guitarist Curtis McKenzie will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for one night only on Saturday, August 3rd as part of their "Patio Play" acoustic concert series! Newly confirmed on his Facebook page earlier today, this will be Curt's first show at the former Low & Slow since playing there on July 13th, so things must be going well at The Dive for him to get called back three weeks later! This will also be one of two shows that he plays there in a six day span, joining his previously announced "Think It Over Thursday" gig on August 8th. That show (weather permitting?) has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. In another new confirmation, Curtis will be the Saturday matinee entertainment at the Rowdy Ranchers Horse Show at the Laird Fairgrounds just outside of town on September 14th! On name alone, you'd assume that country music would be booked instead, but you'd be wrong!

Hosted by the local Rowdy Ranchers Round-Up horse club, this FREE & ALL AGES event features horse and pony shows, local vendors, kids entertainment, pony rides, a petting zoo, a movie, and more so be sure to visit the above links for more on all that the Rowdy Ranchers are bringing to Laird that weekend! Curt will be performing matinee sets during the day, with pop rock cover quartet Lime headlining as the featured Saturday night musicians. I don't know when musicians take the stage on September 14th, but doors open at 8:00 AM. Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on Curtis' upcoming unplugged hard rock shows

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' next public concert goes down on Saturday, August 10th at Shooters Downstairs Lounge, as per drummer Tony Santoro on their Facebook group on Monday! After a string of weekly gigs leading up to their Rotaryfest Stage 1 set this past Thursday at their casino gig on Saturday, this union of Jus' Chillin, Obsession, and Flat Stanley alumni will be taking the next couple of weekends off (interim gigs for Pierre and Tony S. with Tex Riviera & The Ride aside), so if you enjoy their classic and hard rock cover range, keep this show in mind! A one-nighter due to Shooters' Friday DJ nights this year, this show has a 9:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for lots of video footage from Generations' Rotaryfest set in the coming days, likely over the weekend!

Also today, let's take a brief detour to Sault Michigan for some updates from local hard rock sextet Exit 808, whose shows at The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino this past weekend had a lot of different faces! We knew going in that Project 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins was filling in for Will Robbins (who was on vacation), but they had one more guest musician, as singer Amy Beach was ill over the weekend and had to sit out the gigs. Rather than go full Infathom with Dillion singing all weekend, they recruited Jeremy Sheckell of the Marquette hard rock band No Expectations to fill in for her parts (the two bands have shared the stage in the western U.P.). Also, Exit 808 have officially confirmed that Division of Sanity/Exiled alum Myke Young is their new permanent bassist (replacing the long since departed Isaac Royer), though Myke and recent fill-in Blaze Beairl both played sets this weekend.

There's been no shortage of moving parts in this band since they formed as Double Jack last fall, but hopefully the current lineup holds long term! While Exit 808 implied that "videos" were shot at these gigs, only one has been uploaded to their Facebook page so far, and it features everyone covering Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" with Dillion on lead vocals (Jeremy backing) and Blaze on bass. Shot in odd dimensions (vertical but wider than 9:16), the cover is well performed, but if you ask me, the two singer balance doesn't work as well when it's two guys, and there seemed to be an awkward jump into the chorus in the clip. Check it out below, and look for more updates & content from Exit 808 soon!

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

 

• In the past three weeks for Shooters Downstairs Lounge's annual Talent Quest karaoke competition, the guest judges were members of pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue on July 7th, southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 on July 14th, and Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band on July 21st. The latter is notable in that guitarist/backing vocalist Elly McWatters won Talent Quest last year, so it'd have been neat to have her on the other side of the table this year! Three qualifiying rounds (judges unclear) remain before the 25 semifinalists return on August 18th, so visit Shooters' Facebook page for more on that event!
• The first public video of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down with new guitarist Beej Syrette was shared to their old Facebook page (the personal account that I thought they abandoned after Adam left) last month! It features the guys covering Big Wreck's "That Song" at Reggie's Place on June 21st with Beej's cousin Joel on lead vocals, and was shot by attendee Lisa Corbett for her personal Facebook page before being publically shared by the band. Sounds good to me, and Beej's guitar playing seems sound! I can't embed the video here due to privacy settings on Lisa's account, but stay tuned for lots of Double Down footage from Rotaryfest soon!
• I have removed defunct local classic/hard rock trio The Nostalgic Band from our inactive band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook group (and only social media band page) in recent months. This band united Caveman Morrison and Nikkfitt alumni on the weekend nightclub circuit from May-September 2023, but activity abruptly ended last fall due to personal differences. Note that bassist Randy "Dutch" Vanderploeg prefers to take down his bands' Facebook pages if they break up, hence why Browbeat aren't linked on the site. The Nostalgic Band were a promising veteran act, but don't miss frontman Tym Morrison's acoustic shows at multiple venues all summer!
  

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for another busy concert preview weekend on the SMS in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Ace Frehley & Great White Full Concert Videos From St. Ignace!!

Now that my two outdoor concert reviews from this past weekend are now up, it's high time to cover some news and media as normal, and while we will be looking at Rotaryfest fallout this week, I can't ignore the main event in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula last week, namely the '80s Rock Invasion outside of the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! If there were less passport-holding hair metal fans for the evening/night bands at Rotaryfest on Saturday, this concert may have been why! Five glam metal acts descended upon St. Ignace for this huge outdoor concert, and you know it was big, as not one, but two attendees filmed founding Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's headlining set! I had to double check the videos, as the angles seemed very similar, but the two attendees who shot the whole thing were almost side by side. Both are nearly identical for featured content, so I'll only embed one here just to avoid redundancy, but both are timestamped on YouTube.

The slightly longer (but lower quality) video was shot by Jordan's Rock Vault, a YouTube channel that shoots hair metal shows across Michigan and even outside of the state. While I'm not embedding Jordan's video here, kudos to him for filming what he did, as it's still a solid hour+ video for Kiss Army members, and we will end this post with Jordan's other band video from this night! Jordan also clipped out Ace's trademark smoking guitar solo from the full video as a separate upload, so give that a look if you don't want to skip through the full thing. You can't go wrong with Jordan's footage, but embedded here is the higher quality video shot by the YouTube channel of Big Talk, a classic rock podcast that similarly films videos at hair metal shows in and out of Michigan. Both Jordan and Big Talk were in the front row pit to film Ace and his solo band, so what all did they play?

This set was heavy on Kiss classics, and all are Kiss songs unless otherwise stated. In order, Ace & crew played "Shock Me", "Deuce", his new album's title track "10,000 Volts", "Shout It Out Loud", "Love Gun", "Rocket Ride" (with "Hotter Than Hell" interlude), his classic cover of Russ Ballard's "New York Groove" (with "God Of Thunder" intro), his Kiss-era original "Rip It Out", "Detroit Rock City" (followed by a "Love Her All I Can" interlude), "Cold Gin", the aforementioned smoking guitar solo, and "Rock & Roll All Nite". Perhaps wise to his own vocal limitations (and Kiss having multiple singers), Ace's guitarist and bassist take turns on lead vocals for many of the Kiss songs. To a point, I'd rather see Ace play more of his solo material (nothing from "Frehley's Comet"?) than Kiss songs that he wasn't the singer on, but he and his band sound good, and Ace's singing has held up when utilized. He can still shred with the best of them too!

Both videos capture the action from a close and horizontal angle, and you see everything you need to see on stage (the good weather helped in that regard), so do check them out above and below to relive Ace's first E.U.P. show in fifteen years from Saturday night! 

There's more from St. Ignace to come, but to close, let's go back to Jordan's Rock Vault for his other video from Saturday night, as he filmed Los Angeles hair metal band Great White's co-headlining set for another lengthy video! No sign of the other bands from this channel, alas. Notably, Great White's set took place at dusk, so it started in daylight and ended at night, which is a neat transition if you watch the whole thing! In their own first E.U.P. set in fifteen years (Jack Russell's Great White in 2017 aside), you can see them here playing "Desert Moon", "Lady Red Light", "House Of Broken Love", "Stick It", "Gonna Getcha", "Save Your Love", "Rock Me", and finally, their classic cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". Fans shouldn't have anything to complain about from Great White's set in St. Ignace on Saturday, with everyone performing well to bring their classic singles back, and Brett Carlisle is a quality choice as their current singer that nicely embodies their material!

I should note briefly that original singer Jack Russell (who sang with both Great White versions up here in the past) retired from touring earlier this month after being diagnosed with dementia, and you can get more details here. Our best wishes go out to him in his fight, and it is great that he played in the Soo and St. Ignace when able! As far as hair metal goes, I tend to like bands a little heavier, but Great White put on a solid show for Hair Scare diehards, so check things out above & below!

We will have more from this show in the coming days, but with how backlogged things are now (especially post-Rotaryfest), I'm not immediately making guarantees on when and where. A new post, likely Sault Ontario-centric, hits the site tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

Sault Pridefest Loud & Proud Family Fun Day Concert Review!!

The day after I saw eight bands in under four hours at Rotaryfest, I headed back downtown for one more free outdoor(-ish) concert yesterday, namely the annual Loud & Proud family fun day that kicks off Sault Pridefest every year, pandemic willing! I can't compare first-hand to how Loud & Proud was at the Bushplane Museum, but yesterday's entertainment was under the big tent of the Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and while it was another warm July afternoon, the shade and provided tables/chairs helped along with drinks and refreshments from vendors! Despite an advertised run-time of 1:00-4:00 PM, musicians didn't begin their formal sets until 2:00 PM, giving attendees lots of time to check out the vendors, crafters, and businesses supporting Pridefest, and of course, I'm fully supportive of the local LGBTQ+ community and the causes they're fighting for, so I was glad to be there! I wish it wasn't so muggy, but that's out of their hands.

After introductions from Sault Pride chair Amanda Zuke, the first band up yesterday was local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, fresh off of their Rotaryfest Stage 2 debut the previous day. I was unable to see them at Clergue Park, but this was a fair make-up date! Their eight song set included six covers, including Joan Jett and Weezer songs with bassist Claire Jeffrey on lead vocals (trading roles with singer Red Jettison), as well as covers of Green Day, The Pixies, and The Flobots. They ended with two originals from their debut EP "Head Trauma", which was indeed on sale in limited physical copies at Pridefest! We'll have more on the EP in the coming days, but they played "Don't Care, Don't Mind" and "Take You Down", the latter seeing guitarist Liam Dinsmore and drummer Anthony Boudreau trading roles. Everyone put in a good and energetic showing for the all-ages audience, and Red was more animated when playing bass here!

Raine Rancourt had some strong lead guitar work, and while I'll hold comment on the originals pending next month's review of "Head Trauma", the guys had a tight set with strong musicianship and some good crowd banter! Of course, if you want to hear a lot more from HeadFirst, including more originals, come see them at Shooters Downstairs Lounge for their EP's proper launch party this Saturday night! In between the musical acts at Loud & Proud, two local drag perfomers came to lip sync and dance throughout the pavilion while interacting with attendees. The two performers were Lana Von Archer (who lip synced to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and Robyn's "Dancing On Your Own" and Luke McAnally-Gore-Shadow (who lip synced to Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse's "Valerie" and Busted & Hanson's "MMMBop 2.0"), with each doing a song after the first two acts.

I'm very new when it comes to drag, so I apologize if I sound ill informed, but Lana definitely showed off some impressive moves when making her way through the pavilion (those splits and tumbles got a strong fan reaction!), while Luke's dancing was much more casual and jauntier, but still fun all the same, and a perfect fit for a Sault Pride event! The middle performer yesterday was local folk singer/ukeleleist Giimiwan Ikwe, who I have seen perform in less formal settings than this, but never at an advertised & scheduled concert. Giimiwan (who uses they/them pronouns) mostly played acoustic covers of songs by the likes of The Four Tops, Jason Mraz, Tom Petty, and Otis Redding, with their cover of The Animals' "The House Of The Rising Sun" being greatly altered with new & longer lyrics. Only a couple of originals here, including the set closer featuring drumming from their sister and shaker percussion from their daughter.

Giimiwan (whose father is a family friend on my dad's side) sounded good on these minimalistic but authentic performances, with a good singing voice and quality messages to convey, and they added some strong variety and culture to the proceedings! After the last drag performances, Loud & Proud ended with a short five song set by local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, who don't play live all that often, so it was good to see them back out there! Famous for featuring no guitar at all, they covered songs by Say Anything, Millencolin, and Metric, though I wasn't 100% certain if their set opener was an original or not. Frontman Paul Stanghetta (of Smeltzer and The Fury renown) added some edgy zest to these heavier and more abrasive songs, and now featuring prolific local punk guitarist Mikhal Muto (Vanity First, Hails, et al.) on second bass, the distorted and locally unique sound won over some new fans!

Paul's wife Amanda kept the beat well on drums, and their more aggressive takes on some unexpected covers ended things on a cool note for this reviewer, but I can see why their guitar-devoid sound will be an acquired taste for some. Strong finish, and hopefully we see The A.A. back at it (and with better social media advertising) soon! Overall, this was an entertaining community event that the LGBTQ+ community, allies, and/or music fans in general could find something to like at! I just wish that Sault Pride did a better and more consistent job with advertising the scheduled musicians by name, as they are a pull for attendees to come out, but I only heard about the lineup from the performers themselves. You can see our photos from Loud & Proud at this link or via our Facebook page, and I also shot videos of the three musical acts! I didn't film Lana & Luke because Facebook's copyright bots won't play ball with their backing tracks.

In order, here's HeadFirst covering Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law", Giimiwan Ikwe covering The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker", and The Apocalypse Afterparty covering Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks"!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert fallout by other people/sites on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

Rotayfest Stage 1 & 2 Concert Reviews!!

It's been too long, how does a concert review (or two? or three?!) sound? For the first time in three years, I was able to head to Rotaryfest to see live bands yesterday, but as I couldn't stay all day due to prior commitments, I found a way to see as many bands as possible: constantly switch stages! As such, while I saw no one's full set, I was able to see eight acts across the covers-leaning Stage 1 at Clergue Park beside the Centennial Library and the originals-leaning Stage 2 beside the Art Gallery of Algoma in under four hours! Honestly, I'm surprised that more reviewers, journalists, and videographers don't do this, most just stick to one stage or specific bands. My attempts to block out when I'd leave for a certain stage and back were thrown for a loop by scheduling delays on one stage, but the trek from Stage 1 to 2 and back was harmless and you could hear each stage easily without conflict for much of the walk.

The rainy weather was only a minor concern for the opening bands on both stages, and there was not a drop for the 2:00-5:00 PM bands that I was able to see. While I did get to see HeadFirst earlier today (more on that tomorrow), I of course apologize to The Northern Jazz Ensemble and the last four bands on both stages for being AWOL (especially The Gambit), but maybe I can do the double on both stages next year for longer, weather permitting! When I arrived at Clergue Park yesterday afternoon, the band in action was Steel Rock, the new Mustang Sally/Pine Tones-esque student rock band from Superior Heights Collegiate, and it bears repeating: I wish Bawating had a program like this for rock musicians in my day! The lineup for Steel Rock is very modular, with fifteen credited musicians in the program coming and going, sometimes switching roles.

I saw the kids covering songs by The Eagles, Bryan Adams, Jimmy Eat World, and Cheap Trick. Mostly using female singers, Steel Rock showed solid skill for their ages, but of course, there's a long way to go for developing stage presence and whatnot. Myself, I'd have picked some different songs to cover (I'm not a fan of "Hotel California" at all), but it'll be interesting to see how the current members of Steel Rock develop in and out of this band! To ensure that I didn't miss band #2 on Stage 2, I made my exit then to catch Miss Madii, the name given to pop rock cover band Lime for this set of original songs by frontwoman Madii Schomogyi. I missed Lime's opening set at noon on Stage 1, but everyone pulled the double here, including ex-Rising Tide guitarist Liam Seymour and former Id Iota bandmates Dan Linklater & Blair St. John on bass & drums.

Madii and the guys played four original songs when I was present, three entitled "No Man Of Mine", "Drinking To Your Name", and "Clockwork". While Lime do cover the occasional hard rock song, (Miss) Madii's originals lean to more reserved folk/indie rock territory. She does have songwriting talent drawn from real personal experiences, and she did offer some self deprecating humour when introducing them! Given her experienced bandmates, the musical quality here was sound, and while my genre preferences do lean to what Lime play, Madii is going to make some noise as original songwriters in town go! I next headed to Stage 1 to catch the early portion of classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's debut at Rotaryfest, where I heard them cover songs by Huey Lewis & The News, The Edgar Winter Group, Maroon 5, and Cee-Lo Green, plus Guns N' Roses at set's end when trying to juggle the next two half sets on Stage 2.

Fans of classic and hard rock-leaning cover acts in town will find a lot to like with Silent 9! With a good energetic style and a nicely varied selection of covers (Maroon 5 though?). Yes, it was that Cee-Lo Green song, but it was the radio friendly version given the nature of the festival. Jess Amadio had a great stage presence on vocals and her singing was very adaptable to different genres, and Ryan Robb shone on lead guitar at various points, so if you saw their full set, you will have gotten a quality preview of their regular nightclub gigs resuming this fall! Back on Stage 2, timeslot #3 was split in half, with the first chunk going to Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch in his second of five sets yesterday. This was a solo set previewing songs from his debut solo album, and he was backed up here by the aforementioned Blair St. John on drums alongside Hollow Heads guitarist Ethan Roode and ex-Rising Tide bassist Marshall Jaaskelainen.

Brandon's Bookclub bandmate Josh Norling also took guest turns for this set. I only caught three named songs, one being "I Wouldn't Mind", but Brandon's solo stuff definitely reminded me of Tom Petty, and he doesn't have a bad singing voice! Definitely a musical departure from the more rock-based bands that he is currently in, but I would presume that more of a rootsy style like this is closer to what he likes, and he came off well with solid backing! Brandon's last song ("I Remember") featured guest vocals by singer Juliana Regan, bridging nicely into her half set at 4:00 PM, featuring a very similar backing band. Here, Ethan sat out, Marshall busted out his stand-up bass, Josh was back too, and Liam Seymour returned to play keyboard, so if you liked Brandon's band, you'll have liked Juliana's! I caught three named songs of hers, two called "Pity Party" & "Ghost", with Juliana flipping from indie/folk to jazz in her songs yesterday.

Compared to her far more minimal Lopstock set last summer with just Brandon backing her up, this seemed like a stronger and more fully realized take on her original material across the board, and her strong and confident voice and personal lyrics were well received in the songs that I saw! Partly due to delays on Stage 2, I saw a little more of the next band on Stage 1, that being classic rock trio Flathead Ford, who now feature Bullet Train/ex-Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano in place of Jack Stubbington. For their sixth year on the main stage, I saw them cover songs by Nancy Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, Billie Joe Royal, Led Zeppelin, Stealers Wheel, and Grand Funk Railroad, and they did so with a good driving enthusiasm and appreciation for classic rock! Scott Kennedy knew the limits of his voice (hence why "Rock N' Roll" was allegedly if Jerry Lee Lewis had sang it), and he kept things moving nicely!

He and bassist Bill Webb definitely seemed on their game handling these classic rock favourites, and Tony's drumming was on point, so fans of 1960s-70s classic rock will absolutely like Flathead Ford's range of covers! Despite my efforts to schedule my between-stage trips so that I saw chunks of every band without breaks, the Second Stage got very delayed. The planned 4:30 PM set by The Jacob Valois Group didn't start until 5:00 PM, and I'm not 100% sure why. As such, I only saw Jacob and his backing band (Northern Jazz Ensemble members Martin Virta and Jeff Holmes on stand-up bass & keyboard, plus his Convergence bandmate David Peredun on drums) play two songs, though Josh Norling had to bail before "Whitefish" due to the delays running into his Stage 1 set with Bookclub. If you like high quality improvisation-friendly jazz, you'll have liked Jacob and crew's set!

A far cry in sound (not technicality) from what he and David are up to in Convergence, but this all-instrumental group are very talented, and if you are all amenable to the jazz music that used to play on 98.3 FM overnight, you should get a kick out of what Jacob is up to as a bandleader! The last band that I was able to see at Rotaryfest was local alternative/punk cover supergroup Bookclub on Stage 1, though with an unadvertised lineup alteration, as original lead guitarist Dave Bahun returned to fill in for his old Surfers bandmate Dustin Jones on bass. A reason for Dustin's absence was not announced when I was there, but hopefully nothing too serious happened! I saw Bookclub cover songs by Roxette and Cake, plus Dick Dale's version of "Misirlou" that was famously heard in Pulp Fiction. Good stuff with everyone (including Brandon Ruch in Rotaryfest set #3 of 5) clicking well on covers you don't typically hear in the Soo!

Josh Norling and trumpeter Erin Antonello mesh well for the horn section where needed (ska punk, guys, I'm telling you!), and it was good seeing Dave back on stage with Mikey and Allan, but things did seem a tad rushed for their set early on. Good stuff for fans, if a slight departure from Mikey's other local and GTA band work, so they delivered! I did attempt to head back to Stage 2 for 5:30 PM in the event that the previous set was shrunk down to allow veteran punk quintet The Gambit to start on time, but Jacob's band was just tearing down then, so I had no hope of seeing the former Sick Sons before I had to hit the highway. Apologies again, and hopefully they play live again soon! Overall, this was a fun challenge to see as much of the band slate as I could at Rotaryfest, and it seemed like bands and attendees alike had a good time! The weather held out, it wasn't as hot, and audience levels were healthy across both stages. You love to see it!

Will I do the double like this again? I'd like to, but we'll see how scheduling, weather, and format looks for next year, as a lot can happen by then. You can see my photos of the eight bands I saw yesterday intermingled in this folder on our Facebook page, and I did film a video from each act! In order, here's Steel Rock covering Toto's "Hold The Line", Miss Madii playing "Slipping Rib", Silent 9 covering The Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House", Brandon Ruch playing "For Now", Juliana Regan playing "Penny For Your Thoughts", Flathead Ford covering Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down A Dream", The Jacob Valois Group playing "Herding Cats", and Bookclub covering Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"!

That's all for now, but we'll have another concert preview tomorrow, as I was at today's Loud & Proud family fun day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion this afternoon, and there, I didn't miss any performers! Look for that and more from Rotaryfest and beyond on the site this week! Thanks everyone!