New Videos From Mike Haggith, Molly Escherich, And The Floor Between Us!!

As our slow clear-out of the backlog continues, here's a new news post on this Saturday afternoon that takes us from the EUP to Southern Ontario before finally coming home to Sault Ste. Marie, but we'll start in Michigan with another recent full set video, so here's what you should know!

In a follow-up from our coverage of last month's Superior Whitefish Festival battle of the bands in Brimley, Michigan, you may recall that there was a separate Music In The Park concert before the battle featuring acoustic-leaning performers. One was 8th Fire frontwoman Molly Escherich just hours before she led her new band to a second place finish, and like with the main band, her solo matinee set was shot in full for her YouTube channel! I have been more selective with acoustic singer/guitarists in our band links in recent years, as for metal, hard rock, and punk, it doesn't play in as well for song choices, and anyone with a guitar can play a set live and call it a day, but what does a 56 minute set of Molly's entail in 2026? In performance order, the 14 year old Dafter native covered Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Still The Same", The Eagles' "Take It Easy", Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", ...

...The Doobie Brothers' "Listen To The Music" (which The 8th Fire covered in their battle set), Carole King's "It's Too Late", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" (briefly), and "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", before playing the original song about the perfect boat day with her dad that led off The 8th Fire's battle set. Covers resume with Noah Kahan's "The Great Divide", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" (also covered by The 8th Fire that night), another attempt at "Proud Mary" that was more successful than previously, Zach Bryan's "Something In The Orange", Coldplay's "Yellow", and Little Big Town's "Boondocks", before Molly ended her set with two more original songs named "Cheap Cologne" and "Always Known". Molly definitely has some other hard rock covers in her back pocket from past solo gigs that I want to look at in the future, but her solo set is definitely more varied.

Regardless, she is a very talented singer and guitarist who is still rapidly improving (being at Interlochen will help in that!), and for her age, she has an ease about her on stage and a good audience rapport already! If you saw her battle set with The 8th Fire, the three common songs from Molly's solo set (one being an acoustic solo performance too) will either be an interesting contrast or feel redundant, but remember that a lot of early festival attendees didn't stay for the battle, or vice versa. Good stuff, and with a dash of the hard rock to come that night, so give Molly's Music In The Park set in Brimley a watch below, and we'll have more from her soon!

Next up, let's head north of the border (and yet still south) to Barrie, Ontario, where local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith returned to Athletic Kulture Stadium there on July 4th to sing "O Canada" at a Barrie Baycats baseball game! Now competing in the renamed Canadian Baseball League, the Baycats welcomed Mike to sing the anthem at games in each of the past two seasons, though rain delays got in the road of his original 2024 bookings. For Mike's game this season, he sang before Barrie's clash with the Hamilton Cardinals on the Fourth of July, and regrettably for the home team and fans, the Baycats lost 8-1. As always though, the game was live-streamed on Barrie's YouTube channel, and if you want to just check out Mike's performance, he is introduced by the PA announcer at the 7:42 mark. Mike sings well, as you'd expect given his talents and pedigree!

I just wish the game went better for the Baycats, but they are in fourth place in the nine-team league, which would guarantee them a playoff spot if the season ended today, so best of luck for a strong run over the rest of the CBL season. Give Mike's performance (and the game) a watch below!

Finally for today, I wanted to mention the local comedy/art rock band The Floor Between Us, who have came up sparingly in our coverage in recent years. If you're not familiar with them, their lineup features one-time Soo's Got Talent finalist Colin Gasparelli on vocals & guitar alongside singer Ivy-Rose Morrison, Stones & Crows bassist Nicholas Gingras, and Spaceship Opening/ASDP drummer Ralph Barber (an "Andrew M." played keyboards for them once too). Their music is very eclectic, experimental, and has more in common with a lot of 1960s pop rock and bands like They Might Be Giants than heavier styles, but there's a joie de vivre and clear sense of humour across their original music, so I do recommend checking out their material on maior streaming platforms to see what you think! However, they do occasionally cover some songs that cross the SMS' radar in concert.

The Floor Between Us are fans of the English anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba, best known for their one mainstream hit "Tubthumping", which they have covered live (here they are playing it unplugged at a Korah talent show featuring Ralph's ASDP bandmate Mikhal Muto on cajon). However, they haven't just gotten up again after being knocked down, as they covered their 1994 b-side "The Day The Nazi Died") at one of their Sault Theatre Workshop fundraiser concerts in November. More of a politically charged folk song that would definitely fit an English pub (complete with Nicholas on added percussion), this is well performed with sharp lyrics, so give it a watch for yourselves below!

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

News & Updates From The Realignment Project & Viscera!!

Now that our weekend concert previews are done and dusted (for now), let's spend some time digging out of our still-massive backlog of stories from the past month, and tonight's post looks at new updates and media from a band on each side of the border, so here's what you should know!

Let's start today with the latest from local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project, so what have they been up to in the past two months? When we left off with the Matt Hicks-led project, he had just released their first full-length album (as opposed to EPs) "Long Cold Winter", and was in the process of uploading individual YouTube lyric videos of its songs. On June 13th, Matt revealed on their Facebook page that "album 2 is starting to develop some decent bones", so his rapid recording schedule hasn't slowed down just because he's working on longer studio albums! Said post was accompanied by a black-and-white photo of his tracking computer, even. Two days later, two T.R.P. songs were featured on The Tuesday Pump Session show with Jeff Tucker on the Georgia-based internet station Front Row Radio, and it's great to see that Matt's solo music is spreading far beyond the Soo area!

The Realignment Project got some more far-flung internet radio coverage on July 22nd when they and other labelmates at East London Recordings were featured as part of a "takeover" of British internet station Coastal Breeze Radio, so add some more international exposure, and it's good to see Matt's label promoting his music well! Lastly for the recent T.R.P. updates is that they released their second proper music video (not a lyric video) to their YouTube channel. There's less to this in terms of filming, as it's a one-take video of Matt singing the song from the shoulders up, but there was a heavy filter put on it in post-production that looks like the Stylize "Glowing Edges" filter from Adobe Photoshop. I'll hold comment on the song pending our review of "Long Cold Winter" (allegedly available on "all streaming platforms"), but it's a distinct looking video for sure, so give it a watch for yourselves below, and stay tuned for more from Matt soon!

Next up, here's some new updates from Sault Michigan hardcore punk trio Viscera, starting with the reveal on their Facebook page on July 22nd that they have had a print run of their debut EP "From Feast To Famine" made on CD, and they are now on sale via their Bandcamp page for $12 USD (as of this writing, $16.73 CAD). That is certainly good news, even if there isn't an obvious brick-and-mortar location to sell them at in the Soo post-Crooked Music, so buy it above if you want a physical copy! Bands have been added to both of Viscera's announced Soo Tang Records concerts here in the coming weeks, as per updated concert posters on their Instagram page. For their August 22nd headlining concert at Three One Three On Ashmun, they have added Marquette indie rock/power pop quartet Addicus in their local debut, so this show will definitely lean punk, if not have a genre variance.

A female fronted band with a strong upbeat sound and fun lyrics, hopefully Addicus provide a good counterbalance to Viscera's attack in two weeks! A second opening band, local or otherwise, is being sought, so message Viscera above if you wanna join this bill at the former Back Door. As for their show in the basement of Pizza Hut on September 26th, that show has had its lineup capped off with a third touring band, namely Marquette progressive/deathcore quartet SilentLife, also in their Sault Ste. Marie debut. Brutal yet atmospheric sound from them, and definitely not a style of original metal seen often in the EUP, so keep this show in mind for them and much more next month! Finally for tonight's news post, new live videos were filmed at Viscera's most recent gig, a headlining date at Superior Culture in Marquette last week, as shot by a members of other Marquette bands, one being Particle Thrower, who were the first announced openers for next month's Pizza Hut show.

I can't embed these videos here because they are tiled in a batch post, and videos uploaded thusly aren't embeddable on external websites, but the first three feature Viscera live, including their first public footage with new bassist Chris Lovins that I am aware of. Looks like an animated crowd for their hard hitting attack, and the guys look in good spirits (was Blind Bob wearing camouflage face paint?). The third video notably has an overhead view of Mitchell drumming, and if you have the means of a second floor or balcony to make that a reality, you take it! Sadly, these videos are all vertical and reasonably short, but give them a watch above, and stay tuned for more news & notes on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (5 Dollar Bribe) & The Rest Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

Here's the likely final post for this busy stretch of weekend concert previews! Just as a late note, The Sault Star's Brian Kelly published this article about tomorrow's WestFest II at Anna Marinelli Park, which notes extra details on vendors, the official setlist times for the four acts, and remarks from co-promoter Ronan Provenzano about the hopes and expectations for this festival. Good read, especially if you're invested in the Jamestown and Steelton development, so give it a read above! Now, here's what you should know for this weekend's other hard rock-leaning concerts, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Fresh off of their set at Maddy's Mighty Mutts' Family Fun Day on Wednesday (more on that event soon), young local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for one night only TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was first announced via this AI generated weekly schedule image on Jay's Facebook page on Saturday, with the band only confirming it themselves on Wednesday. Last seen at Jay's (well, outside of it) during last month's ARCH Run, this talented and quickly rising quartet should have another fun night of covers in store TONIGHT, so keep this one in mind if you need some late notice hard rock! This is a one-nighter due to or resulting in tomorrow's concert from classic rock quartet Doo & The Boyos (no word on if their sister band Stones At The Alter will take over a set again or not). While all of 5 Dollar Bribe are under 19, this show will otherwise be 19+.

TONIGHT'S festivities are at 9:30 PM with no cover charge as usual for the former Reggie's West. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's another new video of 5 Dollar Bribe's headlining gig at Blaster Powerhouse this past weekend! Uploaded to their Facebook page on Tuesday, this otherwise plugged-in cover of Silverchair's "No Association" features guitarist Tyler Greely on acoustic guitar after he broke a string on his electric guitar (as noted with a caption at the start). Still a well done cover for 1990s grunge fans, if not the whole song, and I am impressed that they don't default to "Tomorrow" for Silverchair cover choices, so give it a watch below, and don't miss them at Jay's TONIGHT!

Next up, let's head to the eighth annual Algoma Tree Services community meet & greet and barbecue, which goes down TOMORROW at 1424 Havilland Shores Drive in Goulais River once again! In this summer staple where Algoma Tree Services gives back to and celebrates with locals for their support over the past year, they're bringing the same lineup as they have had since 2024 tomorrow. Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 are headlining at 7:00 PM (fresh off of the Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day themselves), while classic rock quintet Angry Joe & The Growlers will again kick off the festivities at 1:30 PM in an event that they have played at for years before Bone Yard got in on it (Soundcheck were the headliners prior to 2024). Both bands have four hour nightclub-esque blocks tomorrow, so The Growlers aren't really "opening", but if you like one/both bands, you'll get your fill!

Proceeds of the barbecue go to the Kiwanis Club's childrens operations, and there will be a bonfire on site as well. The meet & greet/concert proper is FREE & ALL AGES, and as this is outdoors, temperatures will run for 16-21° with mostly cloudy skies clearing up as Angry Joe & them are rocking out, and things should be clear for your local 225's entire set. Kudos to both bands for supporting Algoma Tree Services once again, and hopefully there's a decent turnout once again for the food, music, information, and more! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Bone Yard live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to The Water Tower Pub for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT! One week removed from their return to the stage at Gateway Casino after a month+ break, fans will have last seen Valerie, Joe, Pierre, and Tony at this Great Northern Road venue on June 27th. If you're up for a night of classic and hard rock cover favourites from this experienced foursome, you can do far worse than come out on Saturday, though be advised that they aren't scheduled for more concerts until they return to Reggie's in three weeks. As usual for The Water Tower Pub, they don't book the same band on consecutive nights, and tonight's performer there is North Channel Sound singer/guitarist Greg Cull as a solo act. Saturday's Generations concert is at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Generations live earlier this year!

Finally for this weekend's previews, another performer at the Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day is hitting the stage for another concert this weekend, as former Haggith/Eclipse singer/guitarist Curtis McKenzie will return to Beck's Bar as their matinee performer on SUNDAY! I erroneously thought this was a short notice gig briefly, forgetting that Curt actually announced this show on his Facebook page back in May, as well as his Sunday matinee there in October. This will be your first chance to see Curtis at the former Vibe Lounge this year, having last played at Beck's in November 2025, and hopefully his grunge and hard rock covers find another willing audience on Sunday during Beck's weekly euchre tournament! As usual for matinee gigs here, this is a 3:00 PM concert on Sunday with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Curt live!

That's all for now, but with our weekend concert previews likely done for the week, look for the clear-out of our backlog to resume in earnest over the weekend! Thanks everyone!

The WestFest II & Rock N' Roll Ave Concert Previews!!

As promised, here's part #2 of this weekend's hard rock concert previews! Due to how long the WestFest preview ran, I'm bumping our Generations and Bone Yard 225 previews to our next post alongside Curtis McKenzie, so this post only has two write-ups for weekend shows, though one eats up 3/4ths of the post. We'll start in Sault Michigan today, as this involves a show tomorrow where the other Canadian ones don't, so here's what else you should know on this Thursday evening!

While fans in St. Ignace can check out the EUP debuts of Nolium this weekend at their Kewadin Casino branch, fans an hour north will instead bear witness to the first regional appearances of Mount Pleasant classic/hard rock cover band Rock N' Roll Ave TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! A spin-off/side project from the metalcore band Black Out, this weekend's shows aren't just Rock N' Roll Ave(nue)'s first in the Soo, but their first anywhere since relaunching earlier this year. Rehearsal videos and pre-comeback live videos point to a good hard rocking cover range, though be careful, as their Facebook page also hosts Black Out videos, and they're just a tad more extreme! This weekend's shows are 9:00 PM affairs tomorrow and Saturday night with 21+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's a recent Rock N' Roll Ave jam video!

Now let's head to Sault Ontario with the second annual WestFest, which returns to Anna Marinelli Park in Jamestown on SATURDAY! This "block party meets music festival" is part of the West Village Revitilization Project's ongoing efforts to improve and rehabilitate the Jamestown and Steelton areas of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, and there will be food and craft vendors, family activities, and more at this outdoor event, so be sure to visit the West Village Renewed Facebook page for full non-musical details! Musically speaking, we are down from seven acts last year and five in initial marketing to just four tomorrow, with the only hard rock-leaning band being new local alternative hard rock band Riverside Stasis in their fifth public concert and first since the departure of guitarist Liam Dinsmore. Frontwoman Tea Emlaw headlined last year's WestFest in her prior band Handsome Sandwich's final Sault Ste. Marie concert set, but this band is opening WestFest II at 5:00 PM.

Riverside Stasis were strongly hinted as being signed up for the talent show/battle of the bands to find the opening act, only for that to be cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances", so they were acclaimed as the openers on Saturday. Hopefully things go well for Tea and the guys tomorrow! The rest of Saturday's lineup includes local/Collingwood folk supergroup The Ontarians (featuring the Soo's own Frank Deresti and Chris Johns) as headliners, alongside folk/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels (the only returning band from last year's WestFest) and Treble Charger frontman Greig Nori's daughter Ava Nori in the first public concert appearance by her as a lead performer that I can recall. Marketing up to last month also had BookcluB/ex-Hails guitarist Carmen Muto playing a rare solo set (a video of him shredding an electric guitar was even shared to the West Village Renewed Facebook page).

Unfortunately, it appears that Carmen has dropped out of WestFest and has not been replaced, and any promotion directly referencing him/his set was taken down. I have not heard a reason why Carmen isn't playing on Saturday, but hopefully nothing too serious happened, and don't miss him with BookcluB at the next Downtown Street Party in two weeks! Other set times haven't been announced, but WestFest II takes place from 4:00-11:00 PM on Saturday, it is absolutely all ages, and admission at 169 James Street will be via donation (last year was free). Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for a high of 20° on Saturday and a low of 13° with sunny skies and no likely rain, but this is two days out, so keep tabs on your preferred forecast just in case. Despite the smaller lineup, WestFest sounds like a good time and with agreeable weather, so visit the above links for full details, and here's Riverside Stasis live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison) & Eastern Upper Peninsula Weekend Concert Previews!!

It's another busy weekend for hard rock concerts in the Twin Saults and EUP, and its largely because of the EUP why we have to break our previews into three posts! The plan is to look at this weekend's Rock N' Roll Ave, Bone Yard 225, and Generations concert (plus WestFest II) in our next post, with Sunday's short notice Curtis McKenzie matinee as part of our next general news post once we get back in the swing of clearing out our backlog. For now, here's what you should know, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT in Sault Ontario and another new northern date!

Just one day removed from his late notice addition to the Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day (more on that hopefully soon), local classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison will play at The Up & Down Lounge at 24 Second Line West for a second straight Thursday TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via his Facebook event page on Tuesday, and at press time, The Up & Down Lounge has not corroborated that he is playing there again TONIGHT. They did start with two straight Jason Taillefer solo acoustic concerts there, so if Tym is playing two straight too, is that the scheduling pattern here, or is Tym legitimately a short notice booking? Regardless, it's good to see Tym staying busy as the summer marches on, and hopefully there's a decent crowd in the west end TONIGHT for his unplugged classic and hard rock covers! Remember, acts play indoors at the Up & Down despite the patio being open.

In one more new booking, Tym will make the 45 minute drive southeast to Ije's Place in nearby Desbarats on Friday, August 14th, as per this Facebook event page! This will be Tym's third show at Ije's, following two shows at the Central Algoma cafe & bakery last month, most recently this past week. though be advised that Ije's Facebook page hasn't plugged that Tym will be back there yet either. Both TONIGHT'S Up & Down Lounge show and next week's trip to Desbarats are 6:00 PM concerts with no announced cover charge, and while the Up & Down gig is likely 19+, Ije's should be all ages as it's not a nightclub. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, let's head across the border to Michigan for some hard rock concerts in the EUP, and we'll start in St. Ignace, where local classic/hard rock trio Peril will return for a special outdoor concert TONIGHT as part of the town's Music By The Bay summer concert series at American Legion Park! Aside from one or two annual gigs in this series, Peril (and Scarkazm) exclusively play at Kewadin Casino when they make trips north of the Mackinac Bridge, so if you want to see Jeff, Howard, and Brooks outside, earlier in the day, or just somewhere other than a Kewadin branch, keep tonight's show in mind! If you can't make it, Peril will be back on Friday the 21st, though be advised that they have not corroborated either booking on their Facebook page in recent weeks. TONIGHT'S concert runs from 7:00-8:30 PM, and it is absolutely free & all ages. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for sunny skies and temperatures of 72-74° (22-23° Celsius) tonight.

Looks like good conditions are in store for TONIGHT in St. Ignace, so if you'll be in the area or up for the hour's drive from the Soo, consider swinging by for Peril's next local concert! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Peril live a few years back!

Now let's take the half hour drive northeast along Saint Martin Bay to Hessel, where rebranded local hard rock cover band Nate's Chow will play their first show under this name TOMORROW NIGHT at The Islander Bar, but that's not all from them! As you may recall, the band formerly known as Unfortunate Sun rebranded as Nate's Chow (taking their name in part from their predecessors Fake Chow) after frontman Skip Parish left the band in March. Their Facebook description now lists them as a trio with Jody, Brett, and Jason sharing vocals, and while the band's AI-generated imagery does include photos featuring a band of four animals, including their beaver mascot (Nate?) on vocals, drummer Jason VanLuven confirmed on the venue's Facebook page that this will be "our new 3 piece singing debut". We will get into their other three new dates (all in September) in an upcoming post so we can keep our weekend concert previews on a reasonable schedule.

This one-night-only concert takes place tomorrow at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge. It will be interesting to hear how Nate's Chow sound, especially if they lean more to the generally heavier covers that Unfortunate Sun played compared to Fake Chow, though with Skip absent (and back in his country/southern rock cover duo Blood, Sweat, and Beers), things could be wide open, especially as the rest of the band aren't established frontmen. That, or "Nate" the beaver is singing, if you believe AI! See above for more details, and here's the former Unfortunate Sun live!

We'll close this post back in St. Ignace, where Ontonogan hard rock quartet Nolium will make their EUP debuts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Northern Pines Lounge at their Kewadin Casino branch! The heaviest and most originals-focused of the three new-to-the-EUP touring bands debuting under the Kewadin umbrella this summer (our Rock N' Roll Ave preview is in our next post!), fans of modern grunge, alternative, and hard rock will take to their cover range, and fresh off of a show in Wisconsin for them, why not zip east across the peninsula? Nolium are a solid band with good enthusiasm and some eclectic song choices that bands in the EUP don't often play, so keep their shows in mind for this weekend! As usual for Kewadin lounges, these are 9:00 PM affairs with 21+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's a full-set video of Nolium live!

That's all for now, but our weekend concert previews will continue with Rock N' Roll Ave and Sault Ontario concerts next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Downtown Street Party #2) & A Video From Last Month's Sandman Show!!

For our ninth post already this month, this is a two topic post, starting with a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month, and ending with a video from a recent tribute band concert here. Let's get things rolling!

Over one month after the City of Sault Ste. Marie's second Downtown Street Party on Thursday, July 16th was cancelled due to that day's severely poor air quality, they will host the planned third (now second) one on Thursday, August 20th! Originally scheduled to take place on a closed stretch of Queen Street East from Elgin to Dennis Street, they're basically doubling the size of this one to include the Brock-Elgin stretch that was gypped out of last month's street party, so this will virtually take place from the former BMO building all the way down to the bus terminal. Going along with this, they will try again for the Downtown Plaza aspects of last month's cancelled street party, including re-booking Nicole Does Trivia and the live screening of Jaws 1 there. Click here for full details on non-musical activities to expect on Queen Street two weeks from tomorrow (even a rock climbing wall!)

Musically speaking, there will actually be three "stages" for Street Party #2, but sadly, none of the acts on the 20th are ones who were scheduled for the cancelled street party last month (nor were any of them scheduled for Stage 1 at Rotaryfest that same day). One stage will be up... way up atop Village Media headquarters (a space they call "The Canopy"), which has sparingly hosted live bands in recent years, and this is where SMS readers will likely be most interested, as punk/alternative cover sextet BookcluB and local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith (presumably with The Big Finish Band) will be playing on the roof at 9:30 & 8:15 PM respectively! Opening on The Canopy is Dustcovers frontman "Just" Tom Peer with an acoustic set at 7:00 PM. This should be a fun and unique experience, Mike's high elevation day job acknowledged, so don't bypass this action in just over two weeks!

As for the other stages, they will try again re: having bands at the corner of Queen & March Streets (the cancelled Brock-Elgin street party would actually have been from March-Elgin), and that stage will be headlined by prolific local folk/blues musician Jay Case with support sets from blues singer/guitarist Josh "The Preacher" McNally and his Jackleg Band, as well as folk singer/guitarist Matthew James. The bonus third stage will basically be a reprise of Stage 3 from Rotaryfest, in that it will feature EDM artists/DJs, including Skeletune, Hippie Business, and Flummoxx (all set times are identical to The Canopy's). The EDM party goes down outside of Outspoken Brewing between Elgin and Bruce Street. Downtown Street Party #3 #2 runs from 6:30-11:00 PM on Thursday the 20th, and it is FREE & ALL AGES! The third and final Downtown Street Party for 2026 goes down on September 17th from Dennis-Gore Street, as the parties move west down Queen Street.

Unhealthy levels of forest fire smoke was an unexpected wrench in last month's plans that hopefully won't rear its ugly head again in two weeks, for Northwestern Ontario's sake, let alone wherever that air drifts! Otherwise, these street parties go ahead rain or shine, but still, I do hope that there's no rain to worry about after the two month wait for another one of these! With BookcluB and Mike Haggith's rooftop involvement, this is the most SMS-friendly of the three street party lineups too, so keep everything in mind in two weeks, and visit You Belong SSM's Facebook page for more details!

To close this post, let's look back at a video from one of the concerts that we are backlogged alone in terms of just covering videos from, namely the Sandman concert at The Full Throttle Saloon! The former Primavera Hall have been oddly quiet on social media since this show took place on July 25th, but Mike Blair's 705Live Sound Co. were on hand to man the soundboard for this hard-touring Toronto-based Metallica tribute band, and he did get a video for the 705Live Facebook page! FYI, despite running sound for Rotaryfest Stage 2, Mike didn't post any videos from Clergue Park. The Sandman video runs for 71 seconds of them playing "Enter Sandman" (complete with Rick jokingly mispronouncing "Sault"), and Mike makes effective use of the zoom lens to let us "walk up" to the stage from the soundboard!

It's always fun to see Sandman's faithful take on 1980s and early 1990s Metallica on a local stage, even if this concert's ticket prices were noticeably higher than past shows here, and the crowd looks decent from what is visible. Give Mike's Sandman video a watch below, and hopefully the Saloon proper shot something to upload when their social media break ends!

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

Rotaryfest 2026 Fallout (Part 2!!)

Today's second post (eight already this month!) takes us back to last month's Rotaryfest for more media and videos and whatnot from that survived the air quality index levels to rock out at Clergue Park! Check out yesterday's first post linked here for what's known to be circulating publically from the first four bands on Stage 1 on Friday, July 17th. We'll next look at the co-headliners on that Friday, namely local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush, who were filmed by the prolific Christopher Paci for his YouTube channel. Yes, Dopethrone, Three Days Grace, and Bush fans, Chris' videos for all of these concerts are among our still ridiculous backlog, stay tuned hopefully soon! Chris swung by Clergue Park late, and only filmed three videos that night, with his only Headrush video being of them covering Greta Van Fleet's "Highway Tune".  Bizarrely modern choice for them, especially given earlier marketing putting them as primarily covering 1980s music.

I am admittedly not a Greta Van Fleet fan, but Headrush do cover this song well, and it's a good match for John Anderson's vocal range! The crowd sounded receptive too, so give their Rotaryfest 2026 video a watch below, and yes, I am well aware of their Laird Fair gig, that too is coming to a proper post as soon as possible! This backlog will take some time!

Chris' other videos on Rotaryfest Friday were of North Bay classic rock cover band Just Press Play, whose lineup features long-time Stage 1 sound tech and former That's Chester/Obsession guest guitarist Dan Belanger. Rain cropped up during their set, which is obvious by the small crowd and scattered umbrellas, but kudos to Chris for filming what he did, and that includes covers of Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" and, as embedded below, Cheap Trick's "The Flame". Just Press Play sound good on these covers, with strong vocals and tight musicianship, and they did hint on their Facebook page to wanting to play here again, so hopefully (if outdoors) there's no rain or smoke to worry about! Just press play on these videos above & below!

Over on Stage 2, The Sault Blues Society took over the Friday lineup for a fifth straight year of Friday Night Blues. None of the acts have major social media presences at a level where they are posting videos online to watch on public and official sources, alas. Still, Bob Davies snapped photos of all five bands on the Second Stage that night, so click here for some really nice photos, and familiar faces lined all five groups! Moving back to Stage 1 on Saturday, July 18th, the earliest band that has a public video to my knowledge (outside of our coverage) is classic rock cover quartet Mid Life Crysis, who the aforementioned Chris Paci filmed covering 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" before he hit the road to see Bush in St. Ignace. "Voices Carry" isn't the biggest 1980s cover choice in retrospect, but it's soundly covered by this experienced and familiar local band (in their tenth Stage 1 appearance), and it lets Lori show off her vocal range!

We'll close our second Rotaryfest fallout post with the next Saturday band with public videos, namely classic rock cover quartet RPM, whose entire set was filmed across multiple cameras for their Facebook page! You can see the songs broken up in individual videos linked below, but they eventually posted a full-set video combining everything into a 49 minute watch. In order, Dino, Marcel, Rob, and Joseph played a medley of songs by The Romantics, Neil Diamond, John Mellencamp, and John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, followed by Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", John Mellencamp's "Authority Song", The Outfield's "Your Love", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Looking Out My Back Door", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way", Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me", Huey Lewis & The News' "Walking On A Thin Line", ...

...Bryan Adams' "Summer Of 69", and AC/DC's "TNT". Credit to Out & Out Country/ex-That's Chester drummer Ric Datson for helping set up the multiple cameras here, in a similar way to his Double Down footage from Rotaryfests past. While only really dipping their toes into heavier covers late, RPM are a talented group who have definitely improved as an ensemble and individually over the past decade, and they had a good crowd for their set (which I saw most of, so I can vouch for how they went over!) Give RPM's full multi-camera set a watch for yourselves below!

When we pick up our Rotaryfest fallout coverage (hopefully soon-ish), we'll look at any extant public videos from the last four bands on Stage 1, and if there's space, the Saturday lineup on Stage 2, but our next post will be a news post. Stay tuned for that and more in the near term! Thanks everyone!