Bridge Heads Concert Preview, Cancellations For This Weekend, And New Videos!!

Before we begin today's post, just a heads-up that tonight's Wyld Stallyns concert at The Water Tower Pub has been cancelled. The band confirmed the news on their Facebook page this morning, but did not give a reason publically for their withdrawal. Veteran local blues rock band Smokehouse will step in on short notice, so genre fans might want to consider seeing them instead! This means that two separate Stallyns' concerts this weekend were called off, which is very unfortunate, but keep reading for details on a late notice gig from them! Now, here's one more hard rock concert preview for this weekend, more apparent cancellations, and new videos!

New local hard rock quartet The Bridge Heads and guitarist Daniel Horton's new acoustic pop rock band Big Mistake will join forces for their second announced concert TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Fans saw both bands at the Acoustic Heartstrings event at the now-closed Room 21, and while this sequel event will not feature Handsome Sandwich, it will have new songs from both bands, and (for the first time) electric instruments for The Bridge Heads, so old Haggith, Eclipse, and Project 421 fans will definitely not want to miss out on their set! Of course, Big Mistake are the advertised headliners, and while not a heavy band, they have familiar faces with established names locally in prior musical pursuits, and this should be a well received second gig for them as well! Plus, in an update that just broke this afternoon, the aforementioned Wyld Stallyns will play a set as well tomorrow, helping fill the void from the postponement of tomorrow's Docs & Food & Beer & Bands event.

Fitting choice to add to the bill, albeit on late notice, and they compliment Big Mistake's unplugged format and The Bridge Heads' heavier sound well each! Visibly promoted by Daniel once again, this is a 19+ show with a $5 cover charge and a 9:30 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's The Bridge Heads live last month!



Next up, I was planning to tackle Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63's advertised return to The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino branch tonight & tomorrow night, but I am reluctantly opting not to cover them on here, as the most recent posting on their Facebook page does not paint an optimistic picture for the short term. As shared from frontman Henry Switzer's personal Facebook page, he noted that he recently had a heart ailment repaired that apparently remedied a vocal issue that had been persisting for 9 months. While Henry was hesitant about getting back on stage, his bandmates convinced him, and he called it "the best therapy anyone could give me." The post ended by saying that "it's gonna take some time before I can do a full show, but you can expect to see Hw63 in the near future." Highway 63 last played an advertised concert (that I know of) in November, and haven't played at The Rapids Lounge since October, a weekend split with side project Mackinaw Trail.

Henry's health is a priority first and foremost, so unless otherwise stated, I'm not going to formally call these shows as taking place (Mackinaw Trail wouldn't be the replacement act either, as Henry is their frontman too.) We'll let you know when Highway 53 resurface, but here's a new solo cover that he shared to the band's Facebook page in December! Here, you can see him sing Dishwalla's ballad "Angels & Devils" (selected for a challenge by his cousin), and it's a strong showcase of his vocal range, even if his voice was still impaired when this was filmed! Give it a watch below!

Let's head back to Sault Ontario now to cover some new videos, starting with a long awaited update from The Wyld Stallyns' funk/hard rock sister band The Elements, who have finally shared a studio track from their long gestating debut EP! Almost four years after frontman Rob Speers first told me about their CD plans and gave the green light to mention them on the SMS, the guys quietly shared their studio copy of their original "I Need A Friend" onto their Facebook page last month, itself their first posting there (a cover photo update aside) since March of last year. Given the band's spotty Facebook usage, I don't know how much they'll post there (or how fast) regarding the EP, but band members' personal Facebook accounts have elaborated more, so if you know the guys, you may want to seek them out. I don't want to step on their toes regarding the EP plans, so I won't divulge the meat of those discussions without permission, but I think I can say a couple of things that wouldn't get me in any trouble.

For one, "I Need A Friend" won a poll among Facebook friends to determine the first full song release, and the tracks appear to have been produced in-house by bassist James White, presumably at White Wreckords or it's modern-day equivalent. Hopefully more information goes public soon, but it's great to finally see The Elements' EP taking public shape, and fingers crossed it makes it's way onto physical and/or digital storefronts soon! I'll hold comment on the song proper for now, pending a possible album review, but give "I Need A Friend" a listen below!



Finally for today, here's the latest from local power rock quartet Re:Born, who we haven't heard from since Toystock in late November, so what's new to report from their camp? As per their newest Facebook page post on February 26th, the guys revealed that personal life circumstances "forced us into hibernation for the winter", but they are getting back into activity in time for the spring, and they plan to have "a rock n' roll summer." They teased a return to the stage in May, since confirmed to be the final opening slot for the Anti-Queens concert at the aforementioned Rockstar Bar on May 23rd, which will end a six month stage hiatus. While not a punk band, Re:Born are a fitting choice to open, as guitarist Blair Burch did open for The Anti-Queens locally back in 2016 with Project 421, so they should deliver a hard hitting set of their own in two months! To cap off their new updates, Re:Born posted a new (if belated) video of them at the Killer Dwarfs show at Soo Blaster in April!

A cover of Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" (one of my favourite songs of theirs), this is a well done rendition, if somewhat laid back and reserved, but this was just their second live concert. Everyone performs strongly, and it's nice to see this video finally, so give it a look below!



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