2021: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Another year is almost in the rear-view mirror, so let's recap all of the highs and lows from the local metal, hard rock, and punk scenes to end 2021 with! Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing malaise with few concerts and minimal public activity from many local bands, this was the slowest year in SMS history, but I promised years and years ago that I would have a new post at least every three days, and throughout this whole pandemic, I have never broken that promise! The pandemic has absolutely affected everything once again, not helped by Ontario being thrown into lockdown from December 2020-February and again from April-June, not to mention the introduction of vaccine passports this fall, and now the omicron variant of COVID-19 running wild. I can only hope that 2022 brings a little more normalcy as we figure out how to keep everyone as safe as possible!

That all said, Sault Ontario did start to see the return of some big concerts this summer as vaccination rates went up and some restrictions started to ease, and there were some very promising signs of activity from established and new bands alike, so hopefully we can touch on most of the big stories and events from the past year below!

In terms of multi-act events, July saw Rotaryfest returning in a temporary(?) drive-thru format later that month with 15 bands playing to attendees at the former Lowe's Plaza parking lot. In August, a near normal concert experience hit nearby Ophir when The Northern Vibe Festival returned with a full slate of local and Sudbury musicians, while the expanded Wyld Stallyns headlined an Entomica fundraiser at The Bushplane Museum, and the debuting These Magnificent Tentacles (among others) opened for Sibling at The Klub in September. A relatively busy October was toplined by the long-delayed Buckcherry concert at Soo Blaster alongside openers Redundant & Bad Chug, while fans could also see Alien To The Ignorant at Mellow D's Underground and The Soo Fighters opening for Lockdown on Halloween weekend at The Rockstar Bar, with Sudbury tribute band Just Leppard playing there in November.

And of course, a number of bands hit the weekend bar cover circuit for shows from February-April and June-December, with Fort Creek, Soundcheck, and Tym Morrison playing multiple times throughout 2021, and bands like The Uncanny Valley and the reunited Handsome Sandwich & Tripod The Dog also headlined a few solo concerts in the past year. Hopefully many of the above bands (and much more) will play live in 2022!

Over in Sault Michigan and the eastern U.P., the biggest hard rock concert of 2021 saw Cheap Trick open for The Goo Goo Dolls outdoors at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino in August, but anything planned for after then from heavier acts was called off, alas. A handful of touring bands hit Kewadin Casino lounges once they started booking live bands again in July, like fan favouites Peril, Scarkazm, and Spun, plus newcomers Fyrbird, and Wisconsin's own Sunspot during the Michigan Paranormal Convention. The busiest local hard rock band on the E.U.P. circuit was Tarnished, who got around to numerous headlining gigs and community events both locally and into the western U.P. and downstate, while 415E & their new sister band Rhythm & Brews also played live in late 2021, and Project 906 got to play a few shows in between their drummer changes. Here's to much more in the new year!

A lot of big news stories hit our news desk in 2021, but a pair of major local musician deaths on both sides of the border rocked each half of the Twin Saults, starting with the loss of former Highway 63/Monkey's Uncle frontman Henry Switzer in February at the age of 49, after dealing with some lengthy health issues. Henry was a very talented singer, guitarist, and instructor who is dearly missed by his family and friends in Sault Michigan and area, and it's still strange to not cover shows from his bands on the site! On this side of the border, fans mourned the sudden death of prolific local rock drummer Chris Thompson last month of complications from a heart attack, at the age of 42. Like Henry, Chris was a committed husband and father who was a mainstay of the local scene from his prolific work in bands like Fitswitch, Eclipse, Project 421, and Giwakwa, and I hope his family and friends kept the good memories close over the holidays!

We also lost veteran local radio DJ, sportcaster, and former Rock 101 news anchor John Bell this year, as well as the late Sault Ontario actor/director Pirie "Bear" Kaufman, who had a well received benefit concert during his cancer battle a few years back. All will be missed by the lives they touched!

In terms of general news stories, the COVID-19 pandemic helped direct the path of many of them, like the cancellation or postponement of more concerts, like Black Label Society and Great White in Sault Michigan, and Queen: It's A Kinda Magic and The Sky's The Limit in Sault Ontario. For venues, The Tech re-opened with ambitious plans, The Canadian Nightclub became The Canuck after being bought by new ownership, and The Harp closed in advance of lockdown #3. Despite all of the obvious issues, The Sugar Island Music Festival (sans heavier acts) returned in August, while Coronafest returned for another go-around in the spring, and the ever prolific Mike Haggith brought back monthly live-streamed concerts in the last quarter of 2021, going along with his increased presence in Thompson, Manitoba, including Shaw TV hosting gigs and even a return to the stage there, complete with a full backing band!

Over in Sault Michigan, Heavy Lies The Crown & Theatre of Night released new music videos in advance of planned albums, while Tarnished entered their 2020 video for "Metalyn" in the Soo Film Festival, and kept busy otherwise with new viral video content and their new single "SDR&R". Project 906 also released songs for a planned EP, while Sault Ontario's Apocalypse Afterparty put out their own smokin' music video for their "List of Demands" cover. On the (internet) radio dial, The Borderline kept up a busy locally-devoted slate of programming on such flagship shows as Sev's Cellar, Across The Tracks, and starting in July, Josh Amendola's own Metal Morpheus, giving metalheads an hour of extreme metal and genre pioneers every Sunday night! As well, Lake Superior State University relaunched their campus radio station on Live365 with a better player and new music rotation. Here's to a bigger and better 2022 ahead with lots of positive news stories!

For new albums, no one had a busier year than Mike Haggith, who put out his delayed 51st canon solo album "Bridges" in November (and on vinyl too!), sandwiched between the expanded deluxe edition of his old local band The Din's 2016 studio album "Give In To The Din" from October, and that group's belated live album "Technically Live" on Sunday from the "Give In..." release party! Vinylphiles got another treat this month when Soolebrity Records re-issued defunct local punk trio Room 206's 1994 album "2 Innies & 1 Outie" in limited quanities! Also this year: St. Ignace, Michigan's Heavy Lies The Crown just put out their self-titled full length album, while earlier in the year, we got digital exclusive albums from Swampgut, solo projects Malignant Neoplasm, Slumshine, and Molten Imp, and as a score for their D&D podcast, the kinda reunited Late & Loud. Fingers crossed there's more ahead next year!

Mercifully, things opened up enough for both Sault Ste. Maries to get a handful of new local metal, hard rock, and punk bands. Arguably the biggest debut was for Jonesy Land, the punk/country supergroup from Rising Tide and Lake Effect alumni that played this summer at Rotaryfest & The Northern Vibe Festival, and even had a music video to show for it! While the band proper isn't new, local/Ottawa hard rock quartet Bad Chug finally played their first local date when they opened for Buckcherry in October, while the eclectic duo These Magnificent Tentacles also played live for the first time. Sault Michigan welcomed 415E sister band Rhythm & Brews to the live stage this summer, while other newbies north of the bridge included promising young punk band Vanity, industrial metal solo project Molten Imp, and the short-lived Dealing Without. Here's to more in 2022!

With bands back to playing live in one form or another, long delays and changes in personal lives did lead to a lot of lineup turnover. Sault Michigan's Tarnished were hit the hardest, with the departure of drummer Gary Croad, bassist Josh Fair replacing him behind the kit, new bassist Donald Alexander's brief stint, frontman Alex Traynor temporarily moving to bass, and ultimately adding Isaac Royer to restore their lineup. Gary also factored into Project 906's drummer shifts, replacing Tommy Korcal this year before ceding way for Odin Osogwin. In Sault Ontario, Taylor Emlaw & Mitch Sirie joined Jesse & Johnny in the new-look Handsome Sandwich, cousins Chris & Elijah Nielsen belatedly replaced Frank & Fred in Re:Born, Arthur Lacasse & the late Chris Thompson joined the revived Soo Fighters, and Ben Garcia joined The Wyld Stallyns on bass, among other lineup changes from the past 12 months!

In terms of notable local bands to announce their demise or breakup, we didn't get much of that in writing in 2021. Sault Michigan's Mackinaw Trail basically ended when Henry Switzer died, Jack Spades as we knew it ended after J.D. moved out of town, Dealing Without were effectively absorbed into the reunited Half Past, and Black Cloud deleted their social media accounts, but most of the apparent dissolutions were via extended periods of inactivity. Notable acts like The Inner City Surfers, Shit Liver, Stegadeth, Foothill Road, Skeyes of Seven, The Bridge Heads, and Sault Michigan's SweetKenny and Hubbard hit our one year inactivity threshhold during 2021. As well, it has been over 6 months since we last heard from the likes of Destroilet, Kraken Mara, Swampgut, and Kush Wood, among others. The pandemic hits hard for many of us, and hopefully some of these bands will return next year!

As always, we'll end our retrospective with comebacks and returns, and given that a lot of bands didn't or couldn't play live between March 2020 and June 2021 (weekend bar cover bands excepted), the summer re-opening did allow for a few months of some bands playing live again, like the new Bad Chug, Handsome Sandwich, Soo Fighters, Uncanny Valley, and Wyld Stallyns lineups, plus the returns of A Dire Setback, The Apocalypse Afterparty, The Bear Hunters, Frightlight, Redundant, Tripod The Dog, and Sault Michigan's 415E. Outside of the live stage, Tool tribute Parabol returned after a pandemic break and social media relaunch, Kraken Mara resumed their EP recording plans, and solo acts like Mike Cliffe, Ted Olson, The Shaner, and Stonesmith GC came back with new original music. Hopefully everyone keeps at it as we enter what will hopefully be a better year ahead!

2021 was a challenging but still newsworthy year that had good stuff to remember and look back on, and 2022 can't be worse and less eventful..... I hope! Like last year, I'm not going to do a post looking ahead to what we may expect in 2022, as frankly, no one knows what to expect, with the COVID-19 pandemic still being quite prevalent in Ontario, Michigan, and elsewhere, but we'll be back with more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone, and have a Happy (and safe) New Year!