To close out a promisingly busier month at the SMS, here's this weekend's (currently known) hard rock concert previews, aided by LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (mostly on SHORT NOTICE), and a newly uploaded cover video! Without any further ado, let's get things rolling!
Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the Facebook event page for these shows was only posted on Tuesday. Fresh off of tonight's open mic night at Reggie's West, these will be Terry, Cameron, Paul(?), and Glen's first shows at the original downtown Reggie's in three weeks. With bookings ticking upward for this popular veteran foursome, hopefully their hard hitting blend of covers (including a few country cuts for the locale) will go over well TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at usual! Note that they teased "a band birthday" coinciding with TOMORROW's show, but they did not specify which band member's big day was ahead. 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges are in effect, so see above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!
Next up, local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will also return to Reggie's Place on Sunday, April 10th during their usual Sunday matinee block! After somewhat unusual nighttime shows there last weekend, next Sunday's show will bring Tym back to his more expected timeframe at the popular Queen Street East bar/venue, and with his prolific setlist on hand, you know you'll get loads of well performed & familiar songs from him on the 10th! Expect a 19+ age limit and no cover charge, but as this is the Sunday matinee, this show has an early 3:00 PM start time. Not too much to say different from this show compared to Tym's modern acoustic offerings, but classic had hard rock fans should find a lot to like at Reggie's next weekend, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!
Moving back to this weekend, here's our preview of concerts that had lots of advance notice, as Grand Rapids/Nashville psychedelic hard rock quartet Overdrive Orchestra will rock Sault Michigan for the first time TOMORROW & SATURDAY at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! A band that has been turning a lot of heads downstate with their psychedelic-influenced brand of bluesy hard rock, hopefully Overdrive Orchestra (not just "Overdrive") will leave a strong first impression on the E.U.P. this weekend! Note that as of tomorrow, fully vaccinated Canadians may cross the border without needing to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test on the return trip (notifying ArriveCAN of your return is still required), so curious Sault Ontarians take note if Overdrive Orchestra interests you at all! In any event, they will also rock St. Ignace's Kewadin branch in three weeks.
Despite the relative distance for Overdrive Orchestra compared to the standard bands that play at Kewadin's on-site lounges, tomorrow & Saturday night's shows have no cover charges, while the 21+ age limits and 9:00 PM start times are about normal for there. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Overdrive Orchestra live!
Finally, here's a new cover of The Foo Fighters' "Everlong" by St. Ignace solo musician Austin "Grayham" Graham's Facebook page! You may recognize the former Grayham Entertainment from his set opening for Tarnished at July 2020's Rock the Block concert at Crooked Music in Sault Ste. Marie, but his setlist is too varied for softer music compared to what we usually cover. That said, Grayahm posted this Foos cover (recorded last year) earlier today as a tribute their late drummer Taylor Hawkins. The abbreviated acoustic rendition is solidly done, if toned down vocally, and kudos to Austin for sharing this in tribute! Give it a watch below!
That's all for this month, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site in April! Thanks everyone!
Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for missing a late notice concert this past weekend, as local hard/funk rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns played at The Water Tower Pub on Saturday night. The band never promoted the show on Facebook publically, but the venue announced it on ultra late notice that day (personal Facebook posts indicated that the Stallyns were late replacements for an unidentified act). I hope the show went well, and I profusely apologize for missing this one on here, I'd have covered the show if it had even one day's notice! Last weekend was a nightmare for late notice shows, alas. Now, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, an unreleased song clip, and much more in today's news post!
Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will make their debuts at two different downtown venues this spring, as they'll head to Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Dennis Street on Saturday, April 16th before rocking Soo Blaster on Queen Street East three weeks later on Saturday, May 7th! Both were confirmed via separate concert poster uploads on the band's Facebook page over the last few days The Shooters gig next month is one of many Saturday night shows that this venue has been booking since their re-opening in February, helping give cover-centric bands on the weekend circuit another venue to play at, and clearly Soundcheck's show there went well if they're going full steam ahead! Soo Blaster may seem like a very large venue for one band alone, but Fort Creek definitely seem to be approaching it as a bigger deal, with advance ticket sales, a guitar draw, and even the live debut of an original single from their planned EP!
Both of Fort Creek's upcoming concerts are 8:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits, and while the Shooters show next month has no announced cover charge, the Soo Blaster concert in May has tickets running for $5 in advance, $7 at the door. If you want to buy tickets ahead, call the number on the poster or head to Trio Auto Supply at 20 Second Line East (the band did not specify if Soo Blaster would have any, or if you could set something up by contacting band members directly). Visit the above links for complete details on both of these shows, and stay tuned for more from Fort Creek!
Next up, aforementioned local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge themselves for their second show at the Memorial Gardens-adjacent nightclub on Saturday, April 23rd! While not yet confirmed by Soundcheck (who usually begin plugging their own shows on Facebook the week of, sometimes the day of), Shooters themselves announced the concert via their own Facebook event page on Sunday, so we have an uncharacteristically large amount of advance notice for this one! Yes, I am well aware of their Reggie's shows this weekend, but those are being saved for this weekend's concert previews due to only being announced this week, so check back on Thursday or Friday. Again, it's definitely a good sign that Soundcheck's Shooters debut went well, as the venue is ramping up their cover band bookings (albeit on Saturdays only), so their return seems very welcomed!
Like with Fort Creek on the 16th, you can take in Soundcheck's old school blend of hard rock, classic rock, and country covers on the 23rd at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge, but please be mindful of any and all extant public health recommendations at Shooters, especially as it's not a massive venue. Visit the above links for more details, and look for our preview of their late notice Reggie's shows later this week!
Also, here's something I'm surprised I've never addressed before on the SMS: A 45 second snippet of an unreleased Woods of Ypres song! Preliminarily titled "Song Five" as per the iTunes library used in the video, this was posted to Earache Records' Instagram page way back in May 2017 during the label's 30th anniversary celebrations. The caption says that this an "unreleased Woods Of Ypres song from Woods 5", but remember that this could be a song from the cancelled "Woods V: You Were The Light", a five song EP recorded locally in 2010 before their false breakup and signing with Earache, after which they reclassified that EP as "Woods 4.5" (but never released it) and began work on the "Woods V" we all know and love. To date, three of the songs from "You Were The Light" have surfaced: two were put out on 2011's "Home" single, while a remix of "Accounting For Your Cruelty" was officially posted online by frontman David Gold that year. Is "Song Five" the closing track of that cancelled EP?
In any event, potentially putting out "Woods 4.5" and/or unreleased Woods of Ypres content has been teased by Earache on Instagram before, but if you're at all active in the Woods of Ypres Facebook community, you'll know that David's mother Esther (a.k.a. Mama Gold) has an obviously deep interest in her son's music and legacy, and there have been occasions in the past where it seemed like she wasn't aware of/unequivocally on board with Earache's plans. While the hardcore fans would obviously want to hear this song (and more?) in full, I'd definitely want all parties in agreement. What we hear in the clip sounds promisingly dark and fitting of Woods' doom era, and give it a listen for yourself below!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or show name:
On Saturday, local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore launched a new Facebook page to replace their previously deleted Facebook page, which Tyler implied was not his choice (I'd presume the content of many of their songs/albums were flagged on both of C.T.W.'s prior Facebook pages). So far, the page just features photos, videos, and links to concerts, music, and photos from their 2010s heyday, but Tyler did "promise a special little treat or 2 for everyone throughout this year". No idea what that's hinting at, but stay tuned for updates!
After just two new episodes following their unexplained winter hiatus, local metal radio show Metal Morpheus aired reruns for the past two Sundays on The Borderline, specifically last year's doom metal & goregrind episodes. No word on why Josh didn't produce new episodes the last two weeks, but hopefully the fact that he went a few months with reruns or nothing at all and came back is a good sign that Metal Morpheus will return at some point. In case that is Sunday, tune in to The Borderline then at 9:00 PM!
Local indie punk quintet The Northwest have confirmed that they are working on a new EP called "All In", and the first single will be entitled "Long Hair (Longer Nights)", with a release coming next Friday! Presumably that'd be April 8th, as April 1st would be this Friday. You can pre-order the single (which they say is "a post-lockdown anthem") on Spotify at this link, so stay tuned for updates, and get more at The Northwest's Facebook page!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the days ahead! Thanks everyone!
It's now time for our 153rd monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, as we're taking a look at local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp's second digital single "Constable Sewage"! Released exclusively to the band's Bandcamp page on October 3rd, 2021, this is the follow-up to their similarly formatted "Double Dose (Me)" release from May of last year, and like there, Molten Imp are solely represented by former AlgomA singer/guitarist Boyd Rendell (a.k.a. Darby Wigwaus) on all instruments. The songs appear to have been recorded at the home studio, while song #2 at least was mixed by prolific local punk musician Mark Rand at Bandage A/V in Peterborough. You can stream "Constable Sewage" for free on Bandcamp, but mp3 copies go for $5. Featuring three songs running about 14 minutes in length, let's begin this fairly quick album review!
The first two tracks have identical run-times, for the record. The first song (or "side C") is the title track, fully entitled "MCMXII/Constable Sewage". Interestingly, the lyrics for this song are exclusive to backers of Molten Imp on Patreon, so keep that in mind, but note that the Roman numerals stand for 1912. The opening 90 seconds is just a lot of feedback-laden noise rock with background computer beeping before the slow percussion kicks in, abruptly pausing at the 2:30 mark for an audio sample from an episode of CBC's The Fifth Estate about murderer Russell Williams, believe it or not, and there's more from that at the end. Afterwards, the song gets heavy with pounding programmed drums, background police sirens, repeated recitations of the single's name, and a very Ministry-esque vibe, but the melody comes and goes in favour of more feedback and distortion. Not the most melodic song ever, but industrial & noise rock fans will approve!
Song 2/"side S" is entitled "Downtown MMXXI (D.N.A.F)" (the Roman numerals stand for 2021), and it's a sample fest in the first half, including numerous repetitions of someone saying that someone's "gotta know how to deal with that", but many of the samples are not easily intelligible. These get enveloped by static, noise and extra background effects by the second half, but the samples never completely go away. By the end, a very bassy instrumentation takes over, plus sound effects of what sounds like someone stepping on eggshells, before the song ends much like "Constable Sewage" started with the same kind of ambient noise. Not much of a song more than a sonic collage, but you may dig the soundscape on offer! Like on "Double Dose (Me)", this single has a bonus third song that is not available to stream for free on Bandcamp, so get a credit/prepaid card or PayPal ready!
The bonus track is Molten Imp's remix of "EAT (EVERYTHING)" by DJ Unterbiss, of whom I know absolutely nothing (Unterbiss is German for underbite, for the record). A 3+ minute techno song with a suitably repetitive drum-and-bass line with heavily processed recitations of the title and some slowly increasing background noise & effects. Not much to say here, electronica fans will like it, but it is hard to gauge, especially as I don't know the original song sounds. Still a welcome bonus!
So, what are my final thoughts on Molten Imp's second single? Not a bad experimental release that fans of "Double Dose (Me)" will take to (if not necessarily AlgomA fans), and for myself, I think it is a slight improvement! While not lyrically strong (samples aside), the title track has a nice Ministry-esque vibe that I definitely appreciate, and the b-side (s-side?) feels like more craft was put into it, despite not really being a "song" in the traditional sense. I definitely think that the paid bonus track is a better value than on their first single (which just had two sub-20 second techno beats), but again, this will be appealing to club/dance fans more than metalheads. Boyd is definitely expanding his musical footprint with Molten Imp, with a deconstructive that I appreciate, even if this isn't entirely my musical cup of tea!
If you like noise and industrial rock, Molten Imp are flying that flag well in the Soo, so give them a listen and/or buy this single at the above links, and I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and in our April 2022 review, we'll be taking a look at inactive local alt-hard rock trio The Din's 2021 live album "Technically Live", as they'll be clear of our 6 month anti bias buffer period from our last review of theirs next month! Look for that in the coming weeks, and for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!
Here is this month's YouTube Channel Profile, continuing our monthly spotlighting of YouTube channels with at least half of their content comprised of local metal, hard rock, or punk artists and/or concerts! As the first channel that we randomly selected only has 6 videos of 2 bands from 1 concert, not a lot of distinct content to stretch out to three featured videos naturally, so I picked a single video channel to fill things out with. Punk and black metal fans will find stuff to like here, so here's what you should know!
Owner: Unknown, but they are likely from Sault Ste. Marie
Channel Timeline:Launched on November 20th, 2019; All videos uploaded that same day
Channel Summary:All six of the videos on Concert Channel's.... channel come fromThe Offspring & Sum 41's co-headlining concert at GFL Memorial Gardens on November 19th, 2019, one day before this channel and these videos went live. All videos uploaded have identical titles for each band's set with no distinction of songs. Why You Should Watch:If you loved or regretted missing The Offspring's local date (still the most recent major hard rock or punk show at the former Essar Centre), this channel will be very worth your time, though the scratchy audio compared to videos from other filmers may be a turnoff for some. Note that Concert Channel did not upload anything of opening English alternative hard rock band Dinosaur Pile-Up's set, but click here for videos from them and much more. Also, note that this channel has not seen any public updates since these videos were posted.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
The Offspring - Live at Sault Ste. Marie: Four of the videos on the Concert Channel feature the multi-platinum California punk band The Offspring playing their songs "Want You Bad", "Bad Habit", "Gotta Get Away", and as featured here, their then-new song "It Won't Get Better". As I noted back in 2019, these are not optimal views, with a sharp almost-side stage camera angle, very bright stage lighting, and scratchy audio quality all being concerns, not to mention frontman Dexter Holland sometimes straining to hit the high notes, but the performances are generally solid and enthusiastic as you'd hope!
Sum 41 - Live at Sault Ste. Marie: As for Ajax, Ontario punk/metal quintet Sum 41's set, Concert Channel got videos of them playing "Motivation" and, in the channel's most popular upload, "We Are All To Blame". While the video quality has the same issues as on the Offspring videos, Sum 41's hard rocking genre blend comes through well, and the attendee involvement for lighters and such was welcomed on the softer parts of "We Are All To Blame", so Sum 41 fans will be right at home, especially after the long, long wait for them to play in the Soo again!
Channel Timeline:Launched on August 13th, 2016; Only video uploaded on January 9th, 2017
Channel Summary:Effectively the official YouTube channel for 2016-2018 atmospheric black metal solo project Abhorrent Forest, Wyrn's only upload here is their debut album "The End of Life", which was simultaneously released that day on Bandcamp. This EP will give genre fans a solid slice of dark, cold black metal (albeit without vocals) that the Soo had lacked for too long, and the convenience of a YouTube copy will be appreciated! However, Wyrn did not post Abhorrent Forest's two later EPs here, nor their one off singles, so head to Bandcamp to hear those, and the channel fell out of use after the project fell inactive.
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! In some bizarrely fitting timing, next month's random selection is of the official channel of a band we just introduced you guys to on the SMS the other day, that being new Sault Michigan metal band Buddy Repperton & The Camaros! I swear this was a random pick, happy coincidences just come once in a while, but luckily, The Camaros have lots of videos online to go through! Look for all of this on or around April 26th, and for more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!
Here's a rarity for the SMS in the pandemic era: TWO posts in one day! I really wasn't planning on rushing anything this quick, but SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS have hit my news desk today, both only announced today, so hopefully this gets up before both start. To fill things out, we have some fallout from a recent online battle of the bands with local representation, so here's what you need to know, and check out this morning's post for some new videos and a new local band!
Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only just confirmed these date via separate Facebook event pages on his Facebook group, though be advised that Bone Yard had previously advertised playing there this weekend. Tym just played a Sunday matinee there on March 13th, but TONIGHT & TOMORROW's shows are more traditional nighttime concerts set for him, mildly unusual given that he's only really played the Sunday matinees at Reggie's as of late. I wish these shows had more notice, but his prolific setlist of classic rock, hard rock, and select country cuts should entertain fans and patrons alike at Reggie's TONIGHT & TOMORROW! If there is an error in the scheduling given that Bone Yard haven't announced that they're out, I'll let you guys know.
Assuming Tym is accurately playing TONIGHT & TOMORROW, then expect a 9:30 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit, and of course, be mindful of the pandemic even with restrictions being loosened. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!
Next up, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will reportedly return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, I only heard about these shows this evening via shared posts on frontman Brandon Carr's personal Facebook page, as the band proper has not publically promoted these on their own Facebook page. As best as I can tell, these shows are relatively late notice bookings, as Kewadin's website's schedule lists Traverse City dance rock cover band Risque as playing this weekend instead. Risque did announce that these shows and their planned Petoskey gig last week were cancelled, as per their website, but did not announce why in either case. Hopefully nothing bad happened, but it will be nice to see Rhythm & Brews fill in with their hard rocking covers!
Remember, Rhythm & Brews' bassist Brett Blackwood can also be seen in the new metal band Buddy Repperton & The Camaros, as spotlighted in this morning's post. Expect TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S shows to have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details, we'll let you know when videos of Rhythm & Brews surface, and apologies again for the short notice on these concerts! I'd have covered them yesterday had either been plugged even a day sooner!
Next up, remember how Sault Ontario indie punk quintet The Northwest played at the virtual NLFB Meltdown battle of the bands on Thursday to try and win an opening slot at the Northern Lights Festival Boreal in Sudbury in July? Well, as it turns out, the winner has not been announced yet, as the competition was fan voted this year, and you can still vote! Bit of a surprise given that in-person installments tended to have judges, but even though the competition was held via Zoom and is not publically viewable elsewhere, the fan vote is open to all, even those who can't answer questions specific to the live-stream. Seems odd that they'd do it this way, but I can't speak for what NLFB staffers' rationale was. If you do want to vote for The Northwest, click here, but in case you want to check out the other Northern Ontario artists who competed, who all also took part?
While the NLFB never announced the full performer lineup, the voting form confirms that 8 acts competed on Thursday, and the other 7 are comedy/folk musician High Knuckles, grunge band Nickel City Grunge, classic rock/world music artist Falcon, black metal band For Mother, new folk group The Rascabells, glitch rock/hip hop project Dadb0dd & The Everyman, and alt-rock group Rare-Earth Magnet. With the possible exception of The Rascabells (whose online footprint is very slim), all of The Northwest's opposition is from Sudbury. Based on the range of music that the Northern Lights Festival Boreal usually hosts, The Northwest strike me as a stronger fit than many of their opposition, but the fan vote will tell a lot about what path this slot on the festival takes. No matter what, a lot of talented bands took part, including some surprising heavier diversions, so vote A.S.A.P. above!
That's definitely now all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Here's another news post on this Friday morning, including a pair of new videos from Sault Ontario, but let's lead off in Sault Michigan for a new local metal band with some very familiar faces and a nice & heavy sound, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT regarding their first show!
We have a new Sault Michigan metal band to add to our band links, and they are Buddy Repperton & The Camaros! The name is a reference to the Stephen King book/movie Christine, no one in the band is named Buddy Repperton. Launched in February of last year, the band's lineup consists of former From The Ashes Of Angels singer/guitarist David Waite, Half A Man/Tarnished alum Doug Reed on guitar, and 415E bandmates Brett Blackwood (also of Rhythm & Brews) on bass and Jason VanLuven (formerly of Chump Change & Paradise Excuse) on drums. David & Jason were the founders of The Camaros, and they have been working on original songs since their debut. Videos of them playing their own tracks and some covers made up most of their social media updates last year, and you can see those videos on their Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Instagram page. That all said, how do Buddy Repperton & The Camaros sound?
Not bad at all, and if you've wanted a unqualified "metal" band in the E.U.P., as opposed to hard rock or hair band covers, these guys will fit the bill! David's vocals remind me of Kirk Windstein from Crowbar at times here (good to see him move back to the area), and their sound has a heavy driving sound with very solid riffs that go very well on songs like "Say Their Names" & "One More Round"! Props to any local band for covering Sacred Reich too, they're an awesome thrash metal band who deserve more attention! You can hear multiple takes of their originals (at least 5 are posted between YouTube and Facebook, some featuring just David & Jason early on), but when will Buddy & The Camaros make their live concert debut? Well, how does Saturday, April 23rd sound? The guys will rock out at Three One Three on Ashmun (the former Back Door) that night, marking the first heavier concert there that we've covered since 2018!
With a year to prepare and dial in their setlist and originals, hopefully David, Doug, Brett, and Jason will rock everyone's socks off next month! An opening band called The Nameless are also advertised, of whom I know nothing, but I will let you guys know if anything is announced. Expect a 21+ age limit, 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a skateboard giveaway(?!), so visit the above links for current details on this show and the new band! Hope to hear more from them soon, it's great to see another original metal band in Sault Michigan, and here's The Camaros playing another new song of theirs, "Total Annihilation"!
Next up, we've let this slide for a little too long, but young Sault Ontario punk quartet Vanity First (née just Vanity) released their full studio version of "Playboy Magazine" onto Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music on Wednesday, April 16th as scheduled! Of course, all are free streaming platforms, but if you do want to support the band by buying a physical CD, contact them to see if their pre-name change demo EP is still available (it has the prior version of this song). I'll hold comment for now, as I plan to review the original take of this song when I review the EP in likely May, but the recording quality at Mission Control Studios is obviously far improved. Give "Playboy Magazine" a listen below!
Finally, here's a new/old song from defunct local grunge trio No Arrow! Presumably uploaded to frontman Dann Pichette's YouTube channel towards submission for an episode of You Rock! with Thomas Christ (yes, I'll be covering more episodes of that show soon), this 2009 recording is called "Lighter", and it was uploaded on March 8th. A solid quality recording, this song has more of a laid back, 1970s feel while still having that 1990s alternative essence, and while I like my No Arrow more aggressive, I can see this catching on with No Arrow's new fans! Check it out below, and look for more from You Rock! next week!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
(Edited at 7:49 PM) This weekend is shaping up to be a quiet one for hard rock shows, but SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS did hit my desk, so those will lead off today's post! Filling things out, we have one more big concert for the summer, and well as some new videos, so here's what you should know for this Thursday!
Local hard rock cover band The Wyld Stallyns will hit the stage for one night only TONIGHT at... Tempo Modern Mediterranean?! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook event page back on March 9th, but concerts at this location were new to me until this week, and at press time, the band proper has not plugged it on their own Facebook page. A new venue for our coverage, Tempo is a Mediterranean restaurant located inside The Marconi Cultural Event Centre at 450 Albert Street West (just down the road from Low & Slow), and it opened back in September 2020. Presumably due to pandemic concerns, Tempo proper has not hosted live bands until this year (promotions of Marconi Club gigs notwithstanding), but classic rock duo Frankly Speaking were first up there for two weekends already, and now The Wyld Stallyns will rock Steelton for this special Thursday nighter!
The atypical mid-week booking coincides with singer/guitarist Rob Speers' birthday, so keep that angle in mind, and I hope Rob's big day goes swell! While there is no cover or advertised age limit for TONIGHT'S festivities (which kick off at 7:00 PM), be advised that Tempo is a fancy, high end restaurant, not a standard bar. This is indicated by both the menu offerings & price therein, but also by the fact that Tempo offers bookings for tables if you are so inclined, though this is not mandatory to attend. Hopefully Rob, Christina, and crew have a great time with their fan friendly and often heavy covers TONIGHT, and here's The Stallyns live!
Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's West for traditional concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced on the Facebook event page this morning, and the band has not promoted them on their own Facebook page at press time. Fresh off of their Shooters Downstairs Lounge debut this past Saturday, TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows cap a three day run for Soundcheck at the former Roosevelt Hotel, following tonight's previously announced open mic night there (remember, we do not treat open mic nights as proper concerts given their nature). Their country tinged blend of classic and hard rock covers should go over well at The Reggievelt this weekend, so don't miss out on all of the action! They are on TOMORROW & SATURDAY at 8:00 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charge, as is the case for tonight's open mic night.
For a preview, here's the new videos from Soundcheck's Facebook page that originally ended this post, featuring the band (with frequent substitute bassist Rob Gilmar in lieu of Paul Belair) covering Garth Brooks' "Friends In Low Places" and, as embedded below, John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good" at Shooters on Saturday, both with guitar Cameron Oliver on vocals. While both videos are unfortunately in the vertical cell phone orientation, fans will dig both covers, and it looks like
Soundcheck got an active crowd for the occasion, and the lighting and
setup looks good for live bands! Give both of these covers a watch above
and below, and more from Saturday are floating around via private Facebook accounts!
Finally, Ottawa hard rock quintet Taming Sari and local classic/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley will hit the road for the returning Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing on nearby St. Joseph Island on Saturday, July 9th! After a two year hiatus for very obvious reasons, this festival will come back to its old stomping grounds (1511 Richards Street, the old Cornfest site) for a weekend full of varied but indie/folk-leaning original music! Like in the Go North Fest's first three incarnations from 2017-2019, the lineup is mostly comprised of touring acts, with Juno winning Oshawa prog rock duo Crown Lands headlining this year. Other listed out-of-town acts on July 9th include Toronto folk musician Charlotte Cornfield, Thunder Bay folk rockers The Honest Heart Collective, Guelph garage rock trio The Royal Castles, and Toronto pop rock band Goodnight Sunrise, while CASS FM (made up of students from Central Algoma Secondary School in nearby Desbarats) will also perform here.
Also, an opening night concert will take place on Friday, July 8th, to be headlined by Hamilton folk musician Jay Pollmann, but there are no advertised support acts. With Taming Sari and The Uncanny Valley involved, this will be the heaviest Go North Festival yet, and both bands deliver a retro inspired sound with their own modern sensibility that should pair well if they're at all close on the bill (performance schedules are not out yet), so definitely give Taming Sari a spin when you get the chance! Uncanny Valley-wise, this is that band's first publically announced concert of 2022, but they have three+ months to play locally beforehand, so we could see them in city limits at any time! Local vendors, kids entertainment, late-night fireside jams, and on-site camping will be offered as usual. Tickets are now on sale at this link, but there are a lot of options for what you want to see that weekend!
Limited early bird passes for the whole weekend run for $45, and when they're gone, the advance sale price jumps to $60, or $45 if you only come for Saturday. At the gate, add $10 to both price options. Kids 12 and under get in free, but teenagers 13-18 years old will cost $35 for the weekend or $15 for Saturday only (there are no Friday only ticket options). Just as a refresher, Richards Landing is 45 minutes southeast of the Soo, and if you saw the Horizon Drive-In movie screenings there last year, Go North takes place in the same chunk of land. It is great to see the Go North Music Festival back after the pandemic hiatus, and definitely see above for current details on everything going down in July!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
