A Long Overdue Addition To Our Sault Ontario Band Links!!

It's been way too long, but it's finally time to add local classic/southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard to our full coverage! Initially, their exclusion was chalked down to their early more country-centric years and members' concurrent work in heavier cover bands, but as time has progressed, Bone Yard have had much more of a rock focus and have became members' primary group, so let's make up for 13 years of lost time! Debuting in July 2009 at The Canadian Nightclub, Bone Yard are currently comprised of former Stiffler's Mom singer/drummer Greg Simpson (who played guitar until this year), guitarist Alex D'Ettore, and new bassist Warren Reville. Greg is the band's only constant member, and until January, he & Alex were joined by bassist Brad Stephen and drummer Ric Datson (Greg's old That's Chester bandmate). Their founding guitarist was Kevin Tallon, who Alex replaced in December 2013.

While arguably taking a secondary position to Greg's concurrent bands Stiffler's Mom and That's Chester until both of them fell inactive in the mid-2010s, Bone Yard still carved out a strong presence beforehand locally, and especially in recent years. Seven time veterans of Rotaryfest's Stage 1 (one of only four bands to play that often since 2010), Bone Yard will also be familiar to many readers from appearances at local festivals & community events like Toystock, the Ride For Sight & Ride For ARCH, and The Queen Street Cruise, alongside frequent appearances on the weekend nightclub cover circuit through March 2020, picking things back up as the pandemic allowed. They even opened for Crystal Shawanda, Aaron Pritchett, and High Valley at The Machine Shop, and they have also played out of town on occasion. Bone Yard also took a front seat in much of Greg's promotions for his old company (Choose) Maxx Entertainment.

After Brad & Ric's departures and Warren subsequently coming on board, Bone Yard 3.0 debuted on St. Patrick's Day at Reggie's Place and have been primarily seen since there and at Shooters Downstairs Lounge. In our first Bone Yard-centric LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, you can see them at Shooters on consecutive Saturdays on May 28th & June 4th (both of those dates are at 8:00 PM with no cover and 19+ age limits), while also returning to the downtown Reggie's on Friday, June 24th & Saturday, June 25th (also 19+ & 8:00 PM affairs with no cover). Bone Yard are also scheduled to return to The Queen Street Cruise (the festival where attendees drive and then show their restored classic cars downtown) on both Friday, June 17th & Saturday, June 18th, where they will play outside of GFL Memorial Gardens at 7:00 PM both nights! Get more on the Cruise proper at their website, but this is obviously all ages, and I believe admission is free for onlookers.

There is absolutely no shortage of Bone Yard videos between YouTube & Facebook (from official band uploads at fans alike) and even SaultOnline has given them strong coverage in the past, so definitely crawl Bone Yard's social media pages for lots of live videos of theirs (no sign of the teased original song they were recording in 2019 though). Again, Bone Yard started off more country themed than they've evolved into by the late 2010s and today, but they've always shown a lot of pure talent and experience, and Greg's solid vocals and multi-instrumental skills have sure been a constant from the start! From what I've seen of the new lineup, they're in fine form with what basically feels like Stiffler's Mom with more of a southern rock influence, but there's way too many videos from the past 13 years to sum up so briefly. Become a "Bonehead" at their official Facebook fan page, and definitely crawl around to see their videos!

Apologies for the single topic today too, I had 13 years to make up for, and Bone Yard certainly are not lacking for documentation of their run! Picking a video to share from their current three piece lineup wasn't easy, but I was definitely coming back to this Reggie's clip of Bone Yard covering The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Little Wing", which especially shows off Alex's very strong guitar solo work and a nice crunchy sound between the guys, though note that most of Bone Yard's 2022 videos are vertically oriented. Give it a look below, see much more above, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!