LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sandman, The Wyld Stallyns, And Handsome Sandwich), Plus Stone Smyth Updates!!

Here's another stacked news post for your Friday evening as we enter the long weekend! Below, you'll find some new updates & material from a local solo project, but let's first lead off with three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for you guys to take note of, one on SHORT NOTICE!

Local alternative/punk quartet Handsome Sandwich will rock The Whisky Barrel for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed this date via their Facebook page on Wednesday. After a quiet August apart from their Northern Vibe Festival set (oddly not promoted by the band themselves on Facebook), this will be Handsome Sandwich's first show in city limits since "members of" the band played at Shooters on July 28th, but there's no such "members of" distinction for this show at the Gore Street pub TOMORROW! Should be a fine opportunity to hear the Sandwich's fun and lively originals and covers, so don't miss out if you're able! Note that the poster shows a fifth person with the band, and based on visuals, that looks like Whisky Barrel manager/co-owner Dunbar Thompson, who I don't believe has joined the band in a musical capacity.

TOMORROW'S concert has an 8:00 PM start time according to the venue (though the band says 9:00 PM), no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. If you're up for some Scottish fare and some solid live music from this talented and varied local band, don't miss out on all of the action TOMORROW, and here's Handsome Sandwich live!

That's not all for hard rock/punk fans at The Whisky Barrel this month, as the venue's Facebook page posted their monthly schedule for September 2022 earlier today, confirming that local funk/hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will return to their favourite stomping grounds on Friday, September 16th! Also last seen at Northern Vibe, The Stallyns belatedly made up for their general disuse of their Facebook page by posting loads of recent concert photos there, but have not yet themselves confirmed this Whisky Barrel show in two weeks. Hopefully Rob, Christina, Jesse, Derek, and Alex(?) deliver a fun night of unplugged hard, funk, and other rock coverts for fans on Gore Street then! Like with Handsome Sandwich TOMORROW, The Wyld Stallyns will be on at 8:00 PM with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit on the 16th. Visit the above links for more details on this and other Whisky Barrel shows ahead!

In one more new show announcement, Toronto-based Metallica tribute band Sandman will reportedly return to Soo Blaster for a headlining concert on Saturday, October 8th! This show has not been confirmed by the band nor the venue at press time, but the local openers announced it on their Facebook page earlier today, more on them in a second. Fans will have just seen this Helix alumni-laden tribute rock Soo Blaster on July 9th, itself their third local gig following shows here in 2008 & 2015, so they're really breaking their "one Soo date every seven years" pattern by coming here just three months after the last time! Luckily, Metallica fans know what to expect from Sandman's faithful thrash metal intensity and sly humour, and I can confirm that they put on a solid show in July! The local openers will be Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters in their second date of 2022 and with their current lineup, also last seen at The Northern Vibe Festival.

Good to see Jules, Wes, Mitch, and Johnny back in city limits, and while The Foos aren't a pure metal compliment, they have enough hard rock tunes to fill out a recognizable companion tribute set! If the July show is anything to go by, Sandman's 2022 round #2 at Soo Blaster should have $20 advance tickets once again, a 19+ age limit, and a 9:00 PM start time, so stay tuned to venue and Sandman pages for further details on ticket availability. Between this and the Just Leppard/AC/DC Show event in November, Soo Blaster will be quite a destination for hard rock tribute fans this fall, so don't miss out on all of this action then, and stay tuned for updates!

We'll close today with the latest from local/Toronto hard rock project Stone Smyth (a.k.a. StrykerGC or Stonesmith GC and variants therein), so what's new in their camp? On Monday, they posted a new original song named "Last Chance Mountain" onto major streaming services, simultaneously posting this teaser video of 59 seconds of the song alongside wintry stock footage onto their YouTube channel (Troy did tease making a full video of this, for the record). On their Facebook page on Tuesday, Stone Smyth said that "we're going on tour shortly" and that "releases are going to be happening for the next 2 months". This isn't the first time that a Stone Smyth concert tour has been teased, but what form will it and the live band take? As far as I've known them, this has been a solo project, after all. Also, does this just mean more songs are coming this fall, or do they mean another type of release? We'll keep you posted!

Note that prior postings on Stone Smyth pages teased that they are planning to have 15 songs ready for live sets, and only eight are online at the moment. Speaking of which, if you want to sample all eight songs (albeit via 49-ish seconds-long preview videos with stock footage), Stone Smyth have posted all eight to watch in this also-new video embedded below. Promising hard rock music with an old school touch to be sure, even if I'm not sold on the vocal processing, so check everything out, and stay tuned for more from Troy & company in due course!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thank everyone!