LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard) & Handsome Sandwich Updates!!

Before we begin today's post, just a heads up that Manistique, Michigan hard rock duo Fyrbird are not playing at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino this weekend, confirming the band's prior promotion of a gig in Stephenson on Saturday rather than the venue's more recent (if erroneous) advertising. Kewadin's entertainment page now lists country duo Perry/Hatch as playing at The Rapids Lounge this weekend, but look for Fyrbird back in the Soo in mid-November! Now, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this fall and some upcoming album coverage!

Sault Ontario southern hard rock trio Bone Yard have announced a swath of fall concerts over the next two months via this concert calendar image on their Facebook page, so when can you see them live next? This slate begins next Friday, October 13th, when they headline for one night only at Reggie's Place, in a surprisingly rare gig for them at this downtown staple. It's not clear whether this is a one nighter due to Generations' show next Saturday or the result of it, but like Generations, they are booked elsewhere on the 14th, as they'll make their way back to Gateway Casino that night! Like their other recent shows there, this will be an unplugged event, continuing their move towards playing acoustically with Warren as Bone Yard rather than sans him as The Bearded Lounge (still no word on if that project is 100% defunct or not though). Whether you like Bone Yard with electric or acoustic instruments, you have options next weekend!

Bone Yard will also return to the Sault Ontario casino on Saturday, November 25th (Gateway Casino doesn't usually book bands on Fridays), so keep that in mind as the holiday season truly begins. Also downtown, Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for Friday nighters on October 20th & November 24th, so if you've missed them at this familiar Dennis Street venue, here are your next dates there! Shooters has been hosting DJs on Saturdays this fall, and Bone Yard are not presently booked elsewhere on the 21st. Over the Halloween weekend, Bone Yard will set up shop at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on October 27th & 28th, and we should learn in the coming weeks what kind of Halloween festivities that Jay's will have on tap then, especially on the Saturday! In one more acoustic booking, The Bearded Lounge Bone Yard will rock out at The Water Tower Pub on Saturday, November 4th!

Remember that this central venue traditionally hosts different bands on Fridays and Saturdays, and no word yet on who's playing on the 3rd. Finally, Bone Yard are advertised as returning to The Esquire Club on November 17th & 18th, and like with Generations' upcoming concert announcements addressed in yesterday's post, the band's schedule contradicts Shooters' fall concert calendar. In this case, classic rock quartet RPM were blocked for that weekend by the venue, and Bone Yard weren't booked there whatsoever at the time. I'm going to take the most recent announcement as the correct one, but if RPM are indeed still playing that weekend and Bone Yard made a mistake, we'll let you know! Conspicuous by its absence is Toystock, the annual Christmas Cheer fundraiser concert that Bone Yard frontman Greg Simpson has hosted annually on the last Sunday in November since 2012, pandemic willing. 

Bone Yard proper have only missed Toystock once out of nine prior installments, so they're the safest bet possible for Toystock X (returning to The Grand Gardens North on November 26th), but we'll let you know when this year's 10 bands in 10 hours are announced! All of Bone Yard's upcoming concerts are 19+ affairs with no cover charges, and generally 9:30 PM start times (9:00 PM at Shooters, 8:00 PM at The Water Tower Pub). After another quieter summer with more private bookings, it's great to see Greg, Alex, and Warren back with a steady string of public gigs this season, so definitely visit the above links for more details!

We'll close today with some long overdue details on an upcoming album that we addressed in this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post but not in a proper news post. Remember how local alternative/hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich had signalled plans to record an EP soon featuring songs not included on/newer than their debut album "Deconstructed"? Well, sessions officially began on said EP on September 13th! This time, they're recording at The Algoma Conservatory of Music (the site of their "Deconstructed" release party in May) with producer Greig Nori, which is fitting, as his Treble Charger bandmate Bill Priddle helped with "Deconstructed". The EP will reportedly contain seven songs, and will feature bassist Rafael Medina on the recordings after only contributing to the album artwork last time. As per the band's Facebook page, bass & drum parts were completed by month's end.

The only audio/visual preview of the sessions so far is this "Reel" of Rafael recording in studio with Greig (I think) openly praising the song in no uncertain terms. I can't embed "Reels" here, but give it a look to hear how things were coming along last month. We haven't heard fresh updates yet in October, but it's great to see Handsome Sandwich fulfilling their promise of a quick follow-up EP, and it'll be interesting to see how this turns out in the coming months! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!