LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Matthew Good & The Nameless) Plus New Videos!!

Before we resume weekend concert previews by looking at Sunday's tenth annual Toystock, let's address some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and new videos from both sides of the border. Here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock cover quintet The Nameless will play their last show of the year on Sunday, December 31st when they rock a New Year's Eve party at The Merchants Bar! Last seen at the same venue for their Halloween party last month, this will be their third gig at The Merch in the fall/winter, so this is developing into their favourite local venue, The Merch's lack of Facebook posts about scheduled concerts acknowledged. No word yet on holiday frills for the occasion, but surely there will be something for New Years revelers to ring in 2024 with beyond just alcohol and live music. Hopefully The Nameless deliver a solid night of hard rocking covers next month, so don't miss out! This is a 21+ event with a 9:00 PM start time and no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this show!

Next up, Coquitlam, British Columbia alternative rock musician and political activist Matthew Good will make his long awaited return to Sault Ontario on Thursday, April 25th when he headlines at The Machine Shop! This concert comes over four years (exactly 213 weeks, in fact) since Matthew's planned show at The Sault Community Theatre Centre in March 2020, which was one of the first casualties of the pandemic lockdown-related cancellations that spring. As such, this will be Matthew's first local date since his infamous acoustic gig at The Speak Easy in October 2007, which I won't rehash here, but click here for both sides of that dispute. 16+ years later, it seems clear that Matthew wants to let bygones be bygones with Sault Ste. Marie, so hopefully he'll break out hit Matthew Good Band & solo songs like "Load Me Up", "Hello Time Bomb", and "Weapon" for local fans!

Replacing Ria Mae as the opening act in April is Guelph hard rock solo artist Vilivant, who notably dropped out of this past Tuesday's Big Wreck show & its tour due to logistical issues. Clearly those are lesser/nonexistent with Matthew's tour, and it'll be good to see Vilivant here at last! Presented by Cabin Media Entertainment, tickets for this all ages show went on sale this morning at this link, and they run for $44.50 (first 100 seats), $54.50 (later buyers), and $64.50 (balcony), all with the usual online processing fees. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and hopefully everything goes according to plan for Matthew Good's long awaited local return in April, and that everyone makes up for 2007!

Hopping back over to Sault Michigan briefly, here's a new live-streamed promo video for local metal trio Tarnished's concerts at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, as per the band's Facebook page earlier today! The 72 seconds-long video was shot with drummer Josh Fair's cell phone, but be advised that as the video started filming while vertical, it didn't matter when he flipped it horizontally, so it's both vertical and sideways. Otherwise, the video features Alex, Parker, and Josh hyping up TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S concerts, and while we don't learn much new from them, it does mark the first time that we've heard Parker speak on camera in official Tarnished media. While we're on the subject, it's as good a time as any to remind readers that the recent departures of guitarist Nathan Webber & bassist Isaac Royer were amicable, and we have photo proof!

The band posted pictures on their Facebook page last Wednesday of Isaac and his replacement Parker squaring off in a bass duel! Amusing pictures, and proof that there were no hard feelings behind the lineup split and Nathan & Isaac forming Double Jack afterwards. Check those out above, and give their promo video for this weekend's Kewadin gigs a watch below!

Finally for today, I wanted to embed this video proper on the SMS due to it being new footage of a prominent local band, but uploader Mandi Dolle made it age restricted, and thusly, it's not viewable when embedded on external websites. The only questionable thing for content is swearing in the lyrics, but I've heard much worse from other local concerts, so who is to say why that choice was made for this video. Mandi uploaded this video in June, and it features Sault Ontario crossover thrash band Jack Spades (now the Barrie-based Spades GT) covering The Inner City Surfers' "Commandments", which later appeared on 2015's "Fed Up!" split in studio form. As far as I can tell, this video was shot at The Rad Zone's 30th anniversary bash at The Rockstar Bar on October 11th, 2014, where they played alongside The Ripcordz, Destroilet, and DJ Seith. I reviewed this concert for the SMS, which you can read at this link.

Jack Spades' classic 2013-2016 lineup is present for this video, with current frontman J.D. Pearce joined by guitarist Tiffany Stocco (now of Sudbury's Knuckle City Dusters), Bear Hunters bandmates Justin Lam & Johnny Belanger, and Johnny's Handsome Sandwich bandmate Jesse Cook. Kudos to Mandi for uploading this after so long, and while the overly red lighting doesn't help the visual quality, Jack Spades sound good as you'd expect, let alone from the rare sight of a local band covering another local band! Give it a watch above or at this link, and that's all for today, but stay tuned for our Toystock preview next! Thanks everyone!