Convergence - "Dead And Dreaming" EP Review!!

It's now time for our 178th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and as our lengthy run of new album reviews crawls along, we're now taking a look at local progessive metal band Convergence's second EP "Dead And Dreaming"! Independently released to their Bandcamp page on January 1st (and thusly the first local metal album released in 2024), this EP was recorded at guitarist Brendan Christie's own Yellow Room Studios last year. The former Kraken Mara are again represented here by Brendan and his brother-in-law Jake Valois on guitar (bassist credits are not given), while the album features programmed drums aside from bringing back session drummer Cliff Aubut for "The Ebb". For the record, current drummer David Peredun didn't join Convergence until March. You can buy "Dead & Dreaming" on Bandcamp for $4.99, and while it can be streamed for free there, consider buying it to support the band's work!

With five songs (all instrumental) running for over 23 minutes in length, let's begin with this review with it's opening & title song "Dead And Dreaming"! While this runs for an album-low 40 seconds, it really only has 28 seconds of audible material, with a full band performance building and escalating before it ends and we hear more atmospheric noise & effects that fade out. I've never been a massive fan of intro/outro tracks like this, so this is filler to me, especially when it doesn't directly lead in to the following song. The first full song on offer is "Dig Up Your Ghost", which picks up where they left off on "One" with a strong catchy lead riff and a nicely paced structure that would fit well for verses and choruses if a singer was present (larger chorus sections was cited by the band as something they aimed for on these songs). I'd have had a much longer guitar solo though, especially given how a softer bridge immediately follows it.

This song shows off what Brendan & Jake do well and the technicality is very obvious, so it's a good true starter to the EP! The next two songs run both run for 6:30, making them the joint longest songs on "Dead & Dreaming". Of them, we first hear "Glass Statues", which was the name of a late 2000s local blues rock band that featured two of Brendan's future Late & Loud bandmates, incidentally. This one starts off softer and prettier, but gets more into a djent metal groove after the first minute. For pure guitar skill and melodies, I do prefer "Glass Statues" of the two early songs, and while not as punishing for metal riffs, it has a nice variance and structure that would be neat to see fleshed out further! That's followed by "The Ebb", which was briefly appended to "One" after its release but later moved to this follow-up EP instead. This song opens more atmospherically for the first 45 seconds before the djent riffs kick into full gear.

Strucutrally, this is more reminiscent of "Glass Statues" with the ebbs (of course) and flows of the guitar work from heavy to softer, and while still very well composed across the board, I don't think it glides along quite as well musically, at least for me. Cliff's drumming is welcomed and seems to settle into the song more naturally than the programmed drumming elsewhere, though if you like louder percussion, keep that in mind. Strong track all around for prog metal fans! "Dead And Dreaming" closes with "Awake", which was inspired by and dedicated to Brendan's grandma, who died in December after battling dementia, with the song influenced by his worsening communication with her & moments of lucidity as her memory declined. While certainly still a metal song with the riffing to match, "Awake" is the lightest song on average here, with Brendan & Jake making use of their composition abilities to good effect!

While this is an instrumental, I can see what Brendan's going for thematically, especially on softer passages, which definitely have a more melancholy mood, if still soaring onward, which is a sensation that their music always had for me. This is a quality closer that definitely means a lot to Brendan, so don't bypass it! So, what are my final thoughts on Convergence's sophomore EP? I'd have included more guitar solos, but this was a really good sequel to "One" that fans of progressive and djent metal will find a lot to like in! A lot of my nitpicks from their prior EP were addressed here, and we got a strong suite of instrumental metal that definitely played to their melodic strengths and songwriting abilities! If anything, these felt unfinished in that there was even more obviously parts meant to have a vocalist present, which they have been looking for, and it'd be neat to see these songs redone with one.

My favourite song is probably "Glass Statues", but aside from the title intro track, everything on here will deliver for subgenre fans! While there are lots of good breakdowns and riffs on offer, I'd have added more guitar solos and at least merged the intro into "Dig Up Your Ghost", but the prog metal attack is well composed and delivered, and here's hoping that "Gemini" comes out even better with David on board! Buy or stream "Dead And Dreaming" at the above links, and I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! Look for our next review of folk punk project Agnosticism's new EP "A Letter Of Resignation" next month, and for more news and notes on the site next month! Thanks everyone!

Early Lineup Details For This Year's Northern Vibe Festival's Forest Stage!!

The initial band lineup is now out for the ninth annual Northern Vibe Festival at the old Hempfest grounds on Poplardale Road in Ophir, so what should you know there? The festival returns on the last full weekend of August once again from Friday the 23rd through Sunday the 25th, and for a fourth straight year, Spades GT frontman J.D. Pearce will return to his old local concert promoter guise to curate this year's band-centric Forest Stage (the DJ-centric River Stage lineup is also out). If past years are anything to go by, the Friday band lineup will be the shorter of the two, followed by a longer Saturday progam on the 24th, while that Sunday will be the camping/wrap-up day with no scheduled bands. As has been custom for Northern Vibe post-pandemic, the daily schedules/timeslots are not out yet, hence why we're not calling this a formal local concert alert, but organizers did announce them publically last year, if on late notice.

While the above poster implies that "more (is) TBA", the currently advertised list of eleven acts equals who played last year on the Forest Stage, including six returning bands, but they do appear to be leaning on touring acts more this year, as three of the five Northern Vibe newbies are from out of town. This year's advertised headliners (presumably the 9:00 PM Saturday act if that holds) are Montreal ska punk band K-Man & The 45s, who were last year's closing band at Northern Vibe, and famously played seven local concerts from 2013-2019. Clearly, K-Man's return to our area was a hit last year, so it'll be good to see their horn-laden punk attack back at the Forest Stage in four months! The other returning touring band is Cornwall speed metal group Hellrager, who still feature part-time Spades GT guitarist Jay Sarrazin. Counting his bass fill-in with Spades in 2022, this will be Jay's third straight trip to Ophir.

It'll be good to see him and Hellrager tear it up again! While Spades GT proper are not playing this year, bassist James Roy Daley will be making his first trip to the festival with an apparent solo set. I don't know if they mean his psychobilly band Killroy A.D. (which he drums in) or if this is purely a solo gig, but we'll let you know if we get confirmation! Also making the trip to Ophir for Northern Vibe IX are two more bands making their local debuts, including Cornwall hard rock band Don't Tell Sarah, a raw & high energy quartet with an old school flair and strong talents that will serve them well with local festivalgoers! The other touring band is Medussah, a female-fronted electronic rock duo from North Bay whose name was misspelled in much of the early festival promotion (omitting the H at the end). Definitely a stylistic jump from other bands playing the festival, but they are talented and will give some zest to the proceedings!

For the six announced local acts playing this year, four are returnees from last year's Northern Vibe Festival, including alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, local/Barrie solo standout Mike Haggith (in his first announced full-band show of 2024 and since Matt Fronzi replaced Jacob Quarrell on bass), sporadically seen punk trio A Dire Setback, and funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns (who headlined the Friday lineup last year). All but Mike are playing Northern Vibe for the fourth straight year, so if you've liked the local aspect so far, you'll be right at home in 2024! The two newcomers from the Soo are new local folk/bluegrass band The Golden Scoundrels (featuring Shit Liver's Josh Penno and Handsome Sandwich bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger) and local rap collective Fvksxvad, who we've primarily covered members of individually on the SMS in the past.

The Golden Scoundrels have gotten positive reviews since debuting earlier this year (Dirtfight fans should like them), while Fvksxvad have talented MCs and they'll add a unique dimension to this year's Forest Stage lineup! Crank Sound Distribution will be on hand once again to keep everyone sounding their best at this year's festival. Once again, Northern Vibe is a 19+ festival, and you can get all the ground rules for attending, camping, and directions to Poplardale Road via their official website. The first wave of early bird tickets completely came and went before the Forest Stage lineup reveal, but weekend passes for wave 2 of the early bird availability are now on sale for $110 ($200 for VIP passes) at this link, and official festival shirts/hoodies are available when buying tickets. At this juncture, Saturday-only tickets are not out yet, but for reference, admission closer to the opening date was $150 for the weekend and $85 for Saturday alone.

It's great to see Northern Vibe back for a ninth year (and tenth anniversary of the original installment), and hopefully things go smoothly for organizers in terms of performers, attendance, weather, and attendee conduct this August! If you're up for the music and/or camping off the grid, definitely visit the above links for more details, and in all likelihood, look for this month's CD review on the site next! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Rodge MacGodge & Dave Bayles

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we again check out randomly selected YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists/concerts! This month, we drew two channels due to the first only having nine very similar uploads, and I'd only want to feature two videos here without getting too repetitive as to the video formatting, so a channel with even less footage was picked to round things out with an extra video. Here's what you should know on both sides of the border!

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Rodge MacGodge (http://youtube.com/@rodgemacgodge)

Owner: Former Swampgut guitarist Rob MacDonald

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 26th, 2011; Videos uploaded from May 2012 through April 2014

Channel Summary: The de facto official YouTube channel for inactive local "shield rock" duo Swampgut, Rob uploaded nine original songs of theirs here during their original run together, some credited as being on their unreleased(?) album "Ghosts Of The Electric Coast". All nine videos are just the songs with a static images or slideshows for accompaniment, often original artwork by singer/drummer Frank McCormick or nature photography

Why You Should Watch: This channel is worth checking out for fans of Swampgut, obviously, but if you weren't familiar with them, you'll find a nicely varied slate of hard rock with psychedlic jam elements, and while it's largely very lo-fi, there is something there! Note that this channel did not see resumed usage during Swampgut's 2020-2021 revival, with all new material recorded during that time being exclusive to their Bandcamp page.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Swampgut - As Old As These Hills: Rodge's first, longest, and most viewed video is for their song "As Old As These Hills", an extended hard rock jam featuring him and future Gianni Gagoots singer/drummer Frank McCormick (if other performers guested here, as was common for their reunion era, they aren't credited). Playing along with a slideshow of outdoor pictures by a shoreline, this is a fun number that packs a lot of styles and variance into its 10+ minute runtime, and it'd have played well in concert!

Swampgut - Factory Falls: Visually and sonically, one of the more distinct songs on offer is "Factory Falls", a bluesier number recorded in 2010 about a factory collapsing (you may recognize some local imagery with the slideshow but I don't think it's about a legitimate incident). A slower, more deliberate song that shows off some effectively deep vocals, I won't say that it's better than their more freewheeling jam rock songs, but this song is a good example of Swampgut's range!

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Dave Bayles (http://youtube.com/metalfu)

Owner: Northern Michigan resident Dave Bayles

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 23rd, 2006; Videos uploaded from that day until January 2012

Channel Summary: In between a gag movie trailer and a clip of his cat grooming his dog, Dave uploaded three videos of legendary hard rock band Kiss' outdoor headlining concert at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in July 2007, though unfortunately, all have a runtime of just 30 seconds. One features Paul Stanley smashing his guitar at the end of a song (look at that pyro!), while the two with identifiable songs are "God Of Thunder" and most popularly, their cover of Argent's "God Gave Rock & Roll To You", with an impressive 83.000+ views. The audio quality is not good on any of these clips, but you have to remember that this was 2007 and digital/cell phone cameras were not what they are now. You can find longer and clearer videos from this show elsewhere, but Dave had a good view of Kiss in action, and most commenters were just happy to see footage uploaded from Kiss' first local concert!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! This series will return on or around May 26th when our next randomly selected channel will be that of active local punk trio Vanity First! Look for that then, and for more news and notes on the site net week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Teenage Head), More Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Before we begin this post, we have one more late update for tonight & tomorrow night's HeadFirst concerts at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, as the guest drummer filling in for Anthony Boudreau will actually be ex-Bourbon Blue drummer Brent Royer, as per the band's Facebook page this morning. The originally planned guest drummer (local/Waterloo musician Celeste Bond) will still be present to guest on vocals on a few songs. I think that finally covers the changes to expect at Jay's this weekend, and hopefully things go well for HeadFirst, Brent, and Celeste!

Now, we're wrapping up this weekend's advertised hard rock concert previews today (and more), but first, here's a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this fall, as Hamilton punk legends Teenage Head will headline at The Machine Shop on Saturday, September 21st! Quietly announced on social media back in February, this is the first local appearance on record for Teenage Head (I'm sure they must have played here in the pre-internet days), who punk fans will know dating back to the 1970s for hit songs like "Somethin' On My Mind" and "Tornado", among others. It'll be neat to see Teenage Head in the Soo this fall, and their garage-influenced punk originals should attract a good audience! Interestingly, Korah Collegiate's student band Mustang Sally are the advertised local openers. Definitely surprising, but they always have a talented lineup and are well known locally from diverse events and covers alike, so don't bypass them!

This concert is being promoted by, believe it or not, Martin's Trailers & Accessories on Fifth Line East. Quite a big first leap into concert promotion, hopefully it's a big hit for Martin and crew! Tickets are now on sale for this all ages concert at this link for $45 ($60 for the VIP mezzanine access), and proceeds will go to the Sault Ste. Marie branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Sounds like an intriguing night of music for classic punk fans, and for a great cause, so visit the above links for more details!

Next up, let's resume this weekend's concert previews with two upcoming one-nighters, starting with local classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison, whoss bi-weekly arrangement at Misty's Fifties is scheduled to resume TOMORROW! The former Caveman Morrison & Nostalgic Band frontman is back for another acoustic matinee concert at the long-running Second Line West venue, and here's hoping that Tym's proficient and extensive setlist of classic and hard rock covers finds another receptive audience to end April with! If you can't make it, Tym will be back like clockwork every two weeks until the end of June, so fans will have at least four more chances to see Tym on Saturdays at Misty's in this run. Expect a 19+ age limit, no cover, and a 4:00 PM start time as usual. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live last year!

Lastly for known/announced hard rock shows this weekend in the Twin Saults, fans can check out local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT when they go unplugged ("uncorked" if you like) at Gateway Casino! Last seen at the downtown casino a little over a month ago, this will be the fourth consecutive traditional concert for Bone Yard at as many venues, with full weekends at Reggie's bookending this string of April one-offs (not to mention their hosting duties of the Thursday jam nights at Reggie's, though that was cancelled this week). As usual for their casino stops, tomorrow's show is acoustic, so prepare for a stripped down but still hard rocking night of covers from your local 225 then! Expect an 8:00 PM start time, no cover, and 19+ age limits tomorrow. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new live video of Bone Yard!

Live-streamed to their Facebook page, this comes from last Friday's late notice one-nighter at The Esquire Club, and it sees Greg, Alex, and Warren playing a lively cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" to cap off their final set. Despite being deep into the 1:00 AM hour, fans were engaged and rocking out to this strongly performed classic, and while the vertical camerawork is far from ideal (if not unexpected), the filmer did get a good look at the band and crowd in good measure. Check it out below, and don't miss Bone Yard 225 "uncorked" tomorrow at Gateway Casino!

We'll close today with new "Shorts" videos from local progressive/djent metal band Convergence, who quietly teased two songs from their upcoming "Gemini" EP on their YouTube channel two weeks ago! One is the title track and is embedded below (at least you can embed "Shorts" externally, unlike "Reels"), but the other song is called "In Bloom", related in name only to the Nirvana song. I'll hold comment on these songs pending a possible review of "Gemini" later this year (even if it's out quickly, I'm only reviewing "Convergence" in the next few days), but fans of proficient instrumental prog-metal will want to check these out above & below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Wyld Stallyns & Soundcheck) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

(UPDATED AT 5:57 PM) One final update for today's weekend concert preview post, as an announced pair of concert cancellations was reversed, and you can read details on the still-on shows at post's end. The write-up on Tym Morrison's matinee show on Saturday will return to tomorrow's post alongside the Bone Yard 225 preview and more items, so don't worry, it will return! Now, here's what you should know to lead off most of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and I apologize for the frequent edits!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the shows were only announced on the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday, and at press time, the band has not confirmed the bookings publically. Fresh off of rocking Jay's this past weekend and via hosting that venue's weekly jam night tonight, TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows will be Soundcheck's first at Reggie's since the St. Patrick's Day weekend. Hopefully their classic and hard rock cover blend (including select country renditions) go over well as usual at Reggie's this weekend despite the late notice! TOMORROW & SATURDAY's concerts take place at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will play their second announced show of 2024 when they return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page last night, and like Soundcheck, the band proper has not publically confirmed it. SATURDAY'S concert is effectively a re-booking of their planned Shooters gig on April 6th, which new drummer Brandan Glew advertised on his personal Facebook page in March, but it was never publically confirmed by the band or venue, and was quietly cancelled with no replacement band. It's great to see the new Stallyns lineup back at it, and if you missed them three weeks ago, you'll get your fill of fun rock covers! No word on why Shooters used that photo for the Stallyns though. Either they made a mistake, or Brandan, Josh, and Blair got huge makeovers!

Shooters are experimenting with hosting a matinee band on SATURDAY as well (a'la Reggie's) with blues rock veterans Smokehouse playing at 4:00 PM, but this is a case of two separate concerts on the same day, not Smokehouse "opening" for The Wyld Stallyns, whose first set begins 90 minutes after Smokehouse are projected to end their last one. The Stallyns will be on at 9:30 PM on SATURDAY with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's The Wyld Stallyns live in concert a couple of years ago!

Moving to shows that had advance notice, we'll next head to The Distraction, where Montreal stoner/hard rock band The Hazytones will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a concert TONIGHT! Two-time local headliners at the former New American Pub in 2016 & 2017, The Hazytones have slowly gotten heavier in the seven years since we last saw them in town, and hopefully their songs from their new album "Wild Fever" and older originals go over well with local fans in their long awaited return! Local support will include alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich in their Distraction debut, their first local date since Brandon Ruch replaced Mitch Sirie on guitar, and their first concert of any kind since their Ottawa & Cornwall shows in January. It'll be interesting to see how the new lineup does, especially with their new EP still in the works, so don't miss out on the Sandwich's set!

Rising young hard rock quartet Sylo have quietly dropped out of this show for unannounced reasons and were not replaced, as per the hand drawn alternate poster on the venue's Facebook page from this morning. Hopefully nothing too serious happened, and that we see Sylo back at it soon! This all ages concert has doors opening at 7:30 PM tonight and admission is via a special $15 fee (or "pay what you can" as usual for The Distraction). Should be a good time for hard rock fans, and with a psychedelic tinge thanks to The Hazytones, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's the headliners live!

Finally for today's concert preview post, local hard rock quintet HeadFirst are indeed playing at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! The band has originally announced the cancellation of these shows via their Facebook page due to an unspecified health issue (specifically afflicting drummer Anthony Boudreau), but due to "a lot of outcry", they scrambled to find a replacement drummer for the two dates, and they have one! The band has heavily implied that the guest drummer is Celeste Bond, the model for the silhouette in their official logo on the left (they confirmed her identity in an Instagram "Reel" months ago). Celeste isn't known to me from local music, but she has multi-instrumental talent and was a multicultural project officer for last year's Fringe North Festival, so hopefully she fills in well tomorrow and Saturday! This weekend's shows mark HeadFirst's... first Jay's shows since the end of March.

Drummer aside, these are standard concerts for HeadFirst, with 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges for their classic-leaning slate of hard rock covers and select originals. Visit the above links for more details, I apologize for the rapid edits on my part for this post, and here's HeadFirst live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison and Bone Yard 225 previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (i.o), Matthew Good Concert Fallout, New Videos, And More!!

Before we dive into weekend concert previews and look at the recent lineup announcements for two big summer concert festivals on the outskirts of town, let's cover some recent news and notes on the site today, including new videos, recent updates, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you should know!

The first hard rock-leaning concert of 2024 from local promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) takes place at the somewhat misleadingly named March Street Stage (beside June & Friends Hair Salon at 485 Queen Street East) on Sunday, May 26th, and will see the return of Victoria, British Columbia experimental noise project i.o to the Soo! Readers may recall seeing i.o headline at The Drawing Club on Bruce Street during the then-Dryer Fire's summer concert series in June, but they're heading outdoors for their local encore. Max isn't playing alone this time though, as advertising indicates that he's performing in/alongside Pet Retina, an also-Victoria-based noise rock duo that will be an intriguingly eclectic group to take in next month! Local support includes Hinterbrane (a "noise art" project led by artist Michael Burtch) and local folk/Americana band The Tye Lawless Co., who opened for Catriona Sturton for Dryer Fire last year.

This all ages concert takes place at 6:00 PM on May 26th, and admission is under a "pay what you can" model. Definitely a diverse range of entertainment to take in next month, but it'll end heavily and creatively with i.o and/or Pet Retina (weather permitting?), so visit the official Facebook event page for more details! Also, stay tuned for updates on the It's The Pits festival that the promoters are holding in Leeburn on Saturday, June 22nd, especially if hard rock/punk-leaning bands are playing! Yes, I am well aware of Crucifest in Leeburn too, we are waiting for public promotion to start before plugging it here.

Next up, you may be wondering where our fallout coverage of the Matthew Good concert at The Machine Shop on April 14th has been. Honestly, public videos from the show have not been plentiful whatsoever, but SooToday's Donna Hopper was back to cover it for this article, picking up 16+ years after his contentious acoustic show at The Speak Easy in 2007 that she also covered. Thankfully for all involved, this concert went off without a hitch, and while Donna didn't go into great detail about the show, there was apparently "a lively sing-along" of his Matthew Good Band hit "Hello Time Bomb". It's great to see that bygones are now bygones (now if only we can get Danko Jones back here!). Donna took thirteen colour photos on the 14th, nine of Matthew and his band, and four of openers... Silent 9? Yes, the local classic/hard rock cover quartet were tapped as late notice openers three days before showtime!

They replaced planned opening act Vilivant, who is still on tour with Matthew Good but did not play at the local date for unannounced reasons, and never acknowledged why they didn't play in the Soo. After dropping out of the Big Wreck tour last fall (including its local date), are we snakebit re: Vilivant playing here? Hopefully she and the band come to the Soo at some point! Silent 9 did post a video on their Facebook page featuring clips of multiple songs from their set, but unfortunately, it is A. vertically shot and B. a "Reel", so I can't embed it here. Everyone sounds good while the clips last, co check it out at the above links!

Also today, you may have seen scattered plugs on social media that local punk trio Hails were playing a show in Bay City, Michigan on April 6th, and that event did take place! It's very rare to see Sault Ontario bands play in the US, let alone not in Sault Michigan, but clearly Ha!ls did the paperwork and followed the rules they needed to! Even if it was local, the show was not something that I likely would have covered as normal, as the venue ("The We/Us House") is not a public venue with a freely posted address. Even the other bands (Rot Knot, Piss Soup, and Unabomb) had cryptically designed logos as far as name readability. The Vanity First side project were filmed in Bay City (outside of Saginaw) by attendee "Fish" playing for 60 seconds, and while the video was horizontally shot, it was regrettably uploaded in vertical dimensions with pillarboxing, which is why it's so tiny and sandwiched by black bars.

As uploaded to their Facebook page, the video shows Hails dipping a bit into thrash with the intensity on offer, and while I wish they'd uploaded this horizontally like it was filmed, it's a strong video overall! Just watch it in full screen for best results. Hails have also announced that they're heading to Toronto for the first time to play at the Humber River Art & Music Festival on August 24th, which will be a huge opportunity for Brent, Mikhal, and Keeghan, so click here for details on that booking, and check out their Bay City concert video for yourselves below!

Finally, here's the latest from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown, so what have they been up this month? Last week, they shared this image on their Facebook page that heavily implies that they're releasing a new single named "Marble Skin" in the near future, which will be their first new song since Nathan Switzer returned to the band to replace Ted Olson as lead guitarist. A string of social media application logos was included, but take that with a grain of salt re: the song's availability, as I don't think Pinterest and Instagram are known as music streaming platforms. A new video featuring drummer Jaxon Massaway (clearly before or after work) was also posted on April 2nd to hype up their next announced concert, where they will open for Born Of Osiris and many other metal bands at The Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac on May 26th.

I can't embed the video here, as Facebook content matched audio used in it from the headliners in the generic promotional video for the show at large that followed Jaxon's plug, but it gets the job done to hype what will be a huge night for fans downstate or locally who are willing to make the 4-5 hour drive! Click here to watch the video, see above for more from H.L.T.C., and look for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Vanity First's New Album, Mikey & His Uke's New Cover, And More!!

News hasn't been super fast as of late, but here's a reasonably stuffed post on this Monday evening, leaning more to punk acts, including some new videos and big details on a new album, so here's what you should know!

As promised, local skate punk trio Vanity First released their new studio album "Identity Crisis" at their release party at Soo Blaster on Saturday night, and if you didn't attend to pick up a CD copy, you can also stream it online! No word on videos from the show, but Honest Job alum Drew Armstrong did snap photos at the concert, and a black & white one of drummer Keegan McAllister has already been posted to the band's Facebook page, with more promised to be coming. The band claims that "Identity Crisis" is available on "all streaming platforms", a claim immediately disproven by not being uploaded on Bandcamp yet (despite "Off With Their Heads" being posted there). In actuality, you can stream it on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Deezer, while mp3 copies are on sale on Amazon and iTunes for $8.91 if you'd prefer actually owning the mp3 files. 

As hyped in detail on MorningStar Records' website, the album can be bought via Kunaki's print-on-demand method on CD ($10) or vinyl ($40) at this link, though at press time, I cannot confirm if Vanity are stocking the album at The Rad Zone or another local physical retailer (members do have CDs if you contact them directly). "Identity Crisis" is effectively an expanded re-recording of their 2022 "Vanity" demo, now including the three advance singles posted this year, their late 2022 single "Get Out", and one more new song named "When I Fall". All songs from "Vanity" were redone for "Identity Crisis" except "Breathe", a campfire jam-esque acoustic ballad which ended that demo. Quite frankly, if one song had to be scrapped, they picked the right one, as it doesn't jive with their skate punk base, but it wasn't a bad song, if more suited to guitarist Mikhal Muto's folk punk solo project Agnosticism than a full plugged in band.

At present, I have "Identity Crisis" pencilled in for review on the SMS in June, as this month and next are already committed for the newest albums from Convergence and the aforementioned Agnosticism. Stay tuned for that, but local punk fans will definitely want to give Vanity First's brand new album a listen (or optimally buy it) above & below!

Next up, the long awaited eighth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie" finally dropped on their YouTube channel earlier today! Four weeks removed from song #7 in this 30th anniversary series (the longest wait yet between songs), project leader/Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon and crew are back to tackle the next song on "Dookie", that being the single "She". On this one, vocal duties fall to K.J. Jansen of Calgary punk mainstays Chixdiggit, while Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury (in his fourth appearance in the last five covers) is back here, as is ex-Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer, who has yet to miss a "Dookie" cover in this series. Once again, Mikey plays guitar after his usual ukelele intro. Everyone delivers as you'd expect on this classic cover, and K.J.'s vocals are a great match for a Green Day rendition!

After last month's "Basket Case" cover had no real visual frills, we do get more variance here, with K.J. notably singing while shaving his beard, which is a new one for me to cover! Granted, Sault Michigan readers will appreciate Darren's choice of hockey jersey more than Sault Ontario ones. Next up in Mikey & His Uke's "Dookie" cover series is the deep cut "Sassafras Roots", which could drop at any point between Sunday and May 20th (the current average would be May 4th), so keep an eye out for that, and check out "She" for yourselves below!

Finally for today, here's a brief new promotional video from local alternative/hard rock band Handsome Sandwich's Facebook page to plug their set opening for The Hazytones at The Distraction on Thursday! The 12 seconds long & vertical clip sees the entire band (all wearing sunglasses) promoting the concert, with each member handling a part of the sentence. No new information, but hopefully it helps get the word out, so give it a watch below, and check above for details on the concert! And of course, our best thoughts go out to drummer Johnny Belanger following the passing of his brother, the obituary is linked here. I went to high school with them, and I can't imagine losing a loved one so young like this.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations & Double Down), Plus Jonesy Land & Bookclub Updates!!

Before we begin today's otherwise all-Sault Ontario post, I wanted to apologize for missing Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished's unplugged concert this past Tuesday at the Sault Area Arts Center's ribbon cutting ceremony for their relaunch at their 217 Ferris Street location. Alex Traynor & Josh Fair brought back their late 2010s acoustic two man band for a matinee set that day, which the band did not promote on social media. Hopefully things went well for the Arts Center and Tarnished equally, and I apologize again, I'd have plugged it here had I known Tarnished would be there! Now, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and new updates from two linked projects north of the border!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will return to the stage for concerts at Reggie's Place on Friday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 4th! The shows were announced via the band's new Facebook page yesterday, but there will be changes afoot compared to when we last saw Double Down at the end of last month. The big news is that they have quietly parted ways with singer/guitarist Adam King for unannounced reasons, and he has been replaced by "a new band member", whose identity has yet to be revealed. Notably, the band's prior Facebook page (the one formatted as a personal account that you had to add as a friend) hasn't been updated since March, so was Adam its primary administrator, hence the need for a new page? Hopefully things are amicable between Adam and the band, and that we see him back out there soon, as he'd be an asset to other bands!

We'll let you know more on the band's new guitarist(/singer?) when they are revealed, but they could be waiting for a grand unveiling at Reggie's in two weeks. In any event, Double Down have teased having new songs in their set (possibly influenced by their new member coming aboard) to play that weekend, so keep everything in mind then! Expect 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges on both nights. Visit the above links for more on Double Down's upcoming plans!

Next up, fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have confirmed two more new dates for next month! While we already knew about their Gateway Casino debut on Saturday, May 18th, they will kick off the Victoria Day long weekend by rocking The Water Tower Pub once again on Friday the 17th. That will be their first show since playing at the same venue this past weekend, so fans of the central venue will have an option to see them next month before they head back downtown! Speaking of which, fans can also now see Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre at Shooters Downstairs Lounge for a third one-nighter in just over a week when they take the Dennis Street stage on Saturday, May 25th! Good to see bookings ticking up for Generations, and hopefully things are even busier for them as we enter the summer season! The Water Tower Pub show is at 9:00 PM, while the Shooters concert takes place at 9:30 PM.

Both of these new dates have 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Hopefully things keep rolling along for the Jus' Chillin successors in their second year of classic and hard rock hits, so visit the above links for more details on Generations' May schedule!

Also today, let's dive into two local projects from local punk musician Dustin Jones, starting with his online page-less solo project Jonesy Land, who released their first studio recording since their debut album "Zoom - Out" came out last May, but it's not what you may be assuming compared to their 2021-2022 punk singles or the folk/alternative singer/songwriter material from the album. Since at least 2022, Dustin has wanted to record a full studio cover of The Ronettes' "Be My Baby", inspired by his appreciation of the musical work of producer Phil Spector, Much of the music had been recorded for this classic 1960s pop cover already, but Dustin had waited to find the right local singer for it, and he eventually went with Hollow Heads frontwoman Gabrielle Dumas, who has been recording her own material at Mission Control Studios as of late herself.

Dustin is joined on guitar here by his old Rising Tide bandmates Sheldon Jaaskelainen (strings) and Chris Johns (drums), alongside his current Bookclub bandmate Josh Norling on horns, as well as fellow horn player Vince Filetti, the ever-prolific Jay Case on bass, and "miscellaneous people" on added instrumentation. You can hear the "Be My Baby" cover on major streaming services, but a video featuring Gabrielle singing the track was posted to Tidal Records' YouTube channel on Tuesday. Music from this era isn't really in my wheelhouse, but it is well produced and performed, and Gabrielle adds some quality rasp to the proven melodies here, so see what you think of outside-the-box cover below!

We'll close with Dustin's current (and also online page-less) local alternative/punk cover band Bookclub, who played at the Great Lakes Outdoor Show at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre last week, but there are lineup confirmations to make after that set! First, it does appear 100% confirmed that the aforementioned Josh Norling (also of The Wyld Stallyns) has joined the band on saxophone, confirming Searchmont Resort's listing of him being a band member when they plugged Bookclub's Kiln show in January. It's too bad that Bookclub seem set on 1980s-leaning alt-rock covers, as with Josh and Erin as a horn section, they'd kill doing ska punk! Josh was listed with everyone else in tags for videos shared on personal Facebook accounts from last Saturday, as was Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch, who appears to have replaced Dave Bahun in Bookclub for unannounced reasons.

Hopefully nothing bad happened with Dave (Mikey & Dustin's old Inner City Surfers bandmate, mind you), but Brandon is a talented guitarist on the rise, and hopefully he fits in well with Bookclub, assuming that he is 100% in the band now! Alas, without a proper social media page for Bookclub, there was no 100% public confirmation of lineup changes beyond what may have been said in concert. There were black & white videos floating around from the Outdoor Show set too, but alas, I think they were Facebook "Stories" and thusly not viewable more than once (I really don't see the point of "Stories"). Stay tuned for more from Bookclub when we hear it, and for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!