LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bone Yard 225) & More Recent Updates!!

I hope that our Canadian readers had a good Victoria Day long weekend! We're picking things back up for Sault Ontario news on this Tuesday morning, including some assorted recent notes and a bunch of summer season LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 have announced more summer concerts via their website's calendar, so where can you see Greg, Alex, and Warren after June 8th?  The first new shows will see Bone Yard play at the Queen Street Cruise once again on Friday, June 14th & Saturday, June 15th, marking their seventh straight appearances at this annual event and first since tacking "225" to their name. Of course, the Queen Street Cruise is the annual classic car cruise and show taking place downtown, and after moving from its home base at GFL Memorial Gardens to Roberta Bondar Pavilion last year due partly to construction and larger space, the cruise will remain at the Pavilion this year, presumably to keep using the larger locale. Bone Yard 225 will appreciate playing under the tent again in case of bad weather! Like last year, their sets will be at 7:00 PM on Friday and a 12:30 PM matinee during the car show on Saturday.

The Cruise is an ALL AGES event (aside from needing a valid drivers license and whatnot for the cruise itself) and there is no admission fee beyond the $20 registration if you are entering you vehicle for the cruise or show (click here for details). Hopefully the Cruise is another huge hit for car aficionados, let alone music fans, and there's more family entertainment there too, so visit the above links for more on what's going down next month! In terms of traditional indoor concerts, Bone Yard 225 will next return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for a one-nighter (as they host DJs most Fridays) on Saturday, June 22nd, in their first show at the Dennis Street nightclub since playing there three nights ago. If you'd rather see them elsewhere downtown, they will be rocking Reggie's Place for full weekends on June 28th-29th (for this year's Canada Day long weekend) and on July 26th-27th, so keep all of these dates in mind!

Yes, they will be at Reggie's on Saturday, June 1st too, but that one-nighter was already announced by the band. Lastly for this batch of shows, Bone Yard 225 will go "uncorked" for an acoustic show at The Water Tower Pub on Friday, July 12th, in their first show at the Great Northern Road nightclub since their upcoming date there on May 31st (which they also already announced). Remember, The Water Tower Pub hosts different acts nightly by rule. Sounds like a busy summer ahead, so look for Bone Yard's hard rocking classics at multiple venues in the coming months! Of the bar shows, all are 19+ with no cover charge, and all have 9:30 PM start times except at The Water Tower Pub (8:00 PM). Conspicuous by its absence from their schedule is a gig at Rotaryfest Stage 1, but note that A. the full schedule is not out yet (it was unveiled on May 26th last year) and B. they didn't play at last year's Rotaryfest.

We'll let you know when we know who all is playing at Rotaryfest this year, but in their four Stage 1 appearances from 2017-2022, Bone Yard were a nightly closing band, so one assumes they'd be well positioned if they do come back. Visit the above links for more details on Bone Yard 225's summer slate so far, and don't miss them at Gateway Casino this Saturday!

Finally for today, here's three shorter recent news items, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

 

• Local folk punk/extreme metal solo musician Chase Wigmore reportedly dropped out of the Hails concert at The Distraction this past Sunday, as per Ha!ls frontman Brenton Ellis on his personal Facebook page earlier that afternoon. A reason for Chase's withdrawal wasn't given beyond that he "can't make it tonight", and he was not replaced on late notice. Hopefully all's well with Chase, and that Hails still rocked the old barbershop in style!
• Prolific local alt-rock musician Dustin Goodall has received two 2024 Northern Ontario Film & Music Award nominations for Outstanding Engineer, respectively for his work engineering/co-producing The Northwest's 2022 EP "All In" and Handsome Sandwich's 2023 debut album "Deconstructed" at his studio Unsalted Audio. It's rare when NOMFA nominations cross our radar, but it is very cool to see Dustin recognized twice over for his work in the mid 2022-mid 2023 voting period! The awards ceremony takes place in Sudbury late next month, so click here for details on that and the complete nominee list!
• I have moved local metal solo project Sir Hell to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. Led by Bear Hunters/ex-Handsome Sandwich guitarist Mitch Sirie, this was his newest solo project after prior attempts across the 2010s under differing names, with Sir Hell releasing a proper studio version of the Bear Hunters live favourite "Squirrel Buddy" to their Bandcamp page in February 2023. I was definitely curious to hear more from Sir Hell, but nothing has publically emerged since the "Squirrel Buddy" re-release, and hopefully Mitch resurrects this "vessel for my madness" when the time is right!
   

 

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