In today's SMS post, we are finishing off this weekend's hard rock concert previews with two big downtown shows tomorrow night, along with updates from a prominent local band & a new live video with some familiar faces, so here's what you should know!
We'll pick up our weekend concert previews TOMORROW NIGHT, when Peterborough hardcore punk trio Cross Dog will return to the Soo for a special headlining concert in the basement of Discover The Canvas Studio at 317 Wellington Street West! Featuring ex-Fuller/Lion Ride/et al. bassist Mark Rand and his wife Tracy Ashenden on vocals, this will be Cross Dog's first local concert since their appearances at 2018 & 2019's Oh!No festivals in Leeburn, and their first public concert in Sault Ste. Marie proper since opening for The Dayglo Abortions at the former Roosevelt Hotel in 2013. Now, another homecoming for Mark should be a big deal, but be advised that as of 6:17 PM, their tour bus broke down outside of Sudbury, and they were waiting on a mechanic scheduled to fix it tomorrow morning. Hopefully things are repaired in short order so that tomorrow's local date goes off without a hitch, but we'll let you know if something changes!
Local openers will include online page-less indie punk quartet Honest Work (last seen when they debuted at Fuller's reunion concert in December) and new local hardcore quintet The Sault Side Squad (in their third public concert), so come early for these newer supergroups! Doors open for tomorrow's public festivities at 7:30 PM with admission of $15 through local openers and $20 at the door, and there is no stated age limit. It will be great to see Cross Dog's furious and no-guitar originals back in town tomorrow, let alone in the basement of a tattoo parlor, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Cross Dog live!
Lastly for known hard rock concerts this weekend, let's head to Soo Blaster, where local hard rock quartet Half Past will have their biggest headlining date since their comeback TOMORROW NIGHT! Metalheads may have last seen Half Past among the openers for Selias at the same venue two weeks ago, but this will see Half Past at the top of the bill, with their proficient modern hard rock covers sure to fill the big Soo Blaster stage tomorrow! They'll even be selling their own band t-shirts tomorrow, which is a neat sign for fans! Bullet Train frontman Cory Murchison (billed as "Cory Daniel" like when he opened for Fort Creek two years ago) will open with an acoustic set, so if you like the former Sense of Truth and Skeyes of Seven singer/guitarist's extensive local career, he should have a solid block of unplugged tunes to kick things off!
This ALL AGES concert takes place tomorrow night at 8:00 PM, and admission is $10 in advance at this link, at the venue, or through performers directly, though you will have to pay $12 at the door if you didn't get yours beforehand. Fans of modern hard rock won't want to miss out on all of the action at Soo Blaster tomorrow night, especially given the scope for Half Past, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!
Also today, here's some updates on the aforementioned Fort Creek, so what is the southern hard rock band up to nowadays! After unveiling a new band logo in May (which you can now buy official t-shirts with it on), they spent much of the summer working behind the scenes, only posting optimistic teasers about future activity. On September 1st, they revealed on their Facebook page that they were "wrapping up final vocals on our first release", namely an acoustic version of a song named "One For The Road". No updates followed until October 1st, when Fort Creek announced the addition of former Role Models/PROV3RB5 drummer Phil Greco to their lineup, replacing the already departed Anthony Fabiano. The guys talked up his skill set and professionalism, and he is a solid drummer that would be an asset to a long-term band, so it'll be interesting to hear how he factors in! We may not hear him immediately on the acoustic version of "One For The Road", granted, but we'll let you know when their new songs surface.
Fort Creek also posted the new band photo above of Phil alongside Justin, Shane, and Bill standing outside of a truck, but it remains to be seen how they'll handle their bassist vacancy (Robin "Bones" Lee left along with Tony last year). It's been a long and often quiet year for Fort Creek, but hopefully these recent updates are a positive sign, so visit the above links for more from their camp!
We'll close with a new video from (former?) Wyld Stallyns frontman Rob Speers' solo acoustic concert at The Dive Gastro Pub this past Saturday! For the record, it was indoors, so clearly the "Patio Play" conceit is done for the season. Uploaded to The Dive's Facebook page, this is our first public video look at Rob's solo concerts since he began them in earnest, and while this isn't a hard rock or metal cover, I did want to mention it today because Rob's playing with most of Handsome Sandwich here! For this cover, he was joined by singer Taylor Emlaw, guitarist Jesse Cook (Rob's old Elements and Wyld Stallyns bandmate), and bassist Rafael Medina, while the guest hand drummer appears to be local classic rock/country singer/guitarist Jeremy Logan Newman. Handsome Speerwich (how's that for a hybrid name?) are seen in this 24 seconds long clip covering Marcy Playground's "Sex & Candy".
Never a song I loved, but this group cover exudes with good vibes in what we see, and it's fun seeing everyone jamming like this! Check it out below, and look for more acoustic concerts at The Dive to come this fall!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!
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