LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & HeadFirst) & Our Victoria Day Long Weekend Concert Previews (Part 1!!)

A stacked slate of concerts is upon us, largely thanks to this being the Victoria Day long weekend in Sault Ontario (or the May 2-4 long weekend, if you prefer), so I will have to break up this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews into two posts. This one will look at bands playing tomorrow night in some description and/or SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, while the Saturday or Sunday-only concerts from Blood Opera, Bone Yard 225, Hails, and Double Down will be covered tomorrow, so everything is on tap (barring anything on even lesser notice). Now, here's what you should know to start the long weekend!

Local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were announced on their Facebook page on Monday during their latest concert schedule drop, and rather than wait to cover all of it at once, I opted to break up the late notice gigs from the rest so as to not lengthen this weekend's concert previews more than they already are. Two weeks before they return to Reggie's for a one-nighter on the 31st, they will have Reggie's locked up for the next two nights, and yes, they will be releasing their debut studio original song and music video for "Don't Care, Don't Mind" on SATURDAY as well! In fact, their concert calendar image calls SATURDAY's concert the "release party", which may be overhype for a song/video posting, but in case they have other frills, don't miss out on HeadFirst on night #2 this weekend, let alone TOMORROW NIGHT!

You can take in HeadFirst's classic-leaning slate of hard rock covers and select originals TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at 9:30 PM, these are 19+ events, and neither has an announced cover charge. This will be a big weekend for Red, Raine, Liam, Claire, and Anthony, so don't miss HeadFirst at Reggie's this weekend, and here they are live!

Next up, let's take a brief detour to Sault Michigan for another SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (albeit not on a long weekend for them), as local hard rock/classic metal band Tarnished will return to The Merchant's Bar for one night only on SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this show via their Facebook page last week, and true to The Merch's usual form, they have not plugged it on social media. Last seen at The Merch via an even-later-notice show in December, SATURDAY's concert will be Tarnished's first plugged in local gig since February, and will be their first non-acoustic show with Josh Fair not on drums since 2021. For this concert, the rhythm section of fellow local hard rock cover band Rhythm & Brews (bassist Chris Leask and drummer Ron Suchey) will guest with Tarnished, so that'll be an interesting mash-up!

While Josh has been playing electric guitar in recent Tarnished media, note that he was Tarnished's bassist when they had a separate drummer in the past, and current bassist Parker Talentino can play guitar too (plus, bands playing with two bassists is not unheard of. One's playing in Sault Ontario on SATURDAY also!) Is this a one-off for Josh to return to a stringed electric instrument, or is he leaving the kit for good? Time will tell, but come see Tarnished Rhythm (how's that for a hybrid name?) at The Merch on SATURDAY NIGHT! Expect a 1980s-leaning set and "some surprises" from everyone at 9:00 PM, with no cover charge and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

Now let's head back to Sault Ontario for two bands making the most of the Victoria Day long weekend with two shows, starting with local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations, who will double up with concerts at The Water Tower Pub TOMORROW NIGHT and at Gateway Casino on SATURDAY NIGHT! With the former venue booking different nightly bands (we'll preview Double Down's Saturday nighter there tomorrow) and the latter only hosting bands on Saturdays, it's good to see Generations fill in the gap by playing at two different locales this weekend, with the Gateway Casino show on Saturday notably being their debut there. Whether you're up for some hard rocking classic rock favourites centrally or downtown, you have options this weekend, so don't miss out at either venue if you can help it! Both shows have 19+ age limits and no announced cover charge, and they start at 8:00 & 9:00 PM respectively. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Generations live!

Finally for this preview post, fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck are advertised to return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! As you may recall, Soundcheck were the late notice replacements for classic rock veterans Mustang Heart at this venue last weekend, so at the time, I floated the possibility that the two bands traded bookings given that Soundcheck had been scheduled for the May 2-4 weekend since The Esquire Club posted this schedule back in January, let alone that they don't typically host the same band on consecutive weekends. As of this writing, I have not seen anything to confirm that Soundcheck aren't playing at the Second Line West nightclub again this weekend, but I will let you know if they aren't playing here again so soon! Soundcheck will be hosting jam night at Jay's tonight as usual though.

Assuming that Soundcheck are back here this weekend, expect 9:00 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges, and hopefully Terry, Cameron, Jim, and Glen have a solid weekend of classic and hard rock favourites for west end fans tomorrow and Saturday if still true! See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Blood Opera, Bone Yard 225, Hails, and Double Down previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stephen Pearcy & Exit 808!!)

Before we dive into a stacked slate of weekend concert previews on the Canadian side of the border with the long weekend ahead, let's head south to Sault Michigan for a bunch of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this year, including a local band's summer calendar and a big Kewadin headline show for this fall. Here's what you should know!

Newer local hard rock quintet Exit 808 have announced a slate of summer concerts via their Facebook page last week, marking their first shows since adding Infathom's Dillion Semasky as their co-lead singer, so when can you see them live next? The former Double Jack will actually debut him at a non-local event on June 8th, namely Drewpalooza 2, a public birthday concert/mental health fundraiser in Republic (3½ hours west of the Soo), where they will share the stage with frequently seen Marquette hard rock cover band Spun, among other western/central U.P. acts. Looks like a fun event, so keep it in mind if you're out west or are up for a road trip! Exit 808 will finally play their first local concert (ie. within an hour's drive of Sault Ste Marie) since changing their name and lineup on Saturday, June 15th when they debut at The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot in nearby Kinross, presumably on their outdoor stage.

Well Diggers is still relatively new for us to cover shows at, so hopefully things go well next month, indoors or out! Expect that show to be an 8:00 PM affair with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge. After that, Exit 808 will hit the road again, albeit further into the Upper Peninsula for a set at Rally For The Valley, an annual outdoor concert festival in Ewen (outside of Ontonogan, 4½ hours west of Sault Ste. Marie) that will share multiple acts in common with Drewpalooza, including Spun. More details are forthcoming, so if you're in the Western U.P. or are up for the drive, click here for details! The rest of the shows are in our coverage range, starting with Exit 808's second Soo date of the year, when they rock The Merchant's Bar for the first time in five months on Saturday, June 29th. The Merch likely won't promote this show online, but it's good to see Exit 808 playing there again!

Exit 808's remaining shows in this wave of announcements will see them make their debuts at the two regional Kewadin Casino branches with on-site lounges. They'll rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin branch for full weekends on July 19th & 20th and on August 16th & 17th, sandwiching their first ever St. Ignace shows when they debut at The Northern Pines Lounge at their Kewadin Casino on August 9th and 10th. It's great to see Exit 808 entering the Kewadin rotation, and hopefully all three weekends go well for them! The latter seven local dates all likely have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover. Between Dillion's addition, the name change, and Isaac Royer's departure (the band has not confirmed if they've found a new permanent bassist yet or not), there's been a lot of change in Exit 808's camp lately, but they've got a big summer ahead, so see above for more details!

We'll close today's post with the big announcement from Allstar Promotions, who had been teasing a show at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Saturday, September 21st in recent weeks, and they finally made the reveal on Tuesday, as original Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy will play here for the first time! Best known for hit songs like "Round & Round", "Back For More", and "Lay It Down", hair metal fans may recall seeing Ratt open for Skid Row here in June 2006 (apologies for missing that when covering Skid Row's local date earlier this year), but they were fronted by Jizzy Pearl then. Stephen's voice has held up over the years, and it will be interesting to see how he goes down as a solo headliner this fall on his 1984 Back In The Cellar Tour! Connecticut hair metal veterans Steelheart (not Streetheart) will open with hits like "I'll Never Let You Go" and "We All Die Young" in their back pocket, so don't be late for their apparent local debut this fall!

Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, and at the in-person box office, while Rock 101 has been announcing a pre-sale code on air if you want to be an early bird. Tickets will run for $39.50 USD, and this all ages show begins at 8:00 PM. Hair metal is a proven draw in Sault Michigan, and Ratt still have a lot of fans, so hopefully Stephen's local debut is a huge hit this fall! Visit the above links for more on this concert, and stay tuned for Victoria Day long weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Bookclub & HeadFirst) Plus New Studio Song Teasers!!

Today's post features some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for mid-2024 and some teasers for new studio material from two local bands, so here's what you should know on this sunny Tuesday!

Local hard rock quintet HeadFirst have announced their concert calendar for the next month via their Facebook page! I will hold their shows this weekend for our weekend concert previews due to being announced on late notice, and we already knew about their set opening for Greg Rekus & The Inside Job at The Distraction on Thursday, May 23rd (event page linked here), but they will be back at Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for a one-nighter on Friday, May 31st! This appears to have fallen into place due to their booking on Saturday, June 1st at Shooters Downstairs Lounge (which has been booking DJ nights on Fridays in 2024), so they're ending May on the right foot before kicking off June in style a little further downtown! Bone Yard 225 had already confirmed that they're playing at Reggie's on June 1st after a one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub on the 31st, so both bands solved their full weekend booking problems!

If you want to check out HeadFirst for a full weekend at Reggie's afterwards, they will be back there on Friday, June 7th and Saturday, June 8th, so keep these four new dates in mind! All are 9:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges, and remember, we will be addressing this weekend's HeadFirst shows in our weekend concert previews on Thursday. Meanwhile, remember how HeadFirst vaguely teased on Facebook last month that "Something. Is. Coming." on May 18th (this Saturday)? Well, we now know what exactly. Is. Coming. on the 18th, namely their first studio single! Rather than release the previously filmed "The Walk" thusly, the single (strongly hinted to have been recorded at Mission Control Studios) will be for their original "Don't Care, Don't Mind", and it will be accompanied by a music video featuring footage of the band performing at Case's Music.

The 67 second teaser clip also features the band hanging out, fans dancing at one of their shows, and cigarette package imagery. No vocals, so you aren't spoiled too much yet! Oddly, the teaser video was uploaded sideways, so if you want to watch it without tilting your device/head, you will sadly have to watch it as a "Reel". I can't embed "Reels" here, so the sideways teaser is embedded below, but check it out if you want before the launch on Saturday, and stay tuned on Thursday for our late notice preview of their shows this weekend!

Next up, online page-less local alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub will perform at this year's second annual Salty Marie Trails Fest at Hiawatha Highlands at 780 Landslide Road on Saturday, July 27th! If you're not familiar, the Salty Marie Fest is a festival of mountain bike and foot races alongside family activities, refreshments, local vendors, and more (click here for SooToday's coverage of last year's event), and this year's sophomore outing is shaping up to be bigger and better, so click here and above for current details on what's going on this year and, if you're up for it, how you can enter one of the races! Among the upgrades for year #2 is live music on "the salty stage", with Bookclub playing in their first confirmed summer festival gig of the year, so don't miss their up-tempo and atypical covers slate then! I have no idea if other musicians will be playing in two months, we'll keep you posted if we hear of anything.

Note that The Salty Marie's Facebook promotion gives us our first official (non-live) photo of Bookclub since adding Josh Norling on saxophone and since Brandon Ruch replaced Dave Bahun on guitar. Presented by Red Pine Tours, the trails fest is absolutely an all ages event, and as best as I can tell, the only admission fee would be for registrants taking part in the bike/foot races. A start time for The Salty Marie has not been announced yet, let alone for Bookclub's set, but based on last year's public media, I'd be shocked if Bookclub weren't on during daylight hours. Visit the above links for more details on the festival and races to come in July!

We'll close today with some punk cohorts of Bookclub's founding members, namely veteran local punk quintet The Gambit, who posted on their Facebook page last week to reveal that they are recording in studio! An 18 seconds-long video was attached featuring drummer Clint Wilson drumming at what appears to be a home studio, and we don't hear any tracks from the rest of the band, but it is a good sign that the former Sick Sons are working on studio material! Fans will recall seeing this band play a few originals live, and you can hear at least five in their live-stream from the Fuller reunion concert at LopLops in December, which I had titled as "Lonelier Tomorrow", "Lucky Seven", "Depth", "Clickbait", and "Faultline" (some could be mislabelled, blame the audio quality of the stream). Are they just recording a one-off single, or is more afoot? We'll keep you posted, but watch Clint's video below, and stay tuned for more from The Gambit!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Agnosticism), Vanity First Updates, And New Videos!!

Let's tackle some recent news and notes from Sault Ontario on this rainy Sunday morning, including some new videos, recent updates on an album release, and leading off, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local folk punk/emo solo project Agnosticism will return to the stage with a headlining date at The Distraction on Saturday, May 25th! Led by young & prolific local guitarist Mikhal Muto, Agnosticism (whose only social media account is on Instagram) haven't played live that much in recent months, possibly owing to Mikhal's busy schedule in at least three other bands, but I believe this will be their first public show since releasing their new EP "A Letter Of Resignation" on major streaming services, so you could call this the de facto release party! That EP will be reviewed on the SMS this month, for the record. Mikhal will be joined here by two other solo artists, including 2022 Soo's Got Talent finalist and The Floor Between Us frontman Colin Gasparelli (who opened for Jackal Blood here in February) and Mikhal's Vanity First bandmate Andrew Beggs, who is credited as "Andrew Keith" for this concert. 

No word on if Andrew's solo set will essentially be a one man unplugged Vanity First set or if he'll employ a different sound, but come down to The Distraction on East Street to find out! This Memorial Day weekend concert has an early 6:00 PM start time, no age limit, and admission set at "$5 or pay what you can". This should be a good time for fans of folk punk and acoustic stylings, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, and speaking of Vanity First, let's cover some recent updates from Andrew and Mikhal's local punk band! For those of you who haven't bought their new album "Identity Crisis" on CD or vinyl, the guys posted the back cover of it on their Facebook page on April 25th, so you can glean some more information on the album that way. They credited "Studio 702" as where the album was recorded, and you can see the complete writing and singing credits as well. Notably, Mikhal was the producer of the album, and sang lead on "Off With The Heads", "When I Fall", and "Playboy Magazine", the latter of which being the only song co-written by drummer Keeghan McAllister. Of course, that album was launched at their release party at Soo Blaster on April 20th, and they continued posting content from that show to Facebook after the fact, including lots more black & white photos by Honest Job's Drew Armstrong.

Vanity welcomed a guest guitarist for at least part of their set on 4/20, namely Carmen Muto (second from the left), who is either Mikhal's brother or cousin, I am not 100% sure which. If you want to see how he factors in, both of the videos posted from the concert feature Carmen, and both are covers, including a (sadly) vertical clip of them covering NOFX's "Linoleum", and as embedded below, a shorter but horizontal clip of them covering "Suicide" by Choking Victim. Everyone sounds good on these covers, which did seem to go over well with assembled fans, and while Carmen was stiff up there, his guitar work did help fill things out! Before we move on entirely, Vanity First also posted a "Reel" on Friday featuring in-studio performance footage of them playing "Off With Their Heads" from the new album, and heavily filtered with strobing lights (an interesting choice given that the band has confirmed that Andrew is epileptic).

I don't like "Reels", as readers will be well aware, but the video is neat looking, and I hope that a horizontal/non-"Reel" version exists to capture the whole song, especially if Vanity First intend it to be a formal music video! In any event, I can't embed it here, so watch it (and more) above, give their live Choking Victim cover a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Vanity First when it rolls in!

We'll close today with a new video of local/Barrie alternative/hard rock musician Mike Haggith's set at last year's Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir, courtesy of his Facebook page on Wednesday! While a full live-stream of Mike & crew's set was filmed at the festival last year, this is pro-shot, multi-camera footage that was filmed by Justine Chalykoff of local filmmaking company Chalykoff Studios, who reportedly filmed Mike's whole set thusly. At the time, Mike promised that "a proper full-length video" was coming, not to mention a teaser clip of an interview that Mike and his solo band recorded with Justine, but neither has made its way online in full yet. At least we have one song from the concert proper from what Chalykoff Studios shot, and hopefully we'll get more from it and the interview (even with the bassist switch) in due course! Justine filmed Mike playing his and drummer Brandan Glew's old band The Din's song "Missing", which was their sixth of eleven songs that day.

No less than five cameras (four stationary, including the camera from the live-stream) filmed the guys in action last year, so you get a lot of great looks at the band and Forest Stage setup, especially notable given how the off-the-grid nature of Northern Vibe doesn't lend itself to plentiful video content compared to something like Rotaryfest. Note that the credits list Elly McWatters as a backing vocalist, but that appears to be a remnant of the full Chalykoff Studios video to come(?), as she only joined Mike for the last two originals. Excellent video, so give it a watch below, and hopefully there's more to come before Mike returns to Northern Vibe in July!

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

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: End Of Existence

It's time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and in this month's spotlight feature on a local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past (randomly selected as ever), we're heading back over a decade for a look at a prominent and partly local metal band featuring many familiar faces. Here's what you should know on them!

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End Of Existence

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Grand Rapids, Michigan

Genre: Epic/Death Metal

Lineup:

Bob "JagerBob" Helsten (Integrated System Of Machines), vocals
Steve Giles (Theatre Of Night), guitar/iPad effects/studio bass
Bryan Kindel, bass
Greg Giles (Theatre Of Night), drums
Craig Harrison (Theatre Of Night), keyboard

Audio/Video: End Of Existence released their self-titled and only album to digital platforms on February 29th, 2012. To this day, the album is still available on Apple Music and Amazon Music for streaming and as an mp3 download, so if you want to hear what the guys cooked up 12 years ago, stream it there! A cover of Johnny Cash's "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" was among their minimal material not featured on the album. Unfortunately, all of their YouTube videos were made private when drummer Greg Giles rebranded their YouTube channel after his own solo art company Giles Arts, so public videos from their run are limited today. Here's one of their few surviving public videos, for their song "Sun Is Gone"!

Info/Analysis: A studio-only band who were spiritual successors to the mid-late 2000s local metal band Integrated System Of Machines (albeit after some members moved to Grand Rapids), End Of Existence were launched by the Giles brothers in 2009. The band regularly posted and promoted their original material throughout the early 2010s, with their full lineup coming together in August 2011. Despite singer Bob Helsten's departure at the start of 2012, End Of Existence released their album with him on vocals at the end of February, and soon afterwards, they announced plans to find a new vocalist and change their name, encouraging applicants to sing on demos on their Reverbnation page. Nothing publically came of this, and End Of Existence announced their own end of existence in April 2013, with the Giles brothers and Craig shifting focus to their side project, classical metal band Theatre of Night, though Greg left in 2014.

Steve & Craig continue that project to this day, and they re-issued five E.O.E. songs as an instrumental Theatre Of Night EP in 2021, while Greg has also re-posted their material on Giles Arts social media pages. Whether you got into End Of Existence via I.S.O.M. or not, they stood on their own as a suitably heavy and grandiose band with strong musicianship, effective harsh vocals, and a some good atmospheric qualities above the technicality, and it is a shame that they didn't last longer or play live, let alone that their material isn't as available today as it once was. Buy or stream End Of Existence's surviving media above!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series returns on or around June 10th for a profile of a band that is proof that I randomly select bands for this series. Next month, we'll return to Sault Ontario for a look at local/Ottawa hard rock band Bad Chug, who we just featured on the site in March via an also-randomly picked YouTube Channel Profile. Hopefully when the focus isn't around their videos, things will be fairly distinct three months later, so look for that then, and for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906!!)

Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 have announced their summer concert slate via their Facebook page, which is the sole topic today! No word on where they've been since their last date in February, but they have multiple dates around the E.U.P. scheduled in July and August, while also announcing solo dates from frontman Billy Bernier in Mackinac Island (which is outside of our coverage range) and at The Islander Bar in Hessel tomorrow night. I'm not sure if Billy's solo show is basically Project 906 unplugged or if he explores less hard rock in his sets, so I won't cover that show on here just in case, but keep it in mind if you're in Hessel! If you want to see the full splendour with Joe, Dustin, and Jason too, they have two private bookings next month, but their first public date in five months will see them rock the aforementioned Islander Bar on Friday, July 5th with a return planned for Saturday, August 10th!

The former show is a normal affair, but the latter will be a special matinee set during the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show, an event that 906 did play last year as well, albeit at a normal nighttime timeslot then. It's too soon yet to know what possible changes could be in store on August 10th, but last year, The Islander Bar had four nights of live music from different nightly acts the week of the boat show. Stay tuned for any updates! On Saturday, July 13th, Project 906 will return to The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot in nearby Kinross for an outdoor concert, and their first show at this venue since last summer. Should be a good time in a relatively unique setting, so keep their Well Diggers return in mind also! Then on Friday, July 26th, the guys will return to the Soo for a concert at The Merchant's Bar alongside "special guests" The City Lines, so who are they?

As best as I can tell, 906 are actually opening for The City Lines, a power pop trio from Ann Arbor whose frontman is Sault Ste. Marie native and Sault Tribe member Patrick Deneau. Not the heaviest band going, but fans of indie rock and midwest emo (let alone more recent material by The Northwest) will take to The City Lines, and it's cool to see Patrick play a show at home like this, let alone the rare sight of Project 906 opening for a touring band! Moving ahead to August for another festival set, Project 906 will make their debut at Pickford Hay Days on Friday, August 2nd, and while they didn't specify the locale beyond saying that it'd be outdoors, the festival's Facebook event page confirms that they're playing at Pickford Township Park (no word on extra bands). Click here for full non-musical details on Hay Days, but food trucks will be nearby for festival and/or concert attendees, and you are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

The last of the newly announced Project 906 shows will see them play in Cedarville on Saturday, August 3rd for this year's tenth annual Government Bay Barge Bash, which I am pretty sure is returning to its literal location on a floating barge in Government Bay in front of Bumpas at 74 East Hodeck Street. Promotion for this year's Barge Bash has not begun that I've seen, but this event has featured multiple bands in recent years, and how unique is it to see bands playing literally on the water? Note that one of the bands that played last year's Barge Bash (which didn't have known-to-me hard rock bands at the time) was Dirty Musky, a new band featuring 415E alumni Dave Menard and Brett Blackwood alongside Brett's dad Fran (of Clownsack fame). Despite that lineup, Dirty Musky have given no indication of their set/sound on social media, so I won't rush them into our coverage, but keep them in mind!

Most of these shows have 8:00 PM start times, but the Pickford show is at 7:00 PM, the Cedarville show is to be announced (remember, multiple bands play that), and the Hessel boat show gig in August is a 4:00 PM matinee. The Islander Bar, Well Diggers, and Merch shows are all 21+ while the rest are all ages, and while none have a stated cover charge, do inquire within as far as the annual festivals go. It's great to see Project 906 back (even without Strongs Tavern returns booked, surprisingly), so look for their hard rocking cover slate at multiple E.U.P. venues in the coming months, and stay tuned for more news on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Greg Rekus & The Inside Job, Bone Yard 225, Soundcheck, And Tym Morrison!!)

Another concert weekend is upon us, but let's infuse things with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, some on SHORT NOTICE! This is a relatively quiet weekend as heavier shows go, but with new announcements beyond this weekend, things are filled out well, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will continue his bi-weekly arrangement at Misty's Fifties with another matinee concert on SATURDAY NIGHT, but before then, he will make his debut at the newly opened Dive Gastro Pub TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on his show at The Dive, it was only announced this past Thursday via Tym's Facebook event page, with the venue corroborating that with their own event page yesterday. The Dive is the new restaurant at 648 Queen Street East, taking over the building last occupied by Low & Slow in March. Click here for details on what The Dive offers as a restaurant and bar, but they're dipping their toes into concert promotion right away with "Think It Over Thursdays", featuring acoustic musicians every Thursday evening. Soundcheck frontman Cameron Oliver led off last week with a country set, and Tym's rock covers are second up TONIGHT, so come check out the new digs and perhaps try the menu!

If you're curious, former Jack Spades bassist Steve Shaw plays there next Thursday. Tym's show takes place at 6:00 PM TONIGHT with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover, while his bi-weekly return to Misty's Fifties on Second Line West is on Saturday at 4:00 PM with otherwise similar ground rules. If you can't make it to Misty's this weekend, Tym has at least three more shows coming up there through the end of next month. Visit this link & above for more on TONIGHT'S and Saturday's shows, and here's Tym live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will reportedly return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these bookings were only announced via the band's Facebook page earlier today. TOMORROW'S & SATURDAY'S shows are fill-in gigs for the previously advertised Mustang Heart, who have dropped out of this weekend's bookings, apparently due to guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri recovering from shoulder surgery, as per that band's Facebook page. Hopefully he gets better soon! Now, as per The Esquire Club's early 2024 concert calendar, Soundcheck are also scheduled to play there next week, but did they and Mustang Heart swap weeks or are Soundcheck now playing back-to-back weekends there? As nothing I've read mentions next weekend, I'll treat them as Soundcheck both for now.

Of course, Soundcheck (sans Cameron) are hosting jam night at Jay's tonight too, but as for TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, their late notice Esquire Club shows are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charge. Kudos to Soundcheck for stepping up, so don't miss their varied and often hard rocking cover slate this weekend, and here they are live!

Also this weekend, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will play previously announced concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at Reggie's Place, but the guys have also announced their concert slate into early June via this calendar on their Facebook page! We already knew about their Water Tower Pub show on Friday, May 31st thanks to the venue's advertising but the rest are new to us, so where else are Greg, Alex, and Warren playing ahead? On Saturday, May 18th, Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for a one-nighter on the Victoria Day long weekend, so if you want some fully electric entertainment for the May 2-4 ahead, go to Dennis Street! From one downtown venue currently only booking bands on Saturdays to another, Bone Yard 225 have also booked gigs (likely "uncorked" ones) at Gateway Casino on May 24th and June 8th, so fans of their acoustic stylings have two likely chances to see them in that fashion!

The other new show will see Bone Yard "FAFO" at Reggie's Place once again on Saturday, June 1st, another one-nighter due to their gig at The Water Tower Pub the previous day (they are not booked on Friday otherwise for the new shows after this weekend, and I don't yet know if a different band is playing at Reggie's on the 31st). These dates are all 19+ affairs with no cover charge, and aside from the Gateway Casino gigs (9:00), all start at 9:30 PM, this weekend at Reggie's included. Visit the above links for more on Bone Yard 225's upcoming shows, and here they are live!

Finally, let's completely leap out of this weekend for one more new show announcement, this time at The Distraction on Thursday, May 23rd when Winnipeg folk punk band Greg Rekus & The Inside Job make their local debut! Musically, I'd compare Greg and crew to Dustin Jones & The Rising Ride, but rawer and with lyrics more based on the issues and hard times, so to speak. Genre fans will find a lot to like from Greg Rekus' original material, and they should attract a solid audience to the East Street venue in two weeks! A mosaic of styles will be on offer for the scheduled acts, with local openers including hard rock quintet HeadFirst (in what I believe to be their debut at The Distraction) and a turntable mix set from Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson, who is no stranger to mixed genre events like this (remember when he opened for Ha!ls here?) "Music, dancing, (and) art" are promised for attendees on this night, so keep all of that in mind.

An all ages show as usual for the former barbershop, doors open at 6:30 PM on May 23rd, and admission is $10 or "pay what you can". This should be a good time for folk punk fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this concert, and look for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (It's The Pits) And Mikey & His Uke's New Cover!!

As teased at the end of yesterday's post, we are looking at the other new summer concert festival announced for the same venue via an extended LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and a new high profile cover video rounds things out. Here's what you should know for this punk-leaning post!

Make it two summer concert festivals hitting Robbie Adamson's church in nearby Leeburn in the coming months, as local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their own festival named It's The Pits on Saturday, June 22nd! Playing into the whole peach pit motif as seen in their post-renaming materials (has Nicole explained the inspiration behind that?), It's The Pits will beat the metal-centric Crucifest to the stage by over a month, but the two festivals do share a common band. Of course, the former Dryer Fire are hardly metal/punk-centric promoters, but many events have featured some heavier crossover, this festival included, so who all is playing next month? Apologies if I err on any band identities, P.I.T.S. did not share social media links for the bands, they just listed them on the official poster. As best as I can gather, five of the bands are from out of town, so who's making the way to Leeburn?

The touring acts are Toronto ambient/house duo LAL, Toronto/Minnesota "deep Earth folk" band Twintwa, Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton, Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, and Grand Rapids, Michigan folk duo Rabbit Fur. A lot of talent for genre fans can be found with these artists, and for you punk fans, The Mendozaz will get things amped up with a strong and melodic brand of modern punk, and with distinctive vocals!  Local performers include skate punk/thrash trio Hails (the only band also playing at Crucifest in July), DJ Seith (who played at The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last July along with Ha!ls), local/Gatineau, Quebec surf/indie rock solo project Tampa (led by Mulch & The Mire alum Christopher West), indie rock singer/guitarist Shae Tull, former Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's acoustic folk solo project Sibling, and the cryptic anti-folk/Americana act Tye Lawless Co.

Note that Sibling and Tye opened for Catriona Sturton at Case's Music in October for Dryer Fire, so if you liked that concert, here's your encore! Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is slated to host It's The Pits, while local artist/photographer Chandra Barnett of Lady Of The Glue will be selling her art here. Partially brought to you by the Ontario Arts Council, tickets for this all ages festival are on sale this month for $40, but the advance fee jumps to $45 on June 1st, and tickets at the gate will cost $50. Like at Oh!No before it and Crucifest after it, camping is encouraged, so keep that in mind if you want to stay the night and head home on Sunday the 23rd! You can buy your tickets in advance at this link. While the festival is slated to begin at 2:00 PM, bands are expected to start playing at around 4:00 PM. More details on It's The Pits are forthcoming.

It's The Pits has to be the biggest event that Dryer Fire/P.I.T.S. have ever put on, and hopefully it's a huge hit for Nicole and crew so they can do this again next year, or at least something of a comparable scale! It's not a punk haven, but genre fans will be satiated by The Mendozaz and Hails, and while not everyone will be into the remote camping appeal, it's very much in this year. The two Leeburn festivals at 5756 Highway 638, Go North on St. Joseph Island, and Northern Vibe in Ophir are all scheduled for the summer, so keep all four in mind if you wanna go off the grid and enjoy some high energy local and touring music! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on It's The Pits!

We'll close tonight's post with the ninth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Just over two weeks removed from their rendition of "She", song #9 from "Dookie" was posted to the project's YouTube channel this morning, and keeping with the album's running order, this cover is of the Green Day deep cut "Sassafras Roots". Bookclub/ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon is back on guitar and (initially) ukelele here alongside former Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (wearing a baseball jersey here for a change), while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot is back here for his fifth "Dookie" cover in this series, after missing the last two. Vocals are provided here by Jeff "Kepi Ghoulie" Alexander of the Sacramento horror punk veterans The Groovie Ghoulies, who is seen painting something while singing the song.

Kepi does reveal what he painted at the end, but I won't spoil it here. Perfectly sound cover with strong melodies, and well edited from the remote filming locations, though aside from Kepi's painting in a very blue room, there's no quirks in settings or on-camera activities to note. Green Day diehards will like the cover though! Tenth in this series will be the classic "When I Come Around", which is the final yet-covered single from "Dookie" before they hit a home stretch of deep cuts. Given past timeframes, it should turn up at any point between Monday and June 4th (the current average would be May 19th). Check out Mikey & crew covering "Sassafras Roots" below, and look for more soon!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Crucifest!!)

Extreme metal fans will want to circle the last weekend of July on their calendars, as Crucifest comes to Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn on Friday, July 26th! A spiritual successor to the late 2010s Oh!No festivals at the same locale (not to mention the technically private Bear Hunters reunion event there last July), Crucifest is brought to us by new local promoters Deciduous Events & Decor (a.k.a. D.E.A.D. and formerly Events By Vann), a decor company that launched in 2022 and has worked for clients from Southern Ontario to our neck of the woods. They have recently decided to branch out into promoting their own events, with Crucifest being their first proper concert that I'm aware of. It'll be interesting to see how well this does, and if it leads to more from Courtney & Jessica in a local concert environment! While more acts are allegedly to be announced, nine bands are already signed, including five touring acts!

Perhaps owing to the long pandemic-affected gap since we had a regular local extreme metal promoter here, all five touring bands will be making their local debuts at Crucifest. Given how local bands are mixed in, I'm unsure if the poster layout is indicative of the performance order, but the five out-of-town bands are Toronto deathcore quartet Beguiler, Ottawa death metal quintet Salem Trials, Peterborough "beatdown/core" quartet Seagrave, Sudbury hardcore band Drugwolf, and newer Kitchener metalcore band Dead Roots. There's a lot of ground to cover between these bands, but there's lots of talent and brutality within, so give all five a listen to prepare yourself for the metal attack in two months! Of the four local bands, two will be familiar to 2020s concert goers, including punk/thrash trio Hails (who played at The Bear Hunters' private event in Leeburn last year) and young metal trio The BAG in (I believe) their first show outside of city limits.

Also playing at Crucifest are local death/thrash metal band Pillory in their first announced public concert in almost five years! Fans/friends may recall seeing occasional social media teasers and false starts towards Pillory resuming as a live act (they were even briefly advertised for The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last year), but it looks like they are definitely back now! As you may recall, Pillory were originally active off & on from 2012-2019, and they still feature frontman Robert Sartini (recently of Pointless and All Over The Map) on vocals & guitar alongside ex-Lazer Queen/Issues drummer Bret Shuttleworth. No word on their current bassist, but Blair St. John filled in for their last few late 2010s sets. In the past year, Bret has posted dozens of solo drumming videos to his YouTube channel (look at his setup!), and a handful of videos were uploaded two months ago of him and Robert playing some metal covers.

These include bass-less renditions of Sepultura's "Territory",  Megadeth's "Youthanasia", and as embedded below, Pantera's "Use My Third Arm". Sounds good and faithful to me, but these are not technical death metal songs, as we were hearing from Pillory in the mid-late 2010s. Is this a sign of a shift to their earlier sound or just them jamming some covers? In any event, it's great to see Robert and Bret back at it, and don't bypass Bret's ample solo drumming videos too, as he's got serious chops (with that kit, he'd have to!). Pillory are back in our active band links, and check out theirs & Bret's new videos above and below!

The other band playing at Crucifest (so far) are a debuting local metal band named The Sault Side Squad, and while they currently lack social media pages or videos, their lineup is full of familiar faces! I can confirm that they feature ex-As It Stands singer Justin "Nadj" Pregent, A Dire Setback guitarist Chris Nielsen, former Jack Spades/Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti, Skinbox/Stoned To Deaf alum Jordan Wardlaw on bass, and Anthony's old Winkstinger bandmate Jonas Gasperas on drums. We await further specifics, but given Justin's past vocal style (his recent rap career aside), I'd expect The Sault Side Squad to have hardcore influences. Very impressive lineup, and it'll be interesting to hear how The S.S.S. do in July and beyond! The listed times for Crucifest on the Eventbrite ticket sale page are 8:00 PM-2:00 AM, but there are separate tickets for Saturday, July 27th on sale for the same price as Friday alone.

The listed times imply that bands will only be playing on the 26th, which is how we're currently treating it, but if D.E.A.D. confirm that the lineup is split up with bands on Saturday the 27th too, we will let you know (the Saturday pass may only be for campers' benefit). In any event, tickets cost $25 per day and $45 for both days plus, and there are no advertised cover charges, so click here to buy yours! In what's shaping up to be a big year for summer camping-encouraged concert festivals, Crucifest will deliver the goods for fans who've found extreme metal to be lacking in the Soo as of late, so definitely visit the above links for complete details on what's going on 53 minutes east of the Soo at 5756 Highway 638, and we'll have more on another Leeburn-bound concert festival tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Peril, Tarnished, Rhythm & Brews, And Hails!!)

Let's dive into some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE) on this Sunday morning, mostly in Sault Michigan and the E.U.P., so here's what you should know!

Local metal/hard rock band Tarnished will play an acoustic matinee concert at Biggby Coffee THIS MORNING?! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this show via their Facebook page last night. While this gig may seem abnormal for some readers (Biggby is effectively Sault Michigan's answer to Tim Hortons), TODAY'S show is a return to Alex Traynor & Josh Fair's roots in this band, as Tarnished effectively started off in mid-2019 as a duo playing a weekly Thursday arrangement at the chain coffee shop, a series that continued off and on until the pandemic began in March 2020. The timing of TODAY'S concert leads me to wonder if there's a special event or occasion to warrant the booking, but I have not seen any confirmation of one on the band's or Biggby's end (maybe Cinco De Mayo?). At least they announced this concert in advance, unlike their acoustic Art Center gig that they played last month!

TODAY'S show takes place at the unusually early start time of 10:30 AM, but Tarnished's past Biggby shows (and Alex's prior solo dates there) usually started at 12:00 PM. No cover charge or age limit, but if the format is similar to 2019-20, Alex & Josh would be playing for "tips and coffee". Biggby is still located at 2502 Ashmun Street, near Goodwill and Bins Ahoy. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Alex and Josh (with much shorter hair) at Biggby Coffee five years ago!

Next up, Kewadin Casino have announced their concert slates for this month and next month at the Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace branches via their respective entertainment pages, which is a nice change of pace from their recent month-by-month schedule postings! The bands playing at both locations are largely not hard rock/metal-centric from what I have seen, but not counting this weekend's Fyrbird shows in the Soo, two heavier bands are coming to the regional branches in the next two months, starting with Traverse City metal trio Peril, who will return to The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace for shows on May 24th & 25th (yes, Memorial Day weekend) before returning on June 28th & 29th! This will mean that Peril have played in the E.U.P. for three straight months, following shows that I regrettably missed in this past weekend's concert previews, as they rocked The Rapids Lounge in the Soo this past weekend.

I'm not sure if these were late notice bookings or not, but when I last checked Kewadin's entertainment page for April shows, Peril were definitely not listed, so something went awry. I profusely apologize for missing Peril's Sault Ste. Marie dates on April 26th & 27th, but hopefully Jeff, Adam, and Brooks rocked the house on both nights! We definitely haven't missed Peril's next two weekends though, so if you're in St. Ignace/Mackinac County or are up for the hour's drive south, don't miss their old school hard rocking covers then! These shows (and last week's) are/were 9:00 PM events with 21+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and apologies again for missing last week's shows!

Before finishing up the Kewadin announcements, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where local skate punk trio Hails will headline at The Distraction on Sunday, May 19th! No word on if there's a significance to the date beyond taking place on the Victoria Day long weekend, but it does mirror their Sunday headline concert at the East Street barbershop-turned-concert venue in mid-March. This will be Ha!ls' first local concert since their Bay City, Michigan road trip last month, and if you want an excuse to get out and enjoy some ripping punk originals, you know where to go in two weeks! Like the March show, a solo artist will open for Hails here, but taking over for DJ Seith then is prolific local folk punk/extreme metal singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore in an increasingly rare live set. Good to see him back out there, and he should display his considerable guitar talents!

Note that the poster is likely just playing off Hails and "tales" rhyming, I don't believe they've changed their name to Hails From The Crypt. As usual for The Distraction, this is an all ages show with an 8:00 PM start time, and admission is on a "$5 or pay what you can" model. Visit the Facebook event page for more details on what should be a fun time for punk fans!

Lastly, the other new Kewadin Casino shows from a definitely hard rock-leaning band will come on Friday, May 31st and Saturday, June 1st, when Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews return to The Rapids Lounge in the Soo! Last seen (as far as publically acknowledged shows go, at least) at the same locale over the I-500 weekend in February, readers and local music fans will more recently recognize guitarist Chris Hubbard sitting in on drums with the aforementioned Tarnished in some jam session clips. Assuming that we haven't missed shows that the band didn't publically advertise on social media, it will be good to see Brandon, the Chris', and Ron back at it at month's end (and beginning), so don't miss out on their own hard rocking cover slate! Like with Peril, these are 21+ & 9:00 PM gigs with no cover charge. See above for more details, and stay tuned for a big Kewadin show announcement on May 13th (teasers here!)

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