LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Write-Ups), Mammoth Concert Updates, And More!!

For this Tuesday night post, we're mostly looking at Sault Michigan updates, including a new video interview and updates relating to a big upcoming concert and some more assorted notes, but we'll start in Sault Ontario with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this spring!

Ska punk fans will want to circle Friday, May 1st on your calendars, as Flint, Michigan ska-punk band The Write-Ups will make their local concert debut that night at The Speak Easy at Algoma University! Not the first time that we've seen an touring punk band from the USA cross the border for a show here (promoter Mikhal Muto brought a handful of Michigan folk punk bands here last year), but The Write-Ups deliver a suitably bouncy brand of ska punk fuelled with politicially charged and social cause-driven lyrics, and (as you'd hope) a horn section, so they should whet the appetites of subgenre fans! Fittingly, the local openers are newer ska punk trio A.S.D.P. (who Mikhal is the frontman of), and while they don't play live super regularly, expect some fun cuts from their debut EP "Atom Bombs & Lemonade" to kick things off! This is the first concert to cross our radar at The Speak Easy since another touring political punk band (Quit It!) played there in October.

Put on by Mikhal's new agency Underground Events SSM, this will be an all ages concert with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and admission will be $15 at the door or $10 for current Algoma University students with valid student ID (I have not seen any reference to advance tickets being sold online or in person). This should be a fun way to kick off the merry merry month of May, so visit the above links for more details on this concert!

Next up, here's some cool promotion for this Saturday's Mammoth concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino that I wanted to address without clogging up our next round of weekend concert previews. As some of you may have heard live, Rock 101's Scott Cook interviewed frontman Wolfgang Van Halen on air on his weekday morning drive show Scott Cook In The Morning on March 6th! This is far from a unique occasion, but it's rare when The Sault's Rock Station posts interviews to check out on demand on social media, so kudos to Scott for conducting this and uploading it to Rock 101's Facebook page. The 11+ minute Zoom interview features Scott asking Wolf about how Mammoth's current tour is going, seeing him live out of town with both Mammoth and Van Halen, his family ties (including his uncle in Charlevoix), his uncle Alex Van Halen's current album plans...

...how he handles recording everything on Mammoth albums vs. playing the songs live with a band, their recent Billboard rock chart success, the inspirations of his song lyrics, and what to expect at the concert on Saturday, plus some more casual conversation. Pretty good interview with loose and friendly banter, and Wolfgang came off well here, so this is good hype for the big show in four days' time! Give it a watch below, especially if you missed the live airing of the interview on 101.3 FM!

I did want to note before we move on that promoters Allstar Promotions briefly had a post on Facebook last week indicating that this may be their final major show at The Dreammakers Theatre due to the costs of putting these shows on, coupled with how ticket sales had been going, but when I went back to their Facebook page to source from it, I couldn't find the post. I assume they took it down, but whether they're reassessing what was said (if not just the tone of it), I don't know. Putting on concerts of this scale isn't cheap, and for modern hard rock, Allstar Promotions are by far the biggest facilitator for bringing said bands here, so regardless of if they plan to put on shows beyond Mammoth or not, I do thank Dave & crew for all they have done over the past decade & a half! If you are curious, center section seats for Saturday night's concert are sold out, but there are still left/right section seats available from the sixth-tenth row ($54.50) and in further rows ($44.50) at this link, in person, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. Stay tuned for our full preview in a few days!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

 

• I have regrettably removed the recently disbanded Double Down from our inactive Sault Ontario band links due to the recent deletion of both of their Facebook pages, which were their only online pages. It's never ideal when bands take down their pages after breaking up, as it pulls any official public content and media there offline for everyone, but alas, what can I do? I can only hope that the classic/hard rock cover band's breakup was more amicable than the sudden nature and social media exodus may indicate, and that we see everyone in new bands in due course!
• If you noticed that defunct Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Double Jack (better known as Exit 808) are listed on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page as playing at The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace on April 3rd & 4th, that is assuredly an old booking from before their early 2024 name change, and not even the first time that the St. Ignace Kewadin listed a "Double Jack" booking there after their breakup, as they previously did so in December too. This is good proof that some venues can and do book bands for lengthy periods in advance, but hopefully Kewadin gets an active band to fill in over the Easter long weekend!
• Local hard rock cover band Unfortunate Sun teased in their new cover photo on their Facebook page that they may be dropping "Sun" from their band name, and while most of the comments were jokey, this would be a way to signal a fresh start following singer Skip Parish's departure from the band earlier this month. Unfortunate (Sun?) haven't made a formal statement otherwise, but their lineup listed there now credits Jody, Brett, and Jason as all providing vocals. Time will tell if they're all indeed splitting those duties going forward or not, but we'll keep you posted!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for news, features, and previews ahead! Thanks everyone!

The Demon King/Sentiment Dissolve Concert Preview, Plus Convergence Updates!!

Today's post heavily circles around a big metal show tomorrow night that we're previewing to lead off with, and one of the opening bands has a lot going on to talk about afterwards. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with a special Tuesday night concert preview, as three touring death metal bands from three different countries will descend upon Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! The bands in question are Nashville-based death metal quartet Demon King (not Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King), London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub in May 2025), and Norwegian tech death metal quintet Celestial Scourge. Quite a feast of brutality is incoming for local metalheads tomorrow, so if you just miss original touring death metal, give all three bands a listen to see what you think, and hopefully you can swing coming out on a work/school night! Your local support bands tomorrow are death/thrash metal trio Pillory (who opened last year's Sentiment Dissolve show) and progressive metalcore quartet Convergence, both in their first concert of 2026.

Both should get faces melting early, and we'll have more from Convergence in a second! Promoted by Mikhal Muto's Underground Events SSM, tomorrow's show is an all ages affair at 7:00 PM, and tickets cost $15 in advance through the local openers, at Soo Blaster, or online at this link (the door charge jumps to $25). If you can make it for this one, you'll be in for a crushing night of metal, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Demon King live a few months back!

Next up, here's the latest from the aforementioned Convergence, who surprised fans by releasing the second advance single from their upcoming album on "all streaming platforms" this past Wednesday! Of course, "all" platforms is impossible to guarantee, but it's in the usual places and in a few you may not think of first, including Bandcamp. The song in question is "Gemini", which was once planned to be the title track for their third EP dating back to February 2024, but as you know, the band wiped most of their back catalog as an instrumental duo and have been reworking some of their older material for their next album. Of note, you can still hear their 2022 debut EP "One" on Bandcamp, albeit with new cover artwork, but there's no sign of their follow-up "Dead & Dreaming" there, implying that the songs from that EP will at least partially resurface with vocals ("The Ebb" already did, after all).

The Bandcamp postings for both "The Ebb" and "Gemini" glean some more info on both songs, including full lyrics, the inspiration behind both, and confirming that Swedish musician Adam Roxner is mastering the album. While I always found it odd that "Gemini" was going to be the name of their unfinished third EP, Convergence explained that the name was influenced by how it started production when they were still just a studio metal duo (and that "it also just sounds cool"). To promote the song's release, guitarist Brendan Christie was actually interviewed by 104.3 The Fox midday DJ Zenga McCurdy on Friday, and the band helpfully posted the interview to their YouTube channel over the weekend. Neat to see Zenga promoting and talking to an original local rock band! I don't recall Dan or Mitch doing something similar when they were on the former Q104. What all does Brendan talk about and reveal in this 6 minute interview?

Zenga asks about Convergence's sound and influences, what you can expect from tomorrow's Demon King concert, how to buy tickets, how Sault Ste. Marie locals have taken to Convergence since launching, the album plans, and what to expect from their stage show. Of note, Convergence plan to release two more advance singles "in the next couple of months" before the full album comes out, and he did confirm that the album will have more songs that predate Stephen & David's additions to their lineup. Good stuff that helps sell the band well to Fox listeners, and Zenga came off well when asking questions, so give the whole interview a listen above! A guitar playthrough video featuring 33 seconds of the song was also posted to the band's Facebook page, complete with tabs, but I'll embed the full song here via Convergence's official lyric video on YouTube, also featuring some space imagery behind the lyrics.

Pending our eventual review of the album, I'll hold comment on "Gemini" for now, but everything is very well produced and put together so far, so give the lyric video a watch below, and check out much more from Convergence at the above links (and don't miss their first show of the year tomorrow night!)

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes as this week rolls along! Thanks everyone!

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates From Late February 2026!!

Let's play catch-up with St. Ignace, Michigan deathcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown on this Sunday afternoon, so what have the guys been up to over the past month+? While we left off with their new bassist reveal on February 16th, we actually skipped over a big teaser from three days prior, namely a new single of theirs named "Rewind" that was being uploaded (via Distrokid) to major streaming platforms. Why they didn't delay the "Notions" release a couple of weeks to include this song, I don't know, but it officially premiered publically on February 20th. The band shared a preview of the song with this 15 second clip of them jamming, and while it is in black & white and not visibly synced with "Rewind", it is notable as the first public video featuring new bassist Bubba Hillz (who still hasn't been acknowledged by name that I have seen). It's high quality video, why not post more of it?

As "Rewind" isn't (yet?) guaranteed to be on an upcoming album or EP, I'll give it a quick review, and it definitely signals H.L.T.C. getting heavier and crunchier with djentier riffs and more death growling, and it's a tight package overall that also really gives the drumming some space to show off (granted, I am not 100% certain on who is drumming here, given that Brandon, Jaxon, and Blaze can all drum). A guitar solo might have broken things up a little, but if you like how their music has been drifting in recent months, you'll wanna check "Rewind" out below or at the usual streaming haunts!

On February 20th, Heavy Lies The Crown revealed that they will take part in the Influence The Crown tour in late April & early May alongside their friends in Detroit alt-metal band Influence, who you may recognize as playing at Brandon's birthday concert in St. Ignace this past August. Arguably the widest scale tour that Heavy have undertaken yet (complete with rare gigs out of state), the roughly clockwise routing will start in the Lower Peninsula with shows in Eaton Township and Taylor on April 24th & 25th, followed by gigs in Lima, Ohio and Bedford Park, Illinois. They end April with two shows in Wisconsin before returning to The Delft Theater in Escanaba on May 1st. This U.P. gig actually won't be the closest stop on this tour for the guys, as the route ends at The Jordan Inn in East Jordan outside of Charlevoix (2 hours south of the Soo) on May 3rd, so keep that close-ish concert in mind if you wanna see the current lineup, at least before August! 

Around that same time, H.L.T.C. launched their official Instagram page, and in an exclusive upload there that is not on Facebook, they posted this video on February 21st of them at a jam space, giving us our most substantial look at the band's current lineup on video yet. Uniquely filmed from a high vantage point above Blaze's drum kit (yes, it's vertical, but it's quite an angle!), the pink lighting is a little strong, but you can't fault them for giving this a distinct angle and viewpoint! If you want a more natural (if still vertical) look at this jam, this Facebook video has a 10 second snippet from that day. I stress that the Instagram video is a "look" because the video is synced to the studio version of their older original song "Friend", and there are points that don't line up with the song. Still, for how this video is shot, don't bypass it, so give it a watch below, and follow them on Instagram above!

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A post shared by Heavy Lies The Crown (@heavyliesthecrownmi)

As they have done occasionally in the past, Heavy Lies The Crown tried their hand at a contest of sorts to get named as openers for a big Michigan metal concert asking for submissions, this time the Arankai concert in Grand Rapids on June 5th. Submissions are ongoing, so head to Opnr to join their "Fan-Claim" to get on this bill! Surprisingly, it took this long into an H.L.T.C. post to address a vertical update video from frontman Brandon West, who posted this clip onto their Facebook page on February 27th to talk about the aforementioned "Rewind", so what did he reveal? After noting that it was "kind of a dud, it seems like" (I assume he's referencing its streaming counts so far), he reveals that his daughter Valkyrie helped co-write the song and appears as a backing vocalist on the choruses. I didn't pick up on that when first listening, but it is neat that father and daughter worked on a song together like this!

To close, we have one more new video from the band's Facebook page, this time from their show at The Sanctuary in Hamtramck (outside of Detroit) in November of last year, which was their penultimate gig with drummer/guitarist Kaycee Mason and brief fill-in bassist Rob Vandewiele. Purportedly one of "a lot of clips (that) we just haven't been posting" that was shot by an unidentified member of Influence, the video uniquely sees Brandon sitting beside Kaycee and letting him sing part of this song while drumming, before Brandon heads back to the front of the stage to rock out. Only 55 seconds long, but well shot with some neat looks at the stage and audience, so check this video out for yourselves below!

That's all for now, but we'll pick things back up with Heavy with their activity and touring this month, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Five Dollar Bribe), Info On This New Local Band, And More!!

Here's a post for your Saturday night reading that didn't start off being so centered around one topic, but one thing led to another, so before we look at a note on a likely inactive local band, we'll swing the other way with a new group and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning their first show next month, so here's what you should know about them so far!

New local hard rock quartet Five Dollar Bribe will make their public concert debut on Saturday, April 4th at Beck's Bar! Announced via this Facebook event page and plugged on local promoters Underground Events SSM's Facebook page, this event will actually be in the 3:00 PM Saturday matinee slot that Beck's usually reserves for acoustic acts, but I don't know if this is due to members' ages/inexperience or a sign that the former Vibe Lounge is trying out electric bands in the early timeframe. As best as I can tell, Five Dollar Bribe are made up of teenage musicians who I don't recognize from prior local bands, and their lineup includes singer/bassist Randy Lundigran, singer/guitarist Jayce Albury, guitarist Tyler Greely, and drummer Chase Chapman. They don't (yet?) have a Facebook page that I am aware of, but they do have pages on Instagram and TikTok!

Instagram is way too limiting for me to link to bands on there for the SMS, and TikTok is video-only, but I will absolutely add Five Dollar Bribe to our links if they get a more feature-rich band page or website! Described as "the greatest cover band ever" on Instagram, they have posted twelve videos to TikTok that were mostly cross-posted to Instagram, though some videos on the latter are muted for one reason or another. Covers so far include an acoustic rendition of Alice In Chains' "Nutshell" by Jayce, a partial cover of My Bloody Valentine's "When You Sleep" by Tyler, an outdoor acoustic two man cover of Title Fight's "Shed", and three full band performances. These include Title Fight's "Numb, But I Still Feel It", Hum's "Stars" (complete with helmets and masks for all), and The Stone Temple Pilots' "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart". Randy sings on the latter two covers, with Jayce doing Title Fight.

The above poster points to acts from Ozzy Osbourne and Pink Floyd to System Of A Down and Weezer in their planned set, but let's be real here: What local bands (of any age) are covering Title Fight and Hum, let alone Dinosaur Jr.? Picking bands like that will give them a lot of attention locally alone, but they do show talent in their videos so far, and a sense of humour! They have also not been averse to comedic videos, including this "guess who the drummer is" challenge where you can see the whole band trying to drum, two very different attempts at playing Green Day's "Brain Stew", and a couple of other non-musical videos that lean into TikTok (and yes, most of these videos are vertical, but you know my gripes about that by now). I wanna see/hear more from them, especially fuller videos of heavier covers, but Five Dollar Bribe are off to a good start, and encouraging young talent locally is important!

Their debut over the Easter long weekend goes down on Saturday the 4th at 3:00 PM (no word yet as to who is playing the nightcap at Beck's) with a presumed 19+ age limit for general attendees and no announced cover charge.  See above for much more on Five Dollar Bribe in advance of their debut in two weeks, and as it's the only one of the three full-band videos on Instagram that isn't muted (I can't embed TikTok videos here, I have tried), here's their cover of "Numb, But I Still Feel It"!

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Finally for today, we have a band to move to our inactive band links (perhaps belatedly), namely Sault Michigan hard rock cover quartet Rhythm & Brews. While we're not technically at our one year threshold for a band's inactivity, that may be not be their own doing, as Kewadin Casino briefly listed this band as playing at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie over the May 17th weekend of last year on their entertainment page. The shows actually ended up going to classic/hard rock quartet Tarnished (who added Rhythm & Brews bandmates Chris Leask and Ron Suchey in 2024), so this is increasingly looking like either a mistake on the casino's end or Tarnished taking over scheduled Rhythm & Brews dates there. Rhythm & Brews had (more or less) succeeded guitarist Chris Hubbard's old cover rock band 415E in 2021, and reunited him with his old Nixxon Dixxon bandmate Brandon Carr on vocals.

While as averse to posting videos online as most of Chris H.'s prior bands were, Rhythm & Brews had been a fan favourite sight at regional venues from 2021-2024, often aided by amusing Photoshopped band pictures, though social media postings from the band ceased by October 2023. They had a very talented lineup, and hopefully we see Brandon and Chris H. in a new band down the road, but don't miss Chris L. & Ron in Tarnished, or ex-bassist Brett Blackwood in Unfortunate Sun! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck) & This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

This is a quieter weekend for hard rock-leaning concerts, so let's lead off this preview post with a couple of notes for events this weekend that glanced our radar. If you follow veteran country cover band Tex Riviera & The Ride, you may be aware that they're in the midst of their "Dale Corcoran Appreciation Tour" in memory of the recently passed local musician, who played with Tex in the 1990s country rock band The Hillbilly Heartbreakers. Songs played with Dale and stories about Dale have been shared and will continue to be, but tomorrow & Saturday's Ride concerts at Jay's Piston Broke Pub will feature a one-off (two-off?) reunion of The Hillbilly Heartbreakers, with guitarist Tim Laplante, drummer Jeff Pennett, and saxophonist Risk Wysynski joining in. Tex did note that The Heartbreakers "were the first who managed to get away with playing Motorhead & (Merle) Haggard in the same night", so who knows what you'll hear from The Ride and gang this weekend!

The other SMS-adjacent event this weekend will be the first ever "big three" emo night at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on Saturday night! The big three being My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At The Disco. Of course, this era of emo and pop punk are very intertwined, and while this isn't a concert, the TVs will be playing music videos by emo bands (especially ones from the 2000s), and Tattoo Tearz will be offering flash tattoos. No word on if you'll hear songs from local emo/post-hardcore bands of the era like The Crossed, Fuller, or A Fall From Innocence in the rotation, but see above for more on this event if you're curious!

Now to our known hard rock concert previews, and we'll start with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will rock Reggie's Place TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were first announced via the venue's Facebook page on Sunday, though note that the band has not corroborated these bookings on social media at press time. Last seen at The Esquire Club three weeks ago (unless that reported Tap Room show last week actually took place despite a lack of public promotion), TOMORROW & SATURDAY's concerts will be Soundcheck's first at Reggie's since their revival and since Travis and Johnny joined the band's new lineup. If you missed Travis' original run with Soundcheck and/or just wanna rock out with this talented veteran group, head downtown!

All of the action goes down TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more on Soundcheck's first Reggie's stops of 2026, and here they are live!

Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan, where Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm will end their schedule for the first quarter of 2026 by rocking The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! After a busy start of the year that saw them and sister band Peril play three combined weekends at the Soo and St. Ignace Kewadin branches, tomorrow & Saturday's shows mark Scarkazm's first in the E.U.P. since they last rocked The Rapids Lounge at the end of January. Scarkazm always deliver a fun mix of hard hitting crowd favourites and select originals, and hopefully Adam, Dave, and Jeff keep their momentum rolling in their latest local stops this weekend! If you can't make it, the guys will be back at the St. Ignace Kewadin in just over a month. Tomorrow & Saturday's concerts are 21+ affairs with no cover charges and 9:00 PM start times. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's Scarkazm live!

Finally for known/advertised hard rock-leaning shows in the area this weekend, we will head back to Sault Ontario, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will set up shop on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Kiln at Searchmont Resort! Note however that Searchmont have yet to corroborate this booking on social media (they often don't). Temperatures are expected to warm up this weekend, but regardless, the music should be cooking inside the ski resort from this experienced veteran quartet! Generations had previously had a Saturday nighter at The Kiln on February 21st called off due to "a booking error", so this will be their first show at Searchmont since late January. If you're up for the drive or are hitting the slopes already, don't miss Valerie, Joe, Pierre, and Tony's latest classic rock blast on Saturday! This is a 19+ show at 8:00 PM with no cover. See above for more details, and here's Generations live! 

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

Handsome Sandwich - "Collage" EP Review!!

It's time for our 201st monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and next up in our deep backlog of new album releases dating to last fall is local alternative/hard rock band Handsome Sandwich's second album "Collage"! Suddenly released to major streaming services on September 26th under the Sonic Sunshine imprint (and with much less fanfare than 2023's "Deconstructed" got), this EP has been in the cards since even before their debut album's release party, with sessions held at the Algoma Conservatory Of Music in late 2023 and early 2024. Handsome Sandwich are again represented here by singer Taylor "Tea" Emlaw, guitarists Jesse Cook and Mitch Sirie, and drummer Johnny Belanger, while bassist Rafael Medina made his studio debut with the band here after only contributing to the packaging on "Deconstructed", which Mitch played bass on. Former guitarist Brandon Ruch (who replaced Mitch in the band circa February 2024 and also left by early last year) worked on "Collage" as a recording engineer.

You can stream this EP on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Tidal, Boomplay, Anghami, and BeMusic, and you can buy it in mp3 format on iTunes for $6.93. Unlike "Deconstructed", this album is not on Bandcamp, and nothing has been publically announced about physical copies (though note that the band has not played live since July of last year). With seven songs running for about 26 minutes, let's enjoy another sandwich!

"Collage" opens with "Unhappy", an upbeat rocker that opens with a catchy guitar line and has a somewhat punkier overall structure. Taylor's distinctively cutting vocals help set Handsome Sandwich apart, but the verses here are talkier than the chorus. We do get a brief guitar solo, which lets Jesse (I assume) show his skills well, and this song plays well into everyone's musical strengths, including solid bass from Rafael in his first studio track with the band. I'd have had more singing in the verses, but I'm not "unhappy" with how the EP is starting! Next up is "No Idea", which has a lighter structure driven by Rafael's bass and much softer guitar work, though things stay at brisk power poppy pace. Tea's vocals suit the song's melody, but by contrast, the guitar solo actually feels out of place and too raucous compared to everything around it. Nice little melodic number for what it is, though I'd like a little more of a steady edge like we saw on the opener.

The shortest song on offer is next, namely "Party Fuel", and they lean into the title well with a smooth,  dancy rhythm on this song, including catchy and melodic guitar work, and another strong bass intro, though the guitar solo is way too short here. Confident vocals and a fun rhythm section add up well to an early album highlight, even if there are much heavier songs in Handsome Sandwich's catalog! Though he had guested on this song live in the past, saxophonist Josh Norling does not appear here. Fourth on the album is the slightly longer "Without You", a softer jam that is really driven by Taylor's vocals more than anything (as a pure showcase of her range, this is the best one yet), but Jesse and Mitch do get some room to show off in the background. The overall music is very pleasant but it's mostly just there without doing a lot to stand out, and the ending fades out way too early.

Definitely not a favourite song on the album for me, but not badly composed, and the vocals keep things on an upbeat path! Track #5 is "Carousel", a more dynamic and emotional number with pointed metaphorical lyrics (this carousel is definitely not at the fair), and this feels like more of an intentionally structured rock song with a darker essence, and that contrasts well with Tea's sharp vocals, which don't sound as dark as the lyrics would imply. Solid track across the board, with good percussion and the return of a guitar solo (if another short one), so don't bypass it! The penultimate song here is also the EP's longest, namely "Change A Bit", which is a slower and more deliberately paced song that does ramp up the rock aspect on the choruses. The lyrics feel very direct and personal, but the song proper doesn't have the melodic energy to it beyond short guitar solos and Taylor's more impassioned chorus singing.

Not a bad song, but the verses did feel a little lifeless despite the nature of the vocals. "Collage" fittingly closes with "All Done Now." (yes, the period is in the title), and this is arguably the most consistently rock-based song on the EP since the opener. Bouncy guitar work, more steadily intense vocals (about the end of a romantic relationship), and a strong bass line add up well here, so if you like some rock in your sandwich, this is a fitting way to say that the EP is, in fact, all done now! 

So, how do I grade Handsome Sandwich's second album? Not perfect (granted, neither was "Deconstructed"), but they fit a lot of styles and sounds to appeal to many fans! If you came for upbeat edgy rock, "Collage" is bookended well, with the middle songs seeing them stretch into dancier, power pop, and softer territory (plus a dark "Carousel" ride), though I did sense less of a progressive or jazz bent here. Tea's unique, sharp vocal style continues to set them apart, the dual guitar work from Mitch and Jesse let them show their influences well, Rafael made a good impression on bass, and Johnny's drumming was reliable as you'd expect. I did appreciate that the guys dialed back on abrupt song endings here ("Without You" maybe went too far in that regard), and songs did have more varied lyrics, but of course, I would have liked a little more hard rock. Still, it's an eclectic EP with a lot to like!

The abrupt drop of "Collage" on streaming without any pre-release hype last fall, coupled with the band playing only two shows last year (both as a four-piece) doesn't paint the most optimistic picture in terms of their future, not to mention that they haven't made any public updates since its release. Hopefully they aren't indeed "all done now", as "Collage" is a varied but high quality EP that fans of Handsome Sandwich will enjoy, and you can check it out for yourself at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and next month in this series, our backlog marches on when we look at The Realignment Project's third EP "War Songs", so look for that in April, and for weekend concert previews on the SMS next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bone Yard 225), A Surprise Band Breakup, And More Recent Updates!!

Before we begin this post, we have a concert cancellation to take note of, as Barrie-based AC/DC tribute band Hells Bells are no longer headlining at the Sault Community Theatre Centre on April 10th "due to unforeseen circumstances", as per the S.C.T.C.'s Facebook page on March 4th. No word on if low ticket sales are those circumstances, but the White Pines theater was a big jump from their 2010s nightclub gigs here. Hopefully Hells Bells try again here down the road! Refunds for tickets already bought are available at point of purchase. Now, here's some updates on a local musician's newest studio material, fallout from a big recent show, a surprise band breakup, and leading off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will go "uncorked" for a special St. Patrick's Day concert TOMORROW NIGHT at... Smitty's?! Apologies for the short notice, this concert was first announced on the band's Facebook page on Friday, March 6th, but I didn't hear about it until last week. Yes, the new chain restaurant in the former Aurora's/Thali building at 384 McNabb Street will be hosting a live band, which is surprising in & of itself, but this won't be the first concert held there, as Smokehouse frontman Michael Yurich was booked there last month. While that show was electric, Bone Yard's debut there TOMORROW will not be, a'la their Water Tower Pub, Gateway Casino, and Beck's matinee gigs. With St. Patrick's Day being on a Tuesday this year, fewer bars are hosting live bands on the actual day, so if you want to wear your best green attire and drink some green beer with some ("uncorked") hard rock, come to Smitty's TOMORROW! The weather will be better!

Beyond your local 225's presence and the sale of adult beverages (including green beer), there will reportedly be some level of giveaways for the occasion. TOMORROW'S central concert takes place at an early 6:00-10:00 PM timeslot, there's no cover, and as that this is Smitty's Family Restaurant, I don't believe there is an age limit, but use common sense given the seasonality. Visit the above links for more on TOMORROW'S luck of the Irish, and for a preview, here's Greg, Alex, and Warren live!

Next up, here's some very surprising news that broke yesterday, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down have announced that they are disbanding, as per their Facebook page. A reason for the decision was not announced, other than to say that "it was definitely not easy" and that "we cannot carry on as (Double Down) without any one of us", though I will note that they did survive two lineup replacements and Dan's 6 month absence already. They did apologize to local venues for having to cancel scheduled bookings, including March 28th at The Water Tower Pub, which is the only one that had been publically announced at press time. A staple of the bar cover circuit since their live debut in April 2023, Double Down memorably played at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2023 & 2024 (closing the latter year), and they were known for their guest-friendly and Cancon-laden live sets.

Double Down had just played shows on Friday and Saturday at Jay's Piston Broke Pub alongside guest singer Jack Alisat, which makes things even more surprising (I even saw personal Facebook posts implying that she could be joining the band), but I hope things are amicable regardless of what exactly was discussed this weekend. They were a talented band regardless of lineup, and a welcome sight over the past three years, and hopefully we hear more from Joel, Beej, Dan, Ric, Adam, and Brad in the future!

Also today, have you been wondering where videos from last month's Trews concert at The Machine Shop have been? Honestly, I haven't found any public videos from the concert yet, but some media surrounding it has surfaced! Longtime SooToday contributor Donna Hopper returned to cover the show for this article, which features 20 colour photos from February 25th, including 13 of the headlining Nova Scotia hard rock band and 7 of openers Eddy & The Dirty Boys. Donna noted that The Trews' tour bus broke down in Dryden between dates, and that they endured highway closures due to inclement weather (readers of this post on March 16th may relate to that!) before finally making it to the Soo on schedule, and she also revealed a selection of the songs played by The Trews three weeks ago. Solid work with some predictably strong pictures, so give everything a look at this link!

While I have yet to find public videos from the show itself, Trews frontman Colin MacDonald was interviewed earlier that day from the Soo for the news piece below that aired on CTV News Northern Ontario! Conducted by anchor/former Sault Ste. Marie city councillor Tony Ryma, the interview sees Colin talking about how the tour is going, the tour bus & weather issues, their long work together, and their Ontario connections (two band members are actually from Northern Ontario originally). Effective promotion with a regional bent from the former MCTV, and longer than I assumed, so if you missed the piece on channel 2/11, give it a watch below!

Let's close today with the latest from local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary, so how did 2026 start for him? On February 28th, he revealed on his Facebook page that the first single for his next solo album has been recorded and was in the mixing process at that time. Progress was steady, and he hoped to give details "in the near future". The album proper will have 8 songs touching on a variety of topics, and he is still working with Swedish indie label Rexius Records on the final product. We've heard nothing new since, but Mike did post a new teaser video from the recording sessions on Facebook in December, which features 29 seconds of guitar soloing with orchestral dynamics, as filmed from tracking computer monitors. It is obviously way too soon to comment, but if you liked Mike's heavier sounds, you should take to this sample! Give the new video a watch below, and stay tuned for more Mike when it rolls in!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bush), A New Punk Album Release, And An Unreleased EP!!

Today's post is half devoted to big news from two fronts in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and to a surprise belated album release from some familiar faces in Sault Ontario, but let's start in Michigan with a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the summer concert calendar!

London, England post-grunge/hard rock quartet Bush will make their local concert debut on Saturday, July 18th when they headline an outdoor concert at the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace! The first SMS-amenable outdoor concert at the St. Ignace branch that I am aware of since the late Ace Frehley rocked out there in 2024, Bush have been staples of rock radio for decades thanks to hit songs like "Glycerine", "Machinehead", and "Comedown", and while they're not my favourite 1990s band, it will be neat to see Gavin Rossdale and company in the E.U.P. this summer! Joining the former BushX (ask a Canadian) in four months are Seattle grunge/alternative quartet Candlebox (best known for their hit single "Far Behind") in a regional set six+ years in the making. As you may recall, Candlebox were slated to headline at The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin in April 2020 before the first pandemic lockdown scrapped it.

You may not consider this to be a makeup date when it's A. as a support band, and B. an hour south of the Soo, but it will be good to finally see Candlebox on a local stage in July! Interestingly presented by Rock 105 & 95.5 and Classic Rock: The Bear in the tip of the mitt rather than Rock 101, tickets go on sale on Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, at the in-person box office, and at 1-800-KEWADIN. Including convenience/handling fees, tickets reportedly start at $96 USD, but remember that this is a large-scale outdoor show, and neither band has been up here before (VIP packages will also be offered). Visit the above links for more details on what should be a huge concert in St. Ignace later this year!

Next up, here's a mild surprise, as inactive local hardcore punk trio The Sole Aggressors have released their self-titled debut album that was teased last year! Given that the band was parting ways with members leaving the area for university, it's understandable that this is unexpected, especially when they never outright said how much work had progressed on the album. "Sole Aggressors" was mixed & mastered by Nicholas "R. Solomon" Sapounas in Detroit, and features cover artwork by regional comic artist Andrew Krahnke (the brother of former Bad Side frontwoman and Yes FM DJ Melissa Krahnke). The album features a whopping 21 songs, including all 18 originals seen in their live concert videos from 2023-2024 alongside three new songs (a self-titled opener, "Napoleon's Bonaparte", and the closer "No Part"). The band claims that the album is on "all platforms", but where is it exactly?

"All platforms" really isn't accurate in this case, as the album is not currently on YouTube Music! You can actually stream "Sole Aggressors" on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and Tidal. In terms of outlets to actually buy the album in mp3 files, iTunes is selling it for $9.99, so it is officially on sale there! It is 100% free to download on Bandcamp though, not even via a "name your price" model. Alas, this adds to our insane backlog of new local metal, hard rock, and punk album releases for our monthly reviews, so I won't be looking at it until the fall, but definitely give this rare example of Sault Michigan punk rock in studio form a listen via the above services!

Finally, as you may recall, mid-late 2010s Sault Ontario funk/hard rock quartet The Elements had been working on a debut EP since at least 2016, and they posted "Need A Friend" from the sessions onto their Facebook page in February 2020. However, the guys never issued another public update, even after the pandemic lockdowns ended. Much to my surprise, the EP was posthumously posted to bassist James White's recording studio White Wreckords' YouTube channel two weeks ago! James appears to be reviving his studio, and he has posted other songs that he has worked on there as well, but The Elements are the only recognizable act off hand. What should you know about this EP as it stands six years later? In upload order, then five songs are "HHH", "Into You", "G20", "Freikorps Ball", and the aforementioned "Need A Friend". No sign of their originals "Liar", "The Rut", or "Riptide", for the record.

I don't know if the songs are presented in their intended track listing order. The Elements are represented here by their 2016-2020 and best known lineup, with James joined by Barbarians/ex-Wyld Stallyns frontman Rob Speers, Handsome Sandwich/ex-Jack Spades guitarist Jesse Cook, and With Gunfire/ex-Winkstinger drummer Jonas Gasperas. Rather than a unified album cover, each song has AI-generated artwork to represent them, which obviously wouldn't have been an option in 2020. Given that this isn't a paid and structured release for major streaming services (yet?), I won't add it to our lengthy local album review backlog, but I'll give some thoughts on what's here, and it's a solid batch of funk/groove metal and hard rock songs that fans of The Elements will want to hear at long last! While unreleased, it is cool to hear Rob and Jonas on completed studio material also, and Rob's distinctively raspy vocals add an effective layer!

Why The Elements broke up (pandemic acknowledged) is not known to me, and it's a shame that this EP never saw its intended release, but kudos to James for finally posting it for everyone to hear! While James isn't in a current band that I'm aware of, everyone else is active musically, and White Wreckords are back in operation, so follow what the guys are up to that way. Give The Elements' unreleased EP a listen above & below, and here's "HHH"!

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