The 2026 Superior Whitefish Festival Battle Of The Bands Review!!

It's been way too long since I've made the point of crossing the border to see and review a concert in Sault Michigan or the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and with last night harbouring the second annual Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands, that seemed like as good a reason as any! I made the half hour drive southwest to Brimley (nice country drive there), and for context, the festival was set up not far down the road from Bay Mills Resort & Casino, and you also passed Pickles Bar & Grill en route. While I didn't take part in the bulk of the non-concert festivities, the layout by the Riverview Park & Campground saw food trucks, vendors, and tents bordering an open area for games and activities to take place. Like last year, bands performed under a large white tent that had room for some attendees to be under in case of inclement weather, though many were happy to sit and watch outside.

Skies were cloudy and overcast all evening, but there was zero precipitation, and temperatures were reasonable. The battle format saw bands play 45 minute sets with 15 minutes for teardown and setup, and all got a "one song left" warning from the sound guys (there was no dedicated battle MC, but there were PA announcements regarding festival events, last call for whitefish meals and drink sales, and the battle awards). The battle was judged, but there was no announcement made concerning judging criteria or who was on the judges panel. Good crowd of people too, and there was a real community/family aspect to who stuck around all night!

The opening set at 7:00 PM went to local southern rock/country duo Blood, Sweat, and Beers, who were playing their first show in 2½ years last night. This is the old/new band from former Fake Chow/Unfortunate Sun singer Skip Parish, who was joined on guitar by his brother Stephen, and their set definitely leaned away from the rock covers from Skip's recent band work. The all-covers set saw them tackle songs by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mellencamp, Deana Carter, The Eagles, Zach Bryan, Eddie Rabbitt, Post Malone, and Steve Earle. I'm not a big southern rock or country guy (let alone The Eagles), and I do think Skip's vocal range suits rock more, but the Parish brothers had a good sound going and a fun camaraderie! I especially liked Stephen's stage presence, coming off amusingly aloof and oblivious to the setlist and what was happening. Nice and casual southern fried unplugged set to lead off!

Second up last night was local punk/hard rock duo About:Blank, who were the only band present with any substantial inclusion of original songs, playing nine of their own tracks here, including "Shedding Skin", "Tread On", "Peaches", and "Run & Hide". A mix of familiar and unfamiliar acts were covered also, including Adult Books, Green Day, Turnstile, and The Orwells. I did see Parker Talentino solo at the LSSU Battle of the Bands in 2024, but in a full band setup (current duo lineup acknowledged), About:Blank delivered a set that had a lot of nods to early 1990s grunge with punk and hardcore influences, including some screaming for effect. He and drummer Kade DesArmo paired well for a chaotic but well composed batch of songs, including when Parker switched to bass for their closer "Unheard" (with its very "Barracuda"-ish riff). Good stuff, and hopefully we hear more from About:Blank before long!

The third band last night was reunited local classic/pop rock cover quartet The Whole Shabang, with singer Candy Fultz and her husband Lawrence (on guitar) back alongside bassist Mitchell Willis. On drums here was Mark Livermore, who was recently seen in The Chris Barker Band. Playing their own first show in two years, The Whole Shabang covered songs by Trick Pony, The Neon Trees, Robert Palmer, Billy Joel, Elle King, The Cranberries, Aretha Franklin, Radiohead, and Gretchen Wilson, for a set that really was a jack of all trades range of covers (dare I say, "the whole shabang"?). There was a hang-up when they restarted "Respect" after Candy got her foot caught in the microphone cord, but they had a fun and lively sound with everyone performing well, and lots of dancers hit the front of the stage, which is quite welcomed! You'd never guess they'd been inactive for as long as they were!

Closing the battle past sunset were The 8th Fire, who are the new local hard rock band from Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich alongside her former Other Guys bandmate Jackie Moon (ex-Exit 808) on drums, plus Proiect 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins on guitar. We'll have more on them in an upcoming post, but they look to be more than just a short term band made for a battle, as there are 8th Fire t-shirts! No word on what the first seven fires were though. Molly actually kicked off the set with an original country song about a perfect boat day with her dad, but the full-band songs were all covers, where they tackled Redbone, The Doobie Brothers, Green Day, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Judas Priest, and Ozzy Osbourne. Joe even took over lead vocals for a cover of Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome", and killed it on guitar, especially on "Mr. Crowley" (including playing behind his head at one point!) If only we had gotten that Project 1327 crossover!

Molly has improved vocally since I last saw her in person at the 2024 LSSU Battle, and while some songs were still out of her range, she adjusted well (and remember, she is fourteen years old). Jackie drummed well with enthusiasm, and Molly's bass work was strong, though Joe did break a guitar string late in "Billie Jean". Not a bad debut set at all, and hopefully we hear more from The 8th Fire before Molly heads back to Interlochen!

After judges' deliberations, the PA announcer revealed the winners of the battle, and the $1,000 first place prize went to.... The Whole Shabang! The 8th Fire debuted with a $750 second place finish, while About:Blank won $500 for third place, and Blood, Sweat, and Beers claimed $250 in fourth place (so everyone got something for showing up). The Whole Shabang also earned the right to play a bonus set (or as the announcer called it, a "jam sesh") in the 11:00 PM hour, but I didn't stay for that, owing to a combo of depleting camera batteries and the half hour drive back to Sault Ontario. I don't know what the judges criteria amounted to for the battle proper, but the order did fall in line with who had the biggest and fullest live band presentations, not to mention the crowd engagement levels. I will say that I don't think originality was supremely high as a criterion for the judges, as About:Blank would have ran away with that.

Still, this was a triumphant return gig for The Whole Shabang (they look ready to play regular shows again instantly), and kudos to everyone for an entertaining night of live music! No word on if the LSSU Battle will return for year #4 this fall or not, we'll keep you posted, but I do need to come across to the EUP for more concerts already! You can check out our photos from last night at this link or at our Facebook page, and here's Blood, Sweat, And Beers covering Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason", About:Blank playing "Dilletante", The Whole Shabang covering The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See" (with flute!), and The 8th Fire covering Hole's "Malibu"!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more on the SMS this week, feature posts and regular news posts alike! Thanks everyone!

The Superior Whitefish Festival Battle Of The Bands Preview!!

Next up as we wind down this weekend's concert previews is a road trip 20 minutes southwest to Brimley, Michigan, where the second annual Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands goes down TOMORROW NIGHT! I completely missed last year's for coverage on here until after the fact, and I'm not letting year #2 slip past me, especially as this is shaping up to be another intriguing event! As you may recall, the Superior Whitefish Festival returned after a decade+ hiatus last year, and they had a battle of the bands to help end the festivities, which was won by Tarnished's then-new and all-original spinoff band Crush. While five acts played last year, only four are doing so tomorrow night, but the prizes are still the same, with a whopping $1,000 going to the first place band, as well as the right to play an encore set at night's end! Second-fourth place will receive $750, $500, and $250 apiece, meaning that everyone gets $250 to just show up. That's not a raw deal!

The Superior Whitefish Festival is brought to you again by the Bay Mills Indian Community, and honours the importance of whitefish in Anishinaabe communities. It will feature whitefish meals alongside with local vendors, family entertainment, competitions, and cultural displays, so visit the official Facebook event page and the host links for non-musical details. Everything goes down tomorrow at 12099 West Lakeshore Drive (near the Riverview Park & Campground), and if the battle is staged similarly to last year, there will be a large tent for bands to play under with space for attendees. Unusually compared to other local battles (even compared to last year) is that competing bands have one hour timeslots, and while I have not seen confirmation as to whether a judges panel, an audience vote, or another method determines the winners, you will have ample time to assess!

The Bay Mills Indians Community Tribal Chairperson Facebook group has a schedule of all events posted, confirming set times for tomorrow's battle, including that the opening band at 7:00 PM will be Blood, Sweat, And Beers, who are a revival of former Fake Chow/Unfortunate Sun frontman Skip Parish's old band with his brother Stephen. They get sporadic mentions on personal Facebook postings, and played occasional shows in Brimley and Hulbert Township in 2024 and 2025, the former being acoustic. Will that be the form that they take tomorrow evening? The 8:00 PM set belongs to local punk/hard rock band About:Blank, who played at the pre-battle Music In The Park concert at the Whitefish Festival last year, and were competitors at last fall's Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands. Recent promotion on their Facebook page indicates that they will play tomorrow night as a duo.

They never did confirm Jon Stone by name as a permanent band member, so the video of him playing with Parker & Kade must have been on a guest basis. Regardless, will About:Blank keep up their recent live momentum? Reunited local cover rock band The Whole Shabang will play their first show in almost two years as the 9:00 PM band, and while not familiar from our coverage, their lineup at least used to feature Stoned Ape Evolution alum John Napoletano, while Candace Fultz was their lead singer. Infrequently seen on the stage as recently as 2024, what do they play, and do they indeed provide "the whole shabang"? Find out tomorrow! Last up at 10:00 PM is Dafter singer/guitarist and Interlochen Academy student Molly Escherich, who you may recall fronting The Other Guys to victory in 2024's LSSU Battle and also competing in last year's Superior Whitefish Battle. Molly will be fronting a new band named The 8th Fire tomorrow though.

The 8th Fire actually have a Facebook page (something that The Other Guys never had), which implies that we'll be seeing Molly and them again, but who all is in the band, what do they play, and do they hew close to the hard rock-leaning stuff that Molly has played in full band settings previously? And Molly is just fourteen years old, but plays at a level well beyond her age, so don't sleep on them tomorrow night! Note that I read on personal Facebook shares that local folk musician Kevin Blakeney wanted to sign up to compete again this year, but organizers opted to exclusively host full bands this year (he and Kaleb "NDN Summer" Shannon played solo sets in last year's battle, where Kaleb finished in second with Kevin in fourth). If you're curious, the day opens with the acoustic-leaning Music In The Park concert, which includes veteran duo Whistle & Fish at 5:00 PM, Seth Haske at 4:00 PM, ...

...Molly Escherich solo at 3:00 PM, Mark Bowen at 2:00 PM, and "Family Band" (credited to "Christian P" in the schedule) at 1:00 PM. I am not seeing anything about an admission fee for the Whitefish Festival, but it is absolutely an all ages event, and it is expected to end at midnight, given that the battle winners will be playing a bonus set at 11:00 PM. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy skies turning into rain by Molly's set, so hopefully the tent is big and well covered just in case! Temperatures for the battle will be 66-73° tomorrow evening (19-23° Celsius). This battle looks well formatted with great prizes again, and it still amazes me that the EUP is eating Sault Ontario's lunch in terms of actually hosting battles successfully in the 2020s, so best of luck to all four bands tomorrow night, visit the above links for full details on the Superior Whitefish Festival, and we'll let you know when results come out! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Project 906), Cory Marks Concert Videos, And An Inactive Band Note!!

One more SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT has fell into my lap, so to fill out a surprise Saturday evening post, we have new videos from a big recent concert and a solo project newly moved to our inactive links, so here's what you should know on all fronts!

Sault Michigan hard/blues rock cover quintet Project 906 will return to the stage TONIGHT at The Strongs Tavern in nearby Eckerman! Apologies for the short notice, the band first announced this one-night-only gig on their Facebook page on Sunday, but it slipped past me before our last two weekend concert preview posts went live. After taking a three month break from the stage (characterized by the band as "some much needed time off"), this will be 906's first show since rocking Hulbert Happy Hour in early March, with the band last playing at The Strongs Tavern at the end of February. Of course, this belatedly kicks off their annual "#summerof906", so more shows should be announced in due course, but since we last heard from Project 906 at The Strongs, they completed renovations in the spring, so hopefully things look as good as the rock will sound TONIGHT! Billy, Joe, Dustin, Jason, and Brian will take the stage TONIGHT at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge, as usual.

If you've missed the guys in recent months, and/or are up for the hour's drive west, don't miss out on their summer season kickoff! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview of TONIGHT'S opening #summerof906 event, here's Project 906 live!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for some new videos from the Cory Marks concert at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre on June 11th! Last week, Cory uploaded a highlight video from the event to his Facebook page, where he highly praised the concert, which included a sold-out meet & greet session, and some fans driving 8+ hours to see it. Cory called the the Bushplane Museum's hangar "a dream concert setting for me", and if you weren't there, the hangar doors were open with the stage was set up inside, allowing for outside light to get inside and for some nice views while the North Bay country/hard rock musician rocked out. The highlight video (set to the studio version of his song "Are You With Me?") features clips of Cory at the meet-and-greet, including of him playing acoustic for VIP fans, before we see footage of the proper concert.

Good thing that we knew ahead of time where this was, as the video only has fleeting glimpses of bushplanes, which is a testament in a way to how well everyone got the hangar looking like a concert venue for more than just local bands! I would prefer hearing raw audio from the concert, but miraculously, Facebook didn't content match the studio track, so I can embed it below!

If you do want to see raw audio from the concert proper, good news, as Mike Blair's 705Live Sound Co. were on hand to take care of sound for Cory and crew, and a video of them playing "Blame It On The Double" was posted to 705Live's Facebook page! Mike doesn't do the "pan the camera up from the soundboard" thing this time, FYI. Alas, the video only runs for 46 seconds, but it does let us get more of a view of where exactly in the Bushplane Museum that the concert was set up at (and where the VIP pre-show area was). Of note, Cory actually grabs someone's cell phone from the crowd to film things mid-song, which would be neat for that fan! What Mike shot looks and sounds good, so if you like Cory's southern fried hard rock, you can relive a snippet of this high production concert for yourself below, and we'll let you know if Cory returns to the Soo for a fifth straight year in 2027!

Finally, I have a local metal act to move to our inactive band links, namely local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore. We have heard no public updates from C.T.W. since 2024, with their final album "Bummer" being released on Bandcamp that July, and more recent updates from their owned-and-operated indie label Blood Shed Productions dried up by the spring of 2025. Active since 2012 and led by singer/guitarist Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson, C.T.W. became one of the more unique underground sights among extreme metal fans of the early-mid 2010s, releasing lots of studio material online and at concerts, including many of the final Oddfellows Hall concerts, plus various private & house party events. Updates from C.T.W. (let alone Blood Shed) really tailed off after the pandemic, even for a one-man project, which wasn't helped by their Facebook pages being taken down, if not by Tyler's own hand.

C.T.W. were really a critic-proof act, as a one-man goregrind band with such explicit imagery, pig squealing vocals, extremely short song lengths, a drum machine, and an ardent "I play what I want to play" ethos made it difficult to look at them in comparison with most contemporary bands. I still believe that all of the early-mid 2010s Blood Shed 1-2 man bands had the collective talent to make a great five-piece death metal band, but Tyler did what he wanted and kept this project going for a strong length of time, with fun crowd reactions and a solid skill set as a guitarist & producer. Hopefully we hear more from him and the label down the road! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!

R.I.P. Austin McCrea (1995-2025)

The Sault Metal Scene would also like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of local metal musician and rapper Austin McCrea, who just passed away in the past week, as per a number of personal Facebook postings. He was just 30 years old. This didn't cross my radar at the time, but Austin (a.k.a. Jayrald Micky) had been in hospital since September due to pancreatitis, and endured a number of devastating medical setbacks in the ensuing months, which you can read more about via this GoFundMe campaign that was launched on his behalf by his sister two weeks ago. As a local musician, Austin is arguably best known as the frontman of the goregrind/death metal band Brutally Fatal (once intentionally spelled "Brutaly Fatal"), who had two different incarnations between 2012 and 2019, and had brief and more mainstream turns under the names Re-Born and The Revolution.

Austin was a co-founder of the local goregrind/death metal/rap label Blood Shed Productions alongside his late-era Brutally Fatal bandmate Tyler Gibson, and his bands turned up multiple times at Blood Shed-affiliated concerts in the 2010s, be they late-era Oddfellows Hall concerts or house parties, while they also performed at the 2014 & 2015 Swampstravaganzas. Austin also dabbled in hip hop in the early-mid 2010s, rapping under the handle Miracle Man. While Austin primarily provided vocals, guitar, and bass in his best known bands, his most recent public music work was as the original drummer for local hard rock band Far From Fine (née Ravencore), performing with them at the 2022 Toystock and helping on their original material for their unfinished album, but he left that band by June 2023. Austin was also tapped to drum with Frightlight at The Northern Vibe Festival in 2023, but the horror punk band dropped out of that event and fell inactive afterwards.

I didn't know Austin well, but he was a talented and improving multi-instrumentalist who played the music he wanted to play without apologies, even if the imagery & lyrics weren't always to a wide audience's taste. When we profiled Brutally Fatal on the SMS four years ago, I linked to much of their known public music, including their demo EPs, while you can hear the originals he was working on with Far From Fine (albeit after he left) via their Lopstock 2023 set linked here. Losing someone over the holidays, let alone after this prolonged fight, is something I can't even imagine, and our thoughts are with the McCrea and Nadon families at this time. When details on services go public, I will let you know. R.I.P. Austin!

A New Local Metal Band & New Videos From Both Sides Of The Border!!

Let's clear out some more of our news backlog on this Wednesday night, and today's video-heavy post will go some ways towards that on both sides of the border! Just to clarify given national news, we're not going to stop covering Sault Michigan/the E.U.P. due to tariffs/a trade war. None of that is the fault of local musicians, and I want the Twin Saults to have stronger connections, not weaker ones. Now, here's what you should know!

We have a new local death metal/grindcore project to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely Three Grind Mice! Obviously a play on the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice", this is a new project from prolific local indie label Blood Shed Productions, one of their few brand new acts post-pandemic. I'm unsure if the band literally has three members or if it's a solo project, and while performer credits aren't given on their social media accounts, Blood Shed head Tyler Gibson (best known from Crucify The Whore and Rotopsy) has been sharing their content online, and he has multi-instrumental talent. The project is represented on social media by photos and brief animations of plush mice playing instruments, and so far, none of their music samples have vocals. Will the "mice" sing in death growls, and would they do the pitch-shifted chipmunk thing? An untitled & 92 seconds-long instrumental can be heard on their Bandcamp page.

That recording includes a brief cover of Gut's "Gia Paloma" plus an original song in progress, but embedded below is a drum sample clip from their new YouTube channel featuring one of the "mice" drumming on camera, and the emphasis suggests that they do have live drumming rather than programmed percussion (the video description credits the drummer as "Johnny Town-Mouse", a'la the Beatrix Potter character). It's too soon to accurately gauge 3GM, but there's promise there for fans of grindcore music! Vocals will definitely play a role into perception, let alone how far they take the mice conceit, but check them out for yourselves below!

Next up, the second advance single from reunited local emo band Fuller's upcoming sophomore album "II" was posted onto their YouTube channel on Friday! This time, the chosen song is "Kerosene", which they revealed on their Facebook page was "one of the last songs (that) we wrote as a band". For context, they disbanded originally in 2005, and by then, the band noted that "we were getting away from the midwestern emo stuff, and leaning more into post-hardcore and psych-rock". I'll hold comment on the song for now pending our eventual review of the album upon its release in "early 2025", but if the description piques your interest (or you loved/miss Fuller), check out "Kerosene" below, and look for the album soon!

Let's head south to Sault Michigan to wrap up this post, and we'll start with local hard rock cover quartet Dirty Musky, who rocked The Islander Bar in Hessel for the Les Cheneaux Islands Snowsfest's pub crawl on February 7th, and drummer Jamie Costner shared five videos from said gig to her personal Facebook page two days later, with the band subsequently sharing them on their own Facebook page. The videos (uploaded in a batch post and not individually) include Dirty Musky covering Tool's "Sober", A Perfect Circle's "Judith", guitarist Fran Blackwood playing a guitar solo, and Breaking Benjamin's "So Cold", which was filmed in two partial chunks (the longer first part is below, the second is linked here). All are short and vertical clips, but the band sounds good tackling some songs that you don't hear often in the E.U.P.. and Dave's voice holds up well for the most part, so give these videos a watch above & below, and look for more from them soon!

Finally for today, here's a new song from local metal solo project X's & Y's' YouTube channel! Entitled "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars", this 7+ minute original track was actually uploaded twice on Valentine's Day, both in a version with vocals and a version without! The one with vocals (their first such song) is embedded below, but click here to check out the instrumental copy. This is a full-on doom metal song that drone-inclined fans are going to take to, and while it's not lyrically verbose, Jason gets the point across with processed and well layered aggressive vocals. It may take adjusting the video's speed to really make things out, but it's an impressive diversion, if an acquired taste, so check out X's & Y's' new song below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

A New Addition To Our Band Links, Molten Imp Updates, And New Videos!!

After our long write-up on Thursdsay's LSSU battle, let's dive back into Sault Ontario to look at recent updates from bands north of the border, including new concert videos, the latest from a metal solo project, and leading off, a newer acoustic band. Here's what you should know!

We have a new local classic/hard rock band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are Dodge This, the new acoustic band from former Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer and former Havadder/Band Camp Rejects guitarist Jamie July! Jamie's brother Jeff also appears at some gigs playing percussion on a cajon. An extension of Jason's return to local acoustic concerts in 2024 (most notably at The Dive Gastro Pub), the Dodge This name first crossed my radar in late August when they co-headlined the ARCH Run outside of Jay's Piston Broke Pub, with Jamie launching an official Facebook page for the project in early September, though he & Jason had played shows prior to the ARCH Run without an advertised project name. As well as at The Dive, you may have seen Dodge This at The Water Tower Pub on September 7th and October 5th, as well as at McCauley's Restaurant in Goulais River.

Described on Facebook as "not looking to get rich, just doing what we love", Jamie has posted six videos of Dodge This on their Facebook page, including three from their September date at The Water Tower Pub of them covering The Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy", Collective Soul's "December", and America's "A Horse With No Name". Jeff was present on cajon for this show, and while the covers are sound (if vertically shot), the harsh blue lighting of The Water Tower Pub will impair what you see. It's good mood lighting in person, but not the best for filming videos. The other three come from their gig at McCauley's (sans Jeff), including just Jamie covering Zach Bryan's "Something In The Orange", and two of him and Jay both tackling Chris Cornell songs, namely Soundgarden's "Fell On Black Days" and, as embedded below, Temple Of The Dog's "Hunger Strike". 

While these videos were also filmed vertically, the quality isn't bad, and Jason and Jamie play off of each other well in concert, with Jamie deploying some good melodic singing where needed. Jason can still unleash some impressive heavier vocals too, as heard on the Chris Cornell parts on "Hunger Strike"! If I was running McCauley's though, I'd use the TV monitor behind them to at least display the Dodge This logo for visual effect, though I don't know if they host live music that often. Stay tuned for more from Dodge This when we hear it, and check them out above & below!

Next up, here's the latest from a band we haven't covered on the SMS in way too long, namely local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp! At some point in the past year, project leader/former AlgomA guitarist Boyd Rendell took down their Facebook page, and as best as I can tell, their primary online presence is via a new Bandcamp page (their old one was taken down too). On the new Bandcamp page, Boyd describes Molten Imp as "the sound that comes from a damp basement near a steel plant" and hopes to "carve out its own niche in the industrial metal/noise scene with a folding pocket knife". Molten Imp's posted content now on Bandcamp include their digital singles collected as the "Bloom Closing"  complilation with bonus tracks in October of last year, as well as their half of the "Pyrolytic Punishment" split with Crucify The Whore. However, Molten Imp did release a new song on Bandcamp in June, so what should you know about that?

Entitled "Diesel On The Steamship I & II" (it is one 9+ minute file), this is an industrial noise instrumental. You have to have an appreciation for noise music to get into this, methinks, but it makes a good use of distorted effects and a mechanical theme across its runtime, and it's good to see that Boyd is still actively making music, if with less of an online presence! Check out more music from Molten Imp above!

Finally, here's a new video from last night's Blood Opera-headlined Steel City Nerdcon afterparty at Soo Blaster! This comes from 705Live Sound Co.'s Facebook page, with Mike filming the action from the soundboard. The 40 seconds long clip sees the Toronto "zombie glam/dead metal" band playing their song "Brundlefly", inspired by David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly. Solid turnout (if with very blue lighting) at Soo Blaster, though at this point in the set, their full horror movie/theatrical aesthetic wasn't on display beyond their punk-influenced stage attire. Fun for what we hear, so check it out below, and hopefully more videos surface!

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

Blood Opera Concert Preview, Crooked Music's Closure, And More News & Notes!!

Today's post wraps up this weekend's concert previews, explores the surprise closure of a local music store, looks at a new hard rock cover from last year, and covers some assorted recent updates, so here's what you should know on this Friday evening!

Here's the remaining hard rock concert preview for this weekend, as Toronto "dead metal/zombie glam" band Blood Opera will return to the Soo TOMORROW NIGHT when they rock Soo Blaster! For the record, this show was quietly relocated from The Queen Of Hearts Club above Shooters to Soo Blaster last month for publically unannounced reasons. Blood Opera first rocked Sault Ste. Marie in May in the afterparty to the Steel City CollectorCon, and this is basically a sequel to that event in every way, as Blood Opera are headlining the afterparty for the related Steel City NerdCon, which goes down tomorrow at the Quattro Hotel on Great Northern Road (click here for full details on the convention proper). Blood Opera's theatrical, horror movie-inspired, and very violent stage show will play very well with attendees once again, even better than in May given that this is the Halloween season!

Local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will be the local openers this time out, which will be huge for them, and if you can't make it tomorrow, they'll be rocking Reggie's tonight! Despite the gory spectacle ahead, this is an all ages event with a 9:00 PM start time, and admission is $20 online at this link or at the NerdCon proper. It'd be foolish of me to try to hype up the stage show that Blood Opera put on, so I highly recommend checking them out online if you missed the CollectorCon afterparty, and this should be a fun spectacle to cap off a busy NerdCon with! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Blood Opera live!

Next up, here's some sad news out of Sault Michigan, as local music store Crooked Music is closing at the end of the month. Owner/local musician Zac Crook made the announcement on their Facebook page on Wednesday, noting that "the benefits no longer outweigh the risks" towards keeping the store open. The costs of being a small business owner in this economy and the availability of inventory were cited as primary concerns, but Zac did thank everyone for their support and encouraged everyone to support other mom & pop businesses and locally owned music stores. For the next two weeks, all remaining store items and fixtures are on sale for 50% off during regular hours. Zac and his wife Christy had bought the former Grooves Music from Gary Hatch in 2017, moving it from 540 Ashmun Street directly across the road to 539 Ashmun in 2019, and they even expanded their repertoire to include clothing, used albums, and books.

Crooked Music serves an important purpose to musicians in the EUP, and it'll be that much harder for musicians to get equipment and lessons now (if you can't come to Sault Ontario, I think the nearest equitable stores are over an hour away). Alas, economics are a concern for many entrepreneurs and business owners, but kudos to the Crooks for keeping the store active for over seven years, and weathering the pandemic in the middle! Visit Crooked Music while you still can at 539 Ashmun Street near the Soo Theater, and our best wishes are with Zac, Christy, and family!

Let's head back to Sault Ontario for a new hard rock cover from local acoustic classic rock/country singer/guitarist Jeremy Logan Newman's Facebook page! We've mentioned Jeremy on here a few times, notably when he opened for Fort Creek at one of their original run concerts, but most of his public media doesn't point to SMS-amenable material. This is an exception, of him and veteran local guitarist/Soo's Got Talent judge Darren Robertson (who perform duo sets under the name Fog Brain) covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home" at The Water Tower Pub in August of last year.  The harsh and over-exposed blue lighting is far from ideal, let alone the vertical camera angle (at least both musicians are in frame), but this is an effective rendition that lets Jeremy apply his voice in a unique way, with a tone you may not expect for this classic Ozzy ballad. 

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

 

• Dormant local concert promotion agency Live705 have changed their name to Algoma Underground, as per their Facebook page on September 22nd. The change was made to avoid confusion with Mike Blair's 705Live Sound Co., who I believe launched after the members of A Dire Setback started promoting as Live705, but 705Live are far more active nowadays providing sound at local concert events. Obvious AI logo for Algoma Underground aside, hopefully the rebranding is a good sign that they plan on resuming work as promoters next year!
  
• If you were curious what the etymology of new local death metal band Bardo's name was, they have clarified it on their Facebook page. The name refers to a Buddhist belief in a transitional intermediate state between death and rebirth, which is definitely a deep concept, and it'll be interesting to see what slants the Them successors' original songs so far will take in that regard! Follow Bardo above for continuing updates!
• Local southern hard rock band Fort Creek have filmed their first music video for their upcoming single "One For The Road", as per their Facebook page! Golden Scoundrels/ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno filmed the video via his company Spacebag Productions, and it was shot at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, with a black & white teaser image from the shoot also posted on Facebook featuring singer Justin Grayson sitting at the bar. Good sign towards Fort Creek's return to full activity, so visit the above links vor more details on the song and video ahead!
  

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Blood Opera, The Damn Truth, The Fixer, And Sylo!!)

After a couple of quiet days due to some prior engagements, I am back with a stacked post on the SMS on this Sunday afternoon, 100% devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS in Sault Ste. Marie in the next two+ months! Here's what you should know in chronological order!

In a type of all-local event that we haven't seen a lot of in the Soo in the 2020s, six original-leaning local acts (many heavier in nature) will join forces for a concert at Soo Blaster on Sunday, August 18th! Curiously, the headliners of this show are local hard rock band Sylo, who we have not heard from publically since their return from hiatus in February, dropping out of the Hazytones show in the interim. It is worth noting that the former Raincourt privatized their Instagram page and seemingly parted ways with bassist Owen Dearing (now absent from their listed lineup there). I don't know if Eli or Alder are taking over on bass or if they're looking for a new hire, but hopefully Sylo's return in two weeks goes over well, and that everything's alright with Owen! A healthy roster of local openers includes punk trio (quartet?) Vanity First, metal trio The BAG, comedy rock band The Floor Between Us, and two solo singer/guitarists.

These include prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore (last seen at a Distraction show in February with many common musicians) and outsider/anti-folk musician Shae Tull. This show will be ALL AGES, it has a flat $10 admission fee at the door (no advance ticket sales of any kind), and doors open at 8:00 PM. This could be a late night for many given that the concert is on a work/school night, but if you want to see six talented local music acts in one stage (let alone that none of them played at Rotaryfest), keep the action in two weeks in mind! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, there's more heavy action one week later at Soo Blaster via two touring (and female-fronted) bands rocking Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday, August 25th, including headlining Thunder Bay gothic metal quartet The Fixer! An outfit who have been decently active out west in the 2020s so far, fans of bands like New Years Day will find a lot to like from their melodic hard rock originals, so don't miss out on The Fixer's Soo debut in three weeks! Winnipeg-based metal quartet Indigo will open here, and their sound is more aggressive with harsher Pantera-esque vocals at their heights, so they should turn a few heads at Soo Blaster as well! Further signalling that they are back for good, local death/thrash metal trio Pillory will open in their second public gig of 2024 and first show in Sault Ste. Marie city limits in almost five years. Hopefully there's much more to come from Robert, Blair, and Bret in the near future!

Announced on personal Facebook pages last month before going 100% public in recent days, tickets will run for $15 in advance at the venue or $20 at the door (online sales have not begun at press time) This show will also be ALL AGES, and while it's another 8:00 PM show on a work/school night, there are half as many bands as the previous week. Metal fans should definitely look into this concert for some hard hitting music later this month, so visit the above links for more details!

Also coming to Soo Blaster is Montreal classic/hard rock quartet The Damn Truth, who will rock Sault Ste. Marie for the first time on Tuesday, September 17th! A 1960s-inspired group who infuse a few different styles into their high energy and melodic originals, singer Lee-La Baum's husky Janis Joplin-esque vocals definitely help them stand out from the pack, and it'll be interesting to see how The Damn Truth go over this fall! In a mild surprise, local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will open next month, in their first show in the Soo since opening for The Ripcordz in September of last year! Yes, they'll be back at the Northern Vibe Festival later this month, but Chris, Matt, and Nick don't play all that often anymore, so if you've missed their intense punk originals and select covers, be at Soo Blaster next month! The official poster suggests that "other acts" are to be announced, but at press time, it's hard to find any social media press for this show.

I literally only heard about this one because I was on Soo Blaster's ticket page seeing if the Fixer concert above had the online sale link up yet, but hopefully the local press ramps up soon. I don't even know if A Dire Setback's own Live705 are putting this on! In any event, tickets are $20 at this link or $25 at the door, this again starts at 8:00 PM, and unlike the shows above, I can't immediately confirm if this will be all ages or 19+. If Sunday isn't ideal scheduling for many, Tuesday really isn't, but hopefully there's a solid turnout for this array of live original rock music next month, and see above for more details!

Finally for this all-Sault Ontario concert post, Toronto "dead metal/zombie glam" band Blood Opera will return for a headlining concert on Saturday, October 19th at  The Queen of Hearts Club above Shooters Downstairs Lounge! As you may recall, Blood Opera were the after-party headliners at the Steel City CollectorCon in May, and clearly they had a strong reception for their highly theatrical and violent horror movie-inspired stage show, as organizers Steel City Events are bringing them back five months later to do the honours in closing out the Steel City NerdCon that weekend! Very similar event, a pop culture/comic convention featuring dozens of vendors and artists from the Soo and beyond, and preliminary details on that day's festivities at the Quattro Hotel (the NerdCon proper) and The Queen Of Hearts Club (this concert and the karaoke/card game tournament pre-party on Friday the 18th) can be found at this link.

Notably, the Facebook advertising also lists Blood Opera as part of the NerdCon proper at Quattro (no idea in what capacity yet), while Steel City Events are looking for one or two local opening bands for the 19th. Message them above or via Vintage Games & Junque's Facebook page if you/your band are interested! For reference, the openers in May were The Apocalypse Afterparty. No word yet on admission details, but in May, it was a 19+ concert with a 9:00 PM start time and $20 admission, though there were CollectorCon ticket packages that included free admission to see Blood Opera if purchased. There's a lot to learn, but Blood Opera aren't to be missed, so visit the above links for initial details!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Rest Of This Year's Victoria Day Long Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we dive into a recent pile of new show announcements from a common venue and/or musician, let's cover the rest of our Victoria Day/May 2-4 long weekend concert previews on this Friday morning! For bands playing tonight in some description, let alone Tarnished's late notice Sault Michigan date TONIGHT, check out yesterday's post below this one. Now, here's what you should know for your hard rock delectation!

We'll start with the earlier of the Saturday-only gigs, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will rock The Water Tower Pub on Great Northern Road for the first time TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen two weeks ago at Reggie's Place, this one-nighter will be Double Down's third concert since Beej Syrette replaced Adam King on guitar, and while public videos from their debut gigs have not surfaced online, you can see pictures from that weekend on their Facebook page, along with this image listing some of the bands that Double Down currently cover (is it just me, or are there less Canadian bands now?) Hopefully this proves to be a well received debut at this central nightclub for Double Down, and that Beej is settling in with the guys as expected! Remember that The Water Tower Pub hosts different nightly artists, with tonight's act being fellow local classic/hard rock cover band Generations.

Tomorrow's concert has an 8:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Unless you were in attendance at Reggie's for the new lineup's debut weekend, there will still be a lot of unknowns re: Double Down version 2.0, but come on down to The Water Tower Pub for all of the action tomorrow to see what they have in store! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Double Down live!

Next up, here's the biggest show in scope of the weekend, as Toronto "dead metal/zombie glam" band Blood Opera will make their local concert debut TOMORROW NIGHT as headliners for the Steel City CollectorCon afterparty at The Queen of Hearts Club above Shooters Downstairs Lounge! As teased in this Facebook promotional video featuring two band members, Blood Opera are a highly theatrical band whose stage show is full of horror movie special effects and tropes, so if you've ever wanted something Gwaresque on a local stage, Blood Opera will provide that along with a melodic old school metal sound with thematically relevant original songs! Me describing Blood Opera won't do them justice, I highly recommend watching videos for a better sense of what they'll bring to the table tomorrow! Local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty will open tomorrow in a rare support turn for a touring rock band rather than rappers.

Hopefully The A.A. set the tone well with their upbeat double-bassed rock attack! Promoted by Steel City Events in a spiritual make-up event for their Nostalgia Fair afterparty with First Jason in April 2020 (one guess as to why that was cancelled), tomorrow's festivities are 19+ with a 9:00 PM start time above Shooters, and admission is $20. If you buy advance tickets for Blood Opera, admission to the CollectorCon at the Quattro Hotel tomorrow afternoon will be free, so keep that in mind! This will be a must-attend show for horror and metal fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Blood Opera live!

Also this weekend, local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225 (the number is pronounced "two two five") will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! A rare occasion where both floors at 72 Dennis Street have concurrent live bands, fans looking for more familiar classic and southern rock covers (and less gore) will want to head downstairs to Shooters for their first show there in almost a month, and it should be a fine opportunity to see Greg, Alex, and Warren rock out for fans and patrons alike! Note that Bone Yard have been in studio recording original material again recently, as documented on their Facebook page, and they starred in two "Reels" there in the past two weeks, including this one of them smoking cigars after a recording session and this one with Greg and Warren outside of Reggie's, with Warren saying what they are.

No sign yet of their long-gestating studio originals, but hopefully they're getting closer! Tomorrow's concert is at 9:30 PM with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit, so visit the above links for more details on how you can F.A.F.O. with Bone Yard 225 tomorrow night, and here they are live!

Finally for this weekend's known hard rock and punk concert previews, we'll head to The Distraction on East Street on SUNDAY NIGHT, where local skate punk trio Ha!ls will headline! In a similar fashion to their Sunday nighter at the same venue in March, the Vanity First side project will bring their "rock and rolls" to the former barbershop, in their first local date of any kind since their Bay City, Michigan concert last month. Unlike in March, this Sunday's show isn't on a work/school night for most thanks to the long weekend, so hopefully Hails get a solid turnout for their fast paced punk attack, and guitarist Mikhal Muto should be riding the momentum following his set with The Apocalypse Afterparty at the Blood Opera show tomorrow night! Prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore will open on Sunday, and if you're familiar with Chase, you can expect a talented display of guitar intensity then!

Sunday's concert is an all ages affair with an 8:00 PM start time, and admission is via a "$5 or pay-what-you-can" model. Mikhal and/or The Distraction have a lot of shows to take note of very soon, but Ha!ls will be playing first before that batch come up, so keep all of the punk action in mind downtown on Sunday, especially as many of you won't have to get up early on Monday! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Hails live last month!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!