LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Mid-Week Concert Previews, And An Inactive Band Note!!

No rest for the wicked, as while the weekend concert previews are over, there are also a healthy amount of weekday concerts to preview over the next few days, so let's address them tonight (including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), so here's what you should know, along with a prominent band now back in our inactive links!

Firstly for this mid-week batch of previews, local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will bring his acoustic solo act back to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post on WEDNESDAY, but after that, he will debut at The Up & Down Lounge on THURSDAY NIGHT as well! Apologies for the short notice on THURSDAY'S concert, it was only announced via its Facebook event page yesterday. The Up & Down Lounge (at 24 Second Line West beside the Surplus Furniture & Mattress Warehouse) is scarcely known as a concert venue, last seen on the SMS when Silent 9 played a private event last fall, but they're experimenting with outdoor patio concerts on THURSDAYS this summer, with Dodge This' Jason Taillefer first up there for weeks #1 and #2, though as best as I can tell, musicians perform indoors. They are looking for more artists too, leaning towards acoustic acts and DJs.

Message the lounge/indoor golf simulator venue at this link for details! Preceding his Up & Down debut on THURSDAY, Tym is back at The Mike Case Stage on Wednesday, so you have two outdoor(?) chances to see his unplugged hard rock covers mid-week! Wednesday's Trading Post show is at 6:30 PM, the Up & Down show runs from 6:00-9:00 PM on THURSDAY, the latter show is 19+, and neither has an announced cover charge. 9&10 News currently has 21-24° temperatures on Wednesday with sunny skies, and if things are 100% outside, it should be even warmer the next day. Click here and visit the above links for more on Tym's back-to-back mid-week solo concerts, and for a preview, here he is live!

Next up, we'll head to Beck's Bar, where they will host a special Tuesday concert TOMORROW NIGHT headlined by Cornwall hardcore/metal quartet Hellrager! Last seen locally at 2023's Northern Vibe Festival (after dropping out of the last two), this will be their first show in Sault Ste. Marie proper, and will also mark the local return of former Spades GT/Caym guitarist Jay Sarrazin, who filled in on bass with the former Jack Spades at Northern Vibe in 2022. It's good to see Beard back in town, and hopefully Hellrager melt faces with their bluesy yet in-your-face attack tomorrow night! Local openers tomorrow at Beck's include local death metal quartet Eden Plague, in the former Bear Hunters' first gig since Rotaryfest earlier this month, as well as their debut at the 232 Goulais Avenue nightclub. Also joining them tomorrow is extreme metal quintet With Gunfire in their first concert set of 2026.

No idea where the former Sault Side Squad have been lately, but hopefully more of their promising original slate is unleashed tomorrow! Promoted by Eden Plague drummer (and fellow Spades alum) Johnny Belanger, tomorrow's concert runs from 6:30-10:00 PM, which is just as well given the work/school night timing. This will be a 19+ show, but surprisingly, it will have no cover charge, so if you need an extra excuse to come out, now you have it! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on tomorrow's intriguingly heavy concert in the west end, and here's Hellrager live!

Also, let's go downtown for another free concert TOMORROW NIGHT, this time from local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow! Last seen at the first Downtown Street Party of 2026 last month (more on the second one soon), tomorrow evening's concert will see them gather under The Roberta Bondar Pavilion tent as the fifth of eleven bands in the City of Sault Ste. Marie's annual Summer Concert Series, which sees live covers-leaning local bands perform free concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in July and August. Even Flow are the second and last SMS-amenable band scheduled in the series for 2026, and hopefully this supergroup delivers a fun evening of grunge and alternative rock hits from the Pearl Jam catalogue for assembled fans tomorrow! Summer Concert series shows are all FREE & ALL AGES, and they run from 7:00-9:00 PM.

9&10 News is calling for sunny skies tomorrow evening with temperatures in the 20-21° range, which sounds perfectly agreeable, so visit the above links for more on Rob, Steve, Cameron, Mike, and Derek's big downtown concert, and here they are in a recent jam session!

Finally today, I have moved local midwest emo/post-hardcore trio Fuller to our inactive band links. The reunited band has not issued a public update since their headlining Stage 2 slot at Rotaryfest last year, though remember that bassist Mark Rand (who missed that concert) and drummer David Peredun both live out of town nowadays. After their successful 2002-2005 local run, Fuller surprised many by reuniting for a December 2023 concert at LopLops Lounge, later confirming plans to record their Mark-era original material in studio, with their full length album "II" released to major digital platforms in March of last year. To date, the album isn't on CD or vinyl, but their Rotaryfest set was a fitting culmination of their reunion era, Mark's absence aside. While my music tastes lie heavier, it was neat seeing a staple of my early local concert-going years back at it, and hopefully frontman Jamie Vincent revisits Fuller in some form when the time is right, as they were a welcomed attraction!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day), A Concert Preview, And More!!

Our Rotaryfest review is in the latter stretches now, but with a Wednesday concert to preview, a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to touch on in two weeks, and a very busy bunch of weekend concert previews ahead, let's get another news post up today, so here's what you should know! 

An intriguing mix of local musicians will join forces for a special charity concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Wednesday, August 5th! This is called a Family Fun Day (not to be confused with the Loud & Proud one for Pridefest), and is being organized by Maddy's Mighty Mutts, a dog rescue business that you may recognize from doing events with dogs up for adoption at The Dive Gastro Pub. To help support the work that Maddy's does, the Family Fun Day will also have a beer/cocktail tent, a barbecue, kids activities, and vendors, so be sure to follow the above links for full non-musical details! 11 local music acts have donated their time to perform at this event (which takes place from 2:00-10:00 PM), including five local bands, so who can you expect? In alphabetical order on the AI-generated poster, the bands include newer young hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe, southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225, ...

...Josh & Todd from The Golden Scoundrels in an acoustic folk/country set as "Half Scoundies", acoustic classic/hard rock cover duo TNT (Terry Eaton n' Travis Sharpe from Soundcheck), and country cover veterans Tex Riviera & The Ride (or if you believe the AI poster, "Tex & The Relix"). The rest of the bill will be comprised of solo acoustic musicians, including Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson in his solo "Ranting Rockstar" guise (with a guest appearance by the aforementioned Travis Sharpe), Arin Karki (a.k.a. Arin Jung), Dodge This/ex-Phatstick singer/guitarist Jason Taillefer (mind the missing "i" on the poster), local country musician Jazmine Ladouceur, former Haggith/Project 421 frontman Curtis McKenzie, and country singer/guitarist Leslie Cook. That's quite a stacked lineup, including a lot of names who you don't see on multi-band bills that often!

Maddy's Mighty Mutts' Family Fun Day takes place on Wednesday the 5th from 2:00-10:00 PM, it is absolutely all ages, and I haven't seen anything concrete about admission fees or a lack thereof. This looks like a fun event for a great cause, but I do wonder how they landed on a Wednesday for the date for this, as a lot of people work days/9 to 5 during the week (to that end, a performer schedule would be handy). While not "short notice", this is just two weeks away, so visit the above links for more on what to expect under the big tent for this intriguing charity concert!

Next up, here's a mid-week concert preview before we dive into the full weekend previews proper, as prolific local acoustic classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will continue his weekly summer arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TONIGHT! This is day #4 of this current run of outdoor concerts beside the Big Moose Ice Cream Parlor, and hopefully there's a decent crowd there for his unplugged rock covers and other favourites, as recently usual! As usual for this year's run of Trading Post gigs, tonight's festivities take place from 6:30-8:30 PM with no age limit or cover charge. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for 17° temperatures and sunny skies, so nicer than last week, but cooler, especially for late July. In case you're wondering, the air quality index has not been higher than a 5 (moderate risk) since Saturday night, and the forecast maximum for today is a 3 (low risk).

I suspect we made it out of the worst of the air quality warnings from the forest fires, but things are recent enough where it seemed worth bringing up at least one more time (famous last words). Visit the official Facebook event page on Tym's show tonight at The Trading Post, and here he is live!

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

• The aforementioned Bone Yard 225 have announced that their fourth studio single "Welcome To The Shit Show" will be released to major streaming services on Friday, August 1st! In the meantime, you can hear a sample of the song on their website. No word on how progress on the complete debut album is going, but it will be neat to hear the new song from your local 225 next week!
• As noted above, advertising for the Maddy's Mighty Mutts family fun day notes that Bone Yard's Greg "The Ranting Rockstar" Simpson will be featuring Travis Sharpe in his set. How much, we don't yet know, but Travis made an unadvertised guest appearance with Greg when he played at The Dive Gastro Pub last month, which the venue's Facebook page captured in this 40 seconds-long video of the two covering Guns N' Roses' "Used To Love Her". I wish this was the full song, but it's a solid performance with Travis making use of his deeper clean vocals well! Unfortunately, I can't embed the video here, as The Dive background matched the audio in the clip as their own.
• Grand Rapids, Michigan death metal quartet Life Sentence have been added to the Viscera-headlined Pizza Hut concert in Sault Ste. Marie on September 26th, as per updates to the poster on the band's Instagram page. Very grindcore-inspired sound here that Blood Shed Productions fans on the Ontario side may want to check out, and it will be interesting to hear how a band this extreme goes over in Sault Michigan in two months' time!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Rotaryfest review and this weekend's concert previews ahead! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Even Flow, BookcluB, And Tym Morrison) & The M1 Concert Preview!!

An unusually busy Tuesday & Wednesday lie ahead in terms of hard rock/punk concerts in Sault Ontario, so today's post mostly focuses on them, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (two on SHORT NOTICE), so here's what you should know for this week and beyond!

Local punk/alternative cover sextet BookcluB have announced a new concert slate that kicks off TOMORROW NIGHT as the second band at this year's Summer Concert Series at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Apologies for the short notice, the full band schedule was only announced on social media on Thursday. Following an Elvis Presley tribute on Saturday, BookcluB (replacing Mid Life Crysis for unannounced reasons, source here) will kick off the usual Tuesday/Thursday evening schedule for this annual City of Sault Ste. Marie-booked concert series running through mid-August, and hopefully there's a good turnout under the big tent TOMORROW for this talented group and their often unexpected covers! The photo used by the City for official promotion is old, remember that ex-Hails guitarist Carmen Muto has replaced Brandon Ruch. TOMORROW's concert is FREE and all ages from 7:00-9:00 PM, as standard in this series.

9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies tomorrow (tent acknowledged) with temperatures of 26-27°, so please prepare for the warm and humid conditions even at this later point. The rest of BookcluB's summer calendar was (oddly) only announced via their Instagram page, and it includes their already-known Rotaryfest Stage 1 set next Saturday, plus shows coinciding with Downtown Street Party #3 and the returning Wolf Fest, so I'll hold comment on them pending full announcements from organizers. See above for more details, and here's BookcluB live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has announced his annual return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage beside The Trading Post for another regular concert arrangement, and it actually began this past Wednesday, continuing THIS WEDNESDAY and running every Wednesday through mid-September! Apologies for missing Tym's Canada Day gig and for the short notice on show #2 THIS WEDNESDAY, I only heard about his return to the Mike Case Stage yesterday via his batch Facebook event page for this residency. Tym is a regular summer sight at the outdoor 1332 Great Northern Road stage beside the Big Moose Ice Cream Parlour, but this year, he is scheduled every Wednesday like clockwork for 2½ months, a schedule that is obviously weather permitting. As we usually do when Tym announces a glut of regularly scheduled shows at one venue at once, we'll go month by month for our calendar.

As such, his July 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th shows are all now listed, and we'll roll the August ones in later in the month. WEDNESDAY'S concert (as well as the rest of them, and last week's) runs from 6:30-8:30 PM with no age limit or cover charge. Be advised that 9&10 News is currently calling for a 60% chance of rain from 6-7:00 PM on WEDNESDAY at the tail end of likely rain from the morning onwards, so check with Tym and/or follow your preferred weather forecast if you are at all concerned (temperatures are projected to be 21°). Visit the above links for more details, apologies again for missing show #1 last week, and here's Tym live!

Before we wrap up this batch of mid-week concert previews, here's one more new show for the aforementioned Roberta Bondar Pavilion's Summer Concert Series, and in the only other scheduled show that crosses our genre radar, newer local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow will take the stage there on Tuesday, July 28th! Last seen at Downtown Street Party #1, this concert gives the Summer Concert Series an unusually grungy and alt-edged collection of covers from this talented supergroup, and if you've seen Rob, Steve, Cameron, Mike, and Derek in concert since their debut last fall, you know they have a good handle on Pearl Jam classics, including many cuts that aren't among the usual FM radio suspects! Of course, I do hope that the recent heatwave breaks well before this Tuesday evening concert at month's end, which is the fifth of eleven in the Summer Concert Series for 2026, so fingers crossed that it is cooler out!

Like with BookcluB there TOMORROW NIGHT, the Even Flow concert in three weeks is a FREE & all ages concert from 7:00-9:00 PM, and potential rain shouldn't screw things up given the tent. Visit the above links for more on Even Flow's next headlining date! 

Finally for today, we'll travel back to this week, as there's one more mid-week show to preview, albeit one that had lots of advance notice, as Calgary-based Motorhead tribute band M1 will play their second local concert on WEDNESDAY NIGHT at Beck's Bar! Fans of the British rock legends will remember seeing M1 debut here exactly 52 weeks prior to their return on Wednesday, and while this being mid-week again isn't ideal for many, at least it's not a school night for most! M1 don't exactly look like Motorhead, but they pay strong homage to Lemmy and crew with their take on their classic back catalog, so look for a fun night of gravelly vocals and fast rock & roll in their local encore! Like last year, they're easing into the metal ahead with an acoustic singer/guitarist as opener, with recent Dive Gastro Pub regular and Soo's Got Talent alum Arin Karki leading off on Wednesday.

Myself, I'd have a proper electric band to set the tone, but Arin does cover the occasional hard rock song, and hopefully he leaves a good impression beforehand! While last year's show had no cover, this year's will cost $5 at the door, which still beats what Crazy Babies cost! Arin leads off the night at 7:00 PM, and this is a 19+ concert as usual. Visit the above links for more on what should be a fun concert for Motorhead fans, and here's M1 live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Unfortunate Sun) And More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS in the E.U.P. for later this year!

Building off of their previously advertised return to the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino yesterday and tonight, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun announced their end-of-2025 concert calendar on their Facebook page on August 12th! And again, I apologize for missing the Shytee Creek Lucky Bridge Walk in Trout Lake last month. Unless they announce something else in the interim, the Fake Chow successors' next show after tonight will see them rock The Merchants Bar in the Soo on Friday, October 31st, in what will surely be The Merch's Halloween party! They'll be taking over said duties from Exit 808, who had the Halloween honours last year, and if things are similar, expect a costume contest with prizes. Regardless, this will surprisingly be their only Merch show this year, so keep everything in mind! On Saturday, November 22nd, the guys will set up shop at Huck's Pub & Grill in Rudyard.

Last seen at the former Joe's Bar in July, hopefully this show goes well as they venture back outside of the Soo proper! They'll also hit the road slightly out of town for a special Wednesday nighter on November 26th (on the eve of the American Thanksgiving) at The Islander Bar in Hessel, in what will presumably be a sequel to last year's "Drinksgiving Bash" there, taking advantage of that Wednesday not being a work/school night. If you'd rather see Skip, Jody, Tony, and Jason on a more traditional concert night, they will end the year with a return to The Islander Bar on Saturday, December 13th, so keep that in mind for the winter! Lastly for the new show announcements, Unfortunate Sun will set up shop for a full weekend at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, December 5th & Saturday, December 6th, in their first shows there since their Kewadin debuts in May as a late replacement band.

Nice to see lots of new shows ahead from Unfortunate Sun after a relatively quiet summer, so keep all of these in mind! All shows are 21+ events with no announced cover charge, and all have 9:00 PM start times except at Huck's on November 22nd (8:00 PM). Visit the above links for more on the hard rock action ahead at all of these E.U.P. venues!

Next up, let's resume this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews by heading north of the border, starting with Sault Ontario alternative/punk cover supergroup BookcluB's gig opening for Toronto-based Bob Seger tribute band Forever Seger: The Silver Bullet Experience TONIGHT at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Not the cleanest genre fit, but BookcluB have ample classic rock covers (often very atypical ones from their local cover brethren), so there will be a lot to enjoy under the big tent as they set the tone for the Bob Seger experience to come! This will also be BookcluB's first gig since guitarist Brandon Ruch moved out of town, but they have not publically announced if they have replaced him or not, something we may know the answer to tonight. And just to clarify, this is not the same Seger tribute coming to The Machine Shop in March of next year (that particular band is Like A Rock: The Bob Seger Revival).

I'm not at liberty to compare and contrast the sound and stage presence of the two, but Bob Seger fans will absolutely enjoy what Forever Seger bring to the table tonight, so don't miss out if you're a fan! The old time rock n' roll kicks off at 7:00 PM, it is definitely all ages, and tickets run for $44 at this link, at GFL Memorial Gardens, or at the gate. 9&10 News is calling for weather in the 15-16° range with partly cloudy skies, and tent acknowledged, the show is slated to end before the rainy overnight forecast. Visit the above links for more details, and here's BookcluB live!

Finally, we have at least one more Cruisin' The Dub car/bike show to take in TOMORROW at the newer A&W at 659 Great Northern Road, but this is the big annual one! As recently usual for the A&W car/bike shows, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will be your scheduled musical entertainment, and there will be raffles, refreshments, and family entertainment along with the vehicles on display alongside the live rock & roll covers and originals! All proceeds will be going to the Algoma Regional Community Hospice, an eternally wonderful cause, so consider donating to ARCH if you come out tomorrow! That may be a big "if", as 9&10 News is currently calling for a 60% chance of rain and some thunderstorms during the projected timeframe of 2:00-5:00 PM, and rain has severely abbreviated A&W car shows before (ask Soundcheck for proof). The rain looks pretty steady tomorrow, so definitely keep tabs with Bone Yard and A&W for updates on how the weather forecast may affect things.

Assuming the show goes on in spite of Mother Nature, attendance is free for the public of all ages unless showing a car or motorcycle, though donations to ARCH will absolutely be on the table. I hope the weather doesn't throw a wrench into tomorrow's plans, especially given the charitable nature, so visit the above links for more on the car show and here's your local 225 live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Wolf Fest & Double Down!!)

In today's post, we're focusing solely on LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, all involving prominent local cover bands, so here's what you should know for later this month and beyond!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down's summer break is almost over, and after eleven weeks away from the public stage (even festivals), they have announced a busy slate of nightclub gigs through mid-December! Now, two caveats here: I'll hold their return gigs next weekend for that round of weekend concert previews given the now-short notice, while with the exception of next weekend's dates, all shows are listed as being on a single night (and all but one of those is given as being on a Friday only). Given normal booking trends, I will treat the Jay's and Reggie's bookings as being for the Friday and Saturday of the given weekends, but we'll let you know if that isn't the case. All new dates were announced via Facebook event pages this summer, mostly last month. Beyond next weekend, their first show back at The Water Tower Pub since June will take place on Friday, September 19th, with a return there also taking place on Friday, November 21st.

Both of these are one-nighters, as The Water Tower Pub historically doesn't book the same band on consecutive days. After playing a private stag & doe on September 26th, fans can see Joel, Beej, Dan, and Ric back at Beck's Bar for one night only on Saturday, September 27th, and it will be good to see them back at this newer west end favourite for the first time this fall! On October 3rd and 4th, Double Down will return to Reggie's Place for the first time since last year, and while I don't know why the Syrettes and crew haven't played there in so long, hopefully they rock the house well for downtown fans next month! Lastly, as part of their run of monthly weekends at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, you can see the guys back at the Korah Road nightclub over the Thanksgiving long weekend (October 10th-11th) before returning to the former Roosevelt Hotel on November 21st-22nd and December 12th-13th.

Sounds like a lot of good chances ahead to hear their hard rocking cover array, complete with teased new setlist additions, so keep all of these dates in mind, and we'll address their first shows back from their break on Thursday! All of these shows are 19+ with no announced cover charge, while start times are 8:00 PM at The Water Tower Pub, 9:00 PM at Beck's, and 9:30 PM at Reggie's and Jay's. Visit the above links for more details on Double Down's fall/winter return schedule!

Finally, and after three weeks of teasers from Northern Superior Brewing Co., we can finally answer this question: What is Wolf Fest? Well, it is a community festival taking place on Saturday, September 27th where the downtown microbrewery plans to give back to the Sault area and supporters, and there will be beer on tap (as you'd expect) plus food and a wide array of local vendors and artisans. This even extends to barbers, tattoo artists, and an arcade, believe it or not! Visit the brewery's Facebook page for complete non-musical details so far. Rather than cram everything into the Tap Room on site, Northern Superior will hold Wolf Fest at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and four bands will rock the big stage under the tent there, including classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9, confirming their prior teasers about playing here. Good to see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve back at it after their recent Tap Room gig!

The headliners in three weeks are veteran local/Toronto pop rock cover quartet The Killer Hooks (who do cover hard rock songs on occasion), while frontman Tony Marcello's son Anthony will play a rare concert with his dad that night when his indie rock band Jupiter Marvelous also rock Wolf Fest. The advertised lineup is rounded out by online page-less Tragically Hip tribute band The Luxury (featuring Redefined, Late Shift, Headrush, Billy Bastards, and Tripod The Dog alumni), while the poster references "special guests T.B.D.", so we'll have to see what that entails. Wolf Fest is presumably an all ages event, it runs from 3:00-11:00 PM on the 27th, and admission is by donation to the Alzheimer Society of Sault Ste. Marie. I think Northern Superior could have gave Wolf Fest more direct promotion and less of a teaser campaign, especially as it's three weeks away, but this sounds like a fun event with a lot going on, so visit the above links for more on Wolf Fest! 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Darsombra & BookcluB) And A New Video Interview!!

Before we begin this post, just a brief apology and clarification, as Tym Morrison did indeed play a solo acoustic show at Misty's Fifties on Saturday, not country musician Allan Mooney. While the promotion for that matinee timeslot was more active on Allan's end, he cited "a mixup in bookings" as to why he wasn't playing (source here), and Tym did quietly share the Facebook event page for his Misty's shows afterwards. I wish Tym would have said more about this gig, but I do apologize for the mix-up on my end, and hopefully this Misty's matinee went well! If you missed it or want more, he will definitely be back there this Saturday, preview forthcoming!

Today's post otherwise dives into a new video, and leading off, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this month, and we'll start on Saturday, September 20th, when local alternative/punk cover band BookcluB will surprisingly open for Toronto-based Bob Seger tribute band Forever Seger: The Silver Bullet Experience at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Much like the Hotel California show this summer with locals Headrush opening, the big tent downtown will play host to a major touring tribute band, and while Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band aren't hard rock or metal, they have a talented and faithful stage show in store for fans of his! BookcluB will provide the SMS tie here with their varied setlist and supergroup lineup, though this will be their first announced show following guitarist Brandon Ruch's move to Barrie, and the band has yet to announce a replacement for him. We'll let you know if we hear anything in that regard!

Tickets cost a flat $44 at this link or at the in-person box office at GFL Memorial Gardens. The show is all ages and it has a 7:00 PM start time. I've never been a massive Seger fan, but Forever Seger definitely do him justice with their faithfully sounding stage show, and Bookclub should set the tone well with their cover mix! Visit the above links for more on this big tribute show later this month!

Next up, Baltimore, Maryland psychedelic hard rock duo Darsombra and Cumberland, British Columbia skate/hardcore punk quartet Mean Bikini will both return to the Soo on Friday, October 10th for a joint concert at the Downtown Plaza! This concert is part of local promoters Piecing It Together Shows' newly announced fall concert calendar, and the only one to have heavier or punk bands on the bill. The same promoters brought both bands here in the past under their old name Dryer Fire, with Darsombra playing three different venues here between 2017-2023 (most recently the so-called March Street Stage), while Mean Bikini headlined at The Speak Easy in September 2023. Good to see both bands back next month, and hopefully the weather holds up for their unique and distinctive original sounds given the outdoor locale! Local comedy/alternative band The Floor Between Us will open the proceedings.

Muel Goods (who you may recognize from vending at last year's It's The Pits Festival in Leeburn) will host an independent sellers market that night too, and visit the Facebook event page for information on how you can be a vendor at said market. This concert is FREE & ALL AGES with a 7:00 PM start time, and it should be a fine way to kick off the Thansgiving long weekend, weather permitting! Visit the above links for more details on this intriguing multi-genre show, as well as P.I.T.S.' other fall concerts!

Finally, remember how local/Barrie crossover thrash band Spades GT had teased an impending video interview with guitarist Matthew "Fang" Voros by Dave Standridge of Hershey, Pennsylvania's This Is Pop Punk Promotions, not unlike what J.D. and Daniel had taken part in last year? Well, that interview has not yet been posted online (if it was even recorded already), but in looking up This Is Pop Punk Promotions' YouTube channel to see if it was posted there yet, I found another very locally relevant interview, and coincidentally, it's with a former bandmate of Daniel's, namely fellow local/Barrie musician Mike Haggith! If Mike plugged this interview on social media after it went live in April, then it completely passed me by. The 28+ minutes-long interview starts right away with Dave asking Mike about the inspiration behind starting his own indie label MorningStar Records, with The Din and the Soo coming up here in context.

This evolves into Mike's exploration into print-on-demand CD/vinyl manufacturing and the DIY indie musician community on YouTube, and of course, the artist-friendly affiliation model rather than musicians signing everything away. Dave next asks Mike about his biggest influences (for musicians and labels) and favourite Barrie-area musicians, and the major act that Mike would most want to work with, before asking some non-musical questions. Among those: Mike's favourite movie, his best vacation, the charity that he'd donate $1 million to, what historical person he'd talk to, what there is to do in Barrie, and his favourite baseball team, which leads into lots of baseball/MLB talk at the end of the interview. This is all definitely more about MorningStar Records and Mike as a person than his solo music career, but it's a good and light interview that fans of his will take to easily!

I do still think that Dave should have more natural segues between questions and points of discussion, as there are a bunch of abrupt topic changes, but he and Mike got along well here, and the baseball discussion came off very natural, even to me, someone who doesn't watch it. Check out Dave & Mike's full interview below, and we'll let you know when/if Fang's interview goes live!

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

The Ripcordz Concert Cancellation, A Reunited Local Band, And More Recent Updates!!

Let's dive into some recent news and notes on the SMS on this Sunday afternoon, including a Tuesday night concert preview, a well publicized concert cancellation from this weekend, a recent (and long awaited) album release, and a surprise band reunion, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with the big story that was all over Facebook late Friday night and into Saturday, as The Ripcordz' concert at The Distraction on Friday was abruptly cancelled when the police and fire department arrived to shut the show down. This may sound ultra fitting in a way for the Montreal hardcore punk icons, but the plug was actually pulled during the late stages of Hails' set in the middle of the program. The Ripcordz were open about what happened on their Facebook page, and frontman Paul Gott spoke by phone with SooToday's Darren Taylor for this article about everything. There, Paul indicated that he was told that someone called the police with a complaint about the concert, and while his assumption was over noise (makes sense given what the former Foggy Notions nearby dealt with), Ha!ls' set occurred before the time that a noise ordinance would have been in effect.

Based on what I have read from those in attendance on Friday, it appears to have been related to concerns over permits or the fire code, possibly due to the single door access to the basement. I won't speak further as to what happened, but the discussions ran fast and furious on Facebook (for what it's worth, The Distraction haven't posted on their Facebook page in almost three weeks). Hopefully this is just a stumbling block for The Distraction, which has gotten rave reviews for the basement space since moving downstairs last summer, and that The Ripcordz try here again soon, as they love playing here! No word on if they can on this tour run, but we'll let you know when they get a chance to return to Sault Ste. Marie!

Next up, here's some surprising news, as local hard/classic rock cover band Quite Frankly have reunited! Well, their Facebook page is treating this as a new debuting band, but three band members from their original 2009-2010 run (2000s local metal guitarists Frank LaTassa and Joe DelBasso and former No Arrow/Half Past bassist Harley Syrette) are back for 2025, though Joe has shifted to electric drums in lieu of the departed Adam Pettenuzzo. Original singer Jack "Jacklyn Hyde" Alisat has been replaced by 2024 The Soo's Got Talent semifinalist Haley Alopaeus, and while keyboardist Vince LaTassa (Frank's brother) isn't back either, he did guest with his old band in their first gig back, which was at a private function at Venue on Queen Street East. In their first public video from July 14th, you can see them covering Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" in a jam session, which does sound good across the board!

As for the Venue gig, this 3 minute video (which features both vertical and horizontal camera orientations) is a compilation of clips of cover songs from that night, including The Black Keys' "Gold On The Ceiling", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". Journey's "Don't Stop Believing", The Steve Miller Band's "Jet Airliner" (with Frank on vocals), Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Sun", Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care Of Business", Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine", Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey", and Collective Soul's "Shine". Not long clips of anything, but a good sampler of the new Quite Frankly, who definitely still have talent, and Haley has a nice voice, so check things out above & below!

Speaking of Harley Syrette, his old 2005-2011 grunge band No Arrow's unreleased studio album "Souls For Sale" was finally released this past Monday! As detailed here, Mike Haggith's indie label MorningStar Records has belatedly given this album a professional physical release, and you can now order it via ElasticStage at this link for $17.90 on CD or $43.90 on vinyl. As best as I can tell, the album is not currently officially available through MorningStar on major streaming services, but you can hear the unreleased free demo version at this link. The album's track listing is mostly the same to what was presented on the demo, but "Cuts" was moved from the end of the album to track #6, the final two songs were flipped in the order, and the original track #7 ("Most Of All") was dropped from the final product for unannounced reasons. I'm only going off of the song previews here, but they sound largely identical to how they did in the late 2000s.

It may take ordering the album for potential liner note details (remember, they broke up in 2011), but No Arrow are represented here by singer/guitarist Dann "Wayek" Pichette and drummer Joe Falco, with Harley and Brad "Gortium85" Griffith supplying bass tracks. This has to be exciting for No Arrow alumni who couldn't get this album out at the time, so kudos to Mike for getting things completed and published all these years later! I wonder if Dann & Brad's successor band SBD's limited print album "Sonic Experiments" could get a similar reissue next? Given our immense backlog of album reviews, "Souls For Sale" is pencilled in for December, so 2025 is now booked solid. In the meantime, buy it for yourselves above!

Finally for this news post, here's a special preview of a show on TUESDAY NIGHT, as local punk/alternative cover band Bookclub will rock The Roberta Bondar Pavilion as part of the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Summer Concert Series! Annually, local musicians (typically covers-centric ones) take the stage under the big tent downtown on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer, with BookcluB being the fifth of eleven with the honours in 2025. Last seen at Rotaryfest Stage 1 this past weekend, Tuesday's show should see the return of saxophonist Josh Norling, who was out of town and missed their Saturday evening set at Clergue Park. Hopefully a strong crowd turns out on Tuesday for BookcluB's eclectic mix of unexpected rock covers! Mikey, Dustin, Brandon, Allan, Erin, and Josh take the stage from 7:00-9:00 PM, and this concert is FREE & ALL AGES, as are all others in the Summer Concert Series, which runs through late August.

As the show is kinda sorta outdoors (tent acknowledged), 9&10 News is currently calling for mostly cloudy skies with a high temperature of 23° and a 10% chance of rain, so not quite as warm as it is today. That said, we're not close enough for an hourly forecast, so check in closer to for updates on the likely conditions. Visit the above links for more on BookcluB's Tuesday evening gig downtown, and here they are live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal/Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

In today's news post, we're looking at some relatively overdue live concert videos from bands on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Let's lead off with a new video from local progressive metal band Convergence, as I surprisingly haven't talked about them in a while on here! As fans may be aware, Convergence didn't post any audio or video content from their live debut at The Pit at Soo Blaster in April, only posting teaser clips and "Reels" in the lead-up, so you had to actually be at that event to hear how they sounded as a live band, let alone with Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio on vocals (they haven't let anything with him singing from their recent studio sessions slip either). For their sophomore gig at The Upheaval at Soo Blaster three weeks ago, they did finally post a public video of the current lineup in action, so what is there to see? Just a disclaimer up front that the video has rapidly strobing red lights on the stage at Soo Blaster, so if you have any history with epileptic seizures, approach with caution. This was uploaded to their Facebook page on July 1st and is 72 seconds long.

Thankfully shot horizontally, this features the guys playing an original song, and if you were curious about Stephen's singing in this band, he does do harsh metal screaming primarily, so don't go into this expecting a reprise of The Saturday Nights or his stage musical work. Obviously not a full song, but the brutal technicality is well sampled here, and hopefully things went in their Rotaryfest Stage 2 debut today, rain acknowledged! Check out this new video below, and look for more from Convergence soon!

Next up, here's new videos from a band that played at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Friday (albeit from a prior gig), namely local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations! On July 1st, they headlined the Canada Day festivities at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn had her camera rolling, filming ten videos from their sets that evening that made their way into a batch post (along with photos) on their Facebook group the following morning. Dawn filmed Generations doing songs with all four band members on lead vocals, with frontwoman Valerie Powley fronting covers of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69", Nazareth's "Turn On Your Reciever", and Nick Gilder's "Roxy Roller". Tony S. handled lead vocals on covers of Trooper's "We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time)", The Sheepdogs' "Take Me For A Ride", Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind Of Wonderful", ...

...and Stealers Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle With You". Bassist Pierre Anthony did the honours on David Wilcox's "Do The Bearcat", while guitarist Tony Kajnar sung lead on Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle". At least as far as what was filmed, Generations' set looked to be at least half Cancon, which is great for July 1st, and above & beyond what the CRTC wants for radio stations! While Dawn did get some horizontal photos, all of her videos here were shot vertically, which is never ideal (why accentuate the low crowd levels on the floor like this). That aside, these are solid and lively performances, and props for the custom Canada Day shirts! Do give Generations' July 1st videos from under the tent above, and in a nod to Canada Day, here's "Summer Of '69"!

Now let's head to Sault Michigan for some new videos from bands across the river, starting with local hard rock quintet Exit 808, whose next gig after their Walloon Lake debut last month saw them return to Republic (3½ hours west of here) on June 20th where they took part in the third annual Drewpalooza, a birthday/charity fundraiser concert at The Pine Grove Bar there. Exit 808 have made the drive there each year that it's been held, and five videos from this year made their way to their Facebook page. The first was actually a brief clip of Marquette alt-rock band Jasno's set that afternoon, with Exit 808 co-headlining the night #2 lineup before Marquette notables Spun headlined. Exit 808's set saw the return of guitarist Alex Zimmerman after he was on vacation during the Walloon Lake concert. while former guitarist Nathan Webber made the trip for this one once again.

Attendee Angie Hood is to thank for the other four videos, with her personal Facebook videos being shared onto Exit 808's page after the fact. The videos see them covering Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" with No Expectations singer Drew Collister on guest lead vocals (Amy & Dillion backed him), Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild" and Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" with Dillion Semasky on lead vocals, but embedded below is their cover of Volbeat's new single "By A Monster's Hand", which has Amy singing more than on the other clips. Alas, all of Angie's videos were shot vertically, and the audio can be quite scratchy, but the performances are sound, so check them out for yourselves above & below!

Let's close with a long overdue piece about newer local punk/hard rock trio About:Blank, who I completely forgot to address re: their Musicians Unite fundraiser concert set at Bird's Eye Outfitters in March. I think that was partly because, in John Bullman's official media from the Mary Jo Jenkins benefit concert, his video from About:Blank's set was just of set-up prior to it. I don't think any proper videos of their set were publically uploaded on social media after the fact, but let's make up for lost time for Parker, Nathan (as seen above with Exit 808) and Cade via their set opening for Dick Texas and Violet Scum at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in May. Uploaded to their Facebook page on May 6th, this has About:Blank playing an original song named "Tweak". Filmed from a good close angle, this is an energetic performance with strong pointed vocals from Parker, so check out About:Blank's Pickles video below!

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

Generations' Canada Day Concert Preview, A New Album Release, And Much More!!

Happy Canada Day to our readers and followers in Sault Ontario and area! Today's all-Canadian post gives us a seasonal concert preview, a new album release, a new lyric video, and what's been on the FM dial recently (and later today), so here's what you should know!

We'll start with a special Tuesday concert preview, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will headline TONIGHT'S Canada Day festivities at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Last seen at Beck's two weeks ago, this will be a large spotlight for Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre to unleash some fan-friendly rock covers, hopefully with a big chunk of Canadian content for obvious reasons! While their set will take place at around 8:00 PM under the big tent before the fireworks, a stacked roster of entertainment is planned for all ages today, albeit without timeslots on the event poster. Co-headlining are classic rock cover trio The Sidekicks, while you'll also be seeing Toronto magician Magic Mel, local folk musician Matthew James, and the Concert Band Algoma (no relation), plus Ryan Mauro singing "O Canada". Expect lots of family friendly entertainment, vendors, and refreshments throughout the day as well.

Today's Canada Day program begins at 2:00 PM and it is absolutely free to come down to the Pavilion for all of the fun! While the tent is acknowledged, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies today with weather in the 18-20° range, and no chance of rain, which should be comfortable enough. Visit the above links for more details on the Canada Day program in Sault Ontario, and for a preview, here's Generations live!

Next up, here's a surprise new album release, as local crossover thrash quartet Hails put out a self-titled album on major streaming services on Saturday! This came as a surprise to me, as while I knew that Ha!ls had wrote new original material and performed it live, I don't believe they ever publically acknowledged on social media that they had been recording studio material beyond their Trigger Happy cover for "Punk Canada Vol. 4", but the cover artwork (designed by frontman Brenton Ellis as usual) was posted to their Facebook page in May without context. The album is their first with second guitarist Carmen Muto, and features thirteen songs, at least three of which either share names with or are re-recordings of songs from Brent's solo project Slumshine ("Pink Clouds Of Density", "Reversible Straitjacket", and "BiPolaris"). With all of that said, where can you stream or buy "Hails"?

The album is now streamable on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Boomplay, and Qobuz, though unlike their 2023 debut EP "Rock And Rolls", it is not currently on Bandcamp. If you want to buy "Ha!ls", it is on iTunes for $9.99, so it is thusly eligible for a review on the SMS, but given our current backlog, I currently have it pencilled in for October, as Mike Haggith, The Realignment Project, and Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto's solo project Agnosticism all have new albums that beat this to market. (Spades GT's "United" is now slated for November). I'll hold comment on Ha!ls' new album for now, but check it out at the above links, stay tuned for our review this fall, and here's the opening track, "The Lost Cosmonaut"!

Also today, let's look at recent programming notes from 104.3 The Fox, so what has the former Q104 been up to on air as of late? In terms of on-air programming notes, last month saw a bit of variance on Sunday, June 15th, when The Fox and their sister stations didn't air a Metallica album to cap off that week's Sunday Night Vinyl Series (it was Metallica Week). Instead, they had a special about Metallica's 1995 album "Load" to honour the 30th anniversary of its release. While the album was played in full, it was supplemented with features and interview clips from Metallica members, so that would have been neat for fans, especially of their mid-late 1990s output! Learn more about that special at this link. This week on 104.3, it's The Tragically Hip Week, which I believe is just the second time since the format change locally that the theme week has been based on a domestic band (CJQM switched to rock during Rush Week).

For Canada Day today, there is special themed programming for the holiday. Afternoon DJ Lew MacDonald is on air at 8:00 AM & 2:00 PM for The Hip Road Trip, where he will visit locations in Canada that were referenced in The Hip's songs, while their 2005 live album "That Night In Toronto" will be played at 8:00 AM. In between, the fan voted Great Canadian Countdown (as plugged on air by DJs and in commercial breaks) airs at 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, so if you're curious what Rogers Radio listeners liked the most for domestic rock music, you know when to tune in! Sounds like a fun day of Canadian rock programming on The Fox, so tune in to check everything out, and click here for more info on today's programming schedule there!

Finally for this all-Canadian post at the SMS, here's something that I didn't know about when I briefly mentioned the Spotify availability of local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's new single "Brand New Day", as he uploaded a lyric video for the song onto his YouTube channel two weeks ago! The lead single from his new album "Frequent Flier" (and one of just three songs from the album that you can hear for free without buying it or obtaining the subscriber mailing list passwords), you can now check out the song on YouTube, complete with a lyric track along the bottom of the screen, if not having the best contrast for visibility. I won't comment on the song yet, as I'm reviewing "Frequent Flier" next month, but the song is a motivational number about preparing for a new adventure and a new day. Give it a listen below, and buy "Frequent Flier" above!

 

 

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