LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rhythm And Brews & The Wyld Stallyns), Plus New Videos!!

Keeping our steady string of new daily content on the SMS alive, here's another news post on this Saturday evening, so if you're back from the Cruise or the Science Festival, settle in for LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for more summer community events next month! Wrapping things up, we do have some short new videos, so here's what you should know!

Local acoustic funk/hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns will be among the live performers at this year's Poutine Feast over Canada Day weekend, with their set being on Saturday, July 2nd outside of the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site at 800 Bay Street! As you may know, the Poutine Feast is a touring festival with multiple chefs and food professionals coming from town to town cooking up various forms of poutine, with local live music and other family entertainment also on the docket, so definitely click here or above for full details on the poutine and other non-musical events! Of course, we lucked into getting this on the Canada Day long weekend for its post-pandemic return too! The Wyld Stallyns will be the opening band on July 2nd at 11:00 AM, preceding a headlining set that day at 2:00 PM by DJ Seith. As you can see in the schedule, live music is slated daily from Thursday the 30th through Sunday the 3rd, but The Stallyns are the only heavier act.

Attendance outside of The Old Stone House is FREE (the poutine is another story), and while live music only begins at 11:00 AM on Saturday the 2nd, daily start times are at 11:00 AM daily, with live music running into the evening on the 30th and Canada Day proper. Obviously, Poutine Feast is an all ages event, and hopefully the weather cooperates. The Wyld Stallyns' newest summer festival set should prove to be another fun time for attendees, so don't miss their hard rocking covers in two weeks!

Next up, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will play their first known concert in nearby Barbeau when they rock The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill on Saturday, July 2nd as well! Long time readers may recall The Cozy Corners hosting local bands often in the early-mid 2010s, especially Nixxon Dixxon successors Splitshot, so how fitting is it that Brandon & Chris' current band are making their way to Barbeau all these years later? This isn't just a run of the mill concert, however, as it will effectively serve as the afterparty for the Dunbar Dirt Road Dash, an annual 5K fun run in Barbeau that will be followed by a Fourth of July weekend boat parade from Neebish Island that's ending at the tavern, with prizes and such also following. Visit Cozy Corners' Facebook page for full non-musical details! This will be Rhythm & Brews' first announced concert since their road trip to DeTour Village tonight.

If you're curious, Barbeau is much closer to the Soo than DeTour Village, it's basically a 20 minute drive down South Riverside Road away, and Cozy Corners is still located at 6800 East 15 Mile Road. All of the pre-concert festivities aside (details above), the Rhythm & Brews concert proper is at 8:00 PM with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit. This should be a fine opportunity for the 415E side project to make some new fans with their hard rocking cover selection, so don't miss out on all the action over the Independence Day long weekend!

We'll head back to Sault Ontario to close, starting with a promotional video of new (Jack) Spades GT drummer Tyler Reiner! Like their prior (and no longer unlisted) highlight video from their Toronto concert last month, this was filmed by Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group, and its 30+ second runtime is half devoted to Tyler (who local readers may recognize from Caym) setting up for that show and then clips from the set. Unfortunately, there is no live audio here, instead featuring an instrumental track from a rap song, giving this a bizarrely chill vibe. Well edited, but again, Aidan's sitting on some excellent raw Spades GT footage from The Rockpile. Still, give this a watch below! 

Finally, here's a new video from former Bring The Fallen guitarist Andrew Chiarello's YouTube channel, marking his first upload there in over four years! A TikTok-style "shorts" video with a sub-1 minute run time, this features Andrew jamming on his Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 guitar, oddly pillar boxed into the vertical cell phone dimensions despite not originally being shot that way (I'm not a fan of "shorts" videos, if you couldn't tell). Besides that, Andrew shows off his skills nicely in this clip, and you can see why his lead work was such a highlight in his live band days! Give it a watch below!

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

Three New Additions To Our Band Links, Plus New Videos!!

For our final post of January 2017, we have a stacked lineup of stories, including a new solo performance video, and leading off, no less than three new additions to our band links! Two active, one defunct, but there's some talent to be had, including new videos from the two new acts, so here's what you should know on this Wednesday morning!

The first of today's new bands to add to our band links is Re:Born, a new quintet that are effectively the successors to defunct classic metal veterans Project 421! Guitarists Blair Burch & Frank McGillivray have returned from that band alongside three new performers, including singer Robert Nevitt (who I'm not familiar with from prior local bands), former Eclipse bassist Fred Dunn, and former Din drummer Brandan Glew. Describing themselves as playing "classic power-rock with modern energy", and as "bringing (a) gen-X attitude into the millennial era", Re:Born publically launched on Monday, but had been in the works since shortly after 421's demise last fall. Note that this band is not related in any way to Re-Born, the 2014 renaming of Brutally Fatal when they briefly played lighter music before their first breakup, so I can't see there being an issue with the new band's similar name. A live concert debut is to be confirmed, but Re:Born have a few videos to check out, so what can be said so far?

Posted to their Facebook page from a recent jam session, the videos include Re:Born covering AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and Iron Maiden's "Powerslave", while also playing two prior Project 421 originals, namely "Into the Darkness" and (as embedded below) "Running Away". From what I can hear, the guys sound good, and Robert can carry a solid tune vocally with a good edge! Of course, Blair and Frank have pre-existing chemistry, which certainly doesn't hurt either! Not an optimal look at Re:Born yet due to the guys' placement for the session, and the audio's a little muffled, but so far so good, and check our Re:Born above & below!



Next up, here's that other new-ish band, namely Slow Children Playing, a two man punk band that launched their Facebook page back in May 2016, but had previously formed back in 2014! Profuse apologies for missing this band for coverage on here at the time, but as they've never played a known public concert, it was easy for them to stay hidden. While their identities are not listed on their Facebook page beyond the nicknames "Floppy" & "Sloppy", their newest video for "The Christmas Song" gives credits at the end, confirming that their singer/guitarist is Mayadevi alum Don Henderson, and their drummer is Caleb Pitaro, formerly of RXN (more on them in a bit.) Three audio recordings are posted as Facebook videos to check out, namely of the songs  "Vimy Ridge", "Slow Children", and "Gypsy Road", but their newest track "The Christmas Song" (from December) actually has a full video featuring outdoor footage, inverted and monochrome colour filters, and Don walking to a home to jam the end of the song with Caleb.

Also, "The Christmas Song' features a guest performance by Bizotic trumpeter Louise Lamothe, and while she isn't seen in the video proper, it's nice to hear her add a unique element here! Slow Children Playing have potential and a solid punk base, but the audio quality of their older songs is mixed, Don's vocals are after hard to make out if used at all, and a bassist and/or second guitarist would help fill out their sound. Apologies again for missing Slow Children Playing on the site for this long, but hopefully we see them live at some point, and check them out above & below!



Finally for today's new bands is the aforementioned RXN, who I discovered when researching Slow Children Playing, so what can be said on this band? Pronounced "reaction", this band appears to only have been active for a short while in 2009 & 2010, and only appear to have an online presence via this Blogger page, but as they have a full biography there, they just barely have enough content to warrant an addition to our inactive band links. A high school-age hard rock band founded by guitarist Tukker Patry, their lineup was eventually rounded out by singer Shawn Dunn, bassist Josh "J-Sus" McEwen, and the aforementioned Caleb Pitaro on drums, though Josh left before their final public update. RXN had indicated plans to record studio material (with Tukker playing bass) , and had been working to purchase necessary recording equipment, having wrote original songs while in classes, but updates ceased after April 2010, and the band appears to have permanently dissolved by year's end.

As I only know Caleb musically, and as RXN didn't post any known media of their music, I can't comment on how they would have sounded, but there did seem to be clear ambition and goals at last word, and hopefully everyone remains musically active in some form!

Finally for today, here's a new video from former Bring the Fallen guitarist Andrew Chiarello's YouTube channel, marking his first upload there in three years! The video is of a guitar solo played on Andrew's Ibanez Premium RG721FM guitar, and while just being 59 seconds in length, it's a skillful solo with a progressive flourish, and it's a shame that he's not in an active band right now, as he'd be a huge asset! Very solid overall, so give Andrew's new solo video a look below, and hopefully there's more to come!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow to kick off the month! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profiles: Mr. Ander, brianhmyles, and Jamie July's Channels

For our second post on this Saturday night, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Our monthly look at 1-3 YouTube channels with at least 50% local metal, hard rock, and punk content returns with three randomly selected channels today, as the first and second channels that we selected only had two similar videos each, hence maxing out for this installment. We have some interesting footage from both sides of the border to look at today, so read on for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles!
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Mr. Ander (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYZIhDOqxw5142S4zcTzT9A)

Owner: Former Bring The Fallen/AtrophiA guitarist Andrew Chiarello

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 14th, 2013; Videos posted in May 2014

Channel Summary: Three years after Bring The Fallen dissolved, Andrew re-emerged with two solo performance videos on his YouTube channel in May 2014, including a rendition of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and, as embedded below, an instrumental original (I believe) named "RockBro". I don't know why Andrew hasn't been in a major local band in recent years, as he was a standout in Bring the Fallen, but these videos show that he hasn't lost a step at all, and still displays the technical skill and ease on the guitar that fans remember! However, Andrew hasn't posted on his YouTube channel in almost two years.


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brianhmyles's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/brianhmyles)

Owner: YouTube user and likely Sault-area resident Brian Myles

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 15th, 2011; Videos posted the following day

Channel Summary: Brian's only uploaded videos come from the Buckcherry-headlined concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on March 14th, 2011, so it looks like his YouTube channel was launched solely to post his videos from that event. Though the show also featured Papa Roach & My Darkest Days, Brian's videos are both of the Los Angeles hard rock notables playing their songs "Sorry" and, as embedded below, "Crazy Bitch", complete with lengthy crowd banter. Both shot on vertical cell phone camera dimensions, and with attendees' heads in the way, the quality is otherwise decent, but Josh Todd's vocals are relatively flat compared to other shows of theirs. Brian's channel is definitely worth checking out for footage of this huge show from 5 years ago, but note that he hasn't used this channel since at least 2012.


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Jamie July (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpouYR-S0CfstgPf1Ha0Ng)

Owner: Former Havadder guitarist/vocalist Jamie July

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 7th, 2014; Only video posted that same day

Channel Summary: Jamie's YouTube channel has just a single upload, that being of a sample video of classic/hard rock veterans Havadder live at The Rednecks Saloon shortly after their late 2013 reunion, featuring Jamie alongside founding singer/guitarist Jason Roy and then-members Lucas Bugyra & T.J. Case (Asylum Country) on bass & drums. The side-stage video features Havadder covering multiple songs, including some with Jamie on lead vocals, but the poor audio quality makes it hard to discern the individual tracks. As one of the few public videos of this incarnation of Havadder, it's worth watching for fans, but there are better quality videos from before and after this show. Also, Jamie hasn't visibly used his channel since this video was posted.


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, our random selections have again given us three channels (again, as the first two only had a single video), and in another coincidence, these will again include a Havadder video and footage from a major touring concert! On or around April 26th, we'll be profiling Havadder's old official YouTube channel (with a single live video), YouTube user HockeyTraditionalist's channel (with a Treble Charger video), and jjjjjeeeennnaa's YouTube channel (with three videos from Three Days Grace's 2008 Essar Center show), so stay tuned for that then, and for a new news post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Public Animal), A Likely Inactive Band, And New Videos!!

In what might be our last post of the month, we have some recent news to touch on today, including new videos from some familiar faces, a band that we're moving to our inactive links, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, so here's what you need to know!

Toronto hard rock quartet Public Animal will make their way north to our neck of the woods on Friday, June 27th for a headlining gig at The Rockstar Bar! Though unfamiliar on the surface, some fans may remember seeing frontman Ian Blurton at LopLops Lounge a couple years ago with C'mon, and a similar talent level can be found with Public Animal, a hard/garage rock quartet with a distinct old school feel and solid trade-off vocals with keyboardist Caitlin Dacey, so they should find an audience on June 27th! As best as I can tell, the openers will be a reunion of dormant local punk supergroup Brad Example & The Role Models, who you may remember from opening for The Saigon Hookers at this venue twice in 2011, among some prior gigs. Fronted by Inner City Surfers bassist Brad "Example" Lacell, this band had a rotating supporting cast, but their 2011 gigs both included Brad's longtime bandmate Dave Bahun and current Glitch giutarist Marco Pedalino, so might we see them back for this gig? Time will tell!

Apparently promoted by Brad (who's calling the show "Rock and Roll Mindwarp"), this 19+ show has a 10:00 PM start time, and there's a likely $5 cover charge in effect. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an intriguing concert, especially for the classic heavy mix of Public Animal and the Role Models reunion, so keep it in mind for next month, and stay tuned for potential updates!

Next up, I've reluctantly decided to move a local metal band to our defunct Sault Ontario links, that being local extreme metal quartet Winkstinger. The band hasn't made a public statement since opening for Sleep When You're Dead at The Oddfellows Hall exactly one year & one day ago, which itself is their only concert in the past 22 months, so it's not looking great for their active status. Succeeding the similar Operation: Killdozer upon their early 2010 launch, Winkstinger (featuring Soldiers of Misfortune and Issues alumni) became a popular sight at local concerts throughout the early 2010s, including 6 appearances at Roosevelt Hotel metal nights, sets at the first two Sewer Swampstravaganzas, and winning the Battle for the Blood in June 2012 to open for 3 Inches of Blood, while recording songs for an unreleased EP during that time. I'm not sure what exactly happened to Winkstinger, but their chaotic extreme metal sound was always a fun and welcomed presence on the local stage, and despite their increasingly sporadic dates by 2012, I always enjoyed seeing them in concert!

I hope I'm wrong on them no longer being active (we'll let you guys know if they re-emerge), but in the meantime, you can see guitarist Jesse Cook with both Jack Spades & The Elements, and best of luck to Alan, Jesse, Jason, Jonas, and all of their other former members in the future!

We'll close today with new videos, including some new solo guitar clips from former Bring The Fallen guitarist Andrew Chiarello! While largely inactive from local bands since Bring The Fallen's 2011 breakup (last year's reunion show aside), Andrew has recently re-emerged with a new YouTube channel to post some solo videos, so what should you know on these? One from two weeks ago is of him playing an instrumental shred piece named "RockBro", while the other video from earlier this week (embedded below) is his cover of Metallica's "Master of Puppets". Both are shot at multiple camera angles with transitions that showcase his gear nicely, and his talent hasn't wavered since his band heyday! If anything, his guitar could be louder on the Metallica cover, but it's nice to see Andrew playing again, and hopefully there's more to come in some form, so check out his new videos above and below!



Finally for today, Skeyes of Seven bandmates Cory Murchison and Alain Fletcher have recorded another acoustic cover for Alain's YouTube channel, as posted on Tuesday! This time, it's a cover of Slipknot's ballad "Snuff", and like before, it's well performed, but Cory's singing seems a bit slow and shaky. It's a nice teaser while the wait continues for Skeyes of Seven's live return, so check it out below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news shortly! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Winkstinger), A Postponement, And More!!

Well guys, I apologize again for the lack of updates over the last couple days. Once again, things have been a bit slow, but I take responsibility for the delay cause of my homework/studying commitments. I'm trying to spread things out a bit from what I do have, so weekend concert previews are tomorrow. So today, we have the departure of a local metal guitarist, the latest from Half A Man, and a concert postponement, so here's what you need to know, starting with a short notice LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

After months of anticipation, local hard rockers Browbeat are back! In their first live concert appearances since their sole show under the Social Play name in January, Browbeat will debut their new lineup at shows Friday night and Saturday night, including former Disciples of Rock bassist James White and Frightlight guitarist Rick White on drums, along with longtime frontman Dutch Vanderploeg on vocals and guitar! It's great to see Dutch finally get Browbeat back on stage, persistence and dedication will pay off for sure! Check all of the above links for original material on both bands! These shows will likely be at 10:00 PM both nights, with a cover charge of around $3 and a 19+ age limit. I've been hoping to see Browbeat live again for months, and I'm seriously considering going this weekend, likely on Saturday, so stay tuned for a review of the show if I'm there! Get more details and song info at the links above! (EDIT: This concert alert has been edited due to WinkStinger not being on the bill. Blame my own carelessness and some info from Browbeat members for the confusion. They have shows coming up, just not for a couple weeks. My apologies, everyone!)

Secondly, here's an upcoming concert note: This weekend's scheduled Caveman Morrison concert at The Vibe Lounge has been postponed a week, from this Friday to next Friday. This was confirmed by frontman Tym Morrison in an e-mail to confirmed attendees on the show's Facebook event page, which has been updated accordingly. Tym said the venue felt it was best to move the show up a weekend, but didn't elaborate further on the reason for the postponement. Aside from the new date, the show is exactly the same as it was before for house rules, with a 10:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Should be a fun show, even if a week late, so if you want to hear some great metal and hard rock covers from a very talented local cover band, you know where to be next weekend! Click all of the above links for more details, and I'll have more concerning Caveman Morrison as I hear it!

Next up, it was announced today that local death metal band Bring The Fallen have parted ways with lead guitarist Andrew Chiarello. The news was broken earlier today on the band's official Facebook page, with no reason given as to why Andrew left. Andrew was a founding member of Bring The Fallen under their original name (The Undead Warriors) early last year, and played with the band at all of their shows through their most recent appearance at May's Downtown Showdown Battle of the Bands, where they won their third battle in four tries. It's unknown at present if his departure will affect his recorded tracks for their yet-to-be-released debut EP. It really sucks to hear that Andrew's left the band, cause I've always been a fan of his guitar playing, and his presence will surely be missed! That being said, the band are currently looking for a new lead guitarist to replace Andrew in Bring The Fallen, so if you or someone you know are interested, call or text frontman Josh Stephney at 257-2676 for more info! These are tough shoes to fill, but hopefully a great replacement comes along in time for the Total Chaos show next month! I will surely keep you updated on the Bring The Fallen guitarist situation as I hear more, so stay tuned!

Finally today, here's a cool update from Brimley hard rockers Half A Man! This really isn't a "concert" per say, but this should interest fans who wanna see them "live"! On Halloween (Sunday, October 31st), Half A Man will hold a Halloween party/video shoot at frontman Erik Rintamaki's house in Brimley, and you're invited! Not a lot is elaborated on for either element of this event, but the band will presumably have some sort of live performance to go along with the recording of their first ever music video. My best guess is it will be for the song "Freedom Ride", but it could be a different track for all we know. And because a Halloween party is hyped, bring your costumes! An 8:00 PM start time is listed at the Facebook event page, and the address to Erik's place is there as well. I won't post it here out of respect for personal privacy. Check the above links for more, cause this sounds like a fun little event that could lead to some cool stuff to check out later on! For more from Half A Man, including how you can win a guitar pick featuring the band's new logo (as pictured on your right), visit their official Facebook page!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow evening for weekend concert previews and maybe some more news and notes! Thanks everyone!