As the long weekend continues, we have a stacked all-Sault Ontario post on this wet Sunday evening, including a new album release, a surprise concert of sorts from a very prominent artist, and more recent updates, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!
Local promoters Underground Events SSM are hosting a rare all-local concert at Blaster Powerhouse (the newly renamed Soo Blaster, more on that in a bit) on Saturday, June 27th that will be headlined by ska-punk trio (quartet?) A.S.D.P.! Last seen opening for The Write-Ups at The Speak Easy, it will be good to see them in a higher profile headlining spotlight! Co-headlining are metal trio The BAG in their first show since their "Sacculus" album release party at the same venue last month (which A.S.D.P. opened), and one hopes that they'll have CDs on sale next month if you don't have one yet! In a big surprise, local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will also play their first concert since opening for Selias in March of last year (also at Soo Blaster). I was honestly planning to move A Dire Setback to our inactive band links very shortly, so it's great to see that they're still alive, and hopefully their teased recording sessions from last year have progressed!
The opening band here is the debuting Riverside Stasis, which is the new group from former Handsome Sandwich frontwoman Taylor Emlaw and Headfirst guitarist Raine Rancourt, but we await more public information about this band (a jam video featuring the full group was briefly online last week but I can't find it now). Stay tuned! This all ages concert has an 8:00 PM start time, and advance tickets will be $15 once they go on sale (the price will jump to $20 at the door). Looks like a fun night of all-local punk and hard rock is in store, so visit the official Facebook event page for updates!
Next up, let's stick with A.S.D.P. frontman Mikhal "Cha" Muto, as his hardcore punk/extreme metal solo project Choking On Appendages is back, and they released their second album onto their Bandcamp page on April 29th! Coming almost two years after the release of their debut EP "Macabre" (and until now, their only other public act, as they're not on social media otherwise), this album is named "Galactic Acid", and while it only has two more songs than "Macabre", it is over double the length. Mikhal again independently recorded the new C.O.A. album, but this time, he has three special guests. "Bilge" features Golden Scoundrels/ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno on vocals (don't miss the latter band's one-off reunion at Jay's one week from tomorrow!), "The Almost People" features Mikhal's cousin/ex-Hails bandmate Carmen Muto on guitar, and "Teeth" features prolific local folk punk/extreme metal singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore.
You can buy "Galactic Acid" on Bandcamp for $9, or stream all eight songs for free there as well as on Mikhal's YouTube channel, with the description of that single-video upload confirming that the album was recorded last year. I do wish that Choking On Appendages (hell, all of Mikhal's bands) had more of a social media presence, but it's good to see his heaviest project back after almost two years of public silence! Alas, our lengthy album review backlog means that "Galactic Acid" isn't tapped for a review until February, but give the new Choking On Appendages album a listen above and below!
Also, here's the latest from a musician who's been quiet in recent months, namely local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith, who re-emerged in surprising fashion on Saturday, May 9th. As you may know, most members of his local supporting band The Big Finish Band play shows in town as the country rock cover band Elly McWatters & The Drifters (just with A Dire Setback bassist Matt Quinn instead of Matt Fronzi, plus ex-Jack Spades guitarist Jesse Cook), and they were booked to play at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this past weekend. As it turns out, Mike was planning a trip to the Soo then, and after some prior personal teasers, Jay's let the cat out of the bag 90 minutes prior to showtime that he'd be making "a special appearance". I don't know how much of the night was taken over by Mike & The Big Finish Band, but he and Matt F. were on hand for their first public performance together in eight months!
A (sadly) vertical video, complete with an unnecessary text caption, was shared from Mike's personal Facebook page the following day, and while lively, it runs for only 15 seconds and has very loud and distorted audio. I guess you had to be there! Notably, Elly was playing guitar that night after only doing backing vocals for Big Finish Band shows last year following rotator cuff surgery (though this won't be a surprise if you've seen recent Drifters concerts/videos). Mike also hung around to join bandmates as guest judges at Shooters Downstairs Lounge's Talent Quest karaoke competition last week, which Elly won a few years back. Awesome to see Mike back in town for a surprise, so give the video a watch below!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or venue name:
- The Dive Gastro Pub (which may be rebranding as The Dive On Queen) debuted a new "Metal Mondays" theme night this past week, as per this AI-generated poster on their Facebook page. They don't go into much detail about what to expect beyond "heavy riffs, cold drinks, (and) good people every Monday night", and "no cover, just metal", but seeing as the former Low & Slow only hosts intimate acoustic artists and DJs, this reads to me like they're just playing metal as the house background music on Mondays now. We'll let you know if things are more involved beyond that, but if you're a metalhead and can swing coming out on a work/school night, maybe The Dive is the place to be tomorrow evening?
- The aforementioned Soo Blaster has indeed rebranded as Blaster Powerhouse, as per their online marketing in recent weeks (though the name has surfaced in some local concert marketing since at least March). As explained in this SooToday article by Darren Taylor, the name change coincides with the completion of the 345 Queen Steet East entertainment venue's recent expansion and upgrades, including a larger arcade, laser tag, bowling lanes, extra family entertainment options, and a video screen on the concert stage, among other new updates. I think a lot of folks will still call it Soo Blaster(s), but a lot of work has been put in, so see above for all that the Powerhouse has to offer!
- Facebook users may have seen a "Story" video recently from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Separate Wayz of their sister band Soundcheck covering Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" at Reggie's Place this weekend, with the twist of Separate Wayz singer Nicole Thibodeau guesting from the audience (she was holding a microphone brought from the stage). Allegedly, Nicole had FOMO (fear of missing out) despite this not being an "epic crossover" of the two bands. What I saw and heard was good, but alas, "Story" videos vanish forever after one or two viewings, and the video was not permanently uploaded otherwise, so if it pops up in your "Stories" strip, watch it A.S.A.P.!
