The Next Local Battle Of The Bands, The Body Lens Concert Preview, And More!!

With some big news as of late, let's tackle a big new story to lead off this post, which could well turn into a local concert alert in time pending who signs up, while we also have a mid-week concert preview and a new video to round things out. Here's what you should know!

An increasingly rare battle of the bands will take place in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan this July, though the stakes and scope are bigger than you may expect. Hosted by Kewadin Casino, the battle will be held on two nights (Wednesday & Thursday, June 12th & 13th), and while it will take place at The Dreammaker's Theater, the winning band will receive the local opening slot for the newly announced Great White concert at the Manistique Kewadin branch on July 27th! For clarification, this is the original version of Great White, not the Jack Russell-led version that played St. Ignace in 2017 (there are two concurrently active versions of the band a'la LA Guns.) And yes, I did say the Great White show was in Manistique (2 hours west of the Soo), but Kewadin is targeting this battle towards bands who live near all 5 of their casinos, which means that acts from the Soo, St. Ignace, Hessel, Manistique, and Christmas, or surrounding areas are free to compete if they can make the trip

Entitled the "Rock Me Battle", bands who wish to compete must submit a performance video to the Facebook event page. Six bands will be selected, and four songs (including at least one original) will be performed by each band. It's not clear how the two day structure will be handled (three bands each night? Eliminations after night 1?), but we will let you know if Kewadin clarifies. In lieu of judges, a fan vote will determine the winners, but uniquely, the vote will be decided by concert attendees and likes on the Facebook event page linked above, with online voting ending on Friday, June 21st. Alongside the Great White opening slot, the battle winners will also recieve guaranteed bookings at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie and The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace next year, so keep that in mind if you'd like to play at Kewadin's E.U.P. nightclubs in 2020. Luckily given the weekday placement, each night of the battle starts at 8:00 PM, and this is presumably a 21+ event, as usual.

Admission will be $5, which will get you entry to both nights and a +1 credit for online voting. Despite the mid-week scheduling, a battle of the bands stretching out to the Central Upper Peninsula in both band pool & final prize definitely helps set it apart, but who might we see compete in June to open for the "Once Bitten Twice Shy" legends? Might we see some bands from Munising, Newberry, or maybe even Sault Ontario along with the 5 Kewadin locations? And what kind of hard rock/metal acts will jump in? Stay tuned for updates as they roll in, and see above for more details!

Next up, here's our preview of a special Wednesday concert in Sault Ontario TOMORROW NIGHT, as Lethbridge, Alberta post-punk quintet Body Lens will play one of the first concerts at local concert promotion agency Dryer Fire's seasonal pop-up venue at 128 Bruce Street! Playing an artsy/garage rock-influenced sound with a punk attitude and some gothic touches, Body Lens' unique sound should attract a diverse fanbase tomorrow, so definitely give them a look to see what they bring to the table! Debuting local "dungeon synth" band Hot Goblin will open the proceedings tomorrow, though nothing has came out publically on this group, we'll let you know if anything pops up. As mentioned above, this concert is taking place at Dryer Fire's eponymous temporary location downtown, and will serve as a summer replacement for Nicole Dyble's 2018 bookings at the M.S. Norgoma.

It's great to see Nicole find a new location for the summer season, temporary as it may be, and hopefully lots of great events hit Dryer Fire in the coming months! As well, Trenton-based mobile bookstore Samson Books will be on site selling their wares, so keep that in mind if you love to read.  This ALL AGES concert has a $10 cover charge and a 7:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Body Lens live!



Finally for today, here's a new commercial for the Dopethrone-headlined concert at The New American Pub on May 20th, courtesy of openers AlgomA's YouTube channel yesterday! The first upload on their channel since 2017, the 47 second commercial features text information on the show proper, plus video clips of the headliners, AlgomA, and fellow openers Shit Liver, including footage of an AlgomA show at The Oddfellows Hall that A. is sadly dated, and B. isn't immediately familiar. The commercial closes with a suitably edited image from the poster for the film Maniac. Well done promotion while it lasts, so give it a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Second Stage) & New Sault Michigan Videos!!

Keeping our busy streak going at the SMS, here's a new news post half devoted to some short new videos from Sault Michigan, but leading off, here's a long anticipated LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning the return of a fan favourite summer concert event, so here's what you should know!

The full lineup for the return of Rotaryfest's Second Stage is now official, as per the official program, so what should you know for it's 10th installment? Returning after a year's hiatus due to financial issues, the all-original stage (now presented by Agero & Village Media, and labelled as "Stage 2: Redirected" on official materials) will be held at Clergue Park on an outdoor stage by the Art Gallery of Algoma, presumably due to the ongoing Downtown Association debate and the postponement or cancellation of outdoor Queen Street events until that's resolved, but whether this is a temporary move or not is to be determined. Also, with LopLops Lounge moving on to their own Emergency Festival last year, main stage assistant director Chelsie Parayko is the new director of the Second Stage, but how does this affect the lineup and schedule? For at least this year, the Second Stage will be held on Saturday, July 18th only (it had previously been held on the Friday too), and is is also a little shorter in length and earlier than before (1:00-8:00 PM rather than 2:00-11:00 PM)

Lineup-wise, there are no out of town bands this year, so this year's Stage 2 lineup is all-local for the first time in a noticeable while. In terms of genre, the bands are familiar in sound to past Second Stages, but with a youthful, punk/alternative base that will be up the alley of fans of Lopstock and Tidal Records events, and with one exception, all making their Stage 2 debuts! Headlining at 7:00 PM on July 18th are local post-punk quartet and VM Radio Battle winners Gnaeus, while their good friends in The Pixo Control will co-headline with their own alternative & grunge originals at 6:00 PM. and new local glam metal/power pop trio Caroline Divine will play at 5:00 PM.  Newer pop punk quartet Stereo North are scheduled at 4:00 PM, and young local indie rock quintet Aldous are on at 3:00 PM, while local rapper Conika & DJ Seith will play three 10 minute mini-sets together at 2:50, 3:50, and 4:50 PM. Some familiar Rotaryfest faces will open Stage 2 as well, so who are they?

Local progressive/indie rock quartet The Wild Iris (who previously played the First Stage twice as The Pesto Shirts) will head over to the Second Stage for a 2:00 PM set, while local alt-folk favourites The Boot Hill Crooners will make their first Stage 2 appearance since 2009 to open the day at 2:00 PM. Just for reference sake, this year's event breaks local indie/folk quintet The Porter Band's five year streak of Second Stage appearances since their 2009 debut, though I believe they fell inactive last year. Stage 2: Redirected is a FREE & ALL AGES event, and it's great to have it back in any form after losing last year's event! I'm encouraged by the more alternative and punk selection of bands, and it'll be interesting to see how this does, but of course, if you miss the old Second Stage format and band range, give The Emergency Festival a look next month! See the above links for more details, and we'll keep you posted if any extra info comes in!

We'll close today with some short videos that will be of note to Sault Michigan readers, including this commercial for TONIGHT'S  P.O.D./Hoobastank/Fuel concert at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! Uploaded by co-promoter John Yeubanks to the Yooper Bars & Bands Facebook group on Wednesday, this was obviously made before Lights Out Paris were added to the lineup, and Integrated System of Machines' name is said without the "S" at the end, but it's effective, gets the details across, and makes good use of music video clips of the headliners! Give it a look below, and remember, tickets are $42.50 at the door TONIGHT!



Finally for today, here's a brief new video from 415E guitarist Chris Hubbard's YouTube channel! The first new performance upload on his YouTube channel since 2011 (though note a few of his recent uploads have been deleted for unannounced reasons), this 15 second video is of Chris jamming on guitar with the help of his new EVH 5150 III Stealth guitar amp head. The camera is mounted on Chris' guitar (albeit with grainy quality), and everything sounds good, but it's too bad this isn't longer. Give Chris' new video a look below!



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

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Before we get into the meat of today's post, I wanted to apologize for an error in our reporting of Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's show at The Harp last week. The Facebook event page for it said it took place on Thursday, but despite the date never being corrected there, it was indeed on Friday as usual, as confirmed through personal Facebook posts and on SooToday. I did note at the time that the date seemed unusual and I'd correct it if possible, but I didn't hear confirmation until after the fact, so I apologize for the error, and hopefully there was a good turnout on Friday! Now, today's post is an all-video spree, including recent concert footage, a commercial, a new cover, and first, a video from a new band's first show!

New local/London death metal quartet Saints & Serpents played their first concert on Friday the 13th at The Richmond Tavern in London, and the first video from their set is now online! As uploaded to singer Steve Rhodes' YouTube channel on Saturday, this is of the new band playing "Vampiric", which you may recognize as an early 2012 original from Saints & Serpents' more familiar predecessors The Valentine's Day Massacre! Remember, all V.D.M. members except drummer Kyle Umgeher are in this new band, so there are natural similarities. Filmed by a front row attendee, it's great to see Steve, Andrew, and Adam playing together for the first time in 9 months, and the audio quality's very good too! The lighting isn't hot, but it actually helps the mood and drapes the band in shadow. My only issue is it's cut short, missing the last minute+ of the song, but this is a nice sample of this new partly local metal band, so give their first live concert video a look below!



Next up, here's a new commercial for the upcoming Bret Michaels/Firehouse concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on January 18th! Uploaded to the Kewadin YouTube channel on December 5th, this 30 second spot (which might be airing on local TV) features just still photos of the performers, with no video footage, but the presentation is about standard and does it's job! Backing audio of Firehouse's "Don't Treat Me Bad" is sandwiched between snippets of Poison's "Nothin' But A Good Time" and "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" in the ad, but I have to ask, why not use audio of Bret's solo originals, or at least of his solo band playing those songs? Yes, his Poison work is better known, but Poison aren't playing the show, only Bret is. Effective commercial though, so give it a look, and get your tickets A.S.A.P.!



Also today, Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy's newest solo performance clip was uploaded to his YouTube channel on Sunday, and it introduces some different wrinkles to his cover videos! Along with his recent usual trends of singing and playing guitar, he plays bass and includes talkbox effects and keyboard backing work on this cover of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life", but if you're gonna go this far, why not at least have programmed drums to completely fill it out? Well done again though, albeit with somewhat more reserved vocals, but Alex is definitely a talent to watch, so check out his new cover below!



To close today, here's a new video covering this year's Soo Zombie Walk that features some brief clips of the musical entertainment before this annual brain-eating late October rampage! Uploaded to the YouTube channel of Sault College's digital film production wing on Thiursday, it features a bunch of assorted clips both at the starting location of The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center, the end location of The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and the walk itself, as laid over Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", but local music fans might be curious to see the brief snippets of the bands early on at the museum! Strange Coyotes bassist James Watterworth's solo set is caught in the video for three separate 5 second segments (at 20, 31, and 42 seconds in), though at least for this portion of the night, he wasn't alone, being joined by bandmate Chase Wigmore and Punch/Project 421's Daniel Horton on guest drums (a role he filled as a guest with their old band Project Legion.) I think members of Haggith appear briefly during the brain eating contests, but they're not playing when seen.

Though James & company didn't appear to wear zombie makeup, at least 2 members of Sykotyk Rampage did (those being Shane Kokis and Paul Becker), as you can see in their close up shots at 1:03 and 1:23 of the video during their set! We don't see a lot (or hear a thing) from their sets, and nothing from Haggith or Greg Callaghan's sets was included either, but this is a well put together video, and I like the rotating camera angles used for a lot of it! Check out this Zombie Walk compilation video below, and keep an eye out early for the band clips!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for last month's poll results and our first "Favourite _____ of 2013" poll! What are we touching on this month as we begin our looks back at the past year? We'll soon find out! Thanks everyone!

Frightlight & Banned Concert Previews, Plus Some New Videos!!

As we end one of busiest ever months at the SMS, we're heading full speed into August with this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews! It's a quieter weekend with just two known shows so far, barring late notice heavier concert announcements, and while I have read at least one reference to a Tym Morrison show tomorrow, a more concrete confirmation has yet to come out that I've seen. We'll cover any late notice shows tomorrow if possible, but I've filled out this post with a couple new video discoveries from each side of the border, so read on below for what you need to know! (Updated at 4:53 PM)

Local concert promoter Johnny Pints' eighth Thursday night concert at The Roosevelt Hotel goes down TONIGHT when his local horror punk/metal band Frightlight plays their second show of the year to help fundraise for an upcoming short film! Returning bassist Mike "Eddie Fright" Gingras has been taking filmmaking courses out of town in recent months, and money raised tonight will go towards funding his short film "The Kid Who Made The Face", and as added incentive, all paid attendees will get a credit in the film, so how's that for a different bonus? Originally scheduled for The Algonquin Hotel on July 27th before being moved & postponed, Frightlight and their entertaining Misfits-inspired punk/metal hybrid sound will be joined by local death metal notables The Bear Hunters tonight in what will actually be their last show with rhythm guitarist Josh Stephney, who has not yet moved out of town! My source is lead guitarist Mitch Sirie's personal Facebook page, and if you missed Oddzfest, you have a second chance to send Josh off with their brutal death metal originals! Tonight's other band is local punk trio Redundant, who should put in an entertaining set of their own full of originals and covers, so don't miss them!

Remember, Brazilian metal band Sanitarium are NOT headlining this show anymore, having dropped out around the time of the show's postponement. Admission will be $5 for this 19+ concert with a 9:00 PM start time, and for more details, visit the official Facebook event page and the newly updated concert's commercial to reflect the date & venue change! It'll be great to see Mike/Eddie back with Frightlight (I assume) after a 9 month absence, and hopefully lots of money is raised for his movie with this talented lineup of metal & punk bands! For a preview, here's Frightlight playing "They All Float" last year!

Also this weekend, Kinross classic/hard rock quintet Banned will return to the local stage with a show on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Sundown Lounge in nearby Pickford, Michigan! Last seen playing in the Lower Peninsula at a battle of the bands at the Charlevoix Venetial Festival on July 22nd, they'll play their first Pickford concert in three months on Saturday, for what should be an entertaining blend of hard rock and classic rock covers, so keep it in mind this weekend! There's no announced cover charge, you must be 21 to attend, and a start time of 9:00 PM is likely. For more details, check the above links (though note that this show was announced way back in March if you're looking for a direct source.) This should be another solid show from Banned, so don't miss it for some diverse hard rock originals and covers, and for a preview, here's Banned covering The Black Keys earlier this year!



We'll close today's post with some new video discoveries, including a newly found cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Sault Ontario classic rock cover quintet Mustang Heart! Uploaded to Local2's Mike Caruso's personal YouTube channel on July 6th, 2010, this came from a set that Mustang Heart played downtown at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion for Canada Day that year, and the video combines audio of the song with slideshow photos of their set and video of the July 1st fireworks. It's a good cover with an interesting trade off between male & female vocals, but the fireworks audio does compromise the quality a bit. Check out the full video below, and stay tuned in case more non-metal bands' hard rock covers pop up!



Finally for today, here's another online-streamable copy of a Kewadin Casino commercial for an upcoming hard rock show, this time to promote the Night Ranger/John Waite concert at The Dreammaker's Theater on September 22nd! It is what it is, showing band photos and text effects with a solid voice over, though there's no video footage of the band or John, and the text movements can get in the way a bit. Check out the ad below, and get your tickets at this link, the Soo Kewadin box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN, as there's still plenty of tickets remaining from the second row and back!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Where Are The New Albums? post TOMORROW, and for more news on the site as it rolls in, including possible late notice concerts! Thanks everyone!