LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Napoleon) Plus More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, let'swrap up this weekend's concert previews with tonight's post, along with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this fall, so here's what you should know on this Friday evening!

Local promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment will host their fourth post-relaunch concert and first since May on Friday, September 26th, when Toronto post-hardcore quartet Napoleon make their local debut at Soo Blaster! If you want something heavy, Napoleon will deliver with their blend of modern screamo and punk/alternative influences, and they should appeal to many readers with their in-your-face energy, so don't miss out in two months' time! The only currently signed local opener is Instagram-only hard rock quartet Maynard Hayes in their third show and first time not opening for Convergence. Hopefully their momentum is building well following The Pit & The Upheaval! At least one more opening band is to be announced, but note that May's H.N.E.-promoted Derev concert had three opening acts. This presumably all ages concert currently has an early 5:00-10:00 PM run time, so we'll see if that holds by the time the show takes place.

Tickets run for just $15 plus processing fees at this link, and will presumably be available at Soo Blaster (no word on if Maynard Hayes, Heavy North, or potential other opening acts will have them too). Good eaely signs for this show, especially being a Friday nighter, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details as they roll in!

Next up, here's more weekend concert previews, starting with local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations, whose scheduled shows this weekend were cancelled. They were slated to return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, as well as host last night's jam night there, but according to drummer Tony Santoro on their Facebook group on Tuesday, they won't be playing this weekend "due to unfortunate circumstances". They rebounded fast however, as they'll instead be rocking Reggie's Place TONIGHT & TOMORROW instead. Technically speaking, apologies for the short notice, but you could argue that the two proper concerts were just relocated. Fresh off of their Rotaryfest headlining set from this past Friday, this weekend's concerts are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges as usual, and for the record, I haven't heard if Jay's has a replacement band playing there instead. See above for more details, and here's Generations live.

Next up, the first annual WestFest goes down TOMORROW at Anna Marinelli Park at 169 James Street! Spearheaded by the West Village Revitalization Project, this is a keystone event in their ongoing efforts to revitalize the western section of downtown Sault Ste. Marie (Steelton and Jamestown), with WestFest being promoted as a "block party meets music festival" featuring family entertainment and activities, local vendors, and even a beer garden, so visit the official website for full non-musical details on tomorrow's events! This outdoor festival just off of Albert Street West will feature seven acts, all but one being recent veterans of Rotaryfest Stage 2, but only the headliners are fully SMS-amenable, namely alt-hard rock quartet Handsome Sandwich! They'll take the stage tomorrow at 8:30 PM in their second live set of 2025 and since contracting to a quartet, and it should be a fine way to enjoy their eclectic and pointed original tunes!

Drummer Johnny Belanger and former Handsome Sandwich guitarist Brandon Ruch will also join forces in the co-headlining band tomorrow, namely bluegrass/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels, who play at 7:00 PM. Fresh off of their Stage 2 return this past Saturday, indie rock quartet Jupiter Marvelous (entirely made up of past hard rock band members) will perform at 6:00 PM, with folk/indie singer/songwiter Matthew James taking the stage prior at 4:45 PM. Indie/alternative band Lucy's Diner (née The Hollow Heads) perform at 3:45 PM ahead of a country set by former Soundcheck singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver at 2:45 as his local farewell tour presses on. The only band tomorrow who aren't a Stage 2 veteran are the late additions kicking things off, as veteran classic rock duo Frankly Speaking will start the day at 1:45 PM. Not the heaviest lineup going, but there should be a little something for everyone at WestFest, plus the other events all day!

This FREE & ALL AGES community festival is outdoors (bands will be performing on a covered stage), so weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling clear to partly cloudy skies tomorrow with temperatures hovering around 25°. While there's no chance of rain, there is an ongoing air quality advisory due to the smoke migrating here from the widespread forest fires in northwestern Ontario, so approach that as needed. Hopefully thing go well for WestFest across the board, and that this does a lot for the west end promotion and sprucing up, perhaps with a sequel to follow! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Handsome Sandwich live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Clutch & Selias), 104.3 The Fox Updates, And A 1999 Concert Bootleg!!

Let's dive into some more big news on this Wednesday morning, including a surprise local concert bootleg discovery, programming news from a local radio station, and leading off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know!

Toronto melodic death metal band Selias will head here for the second time in under six months when they perform at Soo Blaster once again on Friday, March 14th! As local metalheads may recall, Selias headlined Heavy North Entertainment's comeback concert there in September of last year, with next month's show kicking off the band's Western Canadian Annihilation Tour, which hopefully goes well for all involved! H.N.E. are promoting this show, in their first concert booking of 2025 and second since their relaunch. It's worth noting that drummer Tyler Reiner (better known currently from his work with Spades GT) is not pictured in Selias' newest band photographs, implying that he has left their ranks, though hopefully he comes back north with Spades soon! No word yet on opening bands, but in September, Selias were joined by fellow touring metal band Out Of Spite and six local hard rock/metal acts, including some big returnees.

One of those openers was new local technical death metal band Bardo (fronted by Heavy North Entertainment owner Tyler St. Amour), but I have no idea if they're playing next month. We'll let you know when additional bands are confirmed! No word yet on ticket prices or availability therein, but last year, the show was all ages with an early 5:00 PM start time to accommodate the eight band lineup, and tickets ran for $15 online, at Soo Blaster, via local openers, or at a couple of Queen Street East businesses.  There's blanks to fill in ahead, but visit the above links for more on Selias' St. Patrick's Day weekend stop at Soo Blaster next month!

Next up, here's yesterday's big Sault Michigan concert announcement for The Dreammakers Theatre at their Kewadin Casino branch, as Maryland stoner/hard rock quartet Clutch will make their local concert debut on Thursday, June 19th! While not a mainstream rock radio presence, Clutch have carved out a devoted following with their bluesy but hard hitting brand of original rock in the past three decades thanks to fan favourite songs like "Electric Worry", "The Regulator", and "X-Ray Visions", and it will be neat to see them in town this summer! If press releases and news sites like Blabbermouth are to be believed, Clutch will be playing their self-titled 1995 album in full on this tour, so fans of "Spacegrass" will be excited! Openers on the Full Ahead Flank MMXXV Tour will include Nashville southern hard rock quartet Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown and Washington D.C. folk/country singer/guitarist Nate Bergman.

While we're obviously getting heavier as the night progresses, Tyler and Nate have a lot of talent, so don't bypass their sets for some bluesy southern fare! This all ages concert (on Juneteenth, no less) has an 8:00 PM start time, and this one is standing room only, so the seats are gone for the night. Tickets go on sale for $55 USD on Friday at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN, but pre-sale tickets are already available if you have the requisite code. I wouldn't have had Clutch pegged as a band that I expected to rock the Twin Saults in 2025, but this should be a solid concert, and decidedly unique compared to what often comes to the Soo Kewadin, so see above for more details!

Now let's dive into some programming updates from new Sault Ontario rock radio station 104.3 The Fox! The big reveal is that morning drive program The Brock & Dalby Show now has a nighttime version airing weeknights from 8:00-10:00 PM on The Fox and its sister stations in Northeastern Ontario and Kingston. As best as I can gather, this features condensed/select host segments heard in their regular 5:30-9:00 AM timeslot in between music, and it premiered after The Biggs & Barr Show on Monday night. Another note that I didn't bring up when first covering the relaunched CJQM is that Tuesdays have a slight theme, namely "Two For One Tuesday", where two back-to-back songs featuring the same artist (if not always in the same band) will be played on occasion. This is hardly an all-day, every-song theme (like "Twofer Tuesday" is on WRIF in Detroit), but it's something different every so often on Tuesdays!

Lastly, I never mentioned when noting local midday DJ Dan Koo's on-air work that he has a segment of his own called "Dan's Big Three", where he quickly goes through three big local news stories. It sounds like things are going well for the former Q104 in their new format, and I am enjoying the variety that their existence affords in conjunction with Rock 101, so continue tuning into 104.3 FM on your radio dial or online!

Finally, many readers will be aware of concert bootlegs being popular among diehard fans and collectors, and the Soo was not immune to getting them on occasion. Back on July 15th, 1999, Halifax hard rock legends April Wine headlined in Sault Ontario at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, one of their (at least) three local concert stops, including one at Sault Memorial Gardens in 1984 and another at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in 2013. The 1999 show was recorded by rej1064 and remastered by Rocker200, and was first uploaded to the bootleg forum Dimeadozen in 2006, with the YouTube channel Classic Rock Live Concerts posting it publically on Sunday. I won't list the track order here, as you can see it below via the bootleg's back cover, but the hits that you expect April Wine to play were represented in the 17 song set. The audio quality isn't pristine, but you hear enough to get the gist of how April Wine sounded in 1999!

There are some abrupt stops between songs, so I take it that rej1064 was trying to record individual tracks and/or cut down on between-song banter/introductions. Still, 75 minutes of legit local concert audio from 26 years ago is really neat, especially as it predates the YouTube generation where you can readily find full concert streams from the past two decades, and the band sounds good throughout this concert. Check out the full local April Wine bootleg below, and R.I.P. Myles!

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

Toystock XI Concert Preview!!

Here's our extended preview of TOMORROW's eleventh annual Toystock, as ten bands will again rock The Grand Gardens on Great Northern Road in a ten hour span in support of Christmas Cheer! As has been the case annually since 2012 (a two year pandemic hiatus aside), Bone Yard 225 singer/drummer Greg Simpson is hosting this huge charity concert tomorrow via GS (née Maxx) Entertainment, with admission via donation of new toys, games, books, winter clothing, gift cards, or cash. With the Christmas season well and truly almost upon us, any aid that you can give needy families for the season is more than appreciated. Kudos to Greg for keeping Toystock going into its second decade, and here's hoping for a great turnout tomorrow! Bands aside, expect children's activities & crafts, visits from Santa Claus, an open bar, and more, so be sure to visit the official website for full non-musical details on Toystock XI tomorrow!

The lineup for this year's Toystock features ten bands in ten hours once again, all donating their time for the cause, including five returning bands from prior years. Headlining once again at 9:00 PM tomorrow are the aforementioned Bone Yard 225, in their ninth consecutive Toystock set and tenth total, both records. Greg, Alex, and Warren should end things strongly with their southern hard rock cover attack! Alt-rock quartet The Haze (née Skinbox) will co-headline tomorrow at 8:00 PM in their second straight year at Toystock, while Bone Yard bassist Warren Reville will pull double duty by playing with blues rock quartet The Associates, who you may remember seeing at Rotaryfest Stage 2 in July. This band is also filling the "music school/store representative" quota this year, as The Associates are entirely made up of staff & instructors from Long & McQuade, so if you go there for gear or lessons, they'll be extra familiar tomorrow night!

Veteran classic rock band Mid Life Crysis will surprisingly make their Toystock debut tomorrow in the 6:00 PM timeslot, while pop rock cover quartet Bourbon Blue will ride the momentum of this weekend's shows at Jay's when they play Toystock for a third straight year at 5:00 PM. Mark "DJ Dark Mark" Millington will make his Toystock debut as a scheduled performer at 4:00 PM, after working with Greg on on many different events for the past decade. I believe this is the first time that a DJ has been one of the "ten bands in ten hours", so it'll be interesting to see how Mark's set goes over to end the first half of the night! ! Local punk trio Redundant will play just their third show since the pandemic began when they play Toystock for a third time at 3:00 PM, last being seen at this event last year. Things have definitely slowed down in Redundant's camp, but hopefully this is a good sign for more from them to come in the year ahead!

Fresh off of rocking The Soo's Got Talent finals last night (results/recap forthcoming), Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band will play Toystock for the first time at 2:00 PM, Mike & Brandan's 2016 set with The Din acknowledged. It's always good to see Mike rocking a local stage, and hopefully this set is a big hit before he returns to Barrie! Toystock XI will open with two acoustic solo performers, including Soundcheck singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver in his second solo appearance at this event, playing a country set here in 2019 on the day that he debuted with the band (remember, Soundcheck proper are not playing this year). The day's program begins at 12:00 PM with local blues veteran Doug Cousineau, who has donated a guitar to be given away, but the "who" and "how" of this giveaway will be revealed tomorrow! Remember, Toystock is an ALL AGES event, so feel free to bring the kids for the music and entertainment!

It is wonderful to see Greg and crew hold Toystock once again, and while it is a long day, it's all for a great cause, as there are a lot of needy people and families in the Soo who could use help, both day-to-day and towards providing their loved ones with a great Christmas. If you can make it down with donations, you'll get a solid day of entertainment, so consider heading to The Grand Gardens for all of the action! Visit the above links for more details, here's Bone Yard 225 live, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Bear Hunters, Heavy North Entertainment, And Convergence Updates!!

As we begin what will likely be the busiest week of the year for the SMS, let's dive into some true, unquestionable metal news on this Sunday afternoon! Not punk or hard rock, for better or worse, but fans of extreme and death metal should definitely like the topics discussed today, so here's what you should know!

For the first time in almost a year, local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters posted on their Facebook page yesterday, so what's new in their camp? Guitarist Mitch Sirie posted there last night to firstly indicate that he is planning to give away his extant Bear Hunters t-shirts, limited to two per person (one with their logo, one with the artwork of their debut album "Eternal Hibernation"), though note that he did not reveal what sizes he has. This may seem like a bad omen re: future band prospects, but not imminently, as he noted that if you send him a picture wearing a Bear Hunters shirt, you'll get "our next album" for free, and if you show photo evidence wearing both shirts, you'll also get into their "final show" for free as well! As you may recall, The Bear Hunters were resurrected last summer after a two year hiatus, headlining a technically private summer concert in Leeburn last July, but had been dead silent on social media since.

Given their incredible slowdown in live dates since 2017 (they played live just thrice from 2018-2021 before the Leeburn event), you can't be too shocked that Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny are looking towards the end of the band, especially with how times have changed since their early-mid 2010s heyday. True closure on a big stage would be ideal, especially after the release of 2020's "The Dead Testament" was severely downsized by the pandemic, hence its abrupt Bandcamp posting. The guys did tease that they were working on new music when they came back last year, so hopefully things progress naturally on that front, and we'll let you know when more updates come out on The Bear Hunters' future/final plans!

Next up, here's some updates from a frequent promoter of Bear Hunters concerts during the peak of their run, namely ex-Them frontman Tyler St. Amour's revived Heavy North Entertainment! Best known from promoting all ages extreme metal shows at the former Oddfellows Hall in the early-mid 2010s, H.N.E. was recently brought back after a seven year hiatus. and has been taking new bookings for this and next year for the past month+. Tyler had collaborated in an unspecified capacity with last month's It's The Pits festival in Leeburn, and Heavy North "will be working" the upcoming Ripcordz and Total Chaos basement shows at The Distraction, but again, we don't know specifics as to how involved Tyler/the company are in these events. In terms of their own concerts, Heavy North's Facebook page has strongly hinted at shows coming up on Friday, August 16th and Saturday, September 28th, venues and specific bands unclear.

The only band mentioned by name so far for either/other gigs is Toronto melodic death metal band Selias, who extreme metal fans would definitely welcome to town, but we await further details. If you like true death metal and hardcore music, we have had a lot of lean years as live music goes, so kudos to Tyler for throwing his promotional hat back in the ring for the first time since 2017, and it'll be interesting to see what he has in store!

Finally, here's some brand new updates on local progressive metal trio Convergence, all given to me by guitarist Brendan Christie for release on the SMS before/in lieu of being posted by the band on social media, so kudos to him for the scoops! Apologies for the delay in these making the site too, these aren't as recent as I'd have liked given recent backlogs. Yellow Room Studios (where Convergence records their material) are rebranding to Woodward Avenue Studios due to copyright/trademark issues with the Yellow Room moniker, but social media hasn't been updated on this yet. Brendan has been hyping up his studio for usage by local musicians, so if this interests you, see above for more on what he's offering! Regarding Convergence's third EP "Gemini", he was hoping to have it out "before summer holidays begin", but that timeline has obviously passed.

The EP will have five songs, including an intro track named "Breaking News", "It Ate The F&$%ing Moon" (sic), the title track, "Kraken Mara" (which was Convergence's original name), and "In Bloom", and there is a new teaser video on their YouTube channel for one of those five songs, which we'll touch on in a second. Convergence are reportedly "in talks with two potential singers" but they are still welcoming prospective vocalists to try out, so if you want to sing on their progressive metal material, send them a vocal demo and/or a recording over one of their instrumentals to one of their social media accounts. The guys are definitely leaning towards harsh vocalists with clean singing ability, much like when ex-State of Misery frontman Steve Rhodes guested on "Stratus".  Note that Brendan told me that they intentionally held back on guitar solos on their second EP "Dead & Dreaming" because of the lack of vocal input.

Finally, let's look at that new teaser video for "Gemini", which was uploaded in vertical dimensions despite not being formatted as a "Shorts" video. In what appears to be a sample (if not the full track) of "Breaking News", we see a news anchor delivering a report about an alien threat on Earth on an old CRT TV set up in what looks like an alleyway. Given that this is to be one of the songs on "Gemini", perhaps only partially, I'll hold comment on what is heard, but the mood is definitely set! Check out the video below, and stay tuned for more from Convergence when it goes public!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Vaegon), New Videos, And More Recent Updates!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for missing local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub this past Saturday for coverage on the site. While the venue never plugged the show on social media, drummer Tony Santoro plugged it thrice on their Facebook group between June 5th and that afternoon, all of which passed me by at the time. I apologize again and will do better to keep tabs on their updates, but hopefully it was a big hit, and don't miss Generations at Rotaryfest next month, especially with the schedule coming out this week! Now, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, new videos, and much more from Sault Ontario in the last while!

Remember the era of Roosevelt Hotel metal nights in the early 2010s? Well, we're getting a return to the good old days on Sunday, July 21st, as the former Rosie (now known as Jay's Piston Broke Pub) will host touring extreme metal bands that night! Both making their local concert debut, the bands in question are technical death metal bands from western Canada, including Edmonton quartet Vaegon as the headliners alongside Vancouver quintet Exterminatus, who are touring Canada on the Particle Eclipse Canada Tour (named for Vaegon's newest EP). It's not hyperbole when I say that this will be the heaviest show to take place at Jay's/Reggie's West since The Rosie was sold in 2014, and between Vaegon's intense original material and Exterminatus' Cannibal Corpse-reminiscent sound, both containing groove metal elements, extreme metal fans should be right at home at 306 Korah Road next month, especially on Rotaryfest weekend!

Local support will come by way of young metal trio The BAG in their first announced show in three months, and if Facebook comment replies are to be believed, they were key in getting this show booked. Not an extreme metal band, but Spencer, Austin, and Bradley will set the tone well! This 8:00 PM and 19+ concert has $10 tickets, presumably available at Jay's and through BAG members. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on the brutality hitting Jay's next month, so metalheads can party like it's 2011 or so all over again!

Next up, here's the latest from local hard rock trio Bullet Train, who posted their newest at-home demo single to their YouTube channel two weeks ago! After a few weeks of teasers hinting at new material, they delivered with "Profit", which also has a music/lyric video giving us our first look at real (if monochrome) video footage of Cory, Bones, and Anthony on camera performing in this project! AI imagery also alternates with the performance clips, and sticking close to their past songs/videos, this one is very much focused on current issues, specifically the belief that it's more profitable for pharmaceutical companies to medicate illnesses than cure them. I am not qualified to comment on stuff like this, so I'll leave that to people who are, but fans of Cory's old bands like Sense of Truth will like the chugging riffs and melodic vocals on display, though I'll leave any analysis of the lyrics for others. Check out "Profit" for yourselves below!

Also, here's the latest from local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who return to the stage at Go Skateboarding Day on Friday, but this is very different. As you may recall, Shooters Downstairs Lounge hosted their first annual karaoke talent quest competition last summer, where ex-Re:Born singer Elly McWatters won the $1,000 first prize and a trip to Las Vegas. We don't actively cover 100% karaoke events here, but I did note last year that local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck had signed on as the judges for the event's duration. This year, Shooters have changed things up by enlisting rotating guest judges, and for night #1 on June 9th, the judges were most of HeadFirst! Everyone except guitarist Liam Dinsmore and drummer Anthony Boudreau headed to the Dennis Street nightclub to judge the competition, and they actually filmed the MC's introduction and the first singer for their Facebook page!

Again, I don't cover karaoke-only events here, but as HeadFirst filmed this and are featured on camera, I thought I'd at least acknowledge it. The video features singer Vix Vikken covering My Chemical Romance's "I Don't Love You", and while Vix didn't advance to the top 25 on their first shot, paid registrants can keep auditioning until the top 25 is filled out, so there is still time for Vix to match their top 12 run under a different name last year. Emo and pop punk fans will like the strong vocal cover here, so check the video at this link! I can't embed it here, as Facebook content matched the "I Don't Love You" backing track.

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

 

• Sporadically-heard-from local metal band Chronic Demonic made their first post about real band activity since 2022 on their Facebook page on May 31st, where guitarist Kevin Powe (ex-Fitswitch) revealed that he's "jammin' with my unnamed 3rd project" that also includes drummer Jonathan Harvey (ex-Gates of Winter), and he floated the idea of playing a joint show with all three of his bands. He didn't give the identity of the second band, but it could be the inactive Frightlight, who dropped out of a planned reunion set at the Northern Vibe Festival last year. It'd be great to see Chronic Demonic finally play a full concert, but visit the above links for more info!
• After seeing their album "Deconstructed" nominated for Outstanding Engineer (Dustin Goodall) at this year's Northern Ontario Film & Music Awards, local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich will hit the road for Sudbury next Friday to play at that night's Soiree d'Ambiance Artist Showcase at Le Studio Desjardins, one of multiple Northern Ontario showcase concerts taking place that weekend around the awards ceremony. Handsome Sandwich and North Bay punk band Peach Pact will be opening for Thunder Bay folk rockers The Honest Heart Collective that night. Best of luck to Handsome Sandwich and Dustin next weekend!
  
• Local metal concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment has relaunched after a six year hiatus! Ran by former Them frontman Tyler St. Amour, the company has been plugging events from other promoters in recent months, but confirmed on their Facebook page earlier this month that they are booking events for this year and next year, and are "pleased to be working" the It's The Pits Festival from Piecing It Together Shows in Leeburn this weekend. I don't know to what end Tyler is involved in It's The Pits, as it's not metal-centric like in H.N.E.'s early-mid 2010s heyday, but it's great to see him back promoting concerts in the Sault area!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck) & More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of local concert/mixed martial arts promoter "Big" John Yeubanks, who passed away this morning at the age of 44 after a two year battle with cancer, as per numerous Facebook postings. Click here for details on his fight via a GoFundMe campaign from earlier this year. Based out of Gaylord, Michigan, John was long associated with events promotion in Sault Ste. Marie via his companies Big John's MMA and Superior Entertainment. While best known in the area for his fight cards at Kewadin Casinos, John also co-promoted a handful of high profile local concerts via Superior Entertainment, including 2015's P.O.D./Hoobastank and Saving Abel concerts at The Dreammakers Theater, 2017's Dokken/Firehouse show at what's now GFL Memorial Gardens, and the Josey Scott show at The Rink at The Train Station last June.

Big John's local legacy for many will be via his many MMA cards here (his final fight card was just last month), but he did bring some big concerts up to our area, and despite being from Northern Michigan, he did help put on multiple concerts and MMA shows in Sault Ontario, relatively uncommon examples of local event promotion from across the border. From what I know of John, he was a good family man driven by faith, and he was very candid about his health on social media, so I do hope that he is fondly remembered by all who knew him at this difficult time. R.I.P. Big John!

Today's post otherwise looks at the rest of this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, as Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for traditional concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, drummer Glen Thomas only announced them on his personal Facebook page earlier today, and neither the band nor venue have followed suit publically. TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows complete another triple-header weekend at the former Reggie's West for Soundcheck, whose usual Thursday jam night hosting duties (sans singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver) are tonight before the full band rocks out all night TOMORROW & SATURDAY to end one month and begin another. Despite the late notice for the normal concerts, hopefully Soundcheck deliver more hits all weekend!

As usual for Soundcheck's Jay's concerts, expect these to be 19+ events with no announced cover charges and 9:30 PM start times. Visit the above links for more details on the festivities TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, and for a preview, here's Soundcheck live!

Next up, here's some more weekend concerts that did get advance notice, starting with local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who will return to Reggie's Place for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT before heading to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for a concert on SATURDAY NIGHT! As Shooters hosts DJ nights on Fridays this year, HeadFirst had to look elsewhere to fill out their weekend schedule, and while I don't know which band was signed at Reggie's first, Bone Yard 225 (who are playing a one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub tomorrow night) have Saturday sewn up at Reggie's, so everyone wins in this regard! Unlike Bone Yard, HeadFirst's two shows this weekend both appear to be standard plugged-in fare compared to their launch event at Reggie's two weeks ago for their debut studio single "Don't Care, Don't Mind". Downtown will be rocking all weekend with this fast rising young group, so don't miss out at either locale!

Also, I surprisingly haven't commented on "Don't Care, Don't Mind" yet here, but you can hear it on major streaming services and I've embedded it below as the preview video for this weekend via their YouTube Music channel. It's a solid enough song with good production and a slightly bluesier edge vocally, and fans of HeadFirst should take to it, but I know that they are capable of more melodic and hooky material if they have more studio plans. Tomorrow's Reggie's concert and Saturday's Shooters show have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details on both gigs, and here's HeadFirst's new song!

We'll close today by heading to The Rapids Lounge at the aforementioned Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan, where local hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will take the stage for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These will be this local supergroup's first publically acknowledged concerts since the I-500 weekend at the same venue, but you may recall seeing the band's instrumental members guesting with Tarnished at The Merchant's Bar two weeks ago. Formal concerts from Rhythm & Brews are not super frequent (and live videos of them are far less so), but this union of Nixxon Dixxon, 415E, Power Slug, and Highway 63 alumni promise to deliver a fun weekend of hard rocking covers, so don't miss out on all of the action this weekend! Personal Facebook promotion of these shows suggest that Rhythm & Brews will have new songs, a "new atmosphere", and "maybe a few surprises" in store this weekend.

As usual for Kewadin lounge concerts, tomorrow & Saturday night's shows have 21+ age limits, 9:00 PM start times, and no cover charges. We still don't have public video footage of Rhythm & Brews to preview them with, but go see them in person for yourself this weekend, and visit the above links for more details! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

Two Recent Interviews With Heavy Lies The Crown!!

Remember how St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown had been interviewed for a podcast in March, only to get lost in our backlog despite me mentioning it in posts? Yeah, well they actually have another one from early 2023 that I didn't know about, so let's take some time today to finally address them! The new-to-me interview (I don't even think H.L.T.C. posted about it) is even earlier still, premiering as a Facebook live-stream on January 26th, and it was conducted via Zoom by Dustin Noell of Ghost Media Entertainment, a promotional agency based out of Missouri, with co-hosting duties by his young daughter Zelda, believe it or not. Heavy Lies The Crown are represented here by singer Brandon West and guitarist Ted Olson, and I do recommend that you crank the volume on your device while watching the interview, as Brandon & Ted are very quiet compared to Dustin & Zelda in the live-stream.

In the 59 minutes-long interview, Brandon & Ted talk about how their current lineup came together (including complications at some venues given drummer Jaxon Massaway not even being 19 yet), playing music for the passion vs. the money, their evolution from jamming to actually being a real band, their upcoming album and planned heavier material as of January, working with David Dominguez on mixing some older material, plans to play more shows in 2023, their favourite songs to play live, the inspirations of various songs of theirs, how they came up with the Heavy Lies The Crown name, their favourite (and most disturbing) movies, the band that they'd most like to play with, issues playing live when most of their shows are 5 hours away, their upcoming concerts & label aspirations, and much more. Zelda asks a few questions too, and Brandon's daughter even makes a cameo.

Fun interview with a casual atmosphere that benefits from Brandon & Ted knowing Dustin already (he clearly has Michigan ties and even notes plans to move back there for work reasons), and the addition of Dustin's daughter Zelda for the whole interview helps keep things light and approachable! How many metal band interviews feature bits about stuffed animals and Arby's, after all? Not many scoops to note beyond plans that may have already began rolling out (I am behind on recent Heavy Lies The Crown news), but give their Ghost Media Entertainment interview a watch below!

As for the interview from March 13th that I did know about, that one was actually an audio interview done for a podcast, namely Dark Side Of The Scene, which is hosted out of Indiana by To My Dismay frontman Brandon Wright and his co-host Ed Corella. This podcast (whose episodes are cross-posted to their YouTube channel) is themed around touring musicians and the ups & downs that they go through with bandmates, promoters, and venues, and given that H.L.T.C. travel downstate for the vast majority of their concerts, they should have stories to tell! In their 92 minute episode (the fourth ever for Dark Side Of The Scene), they talk to the whole band except Ted, now including guitarist Christian Thanasiu, bassist Christian Cook, and drummer Jaxon Massaway. The interview begins about 4 minutes in with plugs for their recent studio work and how things have been going for recording the material.

Diving into the themes of the podcast moreso, Heavy Lies The Crown next discussed how there's nowhere for them to play in the Eastern Upper Peninsula (they have gotten offers to play in Sault Ontario but various issues keep them from coming across), and how they have to commute downstate for almost all of their gigs. They also discuss how there isn't a massive scene for metal bands in St. Ignace and/or the E.U.P., but they do praise local musicians in general and how kind people are up here. The band do talk up the opportunities that they've had in the Lower Peninsula, but they are candid (if always polite) about their negative experiences from tour runs and the shows that they've played, which will be especially interesting if you were at these concerts. H.L.T.C. next discuss their lineup, how close apart they live, and exactly what led to Nathan, Danny, and Cale leaving last year, before going into experiences recording in studio.

After some more casual discussion about life in the E.U.P. and whatnot, they address the Heavy Lies The Crown name and how it is also being used by an existing death metal band from Indiana (I'm surprised that the two have coexisted for this long), before addressing their then-current merchandise, the genre that they consider themselves to be, and more assorted topics before playing "God's Butter" on air. Another solid interview, if often very respectful without taking any overtly direct shots at the bad experiences that they've had on the road, let alone their being an outlier in the E.U.P. in terms of contemporary original extreme metal bands. Check their Dark Side Of The Scene interview below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more from Heavy Lies The Crown and other local bands on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Josey Scott's Saliva & Generations)!!

(Updated at 4:09 PM) Two topic post on this Monday afternoon, devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on two fronts, including expected weekend cover action and some unexpected attractions at a relatively underutilized locale, so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

New local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced their third and fourth public concert weekends, which will take place on Friday, May 19th & Saturday, May 20th at Reggie's Place over the Victoria Day long weekend, and then on May 26th-27th at The Esquire Club! The Jus' Chillin successors were last seen at The Esquire Club in late April (with guest Michael Yurich subbing in for Brandon on a few songs), and while I'm a little surprised that it took this long to book new gigs, hopefully their next shows are even better! Remember that this is the new band from ex-Obsession singer Valerie Powley, but unlike their last Esquire Club gigs, the Memorial Day weekend is not one that Obsession announced for their scuttled 2023 concert slate last year. All four of Generations' May shows have 9:30 PM-ish start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. Visit their Facebook group for more details on Generations' upcoming live dates!

Next up, a very surprising show was announced this morning for The Machine Shop (well, outside of it, weather permitting) on Saturday, June 24th, as Memphis hard rock band Saliva will return to our area for a headlining concert on that night... kind of! While the version of the band that we saw at Muddfest at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in November 2019 plans to live on after the death of guitarist Wayne Swinny earlier this year, we are instead getting Josey Scott's Saliva, a new alternate version of the band led by their original frontman, who left Saliva in 2013 and was not at Muddfest. Last month, Josey began announcing a tour under the Josey Scott's Saliva name (I'm not sure if this is the same band as his recently announced Shade Violet or a separate act), so while no one from Muddfest will perform with this version of Saliva next month, the original voice will be here doing hits like "Click Click Boom" & "Always"!

Note that in the above tour poster, the show is listed to be taking place at The Rankin Arena on Batchewana Street, which would be interesting, but the Facebook event page confirms that it'll be at The Machine Shop. Two more touring bands will make their way north for this show, including Detroit hard rock quintet Sponge (best known from their mid-1990s hits "Plowed" and "Molly [16 Candles Down The Drain]") and Louisville, Kentucky post-grunge quartet Tantric (of "Breakdown" fame), who did play at Muddfest. A lot of hard rock radio favourites are in store from those three bands, so don't miss their Sault Ontario debuts next month! Local support will come from two bands, including local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT in their first show in Sault Ste. Marie city limits since the former Jack Spades' last pre-pandemic gigs in late 2019, and their first local show since The Northern Vibe Festival last year!

This will also be your first local chance to see them with new bassist James Roy Daley and since Jay Sarrazin moved to guitar, and of course, it'll be their first local date since the expected release of their "Sewer City Radio" album later this month, so how's this for a return? Remember, Spades GT are not playing Northern Vibe this year. Local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will open the proceedings, and given their studio work and their own rising profile, they'll set the tone well next month! This event marks the post-pandemic return to hard rock concert promotion by Sault Michigan-based promoters Superior Entertainment, who are not completely new to cross-border bookings, having presented the Dokken/Firehouse concert at GFL Memorial Gardens in 2017. The show will be moved inside The Machine Shop at 83 Huron Street if weather permits, but it'll ideally be outdoors.

Ticket prices are not out for this all ages concert yet, but Superior Entertainment head Robin Cook said on the Facebook event page that "I'm keeping prices as low as possible". Definitely a surprising announcement on multiple fronts, and hopefully it's a huge show for Sault Ontario hard rock fans, especially with this intriguing lineup, so visit the above links for continuing updates, and we'll have more on "Sewer City Radio" on the site shortly, and more news and notes tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Local Hard Rock/Punk Video Showcase!!

Got a new post on this Monday evening to check out, and it is devoted to some recent videos from hard rock and punk bands playing and/or from here, so let's get things rolling!

Let's start with videos from Hamilton-based Pearl Jam tribute band Leash's headlining concert at Soo Blaster on March 4th, as Christopher Paci's YouTube channel has us covered with videos from that night! Apologies for the three week delay in these making the site, I didn't notice he posted videos from it until after I found his Pop Evil videos. Chris filmed eleven videos at this concert, including eight of the headliners, who he filmed tackling the Pearl Jam hits "Given To Fly", "Even Flow", "State Of Love & Trust", "Jeremy", "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town", "Daughter", "Corduroy", and as embedded below, "Alive". More of a musical tribute than visual, but at least in these videos, they are closer to Pearl Jam in total sound than some of their videos implied. Interesting how he holds the whole microphone stand up over the crowd to let fans sing along!

Visually, the stage lighting can mess with the clarity a bit, especially on more rapid flickering (watch and you'll see what I mean), but the quality is more than serviceable, and the audio is less tinny than how things came across at the Pop Evil concert. Good stuff for grunge fans, so give Chris' Leash videos a watch above & below!

Chris also filmed/uploaded three videos of opening local punk trio Vanity First, who can be seen here covering Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name", Weezer's "Say It Ain't So", and as embedded below, most of their original "Playboy Magazine". While definitely filmed from further away, Chris zoomed in well to capture Andrew, Mikhal, and Keeghan's set, and their clear talent and lively set looks like it got the evening off on the right foot, so check their videos out above & below also!

Now let's head four hours east to Sudbury, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard ventured this past weekend for rare out-of-town gigs at The Coulson Entertainment Centre! Delayed a couple of weeks, Bone Yard made the most of their road trip for media on their Facebook page, starting with this "Reel" where the guys hyped that they were coming to The Coulson and encouraged Sudburians to be there. In another "Reel" on Wednesday, they teased making new shirts with new designs that would go on sale at these gigs. Photos from the Friday nighter were posted to Facebook, and four videos that aren't "Reels" (despite all being vertical) were posted between the two shows that can be embedded on external websites like this. One features bassist Warren Reville showing off a "magic trick", so to speak, but the other three are proper concert videos, with the one from the Friday nighter seeing Bone Yard covering The Rolling Stones' "Miss You", but the filmer oddly focuses on the floor of the stage for most of it.

Two videos were uploaded from their Saturday concert, including covers of ZZ Top's "La Grange" and, as embedded below, Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" (yes, the band is in frame for the duration on these). Entertaining covers from Greg, Alex, and Warren across the board, and while more fans on the floor would have been nice, southern and classic rock fans were in good hands, so check out their Sudbury videos above & below!

Let's close with a mild bit of unfinished business from yesterday's review of local pop punk project Forever Will Be's debut album "Dead and Dishonest", as I mentioned there that they also recorded an acoustic version of the closing track "Downsides" that isn't on the album, but was posted to their YouTube channel in December. This is also a good time to state in a normal post that the vocalist heard on Forever Will Be's studio material is not project leader Ryan McLaughlin, rather session vocalist Billy Douglas, who fronts the British punk band Colosseums, a fact that wasn't overly prevalent in all of the band's social media marketing initially. Ryan found a strong vocalist to bring his lyrics to life, but you'll already know that if you've heard the album, and don't sleep on Colosseums either! "Dead & Dishonest" didn't have a traditional ballad, but of what was included, "Downsides" is one of the better fits to an unplugged format.

The minimal screaming and less varied structure adapt fairly well, though I will say that the guitar work can be a little repetitive at points as Ryan plays a punk song meant for electric instruments in this way. Interesting change of pace, so do give this a listen below, and hopefully we hear more material and updates from Forever Will Be in 2023!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Firehouse Concert Video Showcase (Part 3!!)

It took almost 5½ years, but here is our third all-video post from the Dokken/Firehouse concert at GFL Memorial Gardens (then known as the Essar Centre) in September 2017! The reason this show is back on our radar is because promoters Superior Entertainment recently launched a new Facebook page and have been posting media from their concerts there, primarily from this show. The only concert videos uploaded there so far come from this event, and none were previously featured on the SMS, at least not via a link that works in 2023. I'm not sure if the new Superior Entertainment page is part of a planned relaunch for the Sault Michigan-based concert/MMA promoters or just a way to (re-)post old event materials, but note that their newest post is a gag poll asking what artist that inactive(?) local hard rock band Bucksaw should cover next. If Bucksaw have reunited, this is the only post that I have seen to confirm it so far, but I'll let you know if anything else is said.

None of the videos on Superior Entertainment's Facebook page (all unlabelled) come from Dokken's set, but co-headlining South Carolina hair metal quartet Firehouse's set was captured in two videos, including a 29 second clip of them playing "All She Wrote" and, as embedded below, a 1:41 clip of them playing the second half of their power ballad "Love Of A Lifetime", albeit filmed sideways from the 5 second mark onward. Why upload it based on the original orientation, I don't know, but the two videos sound good for fans, and Firehouse were good to the Sault area in the early-mid 2010s, so give these a watch above & below!

The other three live videos on the channel come from Los Angeles/Saskatoon arena rock quartet Love 'N Revenge's opening set, though two videos are just 13 seconds long and I can't identify the song performed in one of them (the other is a cover of Rockarma's "Bring It"). Embedded below is their cover of Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild", and props to frontman Damon Kelly for sounding admirably like Sebastian Bach here! This clip runs for barely over one minute, but like the "All She Wrote" video, you get a good look at the stage from the vantage point of this stationary camera, and the band's on point, so check these out above & below as well!

Finally for the new/old videos is a re-post of a promotional clip for this concert featuring the members of Firehouse (except frontman C.J. Snare) that was first posted onto Superior Entertainment's now deleted Facebook page on September 29th, 2017, the day before the concert took place. Kewadin Casino concert-goers in particular won't be too surprised by touring bands plugging their show here like this, but this was notable as Firehouse had already arrived in town, so check it out (again) below!

As of this writing, the Superior Entertainment Facebook page otherwise features photos of event posters and the events proper, be they from Dreammakers Theater hard rock concerts or MMA cards, so do check everything out at this link, especially if this is setting the stage for a return to booking live events in 2023. That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!