A Mid-Week Concert Preview, SOOpfest 2 Updates, And A New Spaceship Opening Video!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to note that former Havadder frontman Jason Roy's obituary was finally posted on SooToday on Monday, noting that he suddenly passed away at home on July 30th. Jason (who often went by Jay) is survived by his sisters, stepmother, and many others in his extended family. The obituary details his sense of humour, many friendships, love of music, and his musical talents (including songwriting), though it doesn't mention his local bands by name. Jason's battle with addiction is also touched upon, and in that respect, the family would appreciate donations by e-transfer or cheque to Save Our Young Adults in his name/memory. Cremation has taken place at O'Sullivan Funeral Home, and while there were no public services, a celebration of life is reportedly planned for a later date. This was well written and helped explain Jason's positive impact on so many, so give it a read above! R.I.P. Jay!

Today's post otherwise has new live video from a local band, info on a publically advertised house party concert, and leading off, here's a mid-week concert preview. Prolific local acoustic classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's summer arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TONIGHT! This will technically be Tym's second concert appearance of the week, as he took part in the aforementioned Save Our Young Adults walk for National Overdose Awareness Day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Monday, but between his own lack of public promotion and the somber nature of the event, I hesitate to cover it as a concert, as that's not really the point. Kudos to Tym for supporting a great cause though, drug and alcohol addiction is always worthy to advocate the fight against! Tonight's Trading Post show is the penultimate gig in Tym's seasonal run there unless it gets extended.

Regardless, the Mike Case Stage is only open seasonally, so time is ticking if you want to see Tym at this outdoor Great Northern Road stage! You can check out his hard rocking covers tonight from 6:30-8:30 PM with no cover charge or age limit. 9&10 News has a better forecast for tonight than last week, with partly cloudy skies becoming clear during Tym's sets, and temperatures expected to hover around 21°. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, here's some info on the planned second SOOpfest benefit concert! Local promoters Underground Events SSM hosted the first at a private residence on July 24th as charity drive/fundraiser for the Ken Brown Recovery Home, the $onny Vybe$ memorial, and the Soup Kitchen, and just eight weeks + one day later, they're rolling it back for the same charities. The show will again take place at an unspecified private locale ("ask a punk" for the address, lack of advertised punk bands acknowledged), and because it's not a static named location like Unnecessary Noise or the former Mellow D's Underground, I won't call it as a full public concert here, though it is publically advertised. Just ask those connected to the event for the address! This will also be a backyard potluck barbecue, similar to in July. Only one act (rap collective Fvcksxvad) are returning from last month, while party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, folk singer/guitarist Gimiiwan Ikwe, ...

...Peasant Poetry (featuring Case's Music drum instructor Jamie Talbot), and a mystery project named So Many Bees are also scheduled. Unspecified guests will also be present, as will an open mic/jam element. A very varied lineup is in store for SOOpfest II, though I do wonder, wouldn't a benefit concert like this raise more good for the intended charities if it was a truly public event at an permanent venue with an address that can be posted on social media? In any event, visit the above links (and/or "ask a punk") for more details on SOOpfest II later this month!

Finally for today, we go to a bandmate of SOOpfest promoter Mikhal Muto, namely his ASDP colleague Ralph Barber's space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening! It only took 18 days, but third video of their full set at Blaster Powerhouse on August 1st was uploaded to their Facebook page on Sunday, and it sees them playing "a fresh song" that is "something new and on the spot". Like their "Everybody's Gonna Pay" video before, this is an instrumental with Andrew facing Ralph with his back to the live audience. It's a solid driving hard rocker, but presumably because it was improvised, they noted that "(we'll) probably never play this again". In that case, good thing it was filmed, so give it a watch below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Aneurysm), Another Brimley Battle Of The Bands Video, And More!!

Our backlog is almost cleaned out, so to continue towards that goal, here's another news post to check out tonight, including one more video from a battle of the bands last year, some assorted shorter updates, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, so here's what you should know!

It's been two & a half weeks of putting this show off amidst our severe backlog, but its number has finally been called, as Winnipeg-based Nirvana tribute band Aneurysm will make their local debut on Wednesday, September 23rd at Beck's Bar! The first Nirvana tribute in the Soo since The Pixo Control's one-off turn as Like A Pisces over a decade ago, this show actually has more in common with the Rush tribute concert at Reggie's in July 2022, in that the tribute band is the sister group for a touring original band who will be playing the opening set as themselves. In this case, the band is Winnipeg "nu grunge punk n' roll" quartet The Bloodshots, who alone would be an intriguing headliner here with their up-tempo melodic, yet in your face original sound that blurs genre lines, but they do Nirvana justice in available media, so fans of grunge and alt-rock should have a blast, work/school night scheduling acknowledged!

This concert will have a 9:00 PM start time in "Saulte Ste. Marie", it is 19+, and it will have a $10 cover charge (as best as I can tell, there won't be advance ticket sales). If you can swing a Wednesday nighter in late September, this should deliver the goods for Nirvana fans, let alone The Bloodshots' own entertaining originals, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on all of next month's action!

Next up, I wanted to wrap up our look at Dafter, Michigan singer/guitarist Molly Escherich's videos from her sets at the Superior Whitefish Festival in Brimley, as we haven't talked about her "Music In The Park" acoustic set last year! Molly's solo unplugged sets don't lean as heavy as what she plays in bands (perhaps understandably), but she does throw in some hard rock covers in unplugged settings. Before she and The Other Guys played an abbreviated 10 minute long set in that evening's battle of the bands, Molly played a more standard 40 minute set in the afternoon, which was prefaced by the announcement by her mother Tiffany that she had won a major scholarship award for middle/high school music students, allowing her to afford the tuition at the Interlochen Academy For The Arts. She begins her second year there next month, and of course, belated congratulations to Molly on her success as she furthers her musical career and education downstate!

The actual set begins 5+ minutes in with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Still The Same", Radiohead's "Creep", and Eddie Rabbitt's "Drivin' My Life Away", before playing her own original song "Will This Last Forever". After tackling Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is The Deepest" (perhaps the Sheryl Crow version?), Molly next plays her own original "Cheap Cologne" (which she played with The Other Guys in the battle later on), before finishing out with covers of Zach Bryan's "Something In The Orange", The Doobie Brothers' "Listen To The Music", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", and Coldplay's "Yellow". If you're curious, all songs here except the four from "Creep" to "The First Cut..." were played in Molly's Music In The Park set this year. Also, only five songs here were clipped out as indivdual YouTube uploads, so use the links above to see everything.

I'm thinking that the other six didn't get singular uploads to minimize on banter with people off-stage and/or false starts/minor flubs, but for a then-13 year old who had just received extremely exciting news about her further education in music, I'm not inclined to be judgy. Molly performed well here, and covered a lot of musical ground in this set, so give her full 2025 acoustic Superior Whitefish Festival set a watch below!

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

 

• A bonus 16th act has been added to the Northern Vibe Festival's Forest Stage lineup this weekend, namely Darius McRae, a teenage acoustic singer/guitarist who you may recognize from local theatrical productions and from performing in Superior Heights Collegiate's student rock band Steel Rock at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2024 & 2025. How will he sound on his own? Be in Ophir this coming weekend to find out! The full two day schedule has been released, but as it's now short notice for us (as usual for this event), stay tuned for our extended Northern Vibe preview next week!
• In yet another example of a local band posting a Facebook "Story" that I can't embed or link to here, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Quite Frankly shared a brief vertical video of them covering The Arrows' "I Love Rock N' Roll" (well, the Joan Jett version) at last week's Outspoken Brewing concert. Actually, the show took place outdoors beside Outspoken, which is honestly for the best, as the space for concerts inside is very small, hence why you more hear of acoustic solo artists and DJs there. Hopefully the concert went well for the band and fans, even if I truly don't like the idea of "Stories"!
• Underground Events SSM posted a "Things To Do In The Soo" events listing on their Facebook page on August 15th featuring upcoming concerts from them and other promoters, even ones that haven't been formally unveiled yet. Of note, the second SOOpfest fundraiser will indeed be on September 19th (bands and location to be announced), and there will be a "mixed bill" Thanksgiving weekend concert on October 9th followed by a "metal show" on October 30th. If they're listing them without info, the latter two must be from Underground Events SSM too, so stay tuned for details on both!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Downtown Street Party #2), A New Album Release, And Much More!!

Here's another packed news post to check out on this Tuesday night, which features a newly released album from some familiar faces, clarification on private events, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning a community event next week, so here's what you should know!

Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will be the only SMS-amenable band playing at this year's second Downtown Street Party on Queen Street East on Thursday, July 16th!  This will come three weeks after the first Downtown Street Party of 2026, and with these monthly events progressively moving west, next week's will take place on a closed section of Queen from Brock Street to Elgin Street (basically from the former BMO building to the courthouse). Like last month's street party and the two to come, there will be vendors, family activities & games, beverage gardens, and deals and events at Queen Street businesses open along this stretch. As the Downtown Plaza is facing this block, there will be events there too, including live trivia and a screening of the first Jaws movie. Click here for full details on what to expect in a non-musical sense! Now, who all is performing next Thursday?

As was the case for street party #1, there will be two distinct music stages on/near Brock & Elgin respectively, but as of the most recent public promotion from You Belong SSM, they haven't firmly specified who is playing where. Five acts are confirmed, and Dos Amigos confirmed in this poster for their remaining summer dates (more on those in this weekend's concert previews) that they'll be playing at the Brock Street Stage at 8:15 PM. Classic country band The Stumpy Coldwater Trio confirmed on Spaces that they'd be on the "Spring Street Stage" (the same block, in any event) at 7:00 PM, while classic rock trio Flathead Ford will perform at 9:30 PM, stage unclear. Veteran local/Toronto blues musician Rusty McCarthy and country musician Brendan Hodgson will also perform during next week, and at least one more act is implied (note that the June street party had three acts on each stage).

What is unsaid here is that this street party coincides with the opening day of Rotaryfest, so downtown will be hopping, and as Stage 2 doesn't operate on Thursdays anymore, could you call the street party the de facto Second Stage for night #1? Not the right block of Queen from where Stage 2 used to be, but still! Next Thursday's festivities take place from 6:30-11:00 PM, and it is absolutely a FREE & ALL AGES event. Sounds like another fun time for the whole family, with a dash of punk from Dos Amigos, so visit the above links for more details on one part of a stacked Thursday in the Soo!

Next up, I wanted to acknowledge a recent private house party concert (and another to come) that got some attention on social media. With some exceptions, I don't tend to cover private concerts here (let alone give the address publically) out of deference and respect to the location, often someone's home. On occasion though, you'll see a show advertised that, while not containing a public address, is definitely marketed publically, which was the case this past Thursday when Underground Events SSM brought Nanaimo, British Columbia pop punk quartet Danger Box back for a "Not A Canada Day Show", two weeks before they swing back through here opening for The Ripcordz at Beck's next Saturday. The garage concert also featured Duncan, B.C. alt-punk band Red Lenses (who aren't playing at the Ripcordz show) and locals A.S.D.P. and 5 Dollar Bribe. If you wanted the address, you had to "ask a punk"!

That general rule will apply to Underground Events SSM's next private gig on Friday, July 24th (I cannot 100% confirm if it will be at the exact same locale), but despite being private, it is actually a benefit gig. Entitled "SOOpfest", it will feature a special acoustic set from A.S.D.P. plus rap group Fvksxvad, unspecified guests, and a freestyle/open jam block. Alongside a backyard barbecue, admission is by donation, either cash for the Ken Brown Recovery Home and the $onny Vybe$ memorial or food for the Soup Kitchen. Despite the private trappings, these are three wonderful causes, so see above for more details, and I do hope last week's Danger Box show was a hit! "Ask a punk" for SOOpfest location details later this month!

Finally for today, here's a surprise new album release, as veteran local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage put out their 72nd studio album yesterday via their Bandcamp page! In their first release in almost a year, this is entitled "No Neutrals Allowed: Double Live In Japan At The Boobikhan", which is not the first time that they have released a faux live album purporting to be from a far flung locale. If released physically, this would indeed be a double album, and it's oriented as such, as the first half of the 39 track album is comprised of re-recordings from their lengthy back catalogue (presumably as if they were performed live) with nineteen new songs in the second half. "No Neutrals Allowed" is dedicated to original SKR bassist Dennis Becker (brother of Paul & Dirk), who lost his battle with cancer in September 2024, and as "Ned", he was represented in their "Waerlogas Sagas I" concept album from that same year.

Performer credits for "No Neutrals Allowed" weren't given in text, but ex-bassist Brian Cattapan (Paul's son-in-law) was Photoshopped into the cover artwork sitting behind Dirk on the Boobikhan stage, implying that he guested on at least one song here. If true, it's good to see him working with the masters of the crash again! This album is on sale on Bandcamp for $15 and can be streamed for free there as well, though with our massive backlog of new album releases still to review, this won't be up until early 2027. It is great to see the Beckers, Shane, and Tony back with another huge array of new music, so check everything out above, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

The Demon King/Sentiment Dissolve Concert Preview, Plus Convergence Updates!!

Today's post heavily circles around a big metal show tomorrow night that we're previewing to lead off with, and one of the opening bands has a lot going on to talk about afterwards. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with a special Tuesday night concert preview, as three touring death metal bands from three different countries will descend upon Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! The bands in question are Nashville-based death metal quartet Demon King (not Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King), London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub in May 2025), and Norwegian tech death metal quintet Celestial Scourge. Quite a feast of brutality is incoming for local metalheads tomorrow, so if you just miss original touring death metal, give all three bands a listen to see what you think, and hopefully you can swing coming out on a work/school night! Your local support bands tomorrow are death/thrash metal trio Pillory (who opened last year's Sentiment Dissolve show) and progressive metalcore quartet Convergence, both in their first concert of 2026.

Both should get faces melting early, and we'll have more from Convergence in a second! Promoted by Mikhal Muto's Underground Events SSM, tomorrow's show is an all ages affair at 7:00 PM, and tickets cost $15 in advance through the local openers, at Soo Blaster, or online at this link (the door charge jumps to $25). If you can make it for this one, you'll be in for a crushing night of metal, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Demon King live a few months back!

Next up, here's the latest from the aforementioned Convergence, who surprised fans by releasing the second advance single from their upcoming album on "all streaming platforms" this past Wednesday! Of course, "all" platforms is impossible to guarantee, but it's in the usual places and in a few you may not think of first, including Bandcamp. The song in question is "Gemini", which was once planned to be the title track for their third EP dating back to February 2024, but as you know, the band wiped most of their back catalog as an instrumental duo and have been reworking some of their older material for their next album. Of note, you can still hear their 2022 debut EP "One" on Bandcamp, albeit with new cover artwork, but there's no sign of their follow-up "Dead & Dreaming" there, implying that the songs from that EP will at least partially resurface with vocals ("The Ebb" already did, after all).

The Bandcamp postings for both "The Ebb" and "Gemini" glean some more info on both songs, including full lyrics, the inspiration behind both, and confirming that Swedish musician Adam Roxner is mastering the album. While I always found it odd that "Gemini" was going to be the name of their unfinished third EP, Convergence explained that the name was influenced by how it started production when they were still just a studio metal duo (and that "it also just sounds cool"). To promote the song's release, guitarist Brendan Christie was actually interviewed by 104.3 The Fox midday DJ Zenga McCurdy on Friday, and the band helpfully posted the interview to their YouTube channel over the weekend. Neat to see Zenga promoting and talking to an original local rock band! I don't recall Dan or Mitch doing something similar when they were on the former Q104. What all does Brendan talk about and reveal in this 6 minute interview?

Zenga asks about Convergence's sound and influences, what you can expect from tomorrow's Demon King concert, how to buy tickets, how Sault Ste. Marie locals have taken to Convergence since launching, the album plans, and what to expect from their stage show. Of note, Convergence plan to release two more advance singles "in the next couple of months" before the full album comes out, and he did confirm that the album will have more songs that predate Stephen & David's additions to their lineup. Good stuff that helps sell the band well to Fox listeners, and Zenga came off well when asking questions, so give the whole interview a listen above! A guitar playthrough video featuring 33 seconds of the song was also posted to the band's Facebook page, complete with tabs, but I'll embed the full song here via Convergence's official lyric video on YouTube, also featuring some space imagery behind the lyrics.

Pending our eventual review of the album, I'll hold comment on "Gemini" for now, but everything is very well produced and put together so far, so give the lyric video a watch below, and check out much more from Convergence at the above links (and don't miss their first show of the year tomorrow night!)

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes as this week rolls along! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Ripcordz & Soundcheck) Plus More Recent News & Notes!!

On this snowy Tuesday morning, we have a packed news post to check out, featuring some notable LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, a new promotion agency's initial activity, and a returning face on the local FM radio dial, so here's what you should know before you head out the door!

Defunct local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will reunite for concerts at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Friday, January 30th and Saturday, January 31st! First announced on Sunday via the venue's Facebook page, these will mark the first official Soundcheck bookings since their farewell gig on New Year's Eve 2024 at the YNCU Curling Centre. Personal Facebook postings indicate that this will be a reunion of most of the band's final 2023-2024 lineup, including singer/guitarists Terry Eaton & Cameron Oliver and bassist Jim Michaud along with guest musicians to be revealed (I assume the AI generated band in the poster will not be among them). The band's final drummer Glen Thomas does not appear to be involved in the reunion. Now, you may recall seeing Cameron, Terry, and Jim play together a few times last year under the name "The Band", so why is it only now that they're reviving the Soundcheck name, even if temporarily?

Keep in mind that Terry is the only original band member, so he can theoretically use the name with whoever he wants. Of course, Terry & Jim still play together in Separate Wayz & The Guilty Party, who Cameron has guested with live, and Terry has recently been seen playing with Cameron during his solo country dates, so there's a lot of synergy regardless of name. I'm treating this as a one-off (two-off?) booking unless otherwise stated, but 2025 collaborations under other names aside, fans won't want to miss Soundcheck's official return! These are 9:30 PM and 19+ shows with no cover, as usual for Jay's. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, I'd normally wait for local promoter announcements to cover this here, but seeing as the venue has eagerly plugged it on social media, I figure getting the word out now can't hurt. Montreal hardcore punk trio The Ripcordz will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario on Saturday, July 18th when they debut at Beck's Bar! While this legendary punk group last played here in August 2024 at The Distraction, Paul and crew were in town for an encore in July of last year that was shut down by the police due to a fire safety complaint, with the East Street venue remaining closed for new concert bookings since (read more at this link). That show was stopped before The Ripcordz could even begin their set, but at a new west end venue with fire code measures in place, hopefully they tear it up after (technically) almost two years away! I don't currently know if this is being promoted in-house by Beck's or through another agency.

No word yet on local openers, but Hails (who opened both of The Ripcordz' Distraction gigs) and Sylo did the honours last year, while technically active local bands like A Dire Setback, The Gambit (then The Sick Sons), and the former Jack Spades have all opened for The Ripcordz since 2017. Finer details are forthcoming, but last year's Ripcordz show had a $20 admission fee (or "pay what you can") with a 7:00 PM start time, though that was all ages and I assume Beck's Bar will be 19+. Something to get excited for this summer, so stay tuned for updates on The Ripcordz' return to the Soo in six months!

Also today, you may recall that ex-Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto put on the aforementioned Ripcordz concerts at The Distraction, and he has recently formally launched his own concert promotion agency! Mikhal has returned to Facebook on a personal basis and launched the page for Underground Events SSM at the same time, and it is through this name where he's putting on the Demon King concert at Soo Blaster in March. Other upcoming concerts have been plugged on their Facebook page too, The Ripcordz among them. This video implies that "news bombs" are coming soon, including "new venues, new bands, and new bookings", so we'll have to see what all that entails! However, a prior "news bomb" is that Underground Events SSM have released a compilation album for sale on Bandcamp! It leans to folk and acoustic artists, but there are some names involved that you are sure to recognize from prior concerts and coverage.

Mikhal's own folk punk solo project Agnosticism leads off with a song called "Growing Up", and recognizable names like his cousin/ex-Hails bandmate Carmen Muto, his old Vanity First bandmate Andrew Beggs (as "Andrew Keith"), Golden Scoundrels/ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno, Gimiiwan Ikwe, Shae Tull, and Tye Lawless Co. are among the performers. Like with 2022's Clusterfolk compilation tape (featuring The Uncanny Valley), this doesn't cross our punk/metal radar enough to join the monthly album review backlog, but there's a lot of talented artists here, and hopefully you guys buy the album for $9.99 to support their work (or stream its official YouTube copy from Mikhal's channel for free below!)

Finally for today, we have some news from 104.3 The Fox, as Sault Ontario's rock radio station has a new local midday DJ! After five months with Mitch Belanger from 101.9 The Fox in North Bay in the 2:00-6:00 PM timeslot here (following Country 104.3 holdover Dan Koo's departure in August), the station's Facebook page revealed via the video embedded below that Zenga McCurdy was back on the local airwaves, making his on-air debut yesterday. If the name is unfamiliar to you, then you likely don't tune in to Kiss 100.5, as Zenga was an on-air personality on The Fox's sister pop/top 40 station from 2018-2021. Originally from Kitchener, Zenga debuted on CHAS in the fall of 2018 alongside Taylor Lucas (and later Casey MacDonald) to replace the former morning drive show hosted by Scott Turnbull and Lou-Anne Young, moving solo to midday after Rogers added the Toronto-based Roz & Mocha Show to more Kiss stations' morning timeslots in November 2020.

Zenga left Kiss 100.5 in the summer of 2021, after which he worked at 101.5 Indie FM in Orangeville and 96.3 Cruz FM in Saskatoon, and the latter is a rock station, so he does have experience DJing this format. I don't listen to Kiss 100.5, so I was totally unfamiliar with Zenga before yesterday, but he did good from what I heard on-air on day #1, and he was already referencing local weather and ticket giveaways for the Triumph concert, so it's good to have a truly local DJ on The Fox again! Watch his return video below, and listen for him today from 2:00-6:00!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Crucifest!!)

Extreme metal fans will want to circle the last weekend of July on their calendars, as Crucifest comes to Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn on Friday, July 26th! A spiritual successor to the late 2010s Oh!No festivals at the same locale (not to mention the technically private Bear Hunters reunion event there last July), Crucifest is brought to us by new local promoters Deciduous Events & Decor (a.k.a. D.E.A.D. and formerly Events By Vann), a decor company that launched in 2022 and has worked for clients from Southern Ontario to our neck of the woods. They have recently decided to branch out into promoting their own events, with Crucifest being their first proper concert that I'm aware of. It'll be interesting to see how well this does, and if it leads to more from Courtney & Jessica in a local concert environment! While more acts are allegedly to be announced, nine bands are already signed, including five touring acts!

Perhaps owing to the long pandemic-affected gap since we had a regular local extreme metal promoter here, all five touring bands will be making their local debuts at Crucifest. Given how local bands are mixed in, I'm unsure if the poster layout is indicative of the performance order, but the five out-of-town bands are Toronto deathcore quartet Beguiler, Ottawa death metal quintet Salem Trials, Peterborough "beatdown/core" quartet Seagrave, Sudbury hardcore band Drugwolf, and newer Kitchener metalcore band Dead Roots. There's a lot of ground to cover between these bands, but there's lots of talent and brutality within, so give all five a listen to prepare yourself for the metal attack in two months! Of the four local bands, two will be familiar to 2020s concert goers, including punk/thrash trio Hails (who played at The Bear Hunters' private event in Leeburn last year) and young metal trio The BAG in (I believe) their first show outside of city limits.

Also playing at Crucifest are local death/thrash metal band Pillory in their first announced public concert in almost five years! Fans/friends may recall seeing occasional social media teasers and false starts towards Pillory resuming as a live act (they were even briefly advertised for The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last year), but it looks like they are definitely back now! As you may recall, Pillory were originally active off & on from 2012-2019, and they still feature frontman Robert Sartini (recently of Pointless and All Over The Map) on vocals & guitar alongside ex-Lazer Queen/Issues drummer Bret Shuttleworth. No word on their current bassist, but Blair St. John filled in for their last few late 2010s sets. In the past year, Bret has posted dozens of solo drumming videos to his YouTube channel (look at his setup!), and a handful of videos were uploaded two months ago of him and Robert playing some metal covers.

These include bass-less renditions of Sepultura's "Territory",  Megadeth's "Youthanasia", and as embedded below, Pantera's "Use My Third Arm". Sounds good and faithful to me, but these are not technical death metal songs, as we were hearing from Pillory in the mid-late 2010s. Is this a sign of a shift to their earlier sound or just them jamming some covers? In any event, it's great to see Robert and Bret back at it, and don't bypass Bret's ample solo drumming videos too, as he's got serious chops (with that kit, he'd have to!). Pillory are back in our active band links, and check out theirs & Bret's new videos above and below!

The other band playing at Crucifest (so far) are a debuting local metal band named The Sault Side Squad, and while they currently lack social media pages or videos, their lineup is full of familiar faces! I can confirm that they feature ex-As It Stands singer Justin "Nadj" Pregent, A Dire Setback guitarist Chris Nielsen, former Jack Spades/Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti, Skinbox/Stoned To Deaf alum Jordan Wardlaw on bass, and Anthony's old Winkstinger bandmate Jonas Gasperas on drums. We await further specifics, but given Justin's past vocal style (his recent rap career aside), I'd expect The Sault Side Squad to have hardcore influences. Very impressive lineup, and it'll be interesting to hear how The S.S.S. do in July and beyond! The listed times for Crucifest on the Eventbrite ticket sale page are 8:00 PM-2:00 AM, but there are separate tickets for Saturday, July 27th on sale for the same price as Friday alone.

The listed times imply that bands will only be playing on the 26th, which is how we're currently treating it, but if D.E.A.D. confirm that the lineup is split up with bands on Saturday the 27th too, we will let you know (the Saturday pass may only be for campers' benefit). In any event, tickets cost $25 per day and $45 for both days plus, and there are no advertised cover charges, so click here to buy yours! In what's shaping up to be a big year for summer camping-encouraged concert festivals, Crucifest will deliver the goods for fans who've found extreme metal to be lacking in the Soo as of late, so definitely visit the above links for complete details on what's going on 53 minutes east of the Soo at 5756 Highway 638, and we'll have more on another Leeburn-bound concert festival tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

2023: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Happy New Year! I apologize for this only hitting the site now, but our year-in-review posts always take a long time to go back through the year that was, so I can catalogue the big events in the local metal, hard rock, and punk scene from pillar to post, and while I'm usually good to get it up on December 31st, time got away from me this year. Everything is done now though, and I hope I got to the biggest and most notable stories, events, and shows of last year, so here's our look back at 2023 on the SMS!

With the pandemic fading even more into the past, we had an even stronger lineup of touring metal, hard rock, and punk bands in Sault Ontario and area this year, including the likes of AMY/DC, B.A. Johnston, Bed Of Roses, Big Wreck, Cory Marks, Darsombra, The Dayglo Abortions, Destroyer, Josey Scott's Saliva, K-Man & The 45s, The Merves, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic, Random Killing, The Ripcordz, and Sponge all gracing a local stage in 2023! Local concert goers could check out multiple bands at events like Rotaryfest, Toystock, The Northern Vibe Festival, and Lopstock, while newer and unfamiliar venues like The Art Hub At Spring, Broers Jansen, The Distraction, The Loft, and The Queen of Hearts Club gave artists some welcomed options to book gigs at last year. Also last year: Storm Rausch won The Soo's Got Talent, four of Mikey Hawdon's past/present bands gathered at Soo Blaster in November in honour of his wedding, ...

...LopLops Lounge welcomed the 12 20 Musicians of Christmas last week, The Sault Community Theatre Centre hosted the Soo Soundcheck & Northern Echoes concerts in June, Mike Haggith joined forces with Brian Tremblay for the Face To Face storytellers' concert in May, and The Apocalypse Afterparty gave another metal shot in the arm to the Madchild and Robbie G rap concerts at Soo Blaster. Look for even more big concerts in Sault Ontario and area in the year ahead!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula had a quieter but still eventful year that was arguably peaked early when Pop Evil returned to The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino in March alongside special guests The Word Alive & Avoid. That was the only heavier Dreammakers Theater show last year, but fans could also see touring acts like The Almas, Cell Rush, Fyrbird, Ledhead, Overdrive Orchestra, Peril, Redburn, The Rock Show, Scarkazm, and Scotty Austin on regional stages. One of the big events of 2023 was the first ever battle of the bands at Lake Superior State University (won by new punk quartet The Sole Aggressors), the first event of its kind in either of the Twin Saults since the pandemic began! Fans could also check out the true public local debut of Heavy Lies The Crown at The 2nd Street Music Festival in St. Ignace in August, as well as many one-band gigs across the year!

In terms of general news events, fans got to see official music videos released from bands like Handsome Sandwich, Heavy Lies The Crown, Spades GT, Jonesy Land, and The Uncanny Valley, while the first three of those bands, Bone Yard, The Northwest, and Tarnished all hit the road for tour dates outside of the Soo area. Now in his new hometown of Barrie, Mike Haggith launched his own indie label MorningStar Records, with local artists signing on to the artist-friendly imprint as the year progressed, 2023 saw the passing of ex-415E drummer Tony Hubbard and Destroilet frontman Mike Hull, the cancellation of the Just Leppard/Saturday Night Special concert, the postponement of Skid Row & Buckcherry's Sault Michigan date, Mike Haggith's freak knee dislocation on stage at Rotaryfest, and the withdrawals of Tantric and a reunited Frightlight from concerts this year, but we also saw the opening of the downtown plaza, ...

...the huge multi-band private concert at Robbie's Church in Leeburn, Soundcheck guitarist Terry Eaton's Great Northern Opry induction, the return of The Rockstar Bar as an occasional live venue, and the debut of Sault Noir into the local concert promotion game. I'm sure 2024 will be just as, if not more eventful, for musicians in the Twin Saults!

As evidenced by our lack of archival album reviews in 2023, last year saw no shortage of album releases by local metal, hard rock, and punk bands! The year was bookended by two new albums from "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage, namely "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of The Stoned Ape" & "69", while early year albums also included the C.T.W./Molten Imp split "Pyrolytic Punishment", Mike McCleary's instrumental EP "Fallout From Midnight Tides", and No Funeral's self-titled EP. Handsome Sandwich's long-hyped debut "Deconstructed" went on sale in May, soon followed by Convergence's debut EP "One", Jonesy Land's singer/songwriter-influenced debut "Zoom-Out", and Jack Spades GT's latest "Sewer City Radio". The summer also gave us rapper Bold Noize's debut punk album "God Save Me", new punk trio Ha!ls' debut EP "Rock and Rolls", and of course, Mike Haggith's long awaited studio album "All The Best In All You Do", including its limited "Rose Edition".

With a new EP from Convergence already on sale, and a teased EP from Handsome Sandwich already in the works, 2024 promises to be another good year for new studio material from heavier local musicians, so be sure to support these and other original local musicians' new & existing music by buying or streaming it where possible!

2023 was a good year for new and debuting hard rock and punk acts, and Sault Michigan was particularly busy in this regard late last year, with punk quartet The Sole Aggressors, hard rock quartet Double Jack, and Dafter-based singer/guitarist Molly Escherich stealing the podium spots at Lake Superior State University's battle of the bands over their far more established competition! Sault Ontario was hardly lacking either, with Generations, Double Down, Silent 9, HeadFirst, and (briefly) The Nostalgic Band all debuting on the weekend nightclub cover circuit in 2023 with many more shows between most of them to come. Also in 2023: Vanity First side project Ha!ls and Nebraska Arms successors Honest Work launched for local punk fans, Hollow Sky and Mitch Sirie's Sir Hell solo project brought some new extreme metal to the table, and Sneaky Pete successors Kickstart debuted at Toystock. Look for more updates from these and other new acts in the new year!

Another year saw lineup changes, additions, and departures in many local bands with none hit harder than Sault Michigan's Tarnished, with Nathan Webber and Isaac Royer breaking off in August to form Double Jack, with Tarnished adding Parker Talentino and carrying on as a trio ever since. Elsewhere in the E.U.P.: Jason VanLuven replaced Odin Osogwin on drums with Project 906, Marquita Bernard succeeded Rachel Mender as Theatre of Night's singer, Chris Leask returned to Rhythm & Brews in lieu of Brent Blackwood, and guitarist Christian Thanasiu left Heavy Lies The Crown. In Sault Ontario (well, Barrie), Spades GT confirmed the additions of James Roy Daley and (sometimes) Jay Sarrazin to their expanded lineup as they continued taking over the GTA. Also on the Canadian side: Jim Michaud replaced Paul Belair as Soundcheck's bassist, Tony Kajnar took over for Brandon Ruch on guitar in Generations, ...

...Mikhal Muto restored a second bassist to The Apocalypse Afterparty, Richard Fullerton returned to That's Chester for their Rotaryfest reunion in lieu of Greg Simpson, and the also-reunited Fuller swapped Nathan Sauve out for David Peredun behind the drumkit. These and a few other bands saw the revolving door for their lineups in 2023!

As far as defunct and inactive bands go in 2023, none made a larger exit from the local scene than Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession, who ended their 18 year run in February due to guitarist Gabe Tessaro's retirement from full-time bands, with the other members splintering off into Soundcheck and Silent 9. Most other bands to be moved to our inactive links this year (or are on the verge of it) did not announce a formal dissolution, but notable names to quietly fade out of activity this year include punk projects These Magnificent Tentacles and Forever Will Be, death metal quintet Exploring Detritus, rising young hard rock band Sylo (née Raincourt), and Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters, among others. Bands like No Funeral, The Bearded Lounge, The Uncanny Valley, and PROV3RB5 are also on our radar for being publically inactive for 6+ months. Here's hoping that these musicians stay active in some form or fashion!

As always for our year-end posts, we'll look at comebacks and reunions to wrap things up, and no event had a bigger public splash than The Inner City Surfers' reunion at Soo Blaster in November, and 2000s punk fans had even more to enjoy a month later when Fuller reunited at LopLops over the holidays (with The Gambit playing their first show in a year as openers!). That's Chester also returned for a one-off reunion set at Rotaryfest in July, while The Bear Hunters returned after a couple years' hiatus this summer, and punk trio Redundant ended a similarly long break at this year's Toystock. The former Jack Spades (GT), Theatre of Night, and The Karstens played their first Sault Ste. Marie concerts post-pandemic last year, while Galactic Alignment returned after a near decade long hiatus, Kraken Mara were reborn as Convergence, and they even brought former State of Misery singer Steve Rhodes back to a local radar as a session vocalist on select material!

2023 was an improvement for concerts and activity over every year preceding it in the 2020s, and here's hoping that the upward momentum continues in 2024 and beyond! I apologize again for the delay in this post making it online, but hopefully it refreshes some good memories of last year, and we'll resume normal operations on the site next! Thanks everyon!

2022: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

As always, let's end the year for our last post of 2022 by looking back at the year that was for The Sault Metal Scene! 2022 got off to a quiet start out of COVID-19 pandemic-related necessity, as a partial lockdown in January and a rollback in indoor capacity measures ground most Sault Ontario concerts to a halt until March. Since then however, things have slowly gotten better, aided by the end of vaccine passports in February and indoor mask mandates in March, and while we're not back to where we were in 2019, this was our busiest year for positive news since then!

This was evidenced by touring acts to play in Sault Ontario and area this year, including names like The AC/DC Show, Alien To The Ignorant, B.A. Johnston, Blessed, Crush, The Glorious Sons, Gutter Creek, Just Leppard, The Killer Dwarfs, Marianas Trench, Pyramid Theorem, Sandman, Taming Sari, The Trews, and White Cowbell Oklahoma, not to mention two Queen tribute bands two months apart! Rotaryfest (Stages 1 and 2) and Toystock both returned to their full pre-pandemic splendor, while The Northern Vibe Festival returned with another stacked lineup in August, the long-delayed Glambition fundraiser finally took place, and the Clusterfolk Music Festival was reborn with a dual focus on music videos and young band promotion. Rap/rock hybrid shows also gained prominence via the multiple $onny Vybe$ benefit concerts and The Apocalypse Afterparty's involvement in rap gigs at Soo Blaster.

Loplops Lounge also resumed hosting in-person concerts in 2022, while Handsome Sandwich made multiple appearances during The Soo's Got Talent, Dryer Fire brought a wide array of genres to their Wilson Street temporary venue, and an impressive lineup of local musicians performed at Outspoken Brewing's second annual Oktoberfest at The Machine Shop. It's a slow process to get back to where we had them before March 2020, but this year had a lot of positive events if you looked for them!

Sault Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula were not lacking for an uptick in concerts and live gigging bands in 2022 either, with The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino hosting two high profile metal concerts this year, starting with the oft delayed Black Label Society concert on May 6th (with Nita Strauss opening!), followed by Steel Panther's holiday season return show on November 26th. Both were surely aided by the end of the PCR test requirement for Canadian travellers, of course. Touring hard rock bands like Fyrbird, Overdrive Orchestra, Peril, Scarkazm, Spun, and Sunspot made their way to the E.U.P. for multiple dates in 2022, while locals Buddy Repperton & The Camaros and The Nameless debuted at the former Back Door in April, and cover mainstays like Tarnished, Project 906, 415E, and Rhythm & Brews were also seen. Look for much more from hard rock bands in the 12 months ahead.

Pandemic and concerts aside, a lot of important news stories happened in the local scene this year. For concert venues, Reggie Daigle put the wheels in motion to divest his two concert venues, with Reggie's West becoming Jay's Piston Broke Pub and Reggie's Place itself being up for sale. The Oddfellows Hall sold years after ceasing concert promotion in the late 2010s, while The Rockstar Bar put concerts on an indefinite hiatus in June, and The New A and The Canadian both closed, but Shooters Downstairs Lounge opened their concert floodgates, and The Esquire Club resumed nighttime bookings this fall. Local acts like Heavy Lies The Crown, Theatre of Night, Spades GT, Obsession, The Northwest, The Uncanny Valley, Soundcheck, and Tarnished hit the road for gigs outside of our area, with The Northwest's profile beyond the Soo really expanding with press features and airplay on non-local radio stations and even on NHL telecasts last season!

Also this year: the Kim Mitchell and Anvil concerts were cancelled, Metal Morpheus aired its final first-run episodes on The Borderline, Mikey & His Uke relocated to the Soo while continuing their impressive slate of cover videos, Jonesy Land continued their push with multiple music videos, the Marconi Meets World festival debuted this summer, Fort Creek hosted two instrument raffles for charity, and Sault Michigan's Tarnished performed on a float during their Fourth of July parade. With things getting busier in 2022, the outward growth should continue next year, for better or worse!

2022 was a big year for local album releases from heavier and punk bands, as evidenced by 11 of our 12 monthly reviews this year being of new albums from late 2021 onward! While not sold on CD, the biggest in scope would arguably be indie/punk quintet The Northwest's third EP "All In", which got a strong reception here & afar after its release in June! These Magnificent Tentacles, Vanity (First), and Forever Will Be also put out their debut digital EPs for fans on the punk spectrum, while Chase Wigmore, Molten Imp, and the re-emerged Sykotyk Rampage enjoyed a busy 2022 with multiple new album releases this year alone. Metalheads could enjoy local progressive metal project PROV3RB5' debut EP "What Dreams May Come" and Theatre of Night's new Christmas-laden re-release "Dreams of Winter", while The Uncanny Valley factored into this year's Clusterfolk compilation tape. Here's to more new local albums next year!

An intriguing crop of new local metal, hard rock, and punk bands emerged in 2022, if with a surprising lack of online pages for them to promote themselves with. The highest profile one may be new alternative/punk supergroup Bookclub, whose Oktoberfest debut and recent LopLops gig have let the Surfers-laden quintet get off on the right foot! Fans have also welcomed new local metal trio The BAG and Jamie Vincent's new noise duo No Funeral to the stage this year, while the already launched Vanity First and Sylo (née Raincourt) played their first public gigs outside of White Pines, Suicide Kings successors Ravencore debuted at Toystock, and two Skeyes of Seven alums brought the acoustic Short & Sweet to Parabol's return concert. Also, Sault Michigan welcomed both Buddy Repperton & The Camaros and The Nameless to the stage at Three One Three on Ashmun in April. Look for much more from these bands in 2023!

With 2022 being a busier year in general, there was even more lineup changes therein, and none saw more overhaul than the revived Exploring Detritus, with guitarist Dan Souliere adding Ryan St. Pierre, Justin Lam, a returning Anthony Boudreau, and (briefly) Mitch Sirie for their revival. Mitch also was part of the expansion of These Magnificent Tentacles from a duo to a quintet, with his long-time bandmate Johnny Belanger and half of Gnaeus joining Brent & Steve too this summer, and Mitch & Johnny also formed half of the revived Soo Fighters this fall. The Wyld Stallyns confirmed Alex White, Derek Turner, and long-time guest Josh Norling in their expanded six-piece lineup, while 3/5ths of Heavy Lies The Crown was swapped out, with Brandon & Ted now joined by younger St. Ignace-based musicians. Of course, the now-Barrie based (Jack) Spades GT saw J.D. Pearce & Daniel Horton round out their new lineup with GTA musicians.

Also this year: Warren Reville joined (and Brad Stephen & Ric Datson left) the stripped down Bone Yard, Jessica Amadio replaced Valerie Powley as Obsession's singer, Rafael Medeira joined the now five-piece Handsome Sandwich on bass, Bill Brouillard replaced Matt Sibilo on guitar in Fort Creek, and Raine Rancourt left his own namesake band Raincourt (now Sylo). Hopefully all of these changes prove successful for these bands, and that the former members rebound in other projects!

Things have picked up in the scene, but we're still not back to pre-pandemic rates, and it does show in the bands we said goodbye to in 2022, with only one major heavier band (power rock quintet Re:Born) firmly announcing their dissolution in February, without ever emerging from their pandemic hiatus despite their announced lineup additions. However, a handful of familiar bands were moved to our inactive band links after last being heard from late last year, including death metal favourites The Bear Hunters, Buckcherry openers Bad Chug, and punk trio Redundant. Horror punk quintet Frightlight fell inactive with Chris Thompson's passing and J.D.'s move to Barrie in 2021, and notable bands like Parabol, Tripod The Dog, and Sault Michigan's 415E, Buddy Repperton & The Camaros, and The Nameless have all been publically dormant since the spring. Fingers crossed that we haven't heard the absolute last from these bands!

Like in prior year-in-review posts, we'll end with comebacks and reunions, and with things opening up more than ever, we weren't lacking in this area! For bands in concert, The Northern Vibe Festival saw the returns of Jack Spades (now Spades GT), A Dire Setback, and The Soo Fighters after spending a year or more off the local stage, while fellow Northern Vibe performers The Cover-Up had already returned at this year's returning Go Skateboarding Day festivities. Mike Haggith, Parabol, Slumshine, and The Sick Sons (renamed The Gambit) all came back after a year+ away, while (The) Northwest made their own full comeback from the pandemic, and Heavy Lies The Crown did the same while almost exclusively playing in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. This year also saw the rebirth of Great West Falls as Forever Will Be and solo original project Stone Smyth, and the return of Downtown Street Parties, among other returns this year!

2022 was an eventful year, even if things weren't quite at the levels we might be used to from the 2010s, but it's only up from here... right? Have a Happy New Year, please drink responsibly if you're going out, and we'll see you guys back on the SMS next week (and next year!) Thanks everyone!