The BAG & Tym Morrison Concert Previews, Plus The Last Of Crush's Live-Streams!!

Before we begin today's post, we have one more concert cancellation to take note of this weekend, as local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 are not playing at The Water Tower Pub tonight, as per the venue's Facebook page yesterday. The band never confirmed the gig on their own social media, and aside from last month's "uncorked" gig at Smitty's, they haven't played live in two months. I'm not sure if their recent break is directly related, but I do want to offer our deepest condolences to guitarist Alex D'Ettore and his family following the recent passing of his daughter Ally. I can't imagine the pain and heartbreak that Alex, Marcy, and everyone who knew and loved Ally are going through, and hopefully things proceed as naturally and respectfully as possible in her honour! Newer local blues rock band The Low Light Company are filling in at The Water Tower Pub tonight.

Today's post otherwise concludes this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, as well as wrapping up our coverage of a recent live-streamed concert, so let's start with the return of local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison to Misty's Fifties TOMORROW! It's been an unusually long 2+ month wait for Tym to play another matinee gig at the Second Line West nightclub, as he was laid up for much of that time healing a broken pinky finger, having last played at Misty's on February 7th before dropping out of that night's Reggie's show due to the injury. Tym returned to the stage on March 26th at The Dive, but he ended up cancelling his next two scheduled Misty's shows for other reasons, so if you have missed his prolific setlist of classic and hard rock cover favourites at this west end staple, head there tomorrow! As usual for Misty's Fifties, this is a matinee concert taking place from 4:00-8:00 PM.

This is a 19+ event with no announced cover charge, and while it is Tym's only scheduled show at Misty's this month, he gets back to a more typical schedule with three shows there in May. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on tomorrow's return to one of Tym's favourite recent stomping grounds, and here he is live!

Lastly for known hard rock concerts this weekend, we'll head to Soo Blaster, where local metal trio The BAG will play their first show of the year TOMORROW NIGHT by headlining their long awaited album release party! While the band has been very cagey on particulars for their debut album "Sacculus" in the lead-up, fans will get their first chance to buy physical copies tomorrow, and assuming it drops on streaming as well, I'll let you know about that when specifics go live! This will be Spencer, Austin, and Bradley's first concert in nine months, and hopefully the anticipation builds to make tomorrow's concert one to remember! Openers will include local death/thrash metal trio Pillory, newer local ska punk trio A.S.D.P. (fronted by this show's promoter Mikhal Muto), and Winnipeg folk punk musician Greg Rekus, who fronted The Inside Job here twice in the mid-2020s and is hopping on this bill mid-tour.

Remember, Mikhal is a huge fan of folk punk, so the shoe fits for the early portion of this concert! As seen in this (AI-animated?) poster from The BAG's Facebook page, tickets cost $15 in advance (via the local bands, promoters Underground Events SSM, and The Rad Zone), but admission fees jump to $25 at the door. This is an all ages show, the concert starts at 7:30 PM, and again, I don't know further details on "Sacculus" (i.e. formats, price, track listing, production details, etc.), so you may be the first to know tomorrow night. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, stay tuned for more from The BAG and the new album, and here they are live!

Finally for today, let's wrap up our coverage of Sault Michigan hard rock trio Crush's live-streamed concert at The Merchants Bar while these videos are still viewable! Remember, as per Facebook's current live-stream video regulations, these will only be left online until around May 11th unless the band converts or re-uploads them to their Facebook page, and click here for our recap of the first two sets' videos. This live-stream abruptly stopped 21:26 into its presumed half hour runtime, but it at least stopped in between songs. From what we can see from The Merch last week, you'll see the guys covering Eric Clapton's "Cocaine", Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", and Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll", before playing an apparent original comedy rock song named "My Cheese" that some attendees were requesting. Kudos for answering the call from their fans when they weren't originally planning to play this one! The last song here is "Fire", an original that ended their Superior Whitefish Battle Of The Bands-winning set in Brimley last year.

Bassist Isaac "Iggy" Royer sings lead on the first two covers, singer/drummer Alex Traynor handled "Rock & Roll" and "Fire", and guitarist Josh Tyler sang "My Cheese". The stage lighting at The Merch was a little too vibrant for my liking, and like with the prior live-streams, this was shot vertically, but the performances are strong with good energy and a sense of humour, and the guys have a good grasp of their covers (you'd hope so given the obvious Tarnished links) while still showing strong original songwriting, so give Crush's third set a watch below (until May 11th?)

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Cory Marks), A New Addition To Our Band Links, And More Updates!!

Let's catch up on some Sault Ontario odds and ends on this Tuesday night, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, promotion for another upcoming show, and some other updates, but leading off, here's a long overdue addition to our band links & full coverage!

We have a new-ish band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are the no-longer-online-pageless The Spaceship Opening! Despite debuting on stage in September 2024, they only launched a social media presence (their new Facebook page) over the weekend. Described in promotion for past gigs as "east end rock & roll" and "space rock", The Spaceship Opening are a two-man-band featuring former Redundant/Fitswitch bassist Andrew MacDonald alongside A.S.D.P. drummer Ralph Barber, and in videos publically shared so far, neither sings at all. Over the past 18 months, you may recall seeing The Spaceship Opening sharing the stage with touring acts like The Space Wizards and Greg Rekus & The Inside Job, while they also opened for Mike Haggith's "Under A Moonlit Sky" show last fall, and most recently played at the "Not A Leap Year Party" concert in "Mellow D's Basement" on Saturday, alongside other public and private events.

Two videos are on their Facebook page, one being this short and black-and-white clip from an unspecified venue, while embedded below is four minutes of them playing at the still-closed Distraction last year, and while this one is in colour, it was shot vertically. Unless you've seen them live already, their early descriptors didn't give their sound away, and they have way more of an AlgomA-esque sludge/doom essence than I would have assumed. If you were expecting The Spaceship Opening to be similar to Andrew's past local bands, you may be surprised! Distorted and low (if not all that spacey), I can see why they've attracted fans with their minimalist rock compositions so far, so check things out from them above and below!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks will return to The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center on Thursday, June 11th! The fourth time in as many years that Cory has performed a local date, this appears to be a full band show with a proper promotional push, unlike his most recent local gig (also at the Bushplane Museum), when he headlined the Hope Air Day charity event this past June with a solo acoustic performance that we didn't hear about until it was short notice. The Bushplane Museum is hyping this up by saying that "for the first time ever, we’re turning the hangar into a full-blown concert venue", and while multiple shows have taken place there in the past, they've tended to be all-local or supplemental to other events. Hopefully this show is a huge hit for Cory and the venue alike, so that more similarly scaled concerts can be considered!

No word on possible openers, but Silent 9 opened at Cory's Machine Shop shows in 2023 and 2024, and Matthew James opened last year's unplugged Hope Air Day concert. Doors open for this "hangar party" at 5:00 PM, there is no announced age limit, and tickets run for $40 (up fro $35 from Cory's last full-band show here) at this link, and $100 VIP passes are also available. Cory's hard rock and country crossover sound continues to garner fans and chart success, and fingers crossed that his fourth local concert is a smash this summer! Visit the above links for more details!

Also today, here's the first Facebook update from local progressive metal band Convergence in almost three months! Well, that's discounting "Stories", you may have seen one where "Johnny Cash" endorsed them, but they did not opt to separately upload that "Story" as its own video. The video below from Sunday features guitarist Jake Valois hyping their first show of the year, when they will be among the openers for Nashville death metal band Demon King and other touring groups at Soo Blaster on March 24th (three weeks from today!). Amusingly, Jake puts footage of the mobile video game Subway Surfers in an inset picture-in-picture window to try and discourage people from scrolling away, assuming you're watching the video on a vertical cell phone orientation, which may explain the captions. As the show is all ages, Jake suggests that the whole family come out to "Soo Blasters", even your grandma!

Tickets are on sale through the band for $15, and if you message him to get yours, he will make sure he gets it to you, so how simple is that? It's good to see some new shareable content from Convergence, and with their planned new album still in the works, hopefully 2026 proves to be a stacked year for them! Check out the new video below, and stay tuned for more from them!

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

 

• We don't cover open mic/jam nights as "concerts" here due to their in-built unpredictability, and even if the host crosses our radar, there's no guarantee that they'll perform if it's busy. That said, I did at least want to mention that local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty are actually hosting Piecing It Together Shows' weekly jam night tonight at their seasonal pop-up locale at 331-A Wellington Street West, as per their Facebook page. The former Dryer Fire haven't booked formal concerts with SMS-amenable acts over their winter season, but hopefully Paul, Amanda, and Mikhal have a good turnout for tonight's open mic night!
• Winnipeg folk punk musician Greg Rekus (who fronted The Inside Job here twice in the past two years) has been added as a surprise opener for The BAG's album release party at Soo Blaster on April 18th, as per Underground Events SSM's Facebook page last week. This may seem odd for a metal concert with a local headliner, but promoter Mikhal Muto is an ardent folk punk fan, so I assume this was just good timing to get Greg a local booking when he'd be coming through on a spring tour run. Plus, this show already has a diverse lineup, as Mikhal's new ska punk band A.S.D.P. are also opening. Hopefully Greg sets things off on the right foot next month!
• In their own poster for new local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow's concert there on March 27th, Soo Blaster alternately list the venue name for the show as "SooBlaster / Blaster Power" and "Blaster Power House". I don't know if this is portending anything about a name change for the building/stage, but the Queen Street East entertainment complex has recently opened bowling lanes, laser tag, and arcade upgrades. Of course, the concert stage there had been branded as the Soo Lounge since opening in 2019, but if anything is clarified further, we'll let you know!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS in due course! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Exit 808, Generations, And Curtis McKenzie) & More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's wrap up another batch of weekend concert previews today, but it's supplemented with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE), and a brief teaser clip from one of the bands in question, so here's what you should know on this Friday evening!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to Gateway Casino for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced this past Saturday on their Facebook group when revealing their March dates, and while we covered the other shows at the time, we held TOMORROW'S for this weekend's previews due to the already late notice. This will be Generations' first concert since rocking Jay's Piston Broke Pub three weeks ago, and their first at Sault Ontario's casino since January. If you want a night of fan-friendly and diverse classic/hard rock covers from this experienced quartet you know where to go TOMORROW! Remember, Gateway Casino doesn't host live music on Fridays, and Generations aren't playing elsewhere tonight. Expect a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge TOMORROW, so see above for more details, and here they are live!

Next up, here's some shows with advance notice, including Sault Michigan hard rock sextet Exit 808's return to The Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley on Saturday, March 15th! Four months removed from their debut at Bay Mills' on-site lounge/concert venue, this show was quietly announced on their Facebook page on March 2nd when they posted a teaser video that we'll outline in a second, and this show will be their first anywhere since their I-500 pub crawl gig at The Merch early last month. Good to see Exit 808 back after a quiet month+ stretch, and hopefully things go well in Brimley next weekend! No word on if there will be a St. Patrick's Day theme at the Back Bay and/or on the band's end, but note that Bay Mills' events calendar only lists the actual holiday (Monday the 17th) as having a tie-in event. This 21+ concert has a 9:00 PM start time and no advertised cover charge. Visit the above links for more details!

As for Exit 808's teaser video, the 11 seconds-long clip features guitarist Alex Zimmerman and (seemingly now full-time member?) Blaze Beairl playing a new cover for their setlist, with Blaze playing guitar himself in the clip. Someone's holds a bass neck in frame but we don't see who is doing so. A commenter seemed to accurately guess that they were playing an Ozzy Osbourne song (possibly "I Don't Wanna Stop"), and while it's way too short to accurately judge the cover, maybe you'll see them play the full thing next week, so give it a watch for yourselves below!

Also, we'll head north to Sault Ontario, where local hard rock/grunge singer/guitarist Curtis McKenzie will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for another "Think It Over Thursday" acoustic concert on March 20th! This will be Curt's first stop at The Dive for a traditional concert since the start of February, and it was first announced via the venue's March concert cale-+-ndar on their Facebook page. It's always good to see the former Haggith/Eclipse frontman back on stage, and hopefully his hard rocking unplugged covers get another strong response from attendees and fans alike in a couple of weeks! All of the action in The Dive's "naughty corner" goes down on Thursday the 20th at 9:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more show announcements and updates from Curtis when they roll in!

Finally, we'll wrap up this weekend's concert preview by heading to (well, under) The Distraction on East Street, where Winnipeg folk punk band Greg Rekus & The Inside Job will make their second local concert appearance TOMORROW NIGHT! Unlike their local debut in May of last year, tomorrow's show will take place in The Stellar Door, the basement venue space under the barbershop proper, as has been the case for all scheduled rock concerts at The Distraction since the summer. Greg and crew made a strong presence on local fans last year with their folk punk originals and high energy live sound, and hopefully they get more of the same tomorrow!  This year, they won't be the closing band though, with new and online page-less local space rock duo The Spaceship Opening getting the honours tomorrow, and hopefully we learn more about them in due course!

Two solo acts will kick off the night, including local folk punk solo project Agnosticism (led by this show's promoter Mikhal Muto) in their first public set of 2025, and local folk musician Tucker Lidstone, who has played at a couple of folk/acoustic-leaning events at/under The Distraction in the past year. This all ages concert has a $15 or "pay what you can" admission fee, and doors open at 7:00 PM. If you like a nice variety of alternative rock, you'll like what The Stellar Door is hosting tomorrow, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Greg Rekus & The Inside Job live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for some long overdue fallout from recent major concerts next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Dayglo Abortions, Greg Rekus & The Inside Job, And Bone Yard 225), And More!!

Here's a stacked news post on this Monday night that features a surprise kinda-sorta album release 2+ years in the making, but let's lead off with three big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next few months!

Local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225 will make their Soo Blaster debut for a one-night-only event on Saturday, February 22nd! You do occasionally see covers-leaning rock bands headlining at Soo Blaster, as seen from past gigs from bands like Half Past and Fort Creek, so such a booking is usually a sign that they have big plans and upward momentum locally, and that is definitely the case for your local 225. Of course, the guys have three studio original songs now, they recently got a lengthy interview on The Borderline, and they have big plans for shows locally and afar in 2025, so hitting the big Soo Blaster stage should be a good stop as they continue their late-period rise! No word on any specific frills given the larger venue, but expect merchandise and their infamous "Bone Yard shot". This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Bone Yard's big show ahead!

Next up, Winnipeg folk punk band Greg Rekus & The Inside Job will make their second local concert appearance when they return to The Distraction on Saturday, March 8th! Fans may recall seeing Greg and crew at the former barbershop in May of last year, but when they return next month, this show will take place downstairs in their basement venue space The Stellar Door, which has hosted all of The Distraction's concerts since the summer (I know that the Ripcordz show downstairs was a huge hit, but the upstairs barbershop space is unique and I hope it gets used for concerts again!) Unlike last year, The Inside Job are not the advertised headliners, with new and online page-less local space rock duo The Spaceship Opening (featuring former Redundant bassist Andrew MacDonald) getting top billing. We still don't know a lot about this band, but in case nothing is posted online prior, you can learn more next month!  Local folk punk solo project Agnosticism (led by this show's promoter Mikhal Muto) will open in their first concert of the new year.

Kicking off the proceedings is Tucker Lidstone, an acoustic folk singer/songwriter who you may have seen at The Distraction opening for former(?) Sylo frontman Eli Russell and playing at last fall's Sewing In Solidarity event, but this is the first time that he's crossed our radar on a heavier/punk show. Doors open at 7:00 PM for this all ages basement event, and admission is $15 (up from $10 last year) or "pay what you can". Greg & The Inside Job should deliver a solid set of folk punk amongst this diverse array of local talent, so don't miss out on all of the action at The Stellar Door next month, and visit the above links for more details!

Also newly confirmed is the long awaited return of Victoria, British Columbia hardcore punk legends The Dayglo Abortions to Sault Ste. Marie when they rock the aforementioned Soo Blaster on Thursday, May 8th! This will be the Cretin and company's first local date since headlining at Soo Blaster in May of 2023, following two well received gigs at the former Roosevelt Hotel in the early 2010s and many in prior decades, though the Soo's half-own Spades GT have opened for The Dayglos in Southern Ontario in the interim. Should be good to have their ferocious old school punk attack on home soil once again, so don't miss out in spite of the work/school night scheduling! Two touring bands are joining The Dayglo Abortions on their cross-Canada spring tour, including Vancouver-based "west coast skacore" quintet Dirtnap and Prince Edward Island folk punk band The Devil's Punchbowl, both making their local debuts.

Hardcore punk fans will find Dirtnap to be closer spiritually to Dayglo, but there's a diverse array of punk stylings here, which will be kicked off by local hardcore punk/crossover thrash quartet Hails in a rare Soo Blaster appearance. This will be a huge feather in their cap, so don't miss their fast and intense originals in May either! Doors open at 6:30 PM for this all ages concert, and tickets will run $20 in advance (presumably in time on Soo Blaster's website and through Ha!ls members) or $25 at the door. For reference, the advance ticket price is identical to 2023, but the door charge this year is actually $5 less. Hardcore punk fans will not want to miss this huge concert in three months, so see above for more details!

Finally, here's a surprise, as inactive local hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley have posted what would have been their debut album on YouTube! As you may recall, this young group were working on an album from at least late 2020 onward, and included their song "Stuck In Rotation" on the "Clusterfolk" compilation album in 2022, but public activity dried up after that fall aside from posting a belated music video for "The Village" in June 2023. The 40 minute album was uploaded to their YouTube channel on January 29th, in both a single video format and as 11 individual songs. The upload order of the individual songs on the channel is is not accurate to the order on the full video, so the songs in presented order are "Onto The Path/Where Do I Go?", "The Uncanny Valley", "Middleman", "Something To Believe In", "This Love Is Psychedelic", "The Oracle", "The Village", "Glowin'", "Fumblin' Through", and "Wastin' Time".

Their early original "Sweet Like Sugar" didn't make the cut, nor did "Stuck In Rotation", though the Clusterfolk compilation has the latter in full studio splendour. No idea if the band's logo was intended to be the cover art right along, for the record. This obviously isn't the ideal release method for what Adrian, Matt, Brenden, and Dylan had in mind in the early 2020s, but even 2+ years after they fell inactive, I'm glad that these songs finally saw the light of day! Nice slices of psychedelic and classic rock-tinged original material with solid melodies, and while not a proper paid album, do check it out on YouTube above and below to support what The Uncanny Valley worked on in their heyday!

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

The First Half Of This Weekend's Hard Rock/Punk Concert Previews!!

Another busy concert weekend is upon us, but this weekend, it's not because of a holiday! Yes, it is the Memorial Day long weekend in Michigan, but I only know of two hard rock shows in the E.U.P. from one band. This is just a busy weekend as we near the summer season, and as such, we will have to break up our previews into two posts. Today's previews involve bands playing tonight or tomorrow in some description, with the Saturday or Sunday-only shows from Pet Retina, Tym Morrison, Generations, and Agnosticism being previewed in tomorrow's post. Now, here's what you should know to start in rough chronological order!

We'll start with the first of two shows at The Distraction on East Street in a three day span, as Winnipeg folk punk band Greg Rekus & The Inside Job will make their local concert debut TONIGHT! If you appreciate folk punk (particularly the full band, Rising Tide-esque type), you will like Greg and crew's original music, which benefits from a raw, more direct style and lyrics more themed around tough times and social issues, and they should get a good response from local fans in this special Thursday nighter! This show will have a wide array of styles on offer from its three scheduled acts, including Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson and local hard rock quintet HeadFirst (in their Distraction debut) as the opening acts. HeadFirst's hard rocking sound (augmented by their new studio single "Don't Care, Don't Mind") should get some positive attention, and DJ Seith's turntable mixes are well done!

Tonight's all ages festivities at the former barbershop have a 7:00 PM start time, and admission is under a "$10 or pay-what-you-can" model. While folk punk is the main attraction, there is a little something for everyone tonight, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Greg Rekus live!

Next up, let's head north to The Water Tower Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will play the last traditional concert of their early 2024 concert slate TOMORROW NIGHT! Like last year, this talented foursome will be taking the summer off from the normal weekend bar grind aside from festivals & private bookings, so if you're hoping to see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve in a public nightclub setting after tomorrow, you'll have to wait for September 6th-7th at The Esquire Club. Tomorrow's show will be Silent 9's first at the Great Northern Road venue since January, and hopefully their hard rocking and crowd-friendly covers get another strong reception! Remember that The Water Tower Pub hosts different nightly acts, with this Saturday's band there actually being Nova Scotia blues rock duo Claverhouse in a rare show (and EP release!) here from a touring band, so keep that in mind if you want something a little different!

We will address Silent 9's public summer festival appearances on the SMS soon, but note that their website's calendar claims that they will be making their Rotaryfest Stage 1 debut in July. In Rotaryfest's case, I traditionally wait until the festival releases the full schedule (last year, it was on May 26th), but either way, keep that in mind! Tomorrow's Water Tower Pub show has an 8:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Silent 9 live!

Now let's head back downtown, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will take the stage at Gateway Casino for another "uncorked" concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Normally, bands only play at the Sault Ontario casino on Saturday nights, but tomorrow's rare Friday nighter appears to be due to Gateway Casino's 25th anniversary celebration, with the concert being one of multiple special events going down tomorrow, including a $2,500 cash draw, a t-shirt giveaway, free cupcakes, hourly hot seat draws all day, and dinner specials. Of course, congratulations to the casino on a successful 25 year run, and here's to 25 more! Concert-wise, this is an acoustic show as usual for Bone Yard at 30 Bay Street West, and if you'd rather see them "uncorked" tomorrow rather than next week at the aforementioned Water Tower Pub, you'll wanna head downtown for their show and all of the 25th anniversary festivities!

No, Bone Yard 225 are not scheduled for a Saturday nighter elsewhere this weekend. Tomorrow's Gateway Casino concert has a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Bone Yard acoustic live!

Finally for today's previews, let's head across the river to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino, where Traverse City, Michigan classic/hard rock cover trio Peril will return to the E.U.P. for Memorial Day weekend concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen in our neck of the woods at the end of April in Sault Ste. Marie (which I regrettably missed covering here, apologies again), these will surprisingly be Peril's first St. Ignace dates of 2024. No official promotional image for these concerts yet, but they are definitely on, and hopefully Peril draw in a solid crowd both nights for the long weekend! If you can't make it, Jeff, Adam, and Brooks will be back at The Northern Pines Lounge at the end of June. This weekend's concerts are 21+ affairs with no cover charges and 9:00 PM start times. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Peril live a few years back!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Greg Rekus & The Inside Job, Bone Yard 225, Soundcheck, And Tym Morrison!!)

Another concert weekend is upon us, but let's infuse things with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, some on SHORT NOTICE! This is a relatively quiet weekend as heavier shows go, but with new announcements beyond this weekend, things are filled out well, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will continue his bi-weekly arrangement at Misty's Fifties with another matinee concert on SATURDAY NIGHT, but before then, he will make his debut at the newly opened Dive Gastro Pub TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on his show at The Dive, it was only announced this past Thursday via Tym's Facebook event page, with the venue corroborating that with their own event page yesterday. The Dive is the new restaurant at 648 Queen Street East, taking over the building last occupied by Low & Slow in March. Click here for details on what The Dive offers as a restaurant and bar, but they're dipping their toes into concert promotion right away with "Think It Over Thursdays", featuring acoustic musicians every Thursday evening. Soundcheck frontman Cameron Oliver led off last week with a country set, and Tym's rock covers are second up TONIGHT, so come check out the new digs and perhaps try the menu!

If you're curious, former Jack Spades bassist Steve Shaw plays there next Thursday. Tym's show takes place at 6:00 PM TONIGHT with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover, while his bi-weekly return to Misty's Fifties on Second Line West is on Saturday at 4:00 PM with otherwise similar ground rules. If you can't make it to Misty's this weekend, Tym has at least three more shows coming up there through the end of next month. Visit this link & above for more on TONIGHT'S and Saturday's shows, and here's Tym live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will reportedly return to The Esquire Club for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these bookings were only announced via the band's Facebook page earlier today. TOMORROW'S & SATURDAY'S shows are fill-in gigs for the previously advertised Mustang Heart, who have dropped out of this weekend's bookings, apparently due to guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri recovering from shoulder surgery, as per that band's Facebook page. Hopefully he gets better soon! Now, as per The Esquire Club's early 2024 concert calendar, Soundcheck are also scheduled to play there next week, but did they and Mustang Heart swap weeks or are Soundcheck now playing back-to-back weekends there? As nothing I've read mentions next weekend, I'll treat them as Soundcheck both for now.

Of course, Soundcheck (sans Cameron) are hosting jam night at Jay's tonight too, but as for TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, their late notice Esquire Club shows are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charge. Kudos to Soundcheck for stepping up, so don't miss their varied and often hard rocking cover slate this weekend, and here they are live!

Also this weekend, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will play previously announced concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at Reggie's Place, but the guys have also announced their concert slate into early June via this calendar on their Facebook page! We already knew about their Water Tower Pub show on Friday, May 31st thanks to the venue's advertising but the rest are new to us, so where else are Greg, Alex, and Warren playing ahead? On Saturday, May 18th, Bone Yard will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for a one-nighter on the Victoria Day long weekend, so if you want some fully electric entertainment for the May 2-4 ahead, go to Dennis Street! From one downtown venue currently only booking bands on Saturdays to another, Bone Yard 225 have also booked gigs (likely "uncorked" ones) at Gateway Casino on May 24th and June 8th, so fans of their acoustic stylings have two likely chances to see them in that fashion!

The other new show will see Bone Yard "FAFO" at Reggie's Place once again on Saturday, June 1st, another one-nighter due to their gig at The Water Tower Pub the previous day (they are not booked on Friday otherwise for the new shows after this weekend, and I don't yet know if a different band is playing at Reggie's on the 31st). These dates are all 19+ affairs with no cover charge, and aside from the Gateway Casino gigs (9:00), all start at 9:30 PM, this weekend at Reggie's included. Visit the above links for more on Bone Yard 225's upcoming shows, and here they are live!

Finally, let's completely leap out of this weekend for one more new show announcement, this time at The Distraction on Thursday, May 23rd when Winnipeg folk punk band Greg Rekus & The Inside Job make their local debut! Musically, I'd compare Greg and crew to Dustin Jones & The Rising Ride, but rawer and with lyrics more based on the issues and hard times, so to speak. Genre fans will find a lot to like from Greg Rekus' original material, and they should attract a solid audience to the East Street venue in two weeks! A mosaic of styles will be on offer for the scheduled acts, with local openers including hard rock quintet HeadFirst (in what I believe to be their debut at The Distraction) and a turntable mix set from Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson, who is no stranger to mixed genre events like this (remember when he opened for Ha!ls here?) "Music, dancing, (and) art" are promised for attendees on this night, so keep all of that in mind.

An all ages show as usual for the former barbershop, doors open at 6:30 PM on May 23rd, and admission is $10 or "pay what you can". This should be a good time for folk punk fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this concert, and look for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2021 Concert Review!!

(Updated on Monday at 10:13 PM) For the first time in well over a year & a half, I have a review of a local concert on The Sault Metal Scene, as I went to check out the final bands at this year's pandemic-adjusted, drive-thru edition of Rotaryfest! Moving to the parking lot outside of the former Lowe's at the corner of Great Northern Road & Northern Avenue, organizers did note/recommend that most attendees would only stay for two bands, so I figured I could probably swing seeing three bands before anyone got annoyed with "that guy" snapping pictures, so I do apologize for not coming early for The Northern Jazz Ensemble, Spyder's Web, The Uncanny Valley, or Greg MacLachlan's sets. However, I had my vehicle's radio tuned to 107.1 FM well and early to have it ready and to see how far the transmitter reached, and despite the advertised 1 kilometer range, I can confirm that I got fringe reception from about 3 kilometers away. It cut in and out, but I was able to hear Greg MacLachlan's last song!

If you're curious, Greg and his backing band (including K.I.C.K.'s Aaron Dunn on drums) did an extended mash-up of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication" and a number of songs by rappers or featuring rap verses, everything from MC Hammer & Vanilla Ice to Beck and the C&C Music Factory. Definitely amusing to hear, especially from the unexpected rap interludes (a close comparison would be Redundant's "El Scorcho"/"No Scrubs" crossover). Greg doesn't have social media accounts, but give his stuff a listen if you can find it, he did release a new folk album last year! Upon arrival at Rotaryfest there was no one taking donations, so I just drove around slowly until I found the best parking spot, and I ended up in the third row, but perfectly dead center with the stage (I was able to get into the second row for Obsession's set). The stage was placed about in front of Value Village, with bands looking out towards Pennington's & Great Northern Road.

After a string of Bob Marley songs over the transmitter and an introduction by returning host Andrew Steutz, the first band I actually saw last night was the debuting Jonesy Land, featuring the non-Jaaskelainen members of The Rising Tide and The Lake Effect's Frank Deresti playing songs from across frontman Dustin Jones' local career and outside covers. About half the set was Dustin's songs from The Inner City Surfers (like "Won't Belong") and The Rising Tide (like "Molly Malloy"), plus his 2020 solo song "Counting The Days" & the debut Jonesy Land song "Sunshine Parades", but despite the event advertising, I didn't catch any Conspirators songs (granted, they are not as familiar locally). The rest were covers of country and pop artists, including the four mid-set songs they did with Dustin's daughter Jett on guest vocals. Jett did come across as nervous, but as you saw in her videos with her dad, she can carry a tune!

Notably, their cover of "I've Been Everywhere" was the Surfers-era version with a verse listing Northern Ontario locations, and Jett handled vocals nicely for it! As you'd expect for a modern day Dustin Jones band, everyone performed well, merging punk and folksier/poppier sentiment nicely, with Dustin's vocals as familiar as ever and Liam Seymour shining on guitar, but it felt like Chris Johns' drumming wasn't meant for the transmitter, as his live playing almost sounded delayed from 107.1 FM. This wasn't his fault, just an observation. Fun set from Jonesy Land, and time will tell if this band continues beyond Rotaryfest!

Co-headlining yesterday were veteran local classic rock band Obsession in their eleventh Rotaryfest set since 2008, and they had a familiar face filling in on second guitar (Alex Trecroce left the band a few years ago and wasn't replaced). Sound tech Dan Belanger joined in for the set, much like he did with That's Chester (also featuring guitarist Gabe Tessaro) during their two Rotaryfest reunion sets after Eugene Orlando's passing, so Dan fit in like a glove! Nominally, Obsession's all-covers set was blocked out by decade, going from the 1960s (Chuck Berry, Janis Joplin) to the 1970s (AC/DC, Steve Miller) to the 1980s (Pat Benatar, Loverboy), but when they realized they were ahead of schedule, the end of the set became a free-for-all of songs they'd rehearsed. Obsession delivered a strong set, with Valerie Powley's powerhouse vocals delivering on all facets (especially for Janis Joplin renditions), while Gabe picked up the slack for between-song banter well and via lead vocals on two songs.

He and Dan paired well on guitar, while Jim Michaud and Steve Porco handled the rhythm end as smoothly as you'd expect, and with a more "rock"-based band than Jonesy Land were, the misaligned drum timing with the transmitter wasn't as obvious, but you could still hear it. If you love classic rock, Obsession delivered the goods last night, and look for them at nightclub gigs later in the year when the pandemic is hopefully even less of an issue!

After thanking everyone for coming out and helping put on Rotaryfest, a special dedication to stage manager Shaun Antler, and the $40,000+ 50/50 draw announcement, (not to mention sunset and nightfall), southern rock cover quartet Bone Yard hit the stage to close out Rotaryfest, and while they played less songs than the preceding bands, they also had longer songs on offer. Continuing to signal their departure from country covers, Bone Yard's set was classic rock-centric, with covers of everyone from Golden Earring & The Tragically Hip to The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, while bassist Brad Stephen & guitarist Alex D'Ettore respectively handled lead vocals on their set-closing Don Nix/J.J. Cale & Marshall Tucker Band covers. Another strong set with no real stage rust visible, with Greg Simpson's vocal and guitar work more than impressing, as did Ric Datson's tried and tested drumming!

I think there could have been some more banter between songs, but Bone Yard delivered in their seventh Rotaryfest appearance (not counting the virtual set last year), and if you ever wanted to see That's Chester with more of a southern rock edge, you'd be right at home! Overall, Rotaryfest 2021 was a very interesting experience, and it was great to see live music in Sault Ste. Marie again! I've been hesitant to go see cover bands in pandemic-limited conditions at bars in the past year, but this was a fun attraction, and very comfortable given that we could use our vehicles for seating and air conditioning! The FM transmitter worked very well in spite of drum timing, but the live speakers were still loud enough for anyone from the second row of cars to hear the bands without compromise. Good thing too, as I wanted to be outside to get photos and videos of the bands, and yes, I did wear a face mask when not in the vehicle.

Most other attendees didn't mask up outside (I am not judging anyone), but I won't be getting shot #2 until this coming Saturday, so I didn't want to take any needless risks just in case. You can see my photos at this link or at our Facebook page, while for this special occasion of a major multi-band concert in the Soo during the pandemic, I filmed two songs of each band for Facebook! My plan was to film two straight songs from each, which worked for the first two (Jonesy Land covering The Inner City Surfers' "Screwed" & Michael Buble's "It's A Beautiful Day, and Obsession covering The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman" and Bob Seger's "Rock and Roll Never Forgets"), but my camera had a low battery warning for most of Bone Yard's cover of the Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing", a long song by itself. As such, I didn't film their next song, Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here".

However, with fresh batteries, I did film the song after that, fittingly also by Pink Floyd ("Young Lust"), so if you watch that video, that explains why there is a sudden break and a change in location. Give my Rotaryfest videos from last night a watch below!

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

Tarnished Updates, New Original Songs, And More News & Notes!!

In case there's no new post before then, I'll wish all of our readers a happy Valentine's Day! This post features some assorted updates, new original songs from some familiar hard rock artists, and some more updates from a prolific local band, so here's what you should know!

We'll kick things off with the latest (non-TikTok) updates from Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished, who revealed on their Facebook page on Sunday that they are working on a new single, with plans to release it to major music platforms next month. Former Chained Memories guitarist Ryan Nicklas (who mixed & mastered Tarnished's cover of "Run Rudolph Run") is back in studio with the guys for this new single, and given Gary's recent departure, I imagine frontman Alex Traynor will be behind the drum kit again, knowing that that the single is already being recorded. Tarnished are looking for fans to contribute to planned "gang vocals" on the track, and if you're interested, comment on their Facebook post from Wednesday for more details. Finally, a new video of Alex and bassist Josh Fair performing acoustically at Crooked Music was posted to Facebook last night!

Entitled "A Crooked Jam", this was filmed by Pick-Me-Ups alum Trevor Yake in what looks like an empty store (I don't think we missed a surprise gig), the video features Alex & Josh covering a fragment of Metallica's "Fade To Black" and all of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", across multiple camera angles. Well done renditions with much better audio than their acoustic live-streams from last year, and I like the camera-work and atmosphere shots that Trevor got in this video! Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Tarnished, on or off TikTok, next week!

Next up, Sault Ontario hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has two new original songs to check out! Now, I want to preface this by noting that these are not hosted on YouTube, rather Rumble, a video hosting website that has been gaining popularity in recent months among conservative-leaning content creators. From what I understand, these two new songs ("COVID-19" and "Declassified") were pulled from YouTube due to being flagged for misinformation, and they each have very strong personal viewpoints. I try and keep the SMS apolitical, so I won't go into specifics on the lyrics or the detailed video content on these songs, especially as YouTube and Blogger (this site's host service) are both Google properties. On strictly musical terms, both of these songs are very heavy and will definitely please fans of Tym's old metal work, with some strong guitar solos included in both. Give them a watch if you want at the above links!

Also today, here's a new solo original song from Skeyes Of Seven/ex-Sense Of Truth frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel! Entitled "Sorry & Forgotten", this is about rising up against "the global elite" and their control on Earth. I won't get into the lyrics, but this modern hard rock song is intense and well performed (I can easily see one of his bands playing this), and Cory makes good use of multiple camera angles! It is an odd visual seeing him sing through the pop filter though. Give Cory's new song a look below!

 

 

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

 

• Veteran local musician Greg Simpson revealed on his promotional company (Choose) Maxx Entertainment's Facebook page on January 27th that he's closing the page "sometime in the next few weeks", and encouraged everyone to follow his personal Facebook page for continuing business needs in event promotion & graphic design. Greg's personal page indicated that it was "time for a change up", as "this pandemic has forced me to shut down the corporation & move on as sole proprietor." Hopefully we'll still hear more from Greg in the future! As of this writing, the Maxx page is still online, so "the next few weeks" clearly means more than two.
• In their first Facebook page update in nine months, local acoustic punk solo project Slumshine shared a picture of a box full of blank cassette tapes, and noted that "SllMSHN" is coming soon. The two lowercase Ls seem to imply that these will be used to record a sequel to their 2019 debut album "SLMSHN" (note the one L), which was only released physically on cassette. It's great to see Brent is still working on new Slumshine material, so stay tuned for updates!
• I have moved Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson's solo project to our inactive Sault Michigan band links due to a year's inactivity. The St. Ignace product only sporadically updated this page after it's May 2018 inception, and despite hyping it as his "new artist page" in January 2020, only three videos followed that month before updates quietly ceased. Of course, pandemic woes and his work with Heavy Lies The Crown may have slowed Ted's personal page's activity, but stay tuned for more updates as H.L.T.C. progress towards their new album!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post of some kind by Monday! Thanks everyone!

Another Local Metal/Punk Video Showcase!!

For our final news post of 2020, we're looking at some recent video uploads from a bunch of familiar faces from the local scene, including a few more belated Christmas-themed performances, and we'll start with a new old video from Sault Michigan classical metal quintet Theatre of Night in concert! Of course, their fourth annual Christmas concert tour did not take place in 2020 for painfully obvious reasons, but in a presumed Christmas Eve olive branch for fans on their YouTube channel, they did post a new-to-us video of them playing their set-opener "What Child Is This?" during the tour finale at The Park Theatre in Holland (40 minutes west of Grand Rapids) last year! If you want to see the whole concert from this night, click here, but this is from a separate camera that's closer to the stage. This is a very proficient and grand rendition from Theatre of Night that should help put you in the Christmas spirit, even 4 days late, so give it a watch below!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for new videos from three familiar punk musicians, starting with Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan, who was the special musical guest on a performance video uploaded by the Toronto-based podcast series Backyard Variety Tour's YouTube channel on Christmas Eve. Sadly, Greg couldn't host his usual Christmas Open Mic event at Coch's Corner this year (we all know why), but maybe this will help make up some of the difference! Introduced by podcast host Ian Pozz, Greg plays an 18 minute set of four Christmas deep cuts here, so if you don't want to hear the same old carols, this should do the trick. In order, Greg covers Tom Waits' "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis", John Prine's "Christmas In Prison", Gordon Lightfoot's "Song For A Winter's Night", and to fill out the punk quota, The Pogues' "Fairytale Of New York" with his girlfriend Amanda Kemp joining in on vocals.

Greg offers some context about the first three songs in between, and I do like that he didn't do the same old carols here, even if some are decidedly darker than you'd expect! The close camera angle from a low angle is a little odd, and the audio quality on this camera isn't amazing, but Greg sings and plays capably on these covers, and he and Amanda harmonize well! Give it a look below, and here's hoping for a better year for Northwest & Greg ahead!

Also, here's a new video of former Brain Tuel guitarist Zach Reid playing an instrumental cover of Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song", via an arrangement by Bruce French, as uploaded to his YouTube channel last week. Soft and intricate performance from a tight camera angle, this should put readers in a belated Christmas spirit, so give it a watch below!

Finally, let's close things on a non-seasonal note via a new song from Inner City Surfers bassist Brad Example's YouTube channel! While Brad's solo material has largely been of an acoustic folk rock bent, this song does feature his long-time Surfers/Role Models bandmate Dave Bahun, and this does share some thematic similarities with softer Surfers songs. Entitled "Girl Next Door" and set to footage of a shadowbox theater with lyric track, this song works well pairing Brad's raspy vocals and Dave's strong melodic guitar licks, so fans will want to give it a listen below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our 2020 year-in-review post by Thursday! Thanks everyone!