Before we finally cap off this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews, just a friendly tip that Wyld Stallyns/ex-Elements frontman Rob Speers will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for another acoustic show on their patio tomorrow night. I'm still not 100% sure if his solo dates are similar to his bands in set/sound or not, hence why I'm not covering it as normal here, but keep it in mind if you want some downtown unplugged music! Now, let's wrap up this weekend's previews by looking at a big festival an hour or so outside of town, plus two Sunday events, so here's what you should know!
We'll start at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn, where local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their biggest ever concert TOMORROW, namely the It's The Pits! Yes, live music returns to the site of the late 2010s Oh!No fesitvals and last year's private Bear Hunters reunion event, and P.I.T.S. (peach pit motif fully intact) will be bringing a wide array of styles to the church tomorrow, and while the former Dryer Fire have never been known as a metal/punk-first promotion agency, two of the ten acts tomorrow are SMS-amenable! Half of the bill is comprised of touring artists, and while it's not clear if the poster gives away the performance order (we don't know set times anyway), Toronto electronica duo LAL are definitely the headliners tomorrow night. Also making their way here are Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, who genre fans will definitely take to with their melodic sound!
Other touring acts tomorrow are Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton (who played in the Soo in October), Toronto "deep Earth folk" project Twintwa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan "dark folk" duo Rabbit Fur. The local contingent tomorrow includes crossover thrash/punk band Hails (who will be back in Leeburn for Crucifest next month), DJ Seith (who joined Ha!ls at the private Leeburn event last July), Chris West's local/Quebec indie solo project Tampa, lo-fi "anti-folk" singer/guitarist Shae Tull, and the cryptic regional Americana project Tye Lawless Co.. Note that ex-Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's folk project Sibling dropped out of It's The Pits last month after deciding to step away from music, and they were not replaced on the bill. Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is tomorrow's host, and numerous arts and culture vendors will be selling their wares on site.
It's The Pits (which has no stated age limit) takes place tomorrow at 2:00 PM into the night at 5756 Highway 638 outside of Bruce Mines, and attendees are welcome & encouraged to camp out on site and leave on Sunday if they so choose. Just respect the space, and mind tomorrow's rainy weather forecast (though the concert proper is indoors). Tickets cost $45 in advance at this link or via P.I.T.S. staff, and the price jumps to $50 at the gate. Hopefully It's The Pits is a huge hit for Nicole and crew, so that they make this an annual event, and punk fans will enjoy The Mendozaz and Hails in particular among this talented lineup! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Mendozaz live!
Next up, let's head back into Sault Ste. Marie city limits for two concerts taking place on SUNDAY, starting with a matinee performance by online page-less local alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub as the headliners during that day's teddy bear picnic at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery! Last crossing our radar when Tym Morrison had a weekly run there in late 2019, the 4057 Third Line West mill/winery will host their first ever teddy bear picnic on Sunday afternoon, where families and their kids are encouraged to come down (with picnic blankets and plush toys in tow) to enjoy refreshments, family entertainment, games, prize draws, local vendors, and of course, music! BookcluB will be headlining at 1:00 PM (running for three hours), while veteran R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers will open the picnic with a few sets starting at 10:00 AM. What's unclear is if they'll be playing inside at the Wine Barn or fully outdoors.
Regardless of age, tickets run for $10 at this link or presumably upon entry, though if you have a baby 2 years or younger, they'll get in free. The Weather Channel is currently projecting partly cloudy weather in the 22° range on Sunday afternoon, but showers do bookend the 10 AM-4 PM timeframe, so if you are at all concerned about the rain messing with the picnic, keep tabs on your preferred local weather reports closer to Sunday. It'll be interesting to see how things go at Thomson Farms, both for the atypical concert setting, the potential weather impairment, and just how the teddy bear picnic goes, but BookcluB should get a good response! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!
Finally for this very busy slate of weekend concert previews, let's head to The Distraction, where Detroit pop punk solo project Inconsistent Me will headline on SUNDAY NIGHT! One of a surprising number of Michigan-based touring bands to play in Sault Ontario in recent months (if only Sault Michigan bands were similarly crossing over), Inconsistent Me's brand of up tempo & nostalgic pop punk should draw a good response from fans at the old barbership on East Street, so don't miss out if you can swing coming on a work night! No word on if Brendan will be playing solo with a backing track or if he has a band with him (both have happened in the past). Local support will come by way of punk trio Vanity First, capping off a busy weekend for Mikhal and Keeghan (and Carmen?) following their sister band Hails' sets at Go Skateboarding Day tonight and at It's The Pits yesterday! Also, this is their first show since releasing "Identity Crisis" in April.
Oddly, Vanity haven't been promoting this show much in recent weeks, but it does appear to be on for Sunday as scheduled, and as usual, this is an all ages concert. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and admission is via a "$10 or pay-what-you-can" model. If the rain scared you off of Go Skate Day, and if Leeburn is a little too remote for tomorrow, punk fans may find that Inconsistent Me is what the doctor ordered, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Inconsistent Me live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!
Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Firehouse frontman C.J. Snare, who passed away due to cardiac arrest on Saturday at the age of 64. Visit your preferred music and/or news outlets for more details (here is Rolling Stone's coverage) but he had previously been battling cancer and abdominal issues. Local hair metal fans will recognize C.J. as the long-time frontman of the South Carolina glam metal/hard rock band dating back to his joining Firehouse in 1987. They peaked in the early 1990s with commercial hit singles like "Don't Treat Me Bad", "Love Of A Lifetime", and "When I Look Into Your Eyes", and got a Billboard Top 40 single as late as 1995. Firehouse played in the Twin Saults multiple times, most recently when they opened for Dokken at what's now GFL Memorial Gardens in September 2017, while they opened for Bret Michaels and Skid Row at Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan in 2014 & 2009 respectively.
While never a headlining attraction in their local gigs in the past 15 years (the cancelled Moloney's Alley show in 2016 acknowledged), Firehouse delivered the goods for Hair Scare diehards in their Sault Ste. Marie sets, and C.J. was a talented singer who could handle hard rockers and ballads with ease. What I have heard about him as a person is positive, and hopefully fans can look back on his work with Firehouse to remember him in the best ways at this difficult time. R.I.P., C.J.!
Now, today's post features some recent news and notes, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Detroit pop punk solo project Inconsistent Me will make their local concert debut on Sunday, June 23rd at The Distraction! The second Michigan-based punk solo project to make their way to the East Street venue this year (though they have performed with backing musicians in some videos), Inconsistent Me deliver a fun and up-tempo brand of pop punk that should find a receptive audience this summer, so definitely give Brendan's work a listen to see what they'll bring to the table north of the border! Local punk trio Vanity First will open in their first announced concert following their album release next weekend, and they should pair well sonically in a few months, so don't be late for their set! This is an all ages event with doors opening at 6:00 PM, and admission is $10 or "pay what you can". See above for more details!
Next up, we haven't written about local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp on here since last year, so what have they been up to lately? As it turns out, the project took down their Facebook page for unannounced reasons late last year and replaced it with a new Facebook page in December, albeit one set up as a normal user account that you have to add as a friend to follow (not unlike what Double Down have). Project leader Boyd "Unterbiss Von Wigwaus" Rendell has kept things relatively cryptic in updates there since, but he revealed that new music would be released in "the first quarter of 2024", but that could take until the fall given the pace he was working at. In February, Boyd indicated that he was working on new music, and teased a possible virtual single release like in their early run, but again, updates tend to be cryptic, often just about writing/creating music as a whole without being directly tied to Molten Imp.
It's good to see that Molten Imp are still working behind the scenes, even if the wait for new released music continues into 2024's second quarter! I do apologize for the delay in writing about Molten Imp on the site, the cryptic posts don't have a lot to latch onto when earmarking topics for upcoming SMS posts and they have always been easy to fall through the cracks, but hopefully Boyd's doing well and that we hear much more from him in the near future! If I did/said something wrong, I do apologize!
We'll close today with new videos from local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225, and while I usually share new videos in conjunction with weekend concert previews for convenience in promoting tradtional shows, I'll buck that today because these are from their Thursday jam night hosting duties at Reggie's Place last week! In a rare TikTok-exclusive video from Bone Yard, they shared this video of Alex and Warren being joined by four guest jammers (including a saxophonist!) to play a blues song that I couldn't identify. Is it called "Waiting"? Shockingly, the video is horizontal, but for one reason or another, it was put in monochrome & with some sort of visual filter, and it only captures 44 seconds of the performance. I've never had luck embedding TikTok videos on the SMS, but click here to check it out, as it has a good groove! Embedded below is a video from Reggie's Facebook page on Thursday, so what can you see here?
The video sees Greg and Alex joined by guest singer/keyboardist Joey Damasco for a cover of Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69", and while I'm no fan of Bryan Adams, this is a lively cover that relatively seamlessly incorporates keys! Joey's vocals are not super rangy but they work for this song, and while the video was shot vertically, at least the filmer captured everyone in frame. Check it out below, and remember to join (or even replace?) Bone Yard 225 at their next jam night at Reggie's this Thursday!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!
