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 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 4!!)

To cap off the month of July, let's resume our fallout from this year's Rotaryfest at Clergue Park, so musically speaking, what else should you know from two weeks+ ago? We'll pick things back up with the one-off reunion set of local classic/hard rock cover veterans That's Chester, whose steady stream of multi-camera videos from that night has continued on a daily basis on their Facebook page! All edited together by drummer Ric Datson, the videos include covers of Doucette's "Mama Let Him Play", AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock", The Refreshments' "Banditos", Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster", Deep Purple's "Highway Star", this two song video featuring The Knack's "My Sharona" & Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down" (plus a guest appearance from late guitarist Eugene Orlando's grandson), Harlequin's "Thinking Of You", Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", ZZ Top's "La Grange", and as embedded below, their first two encore songs.

Specifically, they covered April Wine's version of Hot Chocolate's "Could Have Been A Lady" and the April Wine original "Roller" back to back. Along with the first four songs that we addressed in this Rotaryfest fallout post, these videos constitute That's Chester's complete reunion set, and they sound very good across the board with a nice hard rock edge and some welcomed Canadian content for fans of 1970s and 1980s domestic rock acts! Hopefully this won't be the last that we'll see of That's Chester, but check out these well shot & edited videos from Rotaryfest above & below!

Next up, we'll leap from the very last act to play this year to the very first, but not via a video. As you're likely well aware, the Thursday opener on Stage 1 was local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his local backing band in a set cut short after just three songs due to Mike severely dislocating his right knee during his second song (he finished it while laying on his back, and managed to play the third while surrounded by paramedics before the ambulance took him to Sault Area Hospital). One week after all of that happened, Mike was a guest on the podcast Inside The Village (naturally a product of SooToday parent company Village Media) to talk about his abbreviated set with hosts Scott Sexsmith (membership director) and Michael "Frisco" Friscolanti (editor in chief), plus producer Derek Turner (yes, The Wyld Stallyns' drummer). You can hear the 34 minute episode at this link or on other major podcasting services.

After bantering about Michael Amadio bringing the Stanley Cup home to the Soo and discussing some local stories in Southern Ontario (as in, local to other markets served by Village Media news websites), the Mike Haggith portion of the episode begins 10 minutes in after a brief commercial break. Here, Scott asks Mike about the beginnings of his musical career and the planning for his Rotaryfest set this year before diving into the set proper, including how things went until he collapsed, the amusing initial reactions from his bandmates (who didn't immediately know that he wasn't just being theatrical), the quick response from on-site paramedics, the decision to play "I've Seen It Before" while laying on his back with a twisted knee, the crowd response to their set, his prognosis for the knee (as of the interview, 4-6 weeks on crutches with physio and ortho), how Sault Area Hospital staff responded to everything when he was first admitted, ...

...his surprisingly early (initial) exit from the hospital, reaction to his social media accounts afterwards, his hopes to get a Rotaryfest do-over in 2024, and his set at the Northern Vibe Festival next month (where he will be seated). The last six minutes of the episode feature more discussion about Mike's injury and similar stories about persevering through injury, with Derek's musical point of view coming up here, as he drummed with the Stallyns on Stage 1 that same Saturday. Informative interview with Mike getting more candid than ever about the events of July 13th, so I highly recommend checking out the interview above (and he dislocated his right knee, Jacob's live-stream was mirrored. My apologies!)

We'll close today with some fallout from Stage 2 near the Art Gallery of Algoma, as I've barely talked about that stage at this point! Granted, the two heavier bands to play this year haven't posted videos from their sets, but what is posted publically to check out? From the Saturday program of original-leaning bands, surprisingly not too much. Machines Dream posted a video on their Facebook page of them playing the first part of "Boundaries", so fans of this exceedingly talented progressive rock band will want to give that a look, especially as this was the last of this run of shows for their reunited original lineup! The other public video that I know was shot on Saturday was a "Shorts" video uploaded by YouTube user Owerri Chic TV, and it captures The Hollow Heads (I think), though the video is confusingly titled "End of Rotaryfest" (they were the third-to-last band on Saturday). Sounds good while it lasts!

The other known public videos to date are from the Friday Night Blues program on Stage 2, and I will touch on those in some form in an upcoming post, especially if any hard rock covers snuck into the sets/videos. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Stage 1's Thursday headliners Abba Soo were photographed by The Sault Star in this article on the opening day's festivities. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next month! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Slaughter), Two Inactive Band Notes, And More SMS Band Link Updates!!

While the snow continues to pile on outside, here's a new news post to check out on this Tuesday evening! We're mostly addressing updates to and removals from our band links today, but to lead off, here's a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this year!

Las Vegas glam metal veterans Slaughter will make their long awaited return to our area on Saturday, June 29th when they rock Kewadin Casino... in St. Ignace?! Best known from hit singles like "Up All Night", "Fly To The Angels", and "Real Love", this will be Slaughter's first regional concert appearance since opening for Stryper at the Sault Michigan Kewadin in 2012, and their third local gig since 2008, but now they're headlining with their high energy classic hard rock! Pasadena glam/hard rock quartet Autograph (of "Turn Up The Radio" & "Blondes In Black Cars" fame) will open with their own familiar brand of 1980s rock action, so don't bypass their set either! Clearly, the St. Ignace summer concert series did well last year, as this Kewadin branch is booking even more touring bands for 2019, though the Slaughter show appears to be indoors at the casino's on-site event center. The location may be atypical for Kewadin-booked hair metal, but how do $10 tickets sound?

Yes, tickets are that low, and you can buy them starting Friday at 9:00 AM at this link, the Sault Kewadin's in-person box office, the gift shop at the St. Ignace Kewadin, or presumably at 1-800-KEWADIN. This show has no advertised age limits, and an 8:00 PM start time, and is presented by Classic Rock: The Bear (whose 95.3 signal is easily heard in St. Ignace, but only gets fringe reception in the Soo.) It'll be very interesting to see how this show does given the non-Sault locale, but if you love the Hair Scare and 1980s glam rock, you won't wanna bypass this show, especially at this price! See the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details!

Next up, we have regrettably moved local death metal project Life's Eclipse back to our inactive band links. While no public statements have been made regarding their current status, the band has not issued an update to their Facebook page since January 31st of last year, well past our one year inactivity cutoff. The flagship band of local independent label Werehold Records (both led by singer/guitarist Jason Mills), Life's Eclipse reunited in 2011 after a few years' hiatus, and had been active to varying degrees ever since as a studio project. Long-time readers may be most familiar with Life's Eclipse from their regular involvement in Werehold Records' nine Friday the 13th new music posting events from 2012-2017, often featuring songs from incomplete and unreleased albums. It should be noted that Werehold Records proper haven't updated their own Facebook page since 2017, and of their roster of metal/hard rock artists, only Moss remain in our active links.

I know that personal commitments have been at least partially to blame for the slowdown in Life's Eclipse/Werehold updates in the late 2010s, so a resumption of public activity could happen at any time pending availability and scheduling.  Life's Eclipse were a brutal, technical, and well-composed band when firing on all cylinders, and Jason & the Werehold roster had a lot of talent and ambition to go around! Despite not being known for live concerts, they flew the extreme metal flag well for the E.U.P., and hopefully we hear more from Jason, David, Joe, and Casey when the time is right!

Also, we have one more band to move to our inactive band links, namely Sault Ontario rap metal/party rock collective The Apocalypse Afterparty. While the band did publically acknowledge that "hibernation is ending" back in October, their Facebook page has quietly been taken down since, which (Destroilet aside) is historically a bad sign. In any event, the band had only posted once on Facebook in the past 15 months, and in lieu of the apparent deletion, they are now linked here via their Wix website. Active since 2014, this eclectic masked group evolved from a duo to a full live and studio band, though concerts were selective, often at private bookings or via short notice "pop-up" gigs. The Apocalypse Afterparty may best be known from their quartet appearance at the 2015 VM Radio Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub (surprisingly making the finals), while they released their EP "Bufflesnort" back in April 2017.

Whether or not you previously knew of X, Z, x, z, and company's real identities, The A.A. made their mark in the mid-2010s! With a unique stage presence, creative hybrid sound, gender-equal lineup, and imaginative back story, it's a shame that The Apocalypse Afterparty didn't play live more often, but hopefully we see Paul, Amanda, Sara, Sven, Rito, and former band members back out there down the line, masked or otherwise!

Finally, CBC Music closed it's artist page service on November 20th, due to the decrease in traffic and attention to band pages there compared to other social media services (you can read more on the decision at this link.)  This didn't receive the advance notice that PureVolume's closure had, so I unfortunately was unable to back up anything there from local artists, but much like PureVolume, I did recognize how little CBC Music (formerly CBC Radio 2) was used by local musicians in recent years. It was a useful and informative service in it's day, and I'll miss having it around! As of this month, we had only linked four local bands (all defunct) to CBC Music pages, so changes to our links are thankfully minimal, especially as only one didn't have an online band page elsewhere. With all of that said, I changed our links for defunct punk bands The 12 Gauge Ready and Glunk! to their MySpace pages, while replacing Burn The Past (previously known as Downshift) with their Bandcamp page.

The only removal was 2007-2012 local/Oil Springs metal band Sue Inside, who don't have a known online page outside of CBC. It's unfortunate to lose one of the oldest local death metal bands from our links, but hopefully Shane, Adam, and Jeff are still musically active out of town! Hopefully this all clears up the recent link changes, and in lieu of the CBC Music page deletions, maybe they'll bring their FM station here sooner or later? That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next. Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile: Sue Inside

Here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, but with a late change of band! Last month, we had randomly chosen Sykotyk Rampage for our next band in this spotlight series on inactive local metal, hard rock, and punk bands, as they were seemingly still on hiatus. As it turns out, they have in fact released their first "album" in over a year, and are back in our active band links (more on that this week), so I have opted to change this month's featured defunct/inactive band. Like with similar past situations, I picked the closest alphabetical band that we hadn't previously profiled in this series, who should be familiar from our early years, so here's what you should know!
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Sue Inside

Genre: Death Metal/Hard Rock/Folk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Oil Springs, Ontario

Members:

Shane Lipsit-Fraser (Paricide), vocals/guitar
Adam Veen (Dog Patch, Paricide, The Mudd Buttons), bass/guitar/vocals
Jeff Vogel, drums

Audio/Video: Though Sue Inside never released a formal studio album in either of their hometowns, a fair amount of original material survives from their run, including 8 original song demos on their CBC Music page. Shane and Adam's respective YouTube channels (linked here & here) feature a number of Oil Springs-era videos from the early 2010s, though Shane's are primarily of an informal acoustic variety sans Jeff, and some of Adam's are cover performances, while I can't find any live videos of Sue Inside from their late 2000s local tenure. Here's the 2012 music video for their song "Caligula (Extra Cheese)" from the band's YouTube channel!



Info/Analysis: Formed by then-Sault College students Shane Fraser and Jeff Vogel in early 2007, non-alumni will best know Sue Inside locally from their sets as an extreme metal duo at the Skid Row and YMCA Battles of the Bands in April 2008 & March 2009, though they didn't place in either event. The band moved along with Shane and Jeff to Southern Ontario in mid-2009, where they enlisted Shane's former Paricide bandmate Adam Veen to round out their lineup. Sporadic activity would follow over the next three years, largely via solo and jam session videos, though the guys did play the occasional Sarnia-area concert during this time. The group quietly dissolved following the "Caligula" video release in 2012, though Adam remains musically active in Oil Springs. As a local band, Sue Inside honestly came onto the local scene about 6 years too soon, as they'd have fit right in with the mid-2010s rise of two man metal projects in this city with their brutal minimalist sound!

While raw and unpolished in the Soo, Shane and Jeff harboured good chemistry in their battle sets. Sue Inside's Oil Springs tenure saw a nice expansion of their horizons to softer acoustic material like "Hogtail Juice" and "Saved on T.V.s", while also retaining a fuller metal edge on select tracks, with Adam a key factor at this time. The guys are now spread out across the province, but hopefully Sue Inside resurfaces in some form down the road, they were definitely ahead of their time locally!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month in this series, we'll be looking at two bands for the second time this year, as the first randomly chosen band doesn't have enough material to warrant a solo profile, so a Sault Michigan act in a similar state was chosen to round things out and close this 10 band 2-1-3-1-2-1 cycle. As such, our next profiled bands will be ex-Fitswitch bassist Andrew MacDonald's LikeKissingBricks solo project and early 2000s metal project Hammerspace, so look for these on or around August 10th, and stay tuned for news and concert previews on The Sault Metal Scene soon! Thanks everyone!

New Video Performances, Plus More Assorted Stories!!

After a quiet weekend for updates to the site, we are back on this Monday morning with a new news post, so what will you find today? Some assorted shorter stories from the past few days, and a handful of new videos, including a solo project's new song, new jam session clips, and leading off, here's the newest video from local/Windsor/Thompson, Manitoba solo musician Mike Haggith's Facebook page! Another solo performance of a new original song, this one is called "The Nature of the Times", and it's an alt-rock number with Mike singing at a soft, higher register than we tend to see from him. Leisurely paced but well performed, this should be welcomed for fans of Mike's more reserved solo music of the past, so give it a look below, and hopefully we see much more from Mike's solo project in the near future!



Next up, here's another new song from Sault Michigan metal solo project The 1,000,000,000's Who Died, courtesy of label Werehold Records' YouTube channel! Uploaded on Friday, the song is entitled "Horrible Laughter", and features project leader Jason Mills playing on his 9 string guitar. It's not a terribly long song, but it's a brutal and technical instrumental that serves as a good early showcase, and the rhythm section pounds along well in compliment! Give the newest 1,000,000,000's Who Died song a listen below, and hear more from them above!



Also today, here's a couple of new jam session covers from Sault Ontario hard rock quintet Halfway Loaded (the full lineup, no less!) Uploaded this weekend in their first videos since the fall, these covers are of The Stone Temple Pilots "Plush" and, as embedded below, Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome". Though Dylan is basically obscured from view in each video, these are solid clips that showcase Halfway Loaded's solid talent base, and Justin Grayson's vocals fit each's sound very well! The audio's a little muffled, but not bad at all, and it'll be interesting to finally see Halfway Loaded on a public concert stage! Give these videos a look above & below!



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

• In our inactive band links, defunct local power pop/hard rock trio Caroline Divine are now listed under their Twitter page due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page (I wish bands wouldn't do that.) Active primarily in 2015, Caroline Divine fell inactive in 2016 for purposes other than backing up Jesse Merineau in his full band concerts, with 2/3rds of the band still playing with him, so hopefully the guys continue to see success there! For what it's worth, their Twitter page links to their blank Bandcamp page, implying that they would have posted their unfinished debut EP there.
• I have restored inactive local music promotion/photography company For The Music Inside back to our "Other Local Metal Links", as despite their Facebook page's deletion, they still have an active Twitter page with local concert coverage from 2014, plus later activity in Southern Ontario through 2016. Good to see F.T.M.I. live on, somewhat, so check them out above!
• We have removed defunct local hard rock quartet Punch from our inactive band links due to the deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page, though I have no idea if it was deleted for the same reasons as the Facebook page of successor band Eclipse, who later took on Punch originals. A union of Haggith & Suicide Kings bandmates from late 2013 to early 2014, Punch were a promising band with a stacked lineup, and while I hate seeing another Facebook band page deleted, they admittedly weren't around for all that long. Don't miss Daniel and Steven with Jack Spades & Soundcheck respectively!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), A New Video, And Much More!!

After a quiet weekend out of town, we have a new news post for your Sunday evening, so what's within this one? Lots of assorted short stories from the last week or so, but we also have a new video featuring a guitar review, and leading off, SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next few days!

Prolific local acoustic hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Mark's Breakfast Plus for three more matinee concert sets TOMORROW, TUESDAY, and WEDNESDAY! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced via their official Facebook event page earlier today. Tym will hit there for the first time in about a month, keeping with his usual trend of playing Mark's for early week matinees that don't conflict with his similarly timed Gliss shows from Thursdays-Saturdays. As a result, we are approaching the mid-point of a nine show run in just ten nights, and if you're up for some unplugged hard rock favourites in the west end, be at Mark's TOMORROW, TUESDAY, or WEDNESDAY! As usual for Tym's matinee gigs at either restaurant, expect 6:00 PM start times over the next three evenings, and there are no cover charges or age limits, but mind the locale. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!



Next up, here's a new video from prolific local rock guitarist and Audiofumes podcast host Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel on December 2nd, featuring his review of a unique guitar! The instrument in question is the Seagull Merlin 4, a dulcimer-inspired acoustic guitarwith only four strings. Very folksy, bluegrass-reminscent sound, but it's an intriguing guitar that might be worth a look for guitarists and fans of Mike's music alike, and you can do so below!



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

• I have deleted local music promotion/photography company For The Music Inside from our "Other Local Metal Links" due to it's Facebook (and only surviving online) page being taken down at some point in the past 6 months.  Though most of their latter content was from Southern Ontario events, I liked what Joseph and Sean were doing to promote local shows and get great photos therein, and hopefully F.T.M.I. is revived down the road!
• In his first Facebook page posting in over a month, local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary shared a new acoustic cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" from his Soundcloud page this past Tuesday! This version is a slower re-arrangement that has some intriguing compromises for it's style, with Mike also confirming that unspecified health issues were to blame for his November break, but new originals and his debut EP are still forthcoming!
• In another deletion from our "Other Local Metal Links", we have also removed inactive local label/recording studio Paperclip Productions due to it's Facebook (and only online) page's deletion in recent months as well. Best known as the independent label and studio for the band Haggith and their side projects in the early-mid 2010s, it is unfortunate to see their last online page taken down, but you can hear much of their output via band pages!
• In one final deletion from that same section, we have also removed what we labelled as "Sault Ste. Marie Concert Archive", which was a results listing of local concerts via Canadian news/entertainment site Canoe prior to their major design overhaul earlier this year, with the concert listing search no longer functioning to my knowledge. It was a great resource, especially when sourcing when certain notable touring bands played here in the pre-Facebook era, and hopefully Canoe restores it in some form!
• Just a belated acknowledgement from our coverage of Sault Michigan-area label Werehold Records' final Friday the 13th music event in October, as cross-Michigan metal project Shatterhand (featuring Werehold founder Jason Mills) have resurfaced via their own YouTube channel! Only one song is there so far ("Faulty", complete with vocals), but whether channel exclusivity, lack of vocals, or another factor are to blame for their removal from Werehold's channel is up for debate. Shatterhand aren't a true local band, but I wanted to acknowledge the missing songs here!
• The planned third installment of J.D. Pearce's seasonal acoustic punk revue X-Mess on December 23rd was cancelled late last month. While the show hadn't publically had a venue confirmed for it, he noted on the Facebook event page that it was primarily cancelled due to "a charity gig" taking place "super close" to it. J.D is likely referring to the second Guy Thiffault tribute concert on December 27th, which he and scheduled performer Lucas Schmiedendorf are both playing with Jack Spades and The HTs respectively. Disappointing on one hand, but the memorial show will be a blast once again, so see above for details on it!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next, likely tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: MrFortierg & SueInside1's Channels

It's now time for our monthly YouTube Channel Profile Series, as we're once again looking at randomly selected YouTube channels featuring at least a 50% ratio of local metal, hard rock, or punk-relevant videos among it's present content, in order to profile them for readers who might want to check them out! This month, we had planned to look at 3 channels due to each only having one distinct video type, but on further observation, the first that we chose had two distinct video types, so we'll only look at 2 channels today, with the planned 3rd channel (kennybekendam featuring 2 Treble Charger videos) will now lead off next month's profile. More on that in a bit, but now, here's what you should know!

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MrFortierg's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/mrfortierg)

Owner: Guy Fortier, owner of The Lavigne Tavern in Lavigne, Ontario

Channel Timeline: Launched on November 17th, 2009; Videos uploaded from March-August 2010

Channel Summary: Guy's channel is devoted to live concert videos from concerts at The Lavigne Tavern (outside of Sturgeon Falls) in 2010, with five of his nine videos coming from a concert there by local/Toronto Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide on April 24th. The other four videos are of other artists that played there in mid-2010, though none are local acts.

Why You Should Watch: You should give Guy's videos a look for some entertaining videos of The Rising Tide from some of their earlier concerts from before the release of "Whiskey Will Be Our Sun", and while the quality on these videos is mixed (with muddy visuals and inconsistent audio), they capture Dustin & company's entertaining Celtic punk well! Also, give Guy's other videos a look to see other acts playing there that have talent in their own right! Note however that this channel hasn't been visibly updated in over 4 years, in case that changes your mind on subscribing.

Our Recommended Videos to Check Out:

rising tide 011.avi: Guy's videos of Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's Lavigne concert in April 2010 include four of the band (then featuring Frank McCormick on drums) playing songs together, including their songs "Rising Tide" & "Molly Malloy" (as embedded below), as well as covers of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" (with Sheldon Jaaskelainen on lead vocals & banjo) and The Pogues' "Streams of Whiskey". Though the quality is mixed, you can make out strong performances of these originals and covers from Dustin and crew, and it's nice to see fans dancing up front!



risingtide 016.avi: The most viewed video of Sheldon playing an energetic fiddle solo, complete with a jump up to the bar counter during it! Nice rousing performance that definitely seemed to please fans in attendance, and if you know Sheldon, you'll know that he's fiddling at his best!


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SueInside1's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/sueinside1)

Owner: A member of defunct local/Oil Springs metal band Sue Inside, identity unclear, though the channel is credited to the band as a whole.

Channel Timeline: Launched on April 5th, 2012; Only video uploaded three days later

Channel Summary: Likely the intended official YouTube channel for Sue Inside (and possibly in place of frontman Shane Lipsit-Fraser's own channel), the only upload here is of the music video for "Caligula (Extra Cheese)", which marked the band's last major public activity before they fell inactive. Featuring their expanded Oil Springs-era lineup (with Shane and drummer Jeff Vogel joined by bassist/clean vocalist Adam Veen), the video is well shot and edited in black & white, and it captures one of Sue Inside's best studio originals with a catchy riff and great vocals from both Shane and Adam. It's a shame that Sue Inside aren't active at present to keep up this strong work!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! As previously mentioned, we'll now lead off next month's installment of this profile with kennybekendam's channel (featuring 2 Treble Charger concert videos), but to round things out for a full profile, we'll look at Jon Livingstone's channel (featuring three drum performances by ex-Pillory drummer Bret Shuttleworth) and Jurgenss88 (featuring two Woods of Ypres songs), so watch for all of them on or around April 22nd! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Danger Cats), Apocalypse Afterparty Updates, And Much More!!

As we clear out more recent news on the site, we have another news post for you guys today, including some assorted recent news items, a video find, the latest from a creative new band, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for one week from today, so here's what you need to know, and check out more recent news and notes in the post below this one!

Local all female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats will return to The Rockstar Bar one week from today when they open for Ottawa rock trio The Red Rails! In case you're not familiar, The Red Rails are the current band featuring drummer and Sault native Steve Brogno (formerly of bands like Driving Dave Home & Turner Up), and these power rockers were last seen locally in September at the same venue. Very modern sound with some bluesy touches, so keep The Red Rails in mind for next weekend, and help welcome Steve back to the Soo! The Danger Cats are a solid choice as openers, and are riding off the success of their Late & Loud farewell gig appearance, so they should be in top form for an entertaining opening set of originals and covers! There will be a higher cover charge of $7 next week's local stop on their "A Living Fiction Tour", you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM-ish start time is likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Should be a good concert, and it's nice to see Steve having such success since moving, so remember this show for next week!

Next up, here's the latest from the new local punk/rap duo The Apocalypse Afterparty! While we wait for their public concert debut, X & Z are looking for around 6 local women who can wear costumes and bring and fire off water guns, marshmallows, flyers, confetti, bubbles, and pillows at their gigs (and at Steve Mozarowski's upcoming Soo Band Roulette on August 30th), and they would be called "The Smoking Heroines". This may seem like an off the wall idea, but remember how the guys looked and dressed at Das Bunkerfest (they are definitely not business as usual.) If fleshed out, this could be very fun, so any female readers who want to join the insanity should message above! Two new Facebook videos are now online also, including this 19 second clip of a member jokingly talking about freestyling in a British accent (complete with mask & ski goggles) and the video embedded below, of "songwriter" Paul Stanghetta and recent AA video filmer Amanda Brown rehearsing a rough version of a new original song, so how does it sound?

Played only on drums and piano with rapped vocals, it has a fun lively sound, though obviously not complete from what we'd see live, but fans of The Fury will enjoy it either way! I'm curious to see where things lead with The Apocalypse Afterparty, who have already shown a ton of originality, so keep posted for updates, and here's their newest rehearsal clip!



Also today, I wanted to get up to speed on local classic hard rock cover band Havadder now that they're in our full coverage on the site, so I hope to share some more of Havadder's concert videos on the site when we come across older examples of them! This one comes from their Facebook page, specifically a March 2012 gig at The Nicolet Tavern (now The Rednecks Saloon), where they covered Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike", as featuring their then-lineup of singer/guitarist Jason Roy, guitarists Jason Nisbet & Robert Brown, bassist Travis Sharpe, and drummer Scott McLurg. Strong lineup, and almost identical to their then-sister band Turner Up (for a comparison, it was reminiscent of Gates of Winter & Woods of Ypres' 2008 lineups, which were also near-identical.) As for the video, it's dark and pixellated, but the audio is good, with the guys handling this song well, Travis' backing vocals adding a lot to the proceedings, and they managed the triple-guitar attack nicely on this ballad too! Give this 2012 Havadder video a look below!



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

• In a comment reply on the band's Facebook group in June, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison clarified his local metal cover trio's status, saying that he's "not sure what's happening with the band", as there's "not a lot of places for us to play, but you never know what the future holds." Last seen at the old Rosie on New Year's Eve, Caveman Morrison haven't played a regular bar gig outside of there or The Water Tower Pub since 2012, though Tym has been playing solo gigs at The Harp each weekend since December. At least the door's not closed on the band, but we'll keep you posted if we hear more!
• For The Music Inside's photos of Late & Loud's headlining (and possibly last ever) set at The Rockstar Bar on August 1st are finally online, and you can check them out at this link! No major surprises, but things look lively and with a purpose, and they're all well shot like with the openers, so check them out, and best of luck to Brendan & Marisa in Great Britain!
• A young local drummer named Trey Piraino is looking to jam with similar musicians, specifically identifying himself as a "prog-metal" drummer that has practiced with bands like Dream Theater and The Liquid Tension Experiment since he was a kid. High quality stuff to take after, which is promising! If you're interested in jamming with Trey, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on Friday!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new punk band feature soon, more news, and our new poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!