LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck), New Concert Videos, And More!!

Before we begin today's news post. I wanted to apologize for missing a pair of recent EUP concerts for coverage on the SMS. Firstly, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Tarnished reportedly played a second outdoor concert at American Legion Park in St. Ignace earlier today at 1:00 PM, separate (but still organized by the folks behind) the town's summer concert series, which they played at yesterday. The band only announced the added matinee on their Facebook page last night, too late for me to rush it into a post. I'm assuming that today's rainy forecast didn't impair the show, as I didn't hear about a late cancellation, but regardless, I do apologize for missing it even with the late notice! The other show, I really should have caught wind of, as Sault Ste. Marie promoters Serious Business brought another eclectic multi-act show to the basement of Pizza Hut on the Business Spur on July 18th.

The concert saw Detroit experimental band The Hum and Muskegon post-punk duo The Mollusks make their way north, alongside local acoustic folk openers Shae Tull (by way of Sault Ontario) and Kevin Blakeney. Not the most hard rock/punk-centric bill, but it did have The Mollusks, so I should have caught wind of this concert prior, and I apologize for that. Hopefully that Serious Business show and Tarnished's bonus matinee were both hits for artists and venues alike, and we'll have more from both soon!

Now, today's post is start of a big clean-out of accumulated news, videos, and announcements from last month that got delayed by busy weekend concert previews and our concert reviews from last month, and we'll start today with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month, as Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet (quintet?) Soundcheck will return to The Water Tower Pub for one night only on Friday, August 28th! A relatively rare stop at this Great Northern Road nightclub, this show was first announced in the venue's August concert calendar on their Facebook page on Wednesday. Soundcheck proper may not corroborate the booking on social media at all, as their haven't posted on their own Facebook page for any reason since May. You'd think they'd want to hype up their Drag Race Nationals gig in Chapleau with Separate Wayz in mid-August, at least, but we shall see how things go for updates this month!

As always for The Water Tower Pub, this is a one-nighter, and the Saturday the 29th band there will be southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225, who already announced that show on their own. Terry, Travis, Jim, and Johnny (and the new synth player?) will be on that night at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with a trip west to The Up & Down Lounge for videos from the first solo musician to play there during their Thursday summer concert series, courtesy of their Facebook page! As you may know, Tym Morrison played there this week, but for the first two Thursdays, the honours went to Dodge This/ex-Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer, who was filmed playing covers at both gigs. On July 16th, the patio party had to be moved indoors due to that day's severely poor air quality, but musicians at The Up & Down Lounge were always playing inside anyway, and you get a look more at the fans than Jason in this 12 seconds-long clip of him playing keyboard that evening. A 31 seconds-long video of Jay covering Shinedown's "Symptom Of Being Human" (also on keyboard) was shared too, with a hard-coded caption above him plugging their Thursday musician search.

The other videos are from this batch post featuring media from the July 23rd concert. Jason is faintly heard on vocals & guitar in three sub-12 seconds videos there promoting the on-site Pizza Wagon by the patio, but I can't make out the song(s?) in any of them. Two slightly longer videos show him on camera, including a keyboard cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist", and as embedded below, a guitar cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)". The short lengths aren't ideal, let alone the on-screen captions, but it is good seeing Jason out there during Dodge This' ongoing break, and while most of the covers aren't songs I personally love, he performs them well, so check these out above & below!

We'll come full circle today by heading south to St. Ignace, Michigan, where Sault Ste. Marie hard rock cover quartet The Nameless headlined at The Driftwood Sports Bar on June 26th during the St. Ignace Car Show weekend! The venue shared two videos of their set to their Facebook page that night, and despite being shot and uploaded during the show, neither was a live-stream. Thank goodness, as we can still watch them now! One video is just 7 seconds long, and focuses on the turnout in the bar rather than The Nameless' cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army". Embedded below though is the longer and more band-centric of the two videos (if still only 20 seconds long), which sees the guys covering 3 Doors Down's "Kryptonite". Of note, bassist Mike East was not seen on camera for this cover, and I have no idea if he missed the Driftwood show entirely or just sat out this song.

The short lengths, vertical framing, and complete lack of band focus on the White Stripes cover don't make these ideal looks at this talented group (let alone Mike E.'s apparent absence), but what we hear is soundly performed, and it definitely looks like they had a solid crowd on a packed weekend in Mackinac County! Give these a watch for yourselves above & below!

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

R.I.P. Jason Roy (1972-2026)

The Sault Metal Scene would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of veteran local rock singer/guitarist Jason "Jugga" Roy, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 53, as per numerous personal Facebook postings. A native of Geraldton, Ontario, Jason is best known from SMS coverage as the frontman and only constant member of local classic/hard rock cover band Havadder, who were active off and on from 2009-2016. You may recognize Havadder as regulars at venues like The Rockstar Bar, Foggy Notions, and The Nicolet Tavern, while they also played at Toystock in 2015 and various other venues as a headliner or featured attraction, and opened for Lou Gramm and Chilliwack at 2012's Rock N' Roar Festival in Spanish. From 2011-2012, Havadder pulled a "Gates of Ypres" when they absorbed most members of contemporary classic/hard rock cover band Turner Up, with Jason playing rhythm guitar in that band then as well.

Jason was not active in new bands after 2016, and while I'm not at liberty to go into detail about the personal struggles that he endured in the past decade, I did notice that postings on his personal Facebook page drastically decreased in that time (unfortunately, he also took down Havadder's Facebook page after their final breakup). I knew Jason a bit from friendly interactions at concerts, and he was a good guy with a strong voice and real guitar skill, and he had a keen eye for talent, based on the notable artists that filled out Havadder's ranks across their seven year run. We'll let you know when the obituary and details on services are publicized, but keep the Roy family in your thoughts at this time. R.I.P. Jason!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Our Lady Peace), The Dany Laj/Handsome Sandwich Concert Preview, And More!!

For today's news post, I wanted to tackle the huge LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that has been the talk of local rock fans over the past few days, along with the last straggler from this weekend's hard rock concert preview slate, and a new cover video from earlier this month, so here's what you should know on this Saturday morning!

Juno Award winning Toronto alternative hard rock quartet Our Lady Peace will make their long awaited return to Sault Ste. Marie on March 2nd when they headline at GFL Memorial Gardens during their 30th anniversary Canadian tour! A staple of domestic rock radio thanks to hit songs like "Starseed", "Superman's Dead", and "Innocent", this will be O.L.P.'s first local concert since they headlined River Rave '98 in Richards Landing during the Homecoming 1998 festival, and in terms of Sault Ste. Marie proper, they have not played in city limits since headlining at The Princess Theatre in 1996. How they've went almost 27 years since playing up here is beyond me, but it will be great to see Our Lady Peace back next year, and hopefully there's a huge turnout of rock fans in March! Lead singer Raine Maida & bassist Duncan Coutts remain from their 1990s shows here, now joined by guitarist Steve Mazur and drummer Jason Pierce.

Local fans may recognize Jason as the live/session drummer for Treble Charger from their initial 2012 reunion until 2015, wherein he played with them locally at their 2013 Searchmont fundraiser at The Water Tower Pub and their 2015 Bon Soo concert at The Machine Shop. Jason himself isn't from here, but it is neat to see him come back to town for another big concert! Joining Our Lady Peace on tour next year are Georgia alternative rock mainstays Collective Soul, who will be familiar to many 1990s-early 2000s rock fans from hit songs like "Shine", "December", and "Precious Declaration". I believe this will be their first show here, and given how often they're still heard on Rock 101, Collective Soul should pull many fans alone with their familiar alt-rock classics! A third touring band is to be announced for the western Canada portion of the tour, which ends in the Soo, so don't go looking for Wintersleep or Ash Molloy.

Tickets for this all ages concert go on sale on Thursday at this link and at the Gardens' in-person box office, and they will start at $75 apiece, with packages also available with early entry, included merchandise, and autographs/meet & greets. It's been a very long time for Our Lady Peace fans to wonder why they don't ever play closer to here than Sudbury, so I hope this concert is a smash hit in five months' time! I've never been the biggest fan myself, but I respect O.L.P. and Raine's activism, and I want this concert to do well so that more GFL Memorial Gardens can bring in more big rock shows in the future! Visit the above links for much more on Our Lady Peace & Collective Soul's local date next year!

Next up, let's finally cap off this weekend's concert previews with TONIGHT's concert from alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, who will make their debut at the Fraternal Order of Eagles club at 246 Wellington Street West when they open for Montreal power pop veterans Dany Laj & The Looks! Readers may recall seeing Dany Laj and crew here five times in the 2010s, including a Rockstar Bar show in 2017 that the original cover trio version of Handsome Sandwich opened, and while not a hard rock act, it will be good to see them back for the first time in five years! Also, David Briggs from SooToday's North Bay-based sister site BayToday actually interviewed Dany (who himself lived in North Bay and Sudbury in the past) for this article cross-posted on SooToday earlier this week. Tonight's concert will be Handsome Sandwich's first since last month's Northern Vibe Festival and first in the Soo since Poutine Feast.

A presentation of Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire), tonight's concert has a 7:00 PM start time, no age limit, and tickets running for $15 in advance at this link or $20 at the door. Hopefully tonight's concert is a solid draw, especially given the competition from other shows tonight, let alone the relatively new venue (which P.I.T.S. will run again when Skoff headlines there next month), but if you saw and liked The Looks' upbeat garage rock in the 2010s, or want to order another sandwich, head to The Eagles Club tonight! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Handsome Sandwich live earlier this year!

Finally, here's the first new live concert video uploaded to The Dive Gastro Pub's new Facebook page (I still don't know why they deleted the old one and started over), and it features Dodge This/ex-Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer covering Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" during his solo Patio Play concert there this past Saturday! He's joined by an uncredited guest singer, who is definitely not his Dodge This bandmate Jamie July. Truth be told, I had trouble identifying the song at first because the 30 seconds-long clip focuses on the bridge, but it's well done for hair metal fans, so check it out below, and we'll have more on Dodge This on the SMS soon!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's CD review and more on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Curtis McKenzie), New Videos, And Much More!!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far! Today's post features new videos, updates from a prominent local hard rock musician, some assorted recent notes, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this summer, so here's what you should know!

Former Haggith/Project 421 frontman Curtis McKenzie will bring his revived solo act back to The Dive Gastro Pub for a third time on Thursday, August 8th! Unlike his two shows there earlier this month, Curt's show in August will be indoors as part of the former Low & Slow's "Think It Over Thursday" series of acoustic musicians inside the 648 Queen Street East nightclub. Hopefully Curtis' brand of hard rock and grunge covers go over just as well the third time out, so keep this show in mind, especially if you can swing coming out on a work night! Note that Curt has shared his setlist from his two Saturday patio gigs at The Dive onto his Facebook page, where he has played three sets a night of 11 or 14 songs apiece. No originals from his past bands, but fans of them won't be alienated by what he's covering! This is a 6:00 PM event with a 19+ age limit and no cover. See above for more details!

Next up, let's stay at The Dive for one of the first videos on their Facebook page from one of their acoustic concerts, specifically from their "Patio Play" outdoor show on Saturday, June 15th headlined by former Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer! Of course, Jason has resumed playing solo shows this year after a four year hiatus, last seen unplugged at The Rockstar Bar in 2020. The Dive's live-streamed video is of him covering Shinedown's "Symptom Of Being Human", a song that I'm honestly not a fan of, but the 29 second clip is well shot with good quality, and it's nice to see video of him performing again! Is this indicative of a hard rock-leaning set in this day and age? Not yet sure, but check it out below!

Also today, let's look at Curtis McKenzie's old bandmate Mike Haggith, so what has he been up to from Barrie as of late? Along with sharing this picture of the Barrie-based musicians' jam space Just Some Noise (no word on if he's working on full band shows down south or not), Mike confirmed that his local live backing band for summer festivals (Northern Vibe among them) in this photo, and while the instrumentalists were already confirmed via jam videos earlier in the year, Mike will 100% welcome back ex-Re:Born singer and 2023 Soo's Got Talent finalist Elly McWatters as a backing vocalist too! Note that in his recent full band shows here, Elly has only sung on select tracks later in the set. Barring an interim announcement, you'll next see Mike and crew at Rotaryfest next month, and hopefully his knee cooperates this time! We do have a new video to share, but it's not what you may be thinking!

On June 13th, Mike (a known baseball fan) was asked to sing "O Canada" before an Intercounty Baseball League game between his adopted hometown Barrie Baycats and the Brantford Red Sox, and Baycats games are live-streamed for free on their YouTube channel! Now, that game was postponed early on due to rain, but Mike's anthem performance made it into the stream beforehand (he walks out at 4:48, and is introduced at 5:30). Mike sings well here, and his deep voice does translate nicely to the anthem, so it's an interesting watch, even if they only got to play ball for a few minutes! 100 copies of his CDs were also to be given out to fans in the stadium. Check out Mike singing "O Canada" 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 promotional images for Saturday's It's The Pits festival in Leeburn on the Facebook event page, the one for local crossover thrash/punk trio Hails features individual photos of four members, the extra one being guitarist Mikhal Muto's brother Carmen, who guested with Ha!ls at The Distraction last month and with Mikhal & Keeghan's other band Vanity First in April. That image aside, Hails have not confirmed Carmen's status with the band on their own social media accounts, but if he's only involved part time like with Vanity First, they could always list him on their Facebook bio with "Rip It Sometimes"! We'll let you know if we get clarification!
• SooToday contributor Chris Belsito interviewed Saultite metal guitarist Matt Hanchuck for this article late last month! There, Matt talked about his local upbringing before moving to Thunder Bay in the early 2000s, leading to discussion of his day jobs since and his more recent work as the guitarist in the higher profile metal bands Wreck-Defy and Gutter Creek (oddly, his show with Gutter Creek at Soo Blaster in September 2022 was not mentioned). Good article that fills in what Matt has been up to in the past decade musically, and it's be great to see him play another show here!
• Minnesota hair metal band Vixen (who are among the openers for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on July 20th) have announced the addition of Rosa Laricchiuta as their new lead singer, replacing Lorraine Lewis (click here for details). A native of Montreal, Rosa finished in third place on Quebec's version of The Voice (La Voix) in 2015, and later had stints as a vocalist with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and The Headpins, so she definitely has the chops! Lineup changes for touring bands with announced dates here are not common, but hopefully Rosa will add to the experience for Vixen fans in St. Ignace, Michigan next month!

 

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

David Gold's Final Interview, The Launch Of SMC Radio, And More Recent News!!

Another month is upon us, so let's kick off the merry, merry month of May with a new news post to catch up on more of the recent backlog! This includes a few assorted recent updates, a surprise new internet radio station from an originating source you may not expect, and leading off, a poignant interview with a prominent local musician that I've never seen before. Here's what you should know!

If you subscribed to the former British metal magazine Terrorizer, you may have read what was purported as the final interview with Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold in issue #219 from February 2012. Terrorizer wasn't as available locally as magazines like Revolver or Decibel before publication ceased in 2019, so this easily may have bypassed even diehard fans, but it was posted onto the Woods of Ypres FanClub Facebook group by member Parker Caldwell last week, so now we can read it without hunting down this issue on eBay! Click here to read the whole thing, I recommend doing so in full screen mode or with a zoom. The interview was conducted by Terrorizer journalist Adrien Begrand just one week before David's death on December 21st, 2011, which makes David's remarks even sadder, as he reflected on how he hoped for more from the band personally & commercially.

David does reflect on recording "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", their shift to doom metal, and how recording each of their albums affected him emotionally, but he is candid about his mindset after a decade of working in and promoting Woods of Ypres without finding a true change in lifestyle or financial security. I don't wanna quote anything directly because this seriously deserves to be read verbatim. It is a sad read knowing what happened a week afterwards, but David still held out hope that this album would change things for Woods of Ypres, and it did, though who could have guessed under what circumstances. Read the whole article above, and thanks to Parker for uploading this in full!

Next up, here's a neat discovery that some of you may be long familiar with: St. Mary's College has launched an internet radio station! The Catholic high school at 868 Second Line East is now home to SMC Radio, which first aired in October of last year exclusively on Stationhead, which you can hear at this link or via the mobile application when the station is online (i.e., not weekends, at least not yet). Spearheaded by teacher Mario Rocchetta, SMC Radio's genre seems to be primarily top 40/contemporary hits, but they have aired themed programming blocks and listener requests, and on-air DJs (all students) appear to have some say in the rotation. Hard rock/metal-wise, the Friday afternoon show Lunch with Laur did air a Hair Nation episode in February, with a special all-Poison/Bret Michaels episode following in March, which is very relevant given recent coverage of the station (more on that in a bit!)

In the past week, SMC Radio has gotten spotlighted in this article by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly and via matching press releases on SooToday and SaultOnline, so what can we learn there? The Sault Star article features comments from student DJ Hailey Laberge (who plays a lot of classic rock and underground indie music on air), graphic designer Nicholas Legacy, and Mr. Rocchetta, who also noted that some popular broadcasts have seen fellow St. Mary's faculty sharing their own favourite songs on air, and the hope is for involvement with the station to count towards an academic credit. The press release pumps up a lot of the station's exposure and reach so far, while also noting the Instagram video linked below, where Bret Michaels himself highly praises the station & staff. Also, Mario Rocchetta is a big fan of Poison & Bret, even singing with Bret in Sault Michigan n 2016!

Full disclosure, this was written on a Sunday when the station was offline, but kudos to Mario and the Knights students for putting something like this together! Outside of Algoma University's defunct podcasting series, Sault Ontario school radio wasn't really a thing before now, and SMC Radio updates their social media accounts way more frequently than Laker Radio in Sault Michigan! I think it would help if they both got 24/7 autoplay rotation & added the station to other platforms like TuneIn, but they're on a good trajectory, and hopefully their on-air content keeps a strong and diverse focus! Give Bret's shout-out a watch below, and tune in to SMC Radio on Stationhead during the week to see what's on air!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SMC Radio (@smcknightsradio)

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

 

• Local concert promotion agency and pop-up venue host Dryer Fire are plotting a full post-pandemic return, as per this SooToday article by Chris Belsito on Friday! The Nicole Dyble-led company (which succeeded her old venue The Gore Street Cafe in 2018) did promote sparingly at The Klub last year, but she is hoping to regularly book events on a more normal schedule again this year. She has launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to get $5,000 to book five shows in mid-2022, and has gotten booking requests from touring acts. Hopefully things run smoothly, it'd be great to see Dryer Fire healthy and in full operation again!
• Bands are being sought for this year's Sault Pridefest's Loud & Proud Family Fun Day at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center, which will take place on Sunday, July 17th at 1:00 PM. Hard rock bands did play at this LGBTQ+ festival event pre-pandemic, including The Din in 2017 and Re:Born in 2019, so the door's open for SMS friendly acts to return. Message organizer Amanda Zuke at this link or via the Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Tuesday for more information!
• While the band still has not detailed their full lineup or sound on social media, personal Facebook posts confirm that new Sault Michigan rock band The Nameless (who opened for Buddy Repperton & The Camaros at Three One Three on Ashmun last month) are a quartet featuring singer/guitarist Joshua LaCoursiere and Tantrym Tyme alum Michael McLeod on bass. The identities of the other two members are not out yet, nor is any real indication of their sub-genre or set beyond who they opened for, but we'll let you know when more is confirmed, and check out some pre-show photos on their Facebook page!
  

 

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

New Videos From Two Sault Michigan-Area Bands, Plus Some Assorted Shorter Stories!!

Tomorrow's post will likely lean heavily on a rare weekend concert preview and attached video, so let's do something we haven't done in months: Two posts in one day! Keeping with our Defunct Local Band Profile this morning on a Sault Michigan band, most of today's post is devoted to bands in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, but there are some Sault Ontario updates to close things out with. Now, here's what you should know!

After an over 3 month hiatus, Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished have resurrected their at-home live-streamed concert series! The guys revealed on their Facebook page that they plan to do one hour-long show each Wednesday in September, and unlike their 15 prior live-streamed sets, these will all be electric with the full band, including the previously absent Nathan Webber on guitar and Gary Croad on drums. All of the upcoming installments will go live at 8:00 PM, but the first one aired yesterday at 7:00 PM, but what can you see here? The key word here is "see", at least for people who fought with the dreaded audio issues on Tarnished's 15 acoustic live-streams, as they are back in full force. Your results may vary, but on my computer and external speaker, the audio is extremely quiet, scratchy, and warps on louder and more distorted sounds, even with added electric instruments and 3 month wait to work out the kinks with the camera and setup.

If you're in the same boat, ripping the audio into Audacity and manipulating the track will be a big help, but in louder and heavier stretches, the songs are almost unrecognizable (and Gary's drumming sounds like his pads are made of velcro.) In any event, Tarnished's set starts with renditions of Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black", Aerosmith's "Same Old Song & Dance", and The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California", before playing their original "The Path", which ended their debut EP "Down To The Wire". Afterwards, they covered Sublime's "What I Got" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", followed by their EP opener/Banned carry-over "Cocaine Riot". Tarnished had a thrash kick next via renditions of Anthrax's "Madhouse" & Metallica's "Seek & Destroy", before finishing with two more originals, "Cabin Fever" and "Shortcut" (a promised cut from frontman Alex Traynor's solo EP "Crazy World" was not performed for unannounced reasons.)

Aside from having what appears to be Facebook as their visual backdrop, I like the setting of the performance, and the lighting is put to good effect! This doesn't have the overall quality of their songs from The Four, but it works well enough. However, if you had problems with the audio before, adding more performers and electric instruments has not helped at all. I want to experiment with playing Tarnished's live-streams on other devices to see if the sound comes through better, but for now, give their newest at-home video a watch below, and look for more on Wednesday!

Next up, here's the newest video from St. Ignace progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown's Facebook page! Their only update last month, this video is hosted and shot by bassist Danny Tucker, who lets us know that guitarist Ted Olson (a.k.a. "the bald dude in the closet") had just completed a playthrough video for YouTube, though if that has been posted online since, I couldn't find it. Danny did tease that they want to post more on YouTube, and they want to do some shows in some form, while their upcoming full length CD is just waiting to be mastered. The rest of the video gives us a snapshot into what was going on at their studio locale, including preparations for singer Brandon West's birthday cake, Ted dumpster diving(?!), and cameos from Jax the dog. We'll let you know when/if the H.L.T.C. YouTube channel surfaces, but this was an amusing video that helped keep us updated, so give it a watch 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 or event name:

• The rescheduled First Jason concert at The Canadian Nightclub in Sault Ontario on September 27th has finally been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as per promoter J.D. Pearce on the Facebook event page earlier today, and ticket refunds are available at point of purchase. Originally scheduled for April 26th as the Steel City Nostalgia Fair after-party, the show was quickly moved to the fall, but updates did not follow (good or bad) over the summer. Disappointing but not unexpected news, alas, though hopefully Ari & crew play here when things settle!
• Local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers will officially release the first of the three new singles they recorded last summer on Wednesday, September 23rd, as per their Facebook page! The song in question is entitled "Excess Express", though no word on when they will unveil "Open Ambition" or their new version of Stompin' Tom Connors' "Algoma Central 69". Surfers fans will want to circle the 23rd on their calendars, for sure!
• The musical lineup for the delayed virtual installment of Rotaryfest on Saturday, September 26th has been announced, as per this press release on SooToday. To be streamed on SooToday as a two hour event, the lineup is devoid of hard rock acts, but it features many familiar faces, including headliner Crystal Shawanda, Jay Case & Frank Deresti, Jackson Reed, Mustang Heart, Kelly MacGillivray, KT Antler & Kyle McKey, Bone Yard, and Tyson Hanes. Tune in then for all of the action, it's great to see the festival back in any form!

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

More New At-Home Performance Videos & Some Assorted Recent News Items!!

Another video heavy post today, but we do have some assorted news and notes to get to at the end, which does include a couple of concert cancellations. Let's start in video-land though with the first new videos from prolific local punk/metal guitarist Tiffany Stocco's YouTube channel in over a year! Not long after helping her Guitar Gangsters bandmate Buzz out with his recent live-stream, the Jack Spades/Stegadeth/et al. guitarist posted play-along covers of The Distillers' "The Young Crazed Peeling" (which will definitely please Coral Fang fans) and, as embedded below, Bad Religion's "American Jesus". The backing songs can drown out her playing a little, but she knows these songs well, and the videos are nice quality, so fans of her local band work and prior cover videos will definitely want to check these ones out above and below!



Next up, let's head to the U.S.A. for some new videos from former Bad Side guitarist and The Bear/Yes FM DJ Jason Mapes! We haven't heard much locally from Jason since 2010, when he was let go from his radio gigs in the wake of the Sovereign/Northern Star buyout, with Bad Side dissolving that summer. Jason has since moved to Nashville and has continued recording as a solo musician, releasing his star-studded debut album "The Devil Plays Guitar" in July. Bad Side fans will like that it features drummer Jonah Brockman on each track, while fellow Bad Side alumni Dan Furmanik, Rob Johnson, and Paxton Olney all feature as guest musicians. The songs resemble Bad Side's 1980s-influenced bluesy hard rock stylistically, obviously differed by having Jason on vocals, and while his solo project isn't locally based, don't bypass his strong recent output! In terms of videos, Jason does have two new performance clips to check out on his YouTube channel!

Credited to a series named "Songs From The Squeaky Floor" (I think I can tell why they're called that), these are new at-home covers of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" and, as embedded below, Bon Jovi's "Superman Tonight". The motion blur effect doesn't feel necessary, but these covers (on a double-necked guitar!) are effective and make good use of his higher but edgy vocal range, and it's great to see that Jason is staying busy with quality solo music in the past decade! Give his new covers a look below, and buy/stream "The Devil Plays Guitar" at the above links!



Let's head back to Ontario for a new cover of Fall Out Boy's "Thriller" by local/Elliot Lake alt-punk solo project Ashoka At The Show, as uploaded to the 184Films YouTube channel earlier today! I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but Darren matches it nicely to an unplugged form factor, and the recording quality is as great as ever, so give it a watch below!



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

• The fourth annual Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as per their Facebook page, and tickets are refundable at point of purchase. Had the festival take place, it would have expanded to a two night format over the July 10th weekend, and some of the scheduled touring bands were tagged in the post about the cancellation, though no word on if The Rising Tide or other punk/hard rock acts would have played too. Very disappointing, but look for the festival's expected return in July 2021!
• I have removed next week's Numbing-headlined concert at The New American Pub from our concert calendar due to the extension of Ontario's emergency order until May 19th, which means that non-essential businesses like nightclubs will be closed until at least that date. Click here for details on the emergency order. For full disclosure, this concert has not been publically called off by Numbing, The New A, or promoters Dryer Fire, but it's status was on thin ice at best given what's going on in the world.
• Reports of local Tool tribute band Parabol's demise are premature! While their Facebook page was indeed taken down over the winter, it was due to Facebook flagging the page for copyright violations, as per Facebook comment replies. In other words, their Tool covers were too close to the real thing! That said, Parabol still haven't played a public concert since headlining at Soo Blaster in October, and I don't think they have replaced that page yet, but in the coronavirus era, that may be of secondary concern. We'll let you know when they publically resurface!

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

A Big Concert Postponement, New Facebook Live-Streamed Concerts, And A New Original Song!!

Another new news post is here to check out on this Monday morning, and it includes a prolific local musician's newest track, a couple of new hour-long Facebook live-streamed concert sets, and leading off, long awaited clarification of the last April concert we had in our concert calendars. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

The last domino has finally fallen for this month's local hard rock/punk concert calendar, as the First Jason-headlined show at The Canadian Nightclub has been postponed from Sunday, April 26th to Sunday, September 27th. The announcement was made on Vintage Games 'N Junque's Facebook page last night, due to their owners' promotional involvement via Steel City Events, who were to have also put on the cancelled Steel City Nostalgia Fair at month's end, where First Jason frontman Ari Lehman would have been the guest of honour. You can probably guess why it was postponed, alas. It is not immediately clear if a rescheduled Nostalgia Fair will take place that weekend too, but organizers had previously hinted on Facebook that they were "working on a little something different for September". In any event, the big change aside from the new concert date is that there will now be a pre-concert meet & greet at 6:00 PM, so if you want to meet the first Jason (Voorhees) without a VIP package, there you go!

The Facebook event page has not yet been updated with the new date, but if anything changes regarding admission, the meet & greet, or the openers, we'll let you know. It's great to get some clarity as to this highly anticipated concert, and while there are still questions to answer, hopefully things are much calmer re: COVID-19 in 5 months time! Before we move on, check out this video from Vintage Games 'N Junque's Facebook page where Ari himself hypes up the new Soo date! Short but sweet promotion once again, so give it a look below, and fingers crossed everything works out!



Next up, here's a new live-streamed Facebook concert video from local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith! Entitled "#LockdownLive", he first teased it on Saturday with this short video plugging it (citing boredom from being locked down & off work for why he's doing one of his own), and the main event streamed on his Facebook page yesterday evening. Running for just over an hour, Mike's songs in order include "The Nature of the Times", "Communique", the new-to-Facebook "Back Away Slowly", The Din's "Missing", "MorningStar" (which may be his next formal single), "This Potato May Be Used As A Flotation Device", a cover of The Foo Fighters' "Times Like These", "The Best You Never Had", and "Out Of My League". The video also features some updates, including that Mike's planned CD release concert at LopLops on May 15th is "probably not going to happen at this point", and a rescheduled date would be sought, but the album proper will still be released on schedule next month.

For the record, I am leaving the release party in our concert calendar until it is officially called off by Mike or the provincial government, but things aren't looking great for it. It's clear Mike is relatively new to the live-stream arena, but it adds an authenticity to the proceedings, and his vocal and guitar ability is still as clear as day in these acoustic performances, including four songs from the new album! However, I too was hoping to see his cats. Stay tuned for more on the CD, it's release party, and perhaps future live-streams, but here's #LockdownLive to watch for yourself!



Also, here's another recent Facebook live-stream concert, this time from Rising Tide/Barn Board Trio guitarist Liam Seymour, who performed this live on his personal Facebook page yesterday afternoon, with his label Tidal Records publically sharing it on their Facebook page after the fact. Compared to many of the covers-heavy live-streams to pop up as of late, this one is full of covers you wouldn't expect, and even a few Barn Board Trio tunes, so what does Liam have to offer in this hour+ video? In performance order, he tackles Ace's "How Long", David Wilcox's "Downtown Came Uptown", The Barn Board Trio's own "Broken Footed Brewer", Dada's "If Tears Were Balloons" & "The Ballad of Earl Grey and Chamomile", Waylon Jennings' "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?", and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Call Me The Breeze", before changing guitars for his covers of The Black Crowes' "Hard To Handle" (or by Otis Redding if you prefer), Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me", ...

....The Barn Board Trio's "This Big City", "Till I Get Back Home", and their not-yet-released "Run From Home", Free's "All Right Now", and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed". Liam's been a familiar and talented sight locally for years, and while much of his recent band work has diverted from his old high school cover videos when he had longer hair, he has developed his talents and range really nicely, and his singing effortlessly fits whatever he's playing! Liam did tease a drumming stream of some kind as well, but for now, give his vocal/guitar performance a watch below!



We'll close today with a new solo original song from local hard rock musician Tym Morrison's YouTube channel, entitled "Number of the Beast"! No, this is not a cover of the Iron Maiden classic, this is firmly in line with Tym's current Christian beliefs, but it is still a metal tune. Interestingly using the same free trial program that The Isolation Sessions recently used, the song proper has a deliberate pace and serious tone, but it's well composed, and Tym gets some guitar solo time in there, so fans of his should definitely like this song! Give it a listen below, and stay tuned for more updates!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for part 3 of our WLS0 9O.1 FM retrospective series next! Thanks everyone!

Livestreamed Facebook Performance Videos From Local Artists & More Updates!!

Let's keep this string of new SMS posts going with one mostly devoted to a run of recent live performances that you may have seen pop up on Facebook in the past few days, but to round things out, I do have a handful of recent news and updates. Here's what you should know!

Some readers may recall seeing Facebook advertisements for an event called Coronafest that took place yesterday, which was basically a social distance-friendly "concert" featuring live-streamed Facebook videos of performances by an assortment of mostly Ontario-based musicians. This was actually the brainchild of ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan, who currently lives in Sudbury and performs there as a solo artist. Brian, his wife Krista, and his former Renegades bandmate Jason Wysynski (with a DJ set) were among the array of Coronafest performers, and though most do not have obvious local hard rock/punk ties, there's a lot of quality talent to see there! The best known local name here is former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison, who contributed a half hour-ish set yesterday at 6:30 PM, with help from his fiancee Shelby Kerns and some nice stage lighting to spruce up the at-home setting.

The first video (embedded below) features Cory playing original songs named "Breaking Free", "Enjoy the Ride", "Ashes Fall", "Wasting Away", "Take The Heat", and the tenatively-named "Believe", which cuts out mid-song due to his phone suddenly disconnecting. He finished "Believe" in the second video (uploaded from Shelby's phone), before closing with "Rule the World" and a viewing angle flip. Cory's vocal & guitar work here was solid as ever, and this array of newer originals sound ready for a true live concert stage! Strongly done with good humour in peculiar circumstances, so give his and other Coronafest performers' videos a look above & below!

Next up, this was not all for live-streamed Facebook performances from familiar faces lately, as local punk trio Redundant had their own "concert" of sorts on their Facebook page on Friday! Prefaced by this short video where frontman Justin Langlois plugs their upcoming jam at 7:20 PM that day (fans had 22 minutes notice to tune in), we were soon treated to a half hour video featuring Justin, Andrew, and Rick in their headquarters, so what's on offer here? After 3 minutes of setup, Redundant tackled Nirvana's "Molly's Lips", their original song "That December", a brand new cover of Katrina & The Waves "Walking on Sunshine" (seriously), more covers of Weezer's "El Scorcho" (sans "No Scrubs" interlude), Rise Against's "Swing Life Away", Operation Ivy's "Knowledge", and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", and their own standby "What Will You Do". The audio quality is very rough, and the vertical camera angle is unfortunate, but it's nice seeing Redundant back at it!

Of course, Redundant were supposed to be preparing for their Toronto road trip this coming weekend for the Bout Music Festival competition, obviously cancelled due to the coronavirus, but at least local fans can see this video! That said, I am surprised that they only played two original songs despite having three more on their debut EP, but in spite of their recent break, the guys' chemistry is undeniable, and everyone kept their social distance for the set! Give Redundant's own livestream set a look below!

Also in the realm of recent live-streamed videos from familiar local bands, acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns recorded one of their own last night for their Facebook page, albeit not part of the Coronafest lineup. This 34+ minute video features singer Christina Speers and her husband/guitarist Rob in a rare duo appearance, with no sign of Jesse Cook (it's not clear whether that's due to social distancing or not.) According to Christina at the start, The Stallyns were planning to play an actual concert in an actual venue this weekend to celebrate Rob's birthday on Tuesday, but COVID-19 had other plans, so this home-shot video is a substitute, complete with a few fan-requested songs. In order, the Speers' can be seen covering Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved", Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" & "Wishlist", Cee-Lo Green's "Fuck You", Madonna's "Material Girl", Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Radiohead's "Creep", and Dorothy's "Shelter".

The first three songs and the Green Day cover have Rob on sole lead vocals, while the rest have Christina taking the lead or in a full-on duet. This is the most casual and laid back of today's three live-streamed videos embedded on the site, but the audio quality holds up, and the covers are well done, even the ones that were clearly not established in their set, like "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." This coronavirus stuff has thrown so much out of whack locally, but this will help tide Wyld Stallyns fans over in the interim, so give it a look below, and hopefully we hear more from them in the near future!



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 event name:

• On February 8th, local guitarist Michael McCormick posted on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group looking to join a rock band. He has 5 years of experience, and while he's influenced by The Eagles, Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Motley Crue, he's open to playing anything. This may not be the best time to jam and rehearse with new musicians in the social distancing era, but if you want more details, message Michael at this link or above!
• Local Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters announced on their Facebook page on March 5th that "we're back" and that a show announcement was "coming soon." Alas, "soon" may be delayed indefinitely due to COVID-19, but this is still a notable announcement because this theoretically means that they are planning to play their first non-benefit or Halloween concert this year, and aren't just a seasonal band. Fingers crossed that we see Jules and company out there soon!
• The Steel City Nerdcon at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center on April 26th has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, as per promoters Steel City Events' Facebook page yesterday, which is disappointing but not unexpected news. This is relevant to the SMS because Steel City Events is co-promoting that night's First Jason concert at The Canadian, and frontman Ari Lehman (the first Jason Voorhees) was going to be the featured guest at Nerdcon. As of this writing, the First Jason show has not been publically cancelled, but things aren't looking great for it. We'll keep you posted!

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

A New Local Band, Peril Concert Previews, And Blood Shed Productions Updates!!

Let's get one more news post in before February rolls around, and we focus on our first CD review of 2020! Tonight, we have some assorted news and notes from two linked metal solo projects, the last of this weekend's publically advertised hard rock concert previews, and leading off, a new addition to our band links, so here's what you should know!

We have a new local band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are The Bridge Heads, a very familiar quartet for fans of local hard rock in the 2010s! Confirming prior performer teases towards the third act at the Acoustic Heartstrings concert at Room 21 on Valentine's Day, this band is simultaneously a reunion of 3/4ths of inactive local bands Haggith and Eclipse, specifically featuring singer Curtis McKenzie, Jack Spades/Big Mistake guitarist Daniel Horton, bassist Caleb Cachagee, and Frightlight drummer Chris Thompson. Musically, The Bridge Heads will at least start out covering songs from the 1990s and 2000s, though they have no shortage of originals from Curt, Dan, and Caleb's collective prior band work to dip into if need be. Their live debut will be in the aforementioned acoustic show next month, but their first announced electric set will be at The Canadian Nightclub on April 26th, as they are the final opening act for that night's First Jason concert, meaning Chris is pulling double duty here.

That will be a huge platform for this new yet established group, so keep their addition in mind! It's a wonder why this new band doesn't just recycle the Eclipse name, given the identical lineup (sans Caleb) and similar set descriptions, but this could be seen as a fresh start, especially as Eclipse disbanded over two years ago. It's great to see everyone back under the Bridge Heads moniker, so check out more from them at the above links!

Next up, here's our last known and publically advertised hard rock concert previews for this weekend, as Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril will return to The Rapids Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for erroneously listing these as being in St. Ignace in prior advertising, these are definitely in the Soo. This will be Peril's first weekend booking in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of 2020, and their first Rapids Lounge bookings since the fall, so this should be another fine opportunity for fans to see Jeff, Adam, and Brooks' hard and classic rock cover onslaught! If you can't come out this weekend, don't worry, as Peril will be at the St. Ignace Kewadin in two weeks, which is an unusually quick turnaround for them in our area. As usual for Peril's Kewadin dates, these are 9:00 PM affairs with no cover charges and 21+ age limits. Visit the above links for more information, and here's Peril live!

We'll close today back in Sault Ontario with some new videos, starting with the full release of local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore and folk punk/metal musician Chase Wigmore's second "A Couple of Degenerate Bastards" split! As released via Blood Shed Productions, the whole album can be bought on C.T.W.'s Bandcamp page on a "name your price" model, with Chase's 7 featured songs newly added, and you can stream his half on YouTube as well. Musically, Chase's material here is extreme metal in tone, similarly to "One Last Act of Defiance", so it's a fine match with C.T.W. on the final product. We just reviewed a Chase solo album on the site last month, so another one isn't in the immediate cards to review, but if you like brutal extreme metal and goregrind, and aren't easily offended, you should find something to like on this sequel split! Give Chase's half a listen below, and buy/stream the whole thing at the above links!



Finally, here's some more assorted notes from both Chase and C.T.W.'s camps as of late. Last week, Chase revealed on his Facebook page that his long-gestating rock opera was 4/5ths done, and ran for (as of the 22nd) 6,479 words. Sounds like a real labour of love, hopefully the final product lives up to the hype! Four days later, Chase posted this video to make a "special announcement" teasing "big stuff" in 2020, with the aide of a clipboard with key phrases written on it. Shades of "Subterranean Homesick Blues", anyone? This video was definitely tongue in cheek, and while he doesn't give too much away, it's an amusing watch! Meanwhile, C.T.W. head Tyler Gibson teased on the Blood Shed Facebook page that their material on the split was a teaser towards their planned third full length release, and have since posted two videos there. One is a short (and presumably long since pre-taped) video of Chase fishing, believe it or not, and the other is a 22 minutes long C.T.W. jam video, not unlike what Chase has posted!

Heavily filtered in post-production, the video features Tyler playing guitar and setting up backing tracks. There's not a lot to look at, filtered or not, and the lack of pig squealing will not be to Blood Shed diehards' liking, but the performances here are consistently brutal and right at home with existing material, so give it and more a look above & below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's CD review tomorrow! Thanks everyone!