June Jam Concert Video Showcase!!

Before we get this weekend's concert previews up on the site, I realize that I am behind on some fallout from Friday night's June Jam at The Rockstar Bar, so let's start today's SMS posting with what you should know on that regard! As they did at March's Archelon concert at the same venue, Re:Born guitarist Blair Burch and his son Cory could be seen during this concert filming each band, with videos from the night being posted onto the band's Facebook page on Saturday, so if you want a different take of the night's action, you are covered again! We'll start with the headliners, Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years, who were actually filmed playing the same song that I filmed for the site, "Love At First Mosh". You can even see me filming in the video, but I concede that Re:Born's video is much higher quality. A.T.W.Y. put on a solid set of upbeat punk rock this past weekend, and this is an even better look at their original attack, so give it a look below!



Next up, Re:Born's channel also has videos of the local opening bands, including this clip of local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback playing their song "Everlasting Despair" on Friday. Loose and energetic rendition of this well established live staple, and the guys are definitely on the upward track as a three-piece, so give their new video a look also!



Fellow local punk trio Stegadeth were also filmed for Re:Born's channel on Friday night, as they covered Nirvana's "Breed" to cap off their set. Bill's vocals are often hard to make out, but the T-Rex Manning successors have this cover well in hand, and kudos to Johnny for his high energy behind the kit! Solid quality as usual, so check Stegadeth's clip out below!

 
Finally, we get to Re:Born themselves, as the power rock quintet are the subject of two videos (it's their channel, after all), including this video of their covers of Edguy's "Lavatory Love Machine" & Kissing Dynamite's "Sex Is War", both with guest singer Elly McWatters. Embedded below though is their other video, as Cory filmed them playing their Project 421-carry over "Running Away" that night, and it's a nice showcase of their hard hitting sound and improving chemistry! Robert still relies heavily on lyrics on his tablet, but this is a solid look at his vocal abilities in particular, so give Re:Born's own videos a look above and below as well!

 
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site later today! Thanks everyone!

The June Jam Concert Review!!

After a long day of video uploading errors and personal commitments, here's our review of Friday night's June Jam concert at The Rockstar Bar! Live705 had a good setup for their first local concert of 2018, including merchandise from half of the lineup and tickets for next month's Rivers of Nihil concert, but attendance was medium, surprising given the Friday night placement. Fan responses were positive though, and by the end of the night, there was a decent crowd on the floor for the headliners!

Your openers on Friday were local heavy rock quintet Re:Born in just their second live concert appearance, though for their first song and a half, they performed as a quartet, as bassist Fred Dunn was running late. Once he was tuned in and set up, the guys were in full gear again! This set was the most different yet from their predecessors Project 421, with only that band's originals surviving in their set, which featured covers of everyone from Megadeth to Judas Priest to Thin Lizzy. The guys definitely improved on their debut earlier this year, with singer Robert Nevitt performing in a more natural style, and what banter existed between him and Blair Burch sounded promising! He and Frank were solid as usual on guitar, and Brandan Glew's drum work was on point! Notably, Re:Born welcomed guest backing singer Elly McWatters for their Edguy and Kissing Dyanamite covers, similar in vein to her advertised guest spot with The Band Camp Rejects early last year.

Elly fit in fine for these songs, which have to be new for any band to play live in Sault Ontario, and it was a neat moment to see an attending fan celebrate her 70th birthday by coming the dance on the floor during this part of the set! Re:Born are moving up nicely, if Friday's performance was any indication, and I'm curious to hear how their set sounds next time!

Next up on Friday was local punk trio Stegadeth (replacing Skeyes of Seven), who were channeling their inner Corey Hart with sunglasses on everyone to start, though only drummer Johnny Belanger maintained them from bell to bell. The guys knocked out an entertaining set of scattered originals (including a new one named "Tragedy" about American gun violence), with covers of The Presidents of the United States of America, Bad Religion, and The Rebel Spell also on hand for attending fans. Muffled vocals were the biggest drawback of their otherwise entertaining set, as I could barely make out words during Stegadeth's set, and bassist Bill Bennett was completely inaudible at one point, but the rest was entertaining! Tiffany Stocco and Bill were solid on guitar and bass, and Johnny was his usual proficient & energetic self on drums! Hopefully Stegadeth pick up where they left off the next time out!

Third up was local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback in their second local concert of the year, who had an entertaining set of their well established original material on Friday night! Though the guys surprisingly made no blatant mentions of their debut album recording sessions, their performances of songs like "Kicking & Screaming", "Wasting Away", and "Faded" spoke loudly of their talents and their building confidence as a trio. Chris Nielsen has acclimated very fast to lead vocal duties, and while I think Matt Quinn toned down his backing vocals from the last time I saw A.D.S. live, he's a good match! Nick Kainula's drumming was steady and focused, and the overall energy and enthusiasm was clear on Friday, with their songs coming through very well from start to finish! Hopefully A Dire Setback keep on this upward trajectory, and hopefully their Timmins show went well last night!

And finally, your headliners on Friday were Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years in their local debut, and they had a fun set laid out for local fans, including the only sustained crowd on the floor that night! Playing songs from their new CD "High Blood Pressure" like "626" and "Secrets & Lies", to even a cover of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside", A.T.W.Y. had a lively, energetic brand of punk that was easy to sing along with (once you knew the words), and they knew how to engage with and banter with the crowd effectively! Vocals weren't always clear through the speakers from where I was, but Nathan Radey and Darcy Larouche have good chemistry on guitar, Eric Fortin effectively provided the low end on bass, and Steph Gaudet looked and sounded the part with his drumming on Friday! I wish there was a larger crowd, but All The Wasted Years had a hard hitting, melodic set of punk originals for gathered patrons, and here's hoping they roll back west soon!

Overall, this was a solid way to help celebrate turning 29 the previous day, and all four bands delivered solid sets, whether you wanted the punk main course or a classic metal appetizer! You can check out our photos from last night at this link or on our Facebook page, and while there are more videos to come in an upcoming post, here's our footage from Friday night, including Re:Born & Elly covering Kissing Dynamite's "Sex Is War", Stegadeth playing their original "Kingdom of Ashes", A Dire Setback playing "Catastrophe", and All The Wasted Years playing "Love At First Mosh"!









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

Theatre Of Night & June Jam Updates, Plus More News & Notes!!

I hope everyone's having a great Victoria Day/May 2-4 weekend! News remains at a slow pace this month, so today's post is largely comprised of assorted shorter stories, but we are leading off with some big updates from bands on each side of the border, starting with the latest from Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night! Yesterday, the group revealed on their Facebook page that they are indeed planning their second Christmas tour run for the end of the year, and had recently conducted "late night sessions" towards the tour. After the positive response to their gigs last year from here to Illinois and points in between, hopefully the encore is bigger and better for them! While not seasonally timed, this preview video was posted to their YouTube channel yesterday, which is ostensibly of their November 2011 debut CD "Christmas Night", but actually features newer recordings featuring their recent touring band members (as distinguished particularly by the inclusion of vocals.)

The video proper combines live concert footage from the tour with some in-studio performances, as well as some scattered photos. It's well put together and a nice sampling of what to expect this winter, so if you can get past the seasonal content in late May, give Theatre of Night's new video a look below, and stay tuned for more from them soon!

Next up, here's some new updates related to the upcoming June Jam concert at The Rockstar Bar in Sault Ontario on June 1st, starting with a lineup withdrawal, as local hard rock quintet Skeyes of Seven have dropped out of this concert, as per their Facebook page. A reason was not publically stated for their exit, but hopefully nothing bad happened, and that we see them back on stage sooner or later! At press time, they have not been replaced on the bill, we will let you know if they are. Ticket details have also been confirmed for the June Jam, with prices at $8 in advance online (details on that front are not public yet) or $10 at the door, so keep those in mind. Of course, this Live705-promoted show will feature Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years alongside locals A Dire Setback and Sault Ontario heavy/power rock quintet Re:Born, who posted four new jam session videos onto their Facebook page last week, so what can be said on those?

The videos include Re:Born covering The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane", Saxon's "Denim & Leather", and their precedessors Project 421's original song "Into The Darkness", but embedded below is their new cover of "Lavatory Love Machine" by the German power metal band Edguy. That's gotta be a first from a local band! Though we don't get an optimal look at the band on these clips (we only tend to see singer Robert Nevitt from behind), these performances are solid given the setting, and it'll be cool to see them back on stage next month, especially after their spring break! Give Re:Born's new videos a look above and below!



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

• Local punk trio A Dire Setback (of the aforementioned June Jam) will hit the road for a second out of town show this summer, as they'll be featured on a rock/rap hybrid event at The Asylum in Sudbury on Saturday, July 28th! Full details are not out yet, beyond the involvement of an act named Mooch, but this should be another big chance for A.D.S. to make new fans outside of the Soo, so hopefully this show goes as well as their Timmins trip next month!
• I have deleted the former WLSO radio show CRaMPS from our "Other Sault Michigan Metal Links" section due to the quiet deletion of it's Facebook page for unannounced reasons in recent months. Airing on Friday mornings on Lake Superior State University's campus radio station in late 2010, the student-hosted program hadn't visibly on the air since then, though to be fair, I don't even know if 90.1 FM still broadcasts on terrestrial radio at all. Hopefully Pat and Seth have found success in more recent endeavours!
• Former Din bandmates Mike Haggith and Tammy Hill reunited in Windsor on Saturday when they travelled from Manitoba and Sault Ontario respectively to attend the long awaited Canadian premiere of the movie Ashes of K, whose soundtrack is entirely comprised of songs from The Din and Mike's solo project. It's great to see this movie finally released and distributed, and you can see photos of Mike, Tammy, and Din producer Daniel Schmidt on the red carpet at their Facebook page! (Yes, a review of Ashes of K could make the SMS if we can find a way to see it.)
• I have also deleted former local concert venue Docks Riverfront Grill from our inactive concert venue listings, due to the deletion of it's Facebook (and last surviving online) page in recent months. The Foster Drive nightclub and restaurant had initially been sold to new ownership in 2014, and after brief stints as Waterfront Legend and The River Cookhouse, it became The HD Sports Grill in 2016, and has sporadically hosted live music since Docks itself ended. Hopefully more is on the horizon there down the road!
• The Indie Spring concert at LopLops Lounge on Saturday had a late lineup withdrawal, as Sudbury garage rock headliners The Almighty Rhombus were forced to drop out after bassist Laura Willett badly cut her finger in an accident. That's definitely a bummer, hopefully Laura gets well soon! In their place, local indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota played an extended headlining set.
• A local musician named Jay Daug is looking for a "heavily influenced (John) Bonham drummer" between 20 and 40 years of age, as per a post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on May 9th. Jay didn't specify if this was for a band he's working on, for informal jamming, or something else, but message him at this link or above if you fit the bill and need more details!

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