LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Saint Asonia), Toystock Band Clarifications, And More!!

Alright, let's finally start clearing out our backlog of topics and news from the last while (joys of the holidays), and we'll start with some unfinished business from a recent charity concert, some assorted updates, and leading off, a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for early next year!

Here's the big show announced earlier this week, as Toronto hard rock quartet Saint Asonia will make their local debut on Saturday, February 24th when they headline at The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! Saint Asonia is the current band from former Three Days Grace frontman Adam Gontier and (when available) Staind guitarist Mike Mushok, and while they haven't had the continued rock radio success/airplay as modern 3DG have gotten, I personally greatly prefer Saint Asonia's originals like "Better Place" and "The Hunted". Adam does still tackle Three Days Grace songs live, and select other covers, so if you've missed that band since their last Sault Ontario date fourteen years ago, don't miss out! Kentucky-based southern hard rock band Black Stone Cherry will make their long awaited return to the Soo as openers, last seen at The Dreammakers Theater opening for Staind way back in 2006!

Since we last saw B.S.C. in town seventeen long years ago, they bettered their early Billboard rock chart success with songs like "White Trash Millionaire" and "In My Blood", and they're a very skilled group in their own right with a fun energy, so don't miss them either! Opening this show and tour are rising Maryland hard rock quartet Any Given Sin, whose technical and heavy brand of melodic hard rock will definitely set a good tone in a couple of months, so don't be late for their set! Promoted by Allstar Promotions in their 2024 debut and presented by Rock 101, tickets run for $29.50 (row 15 and back in the center section, row 11 and back in the left and right sections, and standing room only), $39.50 (closer seating), and $139.50 (first 8 rows in the center plus a full VIP package including priority access, show memorabilia, and a meet & greet with Saint Asonia.)

Tickets are on sale for this all ages & 8:00 PM concert at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. This feels like such a throwback to the 2000s via the returns of Adam, Mike, and Black Stone Cherry a decade+ after last performing in Sault Ste. Marie, and I hope this show does well, especially given that we lucked into this being a Saturday nighter! I do highly recommend Saint Asonia to fans of old school Three Days Grace too, they deserve way more success on the charts. Visit the official Facebook event page for more on this big show early next year!

Next up, let's move north to Sault Ontario for some clarification on three bands that played at this year's tenth annual Toystock at The Grand Gardens on November 26th! First off, the debuting online page-less band Headrush was a new classic rock quintet featuring veteran local bassist John Amendola (Cherry Crush, Tripod the Dog, etc.) and singer John Anderson, though I couldn't immediately identify the other band members. A video is floating around on personal Facebook accounts of Headrush covering Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", and it sounds good, but it is incomplete. Give it a look if you're friends with anyone connected to the band! Earlier in the program, new local rock quartet Skinbox played at Toystock, and they have since revealed via promotion for their shows at Jay's this weekend that they play "90s/2000s alt rock", with The Arctic Monkeys cited as a band that they cover. Not overly heavy on the surface, but their familiar lineup is definitely capable of it!

Lastly from Toystock's mystery/cryptic band array, new local rock band Kickstart is a new trio featuring ex-Suicide Kings guitarist Steven Flint alongside ex-Sneaky Pete bandmates Sean Berlinguette & Mike Oakley (I am unsure who sings here). If any of these three bands lean to what we cover on the SMS, it'd likely be Kickstart, but at press time, they don't have an online page that I am aware of. We'll let you know when/if anything else comes out, but hopefully these bands and the known commodites had a great time for Christmas Cheer on the 26th!

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

 

• In his newest post on his Facebook page on November 22nd, local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary revealed that he is working on a soundtrack for a novel being written by a local author, which will be instrumental in line with his recent solo output. There's no timeline or details to spill yet, as Mike's keeping things close to his vest until he and the author are happy with the results, but he has wrote at least two songs for it. We'll keep you posted when more details come out, but this is certainly unique locally!
• Local indie/punk quintet The Northwest were featured in the November 26th episode of The Music Jerks Radio Show on Canadian internet radio station Alt Rock Radio, where hosts Kristen Goetz & Nolan Jodes played one of their original songs along with ten other tracks. I don't believe that the episode is hearable on demand, but hopefully The Northwest made some new fans two weeks ago, and don't miss them at LopLops in two weeks!
• Just to clarify more details on another new online page-less local band's identity, The Psychic Spies (who, as far as I know, share members with Skinbox) are indeed a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band, so inferring that based on "Psychic spies" being the first words sung in "Californication" was prescient. The Chili Peppers' career doesn't lean heavier anymore, but fans should take to The Psychic Spies, who are playing with Skinbox at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this weekend, so visit the Facebook event page for details!
   

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

Toystock X Concert Preview, Plus A New Video!!

Here is our extended preview of a major charity concert event returning TOMORROW, as Toystock returns for its tenth installment! Returning to The Grand Gardens on Great Northern Road for a seventh year and for its second year period since a 2020-2021 pandemic hiatus, this is an annual fundraiser concert for Christmas Cheer, with the conceit of 10 bands playing across 10 hours, all donating their time for the cause. Entry is via donation of new/gently used toys, non-perishable food items, or (if you prefer) cash, but there is no ticket/cover fee if you donate food or toys. At this time of year, helping families in need with donations to ensure that they have a happy and less stressful Christmas is a wonderful idea, so definitely give generously where possible if you're coming to Toystock X tomorrow! As usual, numerous family activities and non-musical entertainment can also be enjoyed during the day.

A children' play area, face painting, and more are to be expected to entertain the kids during this all ages event, and Santa Claus will be stopping by as well! Get full non-musical details at this link. Now to the music, and this year's headliners at 9:00 PM tomorrow are local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard in their third show in as many days and their record ninth Toystock set (only missing 2013). Frontman Greg Simpson promotes Toystock through his GS Entertainment (formerly [Choose] Maxx Entertainment) banner, and kudos to him for putting in so much work for Christmas Cheer and helping those in need since 2012! Bone Yard's southern fried classic and hard rock covers should end the evening with a bang, so stick around until the end to see them in action! Newer local pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue will co-headline Toystock X at 8:00 PM in their second year taking part in the festivities.

Bourbon Blue feature alumni of the inactive Soo Fighters, and while not as hard rock-focused as that tribute band, don't bypass them! One of two mystery debuting local rock bands will take the stage at 7:00 PM, named Headrush. Based on personal Facebook posts, I do know the bassist of this group, but I don't believe they've said anything publically about their lineup or sound, so I won't jump the gun in case they are intentionally waiting for showtime. Newer local rock quartet Skinbox (subgenres/set samples still not given online) will take to the stage at 6:00 PM, preceded by local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck at 5:00 PM in their fifth straight Toystock set, a record for a band not featuring event organizers in their lineup. Alas, drummer Glen Thomas will reportedly not be doing his annual drumkit giveaway this year, but don't miss their old school rock and country covers!

New local classic/hard rock quintet HeadFirst (not to be confused with the aforementioned Headrush) will take the stage at 4:00 PM in their third public concert set and first outside of Reggie's. With Raincourt and Them alumni in their talented young lineup, hopefully they make a good impression on attendees tomorrow! Reunited local punk trio Redundant will play their first concert set in two years tomorrow at 3:00 PM, which will also be their second Toystock set after first playing there in 2016. It's great to see Justin, Andrew, and Rick back on stage after way too long, and let's hope that this isn't a one-off return for them! The 2:00 PM band is tomorrow's other mystery debuting group, named Kickstart. In this case, I was told who'd be in the band via a Facebook e-mail, but again, their identities and sound are not publically posted at press time. Their lineup will be familiar to local rock music fans though!

We'll let you know more about Headrush and Kickstart after their sets and/or as things go public. A student band from Long & McQuade will continue the long string of music school student bands playing at Toystock, with their 1:00 PM set being the second straight here for Long & McQuade since they replaced Case's Music post-pandemic. Opening the festivities tomorrow afternoon is Wailing Aztecs alumna Kelly McGillivray in her solo debut at Toystock, but her old band The Algo Rhythms played here thrice from 2015-2018. All of this all ages action begins at noon tomorrow at The Grand Gardens, and attendance is FREE with a toy/food donation (unless you want to make a cash donation). This is a wonderful event for a great cause, so all credit goes to all of the organizers and bands donating their time to help those in need! See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Bone Yard live!

Filmed at their one-nighter at Shooters Downstairs Lounge last night, this features Bone Yard pulling a two-for-one for Pink Floyd fans, namely covers of "Wish You Were Here" & "Young Lust". Greg does start the former playing acoustic guitar rather than drums, which did give a brief preview of their acoustic show at Gateway Casino tonight in that way. Vertical camera angle aside (which I can't be too shocked by anymore), this live-streamed video from their Facebook page is well shot with good angles of Greg, Alex, and Warren in action, and they do know their way around classic Floyd, so give these a watch below, and don't miss them at Toystock tomorrow night!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Toystock & HeadFirst), Plus A New Local Hard Rock Band!!

Things fell behind a bit due to out Halloween coverage and feature posts, so let's swing for the fences with a big post on this Wednesday evening, featuring LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this month concerning a major returning charity concert and the prior live debut of one of the bands playing that, but who are they? Read on to find out!

We have a new local hard rock band to add to our links, and they are HeadFirst! Launched via their Facebook page in July, they are a younger group featuring a mix of new and familiar faces, including singer/guitarist Red Jettison, former Raincourt guitarist Raine Rancourt, guitarist Liam Dinsmore, bassist Claire Jeffrey, and former Them/Kaepora Gaebora drummer Anthony Boudreau. According to Facebook, they are "inspired by the golden age of '60s, '70s, and '80s rock and roll", and they do seem to be leaning into that based on their attire at the private event in August that they played their first concert set at, However, in those LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, their true public debuts will come at Reggie's Place on Friday, November 10th & Saturday, November 11th, so head downtown to see what HeadFirst have to offer next week! These shows have 9:00 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges.

They have one more show announced for later this month, which we will touch on in a second. Our first video look at HeadFirst sees them covering Green Day's "When I Come Around" (not what I expected given their stated inspirations), which was bizarrely uploaded in a vertical aspect ratio despite being filmed horizontally, hence the huge pillarboxing. That aside, the multi-camera footage captures an enthusiastic performance, with Red showing early promise as a showman, and while I do want to see more challenging stuff with solos, this is a good teaser of what's to come from them! Check out more from HeadFirst above and below, and at the Facebook event page for next week's concerts!

Next up, HeadFirst's third announced public gig will be as part of the tenth annual Toystock charity concert on Sunday, November 26th! Returning to The Grand Gardens at 1324 Great Northern Road for a seventh straight installment (and second since their two year pandemic hiatus), this is the annual benefit event promoted by Bone Yard frontman Greg Simpson featuring ten bands donating their time to play across ten hours, family activities and kids entertainment, visits from Santa Claus, and admission via donations of toys, non-perishable food, or cash to Christmas Cheer. Always a wonderful cause to help kickstart the holiday season, and it's great to see Toystock hit the 10 year milestone! This year's ten bands in ten hours will be toplined once again at 9:00 PM by the aforementioned Bone Yard in their record ninth Toystock set (the only year they missed was 2013, in which Greg performed with Stiffler's Mom instead).

Pop rock cover band Bourbon Blue will return to Toystock for a second straight year as the co-headliners at 8:00 PM, immediately preceded at 7:00 PM by a mystery band named Headrush (yes, two bands named Head____ are playing Toystock this year). No idea whatsoever on who Headrush are and what they play, we will keep you posted when we hear more! Classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will play their fifth straight Toystock (the most for anyone other than Bone Yard) at 6:00 PM, with drummer Glen Thomas expected to do his drumkit giveaway after their set once again, so a young attendee will get quite a gift! Fresh off of their RSVP-only Halloween gig at The Art Hub, new local rock quartet Skinbox will make their Toystock debut at 5:00 PM, with the aforementioned HeadFirst playing at 4:00 PM. The band at 3:00 PM will surprisingly be a reunion of local punk trio Redundant!

Last seen at the Buckcherry concert at Soo Blaster in late 2021, this will be Redundant's second Toystock appearance after playing there in 2016. Some sort of revival plans had been teased since September, so this isn't entirely unexpected, but it will be great to see Justin, Andrew, and Rick back on stage after two years away, and they are back in our active band links! Another mystery band is scheduled at 2:00 PM named Kickstart, and like with Headrush, I don't know a thing about them (shades of Ravencore, now Far From Fine, in our initial coverage last year). We'll let you know when we hear anything on one/both bands! A student band from Long & McQuade will return for a second straight year at 1:00 PM, continuing Toystock's tradition of having a music student group on the bill since year #2 in 2013. Algo Rhythms/Wailing Aztecs alum Kelly McGillivray will open Toystock X with a set at 12:00 PM in her solo debut at this event.

Toystock X is an ALL AGES event with kids more than welcome to enjoy the music and activities on offer, and remember that admission is free with a toy or canned good donation to Christmas Cheer, though you may donate cash if you wish. Kudos to Greg for keeping Toystock going for 10 installments across 12 years, and hopefully everyone helps out needy families with lots of donations for the cause at month's end, while enjoying a varied array of live music! Visit the official Toystock website and the above links for more details on what to expect on the 26th, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everuone!