LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Who Made Who, Queen: It's A Kind Magic, Bon Jovi Forever, And Led By Zeppelin!!)

Today's news post is devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the Sault Community Theatre Centre for later this month, and I do apologize for only finding out about these in one cluster just recently. I've gotta stay more on top of S.C.T.C. concerts, and they've been pretty busy for booking notable touring shows and bands this year, even if the last attempted one (Dr. Feelgood) fell victim to "unforeseen circumstances". In an SMS-amenable context, what is first up there this fall?

Hamilton-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Led By Zeppelin will make their local concert debut at the former Kiwanis Theatre on Saturday, September 12th! If this gives you deja vu, it's likely because we just saw a different Led Zeppelin tribute (London's Zed) headlining Rotaryfest Stage 1 yesterday, so the turnaround to have another Zeppelin tribute from Southern Ontario exactly eight weeks later seems really odd. I find it's unfair to compare tribute bands of the same source act due to inevitably subjective opinions, but what I can tell you is Led By Zeppelin deliver the goods musically! Not so much visually, there's no real attempt to dress like Led Zeppelin, but as Motorhead fans saw with M1 earlier this month, you don't have to mimic the original artists' hair and clothing to deliver a good show. Hopefully Led By Zeppelin get a strong turnout in September, especially if the Zed fans last night want a kinda-sorta encore!

This concert has an 8:00 PM start time and no age limit, but unlike Zed at Rotaryfest, this will be a paid and ticketed event (unless you are under 6 years old). As such, adult tickets cost $61.02, seniors 65+ and students 16-25 will cost $49.72, and kids 6-15 will cost $27.12. Those may seem high, but given the large and fancy theatre playing host, hopefully tickets move well, and there's plenty of good seats still available. Buy yours at this link or at the in-person box office at Station Mall, and stay tuned for more on what should be a solid concert for late 1960s and 1970s hard rock fans!

Next up, if you want another tribute to a legendary British classic hard rock act of the 1970s, you only need wait until Wednesday, September 30th, when Australia-based Queen tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic return to the White Pines Collegiate-based theatre! Fans of Freddie, Brian, John, and Roger have been absolutely spoiled post-pandemic, as not only has this particular tribute band rocked the S.C.T.C. three times on their global tour runs (most recently in May of last year), but they're not even the most recent Queen tribute to play here, as the Great Britain-based Majesty just headlined at The Machine Shop in March. Again, I'm not comparing the two, but It's A Kinda Magic have gotten really solid crowds and high praise in their past local stops for how well they pay tribute to Queen musically and visually, so hopefully this show brings the goods all around again!

Like with Led By Zeppelin that same month, this is an all ages ticketed event, albeit with a slightly earlier start time of 7:30 PM. The show will have adult ticket prices of $75 with kids under 13 at $45 (no senior or student rates here), and if you're curious, prices here are slightly up from Q.I.A.K.M.'s show here last year. Based on the online ticket sale link (click here), there are still lots of good seats available still, though the show is moving tickets a little faster than Led By Zeppelin. Buy yours online and at the in person box office, and while this isn't the cheapest show going (and mid-week), there's a reason why this Queen tribute comes here so much!

Also this fall at The Sault Community Theatre Centre is the return of Oshawa-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bon Jovi Forever, who will headline there on Saturday, October 10th! This Thanksgiving long weekend concert will be (at least) this particular band's third stop here, following a Rockstar Bar show in 2016 and their S.C.T.C. debut in September of last year. As I recall, B.J.F. drew well last fall, and you can see proof of how that show went via videos linked here. Baz and crew sound the part and deliver enough visually for fans of both early hair metal Bon Jovi and their later, more general rock material, and he definitely sounds better than Jon himself does nowadays, so hopefully things go well in their return to White Pines in three months! The 8:00 PM start time, all ages status, and ticket prices here are actually identical to the Led By Zeppelin show in every way, so see above for the ticket price breakdown.

Of note, tickets aren't moving nearly as fast yet for this concert, but Bon Jovi Forever drew well last year, so this should tick up, and it just means that you have time to get a really good seat! Click here or visit the in-person box office to get yours, and visit the above links for more details!

Lastly for new Sault Community Theatre Centre concerts of a hard rock persuasion, Toronto-based AC/DC tribute band Who Made Who will return to the Soo on Saturday, October 24th in a joint concert with Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band Green River Revival! This is being touted as "the ultimate rock concert", which is quite a claim, and while the two bands aren't even contemporaries for era, the two will cover a lot of ground for classic rock fans. Both bands share management, hence why it makes sense for them to share a bill if tour paths cross, and they've both played here numerous times, including as the featured touring headliner of Rotaryfest (Green River Revival in 2019, Who Made Who last year). Repeat local stops for both is a good sign, so fans know that Who Made Who will deliver their requisite high voltage rock n' roll again, while Green River Revival's faithful take on CCR and John Fogerty hits will go well for southern rock fans in the Soo in October!

This concert has a listed 7:30 PM start time, and will be all ages like the rest. The show was literally first announced last week, so this has the most available tickets of the four, and prices are a flat $55.37 for all, which is the cheapest of the four shows, surprisingly so given Who Made Who & Green River Revival's combined name recognition. Expectations appear to be high for ticket sales too, as this is the only one of the four with available balcony section seating, so get yours A.S.A.P. at this link and/or at the in-person box office while selection is good! Looks like a lot of good 1970s and 1980s hard rock tribute action is in store for the Soo this fall, so visit the above links for more on all four concerts! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest Stage 1 Concert Previews, Cancellations, And Air Quality Condition Notes!!

(UPDATED AT 1:09 PM) Today's post previewing Stage 1 of Rotaryfest for 2026 went up when there were still many unanswered questions about the status of the festival given the severely poor air quality due to the forest fires in Northwestern Ontario and the smoke drifting east across much of the province. Festival organizers announced late yesterday that they would monitor conditions and issue updates about closures at 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM, and in the latter update on their website, they confirmed that today's Stage 1 lineup at Clergue Park (Encore, Lime, The Lock City Rollers, and The Range Lights) has been cancelled. In fact, every Rotaryfest event today has been called off except for Ribfest, the midway (though hours may be subject to change), and certain vendors at their discretion. Musically speaking, I believe this is the first time that a complete day's worth of music at Rotaryfest has been cancelled due to weather or atmospheric conditions (they tend to tough out rain).

Similarly, the City of Sault Ste. Marie has cancelled the Downtown Street Party scheduled for tonight (concurrently with the Stage 1 timeframe at Rotaryfest), as well as all other City-ran outdoor events today, as per this update. Tomorrow's Rotaryfest itinerary is not yet determined, but the air quality index for Sault Ste. Marie remains at 10+ (very high risk), and unfortunately, the forecast has worsened, as it's now only expected to drop one notch tomorrow to a forecast maximum of 10 (high risk). At this point, I have zero idea if they will chance having bands at Clergue Park tomorrow on any stage, and if so, would there be lineup adjustments based on performers opting out of playing. Pandemic aside, large-scale outdoor concert cancellations like this are new to me, but I will absolutely let you know when/if anything is tangibly announced about the status of Stage 1 and Stage 2 for Rotaryfest tomorrow and/or Saturday.

Regarding our current post schedule, I'll leave our Stage 1 previews as is for tomorrow's and Saturday's programs, as they're still officially on until otherwise stated, and I'm still covering the Second Stage programming in our next post, hitting the site by tomorrow morning, but I'm monitoring everything as much as I can, and so should you if you were planning on going to Clergue Park this weekend. Please stay inside and stay safe, especially if you have asthma or preexisting health conditions, and if you have to go outside or want to chance going to the carnival/getting ribs, please mask up and use common sense. As always, our best wishes go out to those directly dealing with and fighting the forest fires out west!

Assuming things aren't impaired any further by the forest fire smoke (a big if), TOMORROW is the delayed kickoff for the annual Rotaryfest music program, as Sault Ontario's summer festival returns for another year of family entertainment across three two days at Clergue Park and surrounding areas! Visit the official website or read your physical program in your mailbox for full non-musical details, including what's going down at the EDM-focused Stage 3 at the Downtown Plaza. This post will focus on the cover band-centric Stage 1 beside the Centennial Library, which will be curated by stage manager Valerie Pluss once again with Andrew Stuetz returning as MC. In the 25th installment since the familiar blue/yellow stage and modern format debuted in 2001, TOMORROW'S now-opening day on Stage 1 will feature six bands, with all but two making their Rotaryfest debuts (assuming no dropouts or replacements.)

TOMORROW'S day of music on Stage 1 will be headlined by the local debut of North Bay classic rock quintet Just Press Play at 10:20 PM, featuring long-time Rotaryfest sound tech Dan Belanger, so welcome him back in style if you're out! Your Friday co-headliners at 9:00 PM are classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush (who closed last year's festival) in their return from a recent pause, while reunited classic/hard rock quartet Quite Frankly will debut at Rotaryfest in the 8:00 PM timeslot. Remember, they are late replacements for The Sidekicks, following their move to the Saturday bill after a band dropout that day. Way Backs alumni Jeffrey Wright & Meggy Lee will bring country to the big stage at 7:00 PM, preceded by the returning Jazz Cats (featuring three members of Sunday & The Broken Hearts) at 6:00 PM. Your openers at 5:00 PM are Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band Mellowship Slinky, featuring guest drummer John Mignacca (ex-As It Stands).

Between Headrush & Quite Frankly, some early heavier funk rock Chili Peppers cuts, and Dan Belanger's track record guesting with the likes of That's Chester and Obsession at past Rotaryfests, SMS readers should hear some hard rock tunes tomorrow from this stacked lineup, air quality permitting! 9&10 News is calling for 19-21° temperatures during tomorrow's band timeframe, and the mostly cloudy(!) skies have a chance of turning into rain during Just Press Play's set, so follow Rotaryfest and your preferred weather forecasts for updates on that front. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Headrush closing last year's Stage 1! Bassist John Amendola shared this to their Facebook group yesterday, and it's a 100 seconds-long highlight reel edited with Capcut, in which you'll hear fragments of the likes of Billy Squier, AC/DC, Rick Springfield, and Boston.

Alas, this video was shot (framed?) vertically, and I'd really rather see full videos of Headrush rather than short clips, but this does contain high quality footage of their biggest concert to date, and while not capping off Rotaryfest this year, they look to deliver more classic hard rock hits for fans at Clergue Park tomorrow evening! Give Headrush's new video a watch below!

Finally for the Stage 1 program this year, we head to SATURDAY, where 10 bands will (hopefully) rock out on the biggest and last day of the festival! As usual, a local band will cap things at 10:30 PM, and following the withdrawal of Tragically Hip tribute The Luxury for unannounced reasons, classic rock trio The Sidekicks were bumped from tomorrow's bill into this key timeslot, and hopefully Steve, Dan, and Tracey deliver for fans at night's end! This year's featured touring band is London-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Zed, making them the first Zeppelin tribute at Rotaryfest in 12 years (surprisingly, Mothership haven't played here). Zed's faithful take on the British hard rock legends' catalogue will be at 8:30 PM, following the third Rotaryfest set from punk/alternative cover sextet BookcluB at 7:15 PM, featuring The Jazz Cats' Josh Norling, who is scheduled for four bands this year across both stages. Kudos to him for staying busy!

Note that many of the 2:00-6:00 PM band timeslots were shuffled from the original schedule release, but no bands in this timeframe dropped out (yet?). Half of Abba tribute band Abba Soo will play on Saturday in the classic rock duo Just J&M at 6:15 PM, preceded by veteran classic rock quartet RPM at 5:15 PM. Pop rock cover veterans (and Dark Side Of The Soo sister band) Bourbon Blue return to Stage 1 at 4:15 PM, while Superior Heights Collegiate's student rock band Steel Rock will grace Rotaryfest at 3:15 PM once again. Local classic rock staples Mid Life Crysis will play their tenth Stage 1 set (tops among this year's lineup) at 2:15 PM, preceded by the debut of new local classic rock band Hush (featuring Mustang Heart's Vito Tassone, Turner Up's Robert Brown, and Bigsuit's Brian Oja) at 1:15 PM. Like last year, the Saturday bill will lead off with blues rock sextet Rusty & The Soft Parade at 12:15 PM.

Of course, they are led by local legend Rusty McCarthy, and feature the aforementioned Josh Norling once again), but will they play their Rotaryfest set in the rain again? We won't have an hourly forecast until later today, but 9&10 News is currently calling for a 50% chance of rain on Saturday with a high temperature of 21° (low of 12°). If rain is to be the issue rather than the air quality, it will be on Saturday, alas, but follow Rotaryfest's socials and your preferred weather forecast for specifics as we get closer. All three days of Stage 1 music at Clergue Park are FREE & ALL AGES, and there's certainly lots of music to enjoy, including seven debuting acts, so visit the above links for complete details, and here's Zed live!

With Stage 1 covered (as far as we can currently say), our next post will feature our Stage 2 preview for this year, and the rest of this weekend's known hard rock and punk concert previews will fall into place in that post or the next, so stay tuned for all of that! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2014 Video Showcase (Part 2)

Earlier today, we shared the first half of our look at Sault Online correspondent Mike Caruso's videos from this year's Rotaryfest stage at Clergue Park, all as uploaded to his YouTube channel over the last few days, so let's touch on the second half of the videos in this post! You can see videos from the first half of the event (including hard rock covers by KT, Kyle, and The Pocket, Beaumont Avenue, Stiffler's Mom, and Domina) in the post below this one, so give them a look if you want! Focusing on the majority of Saturday's bands today, let's start with the second of two straight all-female bands that day, as hard rock quartet The Danger Cats made their own Rotaryfest debut! Mike filmed them covering The Kinks' "All Day & All Of The Night" (with some gender-related lyric changes), which is a well done rendition, but Kate Kougar's vocals are generally too quiet. Solid performance, so give The Danger Cats' Rotaryfest video a look below, and I think there might be at least one more clip floating around too, so keep an eye out just in case!



Right after them was local classic rock cover quartet Obsession (featuring Domina frontwoman Valerie Powley) as they covered Nazareth's "Turn On Your Reciever", and they did a fine job as usual! The band (who finally have their own Facebook page) have always shown clear skill when doing heavier covers, and having vocals like these never hurts on this quality cover! If you're curious, the guest backing vocalist is Alandra Brooks, who you may recognize from Mike Case's junior rock camp bands. Check out Obsession's Rotaryfest video below!



Mike's four videos following Obsession were of classic rockers Mid Life Crysis covering Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)", Spyder's Web covering the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Who'll Stop The Rain", country quartet Summer Thunder covering Darius Rucker's "Wagon Wheel", and one-off Tom Petty/Stevie Nicks tribute band Free Falling covering The Travelling Wilburys' "End of the Line", so give each of those songs a look above! The closing bands were both hard rock performers, with the last local band of the 2014 Rotaryfest being Griphook, whose Rotaryfest video might be their first public clip with new singer/guitarist Joel Syrette in place of Jim O'Leary. However, guitarist Brian Oja provides lead vocals on this cover of Bad Company's "Rock Steady", and he handles it very well, hitting the higher chorus notes with ease! Very nice cover with good energy, and is it surprising that Griphook were Saturday's only local band with an all-male lineup? Check out their Bad Company rendition below!



Lastly for Mike's Rotaryfest videos (which are awesomely shot, save for some audio quality jumps at some camera angle switches) is this video of headliners Michael White & The White paying tribute to Led Zeppelin with a rendition of "Black Dog"! The veteran Toronto-based Led Zeppelin tribute sound good here, and while you may notice that Michael's vocals don't sound that much like Robert Plant's original singing on this song, it does bear resemblances with how this song sounded at their "Celebration Day" reunion show from 2007 (click here for proof.) Well done cover that Zeppelin fans should enjoy, so give it a look below!



I hope you guys liked our look at Sault Online's Rotaryfest videos, and as teased above, I believe there's at least one more from The Danger Cats to share in the coming days as well! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Ripcordz, Rotaryfest, And The Thrill Junkies), And 415E Concert Previews!!

Apologies for the slow pace of recent posts on the site, things have slowed down a bit lately, but we're back today with lots of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, including the first Rotaryfest band confirmation, a big hardcore punk show for the fall, and an upcoming charity event featuring a notable returning band! Of course, a weekend is upon us, and we do have a pair of shows to preview as well today, but any other hard rock shows this weekend (including possible Tym Morrison dates at The Harp) will likely be short notice confirmations, and we'll address those if/when they're announced. Now, to the new shows in chronological order!

Local hard rock cover quintet The Thrill Junkies will return to the stage one week from tomorrow as part of the musical entertainment at this year's second annual Algoma Ride For Autism event! Last seen on stage in January at the former Roosevelt Hotel, this will also mark their first live concert appearance with their new lineup, as they added Frightlight guitarist Rick White to their lineup as their new drummer in the spring, replacing the already departed Scott McLurg. The Thrill Junkies' Facebook page says that Rick's a great fit and that he's been working hard to get up to speed with their set (playing with Redundant bandmate Justin Langlois can't hurt), so look out for an entertaining set next Saturday from these talented veterans! The Thrill Junkies' set will be as part of the musical entertainment at the Algoma Ride For Autism, which will be held at Runway Park on Airport Road, making this the first verified show there with a hard rock band that we've covered on here since the Bell Border Jam in 2008.

Obviously a fundraiser for autism research, this ALL AGES event will feature a motorcycle rally around town that will end at Runway Park, which will be hosting live music, food, prize draws, family events, and much more, so click here for all details on the event as a whole, and for details on how you bikers can participate in the rally! For the Runway Park events, I have not seen a stated cover charge, but events take place from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and I can't confirm The Thrill Junkies' timeslot yet, nor other musical performers. Much like the blindness rally Ride For Sight, I hope the Ride For Autism is a huge success, so keep an eye out for extra info, including on the musical performers next weekend!

Next up, we have our first concrete confirmation for this year's Rotaryfest performers, as The Stage at Clergue Park will be headlined by Toronto Led Zeppelin tribute band Michael White & The White on Saturday, July 19th! Continuing the usual trend of having an out of town tribute band as the headline act for our local summer festival's main stage, this veteran tribute band has been played thousands of shows since 1979, and have built up an extensive resume and skill level that Zeppelin fans should take to next month, so don't miss out on Michael White & The White this year! The band was confirmed via the banner image at this link, but Rotaryfest has yet to confirm the full main stage lineup. Like past years, I expect it to be all cover bands (any with originals won't be playing them there), with a jazz/blues focus on July 17th and a variety of bands on the 18th and 19th, and while both The Suicide Kings & The Danger Cats had applied to play this year's event, we have no finite local band details yet that are publically sharable.

In any event, this year's stage will have no age limits or cover charges, and Michael White & The White will likely be headlining at 9:00 or 10:00 PM on the 19th. Check the above links for current details, and we'll keep you guys posted on the full main stage lineup as it comes in! (Just in case anyone's curious, I have heard negative reports regarding the return of the Second Stage this year, but I'm waiting for official confirmation before detailing it too much on the site.)

Lastly for new shows, it's official: The Ripcordz are coming back to the Soo this fall! Last month's teased show will take place on Saturday, October 11th when the Montreal hardcore punk legends return to The Algonquin Pub (the site of their local return show last spring), in their first Sault date here since promoter J.D. Pearce's Halloween party last fall! For clarification, I don't expect this to be J.D.'s next Halloween show, it's two weeks too soon. Fans will be sure to welcome The Ripcordz and their well received and intense hardcore punk originals back to our area this fall, as we've done numerous times in the past, so don't miss out on what should be a packed house in October! As it currently stands, the lineup for this show will be almost exactly the same as it was last fall, as local metal/punk quintet Jack Spades and hardcore punk standouts Destroilet are signed to open, and both are fitting choices, so be there early for their sets! Note that the Facebook event page also says "TBA" for the lineup, so another band could be added.

This 19+ show will have a 10:00 PM start time, but ticket prices and availability aren't public yet, possibly as the show is still 4 months away, but we'll let you guys know when something is announced, and check the above links for more details! This should be another awesome show, as anyone who's seen The Ripcordz' 2013 Sault shows should attest to, so keep it in mind for your fall concert plans, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

We'll close today with previews of Sault Michigan hard rock band 415E's next live shows, as the former Hubbard-Menard band will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TONIGHT AND TOMORROW NIGHT! Remember, this weekend's shows replace former Peril concerts, after 415E's originally announced Soo Kewadin gigs next week were bumped up to this weekend. Fresh off shows in St. Ignace last week, this should be another fun weekend of Van Halen-influenced covers and originals from this talented local band, so don't miss out on the action! Note that this new picture again implies that recent gigs have been as a duo without live bass or drums, so keep that in mind for this weekend. Admission should be free, a 9:00 PM start time is likely, and you must be 21 to attend. For more details, check the above links, enjoy 415E's hard rock and classic metal sounds, and here's their full lineup's cover of The Stone Temple Pilots as a preview!



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

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Mothership

As promised, it's time for our newest Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, and for the first time in this series, we're looking at a tribute band with a past or present Sault Ste. Marie resident in their lineup! As a result, I don't have as much to say given the similarity of their shows and band history, but this act is still of a very high quality and talent level, so read on below for our newest profile in this monthly feature series at the SMS! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
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Mothership (Ottawa, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; members not in their last full lineup in italics)

Richard Fullerton (vocals)
Steve Milley (guitar)
Denis St. Amour (bass)
Roger Verdon (drums)

Official website: http://www.mothershiptribute.ca/
Official Facebook page: http://facebook.com/mothershiptribute
Official YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/mothershiptribute

Local Info: Mothership did have some local connections via frontman Richard Fullerton, who you may best remember as the former frontman of local classic hard rock quintet That's Chester! He fronted the band in the mid-2000s before Jim O'Leary & Greg Simpson's tenures, and has guested with them occasionally since departing as well, so he's bound to be familiar to long time That's Chester fans! Though originally from Blind River, I believe he lived in the Sault area full time at least during his That's Chester run, but he would eventually move to Ottawa, and after his run with Mothership, you can now see him live in the classic rock band Trashed Taxi!

Band Bio: Termed "The Ultimate Tribute to Led Zeppelin", Mothership formed in the Ottawa area circa early 2010, and brought a faithful sounding & looking rendition of the Led Zeppelin experience to scattered live concerts in the Ottawa area, along with stops in Toronto and Gatineau, Quebec that steadily continue to this day, save for a 2012-2013 hiatus. Featuring two members of the progressive metal band Widow's Walk in their lineup, Mothership's concerts featured authentic costumes to Led Zeppelin's heyday, along with setlists featuring classics and more obscure numbers from their back catalog, and their talents have attracted notable praise from Southern Ontario press. Mothership deliver a great Led Zeppelin show to their fans at live concerts, with the  look down really well, and the talent to pull off this material, and from the videos I've seen, they don't diverge too far from what worked originally! Richard's singing fits well & had the right tone, though his range at times can't hit the same high notes. That's very minor though, as this package of musicians can pull off the Led Zeppelin classics & ambiance, and in a tribute band, that would absolutely please fans old and new!

Being a tribute band, Mothership's online media is mostly based around live videos, though their 2013 return did coincide with plans to release a documentary about themselves (preview video here.) YouTube user TheScorpionLady has two nice quality live videos on her channel, while both the band's official YouTube channel & Richard Fullerton's own channel have some short band promo videos featuring brief live video clips and photos. However, because it's a full song (and consistently good quality), I've posted TheScorpionLady's video of Mothership playing "Black Dog" below, so give it a look, and see much more from this talented Led Zeppelin tribute at the above links!

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I hope you guys enjoyed this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month, we'll be taking a look at the inactive Windsor hardcore band Constructed Apocalypse, who once featured local musician and concert booker Jeremy Hannah as their frontman! You may remember them from some late 2000s local concerts, and they're getting an overdue feature in this series on or around March 26th, so keep an eye out! That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more news and notes to come, along with our review of Sykotyk Rampage's "Karrs" album on Wednesday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bret Michaels), A Local Author's Hard Rock Books, And More!!

Alright, I have enough news today to get a post up after a few days of very slow word from the metal scene, and luckily, we have a HUGE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to lead things off! We also have some cool news relating to a local author, this week's classic video, and some assorted other stories to get to, but for now, let's kick things off with today's top story!

Poison frontman Bret Michaels is coming back to Kewadin Casino! The hair metal legend and recent reality television star will make his fourth(?) local concert appearance on December 27th when he headlines a solo concert at The Dreammaker's Theater! This will be his first time headlining at Kewadin since last year's Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival, but you may also remember his birthday show there in March 2008, and before all of that, he headlined a 2005 concert at the old Eastgate Hotel in Sault Ontario as well. This time however, you can go see Bret play solo material and Poison classics as a Christmas present, and if you love hair metal, isn't that a great idea? No word yet on possible opening bands, but most of his previous local stops have had at least one, so I'll keep an eye out in case something's announced. Local news sites (including SooToday and The Sault Star) have confirmed the news in articles, so click the above links for their coverage! As I like to do when major touring bands like this return to the Sault area, I like to share an old concert video from one of their last stops, so here's SooToday's video of Bret Michaels from his 2008 concert at Kewadin Casino as a preview of what to expect next month!



That all said, what should you know about tickets? They'll be $42.50, which isn't too bad overall, and they will go on sale TOMORROW MORNING at 9:00 AM! For when they do go on sale, you can pick them up online at this location, by calling 1-800-KEWADIN, or by visiting the Kewadin box office in person. This show should be all ages too, and a start time of 7:00 PM is listed. Check the above links for more details! It's great to see Bret back in the area and in good health, and with just under two months to go, hopefully this is as big of a success as Bret's last local shows! Stay tuned for updates as they come in!

Next up, are you familiar at all with a local author named George Case? We've never talked about him on here, but I really should have a lot sooner than now. He's written 5 published books, contributed in two others, and has two brand new books now in stores. The reason why this counts for the SMS is that 2 of them directly relate to rock legends Led Zeppelin, and from what I hear, they're both extremely good and well researched! One is one of his newest books, entitled "Led Zeppelin FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Greatest Hard Rock Band of All Time", which explores and analyzes the lingering questions and rumours about Led Zeppelin and it's members. and the other is 2009's "Jimmy Page: Magus, Magician, Man", which was apparently the first published biography about the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist. These & most of his other books (including last year's "Out Of Our Heads" about the days of excess from '60s & '70s rock legends) are on sale on various online outlets, including through Chapters/Indigo, which means that you can also order them through Coles in the Station or Cambrian Mall if they aren't in stock at either local location. I wanna say that The Rad Zone has at least some of his books in stock too, but I may be wrong. Click the book titles above to pick them up online! None go for more than $16 in paperback.

Also, George contributed to another Led Zeppelin book named "Whole Lotta Zeppelin", so click that link for more details. With the release of his newest two books (including one on social & political issues), he's been back in the local news with very nice articles on SooToday, Local2, and The Sault Star, so click those links for more as well! I certainly appreciate Led Zeppelin's impact on hard rock & metal, and though I've yet to read George's books on them, I can tell from everything I've seen that he's left no stone unturned to make these books accurate & very informative! If you love Led Zeppelin, definitely pick up George's books at the above links, and support local authors!

Thirdly today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Cheboygan hard rock quartet The Darwin Project are being interviewed TOMORROW MORNING on Rock 101! Their new single will also be played on air. Details are scant online, but I believe the interview will be during "Scott & Brian In The Morning", meaning it'll be between 7:00 AM & 10:00 AM if that's accurate. Awesome to see Rock 101 give some Northern Michigan talent some exposure, so listen to 101.3 FM tomorrow morning to hear the interview, and fingers crossed they play a local show again soon!
• I've edited our GarageBand Profile on Gates of Winter to remove a video I'd posted of their song "Burning Kingdom II: Heavenly Insurgence". I originally uploaded it because I thought it wasn't on YouTube already, but it actually was, so I removed it to avoid redundancy. Stay tuned for more news if it comes in!
• This is sort of foreshadowing for our final item, but I've edited our Defunct Local Band Profile on local hard rock band Renderware to note that original bassist Ian Robinson was later in the local punk band Talk Shit. Wanna know a bit more on them? Check our today's last item below!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! With Sativa Rose set to return from a four month hiatus on Sunday when they open for Skull Fist at The Canadian, it made sense to tie in this week's video in with them in some way, and more specifically, we'll tie it in with guitarist Andrew Angelic! You've likely seen him before in other local bands, and one of his more prominent ones was the local punk quartet Talk Shit, who played scattered live dates from 2008-2009, though I don't think they ever had an online page. Andrew memorably played in Talk Shit with three ex-members of Renderware, those being singer/drummer Adam Sauve, guitarist Marc LaFrance, and bassist Ian Robinson, which is an interesting pairing of talented musicians! Why are we featuring a primarily punk band for a classic video though? Because a video I came across is of a heavier sounding original, and it honestly has a Lion Ride vibe going for it! Entitled "Fuck Hugs", this comes from a concert that Talk Shit played at the now-closed Nite Life Dance Club (a.k.a. GLOW) when they opened for Toronto pop punk band The Artist Life on November 29th, 2009. Very nice video quality, and the song is pretty catchy with a clear metal flourish that not all of their live songs had, so it's definitely worth checking out!

Filmed by former Infrastrate guitarist Patrick Webb and uploaded onto Facebook the next day, you can see the original video at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=357895575603. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Talk Shit and Patrick, they did the hard work here, I'm just sharing this song with a wider audience like it deserves! So, give this week's classic video a look below for a heavier turn from Talk Shit, and hopefully they return in some form in the future!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news likely on the weekend, as I'm honestly low on stories at the moment. We'll probably have a new post on Saturday, as I've gotta preview the Skull Fist concert, so keep an eye out then! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Local Concert Previews!!

The weekend's drawing near, and lucky us, it's a packed weekend for local concerts! A bunch of local bands are hitting the stage, as well as a returning tribute band and a multi-platinum metal band making their own return to the Sault area! So here are your local concert previews for this weekend! (Stay tuned tomorrow for a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and more news and updates!)

We'll start with the locals today, and first, we have the return of Turner Up! The local hard rock cover band will return to live stage after a two week break for a show tomorrow night at The Canadian Nightclub! Yes, it's just tomorrow, you'll know why they're not playing on Saturday in a second. Turner Up will take the stage at 10:00 PM, I'd expect a cover charge of around $3, and you must be 19 to get in. I saw on Facebook that guitarist Len Ward claimed the cause of the earthquake we felt yesterday was a result of Turner Up and the anticipation for this show! Amusing, and for all we know, it could be true! If you want to hear some solid hard rock covers from one of the area's busiest bands, this could be the show for you! Don't be disaffected early though, their set gets heavier as the night goes on! Confirm your attendance at this location, check out more from Turner Up at their Facebook group, and for a preview, here's the band covering Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" from a show in March!



Now over to Sault Michigan for the next four shows, as a pair of local bands hit local bars for some weekend sets! If you're heading to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino this weekend, you'll be treated to a concert by local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle! Just like the rest of their post-name change concerts, it's not listed on their MySpace page, but Kewadin Casino's Entertainment page does list the shows, so there's your proof! Going by past Rapids Lounge concert history, there will be NO cover charge, and the show starts at 9:00 PM tomorrow night and Saturday night. You must be 21 to get in. Always an entertaining live band, if hard to find concerts for, Monkey's Uncle will deliver their hard rocking sound to fans at Kewadin this weekend! Check out more from the band at their MySpace page! Luckily, I can give you guys a video preview of Monkey's Uncle again, their videos are back on their page, so here's a clip of the band from their Jager days covering Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog"!



So, let's say you wanna see a different band at a Sault Michigan bar this weekend. Where do you go? Well, how about The Bird, cause that's where Nixxon Dixxon are playing! The rising young stars return to the stage there tomorrow night and Saturday night at 10:00 PM! Both shows are also 21+. It's been a bit since we last saw them, so why not make it out! Actually, if you miss them this weekend, they'll be back at The Bird next weekend too, so you're covered regardless! Nixxon Dixxon always impress, especially for a band of their age, cause they've got talent and experience beyond their years! Click here to check out more from Nixxon Dixxon, and for a preview, here's a video of the band covering the Alice In Chains classic "Would?"



A quick detour back to Sault Ontario for this concert, as The Canadian Nightclub's string of tribute bands continues on Saturday night! Black Dog: The Tribute To Led Zeppelin will play at The Canadian on Saturday, 14 months after they last played in Sault Ontario during a double weekend set at Coch's Corner! This would likely explain why Turner Up are only playing there on Friday. Black Dog are a good sounding Led Zeppelin tribute band, and should deliver a good performance on Saturday night! Check out their MySpace page for proof! The show starts at 10:00 PM, I'd expect a cover charge of $5 or less, and you also must be 19 to get in. Confirm your attendance at this location! I wonder what tribute band is next for The Canadian in coming weekends? If you want to rock out with Led Zeppelin classics, you'll wanna be here on Saturday! For a preview, here's a short clip of Black Dog playing "Stairway To Heaven"!



And finally this weekend is the big show, the one you've all been waiting for, as Tesla return to Kewadin Casino! Last seen here in February 2007, the Sacramento hard rock legends will make their long awaited return to The Dreammakers Theater on Saturday night! Of course, you will best recognize Tesla for such hits as "Signs", "Love Song", and "Mama's Fool", among many others, and they're bound to impress on Saturday! They've sold over 5 million albums, their most recent being 2008's "Forever More". Tesla even have the exact same lineup as from the 2007 concert, so you'll know exactly what you're in for! Joining them will be Detroit hard rockers Fifth Way, who'll open the show with their great sounding radio hard rock material! Of course, click the above links to check out both bands, they're definitely worth seeing! Now, how can you go to see Tesla on Saturday night? Well, if you don't already have your ticket, good news: the concert's not sold out yet!

Tickets are $38.50 and can be bought online at this location, at the Kewadin Casino box office, or by calling them at (906) 341-2951! Call them also to see if there's a meet and greet with Tesla at all before the show, cause many Dreammakers Theater shows have them, but they never get plugged online. Doors open at 6:00 PM, Fifth Way kicks things off at 7:00, and yes, it's all ages! Should be a great show, I know a number of you have tickets and can't wait to see Tesla again, I hope the show's a huge success! Tesla are a pretty good band that managed to transcend the "hair metal" tag and stay relevant with their blues influenced heavy metal, and they have a sound that Saultites are bound to eat up! For a video preview, here's Tesla's cover of ZZ Top's "Beer Drinkers & Hellraisers" from their February 2007 show at Kewadin Casino!



That's all for today, hopefully you guys hit some concerts this weekend! Remember, I'll have a news/updates post tomorrow with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so stay tuned for that! Plus, my newest profiles of out of town bands with local members will be up by Wednesday, and the SMS turns 3 one week from Sunday! Remember to voice your opinions on our Facebook page's discussion board as to what you want to see the SMS add, feature, or do for the occasion! Thanks everyone, stay tuned for lots more!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Black Dog & Subsistance), A Possible New Show, And New Videos!!

(EDIT: 3:56 PM) The Sault Metal Scene sends the deepest condolences possible to the family, friends, and bandmates of Ronnie James Dio, who died this morning at the age of 67. He had been battling stomach cancer since last year. If it's working when you click the link, a statement from his wife Wendy has been posted confirming the news on his official website. Dio was a multi-platinum selling heavy metal singer whose prolific career included stints in Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Elf, Dio, and most recently, Heaven and Hell. I and thousands of others had the privilege of seeing Ronnie James Dio live at the now-Essar Center in March of 2007 when Heaven and Hell played here live on their Canadian tour with Megadeth and Down. It was hands down the best concert I've ever seen at the arena, and I'm certainly not alone in saying that. He's always been one of my favourite metal frontmen, and he kept the horns flying til the end. R.I.P. Dio, your incredible body of work lives on!

It's Sunday, and you know what that means...actually, I didn't have anything special planned. But I do have a packed new post for today with more assorted news and updates! Two new videos from a pair of local metal bands, a possible new show that needs a venue, and kicking things off, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (Also, check out my re-review of Garden of Bedlam's debut E.P. immediately below this post!)

Attention Led Zeppelin fans! Black Dog, the Toronto-based Led Zeppelin tribute act last seen here in April 2009, will be back in town on June 26th! Unlike last year's two weekend dates at Coch's Corner, Black Dog will rock The Canadian Nightclub this time, and it will only be one concert, on June 26th. Their MySpace page says they're playing at "The Knights Inn", which is the hotel that The Canadian is downstairs from, so I'm pretty safe in assuming they mean The Canadian. A start time of 10:00 PM is listed, and knowing concerts there, I'd expect at least a nominal cover charge. Make sure you're 19 too, this is a bar. The Canadian have yet to announce this show, but it appears to be a go! Black Dog even launched their own Facebook event page for it, click here to confirm your attendance and get more info! I heard they did a good job at their shows last April at Coch's Corner, but if you still want to hear how Black Dog sound, there are audio and video samples at their MySpace page, which aren't bad! They've been paying tribute to Led Zeppelin for years, and promise an authentic Zeppelin experience, so hopefully you guys can make it out! If I hear more, I'll let you guys know!

The other new show I have today is courtesy of Montreal old school hardcore band Subsistance, who will be at Foggy Notions (or "Foggy's Bar", as they put it) on July 21st! This hasn't been officially announced by Foggy's, but Subsistance list an 8:00 PM start time for this show. I'd expect a cover charge of $2-$3, and it will almost certainly be 19+. This seems like the type of show that might have extra bands tacked on later, so if I hear something in that regard, you'll hear it here! Their sound is about on the border of what counts as "metal" on the SMS, with a heavy punk influence, but they're just metal enough for coverage here! They have some fast heavy songs that recall old school hardcore pretty nicely, and they list Megadeth and Motorhead as influences! Good stuff, I imagine this show will go over well, check out some of their original material at their official MySpace page! I'm comfortable confirming this show, but if I hear changes or updates, you'll be sure to hear about them here!

Next up, I have came across another band that looks to play here in the near future! And when I say "near future", I mean that. Kitchener progressive hardcore band Set Anchors have a "TBA" date announced for May 27th for Sault Ontario. Sure it's short notice, but maybe someone out there could help? E-mail the band at their official MySpace page if you'd like to book them somewhere on May 27th! I like their sound, they're heavy and have some good instrumentation, while being hardcore enough for mosh-loving hardcore fans! I guess I should note that the date they listed is during a tour with another Kitchener band named Kingdoms, who you'll recognize as being the advertised headliners for that Out Of The Mouth Of Babes show they tentatively listed for May 28th at Foggy Notions. Remember, Kingdoms were booked in Etobicoke on that same day, so might OOTMOB have meant for the show to have been on May 27th? Are/were Kingdoms and Set Anchors set for a show here on the 27th? I'm not gonna say, there's not enough evidence to point to a definite concert, but I'm just throwing that out there. Still, contact Set Anchors and see if we can get them here!

Capping today's post are two new local metal videos! And first, we have the first full music video from local hard rockers Stillbroke! It's for the song "No Reason" off of their debut E.P. "Never Enough" from November of last year! It mostly features the band in and around an abandoned and heavily damaged house, throwing things, exploring the surroundings, and of course, playing the song! Though he didn't play on the E.P., new Stillbroke guitarist Chris Villeneuve gets lots of time on camera, including playing half of the guitar solo, and it looks like he has a firm grasp of it! I wonder how he sounds live? The video's actually a bit more than I was expecting, I figured it'd just be a performance clip, so kudos for Stillbroke for going the extra mile! The video was filmed by Paul Grimard from Extreme Airbrushing (check out some of his amazing artwork at that link), who was also responsible for the YouTube videos of Helix's 2008 concert at The Canadian Nightclub (click here to visit his YouTube channel!) Check out Stillbroke's video right here!



The second new video is one of three new demo clips from new local metal band WinkStinger! They've sure been loading up on YouTube videos, haven't they? These three are also on YouTube user joeyvelcro's channel, and let's go through what's now posted! The first video is for the song "Fuck The Rest", which is nice, fast, and heavy, very moshable! I can picture this getting lots of people to the front of the stage! Second is "In Other Words", which is a bit slower, but honestly, catchier! I'm detecting a Pantera-ish influence in it, and I completely welcome that! The third video, which is the longest, and the one I'm embedding here, is "The Taker" which has more of a punk rawness than the first two, but still has lots of hardcore rage and heaviness! With some polish and live experience, these guys could be something very special, here's hoping they keep it up! Check out "The Taker" below, and the rest of the new clips by clicking the above links!



That's all for today, but the fun's not over yet for this busy stretch on the SMS! Tuesday, we have a new poll coming up, my newest profiles of out of town bands with local members will be up by next Monday, my review of "Castle Stories" will be somewhere in that stretch, and as always, news and updates littered throughout! Lots of excitement around here in the next week, hope you come back real soon to see what's in store!