Pillory & Hails Updates, Plus Much More News & Notes!!

Happy September, everyone! Yes, it's just a month, but as things start to quiet down with the fall season truly beginning, I hope to catch up on lots of backlogged news items in the near term, and that starts with some assorted recent notes related to current live bands, so here's what you should know on this sunny Sunday afternoon!

We'll start with new videos from reunited local death/thrash metal trio Pillory, courtesy of drummer Bret Shuttleworth's YouTube channel! Three weeks ago, Bret uploaded seventeen videos from their return set at the all-local metal show at Robbie Adamson's old church in Leeburn in July, though the catch here is that they are all "Shorts" (a.k.a. YouTube "Reels"). Thusly, they are all vertical and none exceed a minute in length, though at least you can embed them on external websites! Most of these "Shorts" are clearly from the high balcony vantage point seen in the previously uploaded full-set video on Bret's channel, but from different filmers. Only six were filmed at floor level, and one is embedded below, but Bret didn't give any unique titles or descriptions or any of these "Shorts", so I can't tell you individual song names for every clip. Still, Pillory are definitely back in full force for fans of their mid-late 2010s death metal era!

It is worth noting that attendee Cole Speers shot a 2 minute video of them opening for The Fixer at Soo Blaster last month, as seen in a comment reply on a post on Pillory's Facebook page on August 24th plugging that event. As it was uploaded from a personal account to a comment thread, I can't embed it here, but the (unlabelled) song is suitably brutal, and shot horizontally(!), so it's a shame that it's not easier to access! Check out one of the longer(-ish) Pillory "Shorts" below, and stay tuned for more updates from Robert, Blair, and Bret soon!

Next up, here's the latest from local skate punk/crossover thrash quartet Ha!ls, so what's new from their camp? As you may recall, they took a road trip to Southern Ontario for two concerts this past weekend, with a "Reel" being posted on their Facebook page on Thursday from their set at the Humber River Arts & Music Festival in Toronto! The short, vertical, and unembeddable video sees Hails (sans guitarist Carmen Muto, who didn't make the trip) playing their non-EP original "Crustal Displacement". though the clip focuses on Carmen's brother Mikhal's guitar solo. Was it raining, judging by the camera lens reflection? What we see in the video is promising (if way too short), so give it a look above! The Vanity First sister band will be hitting the road again for a multi-band event in Bay City, Michigan later this month (details here), but in a new confirmation, they'll also play downstate in Ypsilanti at a similar concert on November 28th!

Ypsilanti is 5 hours south of here (outside of Detroit), but it is neat to see Brent, the Mutos, and Keeghan continuing to get opportunities to play across the border, and if you want to know how they're jumping through the necessary hoops, give them a shout! In the meantime, we have a new video from Hails' Facebook page to share here, and while it is short & vertical, it is not a "Reel", so I can embed it here! The video sees Ha!ls playing their original "Ghosts" at the aforementioned Leeburn concert in July, specifically focusing on Carmen's guitar solo, as filmed from the high balcony seen in much of Pillory's footage. Impressively performed & very heavy, and well framed for a vertical clip, so check it out below!

Now, let's look at a rarity: a commercial hyping an upcoming touring band's gig here! This comes to promote Sudbury-based Rush tribute band Rust's local debut at Soo Blaster on Saturday, November 2nd, and was shared to the Facebook event page while also making the rounds as a paid/sponsored post on relevant user news feeds. It features lots of footage of Rust (featuring members of past local touring tribute headliners Just Leppard) playing "YYZ" in concert, along with text to promote their concert at "the Soo Blaster". It's always good to see specific promotion for local concerts like this straight from the touring band, so give it a watch below, and tickets are still available at this link and at the venue!

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

 

• In the first public update on his last(?) studio album "The Chaotic Rite" in months, local folk punk/extreme metal singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore revealed on his Facebook page last week that the album was 95% done when it "got trapped on my desktop's hard drive", and without an available backup, he is still trying to recover the files. Also, his three newest original songs "The Speciest", "From Beyond The Clouds", and "A Song For The Apocalypse" were never planned for "The Chaotic Rite", but may be packaged in a separate digital EP. Hopefully Chase can save the files, especially after the years of work that he's put into the album!
• In an e-mailed press release from Fort Creek guitarist Bill Brouillard last month, he confirmed to me that the southern hard rock band have abandoned their previously released/teased original songs like "Hammer Down" from their long-gestating debut album "as a show of good faith" to former members Robin "Bones" Lee and Anthony Fabiano (now of Bullet Train), who quietly left Fort Creek a year ago. Justin, Shane, and Bill have effectively started from scratch to rebuild their studio and write new original material, so it'll be interesting to see how things progress for Fort Creek in studio and for their presumed eventual live return!
  
• Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will run it back this Friday when they will indeed serve as local openers for North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks' second local headlining date at The Machine Shop! Silent 9 debuted on the public stage at Cory's show here in July 2023, and it's good to see that fans will get an encore, so stay tuned for our preview of that concert later this week, and click here to get your tickets! Yes, Silent 9 are double booked on Friday, and will head west to The Esquire Club for their return to the weekend nightclub circuit after their set.

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Slumshine) & New Videos!!

Keeping this steady string of new posts going this week, we have two more LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS from the same artist to look at in the next month, along with some new videos, so let's get this post started!

Local acoustic punk solo project Slumshine will play at the annual Fringe North Festival for a third straight year when they rock "the Comet Stage" outside of the Sault Ste. Marie Museum on Thursday, August 22nd! Unfortunately, I completely missed plugging Slumshine's show at Fringe North last year, but I didn't miss this year's! As confirmed in the official program (Slumshine haven't updated their Facebook page since 2021), they will be the opening act on the Comet Stage for day #2 of the annual arts, culture, and inclusivity festival taking place at multiple downtown venues, though primarily at the Museum. Led by Hails frontman Brenton Ellis with his acoustic guitar and pink knit ski mask in tow, and presenting a show inspired by his recovery from addiction, Slumshine play at 7:00 PM next Thursday, preceding sets by Toronto R&B musician Aieysha Haws at 8:00 PM, ...

...Thunder Bay rapper O'Rose at 9:00 PM, and local rappers from Sooicide Records closing at 10:00 PM. Despite the tight scheduling, acts across Fringe North are individually priced at two levels (general admission and a much higher "support the artist" rate), with no batch pricing options for an entire day's lineup. While openly "pay what you can", the minimum advance admission price for Slumshine's set is $5 for the former and $15 for the latter, though $10 and $20 are suggested in the program. As this year's only hard rock/punk outpost, hopefully Slumshine go over well, so visit the above links for complete Fringe North details for this year! While we're on the subject, we have one more new show to take note of from Slumshine, as they will make their Soo Blaster debut and (I believe) their first non-Fringe North concert since 2020 when they open for Ottawa alternative/folk singer/guitarist Rory Taillon on Tuesday, September 3rd!

Rory hasn't played here since headlining at the former Gore Street Cafe in 2016, and while not punk-influenced like Brent's solo material is, his music does have thematic similarities via lyrics about mental health and his personal life, so the shoe fits in that way, and he is a talented musician with a distinctive voice! This stop on Rory's support tour for his new album "Now It's Quiet" has a likely 19+ age limit, 8:00 PM start time, and admission of $10 at this link or $15 at the door. Visit the above links for more on this all-acoustic Tuesday nighter next month, and don't miss Slumshine next week!

Next up, here's our first video look at reunited local death/thrash metal trio Pillory in concert! Filmed by an uncredited attendee of their return set at last month's all-local Crucifest replacement event at Robbie Adamson's old church in Leeburn, this was uploaded to drummer Bret Shuttleworth's YouTube channel two weeks ago. It captures their entire 44 minutes-long set, though there is a bit of minor post-production editing to cut out some dead air. Unfortunately, Bret did not list songs by name with timecodes in the description, and multiple songs were not introduced live anyway, but Pillory are continuing along the path they were carving in the late 2010s, with frontman Robert Sartini deploying Death-inspired harsh vocals, so don't expect close similarities to their "Cringe At The Cross" EP from that front alone. Prolific local musician Blair St. John is on bass here, continuing in that role from their final 2010s gigs.

This video was shot vertically, but at least the filmer captured Pillory from that high platform that other Leeburn concertgoers have used for a unique vantage point from above, and as such, the guys are least laid out for a vertical orientation better! The lighting is very inconsistent though, with Robert basically performing in shadow from what we see.  If you like brutal thrash-inspired death metal, Pillory's return after a five year hiatus (with a few false starts in the interim) will be very welcomed, so give their return set a watch below, and don't miss them opening for The Fixer at Soo Blaster on August 25th, with more to come!

Finally for this post, here's the latest videos from local progressive metal band Convergence's YouTube channel! As the wait for their third EP "Gemini" continues, the guys posted two new sampler videos of new original songs in the past month, including the previously teased "It Ate The F&$%ing Moon" (yes, that is how they censored it), but embedded below is guitarist Brendan Christie playing an apparent new original song named "You Are Not Flesh". No one else is seen in this video, but I believe Jake Valois is also playing in the other clip (granted, no one's face is shown on camera there). "You Are Not Flesh" is not visibly tied to "Gemini" in the video proper or description, but it definitely sounds the part for fans of djent and progressive metal, and of course, Brendan and Jake are considerable talents on guitar, so it'll be interesting to hear more come out! Give Convergence's new teaser clips a watch, and stay tuned for updates!

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

The First Of This Weekend's Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

This concert weekend isn't as busy as last week, but it will still take three posts to get through everything with metal, hard rock, and punk bands in the Twin Saults and area! This first preview post looks at most of the heavier-leaning shows taking place tomorrow night (all thankfully with advance notice), with Bone Yard 225 and Saturday-only events coming in the next two posts. Here's what you should know to start off!

Four local metal bands will descend upon Robbie Adamson's old church in Leeburn TOMORROW NIGHT! This special concert is the replacement event for Crucifest, a planned metal festival promoted by Deciduous Events & Decor that was cancelled due to health concerns with the main organizer. As such, the five planned touring Ontario metal bands (Beguiler, Salem Trials, Seagrave, Drugwolf, and Dead Roots) will not be here tomorrow, but the four local openers will rock on, including the long awaited return of death/thrash metal trio Pillory in their first show in almost five years! Robert, Blair, and Bret's comeback has been teased a few times, so hopefully they melt many faces tomorrow! Skate punk/crossover thrash quartet Hails (who played in Leeburn at the It's The Pits festival last month) and metal trio The BAG (fresh off of opening for Vaegon at Jay's) will also keep up their recent local momentum by making the hour's drive east.

Finally, the debuting (and online page-less) Sault Side Squad will open things tomorrow, featuring As It Stands' Justin "Nadj" Pregent, A Dire Setback's Chris Nielsen, Jack Spades alum Anthony Orazietti, The Haze's Jordan Wardlaw, and Winkstinger's Jonas Gasperas in their stacked lineup. This concert has no age limit, a 7:00 PM start time, and a $20 admission fee (camping tomorrow night is encouraged as you'd expect at 5756 Highway 638). If you love local metal and you're able to drive out to Leeburn tomorrow night, you won't want to miss this stacked concert, so visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Pillory live!

Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan for another Friday nighter, as local blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 will return to The Merchants Bar TOMORROW NIGHT, but in a relatively unusual twist, they'll be sharing the stage with another band for a nightclub gig! For this latest stop on the "#summerof906", the guys will be performing alongside Ann Arbor power pop trio The City Lines, who are fronted by Saultite Patrick Deneau. It's always good to see relocated local musicians come home for concerts, and while I'm not overly familiar with Patrick, he seems thrilled to be playing in the Soo once again, so don't miss The City Lines' upbeat indie rock-leaning originals tomorrow at The Merch! It's not clear who's headlining, as even the official poster lists both bands first in different spots. Note that, according to fellow local hard rock band Exit 808's Facebook page, their drummer Jackie Moon will be filling in for Jason VanLuven tomorrow, but 906 have not publically confirmed that. If true, Jackie should fill in nicely!

This show has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video of Project 906! This (sadly) vertical video comes from their outdoor show at The Well Diggers Watering Hole & Feed Lot in nearby Kinross on July 13th, and was posted to their Facebook page the following day. It features 51 seconds of the ending jam from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", which notably features guest hand drums from Paradise Excuse alum Brian Duford (no word on if he was present for more than this song but he has guested with 906 before). No Billy to hear here, but this is a fun snippet off what went down two weeks ago, so give it a look below!

Back to Sault Ontario now, as local classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will continue his weekly summer arrangements at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TOMORROW NIGHT and Misty's Fifties on SATURDAY! No Gino's gig this week, so if you want to see Tym's vast array of unplugged covers, you'll have to head to the outdoor stage beside the ice cream parlor at The Trading Post tomorrow or the Second Line West nightclub for his weekly Saturday matinee. Either way, fans will get a good show! As usual, tomorrow's show is at 7:00 PM, Saturday's is at 4:00 PM, the former is all ages, and neither has an announced cover charge. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy weather at about 26° tomorrow, so prepare for a warm one if you're seeing him then. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here and here for more details, and for a preview of these shows, here's Tym live!

Finally for these previews, let's head back to Michigan for local hard rock quintet The Nameless' St. Ignace debuts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Northern Pines Lounge at their Kewadin Casino! Last seen two weeks ago at the aforementioned Merch, this weekend's shows will be The Nameless' first at a casino (Kewadin or otherwise), and hopefully the guys get a good response with their hard rocking covers, even if they don't have hair metal fans outside to make up the numbers later on like last week! No frills to mention here beyond the usual, with 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charges. Despite their lack of public videos (their unembeddable debut concert livestream aside), The Nameless are a talented group with familiar faces in their ranks, so keep these shows in mind, and visit the official Facebook event pages linked here and here for more details!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our previews of Bone Yard 225, Neither Could Dylan, and HeadFirst's shows this weekend, along with the Go North Music Festival and the Salty Marie Trails Fest, in some form or fashion in the next day or two! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Hails), Crucifest's Cancellation, And New Videos!!

Happy Canada Day to all readers who celebrate, and I hope everyone enjoyed having an extra long weekend this year via it being on a Monday! In our first post of what is surely to be a busy July, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, linked cancellation, and new concert videos from last month, so here's what you should know!

The planned Crucifest extreme metal concert at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn on Friday, July 26th has been cancelled. According to promoters Deciduous Events & Decor on their Facebook page yesterday,  "our main organizer has been dealing with ongoing health issues", which has forced her to give up promoting the festival. Definitely a shame, as I know how many metalheads and Robbie's church fans were looking forward to this, but hopefully D.E.A.D. can try promoting a similar event in the future when health allows! Tickets already purchased through Eventbrite will be refunded. However, not all is lost, as the show must go on, if in a reduced capacity! While the five touring Ontario metal bands (Beguiler, Salem Trials, Seagrave, Drugwolf, and Dead Roots) are no longer playing here this month, the four local bands have banded together to keep the July 26th booking, so fans can still prepare to bang their heads then!

This is considered to be a replacement concert with separate admission pricing, but camping that night is still encouraged. Punk/thrash trio (quartet?) Hails have seemingly taken on the promotional banner in their return to Leeburn following last month's It's The Pits Festival, and they will be joined by the reunited Pillory's first public concert in almost five years, rising young metal trio The BAG, and the debuting Sault Side Squad (featuring As It Stands, A Dire Setback, Jack Spades, The Haze, and Winkstinger alumni). It's not entirely clear who is headlining now, as the presented band order is not consistent in promotions. This new all-local metal concert has no stated age limit, a 7:00 PM start time, and a flat admission fee at the door of $20 (Crucifest was $25 for the Friday and $45 for the full weekend, including camping). We have seen local bands salvage cancelled bookings like this before, so kudos for doing so here!

I just hope it doesn't rain on the 26th like it did for It's The Pits, but if you're up for the hour's drive east to rock out (and/or camp out) at the church, visit the official Facebook event page for more details! While we're on the subject, the aforementioned Ha!ls were filmed at It's The Pits for a video publically posted to their Facebook page on Wednesday! Be advised that I have seen more videos than this from It's The Pits, but regrettably, as Facebook goes, they all were either on private accounts or were exclusively shared as "Stories", which means that they can only be seen once or twice before vanishing. A brief separate video of Hails was shared by P.I.T.S.' Instagram page in a batch post covering videos from the whole day, with bubbles a-flying, and it has a better angle than the Facebook video, if square by necessity given that it was uploaded to Instagram. Ha!ls are third in the rotation there, so don't bypass those clips!

As for the Facebook video, it features Hails playing their non-album original "Bipolaris" from a unique high camera angle, clearly from an open second floor locale. In this case, I'll forgive the vertical orientation given that it better accentuates everyone's placement on the stage! Note that guitarist Carmen Muto was present in both the Facebook and Instagram clips, but as he was in the promotional imagery for the festival, you can't be shocked (Ha!ls still haven't confirmed that he's joined the band on their own social media). A little cymbal heavy, but this 39 second clip thrashes along well, so give it a watch below, and see more from It's The Pits above!

Finally for today, here's a brand new video from local alternative/punk cover sextet BookcluB live at this year's Poutine Feast yesterday! The first video uploaded to their new (if almost two years-belated) Facebook page, it captures 41 seconds of their cover of Doug & The Slugs' "Making It Work". Filmed roughly side-stage, this (thankfully) horizontal video doesn't have the crispest clarity, but the guys sound good, and it does give us our first public visual look at an SMS-amenable band rocking the Village Media Stage at the Downtown Plaza. For what we see of this band-focused clip, things look professional and open for fans (some were dancing), but I'm curious to see how the video screen above the stage looks in conjunction with performers below it, and of course, this was a community festival moreso than a formal ticketed concert. Check out BookcluB yesterday below, and don't miss them at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Saturday the 20th!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post and more soon! Thanks everyone!

It's The Pits, Inconsistent Me, And BookcluB Concert Previews!!

Before we finally cap off this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews, just a friendly tip that Wyld Stallyns/ex-Elements frontman Rob Speers will return to The Dive Gastro Pub for another acoustic show on their patio tomorrow night. I'm still not 100% sure if his solo dates are similar to his bands in set/sound or not, hence why I'm not covering it as normal here, but keep it in mind if you want some downtown unplugged music! Now, let's wrap up this weekend's previews by looking at a big festival an hour or so outside of town, plus two Sunday events, so here's what you should know!

We'll start at Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn, where local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their biggest ever concert TOMORROW, namely the It's The Pits! Yes, live music returns to the site of the late 2010s Oh!No fesitvals and last year's private Bear Hunters reunion event, and P.I.T.S. (peach pit motif fully intact) will be bringing a wide array of styles to the church tomorrow, and while the former Dryer Fire have never been known as a metal/punk-first promotion agency, two of the ten acts tomorrow are SMS-amenable! Half of the bill is comprised of touring artists, and while it's not clear if the poster gives away the performance order (we don't know set times anyway), Toronto electronica duo LAL are definitely the headliners tomorrow night. Also making their way here are Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, who genre fans will definitely take to with their melodic sound!

Other touring acts tomorrow are Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton (who played in the Soo in October), Toronto "deep Earth folk" project Twintwa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan "dark folk" duo Rabbit Fur. The local contingent tomorrow includes crossover thrash/punk band Hails (who will be back in Leeburn for Crucifest next month), DJ Seith (who joined Ha!ls at the private Leeburn event last July), Chris West's local/Quebec indie solo project Tampa, lo-fi "anti-folk" singer/guitarist Shae Tull, and the cryptic regional Americana project Tye Lawless Co.. Note that ex-Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's folk project Sibling dropped out of It's The Pits last month after deciding to step away from music, and they were not replaced on the bill. Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is tomorrow's host, and numerous arts and culture vendors will be selling their wares on site.

It's The Pits (which has no stated age limit) takes place tomorrow at 2:00 PM into the night at 5756 Highway 638 outside of Bruce Mines, and attendees are welcome & encouraged to camp out on site and leave on Sunday if they so choose. Just respect the space, and mind tomorrow's rainy weather forecast (though the concert proper is indoors). Tickets cost $45 in advance at this link or via P.I.T.S. staff, and the price jumps to $50 at the gate. Hopefully It's The Pits is a huge hit for Nicole and crew, so that they make this an annual event, and punk fans will enjoy The Mendozaz and Hails in particular among this talented lineup! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Mendozaz live!

Next up, let's head back into Sault Ste. Marie city limits for two concerts taking place on SUNDAY, starting with a matinee performance by online page-less local alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub as the headliners during that day's teddy bear picnic at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery! Last crossing our radar when Tym Morrison had a weekly run there in late 2019, the 4057 Third Line West mill/winery will host their first ever teddy bear picnic on Sunday afternoon, where families and their kids are encouraged to come down (with picnic blankets and plush toys in tow) to enjoy refreshments, family entertainment, games, prize draws, local vendors, and of course, music! BookcluB will be headlining at 1:00 PM (running for three hours), while veteran R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers will open the picnic with a few sets starting at 10:00 AM. What's unclear is if they'll be playing inside at the Wine Barn or fully outdoors.

Regardless of age, tickets run for $10 at this link or presumably upon entry, though if you have a baby 2 years or younger, they'll get in free. The Weather Channel is currently projecting partly cloudy weather in the 22° range on Sunday afternoon, but showers do bookend the 10 AM-4 PM timeframe, so if you are at all concerned about the rain messing with the picnic, keep tabs on your preferred local weather reports closer to Sunday. It'll be interesting to see how things go at Thomson Farms, both for the atypical concert setting, the potential weather impairment, and just how the teddy bear picnic goes, but BookcluB should get a good response! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!

Finally for this very busy slate of weekend concert previews, let's head to The Distraction, where Detroit pop punk solo project Inconsistent Me will headline on SUNDAY NIGHT! One of a surprising number of Michigan-based touring bands to play in Sault Ontario in recent months (if only Sault Michigan bands were similarly crossing over), Inconsistent Me's brand of up tempo & nostalgic pop punk should draw a good response from fans at the old barbership on East Street, so don't miss out if you can swing coming on a work night! No word on if Brendan will be playing solo with a backing track or if he has a band with him (both have happened in the past). Local support will come by way of punk trio Vanity First, capping off a busy weekend for Mikhal and Keeghan (and Carmen?) following their sister band Hails' sets at Go Skateboarding Day tonight and at It's The Pits yesterday! Also, this is their first show since releasing "Identity Crisis" in April.

Oddly, Vanity haven't been promoting this show much in recent weeks, but it does appear to be on for Sunday as scheduled, and as usual, this is an all ages concert. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and admission is via a "$10 or pay-what-you-can" model. If the rain scared you off of Go Skate Day, and if Leeburn is a little too remote for tomorrow, punk fans may find that Inconsistent Me is what the doctor ordered, so definitely visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Inconsistent Me live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (It's The Pits) And Mikey & His Uke's New Cover!!

As teased at the end of yesterday's post, we are looking at the other new summer concert festival announced for the same venue via an extended LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and a new high profile cover video rounds things out. Here's what you should know for this punk-leaning post!

Make it two summer concert festivals hitting Robbie Adamson's church in nearby Leeburn in the coming months, as local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their own festival named It's The Pits on Saturday, June 22nd! Playing into the whole peach pit motif as seen in their post-renaming materials (has Nicole explained the inspiration behind that?), It's The Pits will beat the metal-centric Crucifest to the stage by over a month, but the two festivals do share a common band. Of course, the former Dryer Fire are hardly metal/punk-centric promoters, but many events have featured some heavier crossover, this festival included, so who all is playing next month? Apologies if I err on any band identities, P.I.T.S. did not share social media links for the bands, they just listed them on the official poster. As best as I can gather, five of the bands are from out of town, so who's making the way to Leeburn?

The touring acts are Toronto ambient/house duo LAL, Toronto/Minnesota "deep Earth folk" band Twintwa, Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton, Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, and Grand Rapids, Michigan folk duo Rabbit Fur. A lot of talent for genre fans can be found with these artists, and for you punk fans, The Mendozaz will get things amped up with a strong and melodic brand of modern punk, and with distinctive vocals!  Local performers include skate punk/thrash trio Hails (the only band also playing at Crucifest in July), DJ Seith (who played at The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last July along with Ha!ls), local/Gatineau, Quebec surf/indie rock solo project Tampa (led by Mulch & The Mire alum Christopher West), indie rock singer/guitarist Shae Tull, former Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's acoustic folk solo project Sibling, and the cryptic anti-folk/Americana act Tye Lawless Co.

Note that Sibling and Tye opened for Catriona Sturton at Case's Music in October for Dryer Fire, so if you liked that concert, here's your encore! Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is slated to host It's The Pits, while local artist/photographer Chandra Barnett of Lady Of The Glue will be selling her art here. Partially brought to you by the Ontario Arts Council, tickets for this all ages festival are on sale this month for $40, but the advance fee jumps to $45 on June 1st, and tickets at the gate will cost $50. Like at Oh!No before it and Crucifest after it, camping is encouraged, so keep that in mind if you want to stay the night and head home on Sunday the 23rd! You can buy your tickets in advance at this link. While the festival is slated to begin at 2:00 PM, bands are expected to start playing at around 4:00 PM. More details on It's The Pits are forthcoming.

It's The Pits has to be the biggest event that Dryer Fire/P.I.T.S. have ever put on, and hopefully it's a huge hit for Nicole and crew so they can do this again next year, or at least something of a comparable scale! It's not a punk haven, but genre fans will be satiated by The Mendozaz and Hails, and while not everyone will be into the remote camping appeal, it's very much in this year. The two Leeburn festivals at 5756 Highway 638, Go North on St. Joseph Island, and Northern Vibe in Ophir are all scheduled for the summer, so keep all four in mind if you wanna go off the grid and enjoy some high energy local and touring music! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on It's The Pits!

We'll close tonight's post with the ninth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Just over two weeks removed from their rendition of "She", song #9 from "Dookie" was posted to the project's YouTube channel this morning, and keeping with the album's running order, this cover is of the Green Day deep cut "Sassafras Roots". Bookclub/ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon is back on guitar and (initially) ukelele here alongside former Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (wearing a baseball jersey here for a change), while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot is back here for his fifth "Dookie" cover in this series, after missing the last two. Vocals are provided here by Jeff "Kepi Ghoulie" Alexander of the Sacramento horror punk veterans The Groovie Ghoulies, who is seen painting something while singing the song.

Kepi does reveal what he painted at the end, but I won't spoil it here. Perfectly sound cover with strong melodies, and well edited from the remote filming locations, though aside from Kepi's painting in a very blue room, there's no quirks in settings or on-camera activities to note. Green Day diehards will like the cover though! Tenth in this series will be the classic "When I Come Around", which is the final yet-covered single from "Dookie" before they hit a home stretch of deep cuts. Given past timeframes, it should turn up at any point between Monday and June 4th (the current average would be May 19th). Check out Mikey & crew covering "Sassafras Roots" below, and look for more soon!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Crucifest!!)

Extreme metal fans will want to circle the last weekend of July on their calendars, as Crucifest comes to Robbie Adamson's old church in nearby Leeburn on Friday, July 26th! A spiritual successor to the late 2010s Oh!No festivals at the same locale (not to mention the technically private Bear Hunters reunion event there last July), Crucifest is brought to us by new local promoters Deciduous Events & Decor (a.k.a. D.E.A.D. and formerly Events By Vann), a decor company that launched in 2022 and has worked for clients from Southern Ontario to our neck of the woods. They have recently decided to branch out into promoting their own events, with Crucifest being their first proper concert that I'm aware of. It'll be interesting to see how well this does, and if it leads to more from Courtney & Jessica in a local concert environment! While more acts are allegedly to be announced, nine bands are already signed, including five touring acts!

Perhaps owing to the long pandemic-affected gap since we had a regular local extreme metal promoter here, all five touring bands will be making their local debuts at Crucifest. Given how local bands are mixed in, I'm unsure if the poster layout is indicative of the performance order, but the five out-of-town bands are Toronto deathcore quartet Beguiler, Ottawa death metal quintet Salem Trials, Peterborough "beatdown/core" quartet Seagrave, Sudbury hardcore band Drugwolf, and newer Kitchener metalcore band Dead Roots. There's a lot of ground to cover between these bands, but there's lots of talent and brutality within, so give all five a listen to prepare yourself for the metal attack in two months! Of the four local bands, two will be familiar to 2020s concert goers, including punk/thrash trio Hails (who played at The Bear Hunters' private event in Leeburn last year) and young metal trio The BAG in (I believe) their first show outside of city limits.

Also playing at Crucifest are local death/thrash metal band Pillory in their first announced public concert in almost five years! Fans/friends may recall seeing occasional social media teasers and false starts towards Pillory resuming as a live act (they were even briefly advertised for The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last year), but it looks like they are definitely back now! As you may recall, Pillory were originally active off & on from 2012-2019, and they still feature frontman Robert Sartini (recently of Pointless and All Over The Map) on vocals & guitar alongside ex-Lazer Queen/Issues drummer Bret Shuttleworth. No word on their current bassist, but Blair St. John filled in for their last few late 2010s sets. In the past year, Bret has posted dozens of solo drumming videos to his YouTube channel (look at his setup!), and a handful of videos were uploaded two months ago of him and Robert playing some metal covers.

These include bass-less renditions of Sepultura's "Territory",  Megadeth's "Youthanasia", and as embedded below, Pantera's "Use My Third Arm". Sounds good and faithful to me, but these are not technical death metal songs, as we were hearing from Pillory in the mid-late 2010s. Is this a sign of a shift to their earlier sound or just them jamming some covers? In any event, it's great to see Robert and Bret back at it, and don't bypass Bret's ample solo drumming videos too, as he's got serious chops (with that kit, he'd have to!). Pillory are back in our active band links, and check out theirs & Bret's new videos above and below!

The other band playing at Crucifest (so far) are a debuting local metal band named The Sault Side Squad, and while they currently lack social media pages or videos, their lineup is full of familiar faces! I can confirm that they feature ex-As It Stands singer Justin "Nadj" Pregent, A Dire Setback guitarist Chris Nielsen, former Jack Spades/Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti, Skinbox/Stoned To Deaf alum Jordan Wardlaw on bass, and Anthony's old Winkstinger bandmate Jonas Gasperas on drums. We await further specifics, but given Justin's past vocal style (his recent rap career aside), I'd expect The Sault Side Squad to have hardcore influences. Very impressive lineup, and it'll be interesting to hear how The S.S.S. do in July and beyond! The listed times for Crucifest on the Eventbrite ticket sale page are 8:00 PM-2:00 AM, but there are separate tickets for Saturday, July 27th on sale for the same price as Friday alone.

The listed times imply that bands will only be playing on the 26th, which is how we're currently treating it, but if D.E.A.D. confirm that the lineup is split up with bands on Saturday the 27th too, we will let you know (the Saturday pass may only be for campers' benefit). In any event, tickets cost $25 per day and $45 for both days plus, and there are no advertised cover charges, so click here to buy yours! In what's shaping up to be a big year for summer camping-encouraged concert festivals, Crucifest will deliver the goods for fans who've found extreme metal to be lacking in the Soo as of late, so definitely visit the above links for complete details on what's going on 53 minutes east of the Soo at 5756 Highway 638, and we'll have more on another Leeburn-bound concert festival tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Convergence Updates, New Videos, And More!!

Before we begin this post, just a heads up that Wishbone/3 Day Millionaires guitarist Jeremey Salatuk's obituary was posted on SooToday and on the O'Sullivan Funeral Home website yesterday. It notes there that he passed away suddenly at home on February 21st at the age of 48, and that he is survived by three children, his sister, and his nephew. His music career is also acknowledged, and that he left behind many bandmates and friends. Cremation has already taken place, and while public funeral arrangements were not outlined in the obituary, a celebration of life will reportedly be held at a later date, so keep tabs with his family and close friends for details on that front. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, a cause that was very important to Jeremey over the years. Our continued thoughts are with the Salatuk family and his friends at this difficult time. R.I.P. Jeremey!

Today's post otherwise has some new videos, and leading off, the latest from local progressive metal band Convergence, so what have they been up to as of late? On February 9th on their Facebook page, they unveiled the cover artwork for their planned third EP, which will be named "Gemini" (odd how that's not the name of their second EP), and they were seeking fan input on whether they should release songs from it as they're completed, or all at once when the whole thing is ready. They didn't get many responses, so chime in if you have a preference! The former Kraken Mara have also expanded to a trio by enlisting prolific local drummer David Peredun as a permanent band member, after previously using programmed drums or session artist Cliff Aubut on prior recordings. You may recognize David from recent bands like Pointless, Turbo Dad, and All The Tired Horses, not to mention the Treble Chager and Fuller reunion concerts.

If you didn't know, David has quite the chops as a drummer (hence why he is in such demand nowadays), complete with his own website and a gig as percussion teacher at the Algoma Conservatory of Music, so I have no doubt that he can hang with Brendan and Jake on djent-heavy prog metal! No word on Convergence's singer search yet, but check out more from them above, and stay tuned for our review of their second EP next month!

Next up, here's a newly discovered video of local punk trio Hails in concert! This comes from the private/friends-geared Bear Hunters reunion event at Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn (the old Oh!No festival stomping grounds) last July, and was belatedly uploaded to guitarist Mikhal Muto's personal YouTube channel in December. Mikhal has otherwise focused his channel around do-it-yourself projects relating to punk-themed clothing and decor, so keep that in mind if this interests you! The video features the Vanity First side project playing their original song "The Lost Cosmonaut", which was not on their "Rock And Rolls" EP. Unfortunately, the lighting in the church is not all that amenable to video clarity, not helped by how far this camera was set up from the stage, so fans are often blocking the band from view.

Still, friends who attended this limited-attendance concert were definitely into this fast skate punk number, so fans of Brent, Mikhal, and Keeghan's work will be right at home with Ha!ls' performance here! Check it out below, and don't miss Hails' first show of 2024 at The Distraction on the 17th!

Finally, here's some new live videos from newer local hard rock quintet HeadFirst's Facebook page from their shows this past weekend at Jay's Piston Broke Pub! Notable for their sake as the first gigs they played at a venue with a marquee to advertise their name, HeadFirst uploaded four videos in a batch post on Saturday, and they include a clip of their cover of Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" (focusing on guitarists Raine Rancourt & Liam Dinsmore during the bridge), a video of their cover of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Purple Haze" (focusing on Raine and featuring much of his guitar solo), and two short clips showing off the full band as they covered Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life", and (as embedded below) Alice Cooper's "School's Out". Alas, all four videos were shot vertically, and the longest of them runs for just 1:45, but props to the filmer for getting some creative angles of HeadFirst in action!

Notably, the band welcomed local rapper Ethan Stoneburgh (last covered on the SMS during his set with Sawbé at Lopstock III) for a cover of Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade" on Friday, which would have been neat to see, and it's a shame that it wasn't filmed! HeadFirst perform well across all four videos, if with varied stage lighting, so give everything a watch above & below, and don't miss them back at Jay's at month's end!

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

Details On The Private Multi-Band Concert In Leeburn On Saturday!!

As I alluded to during our weekend concert previews, there was a private multi-band concert this weekend outside of town. While some bands did promote it publically, the Facebook event page was always private, labelled the event as "exclusive", and aimed it at friends of the promoters/bands rather than a general audience, with a firm cap of 100 tickets. We can safely mention the show now, which took place on Saturday at Robbie Adamson's old church in Leeburn, the site of the former Oh!No concert festivals in 2017-2019 (yes, those were public events). The headliners on Saturday were the surprise return of local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters in their first announced show of any kind in almost two years, and just their fourth since the end of 2017! This was not a one-off reunion, with the band confirming on their Facebook page that "hibernation (is) complete" and that they are working on new music.

Drummer Johnny Belanger and his partner Nicole Lamoureux put this event on, for the record. It is awesome to see The Bear Hunters back, and hopefully their return proves more fruitful than the latter pandemic-effected years of their original run! Note that they never played at the Oh!No festival, but they did film their "I Fear No God" music video at Robbie's church, so if video never surfaces from Saturday, you can still see Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny rock out there! Mitch & Johnny's main alt-hard rock band Handsome Sandwich co-headlined on Saturday, with alt-punk trio A Dire Setback billed third. Newer local skate punk trio Ha!ls made the 45 minute drive east for this, with frontman Brenton "B.G." Ellis selling his art in the "Grey Area Gallery" during the private festivities. Pop rock cover band L!me also performed, and while hip hop duo Planet Rock were advertised, DJ Seith alone appeared to perform on Saturday instead.

This is backed up by A Dire Setback's public photos from the event on their Facebook page, including this shot of the band schedule. This implies that Planet Rock MC St. James was unavailable on Saturday (hopefully nothing bad happened), so DJ Seith stayed on the bill as a solo performer, which is a fine save! As you can see on the poster, there were three mystery acts, so who were they? Skinbox is the new local rock band from former Pixo Control/These Magnificent Tentacles guitarist Steve Edwards, but despite posting images from jam sessions on their Facebook page in May, they have not identified the band members or elaborated on their sound yet. As for The Couch Crusades, who were the second act on Saturday, I have zero idea who they are. In searching the name, all I came up with was promotion for this show and this unrelated podcast. We'll let you know when/if we hear anything!

Based on the band schedule linked above, the other new-to-us act dropped out for unannounced reasons, but Shrugby (not Shrugsby) is an electronica/house musician out of Wawa. Not in our genre range, but he does have a following and solid talent in the EDM scope, so check him out if you're into these styles! None of the currently circulating public advertising for the event credits them anymore, but I am 100% certain that defunct death/thrash metal trio Pillory were listed as performing when the event page first went live last month. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of them, in any case! As you can see in the poster, camping was free and encouraged for attendees, as it was in the Oh!No days, so this would have been a fun summer event for local music fans, especially punk and metal ones! Alas, it was private (barring the bands' own public advertising if they chose), but I didn't want to step on any toes by plugging it on here just to be safe.

Yes, I was invited, but I usually don't chance covering lengthy, more distant shows like this because I want to cover everything and I don't want camera or phone batteries running out at an in-opportune time and place (this is partly why I haven't yet covered Northern Vibe in person). As of this writing, no public videos have knowingly surfaced, but hopefully someone shot something given who was playing! Above all else, I hope this concert was a huge hit for everyone involved, and that the "camping with friends" angle  went over equally well, so see above for what is publically known about Saturday's festivities in Leeburn, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Wyld Stallyns), More Weekend's Concert Previews, And Oh!No IV Updates!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's concert previews today, specifically concerning two punk-featured shows downtown tomorrow night, but we also have some big updates to an annual concert festival, and leading off, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for year's end!

Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will end 2019 with a New Year's Eve concert at The Whiskey Barrel on Tuesday, December 31st! This show was quietly announced late in the band's latest Facebook page post from Monday, largely spent thanking everyone from their guest performer-laden gig at the same venue this past Saturday. FYI, they were joined there by Crossroad Magdalenes bandmates Greg MacLachlan & Aaron Dunn, Guitar Gangsters drummer Derek Turner, and prolific local singer Jackie Fuller, so they definitely had some talented friends helping out. It makes sense that The Stallyns would return to their favourite venue for another go-around in 11 days' time, so don't miss all of the action then! Despite the expected New Year's frills, this remains a cover-free event with a 19+ age limit and a presumed 8:00 PM start time. Check out the above links for more details on The Wyld Stallyns last show of the year!

Next up, let's conclude this weekend's pre-Christmas concert previews with two big punk concerts TOMORROW NIGHT, starting with local Celtic punk quintet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's last show of 2019! Returning to the site of their St. Patrick's Day concert in March, this will be The Tide's first public show since their festival gigs in St. Joseph Island and at Rotaryfest in July, with recording sessions for their planned fourth studio album taking up much of the year in their camp. Might we hear some more new songs for the upcoming CD tomorrow? Either way, it's great to see Dustin, the Jaaskelainens, Liam, and Chris back for another go-around! Local funk/hard rock quartet The Elements (featuring 2/3rds of The Wyld Stallyns) will open in their first live show since Halloween weekend, and while they're not LopLops regulars, their high impact originals and covers should set the tone, so don't be late for their set!

This concert has a special $10 cover charge, a 19+ age limit, and a 10:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on what should be a great night of punk rock action, and here's The Tide live!



Lastly for this weekend's publically announced hard rock or punk concert previews, we'll head to The Rockstar Bar, where local promoters The Oh!No Collective will host their Oh!Noel fundraiser concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Primarily a fundraiser for next year's Oh!No concert festival (more on that in a bit), this will be another genre-hybrid event with a little something for everyone, with alt-punk trio A Dire Setback filling the SMS coverage-void on this night, and their original attack and new material should bode well here tomorrow. Surf rock instrumental trio The Dynowaves and rappers Rick E and Kodex will round out the bill for Oh!Noel, and don't sleep on them, all will bring their own talented and diverse sounds to the table for the occasion! Admission for this 8:00 PM and 19+ event is $10, but if you bring canned good donations for The United Way's Harvest Algoma food resource center, you can knock up to $5 off of the cover charge ($1 off per can, 5 maximum.)

Also, note that there will be an ugly sweater contest tomorrow night, so bring your best (or worst) sweater to see if you can win a prize! This sounds like a fun event for a couple of worthy causes, and there's a bit of punk, rap, and surf rock to go around for the holidays, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's A Dire Setback live!

Finally for this post, let's talk about the Oh!No collective's namesake concert festival, which will be moving from Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn to Sault Ste. Marie proper for it's fourth annual installment next year, as per this Sault Star article by journalist Brian Kelly earlier this month, which also features interview remarks by Oh!No representative Alex Moore. The move into city limits will reportedly be to make it easier to attend while also giving extra promotion to booked acts, which all makes sense to me, as not everyone was able or willing to drive/carpool to Leeburn, especially with the 2 day model this year. Most of the rest of the article concerns Oh!Noel tomorrow, but one line gives some interesting information, namely that "Oh!No will run in late August at various venues downtown". The past three festivals have been in early September, but a move into the summer season alone may help overall exposure.

As for hosting Oh!No IV at multiple venues, this had been a rumour since even before this year's festival, and the idea of a multi-venue festival like this isn't locally foreign. Remember the Algoma Hope4Haiti fundraiser in January 2010, which had live entertainment at 7 nightclubs simultaneously? Time will tell how ambitiously scheduled things will be for this event, but it'll be interesting to find out how things shape up come the summer. Visit Oh!No's Facebook page for continuing details, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!