LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Project 906), Cory Marks Concert Videos, And An Inactive Band Note!!

One more SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT has fell into my lap, so to fill out a surprise Saturday evening post, we have new videos from a big recent concert and a solo project newly moved to our inactive links, so here's what you should know on all fronts!

Sault Michigan hard/blues rock cover quintet Project 906 will return to the stage TONIGHT at The Strongs Tavern in nearby Eckerman! Apologies for the short notice, the band first announced this one-night-only gig on their Facebook page on Sunday, but it slipped past me before our last two weekend concert preview posts went live. After taking a three month break from the stage (characterized by the band as "some much needed time off"), this will be 906's first show since rocking Hulbert Happy Hour in early March, with the band last playing at The Strongs Tavern at the end of February. Of course, this belatedly kicks off their annual "#summerof906", so more shows should be announced in due course, but since we last heard from Project 906 at The Strongs, they completed renovations in the spring, so hopefully things look as good as the rock will sound TONIGHT! Billy, Joe, Dustin, Jason, and Brian will take the stage TONIGHT at 8:00 PM with a 21+ age limit and no cover charge, as usual.

If you've missed the guys in recent months, and/or are up for the hour's drive west, don't miss out on their summer season kickoff! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview of TONIGHT'S opening #summerof906 event, here's Project 906 live!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for some new videos from the Cory Marks concert at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre on June 11th! Last week, Cory uploaded a highlight video from the event to his Facebook page, where he highly praised the concert, which included a sold-out meet & greet session, and some fans driving 8+ hours to see it. Cory called the the Bushplane Museum's hangar "a dream concert setting for me", and if you weren't there, the hangar doors were open with the stage was set up inside, allowing for outside light to get inside and for some nice views while the North Bay country/hard rock musician rocked out. The highlight video (set to the studio version of his song "Are You With Me?") features clips of Cory at the meet-and-greet, including of him playing acoustic for VIP fans, before we see footage of the proper concert.

Good thing that we knew ahead of time where this was, as the video only has fleeting glimpses of bushplanes, which is a testament in a way to how well everyone got the hangar looking like a concert venue for more than just local bands! I would prefer hearing raw audio from the concert, but miraculously, Facebook didn't content match the studio track, so I can embed it below!

If you do want to see raw audio from the concert proper, good news, as Mike Blair's 705Live Sound Co. were on hand to take care of sound for Cory and crew, and a video of them playing "Blame It On The Double" was posted to 705Live's Facebook page! Mike doesn't do the "pan the camera up from the soundboard" thing this time, FYI. Alas, the video only runs for 46 seconds, but it does let us get more of a view of where exactly in the Bushplane Museum that the concert was set up at (and where the VIP pre-show area was). Of note, Cory actually grabs someone's cell phone from the crowd to film things mid-song, which would be neat for that fan! What Mike shot looks and sounds good, so if you like Cory's southern fried hard rock, you can relive a snippet of this high production concert for yourself below, and we'll let you know if Cory returns to the Soo for a fifth straight year in 2027!

Finally, I have a local metal act to move to our inactive band links, namely local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore. We have heard no public updates from C.T.W. since 2024, with their final album "Bummer" being released on Bandcamp that July, and more recent updates from their owned-and-operated indie label Blood Shed Productions dried up by the spring of 2025. Active since 2012 and led by singer/guitarist Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson, C.T.W. became one of the more unique underground sights among extreme metal fans of the early-mid 2010s, releasing lots of studio material online and at concerts, including many of the final Oddfellows Hall concerts, plus various private & house party events. Updates from C.T.W. (let alone Blood Shed) really tailed off after the pandemic, even for a one-man project, which wasn't helped by their Facebook pages being taken down, if not by Tyler's own hand.

C.T.W. were really a critic-proof act, as a one-man goregrind band with such explicit imagery, pig squealing vocals, extremely short song lengths, a drum machine, and an ardent "I play what I want to play" ethos made it difficult to look at them in comparison with most contemporary bands. I still believe that all of the early-mid 2010s Blood Shed 1-2 man bands had the collective talent to make a great five-piece death metal band, but Tyler did what he wanted and kept this project going for a strong length of time, with fun crowd reactions and a solid skill set as a guitarist & producer. Hopefully we hear more from him and the label down the road! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Separate Wayz, Stones At The Alter, And Greg Simpson), Plus The Cory Marks Concert Preview!!

Let's dive into what is an interesting weekend for hard rock fans in terms of live music! Due to the amount of shows, we'll hold our previews of of the previously announced Bone Yard 225 and Epic Rush concerts this weekend for our next post. Here's what you should know, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this weekend!

Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson will bring his "Ranting Rockstar" acoustic solo concert back to The Dive Gastro Pub for a "Think It Over Thursday" concert TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday. While there may have been an assumption that Greg's solo debut at The Dive was a stopgap measure for him to keep playing while Bone Yard were still on their spring break, the band proper is back, so perhaps we will see Greg back sans Alex & Warren for more "uncorked" gigs beyond TONIGHT! Regardless, if you like your local 225 (or the former Bearded Lounge), you'll be right at home with Greg's unplugged southern and hard rock covers, though if you want the full band back, they'll be at Beck's tomorrow (preview forthcoming). TONIGHT's show will definitely be in "The Naughty Corner", as Greg's show last month was.

Expect a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge at the former Low & Slow TONIGHT, so visit the above links for more details on Greg's third solo show of 2026, and here he is live at The Dive!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Separate Wayz will hit up Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced via the band's Facebook page on Monday (note that the venue has not corroborated this booking on their own Facebook page at press time). While fans last saw their sister band Soundcheck two weeks ago at Jay's and a month ago at Reggie's, these will be the first Separate Wayz-branded concerts with Nicole present since April, when they played a standalone gig at Jay's and an "epic crossover" weekend at The Esquire Club with Soundcheck. Surprisingly, I can't find record of Separate Wayz playing at Reggie's since their debut last year, so if you're an existing fan or are curious to see how Soundcheck sound with a female singer, keep TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows in mind! No word on when we'll see Soundcheck back on stage, but we'll let you know.

As usual for weekend cover action at Reggie's, TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT's concerts are at 9:30 PM with no cover charges and 19+ age limits. See the above links for more details on Separate Wayz' Reggie's debuts, and for a preview, here they are live!

Also newly announced for this weekend is the headlining debut of new local hard rock quartet Stones At The Alter, who will play a special outdoor concert on SATURDAY NIGHT outside of the aforementioned Dive Gastro Pub! Apologies again for the short notice, this show was only announced by the venue's Facebook page on Sunday, though note that the band's Facebook group has not seen any updates in over a month. The Doo & The Boyos side project will set up shop outside of the former Low & Slow on SATURDAY to take advantage of that day's Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer, the annual LopLops Lounge-promoted event that returns to The Downtown Plaza, which is just down the road. Note that I don't know if Beerfest will have their own music lineup at the Plaza (they did last year), but we'll let you know if something comes out late. Hopefully S@TA can fit their full setup on The Dive's patio!

Note that Curtis McKenzie had advertised playing at The Dive on Saturday himself (in an announcement that slipped us by last month), but he blamed a "double booking accident (by) the venue" for the mixup. We'll let you know when he'll be back there soon! This rare plugged-in "Patio Play" gig will be an 8:00 PM nightcap at The Dive with a 19+ age limit and no cover. 9&10 News is calling for a high of 20° on Saturday with a low of 9°, and while we're too soon to see an hourly forecast, be advised that the chance of rain on Saturday in general is about 50/50 at present. Visit the above links for more details, and we'll let you know when Stones At The Alter videos surface!

Finally for this preview post, it's TONIGHT'S main event, as North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks will return to The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre for a headlining concert! While promotion calls this the "first concert ever" at the Bushplane Museum (Cory himself says as much in this promotional video), that isn't true, as multiple locals-only shows have happened there, not to mention Cory's acoustic concert last year for Hope Air Day. However, for a high scale, high production concert, this is uncharted territory for the 50 Pim Street venue, and tickets are selling well for Cory's genre hybrid sound, which we last saw in a full band, electric splendour at The Machine Shop in 2023 & 2024. He has had charting singles on US rock radio, and some very high profile guest spots, so if you like hard rock and/or country, there will be something for you! In a late confirmation, former Northwest bandmates Greg Callaghan & Mike Yakasovich will open tonight in an acoustic set.

While their acoustic exploits largely haven't crossed our radar, Greg does cover some punk in his solo dates, so hopefully the set things off on the right foot! This concert takes place in the hangar proper tonight at 7:30 PM (running until 10:00), it is all ages, and limited general admission tickets cost $40 at the door. Online sales have ended, and VIP passes (which get fans an early acoustic set from Cory at 6:30 PM among other perks) have completely sold out. Food trucks will be on site tonight too, as they are every Thursday this summer. Click here and visit the above links for more on what should be a big night for the Bushplane Museum and fans of Cory's, and here he is live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Bone Yard 225 and Epic Rush previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Cory Marks), A New Addition To Our Band Links, And More Updates!!

Let's catch up on some Sault Ontario odds and ends on this Tuesday night, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, promotion for another upcoming show, and some other updates, but leading off, here's a long overdue addition to our band links & full coverage!

We have a new-ish band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are the no-longer-online-pageless The Spaceship Opening! Despite debuting on stage in September 2024, they only launched a social media presence (their new Facebook page) over the weekend. Described in promotion for past gigs as "east end rock & roll" and "space rock", The Spaceship Opening are a two-man-band featuring former Redundant/Fitswitch bassist Andrew MacDonald alongside A.S.D.P. drummer Ralph Barber, and in videos publically shared so far, neither sings at all. Over the past 18 months, you may recall seeing The Spaceship Opening sharing the stage with touring acts like The Space Wizards and Greg Rekus & The Inside Job, while they also opened for Mike Haggith's "Under A Moonlit Sky" show last fall, and most recently played at the "Not A Leap Year Party" concert in "Mellow D's Basement" on Saturday, alongside other public and private events.

Two videos are on their Facebook page, one being this short and black-and-white clip from an unspecified venue, while embedded below is four minutes of them playing at the still-closed Distraction last year, and while this one is in colour, it was shot vertically. Unless you've seen them live already, their early descriptors didn't give their sound away, and they have way more of an AlgomA-esque sludge/doom essence than I would have assumed. If you were expecting The Spaceship Opening to be similar to Andrew's past local bands, you may be surprised! Distorted and low (if not all that spacey), I can see why they've attracted fans with their minimalist rock compositions so far, so check things out from them above and below!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks will return to The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center on Thursday, June 11th! The fourth time in as many years that Cory has performed a local date, this appears to be a full band show with a proper promotional push, unlike his most recent local gig (also at the Bushplane Museum), when he headlined the Hope Air Day charity event this past June with a solo acoustic performance that we didn't hear about until it was short notice. The Bushplane Museum is hyping this up by saying that "for the first time ever, we’re turning the hangar into a full-blown concert venue", and while multiple shows have taken place there in the past, they've tended to be all-local or supplemental to other events. Hopefully this show is a huge hit for Cory and the venue alike, so that more similarly scaled concerts can be considered!

No word on possible openers, but Silent 9 opened at Cory's Machine Shop shows in 2023 and 2024, and Matthew James opened last year's unplugged Hope Air Day concert. Doors open for this "hangar party" at 5:00 PM, there is no announced age limit, and tickets run for $40 (up fro $35 from Cory's last full-band show here) at this link, and $100 VIP passes are also available. Cory's hard rock and country crossover sound continues to garner fans and chart success, and fingers crossed that his fourth local concert is a smash this summer! Visit the above links for more details!

Also today, here's the first Facebook update from local progressive metal band Convergence in almost three months! Well, that's discounting "Stories", you may have seen one where "Johnny Cash" endorsed them, but they did not opt to separately upload that "Story" as its own video. The video below from Sunday features guitarist Jake Valois hyping their first show of the year, when they will be among the openers for Nashville death metal band Demon King and other touring groups at Soo Blaster on March 24th (three weeks from today!). Amusingly, Jake puts footage of the mobile video game Subway Surfers in an inset picture-in-picture window to try and discourage people from scrolling away, assuming you're watching the video on a vertical cell phone orientation, which may explain the captions. As the show is all ages, Jake suggests that the whole family come out to "Soo Blasters", even your grandma!

Tickets are on sale through the band for $15, and if you message him to get yours, he will make sure he gets it to you, so how simple is that? It's good to see some new shareable content from Convergence, and with their planned new album still in the works, hopefully 2026 proves to be a stacked year for them! Check out the new video below, and stay tuned for more from them!

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

 

• We don't cover open mic/jam nights as "concerts" here due to their in-built unpredictability, and even if the host crosses our radar, there's no guarantee that they'll perform if it's busy. That said, I did at least want to mention that local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty are actually hosting Piecing It Together Shows' weekly jam night tonight at their seasonal pop-up locale at 331-A Wellington Street West, as per their Facebook page. The former Dryer Fire haven't booked formal concerts with SMS-amenable acts over their winter season, but hopefully Paul, Amanda, and Mikhal have a good turnout for tonight's open mic night!
• Winnipeg folk punk musician Greg Rekus (who fronted The Inside Job here twice in the past two years) has been added as a surprise opener for The BAG's album release party at Soo Blaster on April 18th, as per Underground Events SSM's Facebook page last week. This may seem odd for a metal concert with a local headliner, but promoter Mikhal Muto is an ardent folk punk fan, so I assume this was just good timing to get Greg a local booking when he'd be coming through on a spring tour run. Plus, this show already has a diverse lineup, as Mikhal's new ska punk band A.S.D.P. are also opening. Hopefully Greg sets things off on the right foot next month!
• In their own poster for new local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow's concert there on March 27th, Soo Blaster alternately list the venue name for the show as "SooBlaster / Blaster Power" and "Blaster Power House". I don't know if this is portending anything about a name change for the building/stage, but the Queen Street East entertainment complex has recently opened bowling lanes, laser tag, and arcade upgrades. Of course, the concert stage there had been branded as the Soo Lounge since opening in 2019, but if anything is clarified further, we'll let you know!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS in due course! Thanks everyone!

Cory Marks Concert Videos & Northern Vibe Festival Lineup Updates!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for missing a late concert cancellation on here, as classic/hard rock cover trio Dodge This dropped out of their planned Beck's Bar show on Saturday night. A reason for the cancellation wasn't announced, but Beck's Facebook page only confirmed the news at 10:00 PM that night, after the show was to have began. Hopefully all is well in Dodge This' camp, and that we see them again on stage soon!

Today's post otherwise takes us to updates on an upcoming concert festival, but first, here's some long overdue videos from North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks' last two shows here! This first one is actually from his Machine Shop gig in September of last year, and I think this one slipped me by until now because it was uploaded as a "Shorts" video (a.k.a. YouTube "Reels"). While it is brief and vertical, at least you can embed it on external websites and play it in a background tab! This actually comes from the YouTube channel of Ben Bullett Mortlock, who was a session guitarist in Cory's live band, and it features 56 seconds of footage from that night, including arrival at the venue, and black & white soundcheck clips. All of this is set to the studio version of Cory's song "Whiskey For Sale". I say this a lot for highlight videos, but I hope the raw footage of this gets uploaded at some point!

Beyond my usual complaints about vertically framed videos, the quality of the video footage here is great (I couldn't tell you if the audio matches up), with lots of strong angles of the band, venue, and fans, so hopefully someone is sitting on the fuller (and maybe not vertical) raw materials? Kudos to Ben for this "Short" regardless, so give it a watch below!

Next up, let's transition to Cory's third local concert, a special acoustic event at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in June as part of the Hope Air Day charity initiative for improving remote health care access in northern communities. This intimate event (which had free admission) was actually live-streamed by the Hope Air Facebook page, but alas, I wasn't able to cover it here as hoped due to our busy existing summer schedule. Facebook now has a 30 day time limit for hosting and viewing live-streamed videos, unless they're re-uploaded or converted to regular videos prior, which Hope Air did not do for the Cory Marks concert here, so it vanished from Facebook around July 6th. We're not completely stuck in terms of covering it now though, as attendee DJ Chris Mat uploaded two videos from that night to his YouTube channel! One is of local folk musician Matthew James, who replaced The Dust Covers on short notice for unannounced reasons as the opening act.

Cory's 1:41-long video features him covering Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like A Knife", another good sign towards his country/rock crossover appeal if you weren't familiar with his rock radio crossover singles already. I get the sense that Chris zoomed in a lot, but you see what you need to see for Cory's one man performance here, and he sounds good on this domestic rock classic, so give it a look below, and apologies again for not being able to cover the full live-streamed concert in time! Hope Air is a great charity, and I hope the local festivities helped their goals and promotion in the area! 

Lastly for today, here's some clarifications and updates re: the lineup for the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir over the August 23rd weekend! Like last year, organizers are posting individual promotional images for the musical performers on their Facebook page on a sporadic basis, and one is a brand new addition to the lineup, namely debuting alt-rock/punk quartet Spun Out! Confirmed for the festival on July 11th, the band features former Caveman Morrison vocalist Dean Duguay and former Half Past/Winkstinger bassist Ryan Disano, alongside a guitarist named Joe and a drummer named Jamie. I am not 100% on their identities, not aided by the lack of an online page, let alone the horror movie effects on their first band photo, but it will be neat to hear how they sound! I don't know who, if anyone, Spun Out are replacing at Northern Vibe, but seven of the Forest Stage bands on the tentative April lineup have yet to get a Facebook promotional image at press time.

Regarding the advertised Tool tribute band, they are not a Parabol reunion, nor are they even local. They are Avessel, a joint Tool/A Perfect Circle tribute band from Sudbury, who will be making their local concert debut off Poplardale Road in three weeks. Avessel don't have a website or social media page beyond Instagram, but what I have heard points to a strong take on songs from Maynard James Keenan-fronted bands, so don't bypass them! Lastly for updates on advertised bands, the rap performance by Soundsxvad isn't a renaming of Fvksxvad, rather a one-night-only merger of MCs from that collective as well as Sound Syndrome. Apologies for any confusion from our initial coverage of this year's lineup, and thanks to members for clarifying on Facebook! Time will tell if there any other lineup adjustments, so stay tuned for more updates on the lineup and who exactly is playing on what day when things come out, and we will keep you posted!

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

Local Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

Let's dive into a video-heavy new post at the SMS, which includes live videos that I missed from two big concerts in the last couple of years, and some footage from recent local concerts, so here's what you should know!

We'll start with an apology for a show that I missed for our last round of weekend concert previews, as local acoustic classic/hard rock band Dodge This played at The Dive Gastro Pub on Saturday night. The venue first announced the booking on their Facebook page via their June concert calendar on the 7th, but that completely slipped me by over the past week, complicated by Dodge This not plugging this show at all on their own Facebook page.  I profusely apologize, things always get busier for the SMS in the summer, but hopefully their latest stop in the "Naughty Corner" was a hit, and don't miss them at The Water Tower Pub on Friday! However, we do have a new video to share of the guys covering The Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy" with Jamie July on lead vocals, as shot at their Beck's Bar gig on May 3rd, though only uploaded it on June 6th to promote their return to Beck's the following night.

The 22 seconds long and (sadly) vertical clip features lots of close angles of the guys, including percussionist Jeff July, Jamie's brother, who was quietly 100% confirmed on their Facebook page in September as being a member of the band, despite their profile photo still just crediting Jamie & Jason. From what we hear of the "Hey Jealousy" cover, it sounds good and how you'd expect it to unplugged, and the filmer got some nice panning shots of the interior of Beck's, so check it out for yourselves below!

Next up, here's some videos from North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks' headlining concerts at The Machine Shop in 2023 and 2024! I found these belatedly when looking up his Hope Air fundraiser concert at the Bushplane Museum earlier this month, and I apologize for not finding these until just now. These were shot by attendee Brian S for his YouTube channel, which we previously touched on here when Brian filmed at Pop Evil and Theory of a Deadman's most recent local concerts. From Cory's local debut in July 2023, Brian got just one video, of Cory and his band playing his original song "Blame It On The Double", and if you're still questioning the heavier rock credentials for Cory, this video opening with a brief cover snippet of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell" may help! Unfortunately, all of Brian's Cory Marks videos are vertical (granted, few of his uploads aren't), but he was close to the stage and you get a good view of everyone on stage!

The frame rate seems somewhat low, but from Brian's vantage point, you see what you need to see, and the fans are well crammed in on the floor for this one! Solid performance for fans of this modern wave of country rock, so check it out for yourselves below!

Brian upped his video count for Cory's return to The Machine Shop in September of last year (in his most recent uploads to his channel), though like in 2023, he did not film local openers Silent 9. Last fall, Brian shot Cory and his band playing "Blame It On The Double" again, as well as "Keep Doing What I Do", and as embedded below, "Outlaws & Outsiders", which appeared to end his set. Compared to 2024, Brian has a better (re: front row) angle of the stage, but there is more of a sense that he's pointing upwards as a result. Still, these are strong renditions for fans familiar with Cory's music, and he has a good audience rapport, so check these out above & below, and we'll have more from the Hope Air show soon!

Finally for today, here's some new videos of local hard rock quartet Half Past's debut at the aforementioned Beck's Bar in April! While their cover of Tool's "The Pot" was posted to their Facebook page at the time, that and more were also uploaded to bassist Arthur Lacasse's YouTube channel, which exclusively has videos from that night of the guys covering Alice In Chains' "Them Bones", and as embedded below, Thousand Foot Krutch's "Lifeline". Unexpected band choice in a few respects, but they handle that song and "Them Bones" well, and the video quality is as good as on the Tool cover, so fans will have nothing to worry about! Check out Half Past's newest live videos for yourselves above & below!

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

Local Metal/Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

After escaping another busy weekend concert preview run, we have a new news post for your Saturday morning, and it mostly covers new videos relating to local artists and concerts, with related information therein. With all of that laid out, here's what you should know!

I hope to cover last night's Cory Marks concert livestream on the SMS soon (I have to, given that they have a 30 day lifespan now!), but to promote the event, the North Bay country/hard rock musician actually got interviewed on CTV News Northern Ontario on Tuesday! If you missed that night's newscast on cable/satellite (or channel 2 OTA), CTV News' YouTube channel uploaded the segment, which was anchored by Tony Ryma, who was a former Sault Ste. Marie city councillor before moving to Sudbury to work on the former MCTV News there. The interview is more about Hope Air, the remote health care access charity that put on the local concert last night at the Bushplane Museum (on Hope Air Day, of course). Only the last question was directly about the concert, which Cory (who recorded the interview in Sturgeon Falls) revealed there was "a pop up acoustic set". Maybe that helps explain why this didn't get a lot of promotion as a concert?

While Hope Air Day is understandably prioritized over Cory's music (though I guess he played a Hope Air Day concert in Timmins last year too), promotion for both on local network television would have been huge, and hopefully eyeballs watching CTV News Northern Ontario on Tuesday made the point to come downtown for the free concert! Check out the full interview segment below, and stay tuned for more public content from Cory's acoustic show last night, livestream or otherwise!

Next up, remember how local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith was tapped to sing "O Canada" at a couple of Barrie Baycats baseball games last summer, only for rain delays to get in the road? As you may recall, Mike did successfully sing the national anthem on June 13th, but that game was rained out after a few pitches, before Mike eventually did the honours at a game that went ahead in full on August 1st, and I surprisingly never talked about that on here. You can watch that particular Intercounty Baseball League game (which saw Barrie beat the Welland Jackfish 5-4) at this link, and Mike is introduced 6:05 into the livestream. It was a fine rendition, Mike put his voice to quality use on a big stage (well, diamond), but there were some audio dropouts after he finished, so there's an awkward silence on the video that likely wasn't there at Athletic Kulture Stadium. Kudos to the Baycats for bringing Mike back after Mother Nature got in the way!

Incidentally, the Baycats won the IBL championship last fall, so belated congratulations from afar on their playoff success! They also beat Welland in the finals, and the two teams also faced off on Thursday for another game where Mike was the anthem singer! Dressed even fancier this time, Mike's performance is just as good as his two stints last season, but in this game (full livestream here), the audio doesn't drop out after he's done singing, so we can hear the P.A. announcer's copy about Mike at the end. While the Jackfish got their revenge by beating Barrie 4-3, hopefully a good time was had by all in attendance! Mike uploaded just the anthem from Thursday's game to his Facebook page, so give it a watch below!

Also today, here's our first public videos of local hard rock quartet Sylo's current lineup! The band debuted new second guitarist Owen Middleton when they opened for Derev at Soo Blaster on May 23rd (itself their first show since Eli left for university last fall), and they posted two brief videos from their set to their Instagram page in the following days. Unfortunately, both are vertical (not even square), but you have to be used to Instagram video limitations on that platform. The band has promised that "full length footage (is) coming up soon", implying that longer videos are coming to a platform that will host them, but I haven't seen it anywhere obvious yet. One of the videos focuses on Owen playing during their cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" with drummer Jakob Fice-Lesage "switching up in the middle of the set", as noted via on-screen text. I don't think that the text was needed, but viral content creation, I know. 

The purpose is to make light of Jakob's change in fills, and Owen got a good laugh, but hopefully we see fuller video of this cover soon! Embedded below is Sylo playing their original song "War Times", and while I wish this was the full song and not shot vertically (you see very little of Owen and Jakob here), it's a strong performance of Sylo's earliest and best known original song! Good stuff, but hopefully we do see the long-form videos that Sylo teased. Give these two Instagram clips a watch above & below!

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Finally for today, newer local industrial metal solo project The Realignment Project posted four more lyric videos from their sophomore EP "The Frustration Sessions" onto their YouTube channel last month! One is for "Static" (which Matt had teased in a Facebook "Reel" in April), but "Minor Outburst", "Fireside", and "Stupid" also got the lyric video treatment. There is not (currently?) a lyric video for the closing song "Medicated (A Spade Is A Spade)", but remember that two songs from their debut EP "Afterthought" didn't get lyric videos either. I'll hold comment on the songs until our review of "The Frustration Sessions" in August, but give these new industrial rock songs a listen (with lyrics) above & below!

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

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

For the first run of weekend concert previews of the fall season, we have too many shows for one post again, so while things will quiet down, not necessarily right away! Due to the amount, our previews of Saturday's Bone Yard 225 and Unfortunate Sun shows will be in tomorrow's news post, along with potential late notice confirmations. Now, here's what you should know to kick off this weekend in Sault Ontario!

We'll start with this weekend's main event in scope, as North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks will return to The Machine Shop for his second local headlining date TOMORROW NIGHT! Fans may recall seeing Cory at the same venue in July of last year, impressing attendees with his cross-genre blend of original hits like "Outlaws & Outsiders" and "Blame It On The Double", and with more big guest-laden originals to come on his upcoming album "Sorry For Nothing", hopefully country and hard rock fans find a lot to like from this rising talent once again tomorrow! This show is truly running it back in every respect from last July, including the local openers, as classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will return to kick things off! Last year, they actually made their public concert debut opening for Cory, and with a year+ of shows under their belts, hopefully things are bigger and better for their Machine Shop encore!

Yes, Silent 9 are double booked tomorrow, and we will preview their Esquire Club gigs this weekend at post's end. This all ages concert has an 8:00 PM start time, and tickets will again run for $35 at this link and presumably at the door. Hopefully Cory's return is bigger and better than last year's despite the wide similarities from July 2023 to now, and his wide appeal in sounds should translate to a good audience! Visit the above links for more on tomorrow's concert, and here's Cory live last year!

Next up, let's look at some of the other heavier-leaning weekend cover concerts ahead, starting with local classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison, whose weekly arrangements at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TOMORROW NIGHT and on SATURDAY at Misty's Fifties march on for another installment each! In the former case, this will be the penultimate show of 2024 for Tym at the outdoor stage at The Trading Post, as it operates seasonally, so if you like seeing him way down Great Northern Road, you're running out of chances for 2024! If you'd rather see him indoors or earlier in the day, his weekly run of Saturday matinees at Misty's continues through at least the end of the month, so keep his west end return in mind for this weekend as well! You can enjoy his unplugged hard rock hits with no cover at either venue, with The Mike Case Stage show being all ages at 7:00 PM.

Saturday's Misty's Fifties show is a 4:00 PM matinee with a likely 19+ age limit. Weather-wise, we are looking at a cool night by the standards of Tym's gigs at The Mike Case Memorial Stage, with 9&10 News calling for just 9° temperatures during showtime. There is also a 30% chance of rain in the 8:00 PM hour (Tym's concerts here generally run for two hours), so if you are all concerned about the temperatures or possible rain throwing a wrench into the proceedings, keep tabs with Tym on social media for updates. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here and here for more information, and for a preview of these shows, here's Tym live!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will go west for shows at Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Fresh off of their private(?) Ojbway Park booking this past weekend, these will be Double Down's first stops at the former Roosevelt Hotel/Reggie's West since adding Beej Syrette on guitar & vocals. As best as I can tell, this should be a standard weekend for Beej, his cousin Joel, Brad, and Ric's brand of classic and hard rock covers, so don't miss out on all of the action on Korah Road this weekend! If you can't make it out, Double Down will literally double down with two concert weekends this month at The Esquire Club, including next week. Tomorrow and Saturday's Jay's shows are 19+ affairs with no announced cover charges and likely start times of 9:30 PM. Visit the band's Facebook page for more details, and for a preview, here they are live in concert last year!

We'll close this preview post by coming full circle with the aforementioned Silent 9, who will kick off the fall season for both themselves and The Esquire Club TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! As noted above, the classic/hard rock cover quartet debuted at Cory Marks' show here in July 2023 and will resume that role as his local openers tomorrow night! Unlike last year, they are double booked, and will mosey on down to the west end after their Machine Shop set to play their first traditional nightclub concerts of the fall, after taking the summer off aside from festivals and private events. Hopefully the rush of opening for Cory on the big stage sets the tone well for Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve's normal headlining dates on Second Line West this weekend! Their Esquire Club shows are at 9:30 PM with no cover charge and 19+ age limits, and it doesn't look like they'll have a delayed start time at The Esquire Club tomorrow night (the Cory Marks show starts at 8:00.)

Whether you saw Silent 9 during their festival/private summer or are well acquainted with their weekend bar circuit gigs, their blend of hard rocking and fan friendly covers will be a welcome sight tomorrow and on Saturday, so keep both the Cory Marks show and their own headlining dates in mind (and they now have official band shirts on sale!). Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Silent 9 live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Bone Yard 225 and Unfortunate Son previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

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!