The Last Hard Rock/Punk Weekend Concert Previews For 2025!!

I hope everyone had a good and peaceful Christmas, and that Santa Claus brought you some good presents! On this Boxing Day, we have previews of this weekend's relatively quiet but eventful slate of concerts, partially because today is a holiday, so here's what you should know for the weekend! (Updated on Saturday at 10:31 AM)

We'll start with this weekend's main event, and as the holidays often see local homecomings, why not throw it back for a special reunion of 1990s local punk bands TOMORROW at Soo Blaster?! This special concert will be an Algoma Regional Community Hospice fundraiser in honour of late Fist Magnet guitarist Chuck Ayotte (who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2018), and to that end, Fist Magnet will be reuniting for their first show in well over two decades tomorrow night! According to co-promoter Christian Foisy on Messenger last night, singer Garry Ingram, bassist Andrew Marson, and drummer Dave Stokes will be joined by Christian and his former Destroilet bandmate John Conway for this one-off set. Very cool for fans of the 1990s punk scene, and for a mini-Destroilet reunion guesting!

Also playing tomorrow is a reunion of The Spigots, who will be represented by singer Trevor Harding & bassist Frank Guidocco alongside Inner City Surfers bandmates Dave Bahun and Mikey Hawdon as guest guitarist and drummer (this may be why I've seen this band named "Some Spigots" in some postings). Incomplete reunion or not, this will be huge for punk fans of the era! Despite the stature of the reunions, neither is headlining tomorrow's concert, as active crossover thrash quartet Hails will close things at some point from 11:15 PM onward (Fist Magnet are at 10:30 PM, The Spigots at 9:45 PM). Debuting local punk band P.R.O.D. (short for "punk rock overdose") will take the stage at 9:00 PM, and thanks to Christian for confirming that this band will feature him, John, and Andrew from the Fist Magnet reunion alongside Gambit/ex-Northwest drummer Clint Wilson (he did not say who will be on lead vocals). Check out their Soundcloud songs above!

Christian confirmed on the Facebook event page last week that the planned Room 206 reunion has been dropped from this concert due to "unforeseen circumstances", though Dave will still be present tomorrow via playing with "some Spigots". Replacing them are online page-less local metal quintet The Sault Side Squad, who will open the proceedings at 8:00 PM. This licensed and ALL AGES concert goes down tomorrow night at 8:00, and admission is $15 in advance at The Rad Zone, the venue, or via those credited on the event page, or $20 at the door. Visit the above links for more on all of tomorrow's action, and for a preview, here the late lamented Destroilet covering Fist Magnet with Garry live back in 2014!

Next up, Bullet Train/ex-Sense of Truth frontman Cory Murchison will bring his sporadically seen acoustic hard rock show back to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT at The Water Tower Pub when he opens for the latest reunion of local/South Korea jam rock supergroup Odd Man Out! Every so often, fans will be able to see the former Skeyes of Seven vocalist (sometimes billed as "Cory Daniel") playing unplugged shows in town, usually as a support act, with tomorrow's concert being a direct reprise of the time that he opened for O.M.O. at the same venue in July 2018. Always good to see Cory on stage, and hopefully he sets the tone well at The Water Tower Pub tomorrow! Odd Man Out (featuring Cory's old Sense of Truth bandmate Steve Myers) don't play live all that often despite never breaking up, with this being the de facto release party for their new album "Quadranium" from last summer. Not a heavier band, but a very talented one who deliver entertaining and fun live concerts with solid musicianship, so keep their return in mind!

This concert also takes place at 8:00 PM tomorrow, it is presumably a 19+ event, and there is no cover charge. December 27th, 2025 is definitely shaping up to be a big day for local band reunions, but if your tastes lean more to jam rock with a hard rock chaser, head to this central venue for tomorrow's action! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's a video from earlier this year of Cory acoustically covering Beartooth's "Look The Other Way" via his YouTube channel. Not a bad cover, and likely a good sampler of how he'll sound tomorrow night, so check it out below, and see more from Cory above!

Finally for this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, local acoustic classic/hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison has a busy post-Christmas weekend ahead, as he will be playing a matinee concert at Misty's Fifties TOMORROW before serving as the Sunday matinee performer at Beck's Bar on SUNDAY! With his planned Eagles Club concert on New Year's Eve seemingly cancelled, these will be the former Caveman Morrison frontman's final public concerts of 2025, ending a very busy year as usual for this talented local music veteran. I'm sure he has a lot more bookings lined up for 2026 already, so stay tuned for confirmation of those when dates begin going public! As usual for Tym, tomorrow's show at Misty's is a 4:00 PM matinee, while the Beck's matinee concerts on weekends begin at 3:00 PM, Sunday included. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here for full details on both of this weekend's shows, and for a preview, here's Tym live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Cory Murchison), The Tym Morrison Concert Preview, And Mike Haggith Updates!!

As promised, this latest SMS post features our preview of one more hard rock concert this weekend, but filling things out, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the end of the year and a big new live album release coming out later this month, so here's what you should know!

Bullet Train/ex-Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison will return to the concert stage with an acoustic hard rock set on Saturday, December 27th when he opens for the reunited Odd Man Out at The Water Tower Pub! Cory has sporadically played unplugged gigs over the years when not working on his full bands (no word on when Bullet Train will resurface), and this will be a reprise of when he opened for Odd Man Out at the same venue back in July 2018. Good to see Cory back out there, and his solo sets definitely lean to what he plays in his bands (just acoustic), so keep his set in mind! Of course, Odd Man Out (featuring Cory's old Sense of Truth bandmate Steve Myers) are a very popular but increasingly scarcely seen jam rock band whose reunion next month was presumably aided by it being the holiday season. Not a hard rock act, but their live show speaks for itself, and they have loads of talent!

Note as well that this will be Odd Man Out's first public concert since releasing their new album "Quadranium" last summer, so could you call this the de facto release party?  While a bigger deal than your usual Water Tower Pub concert, this one seems to be standard fare for the venue in terms of attendance, including no cover, a 19+ age limit, and an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews, as prolific local classic/hard rock musician Tym Morrison will return to Beck's Bar as their matinee performer on SUNDAY! This show comes eight days after he was replaced by Silver Strings as the Saturday matinee act there last week (despite Tym never confirming that he wasn't playing on the Beck's shows' Facebook event page), but it's good to see that things are A-OK between Tym and Beck's, and hopefully this matinee gig has lots of entertaining classic and hard rock favourites for fans in the west end! His first show at Beck's in three weeks (with three more matinees scheduled in December), Sunday's concert has a 19+ age limit, no cover charge, and a 3:00 PM start time. Visit the above links for more on Sunday's action, and for a preview, here's Tym live!

Finally, here's the latest from local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith, so what has he been up to in recent weeks? While he and The Big Finish Band did not return for The Soo's Got Talent finals again this year (another reason why we didn't cover this installment, beyond the all-karaoke setup), and his planned debut concert appearance in his current Barrie homebase was postponed (click here for details), he hasn't been idle, as he has a live album coming out! Mike has toyed with releasing solo live albums in the past (most recently 2018's "From The Nickel Stage"), but this one is a full band effort, coming out on Sunday, November 30th. The album will be named "Under A Moonlit Sky", and will comprise of their complete set at the Downtown Plaza on September 25th. Mike called it "the concert of our lives", which is high praise when it was a late replacement for a cancelled battle of the bands!

You can pre-order the album (which will have 19 tracks) on Bandcamp at this link, where you can also check out three songs as pre-release teasers, and you can pre-save it via major streaming services on DistroKid at this link. Based on the track listing, it differs from the actual setlist in that it includes an unlisted encore song ("75"), as well as four tracks not listed there: "Guitar Adlib", the album's title track, "Moving West", and "The Power Of Community". The former is self-explanatory, but the other three correspond with scheduled breaks in the set for Mike to talk to the audience, so I don't believe we're looking at brand new songs of his. We'll know for sure in just over a week! To support Christmas Cheer (beyond Mike & crew's set at Toystock, also on November 30th), they'll be pledging cash donations to Christmas Cheer based on Spotify streams and Bandcamp purchases of "Under A Moonlit Sky".

Mike also plans to pledge money based on streams of the full concert video when it goes live on YouTube next month, so we'll keep you posted on that when it's uploaded. Is "Under A Moonlit Sky" in line for a review on the SMS? We have caught up on all of his studio albums released since he first relocated to the Soo, so unless I dipped into his early Windsor era back catalogue or he releases a new studio album first, this has priority. For local relevance and Mike's own musical evolution, I think he would greatly prefer that I reviewed "Under A Moonlit Sky" rather than "Hotel For Transients" anyway! Look for this review in April 2026 given our ongoing backlog, and for more news and notes on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Cross Dog & Half Past Concert Previews, Plus More Updates!!

In today's SMS post, we are finishing off this weekend's hard rock concert previews with two big downtown shows tomorrow night, along with updates from a prominent local band & a new live video with some familiar faces, so here's what you should know!

We'll pick up our weekend concert previews TOMORROW NIGHT, when Peterborough hardcore punk trio Cross Dog will return to the Soo for a special headlining concert in the basement of Discover The Canvas Studio at 317 Wellington Street West! Featuring ex-Fuller/Lion Ride/et al. bassist Mark Rand and his wife Tracy Ashenden on vocals, this will be Cross Dog's first local concert since their appearances at 2018 & 2019's Oh!No festivals in Leeburn, and their first public concert in Sault Ste. Marie proper since opening for The Dayglo Abortions at the former Roosevelt Hotel in 2013. Now, another homecoming for Mark should be a big deal, but be advised that as of 6:17 PM, their tour bus broke down outside of Sudbury, and they were waiting on a mechanic scheduled to fix it tomorrow morning. Hopefully things are repaired in short order so that tomorrow's local date goes off without a hitch, but we'll let you know if something changes!

Local openers will include online page-less indie punk quartet Honest Work (last seen when they debuted at Fuller's reunion concert in December) and new local hardcore quintet The Sault Side Squad (in their third public concert), so come early for these newer supergroups! Doors open for tomorrow's public festivities at 7:30 PM with admission of $15 through local openers and $20 at the door, and there is no stated age limit. It will be great to see Cross Dog's furious and no-guitar originals back in town tomorrow, let alone in the basement of a tattoo parlor, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Cross Dog live!

Lastly for known hard rock concerts this weekend, let's head to Soo Blaster, where local hard rock quartet Half Past will have their biggest headlining date since their comeback TOMORROW NIGHT! Metalheads may have last seen Half Past among the openers for Selias at the same venue two weeks ago, but this will see Half Past at the top of the bill, with their proficient modern hard rock covers sure to fill the big Soo Blaster stage tomorrow! They'll even be selling their own band t-shirts tomorrow, which is a neat sign for fans! Bullet Train frontman Cory Murchison (billed as "Cory Daniel" like when he opened for Fort Creek two years ago) will open with an acoustic set, so if you like the former Sense of Truth and Skeyes of Seven singer/guitarist's extensive local career, he should have a solid block of unplugged tunes to kick things off!

This ALL AGES concert takes place tomorrow night at 8:00 PM, and admission is $10 in advance at this link, at the venue, or through performers directly, though you will have to pay $12 at the door if you didn't get yours beforehand. Fans of modern hard rock won't want to miss out on all of the action at Soo Blaster tomorrow night, especially given the scope for Half Past, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here they are live!

Also today, here's some updates on the aforementioned Fort Creek, so what is the southern hard rock band up to nowadays! After unveiling a new band logo in May (which you can now buy official t-shirts with it on), they spent much of the summer working behind the scenes, only posting optimistic teasers about future activity. On September 1st, they revealed on their Facebook page that they were "wrapping up final vocals on our first release", namely an acoustic version of a song named "One For The Road". No updates followed until October 1st, when Fort Creek announced the addition of former Role Models/PROV3RB5 drummer Phil Greco to their lineup, replacing the already departed Anthony Fabiano. The guys talked up his skill set and professionalism, and he is a solid drummer that would be an asset to a long-term band, so it'll be interesting to hear how he factors in! We may not hear him immediately on the acoustic version of "One For The Road", granted, but we'll let you know when their new songs surface.

Fort Creek also posted the new band photo above of Phil alongside Justin, Shane, and Bill standing outside of a truck, but it remains to be seen how they'll handle their bassist vacancy (Robin "Bones" Lee left along with Tony last year). It's been a long and often quiet year for Fort Creek, but hopefully these recent updates are a positive sign, so visit the above links for more from their camp!

We'll close with a new video from (former?) Wyld Stallyns frontman Rob Speers' solo acoustic concert at The Dive Gastro Pub this past Saturday! For the record, it was indoors, so clearly the "Patio Play" conceit is done for the season. Uploaded to The Dive's Facebook page, this is our first public video look at Rob's solo concerts since he began them in earnest, and while this isn't a hard rock or metal cover, I did want to mention it today because Rob's playing with most of Handsome Sandwich here! For this cover, he was joined by singer Taylor Emlaw, guitarist Jesse Cook (Rob's old Elements and Wyld Stallyns bandmate), and bassist Rafael Medina, while the guest hand drummer appears to be local classic rock/country singer/guitarist Jeremy Logan Newman. Handsome Speerwich (how's that for a hybrid name?) are seen in this 24 seconds long clip covering Marcy Playground's "Sex & Candy".

Never a song I loved, but this group cover exudes with good vibes in what we see, and it's fun seeing everyone jamming like this! Check it out below, and look for more acoustic concerts at The Dive to come this fall!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half Past), A New Local Band, The Damn Truth Preview, And More!!

Today's post is full of big news and notes, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, a mid-week concert preview, and a high profile new cover video, but let's lead off with a kinda sorta new local metal band, so here's what you should know on them on this Monday night!

We have a new-ish band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are local "progressive tech death" metal quartet Bardo! I say "new-ish" because they're kind of a renaming and a replacement band all at once. Initial advertising for the Selias-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on September 28th had promoter Tyler St. Amour's mid-2010s death metal band Them returning after a seven year hiatus on this night, but it has since been confirmed on Facebook that they'll instead be going by the name Bardo, and a separate Facebook page was launched to reflect the new-ish band. Given everything, I'm treating Them and Bardo as separate bands (with Them back in our inactive links), especially given the gap since 2017 and that Bardo are not a duo and are playing more technical material, so there has been a clear evolution! No word on what Bardo means, for the record. Tyler aside (who is on vocals and bass), who else is in this group?

The lineup is not given in writing on social media yet, but it looks like two of Tyler's old March Into Regression bandmates are in this group, namely his brother Travis St. Amour (best known from Bring The Fallen) on drums and Christopher Neveau on guitar, but I have yet to identify who the second guitarist is. We'll let you know when things are confirmed publically! Two videos have been shared to Bardo's Facebook page so far, and while both have them short-handed (only one guitarist in the newer clip, and Tyler isn't playing bass in either), but these point to a brutal and more refined sound than Them were known for, and they should turn heads at Soo Blaster! Check out their first original "Blood Moon" below!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local hard rock quartet Half Past will return to Soo Blaster on Saturday, October 12th for a big headlining date! The reunited foursome will actually debut there at the aformenetioned Selias-headlined concert, but they will be the topline attraction next month, in their first headlining gig since rocking Shooters early last month. As far as I can tell, there's no frills or raison d'etre for this show beyond playing some hard rocking tunes live, so don't miss out on Jordan, Alain, Arthur, and Jonny's encore at Soo Blaster two weeks after the Selias concert! Half Past will have an opening act next month as well, namely Bullet Train frontman Cory Murchison, who will break out his acoustic guitar for the occasion. Promotional materials credit him as "Cory Daniel", which is the handle used when he opened for Fort Creek in 2022, despite playing shows since where his last name was used in advertising.

Fans of Half Past's original 2008-2012 run will recall that Cory was active then fronting Sense Of Truth (and he played with Jonny in Skeyes Of Seven afterwards), so they're well acquainted, and it should be a fun atmosphere! Given the large upscale venue, this is a ticketed event, so admission will be $10 in advance at this link (physical tickets are available through the performers and at Soo Blaster), and the door price will jump to $12. This will be an ALL AGES event, and Cory kicks off the night at 8:00 PM. Hard rock fans will get their fill on this night, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on all of the action next month!

Also, here's a special Tuesday night concert preview, as Montreal classic/hard rock quartet The Damn Truth will headline at the aformentioned Soo Blaster in their local debut TOMORROW NIGHT! This retro-styled band have been getting some good local press attention this week, getting a brief write-up by Brian Kelly for The Sault Star (at this link) and some high praise on The Borderline's website, so you know that this female-fronted group will deliver a solid night of 1960s-inspired melodic rock originals, and no less than Bob Rock produced their new material, so you know they're on the up & up! A varied local opening roster includes local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (in their second show of 2024 and first in Sault Ste. Marie city limits in over a year) and alternative rock trio The Haze (née Skinbox) in their first show since they added an unspecified new band member, so find out who is joining Steve, Jordan, and Brad in The Haze tomorrow!

Another show promoted locally by Mikhal Muto, tomorrow's concert has advance tickets running for $20 at this link and presumably at the venue, with the door price jumping to $25. Like the Half Past show next month, the music starts at 8:00 PM, though it was not stated if there will be a 19+ age limit here or not. The Damn Truth should turn heads tomorrow, especially with Lee-La's distinctive Janis Joplin-esque vocals, so don't miss out if you can swing this work/school night event! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Damn Truth live!

Finally for today, here's song #13 in local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of remotely filmed covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Posted to their YouTube channel last week, this video came just two weeks after the previous cover of "Emenius Sleepius", in the quickest turnaround in covers for this series since song #7 ("Basket Case") went up in March, which is good to see! In the penultimate credited song on offer, Mikey & crew tackled the thirteenth track on "Dookie", namely the short deep cut "In The End". As always, Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon is on guitar and (initially) ukelele, with Goldfinger alum Darren Pfieffer back as the house drummer for the "Dookie" covers, complete with another hockey jersey. Vocals here are provided by Authority Zero frontman Jason Devore, while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot returns for his seventh turn on the low end in the "Dookie" series

Aside from Jason putting on a mask during his footage, there's no major frills to note from the filming locations and activity, but it's well edited as you'd expect, and the performance is strong, with Jason's vocals fitting well with the experienced musical hands on offer! Unless they tackle the bonus unadvertised song "All By Myself", the "Dookie" cover series will wrap up with "F.O.D.", which could arrive at any point up to October 21st based on past release timeframes (the current average would be September 27th). Check out "In The End" for yourselves below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Peril) & More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, we have more weekend concert previews on this very busy Canada Day long weekend today, but of course, check out this morning's post featuring late notice show confirmations for this weekend in the post below. All of today's previews are of shows that had advance notice, but we will start with a band with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to confirm for next month, so here's what you should know!

Traverse City, Michigan classic metal cover trio Peril will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, and while we're at it, they'll also return to this Kewadin branch on Friday, July 12th & Saturday, July 13th! The dates next month are newly confirmed on Kewadin's entertainment page, and we will touch on any July dates not yet announced by hard rock bands there in an upcoming post. Two months removed from their last E.U.P. dates at The Rapids Lounge in the Soo, Peril will take over St. Ignace's branch via these four summer dates, so fans of their hard hitting covers won't wanna miss out! This weekend's and next month's shows are at 9:00 PM with no cover and 21+ age limits, as is standard for concerts at Kewadin's lounges. See above for more details on all four concerts, and for a preview, here's Peril live!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where Bullet Train/ex-Sense Of Truth frontman Cory Murchison will play a rare solo acoustic concert TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! The latest in Soo Blaster's summer concert series of (generally) solo musicians on (generally) Friday nights, this isn't Cory's first time as an unplugged headliner, but I don't believe we've seen him in a public concert setting since his current band Bullet Train launched. That band hasn't played live yet at all, so could Cory break out some of their original songs along with his usual modern hard rock covers? Come out tomorrow to find out! As usual for Soo Blaster's summer concert series, this show has a 19+ age limit, no announced cover charge, and an 8:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's a recent acoustic cover video from Cory's YouTube channel!

Next up, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! No sign of a jam night from them tonight, but fans of Greg, Alex, and Warren's hard rocking and fan favourite covers (and select originals) will be right at home at Reggie's this weekend, and yes, stickers and their infamous "Bone Yard shot" will be available also! It's worth noting that their brand new studio original song, presumably named "F.A.F.O." (short for "fuck around (and) find out") is expected to be released online on Sunday on major streaming services (note the ones on the image), so keep tabs on their Facebook page to find out where to hear it then! Tomorrow and Saturday's concerts are 9:30 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details on this weekend's shows, and here's your local 225 live!

Finally for this weekend, we'll head back to the E.U.P. for Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Exit 808's return to a truly local stage THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Merchants Bar! Compared to when local fans last saw the former Double Jack there in January, a lot has changed (as fans in Alpena, Republic, and Ewen saw first hand). Name change aside, this will be Exit 808's first show within an hour of the Soo since the additions of co-lead vocalist Dillion Semasky and rhythm guitarist Will Robbins, and since the departures of guitarist Nathan Webber and bassist Isaac Royer, so if you didn't hit the road for their last so many gigs, you can see what the new-look band brings to the table on Saturday! Regarding their still-open bassist position, recent fill-in Blaze Beairl will sit out on Saturday, with Exit 808 calling in Bob Libick from Marquette hard rock band Spun to guest with them, much as he did on their "N.I.B." studio cover earlier this year.

Kudos to Bob for making the drive east to help Exit 808 out, and fans of Spun's past local dates will like that angle! Note that Exit 808 have also confirmed new dates in Republic and Mackinaw City (singer Amy Beach's hometown) for August, and while neither are local, head to their Facebook page for details on both. Saturday's concert at The Merch has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover, and a 21+ age limit. For a preview, here's a brand new video from their set this past Saturday at Rally In The Valley in Ewen (4½ hours west of here), so what is there to see here? Shot by Hunter Josephson of the Ishpeming metal band No Expectations, the video sees Exit 808 covering Seether's "Gasoline" with Dillion on lead vocals and Amy on backing vocals. Blaze made the trip with his mom's band, but is not playing bass in the clip. As best as I can tell, that's Bob from Spun (who also played at Rally In The Valley), but I am not 100% sure given the angle.

At least it's a high quality clip and shot horizontally! Blaze did play on some songs with Exit 808 and even guested on drums with Spun, which had to have been a thrill, and you can see more of their adventures at this outdoor festival at this link. Give this solidly handled cover (if only 2 minutes of it) a watch below, and don't miss Exit 808 at The Merch on Saturday!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Poutine Feast previews to cap off this busy long weekend stretch tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Total Chaos, Handsome Sandwich, And Cory Murchison!!)

After taking May 31st off for my birthday (I always do, past posts on that day were scheduled auto-posts), we're kicking off June 2024 with a post devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and related updates for shows in the next few months, so here's what you should know!

A Friday night concert series has been announced at Soo Blaster for the summer season, so what should you know there? As advertised on SooToday and their online/social media accounts, the Queen Street East venue/nightclub will be hosting acoustic-leaning musicians, usually solo artists or duos, every Friday through the end of August, though be advised that the schedule does list some shows as taking place on a Saturday rather than Friday. I'm unsure if "every Friday" is a generalization for promoting the schedule, or if Soo Blaster erroneously listed some of these shows a day later. There are many familiar faces playing at Soo Blaster this summer, including former Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer (I'm not sure if his solo shows lean to what his old bands played), but two are 100% in our coverage range, including Bullet Train/ex-Sense Of Truth frontman Cory Murchison on June 28th!

While we have yet to see Bullet Train live, Cory's live music work in recent years had largely been via acoustic shows (including in Short & Sweet and as "Cory Daniel"), so look for some entertaining hard rock covers from him in four weeks! This and all other shows in Soo Blaster's Friday concert series this summer has an 8:00 PM start time, likely 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details!

The other show that would definitely cross our radar comes on Saturday, August 10th (as far as Soo Blaster's schedule says, we'll let you know if they did indeed mean Friday the 9th). On that night (whichever night it is), Soo Blaster will deviate from their string of solo artists and duos by hosting local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich and their new sister folk/bluegrass band The Golden Scoundrels! While we will see Handsome Sandwich beforehand at the Go North Music Festival (and perhaps elsewhere), this is their first announced show in city limits since opening for The Hazytones in April, so fans of their tasty originals will want to keep this August date in mind! Of course, The Golden Scoundrels (who play their first show tonight at The Whiskey Barrel) feature Handsome Sandwich bandmates Brandon Ruch & Johnny Belanger alongside ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno and fiddler Todd Webb.

If you liked Josh's old St. Catharines band Dirtfight, you should take to The Scoundrels, and it'll be interesting to see how the genre contrast goes over with the two bands in August, both at Soo Blaster and at The Northern Vibe Festival at month's end! Yes, The Golden Scoundrels parted ways with ex-Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi (who Brandon replaced) earlier in the spring, and the band took down any media featuring Matt after he left. Hopefully things are amicable and it's just to signify how they'll really be launching! Back to Handsome Sandwich for one more new note, as they'll be hitting the road for another tour run this fall, including a set at this year's Gussapalooza Music Festival in Cookstown (outside of Innisfil in Simcoe County) over the September 13th weekend! They'll be one of 40 acts playing that weekend, with Sudbury grunge/hard rock quartet The Fortunate Losers as the advertised headliners.

Local fans may recall seeing The Fortunate Losers here opening for Monster Truck in 2019. Hopefully things go well for Handsome Sandwich at Gussapalooza this fall, as well as at a teased Ottawa date on September 12th! The show at Soo Blaster on August 10th (9th?) is advertised to have an 8:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. See above for more details on Handsome Sandwich's summer and fall plans so far!

Finally for today, here's one more new show announcement, and it's a big one, as Pomona, California hardcore punk legends Total Chaos will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario on Thursday, September 12th at The Distraction's downstairs space The Stellar Door! This will be Total Chaos' first local concert since headlining at the former Oddfellows Hall way back in 2010, and the show comes one day before they share the stage with Spades GT in Toronto to open for The Exploited there. It's hard to compare Total Chaos today to how they sounded here fourteen years ago, but it'll be awesome to see Rob Chaos and crew back in town for what should be a hard hitting night of hardcore punk classics! Ottawa "post street punk" band BALM Squad will open in their local debut, and they should be a fine compliment with their intense original songs and stage presence, so don't miss out on the action this fall!

Suprisingly, there are no local openers advertised (at least not yet), but we'll let you know when/if any are added. Like The Ripcordz' show here on August 10th, Total Chaos will set up shop downstairs from The Distraction at The Stellar Door, the bigger but still intimate basement floor that is now being opened for select gigs. This is an all ages show starting at 9:00 PM, and limited advance tickets are on sale via Distraction co-promoter/prolific local punk musician Mikhal Muto for $25. At the door, it will have a "pay what you can" model, with $20 being suggested. This should be a great night for hardcore punk fans, so see above for more details, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Fuller) Plus New Videos!!

I hope all of our Canadian readers are having a happy Thanksgiving! On this holiday, we have a new news post to check out featuring new videos from two different acts, and leading off, a surprising LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that many fans of the punk scene from 20+ years ago will be amped to check out. Here's what you should know!

Defunct local indie/emo punk band Fuller will return to the stage for one night only on Thursday, December 28th at LopLops Lounge! This will be Fuller's first concert since 2005 or 2006, entirely predating this blog's existence, but they were a quite memorable band in their mid-2000s heyday that played at a number of high profile concerts and released a debut EP (which curiously did not have any titles for the songs). It's not 100% clear what lineup will represent Fuller in two months, but frontman Jamie Vincent (ex-AlgomA/Bad Back) and bassist Mark Rand (Cross Dog/ex-Lion Ride) are definitely credited in Facebook tags for this event. You can check out videos from Fuller's original run on ex-(?)drummer Nathan Sauve's YouTube channel, and their indie punk stylings will definitely be welcomed back to the stage over the holiday season! Also note that Fuller have launched an Instagram page.

Sparingly seen local punk supergroup The Gambit (née The Sick Sons) will return to the stage for their first concert in exactly one year, having opened for The Northwest on December 28th of last year in their first gig after renaming and expanding to a quintet (the band still has not identified the new second guitarist online, for the record). It'll be good to see The Gambit back after way too long, especially given their familiar lineup of local punk veterans! The other scheduled band is Honest Work (not to be confused with Honest Job), a new band featuring former Nebraska Arms bandmates Wayne Watkins, Dave Prendergast, and Adam Sauve. No word yet on if they have other band members, not helped by their apparent lack of an online page at press time, but fans of Nebraska Arms and/or Wayne's other bands like The Northwest will want to take notice of the up tempo punk surely to come! And of course, R.I.P. Guy.

This 19+ event has an advertised 8:00 PM start time, and an admission fee has not been announced as of this writing. An Eventbrite link will be made soon for online tickets, but there will be admission at the door on an apparently limited basis. If you're at all a fan of local punk rock from the 2000s, this will be a must-attend concert, both from the names taking the stage individually and from Fuller's reunion, which was not something I expected to learn yesterday! Visit the official Facebook event page for continuing details on what will be a huge night!

We'll close today with some new videos, starting with a new playthrough teaser video from local progressive metal duo Convergence's YouTube channel! Along with some re-posts of Facebook content (including now-embeddable copies of some earlier "Reels"), the completely new video is of guitarist Brendan Christie playing 61 seconds of a promisingly heavy new original song named "Cancer", which is notable for featuring an uncredited vocalist! They had teased working on a session basis with former State of Misery/Valentine's Day Massacre singer Steve Rhodes, and while I cannot 100% confirm if this is him on this track, the vocal style is reminiscent of how he sounds with his current Southern Ontario deathcore band Prosector. The full song has not yet surfaced, but the former Kraken Mara continue to tweak their studio material on their website?

The guys have opted to move "The Ebb" off of their debut EP "One" and onto an apparent new release with unique cover artwork, but it's either self-titled or untitled yet. It joins another new instrumental song named "Glass Statues", but it's not listed as being on sale yet. "The Ebb" was a belated addition to "One" anyway, so clearly the guys changed their mind about tacking it onto the existing EP (which we review on the site later this month), but we'll let you know as things get clarified further. Also, "Glass Statues" is a very solid track for prog metal fans, and perfectly on board with their other material too! Give Convergence's current and newest material a watch/listen above & below!

Finally for today, here's a new video from former Skeyes of Seven/Sense of Truth frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel! Posted last month in his first performance video since the winter, it's a cover of Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond", which has become something of a flashpoint in recent months over its lyrical content. I won't get into any of that here, and while I think Cory's voice works better on rock songs than acoustic country, it's a well performed cover that fans of the original will take to. Give it a look below, and look for more from Cory in due course!

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

More Weekend Concert Previews, New Videos, And More!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews today via the shows that did have advance notice before Saturday, with some videos & recent updates to round things out. Here's what you should know!

We'll start by hopping the border to Sault Michigan, where Traverse City classic metal trio Peril will return for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! Last seen north of the Mackinac Bridge when they rocked The Rapids Lounge in January, these should be more prime opportunities to check out Jeff, Dave, and Brooks' brand of old school metal and hard rock covers, and while not as active on stage as Scarkazm, Peril's reputation and longer history in Northern Michigan speaks for itself! You can check out Peril in the Soo tonight & tomorrow night at 9:00 PM with no cover charge, and these are both 21+ events. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, here's Peril live, and stay tuned for their next regional dates!

Next up, let's head back to Sault Ontario for this weekend's only hard rock/punk shows there that had more than five days' advance notice online, as local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for headlining concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Still hard at work in studio on their long-gestating debut EP, this weekend's concerts will be Fort Creek's first since opening for Destroyer at Soo Blaster last month, and their first at the former Reggie's West in over two months. Should be a good weekend for fans of Fort Creek's heavy covers and newer originals, so don't miss this experienced group this weekend! In tonight's show only, former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison will serve as an opening act, in a set that will likely be similar to his dormant acoustic band Short & Sweet, if minus the Sweet. Always good to see Cory on stage, and hopefully he sets the tone nicely with his unplugged covers!

Both shows have 19+ age limits, no cover charges, 9:30 PM start times, and no finite word on if they're doing merchandise giveaways. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new live concert video of Fort Creek at Soo Blaster last month covering The Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider"! Filmed by attendee Justyne Gilbert for her personal TikTok page and re-posted by the band on their Facebook page last week, it was notably uploaded sideways to correct for Justyne filming/uploading it sideways originally (you can tell by the TikTok handle on screen). Strong full cover here that effectively makes it heavier, so check it out below!

While we're on the subject of bands playing live this weekend, let's cycle back to new local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down, who will play at Reggie's Place on short notice TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! We previewed those shows on the site yesterday, but there are more live videos from their debut weekend last month (also at Reggie's) to check out, including a 19 second video of them setting up for their debut concert that was filmed for Reggie's Facebook page. Not a lot to see, but it gives a window into their setup process, which will no doubt be similar TONIGHT! In terms of actual performance videos, PROV3RB5/Saturday Nights drummer Phil "Philly Gee" Greco posted two videos that he shot onto the band's Facebook page that Saturday. Alas, a title eluded me on both songs, partially as I couldn't make out Joel's vocals in the beginning of the 20 second clip, which was otherwise instrumental.

I normally would have embedded the other video below, namely a 72 second clip of Double Down playing an instrumental number, but I don't believe Phil's settings allow external video embedding given that they were posted to his personal account first and shared with the band later. The vertical camera-work is unfortunate, and I apologize for not having titles for them, but they do sound good and are a positive harbinger for TONIGHT & TOMORROW! Give the Reggie's teaser from last month a watch below!

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

 

• After a 2+ week closure, Gateway Casinos re-opened their Sault Ste. Marie branch this past Friday! As you may know, a ransomware attack forced the casino chain to close their Ontario locations, the Soo's included, on April 16th, and you can get more on the incident and response at this link. The Bay Street location does sporadically host heavier concerts on Saturday nights, and the closure did scuttle a planned Wyld Stallyns show there on April 29th. Good to see Gateway Casinos across the province back up & running, and stay tuned for concert details when available!
• I have moved local hard rock solo artist Shane "The Shaner" Solomon back to our inactive band links, as I haven't seen verifiable updates on his Reverbnation page in over a year (full disclosure, Reverbnation is not set up for easily dateable posts, which has always irked me about that platform). Hopefully Shane resurfaces in some form down the line!
  
• In a couple of "Reels" on her solo Facebook page, Handsome Sandwich "frontwoman" Taylor "Tea" Emlaw plugged the band's album release concert at The Loft last week, while also playing a clip of their song "Okay" as set to her hanging out with bandmates Mitch Sirie and Jesse Cook to plug the "Deconstructed" album proper. Short but sweet hype on both fronts! While Taylor has mostly focused her solo page on Handsome Sandwich promotion as of late, this is where her purely solo activity has went, so follow her there for updates in that regard!
  

 

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

A Belated Addition To Our Band Links, Plus A New Cover Video!!

Two topic post on the SMS on this Sunday morning, including a new cover from a familiar local singer/guitarist, but first, let's finally add a prominent local cover band to our full coverage, if late!

We have a now-inactive local band to belatedly add to our links today, and they are local blues/hard rock cover trio Mojo! Active from 2014-2020, they never made our full coverage at the time because I understood them to be more blues rock-centric than anything else, not helped by largely plying their trade as hosts of jam nights, but from looking at their extant videos over the years, any variance from the sound of their sister band Bone Yard (especially by the late 2010s) was more based on jam night performers and the songs they wanted to play than anything else, so keep that in mind when looking up Mojo videos. Their best known lineup comprised of the members of Bone Yard's 2013-2022 lineup sans Greg Simpson, including singer/guitarist Alex D'Ettore, bassist Brad Stephen, and drummer Ric Datson. Their original bassist was Tyrone Souliere (ex-5ive Below Zero) until he left the band in February 2016.

Unfortunately, Tyrone lost his battle with cancer just three months after leaving Mojo, and you can read more about him and his work as a political activist & First Nations advocate at this link. Some posts on their Facebook group cite Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling as a band member in 2015, while others say he's just a guest, but he did appear at a number of dates in that period. Mojo's bread & butter was as hosts of Thursday jam nights, doing so at the former New American Pub from their August 2014 debut through June 2015, before shifting to Reggie's West (now Jay's Piston Broke Pub) until the end of their active run, with Soundcheck now doing the honours there. These often opened triple header weekends featuring them, Bone Yard, and The Bearded Lounge. Mojo were also seen at many standard concerts over the years, including sets at Rotaryfest Stage 1 in 2016, Toystock in 2015 & 2016, and at multiple Rides For ARCH.

Like every other local band, Mojo's concert slate was ground to a screeching halt in March 2020 with the first pandemic lockdown, but Mojo never resurfaced once capacity limits and such eased up, even though Alex, Brad, and Ric did resume gigging with Bone Yard until Brad & Ric left last January. Again, Mojo's sound and full performance will be skewed by the high amount of videos from jam nights on their Facebook group, but Bone Yard fans will be right at home with their old school hard & heavy cover slate when you find videos of just the core trio, such as these videos from when Soundcheck's Glen Thomas filled in for Ric (albeit all focusing on Glen), and the bluesy side of their covers comes through well! Remember that Alex does sing lead on occasion with Bone Yard, so you'll get your Mojo that way even still. I decided to go for a higher profile video of Mojo's run to embed here, ideally from a standard concert set, but which one?

How about from their sole Rotaryfest appearance in July 2016, where Bone Yard (with Josh Norling guesting on the sax) covered The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See", a song that carried over to Bone Yard sets with Alex still singing lead. Uploaded by YouTube user John Naccarato, this is a strong performance drawn out to 8+ minutes for full effect, and Josh's contributions don't feel tacked on, but the sunny outdoor conditions do kinda overexpose the visuals a bit. Quality work as you'd expect, so give it a look below, and get your Mojo running (if belatedly) at the above links!

Finally for today, here's a brand new cover video from Short & Sweet/ex-Sense of Truth frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel! Unlike his other recent music uploads that either were from Short & Sweet's live debut or feature heavily personal videos about his family, this acoustic cover of Shinedown's "Daylight" focuses on Cory performing on camera, so I can embed it here without reservations about the personal nature. Shot with two different cameras to focus on him playing guitar and singing, this is a well recorded cover that shows off Cory's strong voice in particular! I'm admittedly not a fan of "Daylight", but if you do like this recent Shinedown ballad, you'll definitely enjoy this one below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (These Magnificent Tentacles & Tym Morrison), And A New Video!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Thursday morning, so what's there to see today? A new video from a familiar face, and some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE, and the other with some intriguing aspects we haven't addressed yet, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will apparently return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via it's Facebook event page on Tuesday. This concert is a bit of a surprise, between Tym not playing there the last three weeks and The Mike Case Memorial Stage only hosting bands seasonally (remember, this is an outdoor venue), but I guess summer isn't technically over until Wednesday, and maybe they're looking to get one more gig in before fall officially starts? Fans may have seen Tym Morrison play outside of The Trading Post for five straight Fridays in July & August, so expect more of the same classic and hard rock covers from his vast playlist TOMORROW, especially as we don't know when he'll be back on stage!

A 7:00 PM start time is in effect for TOMORROW's all ages concert, which has no cover charge, though be advised that as of this writing, local weather forecasts are calling for showers for much of Friday, and Tym's planned Trading Post show on August 27th was rained out. If this concert is cancelled or postponed like last month, we will let you know, but if it does take place, please use common sense re: the pandemic, even with it being outside. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, new local alt-hardcore duo These Magnificent Tentacles will make their live concert debut on Saturday, September 25th when they are among a diverse lineup of local musicians at.... The Klub? If you're not familiar with the venue, The Klub is a community wellness center and events space in The Pall Mall at 1-642 Queen Street East (basically beside Case's Music) that has largely been known for their work as safe & inclusive locale for Pride and LGBTQ2SIA+ events since 2016. Everything I have seen from The Klub is serving a wonderful purpose at a much needed time, and kudos to everyone involved there! Pure concerts aren't common there, but hopefully this is just one of many to come, pandemic willing! It's not yet clear how These Magnificent Tentacles will look/sound as a live band, especially as they only have one studio track to sample online at press time, but it'll be interesting to hear how Brent & Steve do for their first gig together!

The advertised headline act is Sibling, the new acoustic folk solo project from Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle, who may also be selling visual art of his. Don't expect grindcore from Ralph here, but he is a gifted artist in multiple areas! 2019 Soo's Got Talent finalist Juliana Regan will also perform on this night in a joint set with former Id Iota bassist Blair St. John, while folk/pop solo musician Shae Tull will return home for a set at The Klub (the Facebook event page hints that her homecoming is a big reason for things coming together). This concert is promoted by Dryer Fire (good to see Nicole booking shows again), and it is an ALL AGES event with a recommended $10 entry fee, though you can pay what you can if unable. These Magnificent Tentacles will open the show at 7:00 PM. In accordance with provincial health guidelines, attendees must present COVID-19 vaccine passports and ID upon entry.

Beyond that new wrinkle, face masks are required to enter The Klub, and please use common sense and follow all recommended public health/safety guidelines re: social distancing to ensure everyone has a safe time. Looks like a fun and diverse night of music at a locale that provides a great service in the Soo, so visit the above links for more details!

Finally for today, here's a new cover from ex-Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel on Saturday! A vocal/electric guitar cover of Seether's "Save Today", it's soundly performed by an artist who very much knows his way around hard rock,  but the audio quality is very muffled. Must be the camera, as Cory's prior video uploads definitely have better sound, but this is still a strong cover underneath it all, so give it a watch below, and hopefully he has some more ahead!

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