The Go North Music Festival & Sandman Concert Previews!!

This stacked concert weekend presses on, so for our third of (now) four weekend concert preview posts to cover the hard rock and punk-integrated action, we're looking at a big returning regional festival today, as well as the return of the very first band that I ever saw at a licensed 19+ concert, so here's what you should know on this Friday morning!

Continuing this marathon weekend, we'll take the hour's drive southeast to Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island for the eighth annual Go North Music Festival, which takes place TONIGHT & TOMORROW! Returning to the former Cornfest site at Centennial Grounds, this outdoor festival will again see two days of live music, and in a non-musical sense, there will be food vendors both days this year, alongside an artisan market, a family zone featuring Science North displays, games, crafts, and a large interactive community mural project, and as always, on-site camping. Visit the official website for complete details on this front! After not having any hard rock or punk acts for 2025's Big Sugar-headlined program, Go North will have one band that pings our genre radar, namely Juno nominated Saskatoon blues/hard rock band Wide Mouth Mason (of "My Old Self" and "Why" fame, among other hits).

Surprisingly their first concert within an hour of the Soo on record, Wide Mouth Mason's brand of accessible and catchy hard rock with distinct vocals should make a good impression tomorrow night! Curiously, festival advertising does not confirm set times, just the performance order. Your Saturday headliners are Juno-winning Halifax indie rock veterans Wintersleep (they of "Weighty Ghost" and "In Came The Flood" fame) and three touring acts from Toronto, namely alt-rock band Jackie, pop rock solo artist Loviet, and alternative/indie singer/guitarist Keegan Powell & his band The Jetpacks. Local openers tomorrow are CASS FM, Central Algoma Secondary School's student rock band, who have played Go North multiple times. Also on Saturday are returning London children's musical band The Thinking Caps, who will headline the separate children's stage that afternoon. An eclectic lineup for alternative and indie rock fans, so don't bypass the talent here!

Tonight's shorter opening night program will be headlined by Niagara Falls brass/funk supergroup My Son The Hurricane (with ex-Redefined/Rising Tide drummer Danno O'Shea still in their ranks), alongside Oakville R&B/country duo Yassin & Sean Terrio and local indie rock quartet Lucy's Diner (the former Hollow Heads). The music lineups of Go North VIII go down from 3:00-11:00 PM tomorrow and 6:00-11:00 PM tonight, and while online ticket sales have ended, you can still buy tickets at the gates. At last word, day passes cost $40 tonight and $70 tomorrow ($20 and $25 respectively for teenagers 13-18 or students with valid student ID). Camping passes are a separate charge, as are $15 premium parking passes, while discount bundles for groups of 2+ adults were also an option. Recent social media hype suggests that this year's Go North is outselling last year's event, which is great news all around!

Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies tomorrow with a high of 25°, though there is a slim chance of rain starting during Wintersleep's set into the overnight, so make note of that if camping (tonight's opening concert is projected to have clear skies and a high of 24°). Conditions look to mostly hold up, so best of luck to everyone enjoying the music on St. Joseph Island this weekend! Visit the above links for more on this year's Go North Music Festival, and here's Wide Mouth Mason live!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #3, let's head home to Sault Ste. Marie, where Toronto-based Metallica tribute band Sandman will return to town TOMORROW NIGHT, this time at The Full Throttle Saloon! The only tribute band officially licensed by Metallica (and featuring three ex-members of Helix in their ranks), this will be Sandman's fifth local concert appearance on record, and first since they rocked the former Soo Blaster in October 2022, but this time, they're heading into Steelton as the third touring tribute headliner at The Full Throttle Saloon this year. The former Primavera Hall has done well booking the Crazy Babies and Epic Rush shows despite some eyebrow raising over the ticket prices, but Sandman have the most local experience of the three, so hopefully they draw well with their faithfully performed take on Metallica's 1980s and early 1990s catalogue! This 19+ concert goes down tomorrow night at 10:00 PM, and has no announced opening band.

Tickets cost $50 at the venue, and while this is cheaper than the $70 Crazy Babies show at The Full Throttle Saloon, it's also way above the $40 that both of Sandman's 2022 Soo Blaster gigs cost combined. Still, Crazy Babies and Epic Rush appeared to draw well, so if you want to enjoy Metallica's classic hits again, get your tickets while you can! I'm not seeing the "no ticket sales at the door" restriction this time, but call ahead if you're at all worried. Visit the above links for more on the the thrash metal tribute action tomorrow night, and for a preview, here's Sandman live!

That's all for now, but look for our Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands and 2 Stoned Crows In The River previews next, as well as (finally) our Rotaryfest review! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Go North Music Festival!!)

Single topic post today thanks to a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Juno Award-nominated Saskatoon blues/hard rock band Wide Mouth Mason will (as far as I'm aware) make their first ever local concert appearance as one of the co-headliners of the eighth annual Go North Music Festival on Saturday, July 25th! A staple of Canadian rock radio and MuchMusic in the late 1990s thanks to hit songs like "My Old Self", "Why", and "Smile", it will be neat to finally welcome Shaun, Safwan, and crew to our area (if not the Soo proper) this summer, and their jam-friendly alt-rock sound and distinct vocals still set them apart! Wide Mouth Mason are really the only hard rock-leaning outpost for this year's festival, which didn't have anything that really crossed our radar in 2025 (when it was headlined by Big Sugar, featuring former W.M.M. bassist Gordie Johnson). Presented by SooToday & 104.3 The Fox, this annual event returns to the old Cornfest site at Centennial Grounds in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island for two nights of music.

As seen on the poster, the headlining Saturday band this year is Juno-winning Halifax indie rock quintet Wintersleep (of "Weighty Ghost" and "Amerika" fame), who have also never played in the Soo area before. While their name sounds heavier than they are, Wintersleep are a very talented and acclaimed band, so don't bypass them this summer! Also making their way to St. Joseph Island in four months are three acts from Toronto, namely alt-indie trio Jackie, pop rock musician Loviet, and alternative singer/guitarist Keegan Powell, who should also make some waves with their skill sets and rising national profiles! Your only local band on July 25th is CASS FM, the Central Algoma Secondary School student rock band (a'la Mustang Sally), who are multi-time veterans of Go North, if with a lot of lineup turnover. As well, London children's music group The Thinking Caps will return to headline the kids stage that afternoon.

The night #1 lineup on Friday, July 24th has more local ties despite only having three acts, those being fan favourite Niagara Falls brass/funk collective My Son The Hurricane (still featuring former Rising Tide drummer Danno O'Shea), Oakville country/soul hybrid duo Yassin & Sean Terrio, and local indie rock quartet Lucy's Diner (née The Hollow Heads). Along with the announced musicians, attendees can also expect to find local art and food vendors amongst the outdoor surroundings on Centennial Grounds, and if you're bringing the kids, there will be interactive Science North exhibits, games, crafts, and a mural that everyone can help paint at the family zone. Timeslots for the individual acts are not out yet, but gates open on Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 3:00 PM, and bands are projected to wrap up nightly by 11:00 PM. On-site camping is absolutely available as usual, and a fireside jam will again be held after hours.

Advance tickets are now on sale at this link, and minus online processing fees, day passes run for $40 on Friday and $70 on Saturday ($20 and $25 respectively for teenagers 13-18 or students under 25 with valid student ID). Camping passes for 2 or 4 adults for the whole weekend or Saturday only are also available (kids/teens are free to camp thusly but must be with an adult), but these do not include festival tickets, which are a separate purchase. $15 premium parking passes are also available if you want to get a really close spot, but this is an optional bonus. Discount bundles for two adults with camping & premium parking are also available. It is great to see the Go North Fest back for year #8, and while they have had heavier lineups, there's a lot of established and up & coming names to watch out for here, so definitely visit the above links for more on this year's event an hour east of the Soo! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: SYKOTYK RAMPAGE - Topic

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile! In our last monthly feature post of the summer months, we have another spotlight of a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk music/concerts. This month's selection is a YouTube Music channel for a prominent local band, if not as comprehensive as you may expect, so here's what you should know on it!

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SYKOTYK RAMPAGE - Topic (http://youtube.com/channel/UCrjvSyO3DGjK1fVMyvgT3kw)

Owner:  If anyone, Sykotyk Rampage guitarist/singer Dirk Becker, though the channel is auto-generated to facilitate the band's catalogue being available on YouTube Music

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 19th, 2022; Videos posted that day and on March 19th, 2024

Channel Summary: Four different YouTube channels exist to host parts of the back catalogue of local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage on YouTube Music, with this particular channel hosting two albums of theirs from 2013, incidentally both part of concept chronologies. 32 songs are hosted between the two albums.

Why You Should Watch: Given how fragmented (and incomplete) Sykotyk Rampage's discography is represented on YouTube Music, this channel is really only for band completionists who regularly consume streaming music via YouTube. Their complete 70+ album discography is available on their Bandcamp page, which should be stop #1 for fans of the masters of the crash, but if you had a particular affinity for these two albums, note their YouTube presence!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

GATES: The earlier of the two Sykotyk Rampage albums on this channel is "Yamaraja" from August 2013 (its sequel followed two years later), which notably uses one word titles for all songs on offer except the self-titled closing number. Notable for being one of their first albums with bassist Tony Briglio (joining Dirk, singer/drummer Paul Becker, and guitarist Shane Kokis), "Yamaraja" is an album that I have yet to review on the SMS (with how many Sykotyk Rampage have, who knows when I will!), but as good a place to start as any here is the opening song "Gates", which will appeal to fans of their Paul-sung crash rock originals, complete with background chanting to go along with the loose theme around Hindu gods. There's more where that came from on the full album!

Intro to Revenge: The longer and more popular album of the two here is October 2013's lengthily titled "Adventures Of Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy 2: Revenge Of Professor OCD & The Crimson Nipple" (the first album in this series immediately preceded it and the third "Adventures Of..." album came out in 2014). Another concept album ("Chastity Boy" is Tony's band nickname) featuring "story" tracks peppered in between the songs, the most popular upload on this particular channel is the opener "Intro To Revenge". This one features Tony setting up the storyline for the album and where things picked up from the first album in this series. Not a song in itself beyond the backing music, the story being set up is definitely sykotyk and it'd be a fool's errand to sum it up here (especially when I don't know when I'll be reviewing Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy's adventures here), but it'll start you on book #2 of this epic story!

American Dreamer: Of the actual songs on "Adventures Of Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy 2", I most want to highlight "American Dreamer" for its near-7 minute length and the fact that, as of this writing, it has zero hits on YouTube. I know Sykotyk Rampage have dozens of albums to comb through, but no one has played this song there? Starting with a solid bass solo, this is a showcase for Dirk's distinctive punk snarl on lead vocals, which don't get deployed enough on their albums, and the freewheeling nature of their improvised hybrid rock attack comes through well without seeming overlong despite the length! Give this and much more a listen above!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around September 26th for another randomly selected channel, and this time, it's via Vern03, who filmed six videos at the Heaven & Hell/Megadeth concert here in 2007! Look for that on or around September 26th, and for more news and notes on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Sole Aggressors), More From Them, And A New Album Release!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to note a late concert cancellation from yesterday's rainy weather, as local hard rock/classic metal quartet Tarnished did not perform at American Legion Park in St. Ignace for their planned Music By The Bay outdoor concert. While The Nameless' outdoor show in Goetzville went on despite the forecast, Tarnished confirmed on their Facebook page that their concert was off last night at 6:32 PM, 28 minutes prior to when it would have began (note that they never plugged the show on Facebook prior to then). Disappointing, but Mother Nature can be inconvenient at this time of year. Hopefully Tarnished try again for the Music By The Bay series in 2026!

Today's post otherwise features a new local album release, and leading off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related band breakup, as Sault Michigan punk trio The Sole Aggressors will reportedly play their final public concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this via their Facebook page yesterday (their first Facebook post since March, though they have played live and plugged shows via Instagram since). The 2023 LSSU Battle of the Bands winners revealed that they are disbanding "due to recent events... before we all part ways for college". While they didn't elaborate on what the "recent events" were, The Sole Aggressors are far from the only example locally of a high school-aged band splitting up due to members moving out of town after grade 12. TOMORROW'S show will take place in the garage at guitarist Brett Siesel's residence, and the address is on the poster.

While the show will technically be all ages, they "ideally" request no alcohol or drugs on the premises. The concert takes place TOMORROW at 7:00 PM, and there is no cover charge, but they will be selling merchandise and taking donations. It is worth noting that The Sole Aggressors were also supposed to play at an outdoor house party concert in Thessalon, Ontario yesterday featuring loads of familiar Sault Ontario names across multiple genres, but even if Thessalon was within our coverage range (it's over an hour from Sault Ste. Marie), it too was rained out. The Sole Aggressors made a solid name in their two year run via their battle win and by being a rare example of an E.U.P. band to play in Sault Ontario (let alone more than once), while also being a pure punk band, which has never been common in Sault Michigan. Even if they never have a reunion, they made their mark in multiple ways, and have a solid sound and quality original music.

Of course, best of luck to Brett, Calvin, and Isaac (and Henry) in whatever lies ahead for them, but send off The Sole Aggressors in style TOMORROW NIGHT, and for a preview, here's one of three full concert videos from their YouTube channel that we have yet to feature on here! How I've been slacking on their YouTube channel in the past year, I don't know, but I'll get to all of their uncovered videos there soon, and we'll start with their set opening for Dick Texas at a Serious Business-promoted concert at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in November of last year. The 39 minutes-long set was actually filmed by Dafter solo musician Molly Escherich and her mom Tiffany, and in order, the guys played "Down By The Bay", "State Of The World","Teenage Guide", "Kill Thy Neighbour", "False Hope". "Fast Punk For Fast Food", "Time To Commercialize!", "Reject", "Melted Plastic", "Hypocrite", "Kill A Celebrity", "Ventilation", ...

... "Tale Of An American Hero", "Fool", and "Heil Artificiality". While re-arranged in the order, every song from their set at Pickles in August 2024 is featured here, alongside "Tale Of An American Hero" & "Heil Artificiality" as new additions. Camera angles are all stationary here, but the Escherichs did move it a few times, particularly closer for the last two songs. Not a packed house but there's some loyal fans on the floor throughout. Maybe they're blocking the camera a bit, but The Sole Aggressors have a strong and in your face punk sound that comes through really well in this full set video with a slowly improving stage presence. Give it a look below, and go see The Sole Aggressors one last time in the Soo TOMORROW NIGHT!

Finally for today, here's a surprise album release, as Sault Ontario "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage released their 71st studio album onto their Bandcamp page last week! Entitled "WYRD Radio 3: The Midnight Horror Show", this is a thematic sequel to their prior "WYRD Radio" albums from 2015 & 2022, themed around the pretense of the songs being played on a fictional radio station. While the end of 2022's "WYRD Radio 2: Kype The Jesus Boots" hinted at their next "broadcast" being about alien abductions, this album has a fantasy epic theme not unlike last year's "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck", though not sharing that storyline or multimedia comic book spinoff. As usual, "WYRD Radio 3" was recorded at The Cave completely improvised, and was mastered at their own River Front Recreation Studios, with singer/drummer Paul Becker, guitarist/vocalist Dirk Becker, guitarist Shane Kokis, and bassist Tony Briglio all back here. The album is well over 2 hours in length with 30 tracks.

While this may seem like a lot for a local hard rock album, remember that "WYRD Radio 2" had 40 tracks and would need three CDs if sold thusly. While Sykotyk Rampage have a presence on major streaming services, I believe the new album is currently a Bandcamp exclusive, though note that they officially list "September 1st" as the release date there. In any event, you can buy it on mp3 there for $15 or stream it for free. Without ongoing backlog of new album reviews on the SMS, "WYRD Radio 3" is currently pencilled in to lead off 2026 on the SMS, so look for that in January, and check out the album above! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sugar Island Music Festival) & New E.U.P. Concert Videos!!

Plans for today's SMS post got very upended by a big SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that has tripped me up multiple times in the past, so that and some new concert videos are on the docket in this all-Michigan post. Here's what you should know on this Saturday morning!

Reports of this weekend's quiet hard rock concert lineup were slightly premature, as Sault Michigan hard rock quartet The Nameless will rock the annual Sugar Island Music Festival TODAY! I profusely apologize for the short notice, the band only confirmed their involvement on their Facebook page yesterday, but the lineup was quietly confirmed for some time on the festival's website. As you may recall, the Sugar Island Festival gathers numerous local musicians (mostly not regulars on the E.U.P. bar scene in these projects) to perform on the outdoor stage on the island just east of the Soo, but there is always at least one token rock band who fans will be familiar with, and The Nameless have been that band since 2023. While we're at it, I profusely apologize for not covering their set at last year's Sugar Island Fest, as per the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine backup of their website.

For full details on this year's lineup (including bands yesterday and tomorrow), click here, but note that performers on Sugar Island tend to lean more towards bluegrass and country from my understanding. After playing last year at 6:00 PM on the Friday, fans can see Joshua, the Mikes, and Jamie (fresh off of their third place run at the Superior Whitefish Festival battle of the bands) TODAY at 5:00 PM. Your top three acts again this year are 3½ Men at 9:00 PM, 3-Zip at 8:00 PM, and Aberdeen at 7:00 PM, while festival regulars 2 Cents take the stage at 6:00 PM after not playing on the Saturday last year. Gentleman George Snider also returns at 4:00 PM, while afternoon newcomers include The Blue Lines at 3:00 PM, The Russells at 2:00 PM, and Rich Klenle at 1:00 PM. February Sky will return as the opening band at 12:00 PM, and an open mic block will kick off TODAY'S program as usual at 11:00 AM.

Music aside, expect a beanbag tournament, childrens' activities, and camping on site, so be sure to check the above links for more on the family friendly entertainment, as well as instructions on how to get to the stage on Sugar Island (and remember that you have to take the ferry to get there from Sault Ste. Marie). This all ages festival has admission of $20 via buttons purchased at the Hilltop Bar and Westshore Convenience Store on the island proper, or at the gate (there are no single day passes). 9&10 News is calling for partly-mostly cloudy skies TODAY with weather ranging from 77-84° (25-29° Celsius) with a 20% chance of rain for the final two acts, so mind the current heat wave if you're coming out. Despite the relative lack of social media advertising (The Nameless never even plugged their 2024 set on Facebook), it's great to see a stacked lineup of local talent back for another year of music on Sugar Island!

Even with the genre focus away from live rock music, there's a lot of talent to take in TODAY and tomorrow, as there was yesterday, so don't bypass the Sugar Island Festival for a pleasant (if hot) outdoor diversion this weekend! Visit the above links for more details, apologies again for the short notice and missing last year's festival on the SMS, and for a preview, here's a new video of The Nameless live at The Islander Bar in Hessel last month! In this one, you can hear them covering the end of Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy" but the visual focus is on dancing attendees, with the band not even in frame. The audio is muffled, and Josh's vocals don't always match the song in intensity, but fun was had, so give it a watch below!

We'll take the ferry back to Sault Ste. Marie to end this post, and like yesterday, we'll do so with local hard rock/punk trio About:Blank via a long awaited public video of their opening set at the Musicians Unite benefit concert at Bird's Eye Outfitters in March! The guys only uploaded a clip of them at the Mary Jo Jenkins fundraiser event to their Facebook page on June 5th (over two months later) and it features Parker, Nathan, and Kade playing an original song named "Unheard". Like with their jam session video shared here yesterday, this horizontal video was uploaded in letterboxed vertical dimensions, making it needlessly tiny again, and like on "Why", we're only seeing the end of the song here, but there is promise to be had! The audio is muffled somewhat, but "Unheard" sounds solid with a little more of a punk edge to it, and Parker's intense screams suit the ending of it well! Check out About:Blank's new video below, and stay tuned for more from them!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sylo & Tarnished!!)

Just before things get rolling on the SMS, today marks our eighteenth anniversary since launching the original group. No major plans to commemorate the day, but just a brief thank you acknowledgement to all of our readers and followers for continuing to stick around and read/engage with our content, and here's to another big year for local metal, hard rock, and punk music ahead! For our first batch of weekend concert previews for July 2025, we have an all-LOCAL CONCERT ALERT post, mostly of the SHORT NOTICE variety, so here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock/classic metal quartet Tarnished have a busy and all-short notice concert weekend ahead, and before we get into all three gigs, I apologize for the short notice on all of them, Tarnished only announced the three via their official Facebook page earlier today. Is that a record for late notice gig announcements by one local band at different venues on a given weekend? Regardless, Tarnished will kick off the Independence Day long weekend TONIGHT when they return to the annual Fourth of July parade in Sault Ste. Marie, marking their fourth straight year playing on a float during the parade! Of course, the idea of a SMS-amenable band playing during a parade is still uncommon for bands other than Tarnished, but it'll be like a brief concert coming to you, which will be neat if you're checking out the parade TONIGHT! Obviously, this is free and all ages, but where can you see Tarnished along the parade route?

As last year, the parade begins TONIGHT at 7:00 PM behind the U-Haul on Davitt Street, running until Magazine Street, and will move north along West 14th and Ashmun Streets, as well as West Portage Avenue, so pick a good spot to enjoy the parade, with some hard rocking tunes from Tarnished alongside! Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for mostly cloudy skies with weather around 70° (21° Celsius), which sounds like fine conditions for a parade! Click here for complete details on the parade itself. Tarnished will continue the rocking in short notice show #2, as Alex, Josh, Chris, and Ron will set up shop at The Savoy Nightclub TONIGHT at 10:00 PM! This will be Tarnished's first show at the 117 West Portage Road bar in over two years, and while The Savoy's modern social media presence isn't high, it is good to see that they're still open and hosting live music there! This is a 21+ concert with no announced cover charge.

Finally for Tarnished's busy long weekend, they'll return an hour south to St. Ignace TOMORROW NIGHT as part of the annual Music By The Bay summer concert series at American Legion Park at 200 North State Street, and in one more new show announcement, they'll return there on Saturday, August 16th as well! Good to see Tarnished spreading their wings and helping prove that there's more going on for St. Ignace concert venues than just Kewadin Casino, so keep TOMORROW'S show in mind! Click here for the full daily schedule at the Music In The Bay series too, it runs until the end of August. This is another free & all ages concert taking place from 7:00-9:00 PM, and while the stage is covered for the band's sake, be advised that 9&10 News is calling for a 40-60% chance of rain TOMORROW with 75° weather (24° Celsius). Visit the above links for more on Tarnished's shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, and for a preview, here they are live!

Finally for this all-LOCAL CONCERT ALERT post, Sault Ontario hard rock quartet Sylo will return to Reggie's Place TOMORROW NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced on the venue's Facebook page on Sunday (remember, Sylo don't have an active Facebook page). This has been a long time coming, as Sylo haven't played a show on record at Reggie's since 2022, so it will be neat to see Eli, Alder, Owen, and Jakob back at this Queen Street staple for a rare solo headlining appearance! Sylo have been making the most out of their return to active gigging this summer, and here's hoping for more of the same entertaining originals and covers from this talented young foresome TOMORROW! This is a one-nighter due to or resulting in classic rock cover quartet RPM playing there tonight. TOMORROW'S Sylo concert is at 9:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover. See above for more details, and here's Sylo live!

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A post shared by SYLO (@s.y.l.o.music)

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

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates From February 2025!!

For today's SMS post, let's return to the world of St. Ignace metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown, so what have they been up to since we last left off with them in early February? Back on February 6th, the guys posted a "Reel" on their Facebook page of them playing at last August's second annual 2nd Street Music Festival in their hometown (the January "Reel" alluded to in our last H.L.T.C. post was not from that event, my apologies). Short, vertical, unembeddable, and dark, but it captures some ferocious energy while it lasts, and Brandon's vocals really come across as American Head Charge-y here! Later that day, the guys announced another new downstate gig, which would take them to Battle Creek (5 hours due south of the Soo) on March 22nd, where they and three other bands opened for Wisconsin groove metal band Squidhammer at Feed Them, a Michigan Metal Fest-promoted "heavy metal food drive" at The Music Factory there.

Attendees got discounts for bringing in non-perishable food items for the cause, which is great to see! The following day, Heavy (as Brandon often calls them in announcement videos) announced that they'd be returning to The Delft Theater in Escanaba on April 19th for "The Invasion Of 420" (well, the show will end on the 20th!) Eight bands are scheduled to take the stage for this one, including Hannahville metal band Ghidora, who played at the 2nd Street Festival last year. Keep an eye out for coverage of public fallout from these two shows soon! On February 8th, H.L.T.C. asked fans if they'd be interested in buying a "Rat King"-themed t-shirt, a'la their song of the game name, while two days later, they teased that they were working on a new single in studio. Over the next two days, they shared four new videos from their set at at Fight Breast Cancer With Music in Escanaba back in October, so what can you see from The Delft Theater therein?

One is another "Reel" featuring more distant raw footage of Heavy Lies The Crown's set (Kaycee is completely obscured at this angle), and while solidly brutal, it is a short clip, let alone a horizontal video forcibly pillarboxed into vertical dimensions. Another "Reel" has photos from the gig, but the audio is the studio version of "Time Diffuser". The other two are actual embeddable videos, including this still-vertical clip of the guys improvising a section of music that night, with Blaze's drumming arguably being the star of the show there. Embedded below is the only horizontal clip of the four, and here, the camera is nicely zoomed in to capture the band rocking out, hopefully not burning anything to the ground despite the lyrics! While none of these are that long, it's good to see some more videos from the Escanaba show last fall (even if they all showed up six months later), so check these out above & below!

On February 10th, H.L.T.C. revealed that they now have official band logo stickers (clear and gold ones), and while not as big as they were hoping, to message them if you wanted any. Four days later, they also asked fans on Facebook what merchandise ideas in general that they had, and on February 20th, they again floated the possibility of expanding this year's 2nd Street Music Festival in St. Ignace to two days (one for local bands, one for metal bands that aren't necessarily local), and to offer suggestions for both categories. Also that day, they noted they were "working on some stuff" in this "Reel" featuring the monitor of a tracking computer, which would line up with their February 10th post hinting that they were working on a new single. Finally, here's a new video from singer Brandon West on February 22nd, where he lamented that musicians are treated like pirates nowadays.

Basically, bands are expected to do anything big now, but it costs money to tour and record and all that, while promoters are criticized for who they do/don't bring in when that costs too. It's not directly about Heavy Lies The Crown, but you get the sense that Brandon is talking from experience about his frustrations with expectations from certain fans and observers. No solutions are offered, beyond perhaps becoming a pirate, but you don't see a lot of local musicians vent like this, and it could be a good talking point, if not a reminder that this all isn't as easy at it seems. Check it out below!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Vanity First - Topic

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel profiles, now that our most recent weekend concert previews are wrapped up! This monthly feature post looks at a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk musicians/concerts, in order to spotlight it and its content for current readers! This month gives us a dormant but familiar local punk band's offerings on major streaming services like YouTube (Music), so here's what you should know on it!

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Vanity First - Topic (http://youtube.com/channel/UCpYvTCkSYOmy61FJuDJ2x2g)

Owner: If anyone, an unidentified member of local punk band Vanity First, though the channel is auto-generated to facilitate the band's catalogue being available on YouTube Music

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 15th, 2022; Videos uploaded from that day until April 2024

Channel Summary: The official YouTube Music channel for Vanity First, it features their 2024 studio album "Identity Crisis", two pre-release single uploads from the same album, and "single versions" of two other songs later included on that album.

Why You Should Watch: If you enjoy Vanity First's studio material, this channel will be well worth your time, though of course, these songs are also on other major streaming services if you'd rather hear "Identity Crisis" somewhere else. While comprehensive for their post-name change material, their February 2022 self-titled demo "Vanity" was not re-uploaded to YouTube Music, though all of its songs (save for the ballad "Breathe") were re-recorded for "Identity Crisis", and the original demo remains available to stream on the band's official YouTube channel, which also has videos and non-album material. Note that this channel hasn't been updated since "Identity Crisis" came out, and the band hasn't played live in six months, possibly due to Mikhal and Keeghan's focus on Ha!ls as of late.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Playboy Magazine (Single Version): The first songs on offer here are "single versions" of songs that were later re-recorded for "Identity Crisis". The first song is the "single version" of "Playboy Magazine", which debuted on the 2022 "Vanity" demo, and is by far their most popular song on YouTube Music. This was released the same month that they rebranded from Vanity to Vanity First and bassist Nick McClelland left the band, though I don't know if he is on this particular recording (singer Andrew Beggs replaced him on bass). Also featuring guitarist Mikhal Muto (who sings lead on this song) and drummer Keeghan "Ljubov" McAllister, the "single version" is a few seconds longer than the final 2024 version, and doesn't have as dynamic production but it is a louder file. Not their punkiest or fastest song, but power pop fans will take to it well, especially ones familiar with Mikhal's vocals!

Get Out (Single Version): The other "single version" predating the "Identity Crisis" release is the August 2022 re-recording of "Get Out", an Andrew-sung number that is one of Vanity First's heaviest originals. About 10 seconds shorter than the final 2024 version (cornfield banter at the start aside), the 2022 version differs primarily from the 2024 one by its more reserved, punk-leaning vocals that remind me somewhat of Pennywise's "Bro Hymn", whereas Andrew more screamed the verses for the "Identity Crisis" sessions.  Strong track that was one of my favourites from Vanity First's catalogue, regardless of version, though the recording is again definitely louder with less dynamics than what we got a couple of years later.

Habitual Vanity: In terms of songs from "Identity Crisis" itself, I wanted to highlight one of the newer songs recorded for the album that hadn't debuted as a "single version" or on the 2022 demo. I went with their partially eponymous song "Habitual Vanity", which was released to YouTube Music twice, first as an advance single and then re-uploaded with the full album. This Andrew-sung number is darker than a lot of their earlier punk originals and has a nice melodic structure with ominous elements that help showcase the diversity in sounds that they were exploring! Hopefully we haven't heard the absolute last from Vanity First, but follow what Mikhal and Keeghan are up to with Hails in the interim!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we'll get back to YouTube channels actually ran and controlled by the band apart from the YouTube Music format, this time by way of Bullet Train - Canada, featuring the local hard rock band's original songs so far! Look for that on or around April 26th, and for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!