A New Local Punk Band, Crush Updates, And More Recent News & Notes!!

As we wrap up the busiest month (for post count) in the 19+ year history of the SMS, here's one more news post for the end of August before we go into autumn, and it includes updates from an EUP hard rock band, clarifications on who played a recent all-day charity concert, and some assorted shorter updates, but we'll lead off with a debuting supergroup that will be intriguing for many local punk and hard rock fans! Here's what you should know!

We have a new local punk band to add to our links, and they are Dead II Society! While their Facebook page was only launched yesterday, they were one of the two mystery bands announced for October's Punk Rock Fiesta at The Rockstar Bar (we are still waiting for details on The Baby Rails). Self-described as "an outlaw punk rock (band) specializing in loud, high energy, foot-stomping songs", their lyrics are planned to revolve around members' personal lives, health, and relationships. The band features former Garden of Bedlam/Changing Lanes singer/guitarist Erik "Buzz" Boissineau alongside former Northwest/Terminal guitarist Mike Yakasovich, veteran local bassist Andrew Torgerson (most recently seen down south in The Epifats and Grant Boyer's backing band), and Billy Bastards drummer Charlie Yanni (he will be pulling double duty with both bands on October 3rd).

Dead II Society are working on original music for major streaming services and Bandcamp, and your first teaser is this video featuring an instrumental track and silent footage of the guys meeting up and jamming. Their first single and full-length video (presumably both for this song) premiere on September 16th, 2½ weeks before their Punk Rock Fiesta debut. Sadly, the video is both vertical and black & white, aspects that I hope don't translate to what we get in two weeks, but it's great to see this promising band full of established names making their debut shortly, and it'll be interesting to hear how Buzz's long-teased original punk songs turn out! See more from them above and below, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, let's bolt across the border to Sault Michigan for the latest updates from local hard rock trio Crush! It's been a few months since we last talked about Tarnished's original-heavy splinter group, who haven't played a local concert in over four months (or downstate since May), but they haven't been completely idle. After jokey posts, AI-generated memes, and more love for Big Boy restaurants over the summer, they have announced two tour dates for September on their Facebook page, one being a show on Friday at Bemo's Bar in Bay City (3½ hours south of here, outside of Saginaw). Best of luck on the road trip for sure! The other gig is technically outside of our coverage range (an hour's drive from the Soo), but it will be their closest show since April at The Merch, and it will see Alex, Josh, and Iggy open for their friends in Rose City metal band Tribe989 at Bates Corner Bar & Grill in Gould City on Thursday, September 24th.

Hannahville "rez metal" band Ghidora (who Heavy Lies The Crown fans will know well) are also playing this show 90 minutes west of the Soo. If you can make the drive to western Mackinac County, this show may be of note, and despite Gould City being pretty small, they can book big names at Bates Corner (Buckcherry played there earlier this month!) Click here for details on the Gould City concert. Lastly, they posted this short teaser video for the Bay City show on Friday, with Iggy promoting it from an... unexpected place, while the caption at the end notes that Crush have been busy in the studio recently working on original material. Hopefully we hear more soon, so get Crushed above and below, and I hope next month's shows go well!

Also today, here's some clarification of the lineup for Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion in Sault Ontario on August 5th! The advertising for the event had conflicting details on who was and wasn't playing, but organizer Paige Dennie listed off performers in a personal Facebook post shared to Maddy's Facebook page the next day to thank everyone for volunteering. Ten acts ended up playing the Wednesday outdoor-ish concert under the big tent, with this AI-generated poster being accurate to the final bill aside from omitting Tex Riviera & The Relix Ride for one reason or another (not only did they play, they were up first!). The acts that dropped out (both for unannounced reasons) were solo musicians Arin Karki and Leslie Cook, with Tym Morrison being a last minute replacement for one of them. Of note, Jason Taillefer's sister Kelly guested for part of his solo set, which was implied to be keyboard-heavy.

Paige noted that 5 Dollar Bribe donated their drum kit and PA system for the day's full band's to use, which was nice of them, while TNT singer/guitarist Travis Sharpe helped with sound and managing set changes, and Bone Yard 225 were the headliners. It does sound like things went well, and Paige was very appreciative of everyone helping out, both from the concert aspect and towards supporting the dog rescue charity itself, so visit the above links for more on what went down four weeks ago!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual for our short-form story blocks, these are in alphabetical order by artist or company name:

 

• A memorial concert for late local musician Dale Corcoran will be held at the resurgent Rockstar Bar on Saturday, September 19th! Proceeds will go to his widow Clare for her own recent expenses, and the show is implied to largely be an informal and unrehearsed jam featuring friends and former bandmates rather than something with firmly scheduled and advertised bands (though I'd assume that we'll see members of Tex Riviera & The Ride). Could we see throwbacks to his local metal and hard rock work of the 1980s? Tickets cost $20 + processing fees at this link, and I do hope that this celebration of life is a huge hit across the board!
• I apologize for missing this among our backlog clearout, but a demonstration named Navigating the Modern Music Business As An Independent Artist was held at The Art Hub At Spring this past Tuesday. Hosted by local musician and manager Ryan St. Pierre of The Lonely Listeners Club and the upstart music management program Lisinin, the program was to promote his work and help encourage independent artists to explore today's music industry and better network in music communities. All are definitely good plans to help aspiring musicians in their career, so click here for more on what went down last week, and what Ryan continues working on!
• The performance order for the aforementioned Punk Rock Fiesta at The Rockstar Bar on October 3rd has been unveiled via this poster shared on the Punk Canada Facebook group two weeks ago! The running order is mostly what you'd expect given band notoriety, with everyone but headliners Random Killing having a half hour timeslot (the debuting Baby Rails lead off at 6:30 PM), but local crossover thrash trio Hails will surprisingly get the 10:30 PM co-headlining slot over the Billys and Fist Magnet reunions. This will be a huge show no matter when bands are on, so visit the above links for more on what to expect in just over a month!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), Wednesday Concert Previews, And A New Video!!

(Updated at 6:08 PM) With there being a pair of mid-week concerts of note TOMORROW (one being a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), let's focus our latest post around them, plus some more upcoming new concerts and a new live video, so here's what you should know on this Tuesday morning!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TOMORROW, and while we're on the subject, let's roll the rest of his August dates there into our calendar! Apologies for the short notice on TOMORROW's concert, I really should have got the ball rolling on his August dates last week, as I wanted to go month-by-month with them given the amount. August 2026 has four Wednesdays, so fans of the former Caveman Morrison and Nostalgic Band frontman can see Tym go unplugged at The Trading Post TOMORROW and then on August 12th, 19th, and 26th, with his weekly summer concert arrangement at this outdoor stage scheduled to run through mid-September. Hopefully weather holds out throughout, and Tym's skilled covers should get a solid reception TOMORROW and beyond! All four shows have adjusted 7:00-9:00 PM start times.

These are all ages concerts with no cover charge, and 9&10 News is calling for 20-21° temperatures and partly cloudy skies during Tym's scheduled two hour block TOMORROW. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live! 

Finally, let's head to The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, where local dog rescue charity Maddy's Mighty Mutts will host their first ever Family Fun Day! To promote Maddy's work and give back to the community, attendees tomorrow can expect a barbecue, craft and food vendors, kids activity, a beer tent, dogs up for adoption, and more, so visit the official Facebook event page for full non-musical details! A stacked lineup of local musicians are supporting Maddy's Mighty Mutts tomorrow, including anywhere from nine to eleven acts, though unfortunately, I have not seen a verified performance schedule. Based on the advertised 8 hour timeframe, I'd be expecting some half-hour long sets, especially from the solo acts. The listed band order puts the bands first, and in order, they include young local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe, southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 (with new single in tow!), Josh & Todd from local folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels...

...as their duo spinoff Half Scoundies, classic/hard rock cover duo TNT (Terry Eaton n' Travis Sharpe from Soundcheck unplugged), and country rock cover veterans Tex Riviera & The Ride (not "Tex & The Relix") The solo performers include Bone Yard frontman Greg "The Ranting Rockstar" Simpson (featuring a guest appearance by Travis from TNT), Dive Gastro Pub regular Arin Karki (a.k.a. Arin Jung), Dodge This/ex-Phatstick singer/guitarist Jason Taillefer, newer local country musician Jazmine "Jazz Marie" Ladouceur, former Project 421/Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie, country cover veteran Leslie Cook, and in a late addition via this AI generated poster from this morning, the aforementioned Tym Morrison. That's quite a solid lineup of familiar faces, many not regularly seen on multi-band bills like this, so keep all of this in mind! However, be advised that the new AI poster omits three acts (Tex & The Ride, Arin Karki, and Leslie Cook), even though Tex's Facebook page confirmed an hour prior that they were playing tomorrow.

Have any of the three dropped out (theoretically, someone must have for Tym to join this bill), or did Maddy's and/or the AI program forget a few names? We'll let you know if anything concrete is said! Also newly confirmed is that unspecified "friends" will guest with TNT during their set. Alas, the Wednesday scheduling is far from ideal, especially for an event starting before people working 9:00-5:00 are off the clock, but hopefully there's a decent turnout given the quality lineup & other activities. I have not seen any firm postings indicating a cover charge, but bring cash just in case to support Maddy's work and the vendors on site! This is absolutely an all ages event (dogs are welcome too!), and it is slated to run from 2:00-10:00 PM. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies tomorrow with temperatures ranging from 18-22°, and while the Roberta Boundary Bondar Pavilion tent is acknowledged, the show should avoid tonight's rain.

Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's the first original song from listed headliners(?) 5 Dollar Bribe! This video was uploaded to their Facebook page from their headlining date at Blaster Powerhouse on Saturday, and features Jayce, Tyler, Randy, and Chase playing their own original "Cold". A 1990s tinged hard rock song with grunge influences and some surprising screams from Jayce, this is a promising start that seemed to go over well this past weekend! I'd definitely be interested to hear more original music from 5 Dollar Bribe, but will they play this tomorrow under the tent? Be there to find out, and check out the "Cold" video from Saturday night for yourselves below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day), A Concert Preview, And More!!

Our Rotaryfest review is in the latter stretches now, but with a Wednesday concert to preview, a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to touch on in two weeks, and a very busy bunch of weekend concert previews ahead, let's get another news post up today, so here's what you should know! 

An intriguing mix of local musicians will join forces for a special charity concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Wednesday, August 5th! This is called a Family Fun Day (not to be confused with the Loud & Proud one for Pridefest), and is being organized by Maddy's Mighty Mutts, a dog rescue business that you may recognize from doing events with dogs up for adoption at The Dive Gastro Pub. To help support the work that Maddy's does, the Family Fun Day will also have a beer/cocktail tent, a barbecue, kids activities, and vendors, so be sure to follow the above links for full non-musical details! 11 local music acts have donated their time to perform at this event (which takes place from 2:00-10:00 PM), including five local bands, so who can you expect? In alphabetical order on the AI-generated poster, the bands include newer young hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe, southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225, ...

...Josh & Todd from The Golden Scoundrels in an acoustic folk/country set as "Half Scoundies", acoustic classic/hard rock cover duo TNT (Terry Eaton n' Travis Sharpe from Soundcheck), and country cover veterans Tex Riviera & The Ride (or if you believe the AI poster, "Tex & The Relix"). The rest of the bill will be comprised of solo acoustic musicians, including Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson in his solo "Ranting Rockstar" guise (with a guest appearance by the aforementioned Travis Sharpe), Arin Karki (a.k.a. Arin Jung), Dodge This/ex-Phatstick singer/guitarist Jason Taillefer (mind the missing "i" on the poster), local country musician Jazmine Ladouceur, former Haggith/Project 421 frontman Curtis McKenzie, and country singer/guitarist Leslie Cook. That's quite a stacked lineup, including a lot of names who you don't see on multi-band bills that often!

Maddy's Mighty Mutts' Family Fun Day takes place on Wednesday the 5th from 2:00-10:00 PM, it is absolutely all ages, and I haven't seen anything concrete about admission fees or a lack thereof. This looks like a fun event for a great cause, but I do wonder how they landed on a Wednesday for the date for this, as a lot of people work days/9 to 5 during the week (to that end, a performer schedule would be handy). While not "short notice", this is just two weeks away, so visit the above links for more on what to expect under the big tent for this intriguing charity concert!

Next up, here's a mid-week concert preview before we dive into the full weekend previews proper, as prolific local acoustic classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will continue his weekly summer arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TONIGHT! This is day #4 of this current run of outdoor concerts beside the Big Moose Ice Cream Parlor, and hopefully there's a decent crowd there for his unplugged rock covers and other favourites, as recently usual! As usual for this year's run of Trading Post gigs, tonight's festivities take place from 6:30-8:30 PM with no age limit or cover charge. Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for 17° temperatures and sunny skies, so nicer than last week, but cooler, especially for late July. In case you're wondering, the air quality index has not been higher than a 5 (moderate risk) since Saturday night, and the forecast maximum for today is a 3 (low risk).

I suspect we made it out of the worst of the air quality warnings from the forest fires, but things are recent enough where it seemed worth bringing up at least one more time (famous last words). Visit the official Facebook event page on Tym's show tonight at The Trading Post, and here he is live!

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

• The aforementioned Bone Yard 225 have announced that their fourth studio single "Welcome To The Shit Show" will be released to major streaming services on Friday, August 1st! In the meantime, you can hear a sample of the song on their website. No word on how progress on the complete debut album is going, but it will be neat to hear the new song from your local 225 next week!
• As noted above, advertising for the Maddy's Mighty Mutts family fun day notes that Bone Yard's Greg "The Ranting Rockstar" Simpson will be featuring Travis Sharpe in his set. How much, we don't yet know, but Travis made an unadvertised guest appearance with Greg when he played at The Dive Gastro Pub last month, which the venue's Facebook page captured in this 40 seconds-long video of the two covering Guns N' Roses' "Used To Love Her". I wish this was the full song, but it's a solid performance with Travis making use of his deeper clean vocals well! Unfortunately, I can't embed the video here, as The Dive background matched the audio in the clip as their own.
• Grand Rapids, Michigan death metal quartet Life Sentence have been added to the Viscera-headlined Pizza Hut concert in Sault Ste. Marie on September 26th, as per updates to the poster on the band's Instagram page. Very grindcore-inspired sound here that Blood Shed Productions fans on the Ontario side may want to check out, and it will be interesting to hear how a band this extreme goes over in Sault Michigan in two months' time!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Rotaryfest review and this weekend's concert previews ahead! Thanks everyone!