LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Vanity First, Silent 9, And HeadFirst!!)

Before we begin this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of founding April Wine singer/guitarist Myles Goodwyn, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 75. Visit your preferred national or music news websites for more information. Myles was the sole original member of the legendary Halifax hard rock band left when he retired from touring with the band last year, though they continue to tour in an incarnation led by long-time guitarist Brian Greenway. Local fans will recall seeing Myles and April Wine at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in February 2013, as well as at Sault Memorial Gardens in Sault Ontario during their 1984 "farewell" tour, but they were forced to drop out of their planned 2017 outdoor date at the St. Ignace Kewadin when Myles fell ill. Songs like "Roller" and "You Could Have Been A Lady" remain popular cover choices by local cover bands.

April Wine's heyday was before my time, and while I tend to go for metal-leaning bands of this era, Myles had a strong voice and a good ear for melodies and strong guitar riffs throughout their lengthy career! I know that his loss will hit many domestic rock fans hard, but Myles left lots of hits across his run with April Wine, and hopefully they'll continue to find receptive ears in Canada and abroad. R.I.P. Myles! 

Today's post is otherwise devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and we'll go in chronological order, starting with newer local hard rock quartet HeadFirst's next live dates, which will come on Friday, December 15th & Saturday, December 16th at Reggie's Place! These were announced via this poster on their Facebook page on Monday, and oddly got confirmed after they announced shows at Reggie's at the end of the month. Out of order or not, it's good to see HeadFirst get some more bookings, but Toystock aside, all have been at Reggie's, so will we see them elsewhere in the new year? Like on the 29th & 30th, these are 9:00 PM gigs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. While we're on the subject, HeadFirst has launched an official YouTube channel, though at press time, it only features two "Shorts" videos (basically YouTube "Reels"), both cross-posted from TikTok.

One has the band covering Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" in a literal purple haze, though the permanently vertical nature of the video is noted, as is its short length (if they have the full recording, why not post it?) Also, note that Liam & Anthony are not visible on camera whatsoever. The other video is embedded below (at least you can embed "Shorts"!), and it features the guys playing an instrumental piece at Reggie's with post-production filters to simulate fiddling with the dials on an old TV. Only Red & Raine are focused on in this vertical & too short clip (you see more of Angus Young than of anyone else), but what we hear sounds good on both videos! I wish these had the full songs, but give them a watch above & below!

Next up, local punk trio Vanity First will return to the stage on Tuesday, December 19th when they headline at... The Distraction? This is a new venue at 72 East Street (the former Big Guns Barbershop building beside Uncle Gino's Pizzeria) that will be used as "a space for art, music, (and) learning". There are unknowns about The Distraction as a venue, but the first test for it hosting live music will be when they welcome former Raincourt/Sylo frontman Eli Russell one week from Thursday (link here for details). The show on the 19th will mark Vanity First's... first show since headlining at Soo Blaster in June, though guitarist Mikhal Muto has hardly been idle since via work and gigs with three other local bands. Both for the locale intrigue and for the long wait since Vanity's last public concert, hopefully this show does well despite the Tuesday evening timing! Be advised that you have to walk up stairs to get in the front door.

Doors open for this show at 6:00 PM, it is all ages, and admission is via donation (they recommend $5 apiece). It'll be interesting to see how this concert goes over in two weeks, and it is good to see Vanity First back on stage after almost half a year, so visit the above links for more on their Distraction debut later this month!

Finally, we'll wrap things up with local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9, who have announced their current concert calendar into next year via their Facebook page and website! Aside from private/special bookings to end the year, they're taking December off, but "Sault Ste. Marie's premier party band" have dates listed on their website through the end of 2024, which may seem excessive, but drummer Steve Porco's old band Obsession did this routinely on their closed website. I'd rather too much notice than short notice! That said, I don't like listing shows from one band that far in advance, especially when they're the only band with shows that far ahead advertised, so I'll cap things (for now) at April, so that our calendar doesn't have six consecutive Silent 9 listings months in advance at the end. The first 2024 dates from them will see them return to The Water Tower Pub on Friday, January 12th, a one-nighter as customary there.

The other early 2024 dates from Silent 9 will see them play full weekends at The Esquire Club on February 9th-10th, March 8th-9th, and April 5th-6th, as part of a string of one weekend per month there for four months. We'll formally list shows in May and beyond in due course. The Water Tower Pub show is at 8:00 PM, the rest are at 9:30 PM, none have an announced cover charge, and all are 19+ events. Sounds like a busy year ahead for Silent 9, but their fan-friendly classic and hard rock covers should find an audience across the year, so visit the above links for more details! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Rock & Roll Heaven On The Borderline's Episodes On Sault Memorial Gardens Concerts!!

With news remaining very slow for the local metal, hard rock, and punk scenes, today seemed like a good day to dive back into local internet radio station The Borderline, so what else is available to hear there that would fit our coverage range? Let's start with veteran local musician/photographer Brian Tremblay's series Rock & Roll Heaven, which focuses on musical acts that have played in Sault Ste. Marie in the past, either through personal and guest recollections, or interviews with musicians who have came here on tour, and there are a lot of episodes you can hear on demand now on The Borderline's website. Last month, episodes of Rock & Roll Heaven were posted that explore the history of live concerts at the former Sault Memorial Gardens, which was our major concert venue and hockey arena from 1949-2006. While Brian's musical tastes can stray from our usual coverage, hard rock concerts there do come up, so what can you find within?

The initial Memorial Gardens episode runs for 63 minutes, and it is entitled "A Garden of Music", which primarily explores classic rock-leaning musical acts that played there through the early 1980s, and Brian does play DJ by airing select studio tracks from bands discussed during the show (a full playlist can be seen at this link.) At the 17:24 mark, Brian talks about being in attendance progressive hard rock legends Rush's third and final Sault Ste. Marie concert from 1977, which he fondly recalled, despite being poorly attended. In this segment, Brian played the live version of "Closer To The Heart" from their live album "Exit Stage Left", followed by "(Make Me Do) Anything You Want" by Toronto hard rock band A Foot In Coldwater, who opened for Rush on this tour. Fun 10 minute segment overall, and it's nice to hear some first-hand context about Rush's last local date from someone who was there!

The second episode (entitled "A Musical Hockey Barn") can be heard at this link or above in the second (lower) file. It's formatted very similarly to part 1, and runs for almost as long, but it does creep later into the 1980s in the second half, and thusly talks about more hard rock acts. There's also more recommendations from friends and listeners than in "A Garden of Music", for what that's worth. Hard rock fans will be most interested in segments from 18:02 on, starting with Brian's recollections of Vancouver hard rock icons Prism's local stop, including their songs "Spaceship Superstar" & "Flyin'". At 29:08, Brian looks back on Canadian guitar icon Kim Mitchell, who played the Gardens solo and with Max Webster, and he played his classic song "Lager & Ale" in this segment. Next, at 34:13 in, Brian talked about Alannah Myles, who opened for Kim locally at the show Brian attended.

Rather than go the obvious route by playing "Black Velvet", Brian chose her track "Still Got This Thing For You" to play on air. The last show Brian talked about in this episode was a triple bill from Canadian hard rock legends Moxy (not Moxy Fruvous), Goddo, and Trooper that he saw at the Gardens in the late 1970s. Moxy's segment begins at 40:04, and he plays their song "Ridin' High" here, before switching to Goddo at 45:01, from whom he plays "Walk On", and gives some extra detailed information on meeting and helping frontman Greg Godovitz much later on. Fitting of the headliners, he covered Vancouver hard rock favourites Trooper last at 52:52, and he plays their two first singles to close, "Baby Woncha Please Come Home" & "General Hand Grenade". A third episode was teased, perhaps diving into Gardens concerts in the 1990s, but it sounds like it's dependent on listener recollections and requests, so contact Brian if you can help.

I enjoyed listening to these episodes, especially when Brian had unique thoughts on specific concerts to share beyond just if he liked the bands in question, and his biography details in between were also welcomed! Re: a third episode, I wonder if getting a hold of Duane Roy (author of the Soo Stories book about Memorial Gardens concerts) would be worth considering? He definitely had strong recollections of shows there. Even if a part 3 isn't imminent, there is more to discuss from Rock & Roll Heaven (now linked on the SMS), so give both of Brian's Memorial Gardens episodes a listen above, and stay tuned for a new post of some kind by Saturday! Thanks everyone!