LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Destroyer), Northern Film Showcase Preview, And Much More!!

Before we begin today's post, just one more Joni Radford-related note, as her obituary is finally on SooToday, which notes that memorial contributions to the Canadian Cancer Society, ARCH Hospice, or the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society. Also, it's made clear there that yesterday's services were a private family event, which I didn't know when including in our last post, as the spread on social media among contacts made it seem more open. If I erred in mentioning them here, I do sincerely apologize, and our best thoughts remain with the Radford and Morin families.

Now, let's dive into today's post, which includes some assorted recent updates, a new song, a preview of a special event taking place this weekend, and first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Windsor-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer will return to Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday, March 30th at The Canadian Nightclub! This will be Destroyer's fourth local concert appearance in the 2010s, and their first since May 2015 (their July 2017 show at The Rockstar Bar was cancelled on short notice, which slipped us by at the time.) Kiss Army members should definitely keep an eye on this show, as Destroyer's faithful looking and sounding brand of Kiss classics should deliver a solid turnout at The Canadian in March, so don't miss their local return then! In a surprise announcement, the local openers will be reunited hard rock cover quartet Griphook, in their first public concert appearance since Rotaryfest 2017. Griphook had previously opened for Destroyer locally in 2015, so if you loved that show, here's an encore!

It's great to see Griphook finally end their nearly 2 year long hiatus, and they are now back in our active band links, but how will they sound after the layoff? Be at The Canadian in two months to find out! This 19+ concert has a 10:00 PM start time, and while admission fees have not yet been announced, note that Destroyer's 2015 concert had $12 advance tickets and a $16 door charge. This should be a great chance for fans to get their live Kiss fix and welcome Griphook back to the public stage, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, this isn't a concert, but for an event as unique as this, I felt it deserved one more preview on here, as local filmmaker and rock bassist Nathan (Jonna) Bouliane and McBully Productions are hosting their second annual Northern Film Showcase THIS SUNDAY at Shooters Downstairs Lounge (formerly Breakaway Bar & Grill) at 69 Dennis Street, with a theme centered around music videos from local artists! This event is intended to bring local musicians and filmmakers together to make connections, generate exposure, and network for future collaborations, and creators on both sides are encouraged to attend the showcase, which will feature mystery live performances, speeches from local musicians, and a screening of at least 10 music videos. Two are on the heavier spectrum for SMS readers, including The Bear Hunters' "I Fear No God" & Mike Haggith's "The Nature of The Times", though I'm fairly certain neither is performing live.

The other videos come courtesy of Audiosmile, Renee Landry, Kalle Mattson, Mike Mikus, Jackson Reed, Mic Swiff, Britta Wolfert, and at least one publically uncredited performer (one is in the new Facebook cover video for the event, so you might be able to play detective.) Tickets are $10 and can be bought at Shooters or presumably at the door, while this has a special 4:00 PM start time. This is definitely a unique event for this area, but it'll be a great chance for musicians and filmmakers to meet and discuss mutual interests, and local music and film lovers can see some professionally done music videos as well! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, here's some updates regarding the Ozbourne concert at The Canadian Nightclub in March, starting with a date change, as the show has been moved from Friday, March 29th to Saturday, March 23rd, as per updates to the Facebook event page. A reason for the date switch wasn't announced, but it's not often where a concert is moved to an earlier day, so fans will get their Winnipeg-bred Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath tribute action a little sooner! A local opener has also been announced, they being blues rock trio The Paul DellaVedova Band, in a rare non-Rotaryfest support appearance from them. Interesting genre disparity here, but Paul and company can go heavy on occasion, and they should warm the crowd up well in two months! Notably, they replaced acoustic country duo The Bearded Lounge as the openers, with that band originally advertised last week at this link, but a reason for their withdrawal wasn't announced either. See above for updates!

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

• As per their Facebook page, local indie/punk trio Northwest will try their hand at CBC's annual Searchlight music competition again this year! The guys made the Northern Ontario regional semifinals in this event back in 2015, and with a new EP, now seems like a good time for them to try again in this national search for Canada's best new artist! Full contest details for prospective musicians can be found at the above links, and stay tuned for when voting kicks off!
• In their first proper Facebook page post since it's launch, new local Tool tribute band Parabol thanked everyone for liking them so far (they're already at 255 fans!), and they teased "possibly scheduling a show in March." With Destroyer and Ozbourne already booked for that month, why not one more tribute band concert for good measure? If this gets confirmed, we'll let you know!
• The most recent installment of Ernest Skinner's Rock Talk column on SaultOnline went online on January 12th, where he largely talked about live albums from bands and his opinions & reminiscences on them. Interesting read with a lot of good points, so give it a look at this link! No sign yet of new Rock Talk columns, including some with more teased musician interviews.

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

Toystock VII Fallout, News Coverage, And Videos!!

As you may know, the seventh annual Toystock charity concert went down this past Sunday at The Northern Grand Gardens, and it was another hit for both attendees and Christmas Cheer donations alike, so let's devote an entire post to fallout from that day! Among this year's news coverage was this SooToday article by Darren Taylor, which features quotes from co-organizer Kerry Simpson, details on the then-still-ongoing concert, and two photos each from The Algo Rhythms' and Case's Music students' sets, plus one of donated toys. Good promotion for Toystock VII, and hopefully it encouraged some late attendees to head down there! A linked photo album courtesy of attendee Sandi Wheeler also includes more photos from early in the day, though aside from a video of Brendan Hodgson's set, it's focused on the donations and vendors. Sault This Week's Allana Plaunt was also on hand for Toystock last week, covering the event and interviewing Kerry again for this Wednesday's front page story. It's a brief article with no large focus on the musicians, but again, the positive promotion is great to see!

Sault Online's Megan Pounder was also in attendance for this article on Toystock, and it's a longer piece with more reflections on the concert aspect, including remarks from Kerry's husband and co-organizer Greg Simpson, plus local radio DJ Jeff McNiece, who played on Sunday with The Jeff & Jeff Show. This article has a few minor spelling notes, but it's great to see some more in-depth local news coverage! There are a few photos there too, but again, not of the bands. And much to my surprise, CTV News Northern Ontario were also on hand, with journalist Lincoln Louttit filing this report in both video and text formats on Monday, so if you watched the MCTV News that day, this will be old hat! In this case, both the video piece and text article feature remarks from both Greg and Kerry, as well as three attending fans, while you do get brief footage of The Bearded Lounge and The Jeff & Jeff Show's opening sets. It's great to see CTV stop in to cover Toystock, it's proof the event is growing bigger and bigger!

Regarding videos, let's first touch on some clips of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck, courtesy of drummer Glen Thomas' YouTube channel on Wednesday! There are more clips on personal Facebook pages from Sunday night, not to mention more non-Toystock videos we haven't addressed yet on Glen's channel, but we'll focus on his two public Toystock videos today. One is of his annual drumkit giveaway to a lucky child in attendance, with two more being donated for the cause that night as well. Glen's been donating personally refurbished drumkits for Christmas Cheer over the past two decades, and it's great to see him continue giving back at this time of year, so give that video a look! As for Soundcheck proper, Glen shared this video of them playing a 13 minute-long medley, including versions of David Wilcox's "Riverboat Fantasy", Journey's "Don't Stop Believing", Metallica's "Enter Sandman", Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time", ...

...Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer", and Van Halen's "Jamie's Cryin'", before ending with a reprise of "Riverboat Fantasy". For reference, singer/guitarists Travis Sharpe and Terry Eaton split lead vocal duties on the individual songs (Travis did Journey, Boston, and Bon Jovi, Terry did the rest, and they did backing vocals for each other.) Despite some attendee heads getting in the way, Soundcheck sound in fine form here, and they handle these classic rock hits (with a dash of metal) with their usual professional yet lively manner! Give Soundcheck's Toystock medley a look below, and don't miss them at Reggie's West TONIGHT!

Finally for today, here's one more video from Toystock VII, courtesy of one more local news service that stopped by the event, namely Soo Profile Magazine! This follows the magazine's cover feature on Toystock co-organizer and Bone Yard/Bearded Lounge frontman Greg Simpson in their current issue, which goes into nice detail on his musical career and recent country work. Admittedly, I'd have liked to have seen a little more detail on his old hard rock bands Stiffler's Mom and That's Chester, but this is still a must read for fans of Greg's extensive musical resume in the Soo! As for that Toystock video, it's of local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns, as live streamed by attendee Marcy Catherine and shared to Soo Profile's Facebook page shortly thereafter.  The video features the Elements side project covering Prince's "Kiss" in a folksy acoustic style, but the focus of the video could arguably go to Mr. Bon Soo himself, who came to meet the kids in attendance on Sunday.

Everyone looks like they're having fun, and The Wyld Stallyns handle this somewhat out-of-left-field cover pretty well, so give this video a look below, stay tuned for more from The Wyld Stallyns soon, and look for copies of The Soo Profile Magazine at select local businesses!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

Theatre Of Night Updates, More From Sault Michigan, And Other Assorted Notes!!

Here's a new news post for your Monday afternoon reading, and today's is largely devoted to Sault Michigan news and notes, though we do have a handful of shorter Sault Ontario stories to cap things off with. Along with a prominent band's latest happenings, some local radio updates, and a new teaser clip, read on below for what you should know!

We'll start today with the latest from local classical metal project Theatre of Night, starting with some more clarification for dates on their Christmas tour, which starts in Blanchard this weekend! Based on new event pages, the planned December 8th show was moved from Holland (where they are still playing two weeks later) to The Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, while they will be appearing on Grand Rapids cable access channel GRTV on November 16th for a special televised performance. That should be some great exposure, so keep this in mind if you're in the Western Lower Peninsula and have Comcast! No word yet though on the teased December 1st weekend shows in Grand Rapids or the Sunday, December 16th gig in the Soo, those three dates do not have event pages or confirmed venues at press time. The guys have also posted a pair of videos to their Facebook page as the build towards the tour continues, including a re-posting of their version of "Carol of the Bells" with former studio singer Gaby Koss.

Embedded below is their newest video from Saturday night, a live-streamed rehearsal performance of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" by all of the tour performers sans singer Rachel Mender, who hasn't surfaced in any of their jam teaser clips. Filmed by keyboardist Craig Harrison (who's still playing one handed here), this is a strongly done rendition at this stage, and they're sounding good in advance of their Blanchard gigs! Give this a look below, and see much more from Theatre of Night's Christmas tour plans above!



Next up, here's a first, if brief, overture into new Sault Ontario streaming box local TV channel ONNtv (via local news website Sault Online), as this preview video for the Steel Panther concert at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on December 1st was posted to their YouTube channel last month! The 16 second video just features singer Michael Starr announcing the show and encouraging fans to get their tickets A.S.A.P., even in spite of work the next day. Short but sweet, so give it a look below, and tickets are still available at this link for $25! Center seats are almost sold out, but there are still tickets in the left and right sections from the seventh row and back!




Also, I wanted to acknowledge Lake Superior State University's campus radio station The 46th Parallel Radio, which has been a familiar sight on the dial at WLSO 90.1 FM since 1993. Station followers may have noticed a severe decline in (off-campus) public updates on WLSO after the fall of 2016, with 90.1 FM not visibly broadcasting since early last year, their website closing after March 2017 following years of disuse, and Facebook page updates ceasing before then, despite their well hyped 2016 rebranding and online relaunch. With no major off-campus statements from LSSU, I have done some research, and here's what I've learned. While WLSO still has an FCC license (source here), it does look like the FM signal was taken dark, with operations continuing as an internet radio station only, even if slightly under the radar. LSSU's website links to this web player, and through it's assorted links, we can confirm that the station is a part of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System's Student Radio Network, via Backbone Radio.

On a listen to what LSSU alternately calls "Laker Radio", it still has an adult album alternative/indie rock base for it's setlist, albeit with an even more underground roster of artists, and even a few metal surprises like Deafheaven. Oddly, the streaming player above crashes before scheduled station identification breaks, and I have to restart it to resume the music, so make of that what you will. Barring a sudden resumption of WLSO on the FM dial, this appears to be where we're at, and while the move off of terrestrial radio is disappointing, hopefully the internet station is working as well as hoped for university and station staff! Give it a listen above!

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

• 11 months removed from their last public update, Sault Ontario rap metal/party rock group The Apocalypse Afterparty resurfaced on their Facebook page on October 19th to say that "hibernation is ending", complete with a photo of a guitar and amplifier for good measure. The band has only posted three times on their Facebook page in the past 2 years, despite a handful of gigs last summer (largely of the unadvertised "pop up" variety), and an unfulfilled teaser of something coming on November 8th of last year. Hopefully X, z, X, and z have more up their sleeves in the near future!
• Prolific local rock bassist & SleepWellCity mainman Nathan Bouliane is looking for local musicians & bands with music videos for an upcoming Northern Film Showcase that he is holding next year, similar to a fantasy-themed film event he held in April. The idea is to unite musicians and filmmakers as a means of promoting visual arts locally, with the creators introducing and discussing their work on the big screen, and perhaps even performing live. If you're interested in submitting a music video or getting more information, message Nathan at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Friday!
• I will be moving local hardcore punk trio Programmed To Fail to our inactive band links soon, as they have not issued a public update since their last Facebook page posting one year ago tomorrow. Active off and on from 2016-2017, Programmed To Fail (p.k.a. The Transjenners) never appeared in a public concert, and never visibly revived their deleted Soundcloud page from their first run, despite showing some raw promise on "We Push Back". Hopefully we hear more from Justin, Craig, and Corry in the future!

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

I Mother Earth/Finger Eleven Concert Fallout & Videos!!

Today's post is entirely devoted to fallout from Wednesday night's I Mother Earth/Finger Eleven concert at The Machine Shop, which appears to have gotten rave reviews from attending fans so far! SooToday's Donna Hopper and Sault Online's Riley Smith were both on hand to cover the festivities, with 29 and 30 photos respectively making each local news website, which look very solid on both ends! Donna got 10 photos of I Mother Earth, 8 of Finger Eleven, 7 from the pre-show acoustic set by both bands, 3 of opener/Q&A session MC J.J. Thompson, and 1 of Rock 101 morning show host Scott Cook, who emceed the concert proper. Riley's shots (some overhead) include 6 of Finger Eleven, 5 of I Mother Earth, 13 from their show-ending joint encore, 5 of attendees, and 1 of The Boiler Room, the venue's new on-site bar (though Riley did not get any shots of J.J. or the acoustic pre-show.) Donna's article outlines songs played on Wednesday and some of the remarks from the bands on stage, while Riley's features remarks from Finger Eleven drummer Steve Molella.

Both articles are well detailed with quality pictures, so see the above links to give both a look! Now, to currently posted public videos from Wednesday night, starting with videos from YouTube user BBBBBBBBeast, who got one video of both featured bands. Firstly, this 4:34 clip is actually a compilation cobbled together from Toronto alt-hard rock quartet I Mother Earth's headlining set, including snippets of their songs "Raspberry", "One More Astronaut", and "Rain Will Fall", before showing them and Finger Eleven's joint encore as they played I.M.E.'s "Levitate", Finger Eleven's "Good Times", and a cover of Supertramp's "Bloody Well Right". The audio quality is fantastic on these clips, and I like the bluish tinge on the video, though the vertical camera angle is unfortunate, and you can't do too much about the fans' heads. I just wish that he had included more of certain songs in the editing process ("Rain Will Fall" only got 15 seconds!) Give this one a look below!



BBBBBBBBeast (why so many Bs?) also filmed two songs from Burlington hard rock quintet Finger Eleven's preceding set on Wendesday, those being "One Thing" and "Drag You Down". He must prefer their older, pre-"Paralyzer" music, which I can relate to! This video has equally excellent audio quality, but now with a more central, further away camera angle and a monochrome colour filter. In this case, the visuals work on the former song, as it's video was in black & white, but less so the latter. With no public videos surviving at present from their 2004 show here, it's nice to see some vintage Finger Eleven songs in solid quality online, so check them out below also!



The other two currently posted videos from this show come via presenting sponsor Rock 101's Facebook page, as a staffer filmed two Finger Eleven-involved songs before the concert proper began. One is a 33 second clip of Finger Eleven (minus singer Scott Anderson) playing their newer song "Living in a Dream" during their soundcheck, which sounds fine in this instrumental format! The other video, which is embedded below, is of Finger Eleven and I Mother Earth (I Mother Eleven?) covering Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind" during the acoustic pre-show on Wednesday evening. Very unexpected cover, but for it's also short runtime, the song appears to turn out well enough! Donna noted in her SooToday article that the two bands also covered America, The Kinks, and Peter Gabriel during this unplugged set, which is surprising, but it does show the two bands' range & diversity, so give this video a look below as well!



As someone who strongly prefers older Finger Eleven (no "Stay In Shadow" on Wednesday?) and is admittedly selective on I.M.E. favourites, I reluctantly passed on going given the ticket prices, but I'm very glad the show was a huge hit! Hopefully this and Big Wreck will help encourage even more hard rock and metal bands to play The Machine Shop! Stay tuned for more fallout from this concert when and/if it comes in, and for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

Dokken/FireHouse Concert Video Showcase!!

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian readers! Today's post is our long-delayed fallout post from the Dokken-headlined concert at The Essar Center back on September 30th, so what what all went down over a week ago? Well, SooToday's Donna Hopper was on hand for the show, covering it in this article from the following day, where she noted that assembled fans enjoyed the concert, despite a low attendance of only around 800 fans. Hey, it's better than the Jackyl concert got nine years ago, if that counts! The article features some interview remarks from attendees, including some disappointment at the turnout, while Donna did get 22 photos from the event, including 8 of the headliners, 7 of Firehouse, 3 of Love 'N Revenge, and four of fans, and they're of predictably great quality, so give them a look above! This wasn't all for online local news coverage of the show, as Sault Online columnist Ernest Skinner covered a different side of things for his post-concert article, so what should you know about that?

In a nutshell, the article is about Ernest picking up Firehouse in Sault Michigan to bring them across the border for the concert and interviewing them en route, before focusing on the concert proper and happenings pre- and post-show, such as the afterparty hosted by Gliss Steak & Seafood, and talking with Don Dokken himself the next morning. Very cool of Ernest to not only get this kind of inside access with the hair metal legends, but to also share this in-depth story online, so definitely check out his article for a different side of a major local concert like this! In terms of videos, there are surprisingly none of Dokken yet that are publically viewable on YouTube or Facebook at press time... but there is one on Instagram! Uploaded to the Instagram page of local progressive metal band Kraken Mara (more on that in the coming days), this is of Dokken playing their classic song "Into The Fire" that night! The guys don't sound bad from what we hear, though the full song wasn't filmed.

As for Don's singing voice, he sounds fine here, but I am aware that some social media posts noted that his voice wasn't as strong as it used to be. Whether that's factoring into the lack of public videos or not is up for debate, but note that Ernest said that he sounded great in his Sault Online article. Good central angle and solid audio, so give this one a look below!

Into the fire Dokken #dokken #metal #concert #rock #intothefire

A post shared by Kraken Mara (@kraken_maraband) on Sep 30, 2017 at 7:18pm PDT

Kraken Mara also uploaded a video to Instagram of openers Firehouse playing their song "All She Wrote" at a similar upper-backdrop-heavy angle, and they sound pretty good too, and about on par from from the Kewadin Casino videos of theirs that I've seen! Familiar song with energy, so fans will be happy with this one, even incomplete, so check it out below too! Note that one more video is up on Kraken Mara's page, but it's a pre-set video with Guns N' Roses' "You Could Be Mine' over the P.A., and no live bands playing at that point, but watch for a surprise walk-by cameo.

Bye bye baby bye bye firehouse #firehouse #concert #hairmetal

A post shared by Kraken Mara (@kraken_maraband) on Sep 30, 2017 at 5:16pm PDT

Finally for this first fallout post, I wanted to acknowledge opening act Love 'N Revenge, who I've also only seen videos from via one source, namely Christopher Paci's excellent YouTube channel! Yes, Chris was at this concert, but he curiously didn't film Dokken's set (that, or his videos are very delayed), and we'll absolutely touch on his Firehouse videos in an upcoming post. His Love N' Revenge videos feature the Los Angeles arena rock group covering frontman Damon Kelly's old band Rockarma's songs "That's All" and "Bring It", but embedded below is their own original song "It's Rock 'N Roll". Though a relatively new and unfamiliar band compared to who played later that night, Love 'N Revenge's sound was a great fit, with their own originals meshing well with the Rockarma holdovers, and their sound has a good high energy that would fit well on The Hair Scare! Give Chris' solid videos a look above and below, and stay tuned for Chris' Firehouse clips!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for some special mid-week concert previews on the site next, and yes, we'll touch on extra videos from the above concert later this week too! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Darsombra), An Online(?!) Battle Of The Bands, And New Videos!!

On this summer solstice, here's a new news post to take in this morning, so what will you find? Updates on a recently re-opened and renamed local business, new videos of a reunited hard rock band, and preliminary details on a battle of the bands unlike any you've seen locally before, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!!

Baltimore, Maryland psychedelic hard rock duo Darsombra will make their local concert debut when they headline at The New American Pub on Monday, July 17th! One of the most unique bands to hit a local stage this summer, Darsombra unite a guitarist and synth player (no vocals or drums) into an audiovisual experience with a video screen, extended 10 minute+ jams, and a hard to pin down sound that can be heavy, droning, or trippy at a moment's notice. They're hard to describe, so I recommend watching Darsombra videos online to see what they have to offer (don't just listen!) Local openers will include alternative/funk/hard rock quartet Bizotic and new local drone/noise trio Pointless (featuring Treble Charger, Pillory, and Ashes To Dust alumni), and both should compliment things in their own way in just under a month's time! Promoted by Six, Two, Oh., this 19+ concert has a 9:00 PM start time and a $7 cover charge.

This promises to be one of the most unique concert bills of 2017, with Darsombra an experience all of their own, Bizotic continuing their upward momentum, and Pointless playing just their second concert that we've heard about, so be sure to visit the official Facebook event page for full current details, and see above for more on the bands next month!

Next up, here's an intriguing announcement from the aforementioned Six, Two, Oh., courtesy of their Facebook page yesterday, as the local concert promoters will be hosting an online battle of the bands at some point after December 5th! Rather than host a typical battle as part of a live concert, this is actually an online contest, with the aim being to have at least 7 bands enter with $150 entry fees (which is high, but you have over five months to save money if you're interested.) As far as I can tell, competitors will be featured in individual episodes of the label's dormant YouTube series Live @ Six, Two, Oh. in the winter, and after a one-per-person voting period (specific details not yet clear), the winner will earn the chance to record a fully mastered EP of up to 22 minutes in length at Six, Two, Oh.'s studios. The EP will also be released in a limited cassette tape run (a'la AlgomA's upcoming split with Shit Liver) if at least 7 bands sign up for the online battle.

In terms of who can register, Six, Two, Oh. have opened the floodgates to any acts (including rappers) in the Twin Saults, as long as you can make it to their studios to tape the Live @ Six, Two, Oh. episode for your entry. This is definitely a unique idea, and I'm very curious to see how it shapes up come December, especially if some Sault Michigan bands try their hand in it! Entries will start being accepted on November 20th, so if you want in on Six, Two, Oh.'s first online battle of the bands, start saving that $150, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Also today, here's the first videos of local hard rock quartet Eclipse post-reunion, courtesy of their Facebook page on Monday! Filmed at their Rockstar Bar set on June 10th, no less than ten videos were posted from the show, apparently comprising their entire set, and before anyone's scared off, these are full concert videos, not audio recordings! The identical image of the band was added in post as a thumbnail, similarly to frontman Curtis McKenzie's recent solo uploads. Covers from the show include System of a Down's "B.Y.O.B." (with Handsome Sandwich frontman Johnny Belanger on guest vocals) and "Lonely Day", Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", Velvet Revolver's "Slither", Billy Talent's "Fallen Leaves", and Seether's "Remedy", while the other four are of originals or songs taken on from the defunct Haggith & Punch, including two with a pair of songs each. Those include both "Metal Cage" & "Wasted", the newer "Upon the Hills", "Tyranny", and as embedded below, both "Cry Wolf" & "Silver Bullet"

All filmed from a stationary camera amongst the tables at the venue, the quality is mixed on these videos, with solid audio undercut by occasional frame rate drops and attendees standing in front of the camera, sometimes for extended periods. That said, Eclipse sound good compared to their first run, and if you look past the obvious newer touches (Handsome Sandwich's banner, Fred's longer hair), it's like they never broke up at all! Give Eclipse's new videos a look above & below!

Finally, here's the latest from Sault Michigan music store Crooked Music, which re-opened two weeks ago after renovations at the former Grooves Music wrapped up! Now owned by former Half Stupid/Plastic frontman Zac Crook and his wife Christy, the "new" store was profiled in this Sault Evening News article by Nick Nolan, which features interview remarks from the Crooks, so what can we glean from the article? Well, it turns out that Grooves owner Gary Hatch was looking to sell the business (hence the ownership change), Crooked Music is open daily except Sundays, they have expanded their inventory to include vinyl records, band t-shirts, and memorabilia, they explain the meaning behind the new yellow table & chairs in front of the 540 Ashmun Street storefront, and more. I like that Crooked Music is expanding more into record store territory, and hopefully local music CDs are still stocked there to go along with the added vinyl!

Crooked Music are still offering instruments, gear, and lessons, with instructors there now including Zac's former Plastic bandmates Matt Williams (bass) and Aaron DePalma (drums), as well as Project 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins, who stars in the store's Facebook page's only video so far, where he demonstrates a Fender amplifier that they have on consignment. Nice bluesy performance from this talented local axeslinger, and I'm sure he'll be a quality instructor! Best of luck to Zac, Christy, and staff with Crooked Music, and if you're a musician or music lover in the E.U.P., consider a trip there in the near future! Give Joe's new video a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news, updates, and concert previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Punk Rock Bingo) & More Toystock Fallout!!

Here's a new news post on this Saturday evening, so what lies within? Mostly extra fallout from Toystock IV, including new videos and news coverage, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a special Christmas season event! (Updated at 7:47 PM)

Th next installment of Six Two Oh's punk rock bingo has been announced, and unlike before, it'll have live bands! To be held at The New American Pub on Wednesday, December 23rd (presumably not at month's end like before due to New Year's holiday commitments), the expected bingo with irreverent punk-themed prizes will be on with Brent Ellis again calling, but this time, there's some live music to take in over the holidays, with local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver returning to the Soo for the first time since August as headliners! Great to see them back home, and hopefully they tear up The New A in a few weeks! Local doom metal favourites AlgomA will also return to the stage as openers, fittingly given their Six Two Oh ties, so don't miss their low and slow blend of metal either! For the record, advertising credits this as "Punk Rock Bingo II" despite this being the third that has been promoted locally, as last month's was reportedly cancelled quietly for unannounced reasons (thanks to Rihkee Strap for the confirmation!)

Admission is free for this 19+ event at 9:00 PM on the 23rd, though bingo cards will presumably cost again, and look for prizes ranging from CDs to art to food, and more, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details! Though the band choice indicates more of a "metal bingo" night, this should be a fun attraction for the Christmas holidays, so get your devil horns and/or bingo dabbers ready come the 23rd!

Next up, here's some more fallout and videos from the fourth annual Toystock charity concert event at The Grand Gardens from this past Sunday! SooToday's Donna Hopper was on hand for part of the evening's festivities, posting this article on SooToday on Wednesday, where she confirmed an attendance of hundreds for this year, helping raise $1,400 for Christmas Cheer. Interview remarks are included from promoter/performer Greg Simpson, where he notes the inspiration behind Toystock, it's growth (to the point where they're turning down bands that want to play), and how the local music community comes together for it. Nice and well written to be sure, and it's also worth mentioning that Greg hopes that Toystock grows to a point where it could be hosted at The Essar Center in the future (ambitious, but it'd be interesting to see!) Donna wasn't there all day, but she did 10 solid photos, including three from classic/hard rockers Havadder's set, one of Greg, and six of attendees, so give them all a look above!

And for the record, we will not be addressing or covering the reported incident from that night involving a car vandalism and related conflict between performers. We are not in the market to promote such negative personal matters, and I just hope everyone can settle things if possible & move forward, especially given the charitable nature of Toystock.

Closing with videos from Toystock, let's touch on the videos of the last three bands from Sault Online's Mike Caruso's YouTube channel! The headliners, local country cover quartet Bone Yard, were filmed covering Gary Allan's "Get Off On The Pain", which is well done and fun for the genre, so check that out if you want! The other two videos that we have from Toystock include this video of one-off punk tribute band The Rude-Offs covering the Christmas carol "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", with the aforementioned Greg Simpson on vocals. This union of Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Stiffler's Mom alumni looks like they had fun, and while the video's edits and quality jumps from post-production are noticeable, this should sate your punk Christmas desites! Note that there are other videos from The Rude-Offs' set on personal Facebook accounts, but as best as I can tell, they're not available for public view. Check it out below, and hopefully The Rude-Offs play again down the road!



And lastly, here's the co-headliners from this past Sunday, local post-punk/garage rock quartet Gnaeus, who were filmed playing their original song "Lovers". Aaron's vocals are a little muffled, but they do a strong job on one of their more familiar tracks (sure to be on their upcoming "Loomings" CD), so check it out below, and see more from this year's Toystock at the above links!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for assorted news and notes in the coming week! Thanks everyone!

Toystock 2015 Video Showcase!!

Before we get this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post up on the site, here's our first of two posts spotlighting videos from this year's fourth annual Toystock fundraiser concert, which took place this past Sunday at The Grand Gardens! By all accounts so far, it was a hit for music fans, supportive donors, and families alike, with $1,300 raised and numerous items donated, and you get a sense of the success in the videos posted by Sault Online's Mike Caruso over the past couple of days to his YouTube channel, as he filmed every band (and more) during the event. Kudos to him as usual, especially as I couldn't make it this year (fingers crossed for 2016!) He started his uploads with two summative videos featuring abbreviated clips of the full videos he posted afterwards (part 2 is here), but part 1 (which is embedded below) includes an interview with Toystock promoter/performer Greg Simpson and clips of the Bocturoc Academy of Music students that opened the show, though they curiously didn't get a full separate video of their own.

The video begins with the interview, where Mike asks Greg about what keeps bringing everyone back for each year, Toystock's origins, and how it's grown over the years. Nice & casual interview, if short! The second half is of the Bocturoc students' set, and rather than playing as a full band, they played separately in solo showcases. Good developing skills from the first four, but the biggest surprise is that Pixo Control frontman Michael Mikus is filmed last playing the band's original "Land of the Moles"! No word on if he has Bocturoc ties, or if he just happened to be available, but it's nice to see him back at Toystock, so give everything a look below!



The next three bands filmed by Mike were not filmed playing a hard rock or metal song, but there's a lot of talent to be had, and as usual for his videos, the quality is excellent with a nice band setup at The Grand Gardens! Note however though that the audio quality can noticeably jump at times when the camera angles change. In chronological order, these videos include local country trio The Algo Rhythms playing an apparent original song (if it's a cover, the lyrics don't match anything I found online), all-female classic rock quintet Domina covering Pat Benatar's "All Fired Up", and blues rockers Mojo covering Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me", so give all of these a look above! The next hard rock video comes courtesy of classic/hard rock cover trio Mourning Wood, who covered The Black Crowes' "Hard To Handle" to open their second Toystock set, and they sound predictably good, with Terry Eaton handling vocals and lead guitar nicely!

In case you're wondering from the early footage, guitarist Steven Flint is there, he comes on stage 75 seconds in (presumably, he was working on their sound, as his & Terry's company Twin City Sound were covering that for the event.) Well done as usual, so check their video out below!



Mike's next two videos are actually not of advertised performers, with one being of a young child attendee named Keegan McAlister playing a brief drum solo in between bands. Not bad for his age, hopefully he keeps at it! That's followed by a short clip of local beatboxer Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet, who also played unadvertised last year, and among others, he does do a beatboxed version of "Jingle Bells" in his video. As fans of his will come to expect, he's quite good at what he does, it's too bad his video's not longer! Next for the heavier performances is local classic/hard rock quartet Havadder covering Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "You Wreck Me" in their Toystock debut, and while I prefer some of their more aggressive covers, they make this classic rock favourite look easy with their strong performance! As before, give their Toystock video a look below!



We'll close this post with the debuting local rock trio Under The Influence, featuring Turner Up/Wishbone alum Brent Royer alongside guitarist Mike Muto & bassist Ryan Bell, so what can we say now about them? It's too early to know if they'd fully fit our coverage on the SMS (especially with no online pages yet), but we have a good first sign early, as their Toystock video is a cover of The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary"! There are some rough patches in this video, and I think Under The Influence could use a second guitarist to fill things out, but they definitely have promise, and Brent seems to handle simultaneous vocal & drum duties well! Give their video a look below also!



That's all for now, but we will touch on Bone Yard, Gnaeus, and The Rude-Offs' videos in the near future, so look for them then, plus other Toystock fallout that we come across, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post later today! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Ten Kings), Rotaryfest Fallout, And More!!

We're back on this Tuesday morning with some recent news and notes for you guys, including some anticipated fallout from local news media on a pair of major linked concerts, and a light new video from a rising young band, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next weekend across the river!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Ten Kings are scheduled to return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Friday, August 7th & Saturday, August 8th! The only new hard rock show confirmations from Kewadin's entertainment page's updated August listings (the rest were either confirmed by bands already or not hard rock for our coverage), these will be this fast-rising band's first shows since rocking The Northern Pines Lounge two weeks ago. Ten Kings are definitely making a name for themselves with their solid covers and fan favourite talent, so definitely consider a trip to St. Ignace next weekend to see the guys in action! These shows, like usual, have no announced cover charge, 9:00 PM start times, and 21+ age limits. For more details, check the above links, and stay tuned for much more from Ten Kings as the summer rolls on!

Next up, here's some long overdue fallout from Rotaryfest's music stages over a week ago! I apologize for being so late on these, personal commitments, other stories, and video-only posts pushed these back. Starting with SooToday, two different correspondents were on hand for our annual summer festival, with Darren Taylor covering Thursday activites at this link (including a photo of local Elvis Presley tribute artist Larry Tschekalin from his Stage 1 set), while Donna Hopper got more of her great concert photos during the Saturday entertainment on both stages! As seen at this link, her photos include 3 each of Second Stage bands Caroline Divine & The Pixo Control, plus 3 of classic rockers Domina and 5 of The Band tribute The Big Waltz, both from the main stage. Though it'd be nice to see some more bands included, Donna got some great shots once again, so give them a look along with more Rotaryfest entertainment above!

Speaking of Domina, Sault Online's Mike Caruso uploaded a separate final video of Domina covering The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Going On" onto his YouTube channel last week, so give that a look for more from this talented all-female cover band! No, there still isn't a summative video of Saturday's main stage bands, one likely isn't coming now. Finally from known major news coverage from Rotaryfest, CTV News Northern Ontario (yes, the former MCTV) covered Rotaryfest for a brief  video report on the regional newscast at the time, which is unexpected, but what's covered? Anchored by Carrie Trownson, the report itself was filed by Jordan Allard, and talks mainly about the musical aspect of the event, with footage of Second Stage-openers The Boot Hill Crooners and interview remarks by all three members of the alt-folk trio (primarily Sheldon Jaaskelainen) and new Stage 2 director Chelsie Parayko.

Nice comments by the guys and Chelsie about what Rotaryfest and local support mean for original music, and hopefully The Crooners' second Stage 2 set helped further things for both them and Tidal Records! However, note that the piece itself is short and features no video footage or comments from other bands that day. Still, nice to see CTV News covering some local music events, so give their report a look at the above links, and stay tuned in case we find more fallout from this year's Rotaryfest (Local2, in particular!)

Finally, we'll close with a short new video from Stage 2 co-headliners The Pixo Control, which isn't Rotaryfest related at all, instead of the alternative hard rock trio "leaving the suburbs" while on their brief Southern Ontario tour run. Fun, carefree, yet brief, it's a light watch, so give it a look below, and see more from their Instagram page at this link!

A video posted by The Pixo Control (@thepixocontrol) on Jul 23, 2015 at 8:12am PDT

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news this week, plus this month's CD review! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2015 Concert Video Showcase (Part 1)

With a lot of Rotaryfest fallout to get to on the site, let's not keep things waiting, so here's our first all-video post relating to this past weekend's music entertainment, but check out some other non-Rotaryfest news in the post below this one! We'll start with the videos shot by Sault Online correspondent Mike Caruso, who filmed the vast majority or all main stage bands each year, with all uploaded to his YouTube channel in the last couple days, so what should you know from them? All filmed on two alternating camera angles (one stationary at center stage, one manually controlled by Mike on the stage's left), these generally all come from the bands' opening 2 songs. Starting chronologically on Thursday, the videos include jazz veterans The Bob Jenkins Band playing this song with vocals (whose title that I couldn't verify), country quartet Crossroad's cover of Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues", and Elvis Presley tribute artist Larry Tschekalin playing "That's Alright" & "Rubberneckin'", the only act that Mike uploaded two videos of.

The last Thursday videos were of classic rockers Flathead Ford covering Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats' "Rocket 88", and the first hard rock cover from Mike's YouTube channel, classic rock cover sextet Coverfly tackling Led Zeppelin's "Rock N' Roll" during their headlining set! Not a bad rendition, with Janet Brown's voice fitting the song's range nicely, and everyone knows the song pretty well, though Mario Naccarato's backing vocals don't really add a lot here. Solid though, so give Coverfly's Led Zeppelin rendition a look below!



Moving to the Friday lineup, Mike's videos include classic rockers Obsession covering The Eagles' "Heartache Tonight" and the next video we'll feature on here, hard rock cover quartet Griphook covering The Arc Angels' "Living In A Dream". A bit of a throwback (at least in style) of Joel & Dan's old band 100 Gran, they put a hard edged spin on this early 1990s blues track, and everyone holds up their end of the bargain! Check their video out below!

The next two Rotaryfest videos were of songs that later saw attention from early Saturday bands, including classic rock favourites Mid Life Crysis covering The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'" a day before Long Shot tackled it, and country quartet Summer Thunder covering Darius Rucker's "Wagon Wheel" (which seems to be very popular around here lately) the night before Mourning Wood covered it. Friday's lineup closed with the return of classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester in a break from their recent Tommy preparation, but did they tackle songs from this fall's local production of the classic Who musical? Of course, and while the band hasn't posted or shared any of this publically, there are personal Facebook videos floating around showing That's Chester performing with numerous members of the Tommy cast on stage, so that must have been a nice sample of what's to come in November at The Machine Shop!

They didn't just cover The Who though, as Mike filmed the guys covering Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town", and while the lighting is very smoky for this one, it's nice to hear That's Chester again after their lengthy stretch away from the public stage, and they don't appear to have lost a step! Give That's Chester's Rotaryfest video a look below, and click here for full details on the Tommy production in November!



The last video we'll touch on for this post comes from Saturday's lineup, of openers Mourning Wood (with guests Mark Tarantini & Scott Infanti) covering David Lee Murphy's "Dust On The Bottle", fitting with the country-only theme of the first half of their set. If you prefer Mourning Wood's classic/hard rock sound, this might not be for you, but it's well done for the genre, and Mark is a natural country frontman! Give their video a look before, and stay tuned for more from Saturday and other channels soon!



There are also summative videos of the Thursday & Friday lineups that you can check out here & here, but they just collect clips of the full videos Mike already posted, so they're best seen if you want a quick recap of the day's events (no word on if one for Saturday is coming though.) We will touch on the rest of Mike's videos and clips from other filmers in the coming days, but his footage is excellent once again with great visual and audio quality, so check them out above or via the linked titles! That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Stiffler's Mom), More Weekend Concert Previews, And New RPM Videos!!

Before we begin our second weekend concert preview post, here's a late update concerning tomorrow's Havadder concert at The Rednecks Saloon, as while tonight's show will go on as usual, drummer Scott McLurg will be absent for the second night, which the band jokingly explained by saying he's going to space. No word on why he'll actually be away tomorrow, but in his place, Havadder will play an acoustic set as a trio and will invite attendees to jam with them too. Nice idea to change things up, so keep that in mind for tomorrow only, or see the full band TONIGHT! Visit the new Facebook event page for more details, and don't miss out!

Now to the previews (and some assorted updates at post's end) starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local party/hard rock cover veterans Stiffler's Mom will return to The Rockstar Bar TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the show was announced via it's Facebook event page on Monday but we held it for this weekend's previews. This will be the second one-nighter at The Rockstar Bar for this band from ex-members of Alexis Machine and Sin Stereo (The Boot Hill Crooners are playing there tonight), and fans should know by now that the fun and often heavy covers from Greg, Jon, and Mike always draw a solid crowd, so be among them TOMORROW NIGHT! This 19+ event has an announced 10:30 PM start time, and while there's no announced cover, bring cash just in case. For more details, see the above links, and here's Stiffler's Mom at Rotaryfest last year!



Moving to previously announced concerts, Speak Easy Battle of the Bands runners-up Long Shot have a busy day ahead of them TODAY, as they're playing not one, but two separate concert sets! Their day starts at 12:00 PM when they play a special outdoor set during the Diversity Downtown portion of this weekend's Passport To Unity multicultural festival! Their set is among the live music between the block of Queen Street East between March & Spring Streets from 11:45 AM-1:15 PM, which will also feature numerous local food and craft vendors to take in. They'll be joined by Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan in a solo acoustic set, but I can't confirm any other potential artist names. Nice to see some alternative music back at this event, and hopefully the weather cooperates unlike last year with The Pixo Control! This afternoon's events are FREE & ALL AGES, and see the above links for more details!

Following that, the hard rock quartet will make their Canadian Nightclub debut TONIGHT when they headline a registration deadline party for the Sault Ultimate Players Association, the local disc sports/ultimate frisbee organization! This may seem random, but the Dawe brothers are both S.U.P.A. members, and Long Shot played their kickoff event, so they're a great fit for tonight's entertainment! The public is welcome to attend and enroll at the show, which has a 7:00 PM start time and no announced cover or age limits. Busy day ahead for Long Shot, but keep both shows in mind downtown or at The Canadian! For a preview, here's Long Shot live in March!

Finally for announced shows this weekend, Sault Michigan classic/hard rock quartet Highway 63 will make their Satisfied Frog debuts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Not only are these this newer band's first regional gigs not under the Kewadin Casino umbrella, frontman Henry Switzer has hyped these as his first shows outside of the casino circuit in 2 years (likely referencing the Sir Charge days), so be sure to make lots of noise this weekend and ensure that they continue to break new ground! This entertaining and talented union of Monkey's Uncle, Mama's Boys, Power Slug, and RamWagon alumni will take the stage both nights at 10:00 PM, there are no announced cover charges, and you must be 21 to attend. For more details, visit the above links, and here's Highway 63 live!



Finally for today, remember the local classic/hard rock quartet RPM from the first Rock For Dimes concert and sporadic solo gigs? They still don't have an online page that we've found, but they finally have some online videos to check out! Sault Online named them their "Band of the Week" last month via this article, wherein Sault Online's Mike Caruso went to see them play at The Rockstar Bar, including a video interview, so what more do we know on them? RPM (whose name comes from members' last names) have been active for three years and formed through an adult music camp that bassist Lindsay Pugh had started for locals who hadn't really had live band experience, and that morphed into a full fledged rock cover band who hopes to play some outdoor summer festival events in the near future. In the main video, the guys are seen covering Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", but Mike shot two more as well!

His other videos (both from his YouTube channel, and with drummer Ben Pascuzzi on vocals) are of RPM covering Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now" and The Spencer Davis Band's "Gimme Some Lovin'", so how do RPM sound? Good so far, but you can tell there's still some stiffness on stage, and at times, you can tell that the guys (Lindsay aside) don't have a lot of stage experience. They're on their way though, and they'll no doubt get better with every show! The interview's informative too, so give that and their BTO cover a look below, and stay tuned for more from RPM when we hear it!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post over the weekend! Thanks everyone!

Speak Easy Battle Of The Bands Video Showcase!! (Part 2)

(Updated at 2:09 PM) In what will likely be out last post dedicated to last Thursday's Speak Easy Battle of the Bands (at least until our rewind profile on it next year), let's now take a look at the last three videos from the event that Sault Online's Mike Caruso filmed and uploaded to his YouTube channel late last week! Just in case you missed them, we covered Mike's first four videos in yesterday's post, and the recap video before that, so check them out if you haven't seen them. Also, remember that we're not going to review or critique the last three videos, as all feature bands that are still involved in the VM Radio Battle of the Bands at The Canadian that I'm a judge for. Now, let's begin where we left off with the fifth band at this battle, local death metal veterans The Bear Hunters, who placed in third at this battle, and their video from the event is of their newer song "The Void".

This video was actually re-uploaded earlier today after viewers noticed some issues with the audio in the original copy, including skipping issues and an echo on the vocals, so everything sounds better now, and thanks to Mike for re-posting this! Congratulations to The Bear Hunters on their finish in this battle, check out their video below, and don't miss their finals set at the VM Radio Battle on March 25th!



Next up were local post-punk/garage quartet Gnaeus, who won the fan voted battle on Thursday and claimed the $400 top prize! Their video from Mike's channel is of them playing their new original song "An Excerise in Self Awareness", and without critiquing it, I'll say that it's a mid-tempo rocker with aggressive vocals. Congratulations to Gnaeus on their victory, and don't miss them in the VM Radio Battle semifinals on March 18th (one week from Wednesday!)



The battle ended with local classic metal quartet Project 421, whose filmed video is of their cover of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (and yes, bassist Daniel Horton did get a haircut!) Though they didn't place at this battle, give their video a look below, and don't miss them alongside Gnaeus, Mike Haggith and the Din, and The Apocalypse Afterparty next Wednesday in the last VM Radio Battle semifinal!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our preview of night #2 of the VM Radio Battle of the Bands TOMORROW, plus this month's Defunct Local Band Profile and more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!