LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Steel Panther), New Videos, And Much More!!

If you were listening to Rock 101 this morning at 9:00 AM, you'll have heard a major LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this season, so let's lead off today's post there, with more recent updates to cap things off with!

Los Angeles glam/comedy metal quartet Steel Panther will return to The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino for their second local headlining date on Saturday, November 26th! This show comes almost four years removed from their prior show here on December 1st, 2018, and with the pandemic at a much lesser state, it's awesome to see Steel Panther back! Of course, if you're unfamiliar with them, they are the throwback glam/hair metal act who pay homage to the sounds and look of the era, tongues firmly in cheek, with very adult, joke-filled parody lyrics, so even if it's not advertised as such, this is a 21+ experience. With staple songs like "Death To All But Metal" and "Community Property", fans will be eager for round #2! No word on opening acts yet, but Wilson had the honours in 2018. This show is a presentation of Allstar Promotions, whose 25th official booking was the prior Steel Panther date here.

The first stop of Steel Panther's seasonal Claws & Paws Holiday Party Tour (no word on if they'll play "Sexy Santa" or not), tickets for this 8:00 PM show run for $29.50 (up from $25 in 2018), and while official Steel Panther fan club members can immediately get tickets, the public on-sale date is Friday at 10:00 AM at this link, at 1-800-KEWADIN, and at the in-person box office. Sault Michigan is known to love hair metal (look at The Hair Scare's following for proof), and Steel Panther are a loving parody of the genre with loads of honest musical talent beneath the hairspray, so don't miss out in two months, and see above for more details!

Next up, here's a video interview I profusely apologize for covering so late on here, as Sault Ontario hard/psychedelic rock quartet The Uncanny Valley (sans drummer Dylan Turner) appeared on local internet streaming television channel ONNtv's morning show First Local on April 22nd! The interview can be seen within the original episode on SaultOnline's YouTube channel, but was simultaneously uploaded (and embedded below) separately if you don't want to jump ahead 20 minutes. Conducted by ONNtv correspondent Colette Linden with the members joining remotely, the almost 7 minutes long interview features the band talking about how they came up with the Uncanny Valley as a band name, why they withdrew from the Clusterfolk concert at The Rockstar Bar the following day (guitarist Matt Ferlaino contracted COVID-19), the band's influences & sound, and where to listen to their songs online.

Clearly, this interview was supposed to tie in with Clusterfolk, so it's a shame that one of the key bands withdrew, but at least Colette and the band tried to give it some press! Good and optimistic interview that alerts newcomers as to who The Uncanny Valley are, but I'm surprised that the Clusterfolk album never came up, and the transitions between the interview & the clips from the "Stuck In Rotation" music video weren't mixed overly well for levels. Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more!

Also today, here's the latest from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession, who have yet to play a public concert in town with new frontwoman Jess Amodio, but they haven't been idle since she came on board! Of course, the new lineup debuted in White River last month, and on Saturday, they posted on their Facebook page to note that they were "ready to kill it tonight at The Machine Shop". Despite not hinting at this fact, the gig was private, hence why we never covered it on here, and The Machine Shop is a little big for one covers-centric local band with no attached greater event. Obsession still aren't scheduled for a public gig in city limits until Halloween weekend at The Esquire Club, so at least the new lineup has time to get in sync! We do have a partial video sampler of the new lineup though, as the band posted this video of just Jess and guitarist Gabe Tessaro covering Stevie Nicks & Don Henley's "Leather & Lace" on Sunday.

No word on if this is a new setlist addition for the full band or if it was learned for the event (based on attendee attire, it looks like a wedding reception), but it's well handled and the performance definitely earned the slow dancing on the floor! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more updates from Obsession when they roll in!

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:

 

• A mystery fourth act has been added to the Garbageface concert (featuring industrial metal project Molten Imp) at the Dryer Fire temporary venue on Wilson Street on October 21st, as per recent updates to the Facebook event page. The artist in question is No Funeral, a noise pop act who I also can't find a verified online page for, much like fellow local openers Owen MK, though Google links to obituaries are an inevitable consequence of that search. We'll let you know if we hear anything relevant before showtime!
• Local/Barrie crossover thrash quartet Spades GT's long teased gig opening for Anvil in Brampton on Friday went off successfully, if Facebook page updates are to be believed, though the band featured Caym alum Jay Sarrazin on bass in lieu of Daniel "Odie" Rodbard once again (still no word on why he's missed their last few gigs, but he is still listed as their bassist on Facebook). Drummer Tyler "Jeeb" Reiner also starred in a 23 second video to promote the concert, though aside from being a plug for a show from the former Jack Spades, there's nothing local to speak of, with him just talking to the camera in his vehicle. Stay tuned for more!
• According to personal Facebook posts, Handsome Sandwich/Soo Fighters drummer Johnny Belanger subbed in for Derek Turner during The Wyld Stallyns' headlining concert at The Whisky Barrel this past Friday. A reason for Derek's absence was not announced, but this is hardly the first time that Johnny has filled in with The Stallyns, prominently doing so in the summer a couple of times. Hopefully all's well with Derek, and that Friday's show was a hit!
   

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

Heavy Lies The Crown's New Album, Plus Lots Of New Videos!!

I have a new news post for you guys on this Saturday morning, including new videos from an assortment of artists from a few different locations, but leading off, we have details on a new album release (well, on a free streaming service), so here's what you need to know!

As teased over the past week, St. Ignace, Michigan progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown released their self-titled full-length album yesterday on Spotify! As best as I can tell, the album is not available on other platforms, so you can't actually buy it outright (at least not yet), but the final product can be streamed on-demand for free! The 12 song album includes re-recordings of all four songs from their 2019 debut EP "Scatter Brain" (with "Thing #1" renamed as "A Hell Bound Heart"), plus the previously posted new tracks "Every Step Of The Way" & "Voices", and six brand new cuts named "Friend", "Interlude", "Princess", "*69", "Dead Teeth", and "A Sold Soul". It is great to finally see "Heavy Lies The Crown" out for public consumption, and while I'll hold comment pending a possible review if the album goes on sale, their prior studio tracks should get fans suitably hyped! Check out all twelve songs for yourself on Spotify!

Next up, let's head to Sault Ontario for some new videos from local party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty, who have had some lighter content to share on their Facebook page this month, like this video where frontman Paul Stanghetta analyzes similarities between songs by Moneen and Boys Like Girls, and this one where he has a minor mishap with a lighter. Their newest video has Paul & Amanda leaving SaultOnline/ONNtv's offices, with Paul heavily apologizing for them exiting from the wrong door, but wait, what were they doing there? The band proper didn't share the video, but Paul was interviewed about the band yesterday during ONNtv's morning show First Local, and the episode can be streamed on-demand on SaultOnline's YouTube channel! The Apocalypse Afterparty segment begins at the 17:26 mark, with co-host Heidi Ivany interviewing Paul for about 5 minutes.

Here, Paul discusses his musical influences, the connectivity of the local music scene, groups Paul's opened for in his various bands, and his short term goals for The Afterparty. Fun and light interview buoyed with good energy from both Paul and Heidi, so give it (and the whole episode) a look below, especially if you miss Soo-produced local news like this!

Also today, let's check out a couple more YouTube reviews of songs from local/Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's new album "Bridges", as sourced from the many album reviews shared to his Facebook page in recent weeks! First, I forgot to note yesterday that Mike's song "From The 55th Parallel" was reviewed by Thomas Christ for episode #11 of You Rock! as well, this time as the opening song of the episode (ex-Bizotic frontman Brad Griffith also turned up under his solo handles Gortium85 & Coax Chrome). Strong review of this song here, if brief, but Thomas made up for it in the next two! And as a prelude to Mike's interview with Studio Live Today's Pete Johns from earlier this month, Pete closed episode #76 of his similar YouTube series Your Music Live (where the host listens to & give reviews of independent music) with Mike's song "The Nature Of The Times"!

Yes, Brad/Coax Chrome is also featured in this same episode. Pete called the song "a beautiful way to finish off our show here today", and live-stream viewers seemed to agree, so give the whole episode a look below to hear Mike and a lot more international musicians getting some deserved exposure! "An Act Of Strength" and the song "Bridges" also feature in the next two episodes of Your Music Live, viewable here and here.

Finally today, I have a prolific local musician to move to our inactive band links, namely Dafter, Michigan hard rock singer/guitarist Kenneth "SweetKenny" Sutton. An extremely prolific musician who released dozens of albums in the 2010s, including ten that got reviews on the SMS from 2013-2018, SweetKenny has not posted any music-centric updates on social media since November 2020, meaning we're past our one year cutoff, though Ken is still artistically active as a screenwriter, with his website being redesigned to put his own screenplays ahead of his music. This does flow with his late-period albums all being scores for usage in films and video games, so Ken definitely has an artistic mind being put to use, and he did win Best Script Short at the Accord Cine Fest earlier this month! I hope SweetKenny resumes his music at some point (even if just as scores), as he definitely has talent and a lot of good original ideas!

I did want to end on a seasonal note however, as the last song Ken posted on his Facebook page (as of today) is an original song from last November named "Christmas Snow Is Falling", which he said is "a sad song about a lost love". This is a softer number with just Ken on vocals & guitar, and given the more reserved nature, there's less of an Elvis Presley affect on his singing like you often heard in his heavier pre-score material. Change of pace, but not badly composed, so give it a listen below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Round 2) & First Round Footage!!

As promised, here's our second weekend concert preview post for this week, and it is 100% devoted to a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning an ongoing local talent competition's next installment, and fallout from the opening night! Here's what you should know!

Local rap metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have advanced to the second round of this year's Soo's Got Talent competition, and thusly will return to The Grand Gardens Verdi Ballroom at 455 Queen Street West TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the one week-turnaround left me opting to hold our night #1 results for this weekend's previews. Last Friday's opening round saw the first cuts, with Des & M.J. Barry, Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk, Debbie Graham, Serge LeBlanc, and Leila Rabanez all not moving on to TOMORROW'S second round action, but The Apocalypse Afterparty will join the other 14 surviving acts as they continue their quest to win this city-wide contest, and 10 semifinalists will be chosen to return next Friday. Come on down to The Verdi Hall to see all of TOMORROW'S action from this talented roster of artists! Like last week, this is an ALL AGES event at 8:00 PM with a $10 cover charge for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under. With all of that said, what can we show you from last week's performances?

Unlike last year, The Soo's Got Talent has a television outlet, courtesy of ONNtv, SaultOnline's over-the-top subscription TV service, which is worth considering if you miss MCTV-era local television, and they aired night #1 of the competition on tape delay on Monday night, with future rounds scheduled for the following Monday at 6:30 PM save for a Wednesday, October 9th episode. This intentionally glitchy commercial hyped the ONNtv airings as well, but if you aren't an ONNtv subscriber, you're not left in the dark, as the 2+ hours long video was posted to SaultOnline's YouTube channel on Tuesday! Each performer is featured here and linked below, complete with judges remarks afterward, and all have singers doing a cover unless otherwise stated. In chronological order, we have Andrea Dantzer (the title track from "The Sound of Music"), Coulson Perri (Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"), Des & M.J. Barry (PowerSource's "Dear Mr. Jesus")...

...Serge LeBlanc (Metallica's "Motorbreath"), Colin Gasparelli (Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue"), The Dancing Divas (Katy Perry's "California Gurls"), Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk (an instrumental cover of The Beatles' "Come Together"), Lauren Kroll (Alanis Morrissette's "Hand In My Pocket"), Leila Rabanez (the hymn "Amazing Grace"), Juliana Regan (Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind"), Madison Blair (Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus' "Nothing Breaks Like A Heart"), Marilena Blair (Trisha Yearwood's "The Song Remembers When"), Cameron Oliver (Morgan Wallen's "Whiskey Glasses"), Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf (Rachel Platten's "Fight Song"), Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"), Debbie Graham (Jo Stafford's "Make Love To Me"), Killabeatz doing an original beatboxing performance, Adrian Sullivan (The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood"), Greg McLeod (Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"), and lastly, The Apocalypse Afterparty playing their inactive sister band The Noochin' Lanterns' song "Drop the Gloves".

Note that advertised performances by Madi Schomogyi, Michaela Skagen, and Marcie Tremblay are not featured here for unannounced reasons, but hopefully nothing bad happened with them to force their withdrawal! Regarding the two metal performances, I will say that I think Serge would be better accentuated with a live band and a stage setup more used to metal acts, but it's neat to see him bring that style to the table! As you can see at video's end, The Apocalypse Afterparty appear to have dropped wearing masks on stage for their return, and as such, I think it's safe to finally say that X and z are indeed "songwriters" Paul Stanghetta on vocals/bass and his wife Amanda (née Brown) on drums rather than the MPC, while Paul's ex-Keep It Lit bandmate Alice Rose (in full Tune Squad gear) has joined on the second bass.

I'll remain impartial regarding the competition here, but if you love Paul's old work as a frontman in The Fury, not to mention The A.A. and Noochin' Lanterns past runs, this should be right up your alley, and the judges give interesting feedback! Don't miss all of the action TOMORROW NIGHT at The Verdi Hall, and here's all 20 of last week's acts in action! Good luck!



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