Local Metal/Hard Rock Video Showcase!!

In today's news post, we're looking at some relatively overdue live concert videos from bands on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Let's lead off with a new video from local progressive metal band Convergence, as I surprisingly haven't talked about them in a while on here! As fans may be aware, Convergence didn't post any audio or video content from their live debut at The Pit at Soo Blaster in April, only posting teaser clips and "Reels" in the lead-up, so you had to actually be at that event to hear how they sounded as a live band, let alone with Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio on vocals (they haven't let anything with him singing from their recent studio sessions slip either). For their sophomore gig at The Upheaval at Soo Blaster three weeks ago, they did finally post a public video of the current lineup in action, so what is there to see? Just a disclaimer up front that the video has rapidly strobing red lights on the stage at Soo Blaster, so if you have any history with epileptic seizures, approach with caution. This was uploaded to their Facebook page on July 1st and is 72 seconds long.

Thankfully shot horizontally, this features the guys playing an original song, and if you were curious about Stephen's singing in this band, he does do harsh metal screaming primarily, so don't go into this expecting a reprise of The Saturday Nights or his stage musical work. Obviously not a full song, but the brutal technicality is well sampled here, and hopefully things went in their Rotaryfest Stage 2 debut today, rain acknowledged! Check out this new video below, and look for more from Convergence soon!

Next up, here's new videos from a band that played at Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Friday (albeit from a prior gig), namely local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations! On July 1st, they headlined the Canada Day festivities at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, and drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn had her camera rolling, filming ten videos from their sets that evening that made their way into a batch post (along with photos) on their Facebook group the following morning. Dawn filmed Generations doing songs with all four band members on lead vocals, with frontwoman Valerie Powley fronting covers of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69", Nazareth's "Turn On Your Reciever", and Nick Gilder's "Roxy Roller". Tony S. handled lead vocals on covers of Trooper's "We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time)", The Sheepdogs' "Take Me For A Ride", Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind Of Wonderful", ...

...and Stealers Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle With You". Bassist Pierre Anthony did the honours on David Wilcox's "Do The Bearcat", while guitarist Tony Kajnar sung lead on Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle". At least as far as what was filmed, Generations' set looked to be at least half Cancon, which is great for July 1st, and above & beyond what the CRTC wants for radio stations! While Dawn did get some horizontal photos, all of her videos here were shot vertically, which is never ideal (why accentuate the low crowd levels on the floor like this). That aside, these are solid and lively performances, and props for the custom Canada Day shirts! Do give Generations' July 1st videos from under the tent above, and in a nod to Canada Day, here's "Summer Of '69"!

Now let's head to Sault Michigan for some new videos from bands across the river, starting with local hard rock quintet Exit 808, whose next gig after their Walloon Lake debut last month saw them return to Republic (3½ hours west of here) on June 20th where they took part in the third annual Drewpalooza, a birthday/charity fundraiser concert at The Pine Grove Bar there. Exit 808 have made the drive there each year that it's been held, and five videos from this year made their way to their Facebook page. The first was actually a brief clip of Marquette alt-rock band Jasno's set that afternoon, with Exit 808 co-headlining the night #2 lineup before Marquette notables Spun headlined. Exit 808's set saw the return of guitarist Alex Zimmerman after he was on vacation during the Walloon Lake concert. while former guitarist Nathan Webber made the trip for this one once again.

Attendee Angie Hood is to thank for the other four videos, with her personal Facebook videos being shared onto Exit 808's page after the fact. The videos see them covering Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" with No Expectations singer Drew Collister on guest lead vocals (Amy & Dillion backed him), Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild" and Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" with Dillion Semasky on lead vocals, but embedded below is their cover of Volbeat's new single "By A Monster's Hand", which has Amy singing more than on the other clips. Alas, all of Angie's videos were shot vertically, and the audio can be quite scratchy, but the performances are sound, so check them out for yourselves above & below!

Let's close with a long overdue piece about newer local punk/hard rock trio About:Blank, who I completely forgot to address re: their Musicians Unite fundraiser concert set at Bird's Eye Outfitters in March. I think that was partly because, in John Bullman's official media from the Mary Jo Jenkins benefit concert, his video from About:Blank's set was just of set-up prior to it. I don't think any proper videos of their set were publically uploaded on social media after the fact, but let's make up for lost time for Parker, Nathan (as seen above with Exit 808) and Cade via their set opening for Dick Texas and Violet Scum at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in May. Uploaded to their Facebook page on May 6th, this has About:Blank playing an original song named "Tweak". Filmed from a good close angle, this is an energetic performance with strong pointed vocals from Parker, so check out About:Blank's Pickles video below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Dodge This) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

It's a new month, and a new slate of weekend concert previews ois here to welcome hard rock fans! Due to the amount of shows, I'll hold our preview of HeadF1rst's album release party at Soo Blaster on Saturday for tomorrow's post. Here's what you should know on this first day of May, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local acoustic classic/hard rock cover duo Dodge This will play their first ever gig at Beck's Bar on Goulais Avenue THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced on the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday, and the band has not posted on their Facebook page in any fashion since March. This is weekend #2 for the former Vibe Lounge since Becky set up shop at the Polish Canadian Hall's sister locale, and hopefully Jason & Jamie (and Jeff?) deliver a solid night of rocking covers for west end fans on SATURDAY! Remember, Beck's hosts 3:00 PM matinee performers on Saturdays as well, with Lime frontwoman & reigning Soo's Got Talent champion Madii Schomogyi playing a solo set there on SATURDAY, but this is a separately scheduled four hour concert on the same day, and she isn't "opening" for Dodge This. Neither has a cover charge if you want to hang around though!

Like at Shooters, Beck's Bar does not host live bands on Fridays, rather DJs. SATURDAY NIGHT'S concert has a 9:00 PM start time, and it is 19+. Visit the above links for more on Dodge This' Beck's debut, and here they are live!

Next up, let's head to The Water Tower Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will set up shop for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen at Jay's Piston Broke Pub just under a month ago, this will be their fourth public gig with new bassist Dan Beaupre in the fold, and first with him outside of Jay's. If you haven't seen the new lineup yet, tomorrow is as good a day as any, and the hard rocking covers should be flowing freely for all to enjoy! As usual for The Water Tower Pub, this is a one-nighter, as they almost never host the same band on consecutive nights. The band playing there on Saturday night is Separate Wayz, the new live rock cover band from Soundcheck alumni Terry Eaton, Jim Michaud, and Steven Flint, alongside singer Nicole Thibodeau. I have yet to hear media of them in concert or get setlist samples to know if they would fit our coverage range like Soundcheck did, but we'll keep you posted!

Tomorrow's Double Down concert is a 19+ affair at the Great Northern Road nightclub with no announced cover charge, and it has an early-ish 8:00 PM start time once again. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Double Down live!

Also this weekend, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These will be the first shows from "The Dirty 3" on home soil since rocking Reggie's three weeks ago, but the guys just made their bi-annual Sudbury road trip this past weekend at The Coulson Entertainment Center, getting another solid reception from fans 4 hours east. It's always good to see Greg, Alex, and Warren in more familiar local confines, and hopefully tomorrow and Saturday night's concerts deliver more southern fried original and cover rock action for downtown fans! These shows are 9:30 PM events with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new video of Bone Yard live! This was filmed by attendee Marcy Catherine for her personal Facebook page during the April 25th show in Sudbury.

This (sadly) vertical video was publically shared by Steve McArthur onto The Coulson's Facebook group later that day, and features the band playing a song that I can't immediately identify, and Google's audio match tool didn't help. Marcy shot this from a side stage vantage point, and given that, the vertical framing isn't as bad as it can be because the guys were framed better for it. Solid performance, if with somewhat muffled audio, though as this was a live-stream, it will leave Facebook around May 26th unless Marcy re-posts it as a permanent regular video, as per Facebook's rule change regarding live-streamed videos. Give it a look below while you can!

Finally, let's head to Sault Michigan for the latest multi-band event from local promoters Serious Business, as Muskegon "weirdo punk" trio Violet Scum will headline at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley on SATURDAY NIGHT! Violet Scum's brand of alternative-inflected punk should deliver for fans of grunge and 1990s alt-rock, and it will be neat to see this unique and talented group in our area this weekend, so don't miss them! Grand Rapids experimental/synth project Dick Texas will play their third local/Serious Business date as the co-headliners on Saturday, while the local support includes newer punk trio About:Blank (we'll have more from them soon), and in a rare cross-border appearance by a Sault Ontario musician in the E.U.P., local outsider folk musician Shae Tull. Is this the start of more Canadian acts engaging in Serious Business? Time will tell, but hopefully Shae kicks things off nicely on Saturday night!

Saturday's concert is an 18+ event with doors opening at 8:00 PM, presumably in Pickles' basement again, and there is a $10 cover charge. Always good to see Brighton and crew hosting a rare (but not as rare) multi-band show like this in the E.U.P., and hopefully there's a strong turnout on Saturday for this mix of touring and local talent! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Violet Scum live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our HeadF1rst preview and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Violet Scum), The Room 206/Inner City Surfers Concert Preview, And More!!

The news keeps on rolling, so let's get to a few assorted topics today along with the last (but not least) of this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for readers in Sault Michigan and the E.U.P. next month!

Muskegon "weirdo punk" trio Violet Scum and new local punk trio About:Blank will join forces for a multi-band concert at Pickles Bar & Grill in nearby Brimley on Saturday, May 3rd! Announced yesterday via About:Blank frontman Parker Talentino's solo Facebook page, this is the latest event from local promoters Serious Business, whose last concert in February (also at Pickles) was About:Blank's live debut, albeit on an all-local bill. Good to see Parker, Nathan, and Kade back at it, and if you missed them at last month's Shamrock Show, why not drive out to Brimley next month? Violet Scum's mixed-genre lineup delivers a nice grunge-laden sound that will appeal to punk and alt-rock fans, and it will be neat to see them play up here for the first time next month! Grand Rapids experimental/synth project Dick Texas (who have played at two prior Serious Business shows, including at Pickles in November) are your headliners on May 3rd.

The show will be opened (in a mild surprise) by Sault Ontario outsider folk musician Shae Tull, marking a very rare instance of an a non-Touch Of Class artist from this side of the border playing in the E.U.P.. Who knows what the tariffs and trade war may mean for the idea of Shae playing a show across the river, but hopefully things go well, and that this is the start of more cross-border bookings from Serious Business! This 18+ show (presumably in the basement of Pickles once again) has a $10 cover charge, and doors open at 8:00 PM. Nice diverse mix of styles here, and it's good to see more original multi-band shows in Chippewa County, so see above for more details!

Next up, let's wrap up this weekend's concert previews with the arguable main event for Sault Ontario punk fans, as 1990s punk band Room 206 and 2000s punk standouts The Inner City Surfers will join forces for a reunion concert at Soo Blaster TONIGHT!  As you may recall, The Surfers last reunited in November 2023 as a fundraiser stag & doe for drummer Mikey Hawdon's then-upcoming wedding, and similarly, tonight's event will be another stag & doe, this time for the impending nuptials of Room 206/Bookclub drummer Allan Watson and his fiancee Audrey. Congratulations to the happy couple, and a public concert featuring some big band reunions is one hell of a way to celebrate! Inner City Surfers reunions are always big deals for local punk fans, but Room 206 haven't played a (known) public concert since the 2021 vinyl re-release of "2 Innies & An Outie", let alone for over a decade prior, so don't miss this one!

No word on the exact lineup for Room 206 beyond Allan, but he was joined by Mike Yorke and Surfers bassist Brad "Example" Lacell" on the album, and Brad's fellow Surfers bandmate Dave Bahun was also once in Room 206. Local alternative/punk cover sextet Bookclub (featuring Allan, Mikey, and Surfers frontman Dustin Jones) will open the proceedings, as they did in 2023, so there will be lots of familiar faces rocking out, especially given the size of Soo Blaster! Tickets run for $25 in advance through the performers, with the price jumping to $30 at the door. This is an ALL AGES concert, and Bookclub leads off at 9:00 PM sharp. This should be a huge night for local punk fans, let alone friends and family of Allan & Audrey, and given the decades since we last saw Room 206 and Brad not living in town anymore, who knows when we'll see them or The Surfers on stage again! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Surfers live!

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

 

• There's a new on-air DJ/host on Classic Rock Sundays on 104.3 The Fox (and Rogers Radio's other rock stations carrying that format), as Adele Newton is now on air from 2:00-5:00 PM, as introduced here. This cuts into the prior 12:00-4:00 and 4:00-8:00 PM timeslots held by "Big" Kris Bawden and Lew MacDonald, but I need to listen to Classic Rock Sundays more fully to capture that day's current DJ rotation. Unlike other DJs and hosts on The Fox, Adele doesn't come from another market's rock station, rather Kitchener adult contemporary station CHYM 96.7. Tune in on Sunday to hear how Adele is doing on the former Q104!
• New local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project revealed on their Facebook page on April 3rd that they are already mixing their second EP, and even shared the track listing for it via a photo of the songs written on a sheet of paper. The EP will be called "The Frustration Sessions" (no relation), and project leader Matt Hicks had earlier noted that he "never stopped writing while I was finishing "Afterthought", which is their debut EP from February. You can sample some of the at-home recording sessions in this Facebook "Reel" featuring heavy riffs and a keyboard line. Hopefully we hear more from T.R.P. soon, and it's good to see Matt keeping busy!
• In their newest video on their Facebook page (sadly also a "Reel"), local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 are seen covering Nickelback's "Rockstar" at The Esquire Club last month, and they were joined on stage for said cover by Fort Creek frontman Justin Grayson! I'm not a Nickelback fan, the blue lighting can overpower the view, and Justin's vocals are somewhat buried behind Jess' vocals, but this is well performed while the "Reel" lasts, so check it out above! Remember, "Reels" can't be embedded on external websites like this, nor played in background tabs, and are in permanently vertical dimensions.

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (HeadFirst), A New Local Metal Project, And More!!

Here's a new news post for you guys on this Wednesday evening, and it includes a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for the spring, our first look at a new local band, and leading off, an even newer band to check out (with EP!), so with all of that said, here's what you should know!

We have a new solo project to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely The Realignment Project! This marks the return to original local music of former Dirty Virgin drummer and Riverin frontman Matt Hicks, who we last covered on the SMS in an active band when Riverin posted their last updates in 2014. The Realignment Project hew much closer to Riverin than Matt's better known glam metal band, as they are an industrial metal act. Historically, that's something we never had much of locally, so they immediately stand out from that alone! Matt launched an Instagram page for T.R.P. last month, which has teaser images, AI art, and some short videos, many of which promoting the fact that they released their debut EP "Afterthought" on January 29th! You can buy it on Bandcamp on a "name your price" model, and they also now have a YouTube channel featuring lyric videos for four of the EP's six songs, only omitting "Finger On The Trigger" and "Synthetic".

As this is a brand new album on sale, this will be this month's CD review at the SMS, ending our two month spell of archive album reviews, so while I won't give thoughts on The Realignment Project's music yet, check back in the next week or so. That said, it's great to see Matt back working on new music, and if you were following Riverin in their heyday, you'll definitely want to check out The Realignment Project to hear similar and more fully realized material, so do so at the above links, and here's the lyric video for the EP's opening song "Broken Machine"!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local hard rock quintet HeadFirst have announced a mini-residency of sorts at Shooters Downstairs Lounge that will see them rock the Dennis Street nightclub for three+ upcoming Saturday night gigs! We already knew about their planned shows on March 1st and April 12th via Shooters' own advertising, but the new date will be on Saturday, March 15th, though no word on if it will have any St. Patrick's Day tie-ins. However, these three concerts will be themed across the board, as Shooters will be offering official HeadFirst-branded cocktails, shots, and food items that will only be on sale during these concerts, so click here and here for details on each drink. Fun idea, especially as this is beyond just one themed shot, so keep all of this in mind if you're hungry or thirsty when seeing HeadFirst at Shooters! Red, Raine, Liam, Claire, and Anthony allegedly have "more dates to come" at Shooters, so keep tabs with the band on social media for more concert details as they roll in.

Also, if you buy an official HeadFirst t-shirt, you'll also get a $5-off voucher for one of the drinks, which is a good bonus! In terms of their actual sets, the band will "occasionally be playing a few songs for our next project", with more details coming soon. By "project", are they just making their next CD/EP/album sound more mysterious, or is it something more/beyond just a new album? We'll keep you posted! All three Shooters shows so far have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, but we're not quite done with the raw|lust|hot rockband, as they have been named as one of the local openers for the previously announced Selias concert as Soo Blaster on Friday, March 14th! This is via the official Facebook event page, which also confirms that local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will open as well in their first gig of 2025. At least one more opening act is to be announced, we'll let you know when they are.

Note that Selias' local debut at the same venue in September featured seven opening bands, six being local. Tickets surprisingly aren't on sale for this show yet, but last fall's Selias concert ran for $15. So far, it does seem like next month's concert has more of a varied genre spread (neither A.D.S. nor HeadFirst are full "metal" bands), but with less than a month to go before showtime, hopefully Heavy North Entertainment gets everything in place for a great night of hard hitting music at Soo Blaster! See above for more on this event and HeadFirst's new Shooters dates!

Finally, let's cross the border to look at the first public videos of new Sault Michigan punk trio About:Blank! This union of Tarnished, Lift The Broken, and Midnight Logic alumni debuted at Serious Business' multi-band concert at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley on February 8th, and a bunch of photos from their set can be seen on their Facebook page, confirming that Parker Talentino is their vocalist and bassist. Two videos from that night can be seen on Facebook, both seeing About:Blank playing original songs, one being "Hearse". Despite being shot with the same camera and horizontal orientation, "Hearse" was crammed into a vertical portrait orientation with horrendous pillarboxing, and it was uploaded second (how did that happen?). As such, I've embedded the other song "Fix" below, but it is a lighter and more laid back punk number with a swinging vibe to it. "Hearse" is faster and more all-out, and has pseudo-rap vocals, no less!

It's just two songs so far, but About:Blank seem to be starting off promisingly, and the talent is definitely there! I will say that Parker's clean singing voice is better suited to "Fix", but I'll have to hear more to really judge how he fits in singing on electric material. Check out About:Blank's live debut below, and stay tuned for more from them soon!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (About:Blank), A New Local Band, And More Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's concert previews today, but with lots of details relating to the debuting headliner of one of them, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for their second show, and a new lyric video from another band playing tomorrow night! Here's what you should know!

Let's finally add new Sault Michigan punk/hard rock band About:Blank to our full coverage in advance of their live debut tomorrow night! Publically launching via their Facebook page in December, this is the new band from two former members of local hard rock/classic metal band Tarnished, including 2019-2023 guitarist Nathan Webber and 2023-2024 guitarist/bassist Parker Talentino (the two were not bandmates there, as Parker joined Tarnished three months after Nathan left). Their lineup is rounded out by drummer Kade DesArmo, who you may recognize from the pop rock band Midnight Logic and the Detroit-based Letters To Abel, who played a pandemic-era local concert with Tarnished back in 2020. As best as I can gather, Parker (who is also a solo acoustic singer/songwriter) is fronting this band. About:Blank haven't posted too much about themselves yet, but they have two shows booked for the coming month+!

We'll get to their first show tomorrow in a second, but here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as they will headline at Three One Three On Ashmun on Saturday, March 15th for "The Shamrock Show" (so themed because it's on St. Patrick's Day weekend)! A rare multi-band concert in Sault Michigan that isn't attached to Serious Business or a battle of the bands, this concert will see About:Blank joined by the aforementioned Tarnished (no word on if Chris and Ron will be joining Alex and Josh again or not here) along with rising young punk trio The Sole Aggressors in their 2025 debut. Hard rock and punk fans in the E.U.P. should be very curious to see this trifecta of strong local talent at the former Back Door next month, so don't miss out! No word on if there will be any St. Patrick's Day frills beyond the name of the show and the poster's branding, so inquire within about green beer.

This 21+ concert has a 7:00 PM start time, and there will be a $10 cover at the door, but remember how relatively unique that shows of this ilk are in Sault Michigan. Should be a fun time for Yooper rock fans, especially with this variety of talented and familiar faces, so visit the above links for more details on The Shamrock Show at Three One Three next month!

If you want to see About:Blank before then, and you're outside of the Soo or are up for a short drive, you'll want to head to Brimley TOMORROW NIGHT, as Parker, Nathan, and Kade will debut this band at Pickles Bar & Grill at local promotion agency Serious Business' first concert of the year! For this multi-band event, Brighton LeBlanc is throwing back to last fall's Lake Superior State University battle of the bands, with About:Blank being joined by three acts who played last fall, namely indie rock band The Undecideds (featuring members of the Sole Aggressors) and solo musicians Kevin Blakeney and Kaleb Shannon. Of course, Parker played solo at the battle, and Nathan was on guitar with Molly & The Other Guys, so five of the seven competing acts will be at least partially represented here! About:Blank will be the primary heavier respite tomorrow, but the battle proved that there's a lot of diverse talent in the Soo and E.U.P., so don't bypass this encore!

All of the action goes down at 11204 West Lakeshore Drive (presumably in the basement again) with an 18+ age limit, a 9:00 PM start time, and another $10 cover charge. A nice diverse array of sounds and styles await fans in Brimley tomorrow, so don't miss out on all of the action there as Serious Business kicks off their 2025 slate, and we'll let you know when About:Blank have videos to preview their sound with!

Finally for this post, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews by heading north to Sault Ontario, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 will play their first "uncorked" concert of 2025 when they return to The Water Tower Pub TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for erroneously listing this show as being tonight originally on our concert calendar, it was always scheduled for tomorrow and plugged as such here when the band first announced it. Last seen playing acoustic at the same venue almost two months ago, this will be a prime opportunity to see Greg, Alex, and Warren strip down their sound, so help beat the winter blues after today's latest storm by heading to this central venue tomorrow! This is a one nighter as is custom at The Water Tower Pub, who are hosting Dodge This tonight, as previewed here yesterday. This is an 8:00 PM show with a 19+ age limit and no cover.

Visit the above links for more on your local 225's first unplugged show of the year, and for a preview, rather than share an acoustic video of theirs, here is their new lyric video for their second studio single "Gypsy Spell", courtesy of their YouTube channel last month! A photo slideshow featuring shots of them in concert alongside logos, fans, and promotional images, the lyrics are included on screen, which are about Greg falling under the titular spell from an enchanting woman. Lyrically their least provocative song of their three originals so far, but it's a fun dance rocker with strong bass work, and it should go over well with fans if you haven't heard it before, so give the lyric video a watch below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Queen: It's A Kinda Magic & About:Blank), Plus New Music Videos!!

Let's get a new news post on the site on this cold Sunday night, and it's half devoted to new music videos and half to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

A number of alumni from last fall's Lake Superior State University battle of the bands will gather at Pickles Bar & Grill in nearby Brimley, Michigan for the first show of 2025 from local promoter Brighton LeBlanc's agency Serious Business! To be held on Saturday, February 8th, this show (possibly named "We Will Be Music") will be headlined by the live concert debut of About:Blank, the new (according to Brighton in an e-mail) punk trio from former Tarnished bandmates Parker Talentino and Nathan Webber! Their lineup is rounded out by former Letters To Abel/Midnight Logic drummer Kade DesArmo. No hints of their music yet beyond what we know of members' prior band work, but based on About:Blank's lineup, they should fit our coverage! We'll have more on them in an upcoming post. Opening the proceedings in three weeks are newer local indie rock band (and Sole Aggressors side project) The Undecideds, plus local acoustic singer/guitarists Kevin Blakeney and Kaleb Shannon.

With the exception of Kade, everyone played at the LSSU battle last fall, so every act except Tarnished and The Small Town Society will be at least partially represented at Pickles next month (Nathan and Parker left Tarnished prior to the battle, where both played in separate acts). Whether you were at the battle or not, consider driving out to Brimley for what should be a fun night of original E.U.P. music with a nice mix of genres! This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 18+ age limit, and $10 cover charge. Visit the above links for more on this next round of Serious Business!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where Australian tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will return to the Sault Community Theatre Centre for their third local headlining appearance on Thursday, May 8th! It seems like this highly proficient and faithful Queen tribute have played here more often (possibly due to their 2022 debut here being postponed twice due to pandemic restrictions), but this will be their first trip to the former Kiwanis Theatre in two years, skipping the Soo on their 2024 Canadian tour run. From what I heard, Queen: It's A Kinda Magic delivered a great stage show with strong Mercuryesque vocals in early 2020s stops here, so if you are a big Queen fan, you'll be right at home with their return this spring, especially as they're touring in honour of the 50th anniversary of the release of "Bohemian Rhapsody"! All of the action goes down at White Pines' amphitheatre on May 8th at 8:00 PM, with no age limits whatsoever.

Tickets run at this link or at the in-person box office for $69 (adults) or $40 (kids 12 and under), which is actually $3 lower across the board from 2023. Sales have been good even with our coverage not being immediate, as the closest center section seats available are in the twelfth row (fourth in the side sections), so act now to ensure as good as a seat as possible if you don't have tickets already! For more details on Queen: It's A Kinda Magic's return to the Soo, visit the above links!

Now let's look at two newly released music videos from notable local bands, and we'll start with the long-teased debut music video (and studio single) from local southern/hard rock band Fort Creek! As launched yesterday with their non-concert release party at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, the song is "One For The Road", and you can see its video on their new YouTube channel, as well as hear the song on "every streaming platform" (in reality, it's on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Anghami). The band has also launched their own official website in conjunction with the single and video, including an electronic press kit and hype for the current members and their upcoming album plans, but not a lot of detail on their pre-2024 activity. The song was mixed/mastered by Josh MacIntosh, and the video was filmed by Josh Penno at Spacebag Productions.

The music video intercuts scenes of frontman Justin Grayson driving to Jay's with the band setting up for an acoustic performance there, plus Justin singing the song at the bar proper, before everyone is seen playing "One For The Road" together on stage, and ultimately leaving the Korah Road nightclub at the end. I'll hold comment on the song itself pending our review of Fort Creek's long-gestating debut album, but the video is well filmed and edited, and if you like acoustic southern rock, you should take to this song, so give Fort Creek's first video and single a watch/listen below!

Finally, here's a surprise from last week, namely an official music video for local death metal band The Bear Hunters' 2014 single "Collapse The Sun"! The second Bear Hunters-branded music video to be posted to their YouTube channel this month (joining "Squirrel Buddy"), this features assorted clips of the band in concert in the early-mid 2010s, and is not strictly designed to sync up with the original song in terms of performance clips or lineups (as such, look for 2010-2011 rhythm guitarist Mike Vincent here and there). Some of the footage was shot by yours truly, which is neat to see! It took a decade+, but it's great to see the "Eternal Hibernation" lead single get a proper and well compiled music video, even if that album's production quality wasn't as high as on 2020's "The Dead Testament". Give it a watch below, and we'll let you know what other (final?) content that The Bear Hunters have in store for 2025!

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

Saturday Night Concert Previews, A New Live Concert Video, And A New Original Song!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for a missed Halloween concert in our weekend concert previews, as newer local acoustic hard rock duo Dodge This played at The Dive Gastro Pub on Thursday night. Originally, advertising just had (ex-?)Wyld Stallyns singer/guitarist Rob Speers playing a matinee there, but Jason & Jamie were booked on late notice as the night cap at The Dive. Alas, I only heard about the booking earlier that same day, hence why I wasn't able to cover it in advance, so I apologize again, but hopefully Dodge This and Rob both had a good turnout!

Today's post otherwise finishes this weekend's hard rock concert previews (neither being belatedly seasonal) along with some new songs from two veteran local bands, so let's start things in nearby Brimley, Michigan for the newest concert from local concert promoter Brighton LeBlanc's agency Serious Business, as he hosts four bands live at Pickles Bar & Grill TONIGHT! Three of them are local, including 2023 LSSU Battle of the Bands winning hardcore punk trio The Sole Aggressors (featuring half of The Undecideds) and hard rock quintet The Nameless, who both played at Serious Business' last Pickles show in August. Reunited and online page-less hard rock band The Karstens will also return after playing at Serious Business' first show at The Satisfied Frog last fall, a show that also featured tonight's touring headliner, Grand Rapids experimental/synth project Dick Texas. Not a heavier act, but Valerie is a talented artist!

This 18+ (not 21+ concert) takes place in Pickles' basement level, and will have an 8:00 PM start time and a $10 cover charge. Multi-band concerts like this still don't take place in the E.U.P. all that often, so definitely support the ones that you can to ensure that more could happen! It does seem like Brighton has been getting the word out about tonight's show well, and Brimley is not a far drive at all (20 minutes west of the Soo), so definitely consider coming down tonight if you're able! Visit the above links for more on tonight's action, and for a preview, here's a brand new full-set video of The Sole Aggressors live at Pickles in August! This was uploaded to their YouTube channel shortly after that event, and features what appears to be an all-original 40 minute set, including "Ventilation", "Reject", "Teenage Guide", "Time To Commercialize!", "Melted Plastic", "Hypocrite", ...

..."False Hope". "Fast Punk For Fast Food", "Kill Thy Neighbour", "Fool", "State Of The World", "Kill A Celebrity", and "Down By The Bay". I didn't recognize any covers off hand, so if this was indeed all-original, kudos to the Sole Aggressors as they continue their growth, as they're developing well with a good ear for fast paced punk music! The guitar could stand to be a little louder, and the lighting could definitely stand to be not so green, but it's awesome to see a substantial punk band out of Sault Michigan for a change, and Brett, Calvin, and Isaac are gonna turn a lot of heads if they stick with it! See more from The Sole Aggressors (and more) tonight!

Now let's head north to Sault Ontario for this weekend's last known hard rock concert, and it's a big one for fans of progressive hard rock legends Rush, as the Sudbury-based Rust: A Tribute To Rush will make their local concert debut TONIGHT at Soo Blaster! While fans may have seen a separate Rush tribute band at Reggie's two years ago, Rust are a newer project by Alex & Eric Kuthy, who you may recognize from fellow Sudbury tribute band Just Leppard, who entertained hair metal fans locally in tour dates from 2019-2022. They know their way around 1980s rock, and from what I have seen of Rust in videos, they'll go Geddy, Alex, and Neil proud with a professional and technical sound that Rush fans won't want to miss, especially on the big Soo Blaster stage! As far as I can gather, there are no local openers tonight. You can buy tickets online at this link or at the door for $25 (less than Just Leppard's last show here.)

This appears to be a 19+ event, and everything starts at 8:30 PM. If you're a fan of Rush, you won't want to miss out on Rust's faithful tribute tonight, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Rust live!

Finally for today, let's address something that debuted during one of the Halloween concerts this weekend, namely local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225's second studio single "Gypsy Spell"! The guys launched the song with a late-notice Halloween concert at Reggie's Place, where it was played live, and it was released to major streaming services (ie. Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube) that afternoon. More of a loose dancier rock number with a bouncy riff, this song gives everyone in the band lots of time to showcase their talents, with Warren's bass really driving things along, and Greg's singing is at a full voiced enthusiasm, which works well! Fun track from your local 225, so give it a listen below!

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

The Rest Of This Weekend's Hard Rock/Punk Concert Previews!!

Before we begin our second weekend concert preview post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family & friends of former Great White frontman Jack Russell, who passed away yesterday at the age of 63, a month after retiring from touring following his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. Visit your preferred music news websites (like this) for more details. The classic and longest tenured frontman of the Los Angeles hair metal icons best known for tracks like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "The Angel Song", Jack fronted versions of Great White at least thrice in the Soo area, including on New Years Day 1990, where they opened for Alice Cooper at Sault Memorial Gardens. Great White would headline at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino 19 years later, before the splinter version Jack Russell's Great White headlined outside of the St. Ignace Kewadin in June 2017.

Jack wasn't in the original Great White anymore when they opened for Ace Frehley at the St. Ignace Kewadin last month (he had already retired anyway), but fans of theirs will absolutely recognize Jack's talents as a singer and frontman from their late 1980s-early 1990s heyday until the modern era, and hopefully fans have lots of good memories, both from his local gigs and beyond. R.I.P. Jack!

Today's post otherwise completes another round of hard rock/punk weekend concert previews in the Twin Saults, and we'll pick things back up in Brimley, where a rare multi-band event with a touring artist goes down at Pickles Bar & Grill TOMORROW NIGHT! Two known SMS-amenable local bands are playing Brimley for the first time, those being Sault Ste. Marie rock quintet The Nameless and 2023 LSSU Battle of the Bands-winning punk band The Sole Aggressors, so if you like what these rising groups bring to the table, head to Pickles to see them in action! The headliner here is Detroit electronica musician R. Solomon, with Detroit experimental duo Sean & Diego also making the trip north, and if that seems out of left field, remember that promoter Brighton LeBlanc of Serious Business brought in a diverse mix of genres in his Satisfied Frog show in November featuring four touring acts from around the state, so this genre mix isn't new.

This 18+ (not 21+) concert takes place at 9:00 PM in the lower level of Pickles at 11204 West Lakeshore Drive tomorrow night, following an unrelated matinee gig by local jazz duo Midnight Sun at 5:30 PM, and it has a $10 cover charge. It is great that the E.U.P. is getting some promotion of multi-band shows with touring musicians like this, and hopefully tomorrow's festivities are a huge hit so Brighton keeps this up with even more! See above for more details, and for a preview, here's The Sole Aggressors live!

Before moving to our remaining Sault Ontario concert previews, just a heads up that Bone Yard 225's debut gigs at Gino's Fired Up Kitchen & Bar tomorrow night and on the 31st have been cancelled, as per bassist Warren Reville in comment replies on our Facebook page earlier today. Warren implied that Gino's have stopped/been prohibited from hosting live music period, but I haven't heard an announcement from the restaurant on this front (their social media last referenced hosting live musicians on July 27th). Hopefully this isn't 100% it for acoustic concerts there, but if all else fails, you can still see Bone Yard at the Laird Fair tonight!

Resuming this weekend's previews, let's head to Shooters Downstairs Lounge, where local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will return for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! This will be HeadFirst's... first concert since their CD release party for their debut EP "Head Trauma" at Shooters three weeks ago (our review of it is coming up this month), and while there's no raison d'etre for tomorrow's concert beyond just playing live, the band should have CD copies of "Head Trauma" on sale. With momentum at their backs, hopefully tomorrow's concert is a huge hit full of their entertaining hard rock originals and covers! A one-nighter due to Shooters' Friday DJ nights this year, tomorrow's concert has a 9:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadFirst live! Yes, I am well aware of their new Rotaryfest video, we'll finally resume our Rotaryfest 2024 fallout coverage on the site soon!

Finally for this weekend, let's head to Soo Blaster, where a rare all-local concert goes down on SUNDAY NIGHT featuring four local groups and two solo musicians! In a mild surprise, young local hard rock band Sylo (the former Raincourt) will headline in their second public show of the year and first since parting ways with bassist Owen Dearing. Sylo's social media presence has been slim at best since they returned from hiatus earlier this year, but given that frontman Elijah Russell is reportedly moving from the area for college shortly, this could be your last chance to see the band for a while, so keep Sunday's show in mind! Joining Sylo at Soo Blaster on Sunday are local punk quartet (assuming that Carmen did join) Vanity First, thrash metal trio The BAG, and comedy rock band The Floor Between Us, alongside prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore and anti-folk/outsider singer/guitarist Shae Tull.

Notably, we haven't seen Chase at a public concert since February, and it's good to see that he's still gigging despite his prior teasers about stepping away from music after his next album comes out! Unlike most of Vanity First guitarist Mikhal Muto's recent blitz of self/co-promoted concerts at The Distraction and Soo Blaster, Sunday's festivities do not have advance ticket sales, just a flat cover charge of $10. It is definitely ALL AGES, and doors open at 8:00 PM. An all-local show with this many acts, especially not attached to a festival, isn't as common as it once was, so don't miss out on all of the action on Sunday! In lieu of a Sylo video (they haven't uploaded anything since the name change), here's Vanity First live!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Nameless), A New Local Hard Rock Band, And Tarnished Updates!!

For today's SMS post, we're heading to Sault Michigan and the E.U.P. to cover some recent updates from across the river, including big lineup news from a prominent hard rock band, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next week, and leading off, a new local band with a few familiar faces, so here's what you should know on this Tuesday night

We have a new local hard rock bands to add to our Sault Michigan band links, that being Unfortunate Sun! Described on their Facebook page as "the EUPs newest high energy rock band", and presumably playing off of the C.C.R. song with the name, they are effectively the successors to the now-defunct Fake Chow, and have already signalled more of a hard rock base in their sound than Fake Chow ever did. Lead singer Skip Parish, guitarist Jody Sandhagen, and Project 906 drummer Jason VanLuven are now joined by ex-Shift bassist Tony Rogers (yes, he was Slappy from Clownsack) in place of Jeffrey Barr. Unfortunate Sun debuted via an outdoor gig at Huck's Pub & Grill in nearby Rudyard on July 27th during the town's Summerfest weekend, and they have yet to announce further concerts of any kind. Two videos have been shared on their Facebook page from that night, where they covered Tommy Tutone's "867-5309 (Jenny)" and, as embedded below, Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train".

Also, Exit 808 singer Dillion Semasky reportedly joined them on stage to cover Seether's "Remedy", but there are no other setlist hints so far. Unfortunately, both videos are short and vertical (despite the Tommy Tutone cover being shot horizontally, so it's sideways), and we see more of attendees than the band for the Ozzy cover, but what I've seen points to a technically sound melodic hard rock cover band, and it'll be interesting to see what Unfortunate Sun have planned for the rest of the year! Check them out for yourselves above & below!

Next up, a rare multi-band local concert will hit Pickles Bar & Grill in nearby Brimley on Saturday, August 17th! This event is brought to us by promoter Brighton LeBlanc of Serious Business, who put on the multi-band concert at The Satisfied Frog last November featuring a Karstens reunion and four touring bands from around the state, but no bands in common are playing next week. The headliner here is R. Solomon, an electronica musician from Detroit, which may seem out of left field, but the show at The Satisfied Frog last year had a similar genre variance in the lineup. Two known local bands will be opening, namely hard rock quintet The Nameless and young local punk trio The Sole Aggressors (the winners of last year's fan-voted LSSU Battle of the Bands). We haven't heard much from them this year, but according to their Facebook page, they've parted ways with singer Henry Boucher, who wasn't at the battle of the bands anyway.

A reason for Henry's departure wasn't announced, but hopefully all's well with him in any event! The band also played a public concert outside of the Bayliss Public Library in the Soo on May 7th, which I profusely apologize for missing on here, but hopefully it was a hit, and the setlist for that show can be seen on their Facbeook page! The fourth act next week is "Sean & Diego", who I know nothing concrete on beyond the poster. This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 18+ age limit (not 21+), and a $10 cover charge. Visit the above links for more on all of the action in Brimley next weekend, and thankfully I'm able to cover this one in a much timelier fashion!

Also today, we have some big news from local hard rock/classic metal band Tarnished, who have surprisingly parted ways with bassist Parker Talentino. In a post on their Facebook page yesterday, the band noted that "it was a difficult decision" and that "we felt it was best for the project moving forward". While they didn't go onto specifics otherwise, Alex & Josh are still on amicable terms with Parker, and they wished him well in his future plans, including his active solo project. Parker had replaced Isaac Royer on bass in Tarnished last fall, while also handling rhythm guitar when Chris Leask was guesting with them, and he last played with Tarnished at the Sault Kewadin this past weekend. While Parker is a talented multi-instrumentalist who seemed to fit well with Tarnished, I always got the sense that his folksier acoustic solo output was truer to what he likes musically. He has a bright future ahead regardless!

Regarding Tarnished's lineup vacancies, the band revealed that Rhythm & Brews/ex-Highway 63 bandmates Chris Leask & Ron Suchey will be playing bass & drums "for all of our current upcoming shows" (they have frequently guested with Tarnished at regional dates since May, including this past weekend). The band's statement is somewhat ambiguous, as it could be interpreted as Chris & Ron filling in for currently booked gigs only, but we'll let you know if Tarnished say that they have 100% joined the band or not (keep in mind that Tarnished's recent downstate gigs were as a trio, with Alex primarily drumming while singing). Also note that Rhythm & Brews are still active, last playing live in June, but they do not play live with Tarnished's frequency. At present, Tarnished are booked for road trips to Grand Marais on Thursday and in Rose City later this month, before coming home to rock The Rapids Lounge in late September.

Chris & Ron are talented local rock veterans who should bolster things for at least the next two months! Lastly, two new videos of Tarnished this past weekend were posted by Audrey Marshall (a frequent filmer of Sault Ontario concert videos) as comments on the band's Facebook page post on Friday, and are thusly unembeddable here. They include a (vertical) video of them covering Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World" and a shorter (but horizontal!) video of their cover of ZZ Top's "Tush". Both feature Alex just singing, while an unidentified female bassist guested on the Neil Young cover. Solid while they last, so check them out on Facebook, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!