LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nate's Chow), The End Of Piecing It Together Shows, And New Videos!!

A new week doesn't mean we're letting our foot off the gas in terms of getting recent un-talked about stories finally talked about, and today's half Michigan/half Canada post includes recent concert festival fallout, the impending closure of a local concert promotion agency, and leading off in the EUP, a new live cover video and some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for our Yooper readers. Here's what you should know!

Rebranded local hard rock trio Nate's Chow have announced three upcoming concerts for next month, as per this AI-generated poster from their Facebook page last month! After the former Unfortunate Sun and Fake Chow successors returned to the stage at The Islander Bar in Hessel on August 7th, they will be back there for their second show of this era on Saturday, September 5th, so keep this Labour Day weekend gig in mind if you want to see Jody, Brett, and Jason back in the Les Cheneaux Islands area! One week later, the guys will headline the annual Stalwart Agricultural Fair in nearby Goetzville, which the then-Unfortunate Sun played at in 2024 (country rock cover band One Can Short were last year's closing band). Nate's Chow will cap off the festivities on Saturday, September 12th, and this feels in many ways like the EUP answer to this weekend's Laird Fair, so click here for full details on the rural and farm-friendly entertainment then!

Nate's Chow will be playing in the on-site pavilion at 8081 East M-48 in Goetzville, admission is a flat $5 for weekend passes (no single day options), and this is absolutely all ages. Finally for the new shows, the renamed group will play their first Sault Ste. Marie date of this era when they rock The Merchants Bar on Saturday, September 26th, so keep that gig in mind as well if you wanna see how the Skip-less group sound and you'd prefer to do so in the Soo! The Merch show should be at 9:00 PM, the Islander Bar and Stalwart Fair gigs are at 8:00 PM, and the bar shows are both 21+. Visit the above links for more on Nate's Chow's early fall slate of concerts!

Next up, here's a video of Munising classic/hard rock cover quintet The Sky Pilots' headlining concert at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on May 30th! The first public video that I've ever seen from one of their local gigs, this 40 seconds-long video features The Sky Pilots covering Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine". While short, it's unique in that frontwoman Melissa Strand (formerly of local bands Swayze Train and Electric Motor Fish) filmed this while singing on stage, letting us see her vantage point of the crowd, the lounge, and her bandmates. Good cover from what we hear, and the video is definitely fun for what it is, so give it a watch!

Now let's head to Sault Ontario, starting with a story that is one of the oldest items in the backlog that I've put off for way too long, as local concert promotion agency Piecing It Together Shows is closing operations later this year. Owner Nicole Dyble revealed the news in a post on their Facebook page on July 12th, where Nicole (who is non-binary) revealed that they are moving to Toronto, and will be commuting between there and here for the rest of the year. As of July 12th, four further P.I.T.S. events were scheduled, including a house party concert headlined by Regina ambient noise group Allinesik the following week, but details on the other three events have yet to be announced. Piecing It Together Shows launched as Dryer Fire in 2018 in the wake of the closure of Nicole's former venue The Gore Street Cafe, and counting the laundromat and their run before changing the company name, Nicole put on over 300 community events, concerts or otherwise, over the past 11 years, while championing local charities and arts initiatives.

Nicole's concerts only occasionally tripped the SMS' genre lines, but they did a lot in the local arts community (music and visual alike) over the past decade, including via such large scale events as the Fishbowl Festival, the It's The Pits festival, and their various long-term residencies at pop-up venues. I still don't know if Nicole ever explained why they went with the peach pit motif for their branding after 2024 or not, but P.I.T.S. had a distinct identity that covered a lot of local ground. We'll let you know if those final three Piecing It Together Shows concerts involve hard rock or punk acts, but best of luck to Nicole in the move and their future plans!

Finally for today, let's look at some fallout from the second annual WestFest at Anna Marinelli Park on August 8th! SooToday's Darren Taylor was on hand for the West Village Revitilization Project's summer festival, covering it in this article with 16 photos of the day's events, the first four featuring opening alt-hard rock band Riverside Stasis.  Good and positive article that outlines some of the vendors and positive thoughts of the day! Mike Blair's 705Live Sound Co. was at the soundboard for WestFest II, and while he did not share a Facebook video from any performers on the company page, he did upload a video of closing local folk supergroup The Ontarians' set to his personal Facebook page that The Ontarians did share publically. WestFest's official recap video features brief clips of both The Ontarians and The Golden Scoundrels' sets, plus lots of looks at the attendees and vendors, but the audio is dubbed over with a Turnstile song.

Odd choice when only Riverside Stasis come anywhere remotely close in genre, and they weren't even in the video, but it's well edited (if vertical). Lastly, 104.3 The Fox posted a video from Ava Nori's set as an Instagram-exclusive video, confirming that she sang with acoustic accompaniment from Scoundrels guitarist Brandon Ruch, who commutes from Southern Ontario for their local gigs. The video shows them covering "Home" by the country singer Brent Morgan, with Ava & Brandon sharing vocals, and she has a distinctive voice that I hope gets more time on stage! Hopefully more WestFest media surfaces, but check everything out at the above links, and stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Generations), Darsombra Concert Updates, And A New Pillory Song!!

I'd like to begin today's post by offering our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Darsombra synth player/vocalist Ann Everton, who passed away on Friday in a car crash in Essex County, New York. She and her husband/bandmate Brian Daniloski had been on the road towards Montreal for the beginning of their fall North American tour, which was slated to include a local concert this Friday at the Downtown Plaza, but their tour van collided with a police cruiser this past Friday. Brian and the police officer inside the cruiser were hospitalized with minor injuries, and you can read more about the incident at this link. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to raise money for Brian and Ann's family to cover related expenses in the aftermath of this tragic accident, so consider donating to help out. Local fans will recall seeing Darsombra (all the way from Baltimore, Maryland) thrice here at three different venues in the past.

The psychedelic hard rock duo's multimedia stage show debuted here at The New American Pub in July 2017, before rocking LopLops Lounge in August 2019, and they last played here at the so-called March Street Stage in July 2023. All but the Six, Two, Oh.-hosted LopLops gig were promoted by Dryer Fire (now Piecing It Together Shows), and Darsombra were to have played at the Downtown Plaza on Friday alongside British Columbia punk band Mean Bikini, locals The Floor Between Us, and a Muel Goods-hosted independent sellers market. That show will still take place, and according to P.I.T.S. owner Nicole Dyble on their Facebook page, they'll be showing Darsombra videos on the screen above the Plaza's stage, Brian will still receive his artist fee despite being unable to perform, and Mean Bikini will donate $5 from all t-shirt sales on Friday to him. Kudos all around for the support being shown in Ann's memory, both locally and afar!

I was unable to see Darsombra's local dates, but their brand of "post-apocalyptic galaxy rock" made a mark on local fans, and it was impressive to see an American touring band come here this much! Darsombra's mix of hard rock, drone, psychedelic, and experimental sounds, plus a diverse visual experience that Ann had deep involvement in, made them a captivating watch. I've heard very good things about Ann as a person, and I feel so bad for Brian and the rest of their family at this difficult time. We'll have more on Friday's concert in this weekend's concert previews, but consider coming out to show your support and still see some live outdoor music. R.I.P. Ann!

Today's post otherwise features a new song from an upcoming album and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will end their recent hiatus by headlining at Gateway Casino on Saturday, October 18th! This will be Generations' first concert in over two months, last seen at the now-closed(?) Reggie's Place in late July, and their first show at the downtown casino in four months, so fans will have been waiting a long time to see them in action! This wasn't a summer break like some other local cover rock bands had, as drummer Tony Santoro was recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, as per their (now-private) Facebook group. Of note, next Saturday's show will be Generations' first since they parted ways with guitarist Tony Kajnar after a two year run with the band, with Tony S. confirming that he left "due to personal reasons pursuing a new project".

 

Otherwise best known around here from Flat Stanley and The Peace Vibe, hopefully Tony K.'s new band is successful, but it will be easier to not have to specify which Tony when covering Generations! Smokehouse frontman Michael Yurich (who filled in with Generations before Tony K. came on board) will guest on guitar for next Saturday's one-nighter, which takes place at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Valerie, Pierre, and Tony's return to the stage!

Finally for today, here's the first advance single from local death/thrash metal trio Pillory's upcoming full length album "Old Soul!" Released on September 30th to Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music (all linked here) as well as their new YouTube Music channel, the song in question is "The Angst Of Existence", which has been a staple in Pillory's sets since their mid-2010s revival era. Of note, the Distrokid tags for the album credit 2015-2017 bassist Jordan Leach as a co-writer of the song alongside Robert and Bret. I have no idea if Jordan (who moved out of the country for work reasons in 2017) recorded bass tracks remotely for the album, or if this is just giving him credit for co-writing the song, but we'll let you know if the band confirms anything! I'll hold comment on "The Angst Of Existence" until we review "Old Soul" on the site next year, but give it a listen below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (It's The Pits) And Mikey & His Uke's New Cover!!

As teased at the end of yesterday's post, we are looking at the other new summer concert festival announced for the same venue via an extended LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and a new high profile cover video rounds things out. Here's what you should know for this punk-leaning post!

Make it two summer concert festivals hitting Robbie Adamson's church in nearby Leeburn in the coming months, as local concert promoters Piecing It Together Shows (née Dryer Fire) will host their own festival named It's The Pits on Saturday, June 22nd! Playing into the whole peach pit motif as seen in their post-renaming materials (has Nicole explained the inspiration behind that?), It's The Pits will beat the metal-centric Crucifest to the stage by over a month, but the two festivals do share a common band. Of course, the former Dryer Fire are hardly metal/punk-centric promoters, but many events have featured some heavier crossover, this festival included, so who all is playing next month? Apologies if I err on any band identities, P.I.T.S. did not share social media links for the bands, they just listed them on the official poster. As best as I can gather, five of the bands are from out of town, so who's making the way to Leeburn?

The touring acts are Toronto ambient/house duo LAL, Toronto/Minnesota "deep Earth folk" band Twintwa, Ottawa indie rock singer/guitarist Catriona Sturton, Toronto skate punk trio The Mendozaz, and Grand Rapids, Michigan folk duo Rabbit Fur. A lot of talent for genre fans can be found with these artists, and for you punk fans, The Mendozaz will get things amped up with a strong and melodic brand of modern punk, and with distinctive vocals!  Local performers include skate punk/thrash trio Hails (the only band also playing at Crucifest in July), DJ Seith (who played at The Bear Hunters' private Leeburn event last July along with Ha!ls), local/Gatineau, Quebec surf/indie rock solo project Tampa (led by Mulch & The Mire alum Christopher West), indie rock singer/guitarist Shae Tull, former Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle's acoustic folk solo project Sibling, and the cryptic anti-folk/Americana act Tye Lawless Co.

Note that Sibling and Tye opened for Catriona Sturton at Case's Music in October for Dryer Fire, so if you liked that concert, here's your encore! Sam Emerson from local quilting/product repair company Muel Goods is slated to host It's The Pits, while local artist/photographer Chandra Barnett of Lady Of The Glue will be selling her art here. Partially brought to you by the Ontario Arts Council, tickets for this all ages festival are on sale this month for $40, but the advance fee jumps to $45 on June 1st, and tickets at the gate will cost $50. Like at Oh!No before it and Crucifest after it, camping is encouraged, so keep that in mind if you want to stay the night and head home on Sunday the 23rd! You can buy your tickets in advance at this link. While the festival is slated to begin at 2:00 PM, bands are expected to start playing at around 4:00 PM. More details on It's The Pits are forthcoming.

It's The Pits has to be the biggest event that Dryer Fire/P.I.T.S. have ever put on, and hopefully it's a huge hit for Nicole and crew so they can do this again next year, or at least something of a comparable scale! It's not a punk haven, but genre fans will be satiated by The Mendozaz and Hails, and while not everyone will be into the remote camping appeal, it's very much in this year. The two Leeburn festivals at 5756 Highway 638, Go North on St. Joseph Island, and Northern Vibe in Ophir are all scheduled for the summer, so keep all four in mind if you wanna go off the grid and enjoy some high energy local and touring music! Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more on It's The Pits!

We'll close tonight's post with the ninth installment of local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Just over two weeks removed from their rendition of "She", song #9 from "Dookie" was posted to the project's YouTube channel this morning, and keeping with the album's running order, this cover is of the Green Day deep cut "Sassafras Roots". Bookclub/ex-Lion Ride frontman Mikey Hawdon is back on guitar and (initially) ukelele here alongside former Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (wearing a baseball jersey here for a change), while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot is back here for his fifth "Dookie" cover in this series, after missing the last two. Vocals are provided here by Jeff "Kepi Ghoulie" Alexander of the Sacramento horror punk veterans The Groovie Ghoulies, who is seen painting something while singing the song.

Kepi does reveal what he painted at the end, but I won't spoil it here. Perfectly sound cover with strong melodies, and well edited from the remote filming locations, though aside from Kepi's painting in a very blue room, there's no quirks in settings or on-camera activities to note. Green Day diehards will like the cover though! Tenth in this series will be the classic "When I Come Around", which is the final yet-covered single from "Dookie" before they hit a home stretch of deep cuts. Given past timeframes, it should turn up at any point between Monday and June 4th (the current average would be May 19th). Check out Mikey & crew covering "Sassafras Roots" below, and look for more soon!

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

Shit Happens Concert Preview, New Videos, And Much More!!

Let's kick off the last week of the month with a new news post, which features some new videos, updates on an upcoming album release, and some shorter recent updates, but first, let's preview a punk concert taking place sooner than you may think!

Here's a special Monday night concert preview for TONIGHT, as Winnipeg punk quartet Shit Happens will make their local concert debut when they headline at The Distraction! The first full metal or punk band (i.e. not a solo project) from out of town to play at the East Street barbershop-turned-concert venue, this female-fronted group are currently touring throughout eastern Canada and even in a few American cities. Shit Happens' up-tempo and in-your-face original attack should find a solid audience tonight, so don't miss out if you can swing coming by on a work/school night! Rising young metal trio The BAG will open in their second show of the year and first ever at The Distraction, and while not a punk band, their intensity should start things off on the right foot! This all ages concert begins at 7:00 PM tonight, and admission is "$5 or pay what you can", as is typical for this venue.

The Monday night scheduling won't be ideal for many, but as an all ages show with two bands at 7:00 PM, it won't be a late night, so consider coming down to The Distraction for some hard hitting punk and metal action! Visit the above links for more details, and here's Shit Happens live!

Next up, here's the latest from local punk trio Vanity First, who have released the second advance single from their upcoming album "Identity Crisis"! Entitled "Habitual Vanity", this partial namesake song can be heard on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and (as embedded below) via YouTube, though at press time, the song is not yet on Bandcamp. If you believe a comment on their Facebook page from Jim McAllister (possibly drummer Keegan McAllister's dad?), Vanity First will release "Identity Crisis" on Saturday, April 20th with a CD release party at Soo Blaster, and he allegedly has tickets. The band has not confirmed this publically, so stay tuned for official word on the album's on-sale date and/or a possible release party when it comes in! It's also worth noting that prolific local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith "played a small part in bringing the album over the finish line", as per his Facebook page.

How involved Mike was, I can't say yet, but this is shaping up to be better produced and distributed than their 2020 "Vanity" EP! Lastly, the album's first advance single "Off With The Heads" somehow got included in Hamilton indie punk label Lockdown Records' brand new compilation "What A Wonderful World We Exist In" alongside 32 other notable bands like The Ripcordz and Broomfiller. Very neat, and there's many other name punk bands from Canada and abroad there, so buy/stream the whole thing above! As before, I'll hold comment on "Habitual Vanity" pending our eventual full album review, give it a listen for yourselves below!

Also today, here's a new live video from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's Facebook page! Despite the thumbnail being at what appears to be last year's Cory Marks show at The Machine Shop, the video was instead filmed at one of their gigs over the March 8th weekend at The Esquire Club, with the band seen covering Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk". Definitely a more poppy cover, and as is usual for Silent 9's Facebook videos, we don't see the full song (just 70 seconds of it), but this horizontal video captures a good angle of Jess and the guys in action earlier this month, and the performance is well done! Give it a watch below!

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

 

• Local concert promotion agency Dryer Fire has changed their name to Piecing It Together Shows (or P.I.T.S.), as per their Facebook page, complete with a logo of a peach to tie in with the acronym. Owner Nicole Dyble stated that the Dryer Fire name (inspired by the former Gore Street Cafe's attached laundromat) "was only ever meant to be a temporary name", but didn't give any direct insight into the new name's inspiration. I will admit that the Piecing It Together name will have to grow on me, but look for more shows from them as 2024 progresses!
• Newer local metal duo Hollow Sky revealed on their Facebook page on February 5th that they have a "new track coming soon", complete with a picture of singer Liam Tallon presumably tracking the new song in question. So far, this is their only post in 2024, but hopefully the new song (their second to be released) is coming along in studio as planned!
• I can't embed it here, as it's a "Reel", but Sault Michigan metal band Tarnished posted a clip (a horizontal landscape clip pillarboxed to fit the "Reel" dimensions, mind you) of them playing the guitar solo to Ratt's "Round & Round" on their Facebook page yesterday! It sounds good, but it's not clear who the second guitarist with Alex Traynor is, with Alex even acknowledging in the comment section that "tis a mystery". Stay tuned for updates on their identity, but give the "Reel" a watch above! No sign of their Alpena battle of the bands video yet though.
   

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